Chapter 323: Chapter 264: Parallel Branch
On March 19th, Wangyin Mountain said he was at home.
Then last night, he had dinner with a few friends from the village at an old duck soup restaurant near City College.
They ate until after ten p.m., and since he’d had too much to drink, he went straight home to rest.
Shen Xin asked for the specific names of who he was drinking with.
All of this had to be verified.
But having asked this much, Shen Xin felt that Wangyin Mountain was probably not a suspect.
From here to Shitang Reservoir, it was an hour’s drive even by taxi.
Leaving the restaurant after ten and then going back to the village, he wouldn’t have gotten home until eleven at the earliest.
If he then took a taxi to Shitang Reservoir, it would have already been midnight.
Time-wise, it might have been possible, but Wangyin Mountain had a disability and limited mobility.
Most importantly, his build didn’t match the suspect in the motorcycle helmet seen in the surveillance footage.
He was thinner, with narrow shoulders.
"Officer, are we done here?" Wangyin Mountain asked, looking resentful.
Shen Xin glanced at him, then pointed to the stall. "Give me a box of strawberries."
Wangyin Mountain stared at Shen Xin, and after confirming he was serious, he quickly grabbed a plastic bag, packed a box of strawberries, and handed it over.
"It’s on the house."
"No need."
Shen Xin scanned the code to pay before taking the box and turning to leave.
The task of verifying the alibi was left to Xi Fenghua and the others, while Shen Xin drove back to the New District Branch first.
Which suspect to investigate next would depend on Zhang Hancheng’s arrangements.
In the car, Ding Yuwei asked Shen Xin what he thought of Wangyin Mountain. As she spoke, she unconsciously opened the plastic bag, ready to eat a strawberry.
"Don’t eat that."
Shen Xin stopped her.
Ding Yuwei froze.
Shen Xin said, "Wait. When we get back, let Odin have a sniff first. The box has Wangyin Mountain’s scent on it, and Odin remembers the suspect’s scent. We can use it to confirm."
’Since Odin can remember the killer’s scent,’ Shen Xin had just realized, ’I can just bring him along when investigating the rest of the eleven people on the list.’
That was why he’d decided to return to the New District Branch first.
It dawned on Ding Yuwei, and she quickly tied the plastic bag shut.
She was silent for a moment, then said suddenly, "Shen Xin, I feel like you’re improving so fast. I can barely keep up with your pace anymore."
Like just now, the moment Shen Xin saw the fruit crates, he immediately guessed that the person with the stall at the intersection was Wangyin Mountain.
Then he cleverly asked for a box of strawberries, planning to have Odin smell it.
’And I actually thought he just wanted to buy a box of strawberries to eat.’
This feeling was growing stronger and stronger for Ding Yuwei.
Last summer, the two of them had been partnered up.
But in all the time since, Shen Xin had grown so quickly, while she was lagging far behind.
Shen Xin quickly said, "What are you talking about? You’re so smart, you practically have a photographic memory. I can’t compare to you."
Ding Yuwei bit her lip and said no more.
They sped all the way back, and soon, the two arrived at the New District Branch.
Odin and the other dogs were leashed by the entrance.
Shen Xin immediately took out the strawberries and let Odin sniff them.
He hadn’t been in a hurry to take the box earlier, precisely because he wanted Wangyin Mountain to hold it a little longer. He just wasn’t sure if the scent would have dissipated after all this time.
Thankfully, it hadn’t.
Through their mental link, Shen Xin confirmed that Odin had picked up a person’s scent.
But it wasn’t the killer’s scent he had smelled before.
This alone proved that Wangyin Mountain had nothing to do with the case.
’That makes sense,’ Shen Xin thought.
This lead from He Wei was just a long shot on Zhang Hancheng’s part. Finding something would be a pleasant surprise; finding nothing was to be expected.
These people, like Wangyin Mountain, were just as He Wei had said: old and washed up.
He found Zhang Hancheng, reported the situation, and also mentioned his idea of using Odin to identify the killer.
"Can he remember it?"
