frightfiction Chapter 1151 Beishan Park
Chapter 1151 Beishan Park
"I took a photo at the observation deck and posted it on WeChat Moments, pretending I was just passing by..." The EXIF information of that photo on WeChat Moments showed that it was taken at 22:15 on May 9th, which perfectly matches the record of "a black Cayenne leaving at 22:10" after the underpass surveillance was restored. The dashcam's trajectory also confirmed his confession that he "took a detour to create an alibi".
As the escorts prepared to take him away, Song Qiang suddenly broke free from the officers and lunged into the puddles inside the culvert. When he was pulled back, he was soaked to the bone, his prison uniform clinging to his body, making him look like a waterlogged corpse. "I'm sorry to him..." His screams echoed in the culvert, ironically echoing the on-site investigation record of "no obvious signs of struggle"—this murder, born of jealousy, was meticulously planned and executed from drugging to disposing of the body, yet when the truth was revealed, it exposed the perpetrator's inherent cowardice.
As Xiao Wang closed the investigation record, the morning mist dissipated, and sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the stone slabs at the culvert entrance. Those previously scattered clues—the drugged coffee, the impacted trunk, the bloodstained wrench, the binding nylon rope, the traces of drowning—were now all identified by Song Qiang, fitting perfectly with the details of the crime scene investigation and forensic autopsy. Like a reassembled lock, finally, with the key of the incriminating evidence, its most menacing core was revealed.
Less than a week after the Song Qiang case was closed, the Criminal Investigation Division received another report.
Li Degao, an elderly man practicing his morning exercises, still had his Tai Chi sword stuck diagonally in the park's soil. The red silk tassel on the sword was damp with dew, clinging to the bluestone slab like a congealed bloodstain. When Li Ming arrived at Beishan Park, the police tape had already cordoned off the bushes. The morning exercisers stood on tiptoe outside the cordon, their chatter startling the sparrows in the treetops. "I found the person," Li Degao said, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold his thermos, goji berries swirling in the murky water. "At six o'clock sharp, I had just finished practicing my cloud hands when I saw a hand sticking out from the holly bush, handcuffed..."
Xiao Yang was squatting in front of the bushes, the beam of his investigation light drawing a bright line through the rising dew. "The deceased is male, in a prone position," he said, measuring the distance from the body to the path with a ruler. "1.2 meters from the bluestone path, half-hidden by holly branches and leaves, with a metal handcuff on the right wrist, the chain is 20 centimeters long, and the lock is intact." Xiao Sun's footprint light swept across the mud, revealing a size 43 leather shoe print that was particularly clear. The pressure surface of the forefoot was 18% larger than that of the heel, and the stride length was 78 centimeters. "This footprint extends from the west gate of the park, with a steady gait, a stride angle of 12 degrees, and an outward gait, estimating the height to be 175-180 centimeters."
Xiao Wang placed the interrogation record book on his lap, the pen nib hovering over the words "Li Degao, male, 68 years old, retired teacher." "When was the last time you came to this thicket?" the old man suddenly asked, pointing to the bench behind the holly bushes. "Yesterday evening at 5:30, I rested here. I didn't see anyone, nor did I smell anything strange." His fingers trembled in the morning light. "Today at 6:02, I parted the holly leaves and saw his face, eyes staring at the sky, tongue sticking out halfway..."
Xiao Yang's tweezers picked up a blood-stained holly leaf, a silvery-white fiber hanging from the serrated edge. "The leaf broke off fresh," he observed it against the light, "The broken surface shows signs of life, indicating it was forcibly pried open. The fiber's preliminary composition is wool—possibly from the suspect's clothing." Xiao Sun found a half-smoked cigarette butt next to the body. The lip print on the filter was blurred, but the degree of burning of the tobacco indicated it had been deliberately extinguished: "A Zhonghua brand cigarette, butt length 3.5 centimeters, moderate smoking intensity, DNA on the filter is being tested."
Xiao Wang's questioning shifted to the details of discovering the body. "What about the handcuffs?" Li Degao suddenly stood up, gesturing to the length of the chain: "Like the kind police use to catch thieves on TV, the links are solid, not toys." He then pointed to the body's trouser leg, "There's a patch of mud there, a darker color than the park soil, like it was brought from somewhere else." Xiao Sun immediately took a sample; the mud's moisture and composition differed significantly from the park soil, containing trace amounts of engine oil.
Xiao Yang's investigation light stopped at the collar of the body. There was a 2x3 cm tear on the left chest of the gray jacket, with irregular edges. "The fibers in the tear are stretched and deformed," he observed with a magnifying glass. "It wasn't torn by a tree branch; it looks more like it was caught when someone dragged you from behind." Xiao Sun found a button next to the tear. It was a four-hole round button made of black resin, with dark blue fibers stuck to it, which were completely different from the composition of the jacket's lining—it might have come from the suspect's clothing.
“The surveillance cameras at the west gate of the park have been broken for three days,” Xiao Wang said, flipping through the park management office’s records. “But the surveillance cameras at the south gate captured a man in a black hoodie dragging something into the park at 1:23 a.m. on May 15th. His build and footprints match the characteristics estimated.” Xiao Yang suddenly noticed something under the corpse’s fingernails and carefully picked it out with a probe: “It’s a piece of skin tissue with hair follicles. It’s not the deceased’s—it should be from scratching the suspect during the struggle.”
Li Degao suddenly remembered something, and his thermos slammed heavily on the ground: "At 5:30 a.m., I heard the sound of a motorcycle starting up deep in the park. It sputtered for three minutes before stopping." Xiao Sun's gaze immediately turned to the northwest corner of the park, where a gravel road led to the national highway outside: "The tire tracks on that gravel area were new, model 110/90-16, belonging to a heavy motorcycle. The mud composition in the tire treads was exactly the same as that on the corpse's trouser leg."
As the technicians began securing the scene, Li Ming's gaze fell upon the handcuffs. "Standard handcuffs," he said to the officer beside him. "Check all police equipment reported missing in the city over the past three months, focusing on officers wearing size 43 shoes." The faint sound of morning exercise music drifted from afar, and the metallic clanging of Tai Chi swords seemed to conceal the final cry for help from the handcuffed victim, seeping into the soil of Beishan Park along the path of the dew.
As Xiao Wang closed the notebook, Li Degao was still muttering about that eye staring at the sky. "He seemed to have something to say," the old man's voice trembled, "that look...it was terrifying." Suddenly, Xiao Sun noticed a keychain next to the motorcycle tire tracks, with a faded police badge hanging on it—exactly the same as the standard badge of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, except it was missing a five-pointed star.
On the highway outside the cordon, the police car's engine was still idling. Li Ming looked at the morning mist deep in the bushes and suddenly said to the officer beside him, "Investigate the officers who have been recently dismissed or discharged, especially those who have been disciplined for violations." The mountain wind in the distance swept through the treetops, carrying the scent of dew, as if hiding the identity of the handcuffed dead man, waiting to be picked up from the holly bushes.