Chapter 42: The Three-Point Line! The Location of the Corpse!

Where is Liu Furen's body?

Outside the Qinghe Copper Smelting Plant, Shen Ting looked at Captain Guan's message and frowned slightly.

Liu Qitong had actually asked him this very question a couple of days ago.

Back then, he truly had no idea.

Even now, he still didn't have much of a clue.

The clues inside the smelting plant didn't seem to have anything to do with the disposal of Liu Furen's body at all!

It wasn't just Shen Ting who felt this way; the other chat group members also remained silent for a long time, posting no new messages.

Clearly, they also felt this question was drifting a bit too far off-course.

What direct connection could Liu Furen's body possibly have to identifying the criminal?

As if guessing everyone's doubts, Guan Hongfeng added:

"Judging from the current state of the case, the perpetrators are most likely family members of the victims from the accident all those years ago.

Now, simply killing Liu Furen, the boss at the time—can that really be considered revenge for them?

Is this revenge complete?"

Killing Liu Furen didn't count as complete revenge?

An eye for an eye, a life for a life—ordinarily, the killers should have been satisfied.

"However, there were an unusually high number of victims back then—as many as forty-five. The killers probably felt that a single life from Liu Furen wasn't enough?

Furthermore, after the pillars of their households died, losing their sources of income, the lives of the victims' families have been extremely miserable.

Their suffering is something that wealthy people like Liu Furen, as well as Liu Furen's own family members, could naturally never comprehend.

This might also cause a psychological imbalance in the criminals..."

Shen Ting followed Captain Guan's train of thought, but still felt it was somewhat off target.

After all, this was a case from twelve years ago.

If the criminals held hostility toward others involved in the accident or toward Liu Furen's relatives, they logically would have made their move long ago.

Yet the case files contained nothing of the sort...

Right!

Shen Ting's thoughts stirred.

"The forty-em victims back then died in molten copper.

The criminals used a similar method to kill Liu Furen.

To take revenge on him, could the method used to dispose of his body also be similar to the disposal of the forty-five victims' bodies?"

Shen Ting immediately checked the relevant case files.

Earlier in the police car, he had only focused on the core details of the accident.

He hadn't had time to look at the subsequent aftermath, mainly because he felt it had little bearing on the case.

"Huh?

The aftermath of this accident was handled so carelessly?"

Twenty years ago, social media was underdeveloped, and smartphones were far from widespread.

Although the smelting plant accident was heinous, its impact was far less than Liu Furen's kidnapping.

Basically, only local print newspapers in Dajing had reported on it in short paragraphs.

Moreover, for such a severe case, there were surprisingly no follow-up reports.

"It must have been suppressed by Liu Furen through his connections."

Furthermore, the families of the victims in that accident were only compensated with eighty thousand yuan each!

As for the bodies of the victims, because they were fused together with the solidified copper plates, some proposed remelting the copper plates to build a memorial.

This would commemorate the forty-five deceased and warn future generations to prioritize safe production.

Others proposed cutting the copper plate along the contours of the bodies into forty-five pieces and handing them over to the victims' families.

In the end, none of these proposals were followed.

Just four days after the accident, the copper plate containing the forty-five workers was hauled away and remelted.

It was then rapidly turned into copper wire and components, processed into wires and electrical appliances, and entered thousands of households.

As for the workers' graves, naturally, they contained no bodies; instead, following local customs, empty-clothing cenotaphs were built instead!

"Heh, no wonder the victims' families harbored such bitter resentment toward Liu Furen."

"However, to turn Liu Furen's body into copper wire and components as well—the criminals probably don't have that kind of capability.

As for the cenotaphs..."

Putting himself in the shoes of the criminals, Shen Ting typed directly into the group:

"Perhaps Liu Furen's body was used as a sacrifice to the victims of the accident all those years ago!"

Forensic Doctor Qin Ming: "That makes sense!"

Tang Detective Qin Feng: "To be specific, the criminals might have cut up the copper block fused with Liu Furen's remains into forty-five pieces.

Is there a high probability they buried them in the forty-five cenotaphs to memorialize all the dead?"

Kira Yoshikage: "It shouldn't be forty-five pieces; that's way too risky.

Not all the families of the forty-five accident victims could have participated in the crime.

At most, there are only seven or eight accomplices involved!

Burying copper blocks containing Liu Furen's body in cenotaphs belonging to families who had nothing to do with the case would easily expose them if graves ever needed to be relocated.

Therefore, Liu Furen's body should only be inside the graves corresponding to the actual criminals.

This must be the key to Captain Guan's follow-up investigative direction, right?!"

