FBH Chapter 34

After a couple discovered a body in the pine forest, they quickly ran out and called the police.

Arriving at the scene, the investigators were met with a horrifying and sickening sight: the body was swarming with greenbottle flies feasting on their “delicacy.” Startled, the flies buzzed into the air, reluctant to leave, circling the corpse.

This suggested the deceased was killed while defecating.

The forensic doctor donned protective clothing, rubber gloves, and a gas mask, and carrying an investigation kit, entered the central area of the scene. He meticulously examined the body, not overlooking any trace, and recorded every detail with a pen.

Based on the circumstances of the scene, the police believed that this was the primary crime scene.

The police initially thought it was a murder for money, but an inspection revealed that the deceased still had his mobile phone and cash on him. Furthermore, a drone was found in the deceased’s backpack, ruling out robbery as a motive.

Since the deceased was carrying his ID card, his identity was quickly confirmed: Guan Qi, male, 28 years old, from Zhaotong, Yunnan.

The video footage showed:

At approximately 10:00 AM on September 18th, Guan Qi was riding his motorcycle in the direction of Wutong City. A black sedan was closely following him, seemingly unnoticed.

Ten minutes later, the two men ran out of the pine forest empty-handed and in a panic, then quickly drove away from the scene. Guan Qi never emerged, leading to the conclusion that he was murdered at that time.

Later that night, Guan Qi’s motorcycle was ridden away by a stumbling, staggering drunk.

Investigators believed that the assailants had discarded the murder weapon near the scene. After a careful search, they found the weapon in a thicket about fifteen meters away from the site.

The police reviewed surveillance footage from the city network to meticulously track and investigate the vehicle involved, ultimately locating its last known location: a commercial residential area in the suburbs of Jincheng.

In accordance with the law, the investigating authorities notified the Golden Sea Tang Public Security Bureau in the jurisdiction where the suspects were located. The Golden Sea Tang Public Security Bureau cooperated with the investigation.

Through further investigation, the police discovered that the two suspects had hidden in a unit building and had not been seen leaving since. The vehicle involved was using a fake license plate, making it impossible to trace the owner. The lead ended there.

Unable to determine which floor or room the suspects were hiding in, the police had to check with the property management of the residential area. They finally identified the suspects and located their residence in room 902.

The identities of the two suspects were: Zhang Wei, 25 years old, from Nanchong, Sichuan; Ding Junfei, 27 years old, from Qijiang, Chongqing.

The experienced forensic doctor examined the color of the livor mortis and smelled the liquid in the syringes. He immediately determined that the deceased had died from cyanide poisoning.

On the small marble coffee table in the living room were two glasses and an empty bottle of white liquor.

Underneath the liquor bottle was a note that read: “My sins are too heavy, I have decided to atone for them with death.” A ballpoint pen lay beside the note. Additionally, a small bag containing white crystalline granules, suspected to be the chemical poison cyanide, was found in the coffee table drawer.

Judging solely from the suicide note, it would seem that the deceased undoubtedly committed suicide by poisoning. However, the police did not stop there and decided to dig deeper, as there were several unresolved points that bothered them:

First, there were two deceased, so why did the note say “I” instead of “we”?

Second, why would someone “atone for their sins” with death? It felt inexplicable and unrealistic, treating life as a game.

Third, the cups and liquor bottle on the coffee table were arranged neatly, as if deliberately placed.

Fourth, to draw the cyanide solution into a syringe, the cyanide crystalline granules would first have to be dissolved. However, after searching the entire room, no container used for dissolving the cyanide granules was found.

Therefore, the police suspected that the two deceased had died by homicide. The “suicide note” was either forged by the killer, written under duress by the victims, or written by the victims under false pretenses. The purpose of “leaving a suicide note” was to stage the scene, attempt to mislead the police, and evade law enforcement.

In light of this, the police immediately collected trace evidence from the scene – fingerprints and shoeprints – as clues and evidence for the investigation.

Given the gravity and complexity of the case, the police from both jurisdictions, after consultation, established a joint task force, dividing responsibilities and collaborating to apprehend the perpetrator as soon as possible.

After professional testing, the white crystalline granules found in the drawer were confirmed to be sodium cyanide. The aqueous solution from the syringes was taken to the forensic laboratory for testing, which concluded that the solution contained cyanide compounds.

Blood samples were collected from the deceased and tested, revealing the presence of cyanide in their blood.

Based on the above, the police determined that the deceased died of cyanide poisoning.

