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

Chapter 1385 Clues from the Home Appliance Supermarket

However, the investigators firmly believed that as long as they persisted in focusing on the scene and relying on physical evidence, and continued to conduct in-depth investigations, they would surely be able to dispel the fog, find the criminal suspects hiding behind the scenes, and bring justice to the deceased.

After confirming the deceased as Qin Lifeng, the case, while solving the mystery of his identity, reached a deeper impasse in identifying the suspect. Qin Lifeng's honest and upright social image and simple, clean interpersonal relationships made investigations into common motives such as revenge killings, robbery killings, and crimes of passion repeatedly fail. On the morning of September 14th, following Li Ming's instructions, Xiao Zhou led his team to Qinghe Town again, continuing to delve deeper into the potential connection between Qin Lifeng and Wangjia Village, and expanding the investigation into Qin Lifeng's spending habits before his death—since no breakthrough could be found in his interpersonal relationships, perhaps anomalies could be discovered in his daily behavior.

“Qin Lifeng has been raising his son alone and running the oil mill for many years, so his life should be relatively regular. We will focus on checking his consumption records and shopping receipts for the past month to see if there are any large expenditures or abnormal spending, as these may expose his whereabouts and the people he has been in contact with.” Xiao Zhou assigned tasks to his team members at the entrance of the town government, dividing the town into several areas and having them visit various shops, supermarkets, banks, and other places to retrieve consumption records and surveillance videos.

Around 10 a.m., Xiao Zhou led two team members to Hongda Home Appliance Supermarket in the town center. This supermarket is the largest home appliance store in Qinghe Town, covering various appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and televisions. Qin Lifeng has a stable income from running an oil mill, so if he needs to make a large purchase of home appliances, he will most likely choose this place. Xiao Zhou found the supermarket manager, Manager Li, and showed him Qin Lifeng's photo and relevant documents: "Manager Li, could you please help me check if this customer has recently purchased any large-value home appliances from your supermarket, especially within the last month?"

Manager Li didn't dare to delay and immediately had someone retrieve the sales records for the past month. He also arranged for the store staff to assist in checking the surveillance footage. A dozen minutes later, the store clerk in charge of the records ran over with a thick ledger: "Officer Zhang, we found it! On the afternoon of September 8th, this Qin Lifeng did indeed buy a cabinet air conditioner from us. The model is Gree KFR-72LW, priced at 12800 yuan, paid in full." Xiao Zhou's heart leaped. He quickly took the sales slip to check. The slip clearly recorded the buyer "Qin Lifeng," contact number, purchase time, and the note "delivery to your door," but the delivery address only stated "within Qinghe Town," without a specific house number.

"Home delivery? Did you record the specific delivery address? Or who the delivery person is?" Xiao Zhou asked anxiously. Manager Li explained, "Our supermarket's delivery process is that if the customer confirms the delivery address when purchasing, we will record it in detail on the delivery slip; if the customer did not confirm the specific address at the time, but only said they would contact us later, we will keep the customer's phone number and arrange delivery after the customer notifies us. This slip does not have a specific address written on it, so it should fall into the latter category." He then asked someone to call Wang Fang, the salesperson who had served Qin Lifeng at the time.

Upon seeing Qin Lifeng's photo, Wang Fang immediately recalled the situation: "I remember this Mr. Qin. He came on the afternoon of September 8th. He initially looked at wall-mounted air conditioners, but then, for some reason, he suddenly switched to this floor-standing air conditioner that cost over 9 yuan. I even told him that this floor-standing air conditioner was suitable for large apartments or shops, and that it might be a waste to use it at home. He just smiled and said, 'It's useful,' and then paid in full. I asked him for the delivery address, and he said he wasn't sure yet. He told me to store the air conditioner in the warehouse and wait for his call to deliver it. He also specifically instructed me not to call in advance when he delivered it, but to just deliver it to the address he would give me later."

"Did he say who he was buying the air conditioner for? Or did he mention anyone in particular?" Xiao Zhou pressed. Wang Fang thought carefully: "He didn't say who it was for, but he seemed a bit rushed, like he was afraid of being seen. When he paid, I also saw a piece of paper in his pocket with an address on it, but I didn't see the details. Oh, and when he left after buying the air conditioner, he seemed to make eye contact with a man in a black jacket at the entrance. That man looked a bit fierce and kept lingering at the supermarket entrance, not like he was buying anything."

This detail immediately alerted Xiao Zhou: "The man in the black jacket? How old? Any other characteristics?" "Probably in his 30s, about 9 meters tall, a bit thin, and he seems to walk with his toes slightly turned inward," Wang Fang tried to recall. "He didn't have any obvious scars on his face, but his eyes were very fierce. When Boss Qin made eye contact with him, his expression seemed a bit unnatural." Turned-in toes! This highly matched the suspect's footprint characteristics extracted from the scene investigation! Xiao Zhou immediately asked his team to retrieve the supermarket's surveillance footage from the afternoon of September 8th, focusing on finding the man in the black jacket.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhou went to Qin Lifeng's house again. During his previous inspection, he was already familiar with the interior furnishings. Qin Lifeng's house was a two-bedroom, one-living-room bungalow. The living room was less than 20 square meters and contained an old wall-mounted air conditioner. There was no sign of a floor-standing air conditioner, nor any holes or traces of a new one. "Xiao Yu, did your father mention buying an air conditioner around September 8th? Or that he was going to install a new one?" Xiao Zhou asked Qin Xiaoyu. Qin Xiaoyu shook his head: "No, we have an air conditioner in the living room. It's a bit old, but the cooling effect is still good. My father never mentioned changing the control, let alone buying a new floor-standing air conditioner."

Qin Xiaoyu's answer further confirmed Xiao Zhou's suspicions: Qin Lifeng bought the cabinet air conditioner not for his own use, but for another purpose. Combined with Wang Fang's description of his "hurried demeanor," "fear of being seen," and the mysterious man at the door, this air conditioner was likely directly related to his death. "Manager Li, could you please check if this air conditioner was later delivered? Who was the delivery person? Where was it delivered to?" Xiao Zhou immediately dialed Manager Li's number at Hongda Home Appliance Supermarket.

Half an hour later, Manager Li called back to inform him: "Officer Zhang, we found it! On the morning of September 10th, Qin Lifeng called our supermarket's delivery department and provided a specific delivery address: 'Old Zheng's Restaurant' at the west end of our town. We arranged for deliveryman Zhao to deliver the air conditioner that afternoon. Zhao said the restaurant owner personally signed for it." Old Zheng's Restaurant! Xiao Zhou's heart tightened. He remembered this restaurant; it was located at the alley entrance not far from Qin's Oil Mill. It was a small, casual restaurant, owned by Zheng Hu, and frequented by a diverse group of people.