The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Chapter 625: Chapter 347: This Case Was Never Simple from the Start! (Part 2)

Before setting off, he contacted Li Jian and was informed they were in the interrogation room.

Instructor Zhang Chao took rapid strides through the dim corridor, his leather shoes striking the cement floor with urgent sounds.

With a creak, he pushed open the interrogation room’s battered iron door, only to see Li Jian in the middle of an interrogation.

Upon hearing the noise, Li Jian lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot.

The instructor waved his hand, and Li Jian immediately understood, nonchalantly extinguishing his cigarette before following him out.

In the corridor, Zhang Chao rubbed his temples, his voice somewhat hoarse.

”Mr. Li, I just returned from the victim’s house with some findings.”

He pulled out a notebook from his pocket, the pages’ edges already curled.

”The victim’s wife confirmed that three days before the incident, the victim took two hundred yuan claiming it was for household expenses.”

He paused and said, ”The money was actually used to pay off gambling debts.”

”Gambling?”

Li Jian’s eyes sharpened, a detail never mentioned in previous investigations.

He continued, ”We found a few people who used to gamble with him back then.”

”A guy named Wang Laowu confessed that on the night of the incident, the victim won nearly twenty thousand yuan at his place, and the next day he was...”

His words trailed off suddenly, leaving both of them in silence.

Though primarily responsible for political work, Instructor Zhang Chao’s two decades in law enforcement had kept his criminal investigation instincts sharp.

Twenty thousand yuan and a suspicious death, the link between them was like a thorn embedded in their minds.

”So...could it be a murder for profit?”

He spoke slowly, deliberating each word.

”It’s highly probable.”

Li Jian’s fingers gently brushed the edge of the notebook.

”Initially, when Jiang An proposed the hypothesis of a financial crime, I was skeptical. But now...”

He suddenly turned to the instructor, a sharp glint in his eyes.

”However, there’s a contradiction—the victim still had a small amount of cash and a cell phone on him.”

”The motorcycle was also intact.”

”Logically, a financial crime shouldn’t end this way.”

The instructor pulled out a pack of cigarettes, finding it empty, settling to fiddle with his lighter: ”It certainly is puzzling.”

”If it was for robbery, why leave valuable items behind? Unless...”

The metal body of the lighter spun in his palm.

”The murderer had another motive? Or was there a fierce struggle during the crime?”

”What’s even more perplexing is the killer’s method.”

Li Jian picked up the thread of conversation, unintentionally lowering his voice.

”We’ve handled countless financial crimes, but we’ve never seen such... restraint at a crime scene.”

A gust of night wind slipped through the window at the end of the corridor, rustling the duty roster on the wall. Both simultaneously looked outside, each slipping into thought.

After a while, the instructor patted Li Jian on the shoulder: ”Let’s discuss in the office; this isn’t the place for it.”

Five minutes later, they convened in the instructor’s office.

Zhang Chao retrieved a pack of cigarettes from the drawer.

Each took an ashtray, and they began to smoke.

After a moment, Li Jian said: ”If it really is a financial crime...”

”We’ve screened all individuals with robbery records over the past five years and found no suspicious targets.”

”This case...feels like a meticulously crafted riddle.”

The instructor responded, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table.

Then, both sank into contemplation.

What next step would unravel this carefully woven haze?

Suddenly, a series of hurried, chaotic footsteps echoed down the corridor, alarmingly loud in the otherwise silent office building.

With a bang, the deputy chief’s office door was flung open, creaking with the force.

Wan, Jiang An and others stumbled in, their bodies smeared with dark brown mud, pants, and sleeves dripping murky water that pooled on the floor.

Their tactical boots were filled with sludge, making a squelchy ’splat’ with every step, as if they’d just crawled out of a swamp.

Instructor Zhang Chao’s motion paused upon hearing the noise from the adjacent office, his brows furrowed: ”These young ones are back? The duty sheet showed they were out all night.”

Sitting opposite, Team Leader Li Jian put down the case file, looked toward the source of the noise, a hint of concern in his eyes: ”The duty room mentioned they left before dawn without even having breakfast.”

Zhang Chao remarked: ”These young ones are really dedicated.”

He stood up, straightening his police uniform collar, ”Come on, let’s go check on them. As an instructor, I should care about the status of my subordinates.”

Li Jian nodded, grabbing his thermos from the desk: ”Just as well, I want to ask what they found.”

The two walked out one after the other.

Just reaching the door, the instructor suddenly halted, brow deeply knit.

He surveyed the young men up and down, his gaze lingering on their mud-coated uniforms: ”Did you go on a mission or harvest lotus roots?”

Wan grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth in stark contrast to his dark face.

He wiped the mud and water off his face, only to smear it evenly, leaving a comical streak on his cheek.

”Chief, this is my new uniform now ruined, you have to compensate me for the injury!”

”Injury?”

Li Jian was caught between exasperation and amusement, stepping closer, inhaling the river stench wafting off them.

”What exactly were you up to?” he lowered his voice, ”Don’t tell me you really went fishing in the river!”

Wan chuckled heartily, his laughter echoing in the office: ”You wouldn’t believe it, but we really did catch a lot of fish.”

He deliberately paused, teasingly, observing the puzzled expressions of the two leaders, a hint of pride in his eyes.