Chapter 116: Chapter 107: Another Identity for the Deceased?

Li Xiang saw that the landlady was playing dumb and not very cooperative, so he said, “How could you not know? How many people leave each year? Besides, they’re all locals, everyone knows each other, can’t you even remember these people?”

The landlady, being cornered by Li Xiang, finally named a few people who had quit, then made an excuse that she was busy and left to attend to other matters.

Mao Ji looked at the landlady’s departing figure and suspiciously said to Li Xiang:

“Why do I feel that this landlady has a problem?”

Cao Gang nodded affirmatively and said, “Be more confident, remove the ’feel’.”

“Should we ask the factory workers instead?”

Then, they went back to the factory, found the worker who had called the landlady for them earlier, and asked, “In recent years, has anyone gone missing from our factory, or has there been any unusual incidents?”

The worker curiously asked back, “Are you talking about the body dug up in the grave?”

Cao Gang smiled wryly. Rumors in the countryside spread too quickly, even with such matters. Keeping secrets doesn’t help, so he frankly admitted:

“That’s right, the deceased was wearing work clothes from your factory, do you have any clues?”

“Well…”

The worker hesitated to speak and occasionally glanced in the direction of the landlady, “It’s not easy to say.”

“What’s so hard to say? Cooperating with the police investigation is every citizen’s duty.”

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, the worker decided not to hide it and said, “Alright then, quite a few people know about this. It happened two years ago and caused quite a stir in the factory.”

Hearing this, Cao Gang and the others took it seriously. In such situations during visits, it usually has something to do with the deceased. So they asked, “What happened two years ago?”

“Two years ago, Zhang Jianda from the neighboring Zhang Family Village came to work at the factory. He wasn’t working diligently during work hours and kept hanging around the landlady. Eventually, he got involved with her. Later, the boss found out, surrounded Lao Zhang in the factory, almost beat him to death, and it was only because others intervened that he escaped with his life. He left without even settling his wages, and we haven’t seen him since. The landlady is coming over, I’m going back to work.”

Seeing the landlady approaching, the worker’s face changed instantly and he left to work!

Cao Gang and the others did not expect such an explosive incident was involved. If the employee’s account is true, then the boss is a major suspect.

And the landlady’s strange attitude seemed to have some sheltering intent.

The situation was too tangled.

The wife and her lover were caught in an affair by the husband, the husband killed the lover, and the wife, out of conscience, sheltered the husband.

This plot is so melodramatic!

“There is indeed a problem with this landlady, let’s not alert them yet, and first verify whether the deceased is Zhang Jianda.”

With this lead, Cao Gang decided to first go back and verify whether the deceased was Zhang Jianda.

As they left the factory, it was already getting dark, and Li Xiang said to them, “Captain Cao, Brother Mao, why don’t you come to my house for a simple meal? Tonight I’ll go back to Jinghai with you.”

“Is that appropriate? We don’t want to trouble your aunt.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s not like it’s a special treat for you.”

The criminal investigation team colleagues came to Li Family Village, on his turf, letting them hurry back to Jinghai for dinner at mealtime would be a failure on his part.

Moreover, his mother heard that Li Xiang’s colleagues would be there, so she bought some meat, slaughtered an old hen, and went to the village’s contracted fish pond to buy two fish. With some vegetables grown in the countryside, she made a few homemade dishes.

“Since that’s the case, then we won’t be polite, let’s try Auntie’s cooking.”

That evening, colleagues from the criminal investigation team had a simple meal at Li Xiang’s house. Li’s father even wanted to invite everyone to have a drink but was declined by everyone with the excuse that they had a case on their hands.

After dinner, under Li Xiang’s guidance, Cao Gang went to Zhang Jianda’s house to find his parents and prepared to collect DNA samples from both elders for comparing the deceased’s identity.