Zhang Hancheng was a bit surprised.
Even if he could remember the scent, the difficult part was getting him to proactively alert them when he encountered the killer, to understand that this was the person they were looking for.
Shen Xin nodded. Odin could remember it, and he could understand what was required.
Zhang Hancheng was stunned. "Xiaoshen, if that’s the case, couldn’t we solve any case with a police dog?"
When a murder occurs, you just have the K9 find the suspect’s scent at the scene.
Then you could directly identify the killer.
Because a person’s scent is very difficult to change.
"That’s a little too miraculous, isn’t it?"
Zhang Hancheng sucked in a sharp breath, his gaze on Shen Xin changing.
As far as he knew, none of the dogs from the K9 training base could do something like that.
Shen Xin felt Zhang Hancheng might be getting too optimistic and quickly explained that it wasn’t that amazing.
First of all, just distinguishing the suspect’s scent at a crime scene is no easy task.
And if the suspect did leave a scent at the scene, you could actually track them right then and there.
The dogs from the K9 training base can do that much.
The only advantage is that the dogs I train are smarter, with better memory and comprehension.
They might be able to remember a scent and then use it to identify a suspect.
But the prerequisite is that you have to find the suspect first.
"That’s true."
Zhang Hancheng nodded.
If you’ve already locked onto a suspect, you don’t really need a K9 to identify them.
After saying this, he still looked a little regretful.
’If it worked like I imagined, we could solve any case with a K9.’
Zhang Hancheng checked the time and said, "Alright, how about this. I’ll assign someone to you. You two take Odin and confirm everyone on the list as quickly as possible."
"We’ll consider this a supplementary investigation. If you run into anything or need anything, contact me anytime."
The main task force would still focus on Xu Rulin’s social circle and the fishermen who frequented Shitang Reservoir.
Shen Xin’s task was a parallel, secondary line of inquiry.
"Then, once Lao Liu’s side clears things up, I’ll see if I can arrange a lineup and have Odin try to make an identification. We’ll give it a shot."
It sounded like an unorthodox approach, but with a deadline to solve the case, any method that worked was worth using.
Shen Xin nodded and got moving right away.
The person Zhang Hancheng assigned was named Geng Ke.
He was quite young, not even thirty, and had joined the criminal investigation detachment right after graduation.
In a situation like this, it was either due to connections or real skill.
Shen Xin was inclined to believe it was the latter.
The moment they met, Shen Xin sensed that this guy was not to be trifled with; his eyes were particularly sharp.
He was tall, about the same height as Shen Xin, with a slender build that gave off a dangerous aura.
’He’s probably a combat expert,’ Shen Xin thought.
But he was quite amicable and even offered to drive.
Their objective was the same, so there was no need for excessive pleasantries.
The next name on the list was Cao Xi.
He was from the New District.
Specifically, from the former Old City District.
The Old City District area had since been incorporated into the New District.
And back in the day, He Wei’s main territory was the Old City District.
It was almost five p.m. by the time they found him.
He had just finished his shift and was returning from the wet market with groceries.
According to He Wei, this man was one of his four "King Kongs" back in the day.
He was skilled with a watermelon knife, had even saved He Wei’s life once, and his most impressive feat was taking on six guys by himself.
But now... he was fifty-three, with graying hair, greeting neighbors as he walked by carrying his groceries.
He was just an ordinary, unremarkable person.
He drove a taxi now and liked to play mahjong after work.
Last night, he was at the neighborhood chess and card room playing mahjong until almost two in the morning.
A solid alibi.
After saying their goodbyes, the three of them tirelessly moved on to investigate the next person.
Shen Xin didn’t have high hopes of finding anything on their end; his focus was still on the main team’s progress.
On the way, he used his phone to ask Zhao Tianxing about the status of his canvassing.
Zhao Tianxing just showed off his step count and complained that his legs were about to break.
But for now, he had found nothing.
Meanwhile, on the fishermen front, there were no new discoveries either.
The people who were familiar with Huang Weili’s group and had eaten with them had all been identified, and their alibis were now being checked.
