Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 332: Return to Haizhou

Lu Chuan and the others arrived in Qinzhou early in the morning. Several members of the task force had arrived the day before.

From the welcome meeting to the on-site investigation, and then to the identification of footprints and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, it took up more than half a day.

By the time they were done with confirming and arresting the suspect, interrogations, and searches, it was already early morning.

However, Lu Chuan had no intention of spending the night here.

"Director Li, I won’t be staying here. I’m heading straight back to Haizhou."

Lu Chuan’s mood was very somber, and to be precise, everyone’s mood was very somber.

"You should rest for the night. Everyone’s been busy all day, and it’s not safe to drive at night."

Li Donglin sighed, knowing why Lu Chuan didn’t want to stay here.

He...

In fact, he didn’t want to stay here either and wanted to leave straightaway.

However, after a long day, driving in the early hours is truly unsafe.

Wang Song opened his mouth, originally wanting to leave straightaway too, but he didn’t speak up.

They’ve seen many cases, but this time was just more disgustingly vile.

Murderers are not all scum.

Over the years, Wang Song had witnessed too many people forced to kill.

Five years ago, there was a murder case in their jurisdiction.

The background was simple: a mother and son ran a timber factory left by a deceased husband, and due to financial pressure, they took out a high-interest loan.

The mother and son borrowed a total of one million, but within a month, with interest, it became three million.

The mother and son couldn’t cope, so they scrambled around to gather three million, finally compensating for the high-interest loan, albeit three days late.

But in those three days, the interest increased by five hundred thousand.

Afterwards, the other party repeatedly caused trouble at the timber factory. The last time, the debt-collecting thug urinated on his mother in front of the son.

In a moment of desperation, the son picked up a fruit knife from the coffee table and swung it, stabbing the thug who insulted his mother.

Based on the situation at the time, the knife wound wasn’t severe, and the stabbed thug wasn’t in any immediate danger.

However, after the stabbing, the thug and other thugs beat the son brutally, and afterwards, he said he’d go to the hospital for bandaging.

But on the way to the hospital, due to excessive blood loss, he died.

Someone died, so what now?

As the deputy captain of the local Criminal Investigation Team, Wang Song had no choice but to make an arrest.

Criminal investigators arrest without regard to the reasons or process.

The son stabbed the other, regardless of what happened beforehand, the arrest isn’t affected.

The key was how the subsequent trial would determine the sentence.

At the time, Wang Song and his team faced enormous pressure.

Every day, people were sitting in protest or watching at the entrance of the Criminal Investigation Team.

But there was no way they could release him directly.

Wang Song and the team certainly knew the son was innocent; if one can watch their mother being humiliated in front of them and stay indifferent, are they still human?

Yet, the result was that the son ended up killing someone.

The first trial sentenced him to life imprisonment for intentional injury.

Wang Song remembered clearly that the courthouse doors were almost torn apart by the furious public. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Fortunately, the result of the second trial was favorable; the sentence was reduced to five years.

Lying in the bed of the guesthouse, Lu Chuan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

The process of solving today’s case replayed in his mind like a movie.

Especially Zhang Cheng’s recorded video.

The agony in Wang Min’s eyes, in Lu Chuan’s view, was as sharp as a real knife.

Stabbing and causing one’s heart to twitch.

But what about Zhang Cheng?

For fifty thousand, for profit...

In a daze, Lu Chuan woke up again, already midday the next day.

Shaking his groggy head, Lu Chuan freshened up and headed to the hotel restaurant.

As luck would have it, Li Donglin, Wang Song, and others were there too, clearly not up for long either.

"Lu! Over here!"

Li Donglin called over, and from his complexion, though a bit haggard, it was obviously much better than yesterday.

Wang Song and others also greeted him, their faces looking much better than yesterday.

"The ’rolling donkey’ at this hotel is pretty good, give it a try."

"Teacher Lu, it’s all thanks to you this time; otherwise, who knows how long we’d be here."

Lu Chuan’s technical analysis this time redefined the range of suspects.

It brought a major breakthrough in the whole case investigation.

One could say that he played a major role in solving this case.

Lu Chuan grabbed some buffet items, picked up a piece of ’rolling donkey’ to try, and it was indeed delicious.

"Actually, without my analysis, they would have caught them sooner or later."

Sun Lulu and Zhang Cheng’s criminal methods weren’t particularly sophisticated.

When Wang Song and the others re-checked everyone in the building, based on their experience, if they checked Sun Lulu and Zhang Cheng, they would’ve likely found some clues.

The major reason the Qinzhou Criminal Investigation Team hadn’t made progress for a week was their preconceived notion that the killer was a man.

As a result, investigating detectives subconsciously relaxed investigations on couples and spouses.

Who would’ve thought there were such two scumbags?

"It’s not like that. It’s our first time forming a serious crime team, and getting results this quickly gave Director Li a good reputation, didn’t it?"

Li Donglin smiled, "What do I need reputation for? Solving the case is more important than anything."

In truth, while Wang Min’s case was solved, the filming and uploading of obscene videos involving Sun Lulu and Zhang Cheng still needed deeper investigation.

The relevant leads were taken over by Qinzhou’s cyber police and anti-pornography office.

After a night’s adjustment, everyone’s mindset improved a lot.

Since it was their first time working together on a case, there was more to talk about. By the end of the meal, they were already familiar with each other.

"Lu, I heard the pay in Haizhou is pretty good, right?"

"Not bad, but surely not as high as in Tianzhou City."

"How much do you make a month?"

Wang Song took the Chunghwa Lu Chuan handed him, full of questions in his eyes.

The economy in Tianzhou City is more developed than Haizhou City, so naturally, salaries are higher.

But what’s with Lu Chuan having all those packs of Chunghwa?

"Uh... I’m not sure either, over four thousand?"

How can one not know?

Li Donglin then patted Wang Song on the shoulder: "Lu Chuan’s family runs a company."

"Hmm? What company?"

"Qiangsheng Group."

Wang Song: "..."

"Pass me another one."

"I have two more packs in my room. I thought this might be a long-lasting battle, so I’ll bring some down for Brother Wang later."

Although Lu Chuan wasn’t much of a smoker, he always brought plenty of Chunghwa on trips.

It’s a social tool for men.

Especially useful for criminal detectives, the smoking old hands who often go on assignment.

In the afternoon, after lunch, Lu Chuan and Wang Song prepared to head back.

Only Li Donglin had to stay, as the Qinzhou City Public Security Bureau chief wanted to meet him to express gratitude.

"Lu, when I get home, I’ll send you that case, help take a look, will you?"

"And mine, the footprints, the footprints; I’ll send it to you when I get back."

"I have one too, Lu, help take a look when you return."

These days, no matter how skilled the criminal investigator, they all have a few unsolved cases.

Wang Song and the others took the opportunity to call in a favor from Lu Chuan. They’d heard of his reputation before – top of the fingerprint competition in the provincial department, awarded First-Class Merit!

This collaboration also showcased Lu Chuan’s abilities in footprint identification and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis. Such valuable manpower couldn’t be ignored.

"Alright, send them to my messenger, and I’ll get back with the results for you all."