BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 88 Destroying the Corpse and Erasing the Evidence

After sending the woman away, Sun Desheng continued questioning the police officers who had arrested and interrogated Li Guangquan, but no useful clues were uncovered.

At that moment, Li Guangquan’s personal file arrived. It stated:

Li Guangquan, male, born in 1985, native of Mao County in Hei Province. He had long been engaged in wholesale hardware business in An City, He Province. On August 13, 2017, he died of a sudden heart attack in Gu’an.

The file also mentioned that Li Guangquan had been arrested multiple times by the local police for soliciting prostitutes. Sun Desheng counted the entries and discovered that he had been arrested eleven times in total.

After glancing at the dossier, Che Qianzi said contemptuously:

“This guy’s luck is unbelievably bad. Getting caught eleven times just for buying sex? Was he being baited or something? How could they catch him every single time?”

Sun Desheng chuckled.

“Those are only the times he got caught. Who knows how many times he got away with it? I’m not saying anything, but a person should at least have one vice in life—eating, drinking, gambling, women, whatever. Didn’t Du Yuesheng say it? A man without hobbies isn’t worth befriending. Think about it, brother. If someone doesn’t drink, gamble, smoke, or chase women at all, wouldn’t that be terrifying? If you meet that kind of person in the future, remember to stay away.”

Che Qianzi pondered those words and found them strangely reasonable. Nodding, he asked:

“Fatty, have you ever met someone like that?”

“Of course. The bigger the forest, the more kinds of birds you’ll find.”

Sun Desheng grinned and glanced at him.

“That person’s name is Guangren…”

Before Che Qianzi could ask who Guangren was, the office door opened. The police station chief personally walked in holding a cell phone sealed inside a white evidence bag.

“Leaders, we just found this in the massage parlor where we arrested Li Guangquan. The man was pretty crafty. When he realized something was wrong, he stuffed the phone into the crack between the bed and the wall.

The phone was purchased five days ago, and only one number is stored inside. We tried calling it five times just now, but no one answered.

We’ve determined that the number belongs to an unregistered SIM card bought five years ago, making it very difficult to trace the purchaser. However, around seven o’clock tonight, that number called seven numbers in total. Li Guangquan’s was one of them. The other six phones are all switched off now, and they’re also unregistered SIM cards purchased five years ago…”

The station chief paused and glanced at Sun Desheng before continuing:

“We also located Li Guangquan’s residence—a hotel not far from the massage parlor. He registered under his own ID card.

He came to Beijing by high-speed rail yesterday morning. Since his death wasn’t reflected in the household registration system and his identity hadn’t been canceled, the ID card could still be used by its ‘owner.’ Only when police officers perform checks do we see the information indicating that he is deceased.”

Hearing this, Che Qianzi shook his head disappointedly.

“I thought we’d finally discover something. Turns out we’re right back where we started. Everything’s stuck again.”

“Not necessarily. We’ve learned something new.”

Sun Desheng smiled at his little brother.

“Now we know there are seven people similar to Li Guangquan. Old Wang, I’ll have to trouble you again. Check where Li Guangquan’s flight tomorrow morning is headed. Also, can you pull up surveillance footage and use facial recognition to see who he contacted?”

Police procedures were straightforward. Before long, they identified the flight booked under Li Guangquan’s ID. It was scheduled to depart at nine in the morning for Harbin. Since Mao County, his hometown, was nearby, they inferred he intended to fly home.

As for tracing his contacts, big data analysis was already underway. According to current information, Li Guangquan hadn’t met anyone after getting off the train.

Following Sun Desheng’s instructions, they also began investigating the hospital where Li Guangquan had died and the people he had associated with while alive. However, those investigations required time, and results would not come quickly.

By dawn, another piece of news arrived.

Investigators had found bodily fluids left behind by Li Guangquan at the massage parlor. When discovered, the fluid emitted the putrid stench of rotting meat that had been decomposing for many days.

Sun Desheng had wanted Xiao Yifeng to bring samples back to the Bureau for testing, but Yang Xiao only took one look and declared that the fluids had already completely decayed and that testing was unnecessary.

