Diary of a Criminal Investigator

If this were just some ordinary case, even with Lu Chuan absent from the Criminal Investigation Team, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

But this time it’s a homicide, and the victim is a retired detective—the nature of the case is entirely different. As the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, Lu Chuan has to command on scene.

So Lu Chuan and Shen Yan’s wedding leave could only be postponed.

After getting off the plane, Lu Chuan didn’t return to the Criminal Investigation Team, but went straight from the airport to the scene.

Qingyun Road, South Third Lane.

By the time Lu Chuan arrived, the area was already cordoned off, and officers from the local station were maintaining order.

"Captain Lu, over here."

Chen Jiang, Sun Biao, and Wang Zhaokai were already on scene, along with the Forensic Doctor from the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team. Crime Scene Investigation was photographing.

"Time of death was six thirty this morning. Knife wound to the chest. There are signs of a struggle at the scene."

Sun Biao was the first to arrive and immediately reported some basic facts.

"Where’s the caller?"

Lu Chuan walked up and saw Chen Bing lying in the bushes.

One shoe was missing, there were bloodstains on his hands, and beneath him was a large pool of blood.

"He’s over by the patrol car giving a statement. I arranged that."

Wang Zhaokai stepped up: "I just had a rough chat with the caller. He came out for work at six in the morning."

"South First Lane to South Fifth Lane on Qingyun Road is his routine work area. He starts cleaning from South First Lane, and by the time he got here it was just nine o’clock."

"When he found Chen Bing’s body, he got a shock and immediately called the police."

Wang Zhaokai took out his phone; there was a video on it.

"He dialed the police, then went up to check. He was afraid of being falsely accused, so he turned on video and, as he approached, tested for Chen Bin’s breath. There was already nothing by then."

"The Forensic Doctor has already done a preliminary exam. Estimated time of death is seven thirty this morning."

Lu Chuan put on gloves and touched the body; rigor mortis was just beginning, body temperature close to normal human temperature. The time of death was indeed not long ago.

"Any eyewitnesses?"

Seven thirty in the morning should be when there are a lot of people around.

"We do have eyewitnesses," Chen Jiang answered firmly. "This lane is relatively secluded, but after seven in the morning quite a few people are on their way to work. Two people saw Chen Bing in a chase and scuffle with a man."

"We’ve just interviewed the two eyewitnesses. The man scuffling with Chen Bing was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and a baseball cap."

"But they only saw the chasing part, they didn’t see the moment when things escalated into a violent confrontation."

"Any surveillance?"

Lu Chuan lifted his head and looked around.

The place where Chen Lin was killed was at a bend inside the lane, surrounded by bushes and trees.

"There’s one camera, but its view is blocked by branches, so it didn’t catch everything. You can only see the suspect running east after the attack. I’ve already sent people to pursue."

"What else have we got so far?"

On this side, Wang Zhaokai had moved pretty fast.

But when he arrived it was already after eight. Sending people to chase then was unlikely to yield much.

"All right. Based on the eyewitness descriptions, get a composite sketch of the suspect and issue a city-wide APB."

Lu Chuan quickly laid out the work assignments.

"Zhaokai will be in charge of that."

After assigning that, Lu Chuan looked at Chen Jiang: "For Chen Bing to come out this early, did he discover some lead?"

After Lu Chuan and the others arranged accommodation and meals for Chen Bing at the Criminal Investigation Team, Chen Bing had never stopped investigating.

Every day he went out early and came back late, constantly busy outside.

All the arrangements regarding Chen Bing were handled by Chen Jiang, so Lu Chuan looked at him, wondering if Chen Bing had made some major discovery that brought him here.

Then he ran into the suspect and things turned violent.

"Yesterday he told me that at a Gree air-conditioner after-sales service point, he’d heard some things while asking around. He said he’d come over today to check..."

Chen Jiang sighed. These last few days he’d been in more frequent contact and conversations with Chen Bing.

The suspect has been on the run ever since killing someone fifteen years ago.

Even though they got the suspect’s DNA profile from the victimized girl’s body, and half a fingerprint from Chen Bing’s file, they’ve never been able to conclusively determine his real identity.

With the suspect’s identity unknown, they couldn’t even issue a proper wanted notice.

All Chen Bing had was this one clue—that the suspect knew how to repair air-conditioners—and he’d been chasing that ever since.

It was a clumsy method, but there was no better option.

Every time Chen Bing reached a new place, he would visit every single air-conditioner after-sales repair shop there, asking whether anyone matching the suspect’s description had ever shown up.

So leads of this kind were practically things Chen Bin was getting every day.

When Chen Bing told Chen Jiang about this yesterday, neither of them paid special attention.

The last decade plus had all gone by like this, and no single lead had ever really panned out.

Who could have imagined that this one seemingly ordinary piece of information would actually lock onto the suspect.

"Go. Check that Gree air-conditioner repair point Chen Ping mentioned, and see what’s the story with the person he was asking about."

Lu Chuan has handled plenty of cases, but never has one weighed on him like this.

Just a few days ago, he had still seen Chen Bing.

And now he’s a cold, lifeless corpse.

Chen Bing was already retired. He could have stayed home, enjoyed his old age on his pension, sipping tea, strolling around, raising birds, tending flowers.

He could have done anything—but he chose another path.

He left the small county town where he’d lived his whole life, and went alone to hunt for a fugitive suspect whose name he didn’t even know.

And he kept at it for four years.

Four years!

It doesn’t sound long, but that’s more than 1,400 days and nights.

And over that entire stretch, Chen Bing had no support, no supplies, no intel.

He was utterly alone, driven only by his passion and his obsession, using the clumsiest methods to check one place after another.

In the end, he did find the man—but he paid with his own life.

Catch him!

Lu Chuan swore he would catch that bastard no matter what.

After Wang Zhao Hai and Chen Jiang took their orders and left with their teams, Lu Chuan personally conducted the on-site examination.

Because this was a sudden incident, with clear signs of a struggle between the suspect and Chen Bing, and because the killer fled in a rush after the murder, a lot of traces were left behind. The suspect had no way to effectively clean them up.

Less than ten meters from the body, Lu Chuan found a bloodstained dagger in the bushes.

The murder weapon!

The bloody fingerprints on it were unmistakably clear.

In addition, there were messy footprints left by the suspect all over the scene—at least twenty of them.

"Male, around one seventy-three tall, about seventy kilos, left-handed!"

With just a simple survey, Lu Chuan had already pinned down some basic information about the suspect.