The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1176 Fibers in the Cracks of the Wall

The two continued walking into a narrow alley behind the material storage area. The alley was so narrow that only one person could pass at a time, with the construction site wall and the fence of the neighboring residential area on both sides. Xiao Sun's footprint light swept across the ground, and a new set of size 42 shoe prints appeared in the alley, this time with more cement debris. "Stride length 70 centimeters, stride width 16 centimeters, more stable than before," he said while taking the footprints. "The suspect's gait returned to normal after coming from the warehouse to here, perhaps he was more relaxed after disposing of the body."

Xiao Yang stopped at the base of a wall in the middle of the alley, his investigation light illuminating a black fiber embedded in a crack in the wall. "It's the same as the previous polyester fiber, but thicker," he observed under a microscope. "The linear density of a single fiber is 4.0 dtex, which may have come from the lining of the suspect's clothing." There was also a fresh scratch on the wall, about 10 centimeters wide and 1.5 meters high. "It looks like it was rubbed off when moving heavy objects, and the black pigment residue is consistent with that of a plastic bag."

"How do you think the suspect transported the body to the foundation pit?" Xiao Sun leaned against the wall to rest, wiping the sweat from his brow. "From the warehouse to the foundation pit, you have to go around most of the construction site. There are too many people during the day, so it must have been at night." Xiao Yang pointed to the back gate of the construction site at the end of the alley: "The back gate wasn't locked, and the surveillance cameras were broken. The suspect probably came in from here, hid the body in the warehouse first, and then dragged it to the foundation pit and buried it after the construction workers left late at night." He paused, "Zhou Jianming said that yesterday afternoon a man wearing a hoodie asked about the filling time. Maybe the suspect was confirming whether the body would be covered up quickly after burying it, reducing the probability of discovery."

Xiao Sun suddenly found a tattered black cloth bag next to a trash can at the alley entrance. It was similar in style to the one in the previous pile of scrap, but much more worn. "The bag opening has tears, and the shape of the tear is the same as the previous bag," he said, turning the bag inside out. "It's covered in yellow mud and black plastic scraps, and the fiber composition is the same, so it must have been used by the same person." There was a blurry mark on the bottom of the bag, like a trademark that had been soaked in water, but the writing was no longer legible. "There's no way to trace its origin through the trademark; it's too common."

When the two returned to the center of the construction site, the technicians had already bagged the body and were preparing to transport it back to the brigade. Xiao Yang sorted and boxed the extracted fingerprint cards, fiber samples, cigarette butts, and shovel heads, while Xiao Sun organized the footprint rubbings and photos. "The fingerprints are too blurry; only some feature points can be extracted. The brigade's technical department will use professional software to repair them and then compare them," Xiao Yang said, counting the evidence. "The fiber samples will be sent for infrared spectroscopy analysis to determine the specific material and source; the soil composition of the shovel head will be compared with the yellow mud in the foundation pit, and the DNA from that hair will also be tested. We'll have to wait for the results."

“The most troublesome thing is identifying the deceased,” Xiao Sun said, flipping through the photos of the scene. “The watch face had no engravings, the buttons were from a regular jacket, and neither the cloth bag nor the plastic bag was marked. The body was so badly decomposed that it was impossible to identify the person by appearance.” He remembered Zhou Jianming saying that “there was a book in the plastic bag.” “We need to have the technicians carefully examine the contents of the body to see if they can find any fragments of that book. Maybe that will be a clue.”

Xiao Yang suddenly remembered something and pointed to the watch face next to the foundation pit: "The hands are stopped at 10:15. Is it morning or evening? If it was damaged when the body was disposed of, it might be the time of disposal. But the watch face has no calendar, so we can't determine the date. We can only speculate that the time of death was more than a week ago based on the degree of decomposition, which overlaps with the time when Li Jun left the construction site (last week)."

“But Li Jun’s identity has not been verified yet,” Xiao Sun added. “Zhou Jianming only has his temporary registration information, not his ID number, so we have to contact the labor company to check. If the shoe print is Li Jun’s, and he borrowed the shovel, then he is highly suspicious; but if it is the hoodie man’s, then it may be an outsider who committed the crime.”

As the two handed the evidence to their colleagues in the technical section of the detachment, the sun was already setting. Xiao Wang from the technical section took the evidence box: "Fingerprint reconstruction, fiber analysis, and DNA testing will take at least 24 hours, but soil composition comparison is faster, and the results should be available by tomorrow morning." Xiao Yang instructed: "Focus on whether the soil on the shovel head matches the foundation pit, and whether the fibers can be matched with the type of clothing."

Back at the construction site, Li Ming was summarizing the situation with Xiao Wang. Xiao Yang handed over the investigation report: "After expanding the search area, we found more size 42 shoe prints, the same fibers, and a shovel head that appears to be a body disposal tool, but none of them are direct clues—the shoe prints don't match the identity, the fibers are common, and the shovel has no handle and no fingerprints." Xiao Sun added: "The identity of the deceased still cannot be determined. We haven't found any identification documents or unique markings that can prove the identity. We have to wait for the technical department's results and compare them with subsequent missing persons reports."

Li Ming looked at the full page of investigation records, his fingertip tracing the names "Li Jun" and "man in black hoodie": "First, check Li Jun's real identity and whereabouts. At the same time, expand the scope of the surveillance investigation and look for suspicious persons who entered and exited the back gate of the construction site between October 1st and 7th." He looked up at the gradually darkening construction site, the shadow of the tower crane stretching long on the ground. "Although there are no direct leads, at least we've narrowed down the suspects. Once the technical department's results come out, we can further pinpoint the direction."

Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun stood outside the police cordon, watching the construction site gradually quiet down, with only a few construction lights still on. "The most troublesome thing about this case is the lack of direct clues," Xiao Sun sighed. "All the clues have to be verified by testing, and the identity of the deceased is a major obstacle." Xiao Yang nodded, his gaze falling on the direction of the foundation pit: "But at least we've found more related traces. As long as the test results can connect these clues, we'll eventually find a breakthrough."

As night deepened, the wind carrying the scent of earth blew through the construction site, causing the survey records in the two men's hands to flutter slightly. Every trace and every piece of data on them held fragments pointing to the truth—but at this moment, these fragments had not yet pieced together a complete outline, waiting for the instruments in the laboratory to uncover their hidden secrets.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wang was conducting a site visit and investigation.

The afternoon sun scorched the cement ground of the Oriental Garden construction site. As Xiao Wang walked towards the temporary prefabricated house, the yellow mud stuck to the soles of his shoes crunched under his feet. The construction workers were gathered under the shade of the trees next to the prefabricated house, their enamel mugs tapping crisply on the stone table. When they saw him approaching, the noisy chatter instantly subsided, leaving only the hum of the fans.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. I just want to get some information from you," Xiao Wang said, spreading his notebook on his lap and taking out cigarettes from his pocket to distribute to everyone. "From the afternoon to the evening of October 7th, did anyone see any strangers at the construction site, or hear any strange noises?" The cigarette burned between his fingers, and the smoke mixed with the dusty smell of the construction site slowly spread above the crowd.