Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 260: Chapter 257: The Eve of the Wedding_1

Hu Guangjian hung up the phone.

Xu Dayuan glanced at the one-way mirror subconsciously; he knew Zhou Ning was watching, but now, the interrogation of Ren Jingmin was hardly likely to yield any further breakthroughs—it had reached a bottleneck.

He had already admitted to instructing Wang Guanli to commit murder, but as for the subsequent issues, which were too extensive, it wasn’t within their capacity to investigate. However, Zhou Ning...

Grasping his cell phone tightly, Xu Dayuan took a quick look at the one-way mirror and saw that Ren Jingmin had finished signing and was eagerly waiting for his response. Only then did Xu Dayuan give a slight nod.

"Wait a moment, the people from the special investigation unit will come to take you away soon. Liu Yufei, go prepare the relevant documents."

Liu Yufei knew their boss was suppressing his anger and hastily stood up to prepare everything. Xu Dayuan quickly walked out the door to the observation room next door and, upon seeing Hu Guangjian, hurried over.

"Mr. Hu, our side is supposed to follow procedures. If we hand him over, how are we supposed to proceed?"

Hu Guangjian gave him an indifferent look and said.

"What’s the rush? The procedures will be followed as they must be. The special investigation unit has many matters to investigate and needs to unearth the extent of this group’s influence on Ludong. The people on the list need further investigation and verification. There’s a lot to do.

What you need to do now is to stabilize everything. I’m going to report to the special investigation unit later. I’ve also arranged for those few from your first team to be returned to you. How to talk to them, that’s your business. After all, you can’t remain the captain of the first team forever. You don’t need me to teach you how to handle this, do you?"

Xu Dayuan was stunned. Though he had been on the front lines all this time, he was no fool. He certainly understood what this meant, but right now, he was not in the mood to think about it, casting a glance at Zhou Ning.

"According to Ren Jingmin, this Wang Guanli was a ’capable man’ sent over by the Liang Family, but how did a death row convict become switched out and then transformed into someone from the Sapporo embassy?

Who got him out? It’s not entirely without a trace. After all, the initial case was judged by the Qindao Intermediate Court, and it was an immediate execution. Public security, prosecution, and the courts had to verify the identity on the spot before taking him to the execution ground.

According to the sentencing footage, the man in the court was Wang Guanli himself, but at which step did the mistake occur? There are records of all this. Are we not going to check them? He’s just a death row convict with limited skills, merely convenient for some people!

What this involves, I think you know. I’m laying it out straight—I don’t care about getting promoted, but I’m determined to pursue this matter to the end, regardless of who is controlling from behind, whether they currently hold an important position, have already retired, or are long dead. I will get to the bottom of this."

Hu Guangjian glared, and Xu Dayuan subconsciously shrank his neck but did not budge an inch.

Seeing Xu Dayuan’s determination, Hu Guangjian could not quite identify his feelings. After all, the man was too much like him, identical to how he had been when he was young, so persistent and perhaps a bit obstinate.

"That’s a matter for later. Right now, do you not know what needs to be done? Why are you being stubborn with me? Get the materials ready quickly. I want every detail of this case ironed out. With so many eyes on us, we will later have to hold a press conference. Not a single timestamp can be erroneous, understand?"

Xu Dayuan nodded.

Mr. Hu walked away briskly. Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan, knowing why he had just said those words. He was grateful, but like Mr. Hu had said, now was not the time to discuss this.

"Looks like you’re about to take over as detachment leader, but wait, our tradition is that a deputy bureau chief also acts as detachment leader. You’re about to replace Mr. Hu’s position, huh? Congratulations!

I’ll head back to prepare the materials. Without going into detail, we need to refine the relationships among the three individuals and the motives for the murders. We need to enrich the details of the autopsy reports, as well as sort out the weapons and various items found in Fang Wenjie’s car. No matter how late, make sure to deliver it today."

Xu Dayuan patted Zhou Ning’s shoulder hard.

After holding back for a long time, he managed to say just one word, "Good."

When he returned to the technology department’s third-floor office, the two financial investigation experts had long since left.

Liu Yongxin and Mr. Zhao quickly gathered around; after all, hours had passed with no news at all, and each one looked at Zhou Ning with concern.

"How’s the apprentice?"

"Zhou Xiaozhou, speak up. Was the interrogation not going well?"

Zhu Xingxing also squeezed over and slapped Mr. Zhao’s mouth, causing his eyes to round in shock, ready to burst into anger when Zhu Xingxing viciously glared at him, baring his canine teeth as she said:

"Shut your jinx mouth. If the interrogation wasn’t going well, it wouldn’t have ended so quickly. Chief, please, satisfy our curiosity."

Zhou Ning smiled at them. Since Mr. Zhao and Liu Yongxin were very worried about him, he didn’t conceal anything and quickly recounted the interrogation process. When they heard that Ren Jingmin would be taken away by the special investigation unit, Mr. Zhao’s eyes popped open.

Liu Yongxin grabbed him, shaking his head at him continuously.

"Quiet down. Didn’t you hear what my apprentice said? Right now, the most important thing is to enrich the content of all the previous autopsy reports. Don’t idle about—summarize all our findings from the past few days.

Then, in each report, create a table of contents for them, the clear-at-a-glance kind. Compile the photos, autopsy videos, comparison pictures, and previously retrieved files into folders. Prepare an electronic document within each file. I want to see who’ll be able to pick faults. "

Mr. Zhao put away his usual joking demeanor and nodded earnestly.

"You’re right, uncle. After this case, there will be a press conference, and not a single word or punctuation mark can be wrong, or else we’d be handing others an opportunity to discredit us.

