For the police, working overtime at night is a common occurrence, especially when dealing with major and serious cases. Throughout the entire investigation phase, "night owl" almost becomes a standard for participating officers.
At 9 PM, in the conference room of the Hechuan City Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment. Mei Qian sat in a chair, legs crossed, leaning back against the chair, his head bowed in "deep thought." The instant noodles on the table in front of him still gave off wisps of heat. Next to the noodles was a file on the suspect, Wu An.
"This Wu An is just an unemployed drifter, doing nothing. He's not even from here. Right now, it's hard to even find any information about him, let alone find him," two police officers working on the case muttered quietly while eating their noodles.
Just then, the conference room door opened, and Yan Qing, Gao Xiaofei, and Ping An walked in.
"What's wrong? It's been all day, and you still can't find this Wu An?" Yan Qing pulled up a chair, patted Mei Qian on the shoulder, and said to the other two officers.
"Director Yan, Chief Gao, this Wu An isn't from around here. And according to our investigation, his ID card has expired. He's currently homeless and has disappeared without a trace, like he's fled," Mei Qian said, rubbing his eyes.
"People like this are the hardest to deal with. Ping An, do you have any ideas?" Gao Xiaofei sidestepped and pushed Ping An, who was sitting on the outer edge of the conference table, forward, gesturing towards him.
"I don't have any ideas for now. Someone wants to harm Wu An. If I were him, I'd hide too," Ping An said calmly, lighting a cigarette.
"What! You say someone wants to harm Wu An? Who told you?" Mei Qian's sleepiness vanished instantly, and he widened his eyes, looking at Ping An.
"Niu Jian! You heard that recording too, didn't you!" Ping An said.
"When did Niu Jian say that? Don't make things up!" Mei Qian said angrily.
"Alright, alright! How about we play the recording again and listen together?" Ping An asked Yan Qing.
"Xiaofei, Mei Qian, and Ping An, the three of you come to my office. The rest of you, please rest for a while and take care of yourselves," Yan Qing ordered.
in Yan Qing's office, as the three entered one by one, Yan Qing motioned for Gao Xiaofei to lock the office door.
"I'm going to play the recording again. Ping An, I've listened to this recording several times. Are you sure Niu Jian conveyed such information to you?" Yan Qing asked seriously again.
"No need to play the beginning, just the last part. I'll point it out to you," Ping An found a piece of white paper, picked up a pen, and prepared himself, signaling Yan Qing to play the recording.
"I still have to take care of my uncle. Uncle is very important. Uh, you also pay attention to resting more. When you're out, be steady, be down-to-earth, be healthy..."
After listening to the recording, everyone in the room still couldn't find any information conveyed by Niu Jian. They all looked at Ping An.
"Before I start, let me say this: news investigation and criminal case investigation have fundamental differences in meaning, functional outcomes, and legal principles. I admit that I have overstepped this time. Because in the past, I have always strictly followed the methods of a news reporter, obtaining news information through legal means. This time, I trespassed on the crime scene, causing great inconvenience to everyone and violating public security management regulations in practice. I will naturally bear the legal responsibility that I should bear, otherwise, my work would have no value or meaning." Before starting, Ping An made a self-criticism about what had happened and expressed his willingness to bear legal responsibility. This attitude surprised Mei Qian.
"As I said, I am a reporter. When reporters and detectives investigate something, their purposes, outcomes, identities, and functions are different, and so are their investigation methods. In layman's terms, you police can use positioning systems and view surveillance videos unconditionally when looking for someone. But if we want to find someone, we need to be legal and compliant. Since I don't have law enforcement authority, I have to rely on continuous visits and inquiries, piecing together clues provided by many people to determine where this person is. Even if found, the police can summon or detain them. But we can only obtain some information through interviews with their permission," Ping An said.
"And the reporter's advantage, or professional advantage, lies in knowing how to obtain more useful information and how to use the information they possess to achieve the goal of news dissemination."
"Having said all this, I can demonstrate Niu Jian's recording to you all," Ping An said. "Before meeting Er Zuizi, I wouldn't have expected what Niu Jian meant in this conversation. But now, I know what he meant, and I can deduce that Wu An is not the one who killed Niu Jian."
