ebookland Chapter 1241 The Mushroom-Picking Farmer
Chapter 1241 The Mushroom-Picking Farmer
Technicians reconfirmed the cigarette butt traces at the "smoking location" identified by Zhou Zhiqiang: "The location where the cigarette butt was discarded is completely consistent with the location found in the previous investigation. The bite marks and saliva DNA on the cigarette butt match Zhou Zhiqiang's, further confirming that his confession is true."
"Where did you go after burying the body? Why did you take his coat and canvas bag home?" Xiao Zhou pressed, the camera panning to the "tricycle parking spot" Zhou Zhiqiang pointed out. Zhou Zhiqiang wiped away his tears and continued, "I drove home, afraid someone would see me on the way, so I covered the truck bed tightly with a canvas tarpaulin. After I got home, I hid his coat and canvas bag, thinking of burning them the next day, but I was too scared to do it. Later, I heard you were investigating Li Baoren's whereabouts, so I thought of escaping to a mine in the mountains to hide for a few days, but I didn't expect you to catch me anyway." His explanation completely corresponded to the "black coat" and "canvas bag" found in his home by the police, as well as the village secretary's testimony that he "drove away on the night of August 14."
The entire identification process lasted an hour and a half. Every statement made by Zhou Zhiqiang corresponded precisely with the results of the previous on-site investigation and forensic examination: the shoe prints and tricycle tire prints at the waiting location, the bloodstains and head injuries at the striking location, the fibers and corn leaf traces along the dragging route, the depth of the pit and the characteristics of the soil at the burial location, and even the location where the "Hongtashan" cigarette butt was discarded, all perfectly matched the details in the chain of evidence.
As the identification process neared its end, Zhou Zhiqiang suddenly broke free from the police officers' support, knelt down at the burial site, laid his hands on the soil, and wailed, "Baoren, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have killed you for 3000 yuan... I was wrong..." His cries echoed through the empty cornfield. Passing villagers watched from afar, their voices rising and falling, but no one knew the entanglement behind this tragedy.
The officers helped Zhou Zhiqiang up; he was still sobbing, tears mixed with dirt falling onto his prison uniform. Xiao Zhou turned off his body camera and, looking at the scene before him, knew that this identification not only revealed the complete truth of the case but also irrefutably cemented Zhou Zhiqiang's guilt—from the meeting and argument to the murder and burial, every detail corroborated the evidence, forming an undeniable chain of proof.
As the police car drove away from the cornfield, the sun was already high in the sky. Xiao Zhou sat in the passenger seat, looking at the identification record in his hand; every detail was marked "matches the evidence." He took out his phone and sent a message to Li Ming: "Zhou Zhiqiang's on-site identification is complete. His confession details are completely consistent with the investigation and autopsy results. The chain of evidence is closed, and the case can be formally transferred to the procuratorate for prosecution."
A few minutes later, Li Ming replied: "Thank you for your hard work. Justice will not be absent. Please arrange to inform Li Baoren's family as soon as possible so that they can rest assured."
The carriage was silent, save for Zhou Zhiqiang's suppressed sobs. Looking out the window at the receding cornfields, Xiao Zhou recalled Wang Shufen's anxious gaze during his visit to Lijiazhuang, and her heartbroken tears when the DNA comparison results came back. Finally, a sigh of relief washed over him—this tragedy, stemming from a dispute over 3000 yuan in wages, had finally brought justice to the deceased with the most complete chain of evidence. And Zhou Zhiqiang, too, would ultimately pay the price for his greed and impulsiveness under the severe punishment of the law.
Five days after the Zhou Zhiqiang case was closed, the Criminal Investigation Detachment came to report the case on its own.
On a crisp early autumn morning, before the mist had fully dissipated, 62-year-old Zhang Baode, carrying a bamboo basket, walked along a mountain path into the depths of the dense forest—his usual mushroom-picking spot, where plump hazel mushrooms always thrived under the pine trees at this time of year. Reaching a sunny, gentle slope halfway up the mountain, his basket was already nearly full. As he bent down to rummage through the pine roots, a pungent, putrid odor suddenly assaulted his nostrils, like the smell of a rotting animal carcass.
"Strange, why does this place smell like this?" Zhang Baode frowned and followed the scent down the slope into the bushes. Pushing aside the waist-high hazel bushes, the sight before him froze him in place—a male corpse lay in the bushes, half-covered by fallen leaves, his clothes tattered, his rotting skin a dark green hue, and several flies buzzing around the body. Zhang Baode's legs went weak with fright, his bamboo basket clattered to the ground, scattering mushrooms everywhere. He scrambled out of the bushes, trembling as he pulled his old-fashioned mobile phone from his pocket and dialed the police.
An hour later, Li Ming's police car drove up along the winding mountain road and stopped in an open area at the foot of the mountain. "Immediately cordon off the scene, put up a cordon, and prevent unauthorized personnel from approaching!" Li Ming opened the car door, his black hiking boots crunching on the soft, decaying leaves, and gave instructions to his team members behind him, "Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun are responsible for the initial on-site investigation, focusing on checking footprints, tool marks, and items left behind around the body; Xiao Wang, come with me to question the person who reported the case; the rest of you patrol the surrounding mountain roads to prevent villagers or tourists from accidentally entering and damaging the scene."
Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun, carrying their investigation bags, made their way up the slippery hillside towards the gentle slope where the body lay. The fog gradually dissipated, and sunlight filtered through the leaves, illuminating the corpse. The stench of decay grew stronger. The two men put on gas masks, crouched three meters away from the body, and turned on their powerful investigation lights to begin their observation.
"The body was highly decomposed, and the clothing was stuck to the skin, making it impossible to identify the specific style. We can only tell that it was a dark long-sleeved shirt and dark trousers," Xiao Yang said while taking notes. "The body was covered with fallen leaves and pine needles, about 5 centimeters thick. Judging from the freshness of the leaves, it had been covered for at least 3-5 days, suggesting that the time of death may have been earlier." He carefully brushed away the fallen leaves around the body with tweezers and found a set of size 42 men's leather shoe prints about one meter to the east of the body. The edges of the shoe prints were covered with damp soil and pine needles. The stride length was 80 centimeters, the stride width was 18 centimeters, and the stride angle was 3 degrees outward, suggesting a height of 170-175 centimeters.
Xiao Sun then began searching the area west of the body. His footprint light swept across the layer of decaying leaves, and near a pine tree, he found a half-finished tire track. "The tire track is about 28 centimeters wide, a common motorcycle tire size," he measured with a ruler close to the ground. "The edges of the track are clearly worn, and the soil it's covered in is consistent with the black soil of the hillside. The tire tread has horizontal stripes, indicating it was left recently, possibly related to the suspect transporting the body." In the grass next to the tire track, he also found a flattened plastic medicine bottle. The label on the bottle was blurred, only the word "ibuprofen" was vaguely visible. There was a small amount of brown stain on the bottle opening, making it impossible to determine when it was discarded.
On the gentle slope, Xiao Yang continued to clear the fallen leaves around the body. In the decaying soil beneath the body, he found a silver metal chain, about 20 centimeters long, with a broken end, as if it had come off some kind of ornament or tool.