I’ll work with Mr. Yang to prepare the video and photo materials quickly. Mr. Qu, send me the files you copied. Sun Gaotie, follow Zhu Xingxing and take another look at the autopsy reports. It’s past one o’clock, and Mrs. Cui has delivered quite a few reports. Make sure to organize them well—don’t mix them up. Uncle, you’ll be in charge of oversight. Zhou Xiaozhou, take a rest."

As he spoke, everyone got to work.

Zhou Ning stared at the whiteboard, which still displayed the analysis of the relationships among several people, the first crime scene, and close-up photographs of the body. Of course, there were also many analyses about the murderer on the side.

At the very top was Wang Guanli’s photograph, who had fallen face-up from the twentieth floor. His head had completely deformed. Zhou Ning wasn’t surprised that he had chosen to jump off the building; had this man surrendered, it would have been the true shocker.

If he had managed to escape from here and obtain a new identity, why did he come back to Qindao City?

Was he so confident that no one remembered the past affairs and that no one would pursue them?

Just as Xu Dayuan had said today, Wang Guanli’s escape from a firing squad years ago wasn’t because of his own abilities but because he was useful to certain people.

Zhou Ning closed his eyes and attempted to clear the clutter from his mind; he had to finish up the loose ends of this case now.

Thinking this, he quickly walked over to Zhu Xingxing to go over the thorough autopsy report and various materials one last time.

...

February 24, 2012

In the office of Team 302 in the Technical Division, everyone’s eyes were glued to the television.

The news conference was being broadcast live on TV. In the background, there were two photographs: one of Wang Guanli at the time of his arrest in prison and another from surveillance footage.

The host calmly set down the cards in his hand and nodded slightly to the audience.

"Thank you for attending the press conference held by the Qindao City Intermediate Court, where we also announced the verdict of the Guanghai Criminal Group. We appreciate the attention from the foreign media. This concludes the question-and-answer session of the press conference.

If any members of the press have objections to the case or the content of the judgment, please pay attention to the case details and the publicly available evidence on the internet. This conference is now over."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief subconsciously. Liu Yongxin patted his chest and gulped down half a glass of water, visibly excited.

"I took a few quick-acting heart relief pills beforehand because I was so nervous. However, the process of this judgment really opened my eyes. Just like Zhou Xiaozhou said, Ren Jingmin is clever. Without a complete chain of evidence, he would have been tough to deal with.

This case is too big; it involves numerous people. To pronounce judgment within such a short time and to host a live broadcasted press conference, it’s definitely a deterrent to all parties.

Ren Fangliang was sentenced to ten years in prison for multiple crimes and fined for illegal gains. I don’t think that’s too severe. However, I heard from the economic investigation department that they found over forty million in cash in his old family house. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

As for Ren Jingmin and his father, the death penalty with a two-year suspension, I believe, is to buy time for the special investigation team to hold onto the suspect and recover the funds and chase the portions transferred out earlier. The fact that Cui Haibin was expelled from public office and sentenced to three years seems unsurprising to me."

Zhou Ning nodded; he wasn’t particularly moved by the results.

"The sentence for the crime of aiding in the destruction and falsification of evidence isn’t severe, especially since the false test results and autopsies only disclosed part of the content and omitted mention of the victim’s neck vertebrae dislocation. All of this was done deliberately."

Mr. Zhao came over, grinning from ear to ear, and slung his arm around Zhou Ning’s shoulder, looking at Xu Dayuan.

"Uncle, now that the official business is over and since it’s still Friday, Xu Da—or we should say Director Xu—out of the blue, I’m still getting used to saying that—said we have a holiday. Although Mr. He said he doesn’t need our help, we can’t just show up tomorrow for the wedding, right?"

Zhu Xingxing and Sun Gaotie also joined in, and Mr. Yang followed suit. Zhu Xingxing raised his hand.

"I want to go over earlier, too; I don’t feel like getting up early tomorrow and hustling. Is there a place to stay?"

Zhou Ning smiled. The timing of this press conference was indeed very considerate. Xiaoyu and Mr. He were getting married tomorrow, and being able to wrap things up today felt like a relief.

After several days of adjustment, his condition had also improved significantly.

Since he couldn’t change anything, he could only adapt. Moreover, Xu Dayuan had promised him to thoroughly investigate the matter, at least to find out how Wang Guanli had managed to change his identity and be taken out of prison years ago.

After all, it was his release that had led to the murder of Zhou Ning’s parents. According to Wang Guanli, Mr. He seemed to have been key to his arrest at that time, which was also a revelation.

Putting aside these emotions, Zhou Ning smiled at the others.

"My uncle booked a hotel; there’s definitely enough room, let’s all go together."

Liu Yongxin was overjoyed, waving his hand at the younger people.

"Why the daze? Let’s get moving. Mr. He is also considered a special consultant, and Doctor Lu and the others won’t be able to make it until tonight. By the way, Mr. Xia is back, and I guess she’ll be going over tomorrow."

Zhou Ning was slightly taken aback, and Mr. Zhao also paused before laughing and leaning in.

"Looks like the Huining Province got a quick handle on the software. It’s great that Mr. Xia is back; Xiaoyu must be thrilled. Zhou Xiaozhou, you should ask Mr. Xia right away. If she’s already back, why wait for tomorrow? It’d be much better to go together and have a lively gathering."

Zhou Ning pondered for a moment and took out his phone to call Xia Momo.

After Xia Momo was suddenly transferred out of the lab, she had not called Zhou Ning, and he knew with her intelligence, she must have sensed his estrangement, particularly with the seismic changes in Qindao these days.

"Hello? Doctor Zhou?"