Free Web NovelChapter 295: Chapter 289 A Male DNA_1
The subsequent autopsy was quickly completed by Zhou Ning, who nodded in approval as he compared it to Bai Hua’s autopsy report.
"Doctor Bai did the dissection with great detail—quite impressive."
"Don’t flatter me, I don’t have your speed. Having handled fewer criminal cases, it takes me a whole day to examine a victim. Moreover, there are lots of details that aren’t perfect. Are we now just waiting for the lab results?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"The remaining work depends on the lab results. By the way, Mr. Yang, I forgot to ask earlier, did you find the lock from Wang Hongzhan’s front door?"
Yang Xuetong slapped his forehead and hurriedly came forward, saying:
"I forgot to report it, we found two locks and a set of keys. I tried them, and two of the keys correspond to the locks—it’s just that we can’t determine which one is for the courtyard door, so I had Mr. Bai send both locks and the keys for inspection.
We attached a note for Mrs. Cui to use the electron microscope to observe if there’s any oil or metal debris left from key fitting in the key or inside the lock core. If they differ from the materials of these keys, we can conclude that the keys were duplicated or are not the original ones."
Zhou Ning nodded again, now tearing off his disposable surgical gown including the cap and mask.
"Let’s go, Director Xu is impatient. He’s been urging us, and perhaps some of the test results are out by now. You two, bring all the investigation equipment; we don’t know if the safe has been opened."
Everyone nodded; the body had already been transported away, and they all returned to the criminal police unit in the front yard.
As soon as they entered the office, they saw a group of people gathered together. Hearing the door open, Xu Dayuan looked up, saw Zhou Ning, and hurriedly waved with a smile.
"I was just about to call you. I didn’t expect you to return already—talk about a godsend. Take a look, the safe was just opened; this thing is an antique and quite challenging, we didn’t dare cut it open from behind."
The detectives cleared a space for Zhou Ning, who approached the safe with Mr. Zhao and Mr. Yang. Indeed, the safe was open, revealing an inner small door, which a guy was trying to unlock with a master key. With a click, the small door also opened.
The man lifted his head, wiping the sweat off with his sleeve, his nervousness palpable.
Xu Dayuan patted the man’s shoulder and waved towards Zhang Chunbo.
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and pay the guy. Don’t let him work for nothing; you know how many people we’ve gone through to find the right one?"
The locksmith quickly waved his hands, pulling off his gloves and holding up the badge on his chest.
"Don’t worry, leader. No need to pay; we’re the locksmith company designated by the 110 emergency service. It’s our duty to help you out."
Zhang Chunbo, with a laugh, put an arm around the man’s shoulders and led him away.
Mr. Zhao and Yang Xuetong put on gloves, one shining a light while the other began inspecting inside the safe. In fact, the space inside wasn’t extensive—two tiers, which at the moment were completely empty.
Mr. Zhao squatted slightly, bringing his eyes level with the middle divider, allowing him to see the traces on the upper layer of the shelf more clearly. He lifted the camera and rapidly snapped photos.
Xu Dayuan, growing anxious, stood hands on hips, mirroring Mr. Zhao’s movements by squatting down.
"Don’t stay quiet, what do you see?"
Before Mr. Zhao could speak, Yang Xuetong cut off Xu Dayuan, gesturing with his hand.
"Director Xu, don’t rush; it’s empty inside. Now we can only analyze the residual dust traces."
Liu Yongxin pursed his lips, trying hard to suppress a smile. In Zhou Ning’s team, everyone was improving rapidly—not only their skills but also their tempers. Yang Xuetong’s change from when he first arrived was a complete 180 degrees.
Hearing Yang Xuetong saying this, Xu Dayuan didn’t pursue further. He stepped back and sat down, trying his best to control his emotions and not look in Mr. Zhao’s direction. His gaze inadvertently fell on Zhang Chunbo, who stood grinning next to Yang Xuetong. Xu Dayuan cleared his throat.
"Zhang Chunbo, are you in charge of trace evidence? Have we found someone for the Wang Hongzhan matter? What time are we arranging to bring the person back? Have you sent someone to the airport already?"
A barrage of rapid-fire questions caused Zhang Chunbo to raise his hands.
"I was wrong, I’ll confirm right now. We’ve located the individual, it’s just that we haven’t secured a return flight. After all, nearby flights are quite expensive..."
A glare from Xu Dayuan shut Zhang Chunbo up instantly. He then hurried out of the conference room with his phone in hand.
Zhou Ning cradled his forehead, knowing Xu Dayuan was truly in a rush. The empty safe undoubtedly increased the difficulty of the investigation; with no lab results yet, he couldn’t press Cui Lili, and asking Shen City to send Wang Hongzhan back, along with arranging for sample analysis, was already asking for a favor, so he couldn’t say much and could only fret.
However, comforting words were of no use right now. It was better to focus on finding clues.
Zhou Ning moved next to Mr. Zhao, who stood up and quickly waved toward Mr. Qu.
"Give me the data cable, and I’ll send the photo to you. Zoom in, I can’t see the bottom clearly."
