SFTD -Chapter 198 A Severed Thumb (Part 28)

“Zoom in on the monitor on the left, rewind ten minutes, then play it back at double speed.”

Following Zhou Hai’s instructions, Xu Biao found the corresponding timestamp and started the playback at 2x speed.

On the screen, the man sat crouched beside the iron fence, his arms resting on his knees. He wasn’t asleep. Unlike the man in the other video feed who paced around restlessly, this one simply sat there quietly and motionlessly.

Xu Biao was utterly confused. What was Hai looking for in such a static scene?

Just then, Zhou Hai tapped Xu Biao again.

“Stop! Zoom in on his face.”

The video froze. Xu Biao enlarged the frame repeatedly until the man’s face filled the screen. Zhou Hai leaned his right eye close to the monitor.

Although the man maintained the exact same posture as before, his eyes were glancing outside the fence, and a faint smile hung at the corner of his lips.

The smile was too strange.

Even Xu Biao sensed something wrong.

A manipulated “simpleton” who had innocently been dragged into a murder case should’ve been terrified and nervous beyond belief. Why would he smile like that?

“This is Pang Chuanhai’s surveillance footage?”

Xu Biao checked the video label.

“Yeah. You suspect him?”

“Tell Sister Zeng not to sleep yet. I need a DNA comparison between the skin tissue under Pang Chuanhai’s nails and Mu Ya’s. She already ran comparison data earlier, so the results should come quickly. I reviewed the forensic report. The semen residue found in Mu Ya’s cervix belongs to Zhu Mingtao. That was the killer’s final piece of ironclad evidence left for us. The scratches in the vagina and uterus were probably meant to deliberately attract our attention. But it seems he never noticed the residue left inside the fingernails.”

Xu Biao was overwhelmed by all the information and suddenly grabbed Zhou Hai’s arm.

“Wait! You mean Pang Chuanhai is Mu Ya’s ex-boyfriend? And you’re basing this on—that single—smile?”

“…”

March 5th (Lantern Festival), 1:30 PM

Changhe District Criminal Investigation Division

Looking at the innocent-faced Pang Chuanhai inside the interrogation room, Captain Liu frowned deeply.

In nearly a year, this was the first time he felt Zhou Hai’s theory might be unreliable.

But with no better investigative direction available, they could only try.

Standing beside Captain Liu, Wang Man said to Zhou Hai:

“We spent the entire morning investigating and still couldn’t find any information about Mu Ya’s boyfriend. None of her classmates knew who he was. Nobody had ever seen her openly dating anyone. But several male students mentioned that Mu Ya had, intentionally or unintentionally, touched their private parts before. At the time, they didn’t think much of it and assumed it was accidental.”

“Did you investigate Pang Chuanhai’s background?”

“His situation’s pretty simple. His parents worked in Africa year-round. He’s an only child from a wealthy family. His classmates say he doesn’t talk much, likes online games, spends money freely on them, and rarely socializes with classmates. Very introverted.”

Zhou Hai glanced at Wang Man.

“You contacted his parents?”

“No! International calls are freaking expensive!”

Xu Biao covered his face speechlessly.

“Vice Captain Wang, you could just contact the domestic dispatch office where they work and gather information indirectly.”

Wang Man smacked his forehead.

“I’ll do that right now.”

Less than ten minutes later, Wang Man returned. His expression was strange and shocked as he looked at Zhou Hai.

“His mother died in an accident before last year’s Spring Festival. His father remarried a coworker from Africa and already has another son with her. The baby is now six months old. But all of his mother’s compensation money was paid entirely to Pang Chuanhai. Everyone in the overseas department of Sinopec’s Ludong branch knows about it.”

Married less than a year, yet the child was already six months old.

What more needed to be explained?

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

“That woman’s surname is Mu?”

Wang Man nodded.

“Yes. Mu Fang, from Liupanshui. She has a father and a younger sister at home.”

At that moment, Zhou Hai’s phone vibrated.

Several WeChat images from Sister Zeng had arrived.

Naturally, he ignored the row of fist emojis underneath.

He handed the phone to Captain Liu.

“I need to conduct a physical examination on Pang Chuanhai.”

Captain Liu looked at the comparison results. Beyond shock, he had nothing left to say.

After all, all their deductions had merely been theories.

But this DNA evidence connected every single inference together.

He waved at Zhou Hai.

Entering the interrogation room, Xu Biao exchanged a glance with Chu Menghan.

She turned and walked out, while Wang Man brought Xiao Zeng over to Pang Chuanhai’s side.

The innocent expression on Pang Chuanhai’s face changed instantly.

Though he quickly replaced it with panic and scooted backward in fear.

“What are you doing? Are the police going to beat people now?”

Zhou Hai waved his hand. Wang Man and Xiao Zeng unlocked Pang Chuanhai’s handcuffs, and Xu Biao stepped in front of him.

“We need to conduct an examination. Take off your jacket.”

The moment those words were spoken, Pang Chuanhai struggled even harder.

This was genuine fear now—the fear that some flaw of his had been exposed.

Even with Wang Man and Xiao Zeng restraining him, controlling him became difficult.

Zhou Hai pushed Xu Biao aside and stared directly into Pang Chuanhai’s eyes.

“You’re overacting. If you had struggled like this when you were captured on the rooftop, it would’ve matched the persona you created for yourself. But acting like this here—who are you performing for? Your father? Or your stepmother, who’s three years older than you? Or perhaps your six-month-old little brother?”

Zhou Hai’s words instantly froze Pang Chuanhai.

A vicious glint suddenly flashed across his face.

Lowering his eyes slightly, he remained silent for a long while before finally looking back at Zhou Hai.

Gone was the previous innocence and panic.

Now he sneered with open disdain.

“It’s not hard to investigate those things. So what if you found out? Am I not allowed to hide my family background?”

“But your ex-girlfriend happens to be your stepmother’s younger sister. I suppose that’s something you never expected either.”

Pang Chuanhai narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t know Mu Ya. Who’s Mu Ya?”

Xu Biao stared at him, then pulled out a pair of scissors from behind his back and snapped them open and shut twice.

“Hey, are you taking it off yourself, or should we help you? You’re not getting out of this today. Everything you do now is pointless.”

The moment Pang Chuanhai saw the scissors, he completely lost his composure.

He violently shook off Wang Man and Xiao Zeng, trying to snatch the scissors from Xu Biao.

Enraged, Wang Man grabbed his wrist and twisted both arms behind the chair, cuffing him tightly back onto the interrogation seat.

The position forced him into an awkward half-squat while hugging the chair, leaving him unable to move.

No matter how much he screamed, he couldn’t break free.

Xu Biao swaggered over, grabbed Xiao Zeng’s hand to hold down Pang Chuanhai’s head, and while lecturing him, cut open the back of his clothes.

Three or four healed scratch marks appeared across the exposed skin of his back.

Xu Biao pulled out a photo and a caliper, measuring the dimensions of the scratches.

“OK. Perfect match with the dimensions of Mu Ya’s fingernails.”

The single sentence seemed to completely seal Pang Chuanhai in place.

He instantly stopped struggling and shouting.

Ever considerate, Xu Biao raised his camera and snapped photos of Pang Chuanhai’s back. Then he crouched beside him and showed him the picture.

“See this? Things got a little too wild with Mu Ya, huh? Didn’t notice you’d injured yourself? You should also thank yourself for smearing preservative grease on Mu Ya’s body. Otherwise, after repeated freezing, thawing, and transportation, who knows whether your skin tissue would still have remained under her nails. Alright. Now think carefully about how you’re going to explain all this.”