"Exactly!"

Guan Hongfeng messaged directly:

"The families of the forty-five accident victims aren't an overwhelming number, but checking them one by one is still a massive workload.

And it might stir up painful memories for others!

It's much more direct and simpler to investigate the graveyard itself."

So that was it!

Shen Ting nodded while simultaneously frowning.

Captain Guan's reasoning did make sense.

However, it belonged to the realm of pure deduction without empirical evidence.

This time, the criminals were as cunning as foxes, repeatedly using interlocking schemes, so pure deduction from an investigator's perspective could very well lead to mistakes.

The crucial point was!

If they investigated along this line, it involved digging up graves.

It would be fine if they ultimately found Liu Furen's body.

If they couldn't find it, there would likely be huge trouble!

As Shen Ting weighed the pros and cons, Shen Xu suddenly sent a message:

"Captain Guan's reasoning should be correct."

He then uploaded an image to the group.

Curious, everyone took a look and was completely dumbfounded.

Because what he uploaded was still that same previous image—

On Shen Ting's color circles and trajectory diagram, starting from the Sanyapo pond and following the direction of the deceased's kowtow, a straight line was drawn.

The straight line passed through the old industrial zone, especially the Qinghe Copper Smelting Plant!

Tang Ren: "You uploaded the wrong picture~~"

Guan Hongyu: "Yeah, hasn't this picture been uploaded before?"

Tang Detective Qin Feng: "No, wait... you didn't upload the wrong one!

In this picture, that straight line has been extended!"

The previous straight line had merely crossed the old industrial zone and hadn't been drawn any further.

The straight line in the latest picture, after passing through the old industrial zone, extended further backward, piercing through mountain after mountain and river after river.

The key question was!

What did this even mean?

Why did Shen Xu say that Captain Guan's train of thought was most likely correct?

Forensic Doctor Qin Ming: "I think... I get it!

Look at the second mountain the straight line passes through—the one with the abandoned village beside it.

If I remember correctly, the cenotaphs of the forty-five victims were built on that very mountain."

The group members were startled.

After checking the data, they confirmed Qin Ming was right.

The second mountain pierced by the straight line was indeed the resting place of the graves of the forty-five victims.

Kiko: "Σ( ° △ °|||)︴

So, the three dead people in the Hummer weren't actually kowtowing toward the Qinghe Copper Smelting Plant?

Were they kowtowing toward this graveyard mountain instead?"

Shen Xu: "I feel like they were kowtowing to both at the same time.

If the old industrial zone being in the direction of the kowtow is just a coincidence...

I feel like that would be too much of a coincidence to make sense."

Hannibal: "Deliberately designed points on a single line?

This criminal is interesting!"

Jigsaw: "The killer in this case is definitely extraordinary.

This obsessive pursuit of orientation feels like creating art.

To the criminal, it probably has a bizarre aesthetic appeal that excites them."

Shen Ting was similarly thrilled.

Shen Xu's discovery provided the exact corroboration he needed.

With the support of the geometric alignment, the credibility of Captain Guan's conjecture increased significantly.

...

Meanwhile!

Zheng Yuanqiao and Qin Shan walked out of the factory area with expressions of joy on their faces.

Zheng Yuanqiao called out excitedly to Shen Ting from afar:

"Shen Ting, the technical team has pretty much collected the fingerprints and small floral traces.

We can head back for identification immediately.

Captain Qin has contacted colleagues at the bureau to vet the families of the forty-five accident victims.

If all goes well, we should be able to identify the suspects in the Luohe kidnapping case within these few days."

Zheng Yuanqiao was genuinely happy.

Although he had at most played a supporting role in this case without contributing much,

Shen Ting was the consultant he had brought in.

Finding the Hummer dumping site!

Identifying the old industrial zone!

Pinpointing the Qinghe Copper Smelting Plant!

Shen Ting could definitely be said to have spearheaded the resolution of this case.

Zheng Yuanqiao naturally shared in the glory!

The same went for Detachment Captain Qin Shan.

The most influential and heinous kidnapping case of the new century had been solved by his subordinates.

He was basking in the reflected glory as well.

"Haha, my pension will probably get a nice bump from this."

Shen Ting looked at the two men walking toward him and smiled:

"Captain Zheng, Captain Qin, I have an even simpler method to find the killer faster..."

Zheng Yuanqiao and Qin Shan froze for a moment.

Another method?

Even simpler?

Without waiting for the two to ask, Shen Ting stated directly:

"Graveyard!

Dig up the graves!

Liu Furen's body is likely inside the cenotaphs of the accident victims from back then..."