I Play Dungeons in the Police Station-Chapter 414 - 251: Longhai 11·25 Dismemberment Case
"What about the video team? Did you find anything on your side?"
"We copied 3600G of video footage from all the social and civilian surveillance within three kilometers of the crime scene. Our video team took shifts watching it non-stop, but we haven’t found anything unusual."
"Any matches from the DNA testing?"
"No."
"What about the missing persons case?"
"We’re still investigating, but there are no leads at the moment."
Hearing everyone’s reports, Qiu Cang frowned. Ever since the body bag was found by the riverbank, the homicide investigation procedure was initiated. It had been a week since then.
They had tried every method, but there was still not a single clue.
He was under a lot of pressure.
Qiu Cang rubbed his brow with his hand and asked, "When are the provincial experts arriving?"
"I asked this morning, and they said the experts have already left. They should arrive in about ten minutes."
It was a clerk from the special task force who answered Qiu Cang’s question. Dressed in a police uniform, she was dignified and played a key role in communications, especially in liaising with the provincial experts, which she was responsible for.
"They’ll be here in ten minutes? Then let’s take a break and wait for them to arrive."
Hearing that the experts would arrive in ten minutes, Qiu Cang announced a pause in the analysis meeting. Once the experts arrived, he would need to brief them further.
"Captain Qiu, what kind of experts are coming this time?"
Curious, the members of the task force couldn’t hold back their eagerness to know whom the provincial department had sent to help.
"I don’t know either. I heard from Director Fan of the Criminal Investigation Bureau that the provincial department recently formed a new guidance group. The person coming this time is the group’s leader. You’ll see when they arrive."
As everyone was heatedly discussing, the female officer’s phone rang.
She checked it: "The experts are calling."
"Quick, answer it."
"Hello..."
After hanging up, she turned to everyone and said, "The expert says he’s at the entrance of the police station and is asking for directions. I’ll go pick him up."
"I’ll come with you."
Seeing the experts had arrived, to show Longhai’s importance to the experts’ arrival, Qiu Cang decided to personally meet them at the entrance.
As the two reached the entrance, they saw a police car with a provincial plate, likely belonging to the provincial experts, and went to greet them.
Li Xiang and Yang Ming saw someone approaching and turned off the engine, stepping out of the car.
"Hello, welcome, experts from the provincial department, to guide us... Hmm? Where’s the expert?"
Qiu Cang, wearing a smile, came over to greet them, only to see two young people getting out of the car. He looked around but didn’t see anyone else.
"The one right in front of you, let me introduce, this is our Team Leader Li Xiang." Yang Ming, seeing the other side underestimate them due to their age, was instantly displeased.
He didn’t mind being underestimated, after all, he was indeed a junior. But Li Xiang was different.
Underestimating Li Xiang, he was the first to stand up against it.
"You’re the expert?" Qiu Cang widened his eyes, full of disbelief.
Isn’t the provincial department just messing around?
The situation here was dire, and they requested help from the provincial department, which sent two young people to deal with them. Could they be any less serious about this?
"That’s right. I’m Li Xiang. If you need help, I’ll take a look. If not, we can leave now."
Noticing their underestimation of him, Li Xiang wasn’t angry. His age was misleading, and it wasn’t the first time he’d been underestimated; he was used to it.
However, he wasn’t in the habit of ingratiating himself with those who didn’t value him. If they didn’t need him, he could simply leave, as he wasn’t the one driving anyway.
"Well, now that you’re here, let’s take a look together. Hello, I’m the Captain of the Longhai Criminal Investigation Team, Qiu Cang, and also the leader of the 11·25 special task force. This is Qu He, our task force’s capable assistant. I apologize earlier; it wasn’t directed at you. I just didn’t expect the experts to be so young."
Seeing that they were already here, it wouldn’t make sense to make them leave just like that. It was better to let them try. If they turned out not to be useful, then he would report back to the provincial department later.
Thinking of this, he forced a smile and said, "Team Leader Li, please."
Li Xiang followed Qiu Cang into the meeting room. At this time, over twenty members of the task force were sitting together row by row, and they were curious when they saw Qiu Cang bringing in two young people.
Wasn’t Captain Qiu going down to meet the experts?
How come he brought back two young people?
However, some people noticed the police rank on Li Xiang, and given his age, he was already a third-rank police supervisor. Could it be?
A frightening thought crossed everyone’s mind.
This third-rank police supervisor, even younger than everyone here, wouldn’t be the expert sent by the provincial department, would he?
Qiu Cang’s first words confirmed their suspicions.
"Let me introduce everyone. These are the experts from the provincial department, Li Xiang and Yang Ming, here to assist us in our investigation. Now that everyone is here, let’s begin."
Without waiting for everyone’s reactions, Qiu Cang announced the start of the meeting. He was worried that someone might cause trouble, and if word reached the provincial department that the experts they sent were treated unfairly, Longhai would face consequences in the future.
"Team Leader Li, let me first brief you on the case details."
"Team Leader Li, please sit over here." Qu He arranged seats for Li Xiang and his colleagues to sit down, and Qiu Cang began the case briefing.
"On November 25, Xiangshui Police Station received a report call at seven in the morning. A sanitation worker cleaning debris from the Xiangshui River found a garbage bag floating on the water. Initially, he thought it was just garbage and didn’t pay much attention to it, using a bamboo pole to retrieve it. When he opened it, he found it contained human limbs and immediately reported it to the police."
Having said that, Qiu Cang posted all the photos sampled from the crime scene at the time.
He even displayed the highly disturbing photos of the dismembered human remains in the bag, thinking that since Li Xiang and his partner appeared young, they might not have seen much, and such photos would typically cause strong psychological discomfort in young people. This was also a chance to assess their caliber.
Their reaction satisfied him; both of them remained composed, suggesting it wasn’t their first time encountering such a horrific case.
"After receiving the homicide report, we rushed to the scene immediately. On one hand, we conducted a site investigation; on the other, we conducted door-to-door visits with the surrounding villagers. Some villagers said they had been to this spot a few days ago and didn’t notice the bag at the time. It seemed the bag was only recently thrown there. We then retrieved all the social and civilian surveillance within a three-kilometer radius of the central scene. Our approach was to retrieve as much as possible, for as long a period as possible. However, after reviewing a large amount of footage, no suspicious individuals were found."
Afterward, Qiu Cang took out the victim’s autopsy report and said, "Due to severe decomposition of the body, the forensic pathologist estimated the victim was a female, around thirty years old, and her actual time of death was likely a month ago. We then analyzed the water quality and flow of the Xiangshui River. Due to heavy rains a few days ago, the water flow was rapid. The aquatic plants in the river, mainly Subularia aquatica, mainly grow between December and June. Since now is their growing season, we speculate that the bag with dismembered remains had actually been underwater for quite some time, and the rising current due to the growing aquatic plants caused it to float up. As it was an ordinary plastic bag, it didn’t attract the attention of passersby. If not for the sanitation worker retrieving it, it might not have been discovered."
"After extensive visits and investigation, along with a comparison of missing persons, we’ve yet to find the source of the body."
Qiu Cang explained the current situation to Li Xiang and then looked at him and asked, "We have limited clues at the moment, and the case isn’t progressing. That’s why we sought assistance from the provincial department. Team Leader Li, do you have any thoughts?"
