The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1314 Demolition Site Investigation

"Look here, the broken bricks around the body have obvious crush marks, and some brick edges have a small amount of dark red stains, but it is not certain whether they are bloodstains or other impurities, which need to be tested later; in addition, a few scattered hairs and a torn piece of blue cloth were found in the rubble, take them out and mark their locations."

The two worked together, with Xiao Yang observing the overall environment and Xiao Sun focusing on cleaning the details around the body. After more than half an hour of initial cleaning, the upper body of the body gradually came into view. The body was wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt, which was torn in several places and covered with dust and stains. "The body is curled up, as if it was deliberately placed behind the wall, rather than being buried by natural collapse." Xiao Yang squatted down and carefully observed the posture of the body. "Look at the direction of the wall collapse, it mainly tilted outwards, while the body is located on the inside of the wall. The pile of broken bricks around it is relatively neat, not like it was randomly buried. It's more like someone hid the body here first, and then the demolition work caused the wall to collapse, further covering the body."

About one meter to the right of the body, Xiao Sun found a rusty shovel: "Xiao Yang, there's a shovel here! The shovel head is covered in mud, and the handle shows signs of wear, so it looks like it's been sitting there for quite some time." He gently lifted the shovel with tweezers and examined it carefully. "The mud on the shovel head is darker in color and sticky in texture, unlike the dry surface soil at the scene, so it may have been dug up from underground; there are no obvious fingerprints on the handle, as it has been exposed to the elements for a long time, and the fingerprints have been destroyed by rain and dust."

The two continued their search of the surrounding area, expanding to the entire building and a 5-meter radius around it, but apart from the shovel, a few strands of hair, and a piece of blue cloth, they found no other valuable clues. The footprints on the ground were messy and disorderly, left by construction workers and rescuers, making it impossible to identify any suspects; no obvious drag marks or signs of struggle were found on the walls or the ground, and no items that could identify the deceased were found nearby.

“The environment at the demolition site is too unusual. The original traces have been almost completely destroyed. At present, we can only confirm that the body was hidden behind the wall and was suspected of being deliberately buried. The shovel may be the murder weapon, but there is a lack of direct evidence to link them.” Xiao Yang put away the investigation light, his tone tinged with helplessness. “The hair and fabric need to be taken back to the technical department for testing, and the soil on the shovel also needs to be analyzed to see if it matches the soil around the body.”

Meanwhile, Xiao Wang and Li Ming found Qin Degui, the person who reported the incident, in the temporary prefabricated house at the construction command center. Qin Degui had just recovered from the shock; his face was still pale, and his hands were still trembling slightly: "Officer, I really didn't expect to find a body... We started demolishing this building at 8 a.m. this morning. According to the construction plan, we were to demolish the east wall first, then the west wall. When I was driving the bulldozer to demolish the west wall, the bucket hit it, and the wall collapsed. I saw what looked like a person in the rubble in the rearview mirror, so I quickly stopped to check, and it really was a body! I was terrified."

"When you were demolishing the wall, did you feel any unusual resistance from the bucket? Or did you hear any strange noises?" Li Ming asked, his eyes fixed on Qin Degui's.

Qin Degui tried hard to recall: "I didn't feel any resistance. When demolishing old houses, we often encountered piles of bricks and stones, and the sound was always a 'boom' of collapse, nothing special. At the time, my attention was focused on operating the bulldozer, and I didn't pay much attention to anything else. If I hadn't caught a glimpse of that piece of clothing in the rearview mirror, I wouldn't have noticed it at all."

"Has anyone been inside this building before? Was a safety inspection conducted before construction?" Xiao Wang asked, quickly taking notes.

Construction manager Li chimed in: "We only took over this relocation project last week. Before construction, we conducted a simple safety inspection of all the houses to be demolished, mainly to check for any lingering people or flammable and explosive materials. We didn't carefully check the hidden corners inside the houses—these houses have been vacant for several years, the doors and windows are broken, and usually only scavengers occasionally go in to look for things. Who would have thought that there would be a corpse hidden inside!"

"Have any strangers been loitering near the demolition site recently? Or have you seen anyone enter this building?" Li Ming pressed.

Manager Li shook his head: "The management at the demolition site is rather lax. The surrounding area is a shantytown with a high population turnover. Nearby residents or scavengers often pass by and didn't notice any suspicious people deliberately entering this building. The construction team's workers are all fixed and go to get off work on time every day. No outsiders are involved in the construction."

Xiao Wang then questioned Qin Degui and several other construction workers, and the information they received was basically the same: no abnormalities were found during the construction process, and no suspicious persons had been seen on site recently. "When we were demolishing the building, there were several workers moving equipment nearby. They also saw the wall collapse, but no one noticed the body in the rubble until I shouted, and then everyone came over," Qin Degui added.

At 11:30 a.m., the preliminary investigation and questioning were basically completed. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun returned to the Criminal Investigation Detachment with the collected hair, blue cloth, shovel, and soil samples from the shovel for further testing. Xiao Wang organized the questioning records and reported to Li Ming: "Team Leader Li, the preliminary investigation at the scene yielded a small amount of hair, a piece of blue cloth, and a shovel suspected to be the murder weapon. However, the demolition caused severe damage, and no traces were found that directly pointed to the suspect. Regarding the questioning records, the body was accidentally discovered during the demolition work. It is speculated that it was previously hidden behind the west wall of the building, and the collapse during construction exposed the body. There are no records of suspicious activity at the scene recently, so we cannot determine the identity of the deceased, the time of death, or the suspect at this time."

Standing outside the cordon at the demolition site, Li Ming looked at the half-collapsed building, his brow furrowed. "The difficulty of this case lies in the severe damage to the scene and the loss of original traces, which greatly hinders the investigation. We will proceed in three steps: First, the technical department should test the extracted samples as soon as possible to confirm whether the hair and fabric are related to the deceased, and the composition of the soil on the shovel and whether there are any bloodstains. Second, Xiao Wang will lead a team to visit residents and scavengers around the shantytown to understand the situation of this building and its surroundings, especially whether there have been any unusual people entering or leaving or any strange noises in the past six months. Third, we will retrieve the surveillance footage of the shantytown and surrounding roads from the past six months, focusing on investigating suspicious persons or vehicles entering the demolition area at night."

He paused, his tone becoming more resolute: "Although the clues are limited at present, the fact that the deceased was deliberately hidden inside a demolition building suggests that the suspect may be familiar with the shantytown environment or live nearby. We must find a breakthrough as soon as possible, confirm the identity of the deceased, find out the truth of the case, and give the deceased and his family an explanation."