ebookland Chapter 996 Major Discovery by Police in Another Region
Chapter 996 Major Discovery by Police in Another Region
Xiao Wang rushed over, his breath condensing into white mist on the display screen: "Check patient information!"
"Her name is... Li... Li Xiaoman." Xiao Zhou read the name out word by word, but his fingers suddenly froze. "ID number...no such person found." He quickly switched the screen. "I used a temporary SIM card for the registration; I only left an abandoned phone number."
The old-fashioned grandfather clock in the archives struck three, and the shadows of the sycamore trees outside the window swayed on the ground. Xiao Wang grabbed his car keys: "To the hospital's medical records room, to retrieve the original medical records! Electronic records can be deleted, but paper documents can't."
The moment the iron door to the medical records room was pushed open, a pungent smell of camphor hit them. Xiao Wang and Xiao Zhou moved among the numbered shelves, the rustling of cardboard boxes particularly jarring in the silence. "Found it!" Xiao Zhou pulled out a brown paper bag, the cover hastily scribbled with "20211123 Emergency 076." On the yellowed paper, the attending physician's handwriting pierced the paper: "The patient reports a long-term consumption of high-fluoride water, persistent dull pain in both fibulas, X-ray shows thickened trabeculae and periosteal thickening... Hospitalization for further examination is recommended."
"But she wasn't hospitalized." Xiao Wang noticed the blank space in the medical record column and suddenly pointed to the lab report, "Wait, there's a biochemistry report here!" Although there was no name written on it, the test results and the fluoride content data in the skeleton matched perfectly. He took out his phone, took a picture, and immediately sent it to Zhang Lin so he could compare the trace element ratios.
As the two were about to leave, the archives clerk suddenly spoke up: "I remember this young lady." The old man adjusted his reading glasses. "That day, she was in so much pain she was sweating profusely, but when she was paying the bill, she hesitated for a long time while staring at her phone, and finally said, 'I don't want treatment anymore,' and ran out."
"Do you remember what she looked like?" Xiao Zhou held her breath.
"He was quite handsome, with a red mole at the corner of his right eye. That day he was wearing ripped jeans, and the skin showing at his ankles... looked a bit grayish." The administrator's description gave Xiao Wang a jolt—it perfectly matched the fabric fibers extracted from near the skeleton and the unusual skin pigmentation.
Overnight, surveillance footage from the area surrounding the hospital was retrieved. The footage showed a slender figure leaving the emergency room on the evening of November 23, 2021. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, and her right knuckles were unconsciously tapping her trouser leg – a characteristic of "compulsive limb movement" identified during the skeletal remains analysis. The footage showed her getting onto a black electric scooter; the license plate was obscured by mud, but a small bear keychain hung from the front.
As dusk settled over the city, Xiao Wang and Xiao Zhou stared at the surveillance screen, their eyes bloodshot. The footage showed the black electric scooter with the bear keychain disappearing into the intricate network of alleyways after turning into the urban village. Surveillance coverage in the urban village was less than 30%, and most of the equipment was outdated, resulting in blurry images and making tracking extremely difficult.
"Starting from the intersection where the electric scooter disappeared, pull up all the available surveillance cameras within a 500-meter radius," Xiao Wang said through gritted teeth, his finger heavily poking at the spot on the screen where the scooter vanished. For the next eight hours, they stayed in the monitoring room, reviewing the footage frame by frame, their eyes sore and swollen, but they dared not slacken their efforts in the slightest.
They discovered that the electric scooter had briefly appeared in the security camera footage outside a convenience store. The store owner recalled, "This girl always came to buy painkillers and instant noodles. She didn't look well, and she walked with a limp." But when asked where she lived, the owner shook his head.
Undeterred, Xiao Zhou continued visiting nearby shops. At a hardware store, the owner provided a crucial clue: "Last winter, a young woman came to buy wire mesh, saying she wanted to seal the attic window to prevent drafts." This clue gave them hope, and they began to focus their investigations on residences with attics within the urban village.
Holding Li Xiaoman's photo, they went door-to-door in the narrow, dimly lit alleyways, asking questions. Some residents closed their doors warily, and some elderly people couldn't hear them clearly. Despite repeated rejections, their determination remained unshaken.
"Sir, have you seen this girl in the photo? She has a red mole on the corner of her right eye." Xiao Zhou stopped an uncle carrying a vegetable basket.
"They look familiar, like they live in one of those old houses deep in the alley." The uncle frowned and thought for a moment. "I can't remember which one exactly, you can go ask them again."
Finally, at a small restaurant, the proprietress looked at the photo a few more times: "Isn't this Xiaoman? She rented the attic from Old Zhou's house, it's the third building on the left in the alley ahead. But I haven't seen her in a long time, Old Zhou keeps bringing up the rent."
It was already late at night, but Xiao Wang and Xiao Zhou, ignoring their exhaustion, immediately rushed to the address the landlady had given them. The old iron gate was rusty and creaked when pushed gently. "Is anyone home?" Xiao Zhou shouted.
After a while, a dim light came on inside the house, and an old woman opened the door, looking at them warily: "Who are you?"
"We are police officers and we would like to inquire about Li Xiaoman's situation. She rented your attic, right?" Xiao Wang showed his identification.
The old lady then relaxed her guard and opened the iron gate to let them in. A musty smell mixed with the smell of Chinese medicine wafted out: "Xiaoman, she's been renting my attic for two years. She's usually quite quiet and rarely interacts with anyone. Last winter, she suddenly disappeared without even paying the rent. I went to the attic, and all her things were still there, but she was nowhere to be found."
Xiao Wang and Xiao Zhou exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy. Finally, after countless inquiries, investigations, and watching hundreds of hours of blurry surveillance footage, they found Li Xiaoman's residence, meaning they were one step closer to the truth. In the dim light, they went into the attic and began carefully searching for any possible clues.
The attic was covered in dust, with several medicine bottles piled in the corner, the labels for "Calcium Citrate Tablets" and "Vitamin D Soft Capsules" long faded. Xiao Zhou pulled a tin box from under the bed; inside, besides a few crumpled train tickets, was a yellowed photograph—a girl in a white dress smiling in front of a mine, with a large sign behind her reading "Anxing Fluorine Mine." The handwriting on the back of the photograph was delicate: "July 2018, finally found a job."
After discovering this important clue, we immediately reported it to Li Ming, who then contacted the Gu Meng police to investigate the relevant leads.
Li Ming made the contact very quickly.
Xiao Wang's palms were sweating as he gripped his phone. When the call connected, the steady voice of the operator from the Anxing League Police Station answered. "This is Xiao Wang from the Dongchuan Criminal Investigation Detachment. Requesting assistance in investigating Li Xiaoman, who joined Anxing Fluorine Mine in 2018!" He quickly provided crucial information: "Female, around 25 years old, left the company in 2020 due to fluorosis, and is highly likely involved in a major criminal case!"
Li Ming grabbed his coat and rushed out of the office: "I'll contact the Anxing League Criminal Investigation Detachment myself." His car sped through the night, police lights piercing the rain, the blue light from his phone screen reflecting on his face.