"Er Zuizi told me four pieces of information just now. Uh, I spent 400 yuan on this. This money..." At this point, Ping An glanced at Yan Qing, who pretended to be oblivious and didn't respond. Ping An said with some dissatisfaction, "The Public Security Bureau will naturally not reimburse me. However, I still want to share it with you. First, Niu Jian and Wu An were both taxi drivers. Later, Niu Jian reported Wu An for operating an illegal taxi, and Wu An was expelled. Later, Wu An made a living with ride-sharing. Wu An has always hated Niu Jian, and they often fought. Second, Wu An's income has been very stable in recent years. It seems he was hired by a boss for long-distance trips. Third, recently, Niu Jian has been working with Wu An frequently, and Wu An even gave Niu Jian several thousand-yuan orders for long-distance trips. Fourth, recently, a group of ride-sharing drivers has been colluding and confronting taxi drivers. Explicitly and implicitly, ride-sharing drivers have been blocked by taxi drivers several times, and each time Niu Jian was the leader."
"Mei team, you probably don't have this information, do you!" After saying this, Ping An looked at Mei Qian and continued, "After I heard this information, I casually asked Er Zuizi a question. Of course, this question was given to me for free. The question was, does Niu Jian have an uncle? Guess what he said? He said no!"
"Look at the recording of Niu Jian's call to me. Don't you notice that when he talked about reporting, a serious matter, he actually fabricated an uncle? What does this mean?" Ping An said. "Have you ever seen elementary school fill-in-the-blank questions? After I got this news, I recalled everything Niu Jian said to me, and I discovered something interesting. First, in the four calls he made to me, he always called me Reporter Ping An. Due to Mandarin pronunciation issues, 'Reporter Ping An' is easier to say than 'Ping Reporter.' I've been a reporter for so many years, and readers always call me Reporter Ping An. Few people call me Ping Reporter. In his last call to me, he called me Ping Reporter. Second, why did he spend so much time talking about a non-existent uncle in such an important call? Third, in the three blessings he gave me at the end, the words used were very inappropriate. When you're out and about, what's the best blessing? It's my name, Ping An, or 'Ping Ping An An' (safe and sound). Why didn't he say such common and easy-to-say words? Instead, he found unrelated phrases. It's because these phrases, like his way of calling me, don't include the character 'An'!" Ping An said. "'Uncle' and 'An.' What do these two words mean? Can 'no An' be replaced with 'Wu An' (meaning no An)? Could 'uncle' be 'jiu jiu' (meaning save save)? Put them together, doesn't it mean 'Save Wu An'?"
After saying this, Ping An picked up the water on the table, blew on it, and took a small sip. He needed to give those three a moment to digest it.
"But this is just your deduction. There's no evidence!" Mei Qian said first.
"If I were to approach this solely from my identity as a reporter, after encountering this situation, I would convey my thoughts – mind you, my thoughts – to more people. And I never said this was a foregone conclusion with solid evidence!" Ping An said. "Earlier, I talked about the difference between reporters and police. This is the biggest difference. If all these recordings and the information Er Zuizi gave me were made public, someone would also draw my conclusion. As a reporter, I don't need to aim for solving the case. To put it bluntly, in this era of 'content is king' and 'clicks are king' in integrated media, I only need to attract attention. Why should I keep going in circles trying to find evidence?"
"I understand that. When I worked with Ping An on cases before, he would often give us deductions using his methods, but without evidence, we couldn't move forward. However, later, after many cases were solved, it turned out his deductions at the time were correct, but they were abandoned because there was no supporting evidence," Gao Xiaofei said sentimentally, recalling past events. "Police solve cases based on evidence. They can't adopt Ping An's wild deductions. Sometimes, I strongly felt he was right, but because there was no evidence, he sarcastically called it 'going in circles.' Later, I tried to use Ping An's deductions as a direction for the investigation and then collect evidence to prove those deductions true. It's like solving an equation. With a proof process, it becomes much easier, and many cases were solved as a result."
"To put it simply, you need evidence, and I need motive. For example, now, I assume Niu Jian and Wu An colluded to report someone. Niu Jian was killed. At a critical moment, he sought help from his uncle, Wu An. Then Wu An is the key person who knows everything," Ping An said. "Whether you are trying to apprehend the suspect or protect Wu An, please find him as soon as possible."
"If your deduction is reliable, Ping An, why didn't Wu An report Niu Jian's murder?" Mei Qian found a loophole in Ping An's deduction and asked. "If all else fails, he could have contacted you, Ping An."
"If you were to report Director Yan Qing for having a mistress, would you loudly announce it at work beforehand?" Ping An retorted.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem! Ping An, don't make such inappropriate jokes!" Yan Qing's face turned dark.
"Can you be a bit more serious!" Mei Qian's face turned red.
"This is very possible. Look, tonight, there are only the four of us. Xiaofei and I would have reported it long ago. You just found out, and the next day Director Yan was reported. Who would Director Yan suspect first?" Ping An said with a serious expression.
