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

Chapter 1379 Visit and Investigation of Wangjia Village

“I heard he broke someone’s head and only came out after paying some money. Since then, no one has seen him. At first, everyone thought he was hiding because he was afraid of retaliation. Wang Baojun and his wife searched everywhere, asking at the construction site where he worked, but his coworkers said he hadn’t gone to work; they called his relatives in other places, but they also said they hadn’t seen him. Later, Wang Baojun went to the police station to report him missing, but because the time he had been missing was short and there was no evidence to prove that he had been murdered, they just made a registration.” Wang Jianguo added, “Wang Hao was about 175 cm tall and weighed about 70 kg. He usually liked to wear blue work clothes, and his physical characteristics do look somewhat similar to the deceased you described.”

This clue gave Xiao Wang a jolt, and he immediately decided to lead a team to Wang Baojun's house to verify the situation. Wang Baojun's house was located at the entrance of Wangjia Village, an old brick and tile house. Many farm tools were piled up in the yard, and an elderly woman with gray hair sat on a stone bench by the door—Wang Baojun's wife, Li Xiulian. Seeing the officers in police uniforms, Li Xiulian's face showed a mixture of confusion and panic: "You are... police officers? What do you need us for?"

"Auntie, we're from the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division. We're here to ask about your son, Wang Hao." Xiao Wang spoke gently, trying to avoid causing the elderly woman undue anxiety. Upon hearing the name "Wang Hao," Li Xiulian's eyes instantly reddened, and her voice choked with sobs as she said, "Do you have any news about my son? Where did he go? For over a month, his father and I have been searching for him every day; it's driving us crazy!" She wiped away her tears. Hearing the commotion, Wang Baojun came out of the house. Seeing the group, he also looked anxious: "Officers, has something happened to my son?"

Xiao Wang didn't answer directly. Instead, he took out a summary sheet of the deceased's physical characteristics and handed it to the couple: "Uncle and Aunt, please don't panic. We found an unidentified male corpse in the cornfield at the east end of the village. The physical characteristics are somewhat similar to your son, so we came to ask you about the situation. Please take a close look and see if these characteristics match Wang Hao." Mr. and Mrs. Wang Baojun took the summary sheet and examined it carefully with trembling hands. When they saw the information "Height approximately 175cm, weight approximately 68kg, wearing blue overalls, age 35-45," Li Xiulian's legs went weak, and she almost fell. Fortunately, she was supported by the investigation team members beside her. "So...so similar..." Li Xiulian sobbed uncontrollably, "My son is exactly that height and weight. He always liked to wear blue overalls. He's exactly 38 years old this year, exactly as written on the sheet."

Wang Baojun, suppressing his grief, asked, "Officer, did the body you mentioned have any other distinguishing features? For example, were there any markings or anything like that?" Xiao Wang, recalling the forensic report, replied, "The deceased had two abrasions on the inside of his right forearm, but it's uncertain whether they were old injuries; also, his teeth were neatly aligned, with no missing or decayed teeth. Did your son have any obvious birthmarks, scars, or other distinguishing features?"

“Yes! My son has a birthmark the size of a coin on his left arm, it’s dark red, just below his elbow,” Li Xiulian said hurriedly. “Also, he fell while climbing a tree when he was little, and he has a scar on his right knee, about 3 centimeters long. Oh, and his left index fingernail is a little deformed, from when he was working on a construction site and got caught in a steel bar.” Xiao Wang immediately had his team record these features, and said, “Uncle and Aunt, we can’t confirm that the deceased is Wang Hao yet. We need to collect your DNA samples to compare with the deceased’s DNA so that we can finally confirm his identity. We hope you can cooperate with our work.”

"Cooperate! We will definitely cooperate!" Wang Baojun nodded hurriedly. "We're willing to do anything to find my son." The investigators then took out DNA collection tools, extracted oral mucosal cell samples from Wang Baojun and Li Xiulian, sealed and labeled them, and immediately sent them to the technical department for comparison. While waiting for the comparison results, Xiao Wang continued to question Wang Baojun and his wife about the details before and after Wang Hao's disappearance.

"What's Wang Hao's personality like usually? Has he ever made enemies?" Xiao Wang asked. Wang Baojun sighed and said, "My son is a bit impulsive. He likes to drink a little, and when he drinks, he's prone to arguments, but he doesn't have any bad intentions. Last month, he got into a fight because the other person insulted him first, and he couldn't help but hit them." Li Xiulian added, "He has a bit of a grudge against Li Erzhu from the west end of the village. They argued about a homestead last year, and Li Erzhu even threatened him, saying he'd teach him a lesson. Also, at the construction site where he works, there's a foreman named Zhang Biao who often deducts his wages, and the two of them have had conflicts."

This information caught Xiao Wang's attention, and he immediately arranged for his team to investigate Li Erzhu and Zhang Biao. "Think carefully again, before Wang Hao went missing, did he do anything unusual? For example, did he tell you where he was going, or did he see any unusual people?" Xiao Wang continued to press. Wang Baojun thought for a moment and said, "The night before he went missing, he looked a little flustered when he came back, and he was covered in mud. I asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing, he was just tired from working at the construction site. I also saw that he had a dagger in his pocket, which he never carried before. I asked him what he was going to do with the dagger, and he said the construction site was dangerous, and he was carrying it for self-defense."

"What did the dagger look like? Did it have any distinguishing features?" Xiao Wang asked hurriedly. "It was just an ordinary single-edged dagger, with a black handle and a blade about 20 centimeters long, and it seemed to have some patterns on it," Wang Baojun recalled. "I even advised him not to carry such a thing, saying it could easily cause trouble. He agreed verbally, but I never expected something like this to happen the next day." A single-edged dagger! This perfectly matched the forensic doctor's deduction of the murder weapon, and Xiao Wang's suspicions deepened. Could it be that Wang Hao was killed because he was carrying a dagger and got into a conflict with someone? Or was he the suspect? A series of questions surfaced in Xiao Wang's mind.

To further verify the situation, Xiao Wang led his team to the construction site where Wang Hao worked. The site was located in an industrial park north of Wangjia Village, and construction was in full swing, with the roar of machinery filling the air. Upon hearing that the team was there to investigate Wang Hao, the site manager immediately had someone find Wang Hao's former coworkers. "We haven't seen Wang Hao for over a month," one coworker said. "He worked very hard, but he had a very impulsive personality and easily got into arguments. On the night of the 11th of last month, he and the foreman, Zhang Biao, had a particularly fierce argument over wages, almost coming to blows. It took us a long time to separate them. He didn't come to work the next day, and we thought he had quit."