Chapter 48: The Jiangyuan Municipal Bureau Finally Showing Some Sense

Wu Bo quickly led Liu Fenxiu away.

Forensic Doctor Lin looked at Cen Lian and asked, "Is this what you call drawing the tiger away from the mountain?"

"She can hardly be considered a tiger," Cen Lian smiled. "Do you have sampling tools in your toolkit?"

Forensic Doctor Lin had been carrying her toolkit when she got out of the car. Hearing Cen Lian's question, she motioned that she could take the samples herself.

"Although I haven't studied trace evidence in depth, I am more proficient than you when it comes to collecting DNA samples." With that, she walked into the house with Cen Lian.

Cen Lian found a way to get Liu Fenxiu out of the house because he suspected that there might be residual blood stains in Wu Yaozu's home.

The blood speck on Wu Yaozu's underwear was in an inconspicuous corner, which indicated that he had changed his outer garments. Even if Liu Fenxiu had already burned the clothes, it was inevitable that traces would be left behind while changing back and forth.

What's more, bloody clothes could be burned, but blood stains left on the floor and walls could not simply be erased.

Wu Qiushan also rushed over from the crime scene shortly after.

"I heard from Wu Bo that Liu Fenxiu has been temporarily detained. Wu Yaozu's drug withdrawal symptoms acted up, and after screaming for quite a while, he confessed almost everything. He said his two sisters and brothers-in-law helped clean up the scene. Tang Hua took Zhang He and some personnel from the Lanxizhen Police Station to the village where his two sisters married to make the arrests." Wu Qiushan spoke about the current situation while skillfully taking samples.

Cen Lian was not excessively shocked, but still somewhat surprised.

"Wu Yaozu's two brothers-in-law were actually willing to help with this kind of thing?" That was a bit beyond imagination.

"Who knows? Maybe they just had a momentary lapse in judgment." Wu Qiushan actually didn't know the whole background story either. "Anyway, once we take our samples back for testing, the case will basically be closed. I refuse to believe the Jiangyuan Municipal Bureau can still brush us off."

Cen Lian was also keeping Chen Nan's case in mind. The year was coming to an end, and Yuan Chenxi had already posted the time and location for the year-end summary meeting in her moments, yet a whole bunch of awards due to him had not been claimed yet.

"I will handle Chen Nan's case within three days, my words!" Cen Lian finally showed a rare display of backbone.

Forensic Doctor Lin glanced at him.

"Are you imposing a time limit on yourself to solve a case?"

"Isn't this also a way to experience what it feels like to solve a case within a deadline?" Cen Lian helped the two technical staff members pack the samples properly. "What are we eating tonight? My treat."

Wu Qiushan looked at Cen Lian with a ghost-seeing expression.

"Do you already know how many Second-Class Merit awards you're going to get?" He deeply suspected why Cen Lian had suddenly become so generous.

Cen Lian offered a miserable smile.

"I used to be extremely stingy just to save up for the latest astronomical telescope, but look at my current overtime frequency; I've basically had to say goodbye to stargazing." He pointed at the sky overhead. "Stars, planets, and comets are all urging me to hurry up and serve the people."

Having lost his dreams but gaining commendations and awards, Cen Lian got back in the car and returned to the Lanxizhen Police Station, where he met the half-dead-looking Wu Yaozu.

Tang Hua had already brought Wu Yaozu's two sisters and two brothers-in-law back, and was currently sitting in a daze by the door.

"You guys are finally back." Seeing Cen Lian appear, his whole person seemed to perk up. "I thought I was going to have to spend the night in this ghost place."

Cen Lian looked around and found that none of the local police station personnel were present.

"Where are they?" he asked somewhat curiously.

"Doing surprise interrogations. The Lanxizhen Police Station only has that many people. Between those out investigating and collecting evidence, those inside doing surprise interrogations, and those handling other odd jobs, of course there's no one left." Tang Hua stretched his body, and his waist and neck emitted cracking sounds.

Cen Lian looked at his waist, thinking that this fellow would probably need acupuncture just like his old man in less than ten years.

"Everything looks to be going smoothly on your end. Can we head back to Jiangyuan now?" Tang Hua's patience for this case was truly limited, especially since this case wasn't originally their responsibility.

"No rush. If we just head back like this, wouldn't it make us look like bootlickers? We have to wait for someone to come and welcome us." Cen Lian had a plan in mind. "We've delivered the courtesy this far, and the leaders of the Jiangyuan Municipal Bureau are all cunning veterans; they won't just take the benefits without doing anything in return."

Tang Hua grinned. Although he didn't really care much for this kind of office politics, since they were out on official business on someone else's turf, there was no help for it.

"Once your reputation is established, there will be plenty of times in the future when they'll be begging us to handle cases for them." Tang Hua pinned his hopes on Cen Lian. "You've been transferred to the district bureau for less than two months, and just look at how many cases you've handled. Now, which sub-bureau in Kang'an City doesn't know who you are?"

Although his expectations sounded very much like looking forward to flaunting one's connection with influential people one day.

Cen Lian silently swallowed back the description that was unsuitable to use on a colleague, and walked up to the window to check on Wu Yaozu's condition inside.

This fellow was slumped half-dead in a chair, and upon closer inspection, he was even twitching slightly.

It just so happened that he wouldn't need to be sent to a drug rehabilitation center; physical detoxification this way would solve the problem once and for all.

At a little past eight in the evening, Wu Qiushan received a phone call and found them with a strange smile on his face.

"What's the word? Is the Jiangyuan Municipal Bureau finally planning to act like decent human beings?" Cen Lian was sitting on a chair in the service hall of the Lanxizhen Police Station, with an electric heater for warming up right in front of him.

Tang Hua was huddled entirely inside a blanket, looking half-asleep.

"The captain of their Criminal Investigation Detachment came personally to pick up the suspects," Wu Qiushan squeezed in and sat down beside Tang Hua's blanket. "He said he came to pick up the suspects, but actually he came to pick us up, just too embarrassed to say it outright."

"He definitely wouldn't be embarrassed to say it," TangHua used his entire face to express disgust, indicating his deep dissatisfaction. "Their own case dragged on for so long without being solved, and was resolved in a single day by the few of us who came on other business. I wonder if the faces of the municipal bureau's criminal investigation detachment hurt right now."

Gao Haolin and Zhang He on the side felt extremely awkward, but since it was hard for them to say anything, they could only turtle up and pretend not to hear a thing.

In fact, they themselves felt that Cen Lian and the others had every right to have complaints. Chen Nan's case had dragged on for so long just for a DNA test; if the two of them hadn't been so insignificant and powerless, they would have been right here joining in the scolding.

"We're still on someone else's turf, mind your language." Forensic Doctor Lin glanced sideways at Gao Haolin and Zhang He, who were sitting aside trying to make themselves invisible. "We now have a clue regarding Chen Nan's case, but where do you think the bodies of Zhuyao and Qin Xingguo are?"

As a forensic doctor, the thing she cared about most was naturally the bodies.

"Where Chen Nan disposed of the bodies cannot be determined just yet, but we should be able to find Tian Xianzhong's body-disposal site by reviewing vehicle surveillance footage. Although the rule is to dispose far and bury close, it shouldn't be far beyond Yunnan Province. After all, people with unclear minds like Hu Tingting are in the minority." Cen Lian thought about it and figured Chen Nan might have gone along with Tian Xianzhong to dispose of the bodies; otherwise, moving an adult male's body into a car and then down again would probably take quite a bit of effort.

"The cars are here." Wu Qiushan suddenly looked toward the door. "I heard the sound of brakes, at least three cars."