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

Chapter 1134 Determining the Direction

Zhou Jianguo stared at the warehouse floor plan: "The murderer damaged the surveillance cameras, changed his shoes, and took the bearings. He has a strong sense of counter-surveillance, which doesn't seem like a first-time offense." He pointed to the ventilation duct, "Being able to reach through here to damage the surveillance cameras means his height and arm span match the calculations. Li Jun is 172cm tall with a 178cm arm span, which is just enough for him." Xiao Yang added, "There's a fresh scratch on the ventilation duct's grille, and the DNA from the remaining skin tissue matches the DNA on the motorcycle seat. We'll know this afternoon if it's Li Jun's."

The discussion continued until noon, and the clues on the whiteboard had formed a network: the blue motorcycle, the size 43 diamond-patterned shoe print, the missing bearing, Li Jun's half-hour gap in his schedule, the matching fiber composition... Li Ming downed the tea in his enamel mug in one gulp: "This afternoon, we'll split into three groups. One will keep an eye on Li Jun's movements, the second will investigate the motorcycle's whereabouts, and the third will re-examine the warehouse, focusing on finding the missing bearing." He looked at the sun outside the window, "No matter how cunning the murderer is, they will leave clues. That bearing could very well be the breakthrough."

As the meeting adjourned, Xiao Yang's investigation notebook was filled with new items to be investigated; Zhang Lin's forensic report had the words "metal scratch comparison" circled repeatedly; and Xiao Wang had marked three unusual material requisition dates on the material requisition record—all signed by Li Jun. The smoke in the meeting room gradually dissipated, and sunlight cast the shadows of windowpanes on the floor, like a code veiled over the truth of the case, waiting to be deciphered.

As Xiao Wang's police car pulled up in front of the bearing factory's machine repair workshop, the ear-piercing sound of a grinding wheel cutting steel poured out of the window. Li Jun squatted beside the machine tool, his wrench spinning rapidly. The knees of his blue overalls were frayed, revealing patched thermal underwear underneath. "Officer, here again?" He looked up, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead and into his collar. Half a Zhongnanhai cigarette pack peeked out of his overalls pocket—the same brand as the cigarette butts in the warehouse.

“Reconfirm his whereabouts at 11 PM on July 14th.” Xiao Wang’s notebook lay open on the greasy workbench, the pen nib hovering above the name “Li Jun.” Li Jun’s wrench suddenly got stuck in a bearing; he twisted it hard, sparks flying from the metal friction onto his shoes: “Didn’t I tell you? I was at the hospital with my mom, and went out to buy late-night snacks at 11 PM. The supermarket near the hospital can vouch for that.” He pulled a crumpled shopping receipt from his pocket, dated July 14th, 11:15 PM, with “Master Kong instant noodles, Shuanghui ham” printed on it. “If you don’t believe me, go check the supermarket’s security footage.”

Xiao Wang did check the supermarket's security footage. At 11:12 PM on July 14th, Li Jun appeared on the footage, wearing a gray jacket and carrying a shopping basket, wandering between the shelves. The timestamp clearly showed he left the supermarket at 11:17 PM. It would take him 5 minutes to walk back to the hospital, which matched the nurse's description of a "half-hour gap." "But why didn't you buy anything from the convenience store near the hospital?" Xiao Wang stared into his eyes. Li Jun's Adam's apple bobbed. "My mom wanted braised beef flavor, but the convenience store only had spicy flavor."

While investigating Li Jun's work shoes, Xiao Wang found the striped canvas shoes in his locker. Measurements of the soles showed that the right forefoot was 8% more worn than the left, completely contradicting the size 43 diamond-patterned shoe print at the scene, which indicated "more wear on the left forefoot." "Do you wear these shoes every day?" Xiao Wang shone a UV light on the shoe surface, finding only a small amount of machine oil on the upper, but no cement residue from the warehouse floor. Li Jun nodded: "I basically wear them all the time, except when showering or sleeping. I just changed the insoles last week."

Li Jun's motorcycle was parked in the shed behind the workshop, a faded cartoon sticker on the fuel tank of his blue Qianjiang 125. Xiao Wang had the technician check the seat and handlebars; the extracted DNA profile matched Li Jun perfectly, but no biological traces of Zhang Jianguo were found. "Did you ride it on the night of the 14th?" Xiao Wang touched the scratches on the fuel tank. Li Jun suddenly raised his voice: "No! My mother was hospitalized, the motorcycle has been parked here the whole time. Ask Old Zhang, who looks after the shed." Old Zhang confirmed that the shed's surveillance cameras on the night of July 14th showed Li Jun's motorcycle hadn't moved all night, and the shed's iron gate had been locked at 10 pm.

The DNA comparison results from the skin tissue on the vent fence came back. There were 5 discrepancies between the DNA sequence and Li Jun's at 16 STR loci, especially at the D3S1358 locus, where Li Jun's repeat count was 15, while the sample's was 17. "This means the marks on the fence weren't left by you," Xiao Wang said, placing the report in front of Li Jun. Li Jun suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, the wrench in his hand clattering to the ground. "I told you it wasn't me! Why are you all staring at me like that?"

Just as the investigation reached a stalemate, Li Jun's wife, Zhao Lan, suddenly arrived at the criminal investigation team. She was wearing a purple down jacket, her cuffs smeared with flour, and carrying a thermos. "Officers," she said, twisting her fingers on the lid of the thermos, "I brought Li Jun some food. Don't keep suspecting him. He's a coward; he can't even watch a chicken being killed. How could he kill someone?" Xiao Wang asked her to sit down and was about to ask her questions when Zhao Lan suddenly let slip, "My brother, Xiao Dong, came by on the night of the 14th, saying he wanted to borrow Junzi's motorcycle, but Junzi didn't lend it to him..."

"Your brother, Li Xiaodong?" Xiao Wang immediately turned to a new page in his notebook, and Zhao Lan's face turned pale instantly. "He... he just came to sit for a while, nothing else." Further questioning revealed that Li Xiaodong was unemployed and spent most of his time wandering around. Recently, he had accumulated gambling debts and frequently came to borrow money from his sister and brother-in-law. "Around 8 p.m. on the 14th, Xiaodong did come to the hospital," Li Jun's supplementary statement read. "He was wearing a black jacket and said he wanted to borrow a motorcycle to go to the suburbs. I didn't lend it to him, and he left cursing."

When Xiao Wang found Li Xiaodong's place, the lock on the rented room was rusty. The landlord said Li Xiaodong had moved out early on July 15th, owing three months' rent. "That kid rode a blue motorcycle," the landlord said, squatting on the threshold smoking a pipe, the embers in the bowl flickering in the sunlight. "The seat was lowered, it looked quite old, like a Qianjiang brand." He suddenly remembered something, "Around 10 pm on the 14th, I saw him tie a bulging black cloth bag to the motorcycle, I don't know what was in it."

In Li Xiaodong's rented room, the technician found a pair of size 43 diamond-patterned liberation shoes. The left forefoot of the sole was 12% more worn than the right forefoot, which closely matched the characteristics of the shoe prints found at the scene. Tests on the soil in the shoe seams revealed the presence of silicate components characteristic of warehouse floors, and a brown fiber was found on the shoe surface. Raman spectroscopy analysis showed it was completely consistent with the polyester fiber extracted from the scene. "These shoes belong to Xiaodong," Li Jun said, his face turning pale when he saw the photo. "He came to my house last month and said they were work shoes issued by the construction site. I even laughed at him for wearing such a large size."