latelenovela Chapter 998 Zhang Peng's Social Relationships
Chapter 998 Zhang Peng's Social Relationships
More importantly, in the nail crevices of the female skeleton, in addition to the previously discovered hair fibers, skin tissue was also detected. DNA comparison results showed that the genetic similarity with Zhang Peng was as high as 99.9% - which means that in the last moments of her life, Li Xiaoman fought back desperately and scratched the person who hurt her.
Standing before the whiteboard studded with clues, Li Ming pasted photos of Zhang Peng and Li Xiaoman side by side. In the photos, the two smiled brightly at an amusement park, a stark contrast to the cold skeletons on the autopsy table. "They weren't random victims," Li Ming said, drawing a line between their names in red pen. "Li Xiaoman's illness, Zhang Peng's debts, the mysterious 50,000 yuan transfer, and this hardware store where the murder weapon was hidden… all the clues point to a meticulously planned murder. And now, we need to find the person hiding behind it all. Why did they so cruelly murder this couple?"
The investigation into Zhang Peng's interpersonal relationships made significant progress, and Li Ming was organizing another case analysis meeting.
During this case analysis meeting, everyone spoke freely and offered many valuable suggestions, causing the meeting to last for three hours. Li Ming pointed a laser pointer at the dense network of relationships on the whiteboard, the red dot finally stopping on the three characters "Qin Dahu": "Zhang Peng's employer, 'Xinda Financial,' is ostensibly an investment and wealth management company, but in reality, it's a debt collection tool for underground banks. In the past three years, there have been seven cases of borrowers' accidental deaths, all of which are related to this company."
Xiao Wang slammed a stack of bank statements on the table, with several secretly taken photos tucked between the pages: "Qin Dahu owns six luxury cars, but he opened private accounts using ten different ID cards. In the three months before Zhang Peng's murder, his private accounts frequently transferred money to Qin Dahu, ranging from five thousand to thirty thousand." In the photos, Qin Dahu, wearing sunglasses, is stepping out of a black Maybach, the gold dragon tattoo on his neck appearing and disappearing with his movements.
Xiao Zhou pulled up the surveillance footage, which showed static-filled images: "Qin Dahu's car appeared three times near the urban village where Li Xiaoman rented a place three days before Zhang Peng disappeared. But he was very cautious, always going in and out of blind spots of the surveillance cameras, and the dashcam data was also formatted." In the footage, the Maybach with the license plate "Haizhou XK8888" made a brief stop at the alley entrance, with the windows always tightly closed.
The task force decided to break through Qin Dahu's core subordinates. In the interrogation room, a henchman nicknamed "Scarface" repeatedly wiped the scar on his lip. When Zhang Lin produced a recording of his conversation with Qin Dahu, the burly man suddenly broke down: "I'm just a driver! On November 14th last year, Brother Hu told me to go to the warehouse in the suburbs, saying Zhang Peng had embezzled company money..." His voice began to tremble, "When I arrived, Zhang Peng was chained to a pillar, his head covered in blood. Brother Hu was holding a wrench, saying he was going to teach that 'traitor' a lesson."
However, when the police raided Qin Dahu's warehouse, they only found oil-stained chains and a cleaned cement floor. After luminol was sprayed, large patches of eerie blue light appeared on the walls, but no biological tissue residue could be detected. The technical department sampled the warehouse floor overnight and finally extracted 0.3 grams of human tissue fragments from a gap in the drain. The DNA test results matched Zhang Peng perfectly.
"Qin Dahu has a private club hidden in an abandoned seaside resort." The informant's tip prompted the task force to launch another operation. Late at night, the club was brightly lit, and under a crystal chandelier, Qin Dahu was drinking heavily with two women. When Li Ming presented the search warrant, he slowly put down his whiskey glass: "Officer, I'm a legitimate businessman."
The search continued until the early hours of the morning. In a hidden compartment in the wine cellar, officers discovered a safe. After failing to obtain the combination, technicians used a laser cutter to open the safe. Inside, besides bundles of cash, was a gold-embossed ledger. The yellowed pages recorded dozens of loan shark transactions, with one page from October 2021 circled in red: "Li Xiaoman, borrowing 10, monthly interest rate of 8%, Zhang Peng as guarantor."
"Li Xiaoman never borrowed any money!" Xiao Wang slammed his fist on the table. Li Ming, however, noticed a note in the corner of the ledger: "Fluorosis, short-lived." He turned to Xiao Zhou: "Check Qin Dahu's communication records, focusing on his contacts with hospital staff."
Sure enough, deleted text messages were recovered from the phone of the head of the radiology department at the municipal hospital. On October 15, 2021, an anonymous number sent Li Xiaoman's CT images with the message: "Proceed according to the usual procedure." On the same day, the head of the department's bank account received a transfer of 10 yuan from Qin Dahu's private account.
Faced with the evidence, the head of the radiology department slumped in the interrogation chair: "He asked me to forge a medical certificate, saying he wanted to put pressure on a woman who owed him money... I never expected it would lead to a death." According to his confession, Qin Dahu had been keeping an eye on Zhang Peng for a long time. As the "ace" of the debt collection team, Zhang Peng knew too many secrets of the company, and Li Xiaoman's serious illness just happened to become the handle that made him submit.
However, just as the police were preparing to formally file a case against Qin Dahu, a key witness, Ma Zai, suddenly died of a "heart attack" in the detention center. The autopsy report revealed a high concentration of digoxin—a drug used to treat heart disease but capable of causing sudden death—in his water glass. Surveillance footage showed that the "family members" who visited him that day wore masks and sunglasses, and all the registration information was fabricated.
“Qin Dahu has informants within the public security, procuratorate, and judicial system.” Li Ming said grimly at the case analysis meeting. “He may know in advance every step we take.” The atmosphere in the meeting room was so heavy it was suffocating. The torrential rain outside the window pounded against the glass, as if foreshadowing the fierce battle between good and evil.
When the police summoned Qin Dahu again, his legal team was already on high alert. "My client has absolutely no connection to these cases," the lead lawyer said, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. "The so-called evidence is nothing more than malicious framing by certain individuals." At that moment, Qin Dahu was sitting with his legs crossed, playing with a diamond-encrusted lighter, a defiant smile on his lips.
The task force decided to change its approach and start by investigating the flow of Qin Dahu's funds. With the assistance of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, they discovered that Qin Dahu used offshore companies to launder his illicit gains into art investments. Even more alarming, Interpol's report indicated that Qin Dahu had close ties with Southeast Asian human trafficking groups, suggesting that Li Xiaoman's disappearance might have even darker secrets.
In the dead of night at the Criminal Investigation Division, Li Ming stared at the countdown clock on the wall. Only 48 hours remained until the expiration of Qin Dahu's criminal detention period, and he remained impeccably discreet. Suddenly, Xiao Zhou burst in carrying a stack of files: "We found an encrypted folder on Li Xiaoman's cloud drive! After cracking it, it was full of videos secretly filmed by Zhang Peng, recording the entire process of Qin Dahu's money laundering, debt collection, and murder..."