According to their recollections, aside from themselves, they hadn’t noticed anyone unusual among the regulars who had come to fish at the reservoir over the past month.
As the feedback came in, it felt like the fisherman angle was slowly becoming a dead end.
Xu Rulin’s social connections were also under investigation.
He ran a software company whose main business was providing custom software systems for enterprises, public institutions, and government agencies.
Its registered capital was five million yuan.
His ex-wife was one of the shareholders.
No problems had been found with the company so far. Their business was doing alright, with an annual revenue of about twenty million yuan.
For example, the consultation system at City First Hospital was developed by them.
Beyond that, his social life was a bit more complex, as he often dealt with various organizations.
The current focus was on finding any unknown intersections between him and Huang Weili.
But they hadn’t found anything yet.
It was the same on Shen Xin’s end.
The trio ran all over the city that day, not stopping until almost eleven at night.
Of the eleven people on the list, five had been ruled out.
These once-fierce men, these so-called big shots, were now just ordinary people.
And two of them weren’t doing very well in life.
When he returned to the branch, Chen Chao and his team had just gotten back as well.
After a full day of canvassing, especially in the villages and residential areas around Shitang Mountain, they had found nothing.
The assumption was that if the killer fled over the mountain, they would have chosen a route far away from residential areas.
They ate a quick dinner. Resting was out of the question.
Shen Xin went to help review the surveillance footage.
He watched until two or three in the morning, only getting a little sleep when he absolutely couldn’t stay awake any longer.
The next day, he was up early again to continue yesterday’s unfinished task with Ding Yuwei and Geng Ke.
Still, they found nothing.
One person had moved out of town.
After finding a place to eat lunch, the three set out again to investigate the ninth person on the list.
This person was named Fan Lei.
His most recently registered address was in Hui’an New Village on Hongmei Street.
He was fifty-one years old.
He used to run with one of He Wei’s rivals. When He Wei mentioned him yesterday, he said Fan Lei was the quiet but dangerous type—the kind of dog that bites without barking.
Then, in ’04, around the same time as He Wei, he was arrested for multiple counts of intentional injury.
He was sentenced to twelve years, got two years off for good behavior, and was released in ’14.
Hui’an New Village was the old staff housing for the former Precision Instrument Factory. But now the factory was gone, leaving behind a block of buildings that hadn’t been demolished due to unclear ownership rights.
Unit 7, Apartment 201.
Shen Xin and the others knocked on the door, but it was the door to 202, across the hall, that opened.
A middle-aged woman poked her head out and asked who they were looking for.
Shen Xin said they were looking for Fan Lei.
The woman said they had the right place, but he was probably out.
With that, she slammed the door shut.
Shen Xin thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, I’ll call the Hongmei Police Station."
Shen Xin was familiar with the Hongmei Police Station, especially their director, Chen Ju, whose nickname was Director Chen. He’d left a deep impression on Shen Xin.
Downstairs, Shen Xin got Chen Ju’s phone number and called him directly.
He remembered that Chen Ju had worked at the Hongmei Police Station his whole life, so he should be very familiar with the situation here.
Sure enough, the moment Fan Lei’s name was mentioned, Chen Ju knew exactly who he was talking about.
"Old Fan has had it rough. I remember arresting him quite a few times back in the day."
"But he did over ten years in prison. He was already getting old when he got out. He’s just living a normal life now. He shouldn’t be involved in any trouble, right? Why are you suddenly asking about him?"
Shen Xin obviously couldn’t reveal any case details, so he just said he needed to verify some information with Fan Lei.
Chen Ju didn’t ask any more questions and told Shen Xin to wait a moment.
He was probably shouting for someone, asking the beat cop for this area.
Soon, he came back on the line. "I asked. Old Fan should be working at a construction site now. I’m not sure which project, but I think it’s somewhere in Nanzhu."
"How about I help you find a phone number for him? I should be able to track it down."
Nanzhu?
Shen Xin froze for a second. ’That’s near the crime scene.’
