Chapter 181: Li Yi Arrives

Late at night, in the forensic lab of the Municipal Bureau, Wang Anguo, Li Yuanqing, and the others watched quietly as forensic pathologist Qin Ya carefully removed the clothing from the skeleton, piece by piece.

Although the skeleton was completely devoid of flesh and blood, it still looked somewhat terrifying.

It was truly hard to imagine that a young woman in her twenties wasn’t the least bit afraid, as if the bones before her were nothing more than leftover chicken or pork bones.

It took quite a while before Qin Ya finally managed to peel away the severely decayed clothing and extract the skeleton.

Since there was almost no flesh left on the deceased, they could only look for the cause of death and clues on the bones themselves.

Soon, Qin Ya pointed to a massive fracture at the top of the skull and said, “Captain Wang, judging by the integrity of these bones, the victim’s limbs didn’t sustain significant damage. However, this area was struck by a blunt object with such force that it crushed through the skull—an injury severe enough to be fatal!”

Wang Anguo nodded and said, “In other words, the victim may have been killed by a blow to the head with a blunt object!”

“Exactly!”

At that moment, Li Yuanqing said in a grave tone, “The impact point is at the back of the head, which means he was likely killed while completely off guard or unable to defend himself!”

Hearing this, Wang Anguo and Li Yuanqing exchanged a glance and said in unison, “It was an inside job!”

“Could it have been a family member?” Wang Anguo asked in a low voice.

“Impossible!”

Li Yuanqing continued, “After the incident, we conducted a thorough interrogation and investigation of Tan Yuanqiao’s family. None of them had an alibi.”

“Besides, Tan Yuanqiao and his wife had a very good relationship. They have three children—there’s absolutely no way they’d kill for money.”

“What about his friends?”

“We only asked them a few casual questions at the time; we didn’t investigate them in depth…”

Wang Anguo immediately said, “That should be a useful lead—it might just be the key to solving the case!”

“Hmm!”

Suddenly, Wang Anguo’s gaze fixed on the oil drum containing the body.

Although the drum had become heavily rusted after more than a decade of exposure, the words “State-Owned No. X Gas Station” were still faintly visible.

“Look into this drum. A large drum like this was a rarity over a decade ago. Anyone capable of procuring something like this to store a body isn’t just an ordinary person!” Wang Anguo said.

“Yes!”

…….

Early the next morning, Wang Anguo had just gotten out of bed when he saw Li Yuanqing rushing over.

As soon as they met, he exclaimed excitedly, “Captain Wang, it’s been confirmed—the deceased is Tan Yuanqiao!”

“Did you find any evidence?”

“Yes. After work yesterday, I made a special trip to the Tan family home to speak with Tan Yuanqiao’s wife. I told her about the discovery of the remains, and she revealed a crucial detail to me!”

“What detail?”

“She said the buttons on the outfit Tan Yuanqiao was wearing before he went missing were different from those worn by the textile factory workers. The reason is that a few days before he disappeared, he got drunk, took a fall, and lost several buttons.”

Li Yuanqing continued, “At the time, she searched the entire house but couldn’t find a matching button, so she just sewed on a random one. That’s why there’s one button on Tan Yuanqiao’s shirt that’s different from the rest!”

“Before coming here, I went back to the forensic lab and carefully examined the clothes on the body. Sure enough, I found that the bottom hem of the garment was different from the rest!”

“So, you’re saying the deceased is Tan Yuanqiao?”

“Yes.”

Li Yuanqing continued, “Furthermore, I’ve investigated this: the Model Worker medals issued by the city back then were numbered, and the one Tan Yuanqiao received was numbered 665—which perfectly matches the number of the medal we found in the victim’s pocket.”

“All the evidence points to the deceased being Tan Yuanqiao!”

“Now that we’ve confirmed the victim’s identity, we should thoroughly investigate Tan Yuanqiao’s relationships before his death, especially those acquaintances whose lives have undergone significant changes.”

Wang Anguo continued, “We didn’t find the missing money on Tan Yuanqiao’s body, so there’s good reason to believe the killer’s motive was financial gain!”

“And when someone suddenly comes into that much money, they might be able to hold back for a year or two, but it’s impossible to keep up the pretense for over a decade without spending any of it. We can definitely start our investigation from this angle!”

“Exactly!”

“Comrade Yuanqing, go notify everyone that the team’s key members are to report to the conference room immediately in twenty minutes. We’ll review the evidence and split up to investigate!”

“Yes!”

……..

While Wang Anguo was busy leading the investigation, Li Yi had already arrived in the city.

He hadn’t come here to help Wang Anguo solve the case; after all, he hadn’t known about the oil drum murder case before arriving.

To be honest, Li Yi’s sudden trip to the city was entirely aimed at that billionaire, Huang Lixing.

Li Yi had heard a thing or two about this Mr. Huang.

Mr. Huang is from Guangdong Province and just turned fifty this year. In his youth, he and some fellow villagers, relying on their strong swimming skills, swam across the Pearl River to Hong Kong Island to make a living.

He was a man of vision and determination. Starting out as a porter at the docks, he worked his way up to running a street stall, then opened a factory, got into the clothing business, and eventually established a foreign trade company.

After more than thirty years of development, he finally amassed assets worth over 100 million, making him a well-known tycoon on Hong Kong Island.

Moreover, he possesses keen investment acumen. Upon learning that large-scale reforms were underway in mainland China, he immediately recognized this as a massive business opportunity.

Consequently, he began to consider expanding his business into the mainland.

By a stroke of luck, he met Director Feng of the Investment Promotion Bureau of North Sai Province at a high-level conference, and the two hit it off immediately.

At Director Feng’s strong invitation, Huang Lixing immediately decided to take his wife and bodyguards to Sai Bei Province for an inspection tour.

Originally, Director Feng had intended for Huang Lixing to invest in the provincial capital, but after surveying the situation in Qingcheng, Huang felt its potential was limited and suggested visiting the various cities further down the line.

Ning City was their second stop in North Sai Province. Under normal circumstances, they would have continued on to explore even more remote locations like Lu City and Coal City.

Unexpectedly, however, on the third day of their arrival in Ning City, he and his wife were found dead in their hotel room—a truly tragic turn of events.

Even more shocking was the fact that, after a thorough investigation, the police discovered that the murderer was none other than Huang Lixing’s own bodyguard.

Although the case was eventually solved, it left a terribly bad reputation for Saibei Province.

For many years afterward, foreign investors would flatly refuse any invitation from the Saibei Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau upon hearing its name, which severely hampered the province’s economic development.

Li Yi’s interest in the matter wasn’t driven by concern for the Investment Promotion Bureau’s reputation, but rather by the hope that he might use this Mr. Huang to resolve his current financial crisis.

If possible, he wouldn’t mind having Mr. Huang spend his money to save his own life!

He was still mulling over the specifics of how to go about it.

But no matter how he went about it, he had to get to the city first.

So early this morning, he said goodbye to his family and headed into the city.