Free Web NovelChapter 190: Chapter 189: The Unreachable Phone Call_1
"Oh? So, where is your team member? On vacation?"
Wang Ligang nodded.
"Each summer, we focus on physical training. Wang Ying just joined the team, so she didn’t get a vacation. As for Xing Xiaoli and Tan Ran, they haven’t been home for two years. Besides, we are going to Liaodong Province for a training camp at the end of October, so we gave them leave on September 6, as long as they return to the team by the end of October."
Xu Dayuan let out a breath and patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder.
"There’s an eighty percent chance the deceased is Tan Ran, let’s go in together."
Zhou Ning knew that refusal was futile and followed Xu Dayuan into the interrogation room, noticing that there was a new arrival in the room, which somewhat unnerved Wang Ligang. After all, despite the many questions asked, he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Xu Dayuan approached Wang Ligang.
"Did Tan Ran take a leave on July 22, 2009?"
Wang Ligang was getting anxious, spreading his hands as he looked toward Xu Dayuan, whose oppressive presence was very strong.
"How could I possibly remember that?"
His wife, Zhuang Chunlan, tugged at Wang Ligang’s sleeve and thought for a moment before speaking,
"I can’t recall the specific dates, but if you’re talking about two summers ago, Tan Ran went to see the team doctor a few times, saying she had menstrual irregularities and needed time to recuperate. She also complained of leg pain and wanted it examined. She had listed a number of dietary restrictions with me, which, according to the old sayings, were all foods that could exacerbate her condition. However, she didn’t rest for more than a few days."
"Yufei, check the registration logs of Lu University Hospital. I need the exact surgery times, including the time of making appointments for outpatient services. I believe there should be records in her medical file," Xu Dayuan said.
Liu Yufei left without a word, and Xu Dayuan turned back to Wang Ligang.
"Tell me about the situations of Tan Ran and Xing Xiaoli. Where is their hometown? What do their parents do?"
After the previous questioning, even a fool could tell that the case they were investigating might be related to Tan Ran. Clearing his throat, Wang Ligang took out his phone, opened the notes app, and handed it to Xu Dayuan. It contained quite a bit of detailed information.
"Tan Ran is originally from Liaodong Province. Her parents are in the seafood business. They are not well-educated but quite wealthy. Tan Ran has never been interested in studying and has been very rebellious and defiant since she was young, but she is beautiful.
She could skate in figure skating competitions and, since following us to Qindao for focused training, they have never objected. Since she was under ten years old and in the juniors, she would always receive gifts they sent, especially during festivals, because even though their business kept them busy, they hardly ever came over to see Tan Ran."
"As for Xing Xiaoli, he’s also from Liaodong Province, but his situation is a bit special. When we were selecting athletes from various schools, this kid recommended himself, saying he wanted to train in sports. However, he only passed two items. The boy clung to my leg and knelt down, begging to follow me.
"I was quite surprised at the time; I had never encountered such a situation before. When I inquired, I found out that Xing Xiaoli was an orphan with average academic performance, not outstanding in any area, and often bullied at school because of his appearance; he wanted to leave that school.
"I took pity on him and helped him to practice secretly for over ten days. By the time of the second physical examination, he passed and since he was good-looking, naturally stayed on the figure skating team. When I transferred to Qindao, both he and Tan Ran came with me voluntarily. These are the contact details."
Xu Dayuan tossed the phone to the clerk, who rapidly noted down several numbers. Xu Dayuan continued his questioning:
"Were Xing Xiaoli and Tan Ran in a romantic relationship?"
Wang Ligang’s wife tugged at his sleeve and spoke up first:
"There was a bit of that when they were practicing pairs skating. Mainly, Tan Ran was truly good to Xing Xiaoli. She shared everything she had with him, whatever she ate or used, she would bring a portion for Xing Xiaoli too. But it seemed to fade after a while." freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"When was ’after a while’?"
"It was two summers ago. The two had a bad argument. However, they didn’t dare quarrel in front of Wang Ligang. Afterward, they trained separately. After all, Xing Xiaoli stopped growing taller, so they couldn’t perform high-difficulty moves together and had to split up."
Zhou Ning raised his phone, displaying an X-ray image of the deceased.
"Did Tan Ran ever suffer an injury to her leg?"
Wang Ligang nodded.
"She had injuries on her legs and feet, which is quite normal in figure skating. She fractured bones several times, and the most severe injury was in early 2004, before we came to Qindao. During training, Xing Xiaoli made a mistake, and she was thrown out.
Her face was cut, her right forearm fractured in several places, and she also broke her leg. At that time, I thought the child wouldn’t be able to continue skating, but she recovered fairly well. You’ve asked so many questions, may I now know exactly what case this is about?"
Xu Dayuan handed over Zhou Ning’s phone to Wang Ligang.
"We’ve discovered remains of a deceased person without a head or limbs, and the body is severely decayed. However, we found a tattoo on the thigh and, after extracting skeleton bones, it appears the deceased had signs of spiral fractures in both legs and also had breast augmentation. With the number obtained from it, we traced the surgical registration to Zhuang Chunlan."
