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

Chapter 1184 Interrogation of Zhou Jianming

Xiao Wang nodded: "Don't worry, Captain Li, I've made all the arrangements. The team members are on their way to Xiaohe, and the technical department is ready for testing."

Sunlight streamed through the windows of the branch office building, illuminating the four gilded characters "Enforcing the Law for the People," which gleamed brilliantly. Li Ming knew that arresting Zhou Jianming was only the first step in solving the case; the subsequent interrogation and evidence collection were crucial. But he believed that faced with irrefutable evidence, Zhou Jianming would eventually confess to his crimes, giving Deng Yong's family closure and ensuring justice was served.

The incandescent lights in the Criminal Investigation Division's interrogation room were blindingly bright. When Zhou Jianming was brought in, he deliberately walked with a steady gait, his hands cuffed behind his back, yet he tried to straighten his back. He wore a neatly ironed gray shirt, the cuffs rolled up to his forearms, revealing a quartz watch on his wrist—the hands ticking steadily, a stark contrast to Deng Yong's Shanghai-brand watch, stopped at 10:15. Xiao Wang sat opposite him, slamming the DNA verification report onto the table with a "thud," the sound of the paper hitting the surface particularly clear in the quiet room, startling Zhou Jianming so much that his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

“Zhou Jianming, do you know why you’re being arrested?” Xiao Wang’s voice was flat, his gaze fixed firmly on Zhou Jianming’s eyes. Zhou Jianming’s fingertips lightly traced the table leg; his nails were neatly trimmed, a stark contrast to his years of working on construction sites. “Officer Wang, I don’t understand,” his voice maintained a deliberately calm tone. “I’m cooperating with the investigation. I’ve stated Deng Yong’s case many times already; I only know him, nothing more.”

Xiao Wang opened the DNA report, pointed to the conclusion of "16 sites perfectly matched," and pushed it in front of Zhou Jianming: "The unknown DNA in Deng Yong's fingernail crevices is completely consistent with your DNA profile, with a match rate of 99.99%. How do you explain this?" Zhou Jianming's gaze fell on the report, his pupils instantly contracted, and the rubbing of his fingers stopped, but he quickly regained his composure: "This... this may have been left from previous contact, for example, when he came to ask for shipping fees, we accidentally brushed against it during our argument, it's quite normal."

"An accidental brush could leave enough skin tissue to be detected?" Xiao Wang pressed, pulling up a photo of Deng Yong's right index finger—the skin tissue fragments under the fingernail showed obvious tear marks. "The forensic doctor said this was left by Deng Yong scratching the suspect during the struggle before his death. The edges have irregular shapes caused by the struggle, which cannot be formed by simple contact." Zhou Jianming's breathing became rapid. He picked up the water glass on the table, but because his hand was shaking, he spilled most of the water on his pants, and the dark water stains spread quickly.

The clock in the interrogation room ticked away, each second feeling like a taut pull on a nerve. Xiao Wang didn't rush to ask questions, but instead pulled up Deng Yong's call log, playing the recording of the call from 9:15 PM on October 1st. "The shipping fee has to be settled today, or I'll go after the developer!" Deng Yong's impatient voice echoed through the room through the speakerphone. Zhou Jianming's body jolted, his grip on the water glass tightening until his knuckles turned white: "I...I don't remember. There were too many phone calls that night, maybe something like that happened, but I didn't see him."

"You haven't seen him?" Xiao Wang suddenly raised his voice, pulling up a screenshot from the surveillance camera at the north gate of the construction site—at 9:30 pm on October 1st, a figure wearing a gray shirt walked into the construction site warehouse, and the figure closely matched Zhou Jianming's. "Who is this? The construction workers said that only you went to the warehouse that night. You said you were 'checking materials,' but what materials were you checking? The indentations in the warehouse compartments are exactly the same size as the items wrapped around Deng Yong's body. You dare to say you haven't seen him?"

Zhou Jianming's lips pressed into a straight line, and he remained silent for a full five minutes before slowly speaking: "I admit, I saw him that night, near the warehouse." His voice was slightly hoarse. "He came to ask for the shipping fee, and we got into an argument. He shoved me, and I shoved him back. That's probably when he scratched me. But I really didn't kill him. He was perfectly fine when I left!"

"What time did you leave? Who can prove it?" Xiao Wang pressed, his gaze fixed on Zhou Jianming's eyes. Zhou Jianming's eyes began to dart around. He avoided Xiao Wang's gaze and looked towards the corner of the wall: "Around...around 10 o'clock. No one can prove it. I went back to the office alone." His finger traced circles on the table, as if he were recalling something, or perhaps fabricating a lie.

Xiao Wang knew that Zhou Jianming was still struggling and needed more evidence to break down his psychological defenses. He pulled up a photo of the shovel head, where the black fibers were clearly visible: "This shovel belonged to Lao Zhang at the construction site. It was borrowed by Li Jun before October 1st and later found near the warehouse. The soil on it matches the foundation pit, the fibers match Deng Yong's work clothes, and your fingerprints, although wiped clean, the technical department still extracted a trace amount of your sweat from the gaps in the shovel head—the DNA matches you perfectly."

Zhou Jianming's body began to tremble slightly. He covered his face with his hands, his voice trembling with tears: "I really didn't kill him! I just argued with him and pushed him a few times. How could he die? Is someone framing me?" He became increasingly agitated, slamming his fist on the table and shouting, "I'm the site manager, how could I kill someone? You must have made a mistake!"

Xiao Wang calmly observed him, waiting for him to compose himself slightly before producing the final piece of evidence—a photo of Deng Yong's dump truck. The truck was hidden in a warehouse compartment at the construction site, covered with a tarpaulin, and the yellow mud on the truck body perfectly matched the foundation pit. "We found Deng Yong's dump truck in the warehouse compartment. There was your hair on the seat, and although the fingerprints on the steering wheel had been wiped away, we still detected your fingerprints using a special reagent." Xiao Wang paused. "You say you didn't kill him, so why was his truck in a warehouse compartment that only you could open? Why was his phone in the drainage ditch at the north gate of the construction site, where only your footprints were found?"

These pieces of evidence struck Zhou Jianming's psychological defenses like hammer blows. He slumped into his chair, his hands hanging limply at his sides, tears streaming through his fingers and dripping onto the interrogation record. "It's...it was me who killed him," his voice hoarse as if sanded, each word filled with endless remorse, "but I didn't do it on purpose, he forced me to!"

Xiao Wang handed Zhou Jianming a glass of warm water. After taking a few sips, Zhou Jianming gradually calmed down and began to recount the murder in fits and starts. "I owed Deng Yong three thousand yuan in transportation fees, and it's been almost a month," he said, his fingers tracing aimlessly on the table. "I've been short of funds lately, and I misappropriated some of the project funds. If he complains to the developer, I'm finished. On the afternoon of October 1st, he called me and said that I had to get the transportation fees that night, or he would go to the developer's office and cause trouble. I could only arrange to meet him at the construction site warehouse to try and negotiate a few more days."