"I'm almost 60 years old, and you're still joking about me?" Yan Qing's face grew even darker.
"Director Yan is not that kind of person. I would never report him!" Mei Qian's face turned even redder.
"Oh, that's because you haven't met Director Yan's wife! Old Yan, haven't you complained that even a hen can lay eggs, but your wife has never given you a child?" Ping An said without restraint.
"Ping An! Don't bring up people's shortcomings! Your grandmother!" Yan Qing was furious.
"Ping An! Shut up!" Mei Qian lowered his head in resignation.
"Hahahaha! Director Yan, if my aunt heard that, you'd have to buy her daisies again!" Gao Xiaofei, who was sitting aside, laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair. After finally stabilizing himself, he said, "I guess I understand what Ping An means. Niu Jian was murdered. If it was because of the report, how did the retaliator know about this? Who did Niu Jian tell this information to? Niu Jian trusted Ping An to his death, but why would Wu An trust him? Now that I think about it, perhaps the last fight between Niu Jian and Wu An was because Wu An didn't trust Ping An, let alone the police."
"Niu Jian told me in his last call in code, which means he was imprisoned at the time. He probably knew he wouldn't survive, yet he insisted I save Wu An. It's likely Wu An knows the truth of all this," Ping An said.
"The information Ping An gathered from outside (hey, it was bought, bought for 400 yuan! - Ping An interjected, but was ignored) is still meaningful for the investigation. Xiaofei, Mei Qian, you must observe confidentiality. This information cannot be revealed to outsiders for now, including Su Xia. Well, I'll tell you something on the side. The Municipal Disciplinary Committee has been secretly investigating Su Xia recently. I don't know the specifics, but you should be aware of it. Ping An, you shouldn't have known this, but I let you know to guard against it. When the Municipal Disciplinary Committee learned that Niu Jian was going to report the police, they became very interested in Niu Jian's murder case and decided to take action against some police officers who were already on the disciplinary investigation list. This is also one of the reasons why I asked Mei Qian to be the lead investigator in this case. You might not know, but this case and the report behind it have caused a stir in our municipal political and legal system. The Provincial Department and the Ministry of Public Security are paying attention, and the Provincial Department might even send an inspection team. You two must be careful, especially Mei Qian. Xiaofei also needs to avoid suspicion," Yan Qing said seriously. "Ping An, your deductions and information are helpful to this case. Next, I need to know what you discovered during your nighttime investigation of the construction site. I know you have something good, so spill it."
"I did gain something from the nighttime investigation of the construction site. How should I put it..." Ping An leaned back against the sofa and recalled carefully.
The time returned to a day earlier. The crime scene at the construction site. Ping An, Lin Dang, and Gao Da stood in three different positions around the cement work surface. The morning light of dawn had already illuminated the earth, ushering in a new day. But the three of them wore solemn expressions.
"I keep my word. If you feel there's anything related to this case, you can find me immediately, and I'll make a judgment. If it's used, it's 100 yuan!" Ping An said to the other two. "Now, begin!"
At the command, Lin Dang and Gao Da moved first. Although they were employees of a new media company, they still had the demeanor of reporters. With their "nose" for "finding fault" with businesses, she was first drawn to the cement work surface. She stepped on a stool, leaned over the work surface, and shone her flashlight for a detailed inspection. Gao Da, on the other hand, relying on his position as an old security guard at this site, having worked here almost every day for two years, was confident that he could spot anything, from every steel bar and wire to even a dog having urinated there. Currently, he was staring intently at a hole on the ground, unable to understand how it appeared overnight and what it was for.
Seeing the two of them motivated by their sense of justice (and yuan), Ping An was not idle. He ran to a corner of the construction site and became interested in a scissor lift placed there.
The overpass had only just had its base poured, so this scissor lift, used for high-altitude work by the workers, was the tallest structure on the construction site. The killer must have used this lift to create the scene.
"I know about that lift. We've thoroughly inspected it. It's covered in fingerprints. How can you tell whose fingerprint belongs to the suspect?" Mei Qian suddenly interrupted Ping An's narration.
"Do you still want to listen? How did you know I was looking for fingerprints?" Ping An said angrily. Yan Qing and Gao Xiaofei also glared at Mei Qian.
"You tell it, you tell it. I won't interrupt anymore," Mei Qian said, shrugging.
Indeed, as Mei Qian said, in an open environment like a construction site, any fingerprint on any object couldn't prove anything. What exactly was Ping An looking for?
