My attention immediately shifted, and I followed my uncle to a poplar tree. Sure enough, there was blood on a branch. I glanced at my uncle in surprise; the guy had sharp eyes.
Before I could react, my uncle picked up a cotton swab, applied something to it, and quickly collected the evidence. He then looked into the distance again and spotted more footprints on the ground not far away.
My uncle and I exchanged a look and immediately walked over. This time, I noticed the footprints were deep in some places and shallow in others, suggesting they belonged to two people.
My uncle quickly noticed it too. "There are two people here, and one of them is limping, with a problem in his left leg!"
"Yes, and the other person seemed to be carrying something, probably the body. It looks like two people dumped the body. This case is indeed interesting. I told you, that guy must be controlling some people to do things for him!"
"Could that writer be the mastermind behind some kind of organization?"
"Not necessarily, he just doesn't know what method he used to bribe those people."
"If that's the case, he's too formidable!"
"Enough talk, let's go back and see how everyone else is doing."
We tracked the footprints until they disappeared, finding ourselves on the road outside. It was so remote that there were no surveillance cameras.
The surrounding trees were dense, and there were countless straw bales scattered around. Even if there were cameras, the killers could likely have hidden and detoured around them.
These two guys really knew how to choose a dumping ground.
If we expanded the visual range to where we first entered the tea garden, there were too many people there, making it difficult for us to screen them.
Returning to the group, Gao Mingqiang told me that they had already questioned the tea garden owner. The deceased was actually another tea master at the garden.
He was a colleague of the one who found the body. It was supposed to be his shift that night, but his body was discovered in the morning.
I found the eyewitness, who told me, "This is too frightening. When I opened the tea cabinet, I almost fell to the ground. Who did Fan Jianyi (the deceased) offend to be treated like this!"
"Master, were you close with the deceased?"
"Just ordinary colleagues. I haven't been here long either, you can ask the boss."
"And how long after you saw the body did you call the police?"
"At most a few minutes. You know, ordinary people would be terrified at first upon seeing a body. Can you police officers react so quickly?"
I continued to ask, "Have you seen Fan Jianyi with any strangers recently?"
"I don't think so. This guy is quite introverted and doesn't have many friends. He spends most of his time in the tea garden. I share a dormitory with him after work."
"So when he didn't come back after work, you didn't look for him?"
"No, he sent me a message saying he had something to do outside and would be back later."
"Let me see your phone!"
The tea master handed me his phone. I saw a message from someone named Fan Jianyi. We couldn't find the deceased's phone on him; it was likely taken by the killer.
Fortunately, I found Fan Jianyi's number on this phone, which made things much easier. I quickly dialed it, only to hear the prompt that the other party's phone was turned off.
This further convinced me that the killer had taken the deceased's phone.
I returned the phone to the tea master, who anxiously asked, "With something like this happening, can the tea garden still operate?"
"Temporarily, no, of course not. But we will solve the case as soon as possible and resume operations here."
"Understood, hurry up. I don't want to lose my job because of this; I have many people at home to support!"
"Don't worry, it can be unsealed after the investigation is complete, but business here is likely to be severely affected recently!"
"Uh, that's unavoidable. I don't mind, it's just the boss who's in trouble."
I didn't say much more to him. At this moment, the tea garden owner walked over and consulted me on the same issues I had discussed with the tea master. I promised him that I would investigate the matter thoroughly and then brought up Fan Jianyi again.
"What kind of person do you think Mr. Fan was? Mr. Huang," I inquired.
Manager Huang seemed to be recalling, and after a moment, he replied, "Honest and quiet. He's still single, but I heard he was divorced before. I don't know the specific reason. He was quite diligent at work. As employers, we don't care about people's pasts as long as they can do the job. Oh, and his skills were quite good; many customers praised his tea brewing techniques."
I nodded. After a police officer beside me took some notes, I continued, "And what was your relationship with him?"
"Uh, I rarely come back to the tea garden because I have other businesses. I only visit the tea gardens to pay salaries. I have very little contact with the employees on a daily basis. If you're asking about our relationship, I only had the chance to observe him working. After he joined, we spoke a few words, and then he didn't say much else. Every time I saw him, he would just greet me and go back to work. To be precise, this person is extremely introverted. In all my time as an employer, I've never met anyone so introverted."
Listening to Manager Huang, I thought to myself how different this victim was from the previous ones. I remembered the previous ones were successful, outspoken, and arrogant. This time, the victim was weak and introverted.
Has the killer changed their taste in victims?
Wang Dajun has been arrested, so the killer is definitely not him. If my estimation is correct, the writer instigated it, and the scene clearly shows two people were present this time.
However, I compared the footprints and they didn't belong to the writer.
Everything that needed to be asked and collected had been done. I thought it was time to leave. I told Gao Mingqiang to continue packing up. This time, the Punitive Justice team was all here, so I didn't have to be in such a mess.
Back at the Gaogang City Police Station, the body was sent to the laboratory. Xie Chuchu and Xiao Dong prepared for the autopsy. We had previously notified Fan Jianyi's next of kin, his parents.
Upon learning of their son's death, the elderly couple was extremely heartbroken.
We comforted them for a while, and they felt a little better before the autopsy began.
The killer had been so meticulous that I expected very few clues to be found in the body. I did not participate, but instead instructed Liu Yuning, Xiao Yuande, Xiahou, and others to investigate Fan Jianyi's life trajectory, including his relationships, family environment, and current living situation, etc. Of course, the most important thing was to investigate the places he had been before the incident, including the deceased's phone records, etc. Of course, He Xin would be the fastest in investigating these.