Old Yang himself found nothing new either. The corpse had already become a mass of rotten flesh. Aside from that steel needle, no useful clues remained.

After an entire night of effort, the case seemed to have returned to square one.

After daybreak, the director of the Municipal Bureau personally called Sun Desheng.

Upon hearing that there had been no progress, he ordered that the case be handed back to the Municipal Bureau for their own investigation. Now that Sun Desheng was no longer bureau chief, they saw no reason why the Min Tiao Bureau should interfere in a case that had occurred within a local police station.

Sun Desheng couldn’t be bothered to argue.

The only reason he had involved himself was out of consideration for Shen La. But Shen La had already taken Zhao Qing home to rest. Therefore, Fatty Sun simply returned the case to Wei Jianzhong and led the members of the Min Tiao Bureau away.

After an exhausting night without sleep, no one was in the mood to work. Back at the Bureau, Sun Desheng didn’t even bother reporting the underground tomb affair to Secretary Yang.

Instead, he dragged Che Qianzi into his former office, and the two brothers caught up on some sleep there.

Nobody knew how long they had slept before the ringing of Sun Desheng’s desk phone suddenly woke them.

Seeing that the caller was Shen La, Fatty Sun suppressed his irritation and answered:

“La Zi, I just closed my eyes and your call comes in… What? Li Guangquan’s corpse was burned in a fire? Where? The police station where the incident happened?”

Shortly after Sun Desheng and his people had left, the chief forensic examiner of the Municipal Bureau’s Judicial Department personally took over the case.

When he arrived, he was stunned.

Before him lay nothing but a puddle of meat paste and a heavily weathered skeleton. He had heard beforehand that decomposition was severe, but he had never imagined it would be this bad.

Nevertheless, procedures had to be followed. Just as he was preparing to collect samples of the flesh for examination, a fire suddenly broke out at the police station.

The blaze spread rapidly and violently, collapsing the wall beneath the interrogation room. Along with it, the pile of meat and the skeleton disappeared into the flames.

Since this case was under the direct supervision of the Municipal Bureau’s chief, they had no choice but to continue the investigation, even without a victim’s remains.

With the corpse gone, they could only begin by questioning everyone involved the previous night.

Very soon, Zhao Qing was taken in for questioning, and Shen La, who had accompanied her all night, was brought in as well.

Because of his Min Tiao Bureau background, Shen La was released quickly.

Zhao Qing, however, remained under interrogation.

The more Shen La thought about it, the more something felt wrong. He tried everywhere to find Fatty Sun for help. Unfortunately, Sun Desheng was sleeping like the dead, his phone set to silent and completely unheard.

In the end, Shen La called the office landline and finally managed to reach him.

After listening to the whole story, Sun Desheng said into the phone:

“La Zi, stop worrying about it. The case belongs to the Municipal Bureau now. Let them wear themselves out. Honestly, it’s no big deal. The victim was someone who had already been dead for a month. Now that the body has been burned, they even saved themselves the cremation expenses…”

At that moment, another voice came from Shen La’s side.

Little Zhao had finished her questioning. Seeing his girlfriend emerge, Shen La no longer bothered with Sun Desheng and immediately hung up.

“La Zi’s gone bad. This is the first time he’s ever hung up on me.”

Sun Desheng smiled bitterly and put down the receiver.

Yawning, he turned toward the equally sleepy Che Qianzi.

“Brother, go wash your face. Later your big brother here will take you to the airport to watch airplanes.”

“You aren’t afraid one might crush you…”

Che Qianzi yawned as well and wiped away tears from his eyes.

“Fatty, you still haven’t given up, have you? Forget watching airplanes—you planned this all along, didn’t you? You already figured something out?”

Sun Desheng smiled.

“We really are becoming more and more alike.”

He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. Before the call connected, he said to Che Qianzi:

“Li Guangquan has already exposed himself, so the remaining six people don’t dare move recklessly. Now that his corpse has been destroyed to erase the evidence, those six should be making their moves as well…”

The call connected.

“Old Yang, are you ready? You’ve already heard the corpse was burned? That’s right. They’ve got quite some nerve…”