"The puncture wounds are not neat and have some degree of burr marks. The reason for these is that the weapon used by the perpetrator is not sharp."

"But the perpetrator still managed to kill four people with such a practically blunt weapon, especially when the perpetrator killed the two female victims, one with an abdominal wound and the other with a chest wound."

"This requires a tremendous amount of force. I roughly calculated that it might take at least a force of over 100 kilograms to inflict such wounds."

"Very few within the female demographic have the strength to reach this level."

"So, the probability that the footprints belong to a male is the highest."

"Whether the individual wore high heels as a disguise or for some other special reason is something that the crime scene investigation cannot infer."

"However... Personally, I lean toward a crime of passion!"

A crime of passion?!

A man, a crime of passion?!

"What do you mean?"

"We know the deceased Zhang Xiaotian once lived with Wang Junshan. I heard at noon during the investigation that a neighbor mentioned Zhang Xiaotian was GAY. Since the perpetrator is male and wearing high heels, can we deduce that he also had some kind of relationship with Zhang Xiaotian?"

"Of course, this is just speculation. We need further verification of the specific situation. Meanwhile, there’s a major question."

"While conducting interviews during the investigation, all seven tenants in the building claimed not to have heard any sounds. I find this suspicious."

Liu Guodong nodded, "We discussed this while conducting our experiments."

"The soundproofing of the incident room is very poor. During our crime scene investigation, we could vaguely hear the dialogues of the action team with the neighbors next door."

"From the crime scene’s condition, the two female victims seemed to have struggled with the perpetrator while being murdered."

"If a struggle took place, shouldn’t even a bit of sound have been heard?"

"Is it possible the scene was staged and there was no actual struggle?"

"Impossible!"

"The blood spatter at the scene shows no signs of being faked. Whether it’s from the angle and intensity of the spray, or the blocking of the spray’s trajectory, it couldn’t have been faked. The struggle at the scene involved three people."

This has been repeatedly confirmed on the crime scene investigation side, with Lu Chuan putting in considerable effort.

"Therefore, we suspect the tenants might not have been truthful!"

The judgment of Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan left everyone in silence.

"I agree with the crime scene investigation’s judgment."

After a moment, Zhang Hui was the first to speak, "We’ve all been to the scene. The soundproofing in that building is indeed very poor. Even though it’s the dead of night between three and four in the morning, we should have heard at least something."

"Moreover, some of these tenants work at the vegetable market and get up very early. They also said they didn’t hear any strange sounds, which doesn’t add up."

"Additionally, when we questioned Wang Junshan, we learned that the reason he moved out of the building was that Zhang Xiaotian asked him to join a Mutual Aid Association in March."

Mutual Aid Association?

"What Mutual Aid Association?"

"Wang Junshan didn’t know much about the Mutual Aid Association, only that it seemed to be some kind of organization within the rental building."

"I wonder if we can start investigating from this angle?"

Zhang Hui’s words grabbed everyone’s attention.

Though Zhang Hui didn’t make it very clear, his implication was...

"Conspiracy?"

This question brought the meeting room into silence.

Conspiracy in a murder case!

It’s not unheard of but very rare.

Through the years, the Criminal Investigation Team has solved numerous cases, and there have been instances of murder conspiracies before.

Several years ago, there was a very special case of murder conspiracy that was highlighted and studied across the entire system.

It was about an underage female student who accidentally killed a male student harassing her, and her father orchestrated a conspiracy involving the whole family to protect her from imprisonment.

By fabricating travel records and manipulating time concepts, they indirectly received alibi evidence from many contacts, initially escaping suspicion.

This story was even made into a movie later on.

In some murder cases, for instance, a son committing murder and the father helping to cover it up and coordinate alibis, this is not uncommon.

However, based on past cases, murder conspiracies generally occur among blood relatives.

A conspiracy among tenants within a rental building, involving seven households and over 20 people... it’s unprecedented.

"Are there any other leads regarding Wang Junshan?"

"Not at the moment."

Qin Yong tapped on the table, "Let me brief you on the next steps."

"The crime scene investigation team should expedite confirming the DNA analysis results, while the action team should accelerate the collection of blood samples from all tenants within the rental units."

This is standard procedure: performing a thorough canvas of everyone near the crime scene and comparing it with the suspect’s DNA information found at the scene. It might just lead us to a clue.

If a match is found, the case would be considered solved.

Because, probabilistically speaking, murder is confined by time and space.

It’s rare for someone to travel thousands of miles from one place to another suddenly, commit a murder, and then return directly.

Whether it’s a crime of passion, revenge, or for monetary gain, it is usually based on some temporal and spatial connection between the perpetrator and the victim.

This is why many murder cases usually involve spouses, neighbors, or relatives.

"Additionally, the action team should focus on investigating the Mutual Aid Association that Zhang Hui mentioned."

"Conduct detailed investigations on all tenants within the building but ensure to maintain confidentiality during the process."

"Yes!"

After the case analysis meeting concluded, Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan returned directly to the crime scene lab.

Yang Sen and Old Bai, wearing lab coats, were still busy inside the laboratory.

"How’s it going?"

"We’re almost done here. The preparatory work is complete. We’re just waiting for the action team to bring over the blood samples. We should be able to wrap this up in a day."

"I believe the culprit is hidden among these people, and once we compare the samples, the truth will come out." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Alright then, good work today. Let’s go back to the office and rest up. We’ll continue tomorrow!"

The forensic department is quite busy, with two bodies yet to be autopsied, so Wang Changjiang and Shen Yan will work overtime tonight.

The action team is even busier.

The initial on-the-spot inquiries raised concerns. Simply repeating the process will yield the same results as before.

Zhang Hui suggests conducting preliminary investigations, particularly regarding the landlord’s financial situation.

With some concrete information in hand, subsequent investigations will have a different level of authority.

Everything is proceeding in a tight and orderly manner.