Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Zhang Shaowu had a calm expression, and his emotions were also very composed, speaking as if... it was someone else who got cancer.

Song Mingguang took the teacup handed over by the other party and for a moment didn’t know what else to ask.

He had just been released from prison, only to be diagnosed with cancer.

The village chief who came along was full of astonishment. He didn’t know that Zhang Shaowu had cancer.

"Seventh... can this... still be treated?"

Yumin Village was already small, with only two or three hundred households when all the natural villages were combined.

The village chief was very familiar with the villagers.

When Zhang Shaowu was arrested and imprisoned, the village helped his family a lot.

Hearing the village chief’s question, Zhang Shaowu’s lips curled slightly, seeming to smile.

"It’s untreatable, the doctor said just to go home and wait."

"Besides, luckily it’s incurable, otherwise, I wouldn’t have the money for treatment anyway."

Under such circumstances, Song Mingguang and the others didn’t stay long and only got a basic understanding of Zhang Shaowu’s situation.

"Sun, collect a blood sample, and let’s go to the next place."

"Alright."

Blood sampling?

Hearing this, Zhang Shaowu’s expression changed slightly.

"Officer, about my illness..."

"Can we avoid blood sampling?"

"The doctor said I don’t have much time left and I should take care of my body, blood sampling..."

Zhang Shaowu was somewhat resistant to blood sampling.

Seeing this, Sun said: "It’s okay, just a few milliliters, it won’t have much impact."

"Seventh, the police have their needs too, how about this," the village chief looked at Song Mingguang: "Captain Song, could a smaller sample work?"

Song Mingguang nodded, for DNA verification, taking a blood sample wasn’t actually necessary.

"Sun, don’t take blood; just take a hair strand back."

Upon hearing there was no need to take blood, but just a hair strand, Zhang Shaowu said nothing and cooperated with Sun to collect the sample.

"Seventh, given your current health situation, call me anytime if you have any difficulties at home. The village will definitely support you fully."

In general, if someone in the village was sentenced, everyone would avoid them.

However, Zhang Shaowu’s case was special.

Back then, Zhang Shaowu left the village to work early, made some money, built a brick and tile house, and was among the first to become wealthy in the village.

Later on, Zhang Shaowu started to undertake projects outside, and people from the village went with him to work, making a decent earning from the construction projects.

But eventually, something went wrong during a project, and Zhang Shaowu was scammed, resulting in financial ruin and being unable to pay back the money.

With no way out, Zhang Shaowu resorted to theft, and the stolen money was used to pay the villagers’ wages.

This is how he was caught.

So, during the years Zhang Shaowu was absent, the village consistently helped his family a lot.

Zhang Shaowu shook his head: "After all, I’ve been inside for 10 years, and there’s really nothing much going on at home."

"Just a small wish I intend to fulfill on my own."

"In the future... please help look after the child and Huizhen, village chief..."

Leaving Fifth Mr. Wang’s Village, Song Mingguang sighed in the car, saying nothing, and the group continued to the next location.

Meanwhile, Gao Xiang’s side had made some progress in investigating whether the four victims were related to USA.

"Oh, I know President Zhao, I often source goods from him."

Sixth Zhang’s Construction Material Store in USA.

On Gao Xiang’s end, based on some delivery notes from Zhao Kai’s company, they found connections to USA.

Sixth Zhang’s construction material store and Gao Xiang’s company had long-standing business dealings.

"President Zhao used to undertake engineering contracts, he seemed to have partnered with several others to work on some projects in USA, and handled things on quite a large scale."

Sixth Zhang knew quite a lot about Zhao Kai’s matters in USA.

"I worked in his engineering team back then, but something went wrong with that project, and we were all scammed out of it."

"Three or four years ago, I happened to bump into President Zhao when I went to Binzhou City, and knew he was into construction materials. I also started a construction material store in USA, and he gave me good prices, so I’ve been sourcing from him."

This time, Gao Xiang led the team personally.

"Do you know who Zhao Kai partnered with back when contracting projects in USA?"

"Ah, this I can’t quite recall... it was about four or five people, there was one chubby guy... we all called him Fatty Brother..."

"But I can’t remember his name."

Sixth Zhang thought for a moment, only providing a nickname.

Gao Xiang had an idea, a chubby guy... he opened up the materials he carried with him.

"Do you still remember what Fatty Brother looked like?"

"I’ve seen him two or three times, but it was a long time ago, the memory is quite faint..."

Gao Xiang took out the photo of the second victim, Zheng Hu: "Look, is this the person?"

Sixth Zhang leaned over to look: "Looks a bit familiar..."

He took the photo, inspected it closely, and suddenly: "Yes, yes! It’s him, look, there’s a small birthmark on his forehead, that’s him!"

Gao Xiang felt a surge of excitement.

After looking for so long without finding any connection between the four victims,

It turns out the connection was in USA.

"Boss Zhang, are you sure this is the Fatty Brother you were talking about?"

"I’m sure!"

Sixth Zhang asserted firmly: "No mistake, it’s definitely him, both of them were relatively plump, but what stands out most is that while I don’t quite recall his appearance, his forehead birthmark left a very deep impression."

Great!

Gao Xiang and the detectives beside him were very excited.

At last, there was a breakthrough.

Gao Xiang and his team checked the four victims, communication records, bank transfer records, and even interviewed their families, but found no clues of mutual acquaintance among the four.

It turns out they had done projects together in USA, collaborating on work.

"Boss Zhang, what was the project they were working on back then?"

"It was the unfinished building in the north suburbs."

Sixth Zhang stood up and pointed through the window to the north.

"That one, the one we can see from here, the unfinished building."

Gao Xiang followed Sixth Zhang’s direction and looked over.

Indeed, at the sight’s end, he could see a tall, gray building.

Evidently an unfinished building.

"Were Zhao Kai and his team building that building?"

This was not a small project.

But if these people had such capabilities back then, why did Zhao Kai later return to Binzhou City to open a small construction materials company?

But Sixth Zhang shook his head: "That building wasn’t built by President Zhao and his team; back then, they only subcontracted some minor projects."

"During that time, many were scammed because the developer was problematic in itself."

"While working at the construction site, many workers didn’t receive their wages."

"I heard all subcontractors invested their funds themselves, but when the sales proceeds were embezzled by the boss, everyone was scammed."

"It caused quite a stir back then, several people even committed suicide by jumping off buildings."

"President Zhao and his team probably suffered losses too, otherwise he wouldn’t have returned to Binzhou City to open a construction material business."