"As expected, there's a handprint. My deduction was correct!" Ping An's flashlight followed the railing of the scissor lift, and he immediately found a complete handprint. Unlike the other handprints on the lift, this one was more complete. Although it was already covered in some dust, its completeness distinguished it from the others.
"Reward myself one hundred yuan!" Ping An's deduction was confirmed, and he was overjoyed, swaggering around Gao Da.
"Stop looking. This hole was made by a large rivet! Go to the tool cabinet over there and see if there are any rivets of the same size," Ping An said, pointing to the tool cabinet not far away, as Gao Da stared intently at the hole on the ground, seemingly knowing everything.
Upon hearing Ping An's words, Gao Da ran to the tool cabinet in three steps. In the second drawer, he indeed found a set of large rivets. When he compared them, they were indeed the same.
"Hmm, you found this too. Here's 100 yuan for you!" Ping An seemed to be getting more and more excited. He took out 100 yuan and casually handed it to Gao Da. Before Gao Da could react, he hopped back to the cement work surface.
"Teacher Ping An, I always feel there's something different about the cement concrete in this pool," Lin Dang said to Ping An.
"What you're seeing now is actually called a cement concrete bridge pier block. The outer layer is called a formwork, which is used to shape the cement concrete. Once shaped, it will be lifted by a crane and placed at the overpass pier location," Ping An explained. "You know, normal cement concrete has two stages of development: initial setting and hardening. After pouring cement concrete into the formwork, it will reach an initial set state in about 40 minutes to an hour, and then it will harden within a day or a few days, depending on climatic conditions."
"What you feel is different, is it because you found that the quality of this cement concrete is not very good? To be precise, it doesn't look like the cement concrete used in a major project?" Ping An asked.
Lin Dang touched the damp cement surface and said with certainty, "The leveling of the cement surface is also not perfect. It doesn't look like mechanical work."
Ping An smiled at Lin Dang and gave her a thumbs-up.
"It's good that you noticed this. You deserve 100 yuan, but I'm out of money tonight, so I'll owe you! Come, give me that steel bar over there, let's find some evidence," Ping An said, breaking off a piece of the cement surface and speaking thoughtfully.
The morning air was always refreshing, but at the construction site in Gaimu Village, it was a scene of dust and flying dirt.
"Reporter Ping An, what you're doing is destroying the crime scene. Will you be legally responsible? I just lost my job, I don't want to go to jail," said Gao Da, watching Ping An spend the past 40 minutes using a steel bar to dismantle the intact crime scene. The cement surface was dug out into an even larger hole, and even the formwork used for shaping was removed.
"Look, this layer of cement concrete and the overall block below are completely different," Ping An said, busy with his work and pointing to the crime scene he had destroyed beyond repair. "The most critical thing is that there are no steel bars inside the cement concrete as there should be."
"Stop! I also went to the crime scene you destroyed later. Besides the rivet holes, what's the significance of the other findings?" Mei Qian, who seemed to be holding back a bowel movement while sitting in his chair, couldn't help but interrupt Ping An's narration again.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ping An looked at Mei Qian as if he were an idiot and said, "The suspect had less than half an hour. I ask you, in half an hour, can you plant a corpse that has lost its head but is still warm into cement concrete like planting flowers? From the moment I learned about this case, I've been thinking about a key question: Why did the suspect drag Niu Jian to the construction site and do this? What was his purpose? What was he trying to conceal?"
The memory of that night. In fact, Ping An didn't need to say much more. The rivets that could be used to fix ropes, the scissor lift made of iron that could be used for high-altitude work, and the suspicious cement concrete surface everywhere. Among the four people sitting together, except for Ping An, the other three were experienced criminal investigators. With a little thought, they immediately understood what the suspect had done while Gao Da went to urinate.
"Without your absurd theories, we could also deduce how the victim entered the cement concrete work surface based on our deductions. It would be to drive a rivet into the ground in the shortest possible time, tie a rope to the rivet's head, and then push the wheeled iron scissor lift to the edge of the cement concrete work surface. Climb onto the work surface, insert an iron pipe or some other tool into the iron frame of the scissor lift. The protruding section below would be exactly in the center of the cement concrete surface. Finally, throw the rope up and create a 'winch crane.' Use force to lift the deceased with their head facing down, transfer them to the cement concrete surface, and then lower them down, naturally becoming as we discovered it," Mei Qian said. "I had already deduced this method when I arrived at the crime scene. As for the cement concrete? I guess what I thought is similar to what you are about to say. You discovered that the quality was poor and that there were no steel bars inside. It all boils down to saying that the part of the cement concrete used to cover the body was self-made by the suspect."
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