Wang Ligang was startled for a moment and reached for his phone, his fingers shaking. He opened the contact list and dialed a number labeled ’Ranran.’
After a brief pause, a woman’s voice came through, "The phone you dialed cannot be connected temporarily."
Wang Ligang panicked and quickly found another number, just about to dial out when Xu Dayuan stopped him.
"If you’re trying to contact Xing Xiaoli, you better hold off for now. We’ll contact him later. There’s another question: have you seen this tattoo before?"
Xu Dayuan handed a printed photo to the couple. After a close examination, they both shook their heads.
"I haven’t seen it, I have never seen that tattoo on Tan Ran’s body."
"Can you ask Wang Ying? Or maybe the team doctor, after all, the location is very secretive, underneath the groin on the right thigh root, even wearing shorts won’t reveal it."
Wang Ligang was quite cooperative at this moment and found Wang Ying’s phone number to call her.
"Wang Ying, I want to ask you something, does Tan Ran have a tattoo?"
"No!"
The person on the other end didn’t hesitate and directly gave a negative answer.
"If you dare to lie to me, I’ll call your dad and have him take you home. You won’t need to practice figure skating with me anymore."
"Coach, I was wrong, Sister Ranran does have a tattoo, but she told me not to tell you."
"Relax, I’m just asking. Do you know where the tattoo is? What does it look like? Was it done recently?"
"It’s been a long time, I saw it when I took a bath with Sister Ranran when I first arrived. It’s on the right thigh, she said it was a cat, but aside from the cat ears, I really couldn’t make out that it was a cat. It was just a few lines like cat tails."
Xu Dayuan nodded, and Wang Ligang told her a few more things, especially to not run around and to stay at home, before hanging up the phone.
As the call ended, Wang Ligang covered his face and cried because the picture in front of him was clear. The pattern was just as Wang Ying had described, with only two cat ears visible, and the rest of the lines curved and twisted like cat tails.
Zhuang Chunlan also covered her mouth, constantly patting Wang Ligang’s back, and looked up at Xu Dayuan.
"Officer, we’ve watched this child grow up. Do we need to contact Tan Ran’s family?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"As long as the address and phone number of Tan Ran’s family are correct, that will be fine. We’ll send someone over to draw their blood later for a DNA comparison. You must cooperate with us and not disclose any information about today at the Criminal Police Team, including Tan Ran’s family, understand?"
Wang Ligang nodded emphatically, stood up, and bowed deeply to Xu Dayuan, but his tears kept flowing uncontrollably.
"Then we count on you, please catch the murderer. This child is no different to us than our own. We’ve been taking care of her since she was under ten. Even when she was injured, I didn’t give up on her. I still don’t know how to explain it to her family."
Comforting others was not Xu Dayuan’s forte, but he still laid his large hand on Wang Ligang’s shoulder.
"Try to control your emotions. Later, I will ask your team doctor to come in to understand the situation. I think for massage and medical leave slips, the team doctor has to handle them, right? She went for breast augmentation surgery without your knowledge, and there were many visits. If the team doctor didn’t issue medical leave slips, you wouldn’t have agreed."
Wang Ligang nodded, found a number in his phone’s contacts, and handed it to Xu Dayuan.
"Our team doctor is Dr. Zhang Yu. He is at the gym today. Wang Ying has physical training as well. How about you come back with us, and we can say you’re undercover visitors from the Provincial Sports Commission?"
Xu Dayuan was not surprised at Wang Ligang’s sudden change of attitude. This urgent matter concerning Tan Ran left him panicking since he couldn’t face Tan Ran’s parents. After caring for the child for so many years, her sudden death, especially one so gruesome, was a responsibility too heavy to bear.
"Okay, then we’ll go to the gym with you."
Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning, who was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, clearly not looking like a policeman, and dialed Liu Yufei’s phone.
"Did you check?"
"Admitted on July 21, 2009, surgery on the 22nd, scheduled for June 11th. The attending doctor admitted he realized the patient’s registered age couldn’t have been over thirty."
"That’s fine, you go directly to the gym. Park the police car a bit further away, wear your plain clothes and meet with us in a while."
After the call ended, Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning.
"In a while, you and I will each drive a car, bring the investigation box. After we understand the situation, we’ll draw blood from a few of them. This way, if we discover the primary crime scene, we can do the comparison without the need for double work."
Everyone got into their cars, and with the holiday period ending, the roads were incredibly congested. It took them half an hour to reach the gym.
After parking the car, Liu Yufei had already arrived early and followed Wang Ligang through a side entrance into the gym. Upon reaching the third floor, they could hear shouting from an office.
"Use your legs to power up, control your speed in the air!"
Following the sound, the group entered the room, where several young children were training separately, along with a somewhat older girl.
She stood on a mat, gasping for breath with a strap tied around her waist, while a coach spoke to her and a man squatted beside her, recording something.
When people entered, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Xu Dayuan and the others. freёwebnovel.com
Wang Ligang clapped his hands and gestured to the girl and the man squatting on the ground.
"People from the Provincial Sports Commission have come to take a look. Keep training, Wang Ying and Mr. Zhang, come over here."
