A Cage Drawn by a Finger

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a-cage-drawn-by-a-finger

Identity - Solving Cases Relies on Footwork

It was already past five when Yuan Hang returned to the station. Ding Sheng was chewing on some nuts, waiting to get off work. Catching sight of him passing by the doorway, he leaned half his body out of his office chair and greeted him enthusiastically, "Yo, Brother Yuan, you're back! Come have some nuts to fuel your brain. How's the case?"


 "No progress at all. We can only pray the forensic examiner and the surveillance gods will bless us with a meal." Yuan Hang walked into the cool office, unceremoniously plopped himself down on Ding Sheng's desk, and grabbed a handful of walnuts from the jar. "What was with that young girl this afternoon?"


 "Tsk, aren't you being unprofessional? What else could it be if she's in my office? Telecom fraud, of course." Ding Sheng pointed at his computer screen. "Her kid had a fever last night, so the mother went online to buy medicine. She received a text message saying it was out of stock and she should get a refund. The mother was anxious and clicked on the fraudulent website without looking closely. After canceling the order, she placed a new order for fever medicine. As a result, her phone got a virus, her payment password was exposed, and over thirty thousand yuan was transferred out. Fortunately, the card linked to her payment app didn't have much money in it, and she hadn't enabled credit payments, so the loss wasn't too great. Still, it's enough to make her miserable for a long while."


 "What medicine app was she using? Can the money be recovered?"


 "A pharmaceutical app called 'Juquan Medical.' It's quite feature-rich, offering services like buying and delivering medicine, and hospital escort services. A case like hers is due to a leak of her registration information. The scammers cast a wide net to fish for victims. The hope of recovering the money is probably slim." Ding Sheng sighed as he spoke. "It's so immoral. The mother is raising the child by herself. She has to file a report and take care of her kid at the same time. You saw her state. Ah, it was painful for me to watch."


 The tips of Yuan Hang's ears twitched slightly. He repeated, "'Juquan'?"


 Ding Sheng was still sighing with emotion. "Yeah, what's up? You use it too?"


 "It sounds a bit familiar. I think I've heard it somewhere before." Yuan Hang rubbed his chin. "Hiss, I can't remember where."


 Ding Sheng grabbed two almonds and tossed them into his mouth. Amidst the "crunch, crunch" sound, like a mouse gnawing on a door, he said, "Maybe someone in your family has used this app. Go back and ask. And while you're at it, spread the word. Tell the elderly in your family to be more vigilant, not to casually click on links in text messages from strangers, and to beware of telecom fraud."


 Yuan Hang gave a distracted "mm," his mind still trying to capture that vague, inexplicable sense of familiarity—where on earth had he heard it before?


 On the morning of September 27th, the identity of the person who drowned in Xinliu River had emerged. The deceased was named Ye Tongsheng, 29 years old, single, and worked as an Information Security Engineer at Juquan Pharmaceuticals Technology Company.


 After confirming Ye Tongsheng's address, the police retrieved surveillance footage from the route he took. They confirmed that he left his home at around 6:30 PM on September 25th and walked towards Xinliu Park. He ate at a fast-food restaurant along the way and arrived at Xinliu Park at 7:40 PM, entering through the south gate. As the park was holding a Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival that evening, the visitor traffic was very high. Consequently, the surveillance cameras only intermittently captured him twice after he entered. It started to rain at around 8:30 PM, further reducing visibility, and his figure never appeared in the videos again.


 The last captured image was at 8:10 PM. Ye Tongsheng was walking into the park market at a normal strolling pace. The people coming and going, like a river carrying away a drop of water, completely concealed his tracks.


 He had a clean record, a stable job and life. He would go out to see the lanterns on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, occasionally stopping to take pictures. People around him came and went. On either side of the screen, no one knew what he was thinking in his heart.


 Could he have committed suicide?


 In the conference room, the police officers sat around a long table. Deputy Captain Dai Lin was leading the case discussion. "Any other findings?"


 Yuan Hang said, "We contacted the service provider and retrieved Ye Tongsheng's call records and his phone's last location. His last call was one he received from the service provider at 3 PM on September 25th. The phone's last signal was located 200 meters upstream from where the body was found. Surveillance shows the deceased was wearing a grayish-blue long-sleeved hooded jacket and had no backpack. We speculate that his phone and personal belongings were in his jacket pockets. We searched the banks of the Xinliu River, the two road bridges, and the vicinity of Xinliu Park with the local police station officers, focusing on the area around the phone's last known location, but we did not find any of the deceased's belongings."


 "With WeChat now, young people don't use phone calls and text messages much anymore. But we haven't found Ye Tongsheng's phone, so we can't get his WeChat chat history for now. Captain Dai, I was thinking, should we question Ye Tongsheng's colleagues at his company to gather some clues from them?"


 "You can." Dai Lin asked, "What about the deceased's family? Have they been contacted?"


 Another officer replied, "They've been contacted. Ye Tongsheng's hometown is in Xingcheng. He's an only son. His parents are on their way and are expected to arrive in Sheng'an tomorrow afternoon."


 Dai Lin said in a deep voice, "Good, everyone has worked hard. We've initially sorted out the basic information today. The next step is the detailed work of piecing the puzzle together, finding key evidence, and determining the victim's cause of death to build a solid case."


 "Yuan Hang, you take someone to visit Juquan Technology Company tomorrow. Focus on investigating the deceased's social connections. Xiao Yao, contact the local police station and continue searching the vicinity of Xinliu Park for witnesses and physical evidence from the night of September 25th. Lu Yan, check the deceased's medical records, focusing on his past medical history. Ye Tongsheng's parents will be here tomorrow to identify the body. You coordinate with the forensic examiner and handle the reception of the family."