Mr. Qu moved quickly, connecting the data cable, and the photo was uploaded to the computer. The image on the display was enlarged, and Zhou Ning squinted at the photo.
On the partition, there were some marks without dust, but these were somewhat strange. There were six spots aligned vertically without dust, but above them were two horizontal lines of dust that were slightly thinner. How had these been formed?
Could these six vertical marks have been from gold bars? And were there several rows laid horizontally across them?
By now, Mr. Qu had already processed the photo, boosting the contrast to the max. The marks were very obvious now, resembling the pattern of a fence, giving a clear sense of the shape and approximate number of items that had been there.
However, at the crack of the partition, Mr. Zhao discovered a whitish spot and hurriedly turned around. Holding a bright flashlight, he leaned close to the crack in the partition and after much fussing with tweezers, a slim roll of paper was extracted.
Mr. Zhao was nervous and didn’t dare to tear it roughly. After wiping the outside to take a sample, he carefully unrolled the paper with a pair of tweezers, assisted by Yang Xuetong. Before long, the paper was unfurled, revealing a receipt-sized piece of paper.
In fine brush calligraphy, a message was written. The lettering was a bit blurred in places but the content was still very readable.
Due to policy reasons, we are now implementing the spirit of a certain document, returning the property confiscated during Wang ZhanKui’s campaign. Included are 20 bars of ’Dahuang fish’ gold bars (978 standard), cast during the Republic era. The land is now under state ownership and will not be returned. The house has been demolished, and cash compensation equivalent has been provided. This notice is for clarification.
December 22, 1981 freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
After seeing the content, everyone was shocked. Mr. Qu glanced at the picture before saying:
"According to the distribution of the dust in the photo, the area covered by a single ’Dahuang fish’ is 13.33*1.66. I compared it and it indeed matches the size of a 978-standard gold ’Dahuang fish’ that circulated in Hushang City during the Republic era.
One of these 978-standard ’Dahuang fish’ gold bars weighs about 531 grams. Calculating based on last August’s gold price of 380 yuan/gram, 531*380*20=4,035,600.00 yuan."
Mr. Zhao, holding his phone, quickly searched and pulled up a news article from an auction house, showing it to Xu Dayuan while pointing to the content:
"You’ve calculated using the price of pure gold. Look at this info. On March 7, 2012, at an auction in Pumen, someone auctioned off five ’small Huang fish’ gold bars.
Each weighed about 317.5 grams and sold for 750,000 yuan, as the auction was for a collector’s item. If we average it per gram, it amounts to about 472 yuan/gram. Based on this, those 20 gold bars would be worth over five million yuan."
All faces were filled with surprise as Xu Dayuan stared at the piece of paper, scrutinizing it, and noticed that it had been stamped with the seal of the Haining County Government. The county’s name surrounded the large national emblem in the center, and above was a tear mark.
It seemed to have been torn from a larger document, likely a duplicate since the tear exposed part of a square stamp. However, the content of the original document was indiscernible. On one side, there was half of a red fingerprint and half of a signature that appeared to be part of the name Wang ZhanKui.
Mr. Zhao sighed, speaking regretfully.
"It’s a pity, there were no fingerprints left on the partition, and the only scratch visible shows that someone wore latex gloves. I’ve taken a sample, and we’ll run tests later. However, I don’t think it would be easy to sell those gold bars."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Twenty gold bars, the quantity is significant. Moreover, if they are sold as gold, this purity of 978 is not cost-effective. Besides, gold buyers need to register their identity; it can’t be sold off all at once unless it’s done privately at a low price."
Xu Dayuan pointed his index finger at Zhou Ning, seemingly hinting that Zhou Ning was onto something.
"The victim was discovered the next day. The killer definitely wouldn’t sell so many gold bars locally. It would be much easier leaving Qindao, even the Ludong Region. This could be investigated. I will ask around later if there are any large-scale gold purchases or even reports to the police."
Zhou Ning glanced at the time; it was already past three in the afternoon. At this moment, Zhu Xingxing raised her hand, looking at the laptop.
"Boss, the forensic department just sent over a report."
Zhou Ning walked briskly towards her and looked at the computer. Zhu Xingxing was connecting to the printer while Zhou Ning briefly checked the examination results.
The report contained a lot – the victim Ho Dongmei’s blood residues on the gloves, partition, and wooden slats they’d sent for testing. Inside the gloves, on the part covering the fingers, and near the dagger guard, a male DNA sample was found, with no matched individuals in the database.
Xu Dayuan squeezed forward, as there wasn’t enough room at the computer, and asked:
"Director Zhou, did we find anything from the examination?"
Zhou Ning nodded, summarizing the comparison results.
"From the examination results, we see there was only one perpetrator. We’ll compare it with Wang Hongzhan’s DNA from Shen City later on."
Xu Dayuan turned to find Zhang Chunbo, who shivered and quickly dialed a number. Since Wang Hongzhan had been found four or five hours ago, the blood test had been conducted, and DNA results should be nearly ready. After asking, Zhou Ning quickly held up his phone, providing Zhang Chunbo with an email address.
After hanging up, Zhang Chunbo took a deep breath.
"The results will be out shortly; they’ll be sent over in ten minutes."
