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

Chapter 1146 Initiating Surveillance and Investigation

“But his shoes were yellow rubber shoes, which didn’t match the size 42 rubber-soled sneakers found at the scene. Moreover, the truck’s dashcam showed that he only got out to check the tires.” The truck owner was a building materials business owner, and the delivery slip from May 9th proved that he was hauling steel bars at the time and did not have time to commit the crime.

While visiting shops along National Highway 339, Xiao Wang found Aunt Liu, the owner of a grocery store next to an underpass. Her freezer was filled with popsicles, and a radio on the glass display case was playing Henan opera. “There was a heavy rainstorm on the night of the 9th,” she said, wiping an oil bottle on the counter with a rag. “Around 10 p.m., I heard a loud crash from the direction of the underpass, like something heavy had fallen. I thought it was a truck dropping something, so I didn’t dare go out to check.” When Xiao Wang pressed her for details about whether she had seen any suspicious vehicles, she pointed to a car repair shop across the street: “Old Zhou’s shop didn’t close until 11 p.m. that night. Go ask him.”

Zhou, the owner of an auto repair shop, was changing brake pads on a truck, the oil stains in the ditch shimmering with rainbow colors. "I did see a black sedan parked at the entrance of the underpass on the night of the 9th," he said, twirling a wrench in his hand. "I didn't see the license plate clearly, but there was a dent in the rear of the car, like it had been rear-ended. It parked around 10:40 pm and drove away at 11:00 pm sharp, splashing me with mud." Xiao Wang pulled up the records of black sedans that passed by that night. There were 87 vehicles in the city that matched the description, but by late at night, only 63 had been ruled out. The remaining 24 had no clear alibi.

The most suspicious vehicle was a black Volkswagen without license plates. Surveillance footage captured it exiting the underpass at 10:50 AM, exceeding the speed limit by 50%. "This car appeared on the surveillance footage three times," Xiao Li said, piecing together screenshots. "On the afternoon of May 8th, and at noon and evening of May 9th, it stopped at the underpass entrance for a few minutes each time." Xiao Wang went to the vehicle management office to retrieve the vehicle information, but there was no record in the system; it was clearly a car with a fake license plate. Zhou, the mechanic at the auto repair shop, suddenly remembered: "The car's exhaust pipe sounded off; it sounded like it had been modified, with a particularly loud sputtering noise."

While visiting the building materials market, Xiao Wang found Lao Li, who sold industrial binding ropes, in the third row of shops. His stall was covered with colorful ropes, the thickest of which was 2 centimeters in diameter. "We sold 17 rolls of this dark blue nylon rope in early May," Lao Li said, flipping through his yellowed ledger. "Most of them were bought by nearby construction teams, and 10 rolls were sold to Hongda Construction Company, which has a construction site on National Highway 339." Xiao Wang found Hongda's project manager, who provided a material requisition form showing that two rolls were requisitioned on May 9th, but both were used for binding steel bars, and there were verifiable outbound records.

In the gym's locker room, Xiao Wang found Zhang Baoshan's locker. A photo of Zhang's bodybuilding competition was pasted on the locker door, and inside was a training logbook. The last page read, "May 9th, special student, usual spot." "The usual spot probably refers to the culvert," Xiao Wang said, taking a picture of the logbook. "His students said that Zhang Baoshan would occasionally take them to an open area near the culvert for training; it's secluded and suitable for explosive power training." But the surveillance camera in the open area had been broken for six months and couldn't capture anything.

By the fifth day of the investigation, Xiao Wang's notebook was filled with clues: the white CR-V was ruled out, the blue Jiefang truck was irrelevant, the black Volkswagen had a fake license plate, the whereabouts of the 17 rolls of nylon rope... but none of them directly pointed to the murderer. "The most troublesome one is that car with the fake license plate," he sighed, looking at the photo on the whiteboard. "No license plate, no track, like a ghost that appeared out of thin air and disappeared." Xiao Li suddenly pointed to a blurry figure in the surveillance footage: "This man in overalls appeared at the culvert entrance at 10:20 pm on May 9th. His height and build are similar to our deduction of the murderer, but his face was covered by the brim of his hat."

Xiao Wang sent the photo to the technical department, only to receive the reply, "Unable to clarify." Standing at the culvert entrance, gazing at the murky water, he suddenly felt that the murderer was hiding in some blind spot of the surveillance cameras, coldly watching them struggle amidst countless clues. The distant horn of a truck pierced the clouds, startling the sparrows on the culvert wall. Xiao Wang's gaze fell on the plastic bag floating on the water—like all the fragmented clues, it didn't know where the current would carry it.

While Xiao Wang was investigating the surveillance video information, Zhang Hui was also investigating the so-called mysterious special student.

When Xiao Zhou's police car pulled up in front of the Sunshine Fitness Center, the glaring sunlight reflecting off the glass curtain wall made the four gilded characters "Sunshine Fitness" appear somewhat blurry. The receptionist, holding a folder, ran her fingers across the membership registration form, the glitter on her nails shimmering under the lights. "Among Coach Zhang's private training members, there aren't any called 'special students'," she suddenly remembered something, "but recently a man in gray overalls has been coming in, not buying a membership, just hanging around watching Coach Zhang's classes, sometimes even mimicking his movements."

In the gym's monitoring room, the screen showed a frozen image from the afternoon of May 8th. A man in gray overalls stood at the edge of the weight room, his gaze fixed on Zhang Baoshan, who was instructing a student, his right hand unconsciously clenching the hem of his shirt. "That's him," the receptionist pointed to the screen, "his name is Liu Jianjun, a construction worker. He said he wanted to lose weight but couldn't afford a membership. Coach Zhang is kind and occasionally gives him some pointers, but he's not a formal student." Xiao Zhou zoomed in on the image; the man was about 173cm tall, slender, but with clearly defined arm muscles, fitting the profile of someone "with a fitness background."

When Liu Jianjun was found, he was carrying bricks at a construction site beside National Highway 339. Sweat streamed down his hard hat strap, staining his cement-dusted work clothes with dark marks. "I audited Coach Zhang's classes," he said, wiping his hands repeatedly on his work pants, his calloused palms worn white. "But I had no grudge against him, and I'm heartbroken that he's dead." Xiao Zhou's notebook lay open on a cement pipe at the construction site, the pen pausing on the words "Where were you that night?": "Where were you that night?"

Liu Jianjun's Adam's apple bobbed violently as his gaze drifted towards the distant tower crane: "Working overtime on the construction site, from 7 pm to 2 am, moving steel bars, the foreman and my coworkers can all testify." He suddenly pulled a crumpled receipt from his pocket, "This is the ticket I bought for bottled water at the site store at 9:15 am, it has the time on it." Xiao Zhou took the receipt, the date and time were clearly visible, and the store's surveillance footage also confirmed this—he entered the store at 9:10 am and left at 9:17 am, and was within the surveillance range the entire time.

When visiting the construction site foreman, Old Wang was measuring steel bars with a tape measure, the markings of which gleamed silver in the sunlight. "Liu Jianjun was indeed working overtime that night," he said, pointing to Liu Jianjun's name on the attendance sheet.