 "Yes!"


 After the meeting, the officers dispersed to get busy. Only Yuan Hang was a step behind. Dai Lin asked sharply, "What is it? Are there any other problems?"


 "Captain Dai," Yuan Hang rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'd like to take Ding Sheng with me to Juquan Technology."


 "Reason."


 "Yesterday, Ding Sheng received a telecom fraud report. After the victim used Juquan's medicine-buying app, uh, she received a scam text message..."


 He faltered. Dai Lin gave him a knowing look. "Even you think it's a bit of a stretch, don't you? Just because Ye Tongsheng was an employee of the Juquan company, you're forcing a connection between the two cases?"


 Yuan Hang lowered his head, a bit dejected. "It's not that forced, is it..."


 "I was using a question." Dai Lin picked up his teacup and cut straight to the point. "You're the lead investigator. If you think there's something to it, then investigate it to the end. Prove your intuition, or prove it's a coincidence. There is no right or wrong in a case, only facts. You have to speak with evidence."


 He slapped Yuan Hang's shoulder firmly with his notebook. "Kid, you still have a lot to learn."


 September 28th, early morning.


 A police car with "Public Security" painted on its side was parked in the open space in front of the building. Yuan Hang and Ding Sheng took the elevator to the 4th floor and followed the receptionist, striding quickly down the corridor laid with sound-dampening carpet.


 Along the way, half-height metal cabinets were placed inside floor-to-ceiling glass doors. In Yuan Hang's peripheral vision, all he could see were heads craning from behind green plants to watch the commotion. The scene was a bit frightening, as if a row of giraffe heads had suddenly appeared at the tops of the trees.


 Countless gazes and whispers intertwined into a giant spider web. No matter where they went, they could feel the clinging, inescapable silk threads.


 "It's the Public Security. Their car is parked downstairs."


 "They must be here about that thing with Ye Tongsheng, right?"


 "What else could it be? Tax evasion?"


 Shen Zhengning typed on his keyboard with divided attention, his ears pricked up. Only after confirming the file had been saved did he move his gaze from the screen to look inquisitively at the commotion outside in the corridor.


 Perhaps the curious and probing gazes from the surroundings were too blatant, and a police officer's perception is sharper than that of an ordinary person. The officer in the corridor happened to turn his head at that moment, returning the countless stares with a calm and powerful glance.


 It was like hitting the pause button.


 Their eyes met through the glass. Yuan Hang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He finally remembered why the company "Juquan" had sounded so familiar.


 The other person's surprised expression confirmed his suspicion. Although they hadn't seen each other in years, it was indeed an acquaintance.


 His high school classmate, Shen Zhengning, the most "special" friend of his youth. The two had gone their separate ways after graduation and had barely been in contact since. He had only heard about his recent situation from other classmates a few years ago. He never expected to run into him under such circumstances.


 This was a professional setting, and in front of so many people, Yuan Hang couldn't be more obvious. He simply gave a very small nod of acknowledgment and followed the receptionist into the conference room.


 As they entered, Ding Sheng nudged him lightly with his elbow and whispered, "Ran into someone you know?"


 "Yeah." Yuan Hang's lips didn't move as he squeezed out a breathy sound from his throat. "I'll ask around in a bit."


 They took their seats in the conference room. A moment later, two men in suits pushed open the frosted glass door and walked in. Yuan Hang stood up and showed his credentials. "Hello, we are detectives from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Jinxi Branch, Sheng'an City Public Security Bureau. We're here to ask about a case. We need the cooperation of relevant personnel."


 "Hello, officers. Please, have a seat. Xiao Sun, go pour some water." The short, stout man in the gray suit managed to force a hollow smile. "I'm terribly sorry, our President has something this morning and isn't in the office. I've already called him, and he's on his way back. I'm the company's Vice President, Gao Qihui, and this is our Legal Director, He Chuan. Please let us know if there's anything you need from us. We will certainly do our best to cooperate."


 Ding Sheng turned on the body camera. Yuan Hang pulled a photo from his notebook and pushed it across to the two men opposite him. "Do you know this person?"


 The two men involuntarily glanced at each other, their expressions stiff and constrained. Gao Qihui cleared his throat in a poor attempt to conceal his feelings. "I do. This is our company's Information Security Engineer, Ye Tongsheng."


 "Ye Tongsheng passed away two days ago, on the night of September 25th. Do either of you know about his whereabouts on that day? Has he been acting abnormally recently?"


 Gao Qihui stammered for a long time before finally taking a deep breath and mustering the courage to speak. "Officer, actually, word about Ye Tongsheng has already spread throughout the company... Was he—did he commit suicide?"


 "Why would you think he committed suicide?" Yuan Hang jotted down notes, then lifted his eyelids to look at him. "The body was found near the Xinliu River, that's correct, but it could also have been an accidental fall into the water, an accident."


 Perhaps his attitude was too direct. Gao Qihui took the full force of his question, and cold sweat immediately broke out. He fumbled for his phone with a trembling hand and explained nervously, "No, it's just, I saw his Moments! Everyone at the company knows, officer, look at what he posted that night..."


 Yuan Hang took his phone and saw the only post on Ye Tongsheng's empty feed—


 [Sorry]


 The accompanying picture was completely black, posted at 10:43 PM on September 25th.

A Cage Drawn by a Finger

A Cage Drawn by a Finger

Chapter 3 - Identity - Solving Cases Relies on Footwork

OldSenpaiOwl