The police found a notebook recording work schedules in the bedroom of the apartment. From the content, it appeared that the worker was in the construction industry, although the name of the construction company was not specified.

The police noticed that the handwriting in the notebook was very similar to the handwriting on the note that read “My sins are too heavy, I have decided to atone for them with death.” To verify whether the handwriting was from the same person, the police took the notebook and the note to a handwriting expert in the city. The expert’s conclusion was that the handwriting on the notebook and the note was generally consistent, indicating that it was likely written by the same person.

Despite this, the police still maintained that the deceased had died by homicide. The killer had forged and cleaned the scene. The killer’s motive for murder was likely to silence them, while forging and cleaning the scene was an attempt to cover up evidence and mislead the police.

If the killer’s intention was to silence the victims, then the reason for their silencing was likely related to Guan Qi’s murder.

The police compared the fingerprints collected from the scene, including those from the syringes, and found that the fingerprints belonged to the two victims. No third-party fingerprints were found. However, among the shoeprints extracted, two were found to belong to a third party, indicating that the killer was very cautious when committing the crime and had taken appropriate protective measures.

At the same time, the police investigated the social relationships of the victims, Ding Junfei and Zhang Wei. As the investigation deepened, a man named Xiong Zhiyang came to the police’s attention.

This Xiong Zhiyang happened to be the same Xiong Zhiyang who was listed as a key suspect in the “7.18” cyanide poisoning case.

The police suspected that the suspect who had disguised himself was likely Xiong Zhiyang. Although the facial features of the suspect could not be identified, his body shape was very similar to Xiong Zhiyang’s.

How did Xiong Zhiyang come under police investigation?

If Ding Junfei and Zhang Wei were indeed the murderers of Guan Qi, then what was their motive for killing him? If Xiong Zhiyang was indeed the murderer of Ding Junfei and Zhang Wei, then what was his motive for killing them?

Further investigation revealed that on September 9th at 20:28, Ding Junfei transferred 10,000 yuan to Guan Qi via a mobile banking app. Following the lead, the police found that Xiong Zhiyang had transferred 10,000 yuan to Ding Junfei via a mobile banking app on the same day at 20:05. From this, it was inferred that the money Guan Qi received was transferred to him by Xiong Zhiyang through Ding Junfei.

Why didn’t Xiong Zhiyang directly transfer the money to Guan Qi, but instead transferred it to Guan Qi through Ding Junfei as a “middleman”? Why did Xiong Zhiyang give Guan Qi such a large sum of money? Why did Xiong Zhiyang instruct others to kill Guan Qi after transferring the money to him?

The police believed that Guan Qi had some leverage over Xiong Zhiyang, and Guan Qi used this to blackmail Xiong Zhiyang. Later, for some unknown reason, Xiong Zhiyang decided to kill Guan Qi.

To find out the reason for Guan Qi’s murder, the best way was to catch Xiong Zhiyang and find a breakthrough from him.

However, Xiong Zhiyang’s mobile phone was switched off, making it impossible to locate his whereabouts.

Wu Shuqi and her colleagues rushed to Xiong Zhiyang’s renovation company, only to learn that Xiong Zhiyang had already transferred the renovation company half a month ago.

In Wu Shuqi’s opinion, Xiong Zhiyang’s renovation business was doing well. His rush to transfer the company was unusual in itself. Did he plan to commit illegal and criminal activities after transferring the company?

In fact, after Wu Shuqi learned that Ding Junfei and Zhang Wei died of cyanide poisoning, she suspected that the case might be related to Xiong Zhiyang. After all, the two recent criminal cases she and her colleagues had been investigating were both related to cyanide poisoning, and in both cases, the police had listed Xiong Zhiyang as a suspect.

Therefore, Wu Shuqi and the task force members decided to launch a key investigation into Xiong Zhiyang, and Wu Shuqi’s guess was confirmed.

Wu Shuqi recalled the drone found by the Jinshui police at the scene of Guan Qi’s murder and found one of Xiong Zhiyang’s former employees, who learned that Xiong Zhiyang was a drone aerial photography enthusiast two years ago. He stopped playing with drones after a “crash” injured a passerby.

However, this informant also said that he came to Xiong Zhiyang on the morning of September 14th and found a box with a drone pattern printed on it in Xiong Zhiyang’s house.

Wu Shuqi suddenly realized something and said in her heart, “I know how the killer poisoned Zhu Houshi in the Zhu Houshi murder case!”

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