At Zhang Jianda’s house, they first learned about his situation from the elders and discovered that their son had indeed disappeared. Before leaving, he sent a message saying he was fleeing somewhere to escape trouble, but there were no traces of him since.

The situation described by Zhang Jianda’s parents was roughly the same as what the worker said, so after Li Xiang helped them collect DNA samples, he brought the samples and returned to Jinghai overnight.

The collected samples were immediately sent to the laboratory for urgent processing.

The next day, the laboratory delivered bad news; the DNA from Zhang Jianda’s parents did not match the deceased.

“It’s not Zhang Jianda? Is the deceased someone else?”

This news was a complete surprise to everyone.

All indications were that the deceased was Zhang Jianda.

But scientific methods wouldn’t be mistaken.

“If the person in the grave isn’t Zhang Jianda, then who could it be? And where is Zhang Jianda now?”

The situation suddenly became complicated!

From what they have gathered, it seemed Zhang Jianda might also have been murdered. Now, it looked like a case of a body hidden in a grave might involve two murders!

“Su Jiayi, immediately issue a notice for assistive investigation to public security agencies nationwide to see if we can locate him.”

“Understood,” Instructor Su Jiayi replied crisply.

Now that the person in the grave isn’t Zhang Jianda, there’s a possibility he might be alive, so Cao Gang decided to proceed in three steps: first, find Zhang Jianda—alive or dead; second, continue to determine the deceased’s identity.

“Xiao Zhou, check the missing persons near Li Family Village in the past two years to see if there’s a DNA match with the deceased.”

“Understood,” Zhou Man also nodded in agreement.

After instructing them, Cao Gang looked at Mao Ji and Li Xiang: “Lao Mao, you and Li Xiang might need to make another trip to Li Family Village, and conduct a deeper visit among the nearby villagers to see if there are any details we missed.”

“Alright, Captain Cao.”

After the briefing ended, everyone immediately got moving and split into three teams to investigate.

Not long after Su Jiayi sent out the assistive investigation notice, Jinling Public Security replied that Zhang Jianda had been found.

The entire first team breathed a sigh of relief, thankful it wasn’t a case within a case.

After contacting Zhang Jianda, Cao Gang learned that he felt threatened with death and ran to hide in Jinling out of fear.

Zhou Man was responsible for matching the missing persons near Li Family Village over recent years and, after obtaining the estimated time of death from the forensic team, investigated all missing persons within that period but found no one matching the age and height requirements.

This meant the deceased’s family never reported them missing after their disappearance.

Why didn’t the deceased’s family report them missing?

Could it be that the deceased was the only person in their family?

Cao Gang immediately relayed the bureau’s investigation situation in real-time to Li Xiang and the others, while also sharing his speculations with them.

Based on Captain Cao’s speculations, Li Xiang took Mao Ji and went directly to Secretary Li’s house in Li Family Village.

Secretary Li was a well-respected elder in the village. Whenever there were minor disputes in families, they would seek Secretary Li’s help in mediation, and everyone respected him.

Moreover, Secretary Li was very familiar with the village’s situation.

“Uncle Li, how have you been lately?”

“Oh, isn’t this the kid from Li Xiaofeng’s family, you’ve done well, becoming a policeman and bringing honor to our old Li Family.”

Li Xiaofeng was his father’s name. Every time Secretary Li saw Li Xiang, he would mention him as the kid from Li Xiaofeng’s family. Due to the commendation from the city bureau and his mother’s reputation, he had become a celebrity in the village.

Seeing Li Xiang and his colleague in police uniforms, Secretary Li figured they must have something important, so he didn’t waste time, proactively asking, “What brings you here today?”

“I do have something to trouble you with, Uncle Li. No one knows the village situation better than you do.”

“That’s true, feel free to ask any questions!”

Secretary Li wasn’t modest, and he didn’t need to be modest, having lived to his age, he was already straightforward.

“In the past two years, has there been any young man around thirty-five from our village who disappeared? Possibly the only one in the family!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep