The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1301 On-site Construction Log

Manager Li took out the construction log and flipped to the relevant page: "We started construction in this area last week, mainly leveling the land and digging planting pits in preparation for planting trees. Before construction, we only did simple surface clearing and did not conduct in-depth investigation—this area used to be an idle lawn in the park, and no one had taken care of it. Who would have thought that there were corpses buried underneath!"

"During the construction period, have any strangers entered this area? Or have any suspicious people been seen loitering nearby?" Li Ming asked, focusing on recent personnel activities.

Manager Li thought for a moment and replied, "Management is quite strict during construction. Everyone entering the site must register, mainly the construction workers and park management personnel. No strangers register to enter. However, the park is open, and there are small paths around it that lead to the vicinity of the construction area. Occasionally, tourists or citizens will pass by, but we have not noticed any suspicious people loitering for a long time."

Xiao Wang then questioned three workers who were nearby at the time. Their accounts were consistent with those of Lao Chen and Manager Li; they all only saw Lao Chen discover the anomaly and call the police, and they did not see anything else suspicious or hear any unusual noises. "We were all busy moving saplings, and the noise was very loud. We didn't notice the details at the planting pit until Lao Chen shouted, and that's when we realized something had happened," one worker said.

At 12:30 PM, the on-site investigation and questioning were basically completed. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun returned to the Criminal Investigation Detachment with a small amount of soil samples and photos of the shovel marks, preparing for further testing. Xiao Wang, on the other hand, organized the questioning records and summarized all the clues before reporting to Li Ming: "Team Leader Li, the on-site investigation only found one blurry shovel mark, with no other valuable clues. The questioning revealed that the body was accidentally unearthed during construction, and the burial time was at least six months ago. No strangers entered the site during the construction period, and no tourists in the vicinity reported any unusual situations. Currently, the identity of the deceased is unknown, and there are no clues about the time, place, or suspect of the crime. The case is temporarily at a standstill."

Li Ming sat on a bench in the temporary rest shed, looking at the planting pit surrounded by police tape in the distance, his brow furrowed: "The difficulty of this case lies in the fact that the scene was severely damaged by construction, traces were largely lost, and the body was buried a long time ago, so the clues we can obtain are limited. Next, we will proceed in three steps: First, the technical department should test the soil samples as soon as possible to see if we can find more trace evidence, such as fibers or hair, or determine the approximate time of burial; second, Xiao Wang will lead a team to visit park management personnel, surrounding residents, and regular visitors to understand if there have been any abnormalities in the park's unused lawn areas in the past six months, such as people entering at night with tools or hearing digging sounds; third, we will retrieve the park's and surrounding area's surveillance footage from the past six months, focusing on the activities of people in the unused lawn areas, and looking for suspicious persons or vehicles."

He paused, his tone becoming more resolute: "Although the clues are limited at the moment, we cannot give up. The body was buried in the green area of ​​the park, so the suspect is likely familiar with the park environment or lives nearby. We must find a breakthrough as soon as possible, identify the deceased, find out the truth of the case, and give the deceased and his family an explanation."

At 1 p.m., the team members split up as Li Ming had instructed. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun took soil samples to the technical department; Xiao Wang led the interview team to begin questioning park management personnel and residents near the porridge; and the team members responsible for monitoring and investigation went to the park management office to retrieve surveillance footage from the past six months.

The landscaping renovation at Dongshan Park has been temporarily halted, with caution tape still prominently displayed around the planting pits. Occasionally, curious tourists peek from afar, discussing this sudden incident. Inside the cordon, sunlight filters through the leaves, dappling the turned soil, seemingly waiting silently for the truth to be revealed. Everyone knows that solving this case will be fraught with challenges, but a resolute determination shines in everyone's eyes—no matter how difficult, they will find the truth hidden beneath the soil and ensure justice is served.

At 2 PM on Friday, Xiao Wang and two team members arrived at the Dongshan Park Management Office. Pushing open the office door, they found Mr. Zhang, who was in charge of monitoring, already waiting in front of the computer. The screen displayed real-time surveillance footage of various areas of the park. "Mr. Zhang, could you please pull up the surveillance footage from the past six months of footage of the unused lawn area on the north side of the park, especially the nighttime footage? We need to check for suspicious persons and vehicles," Xiao Wang said directly, his gaze fixed on the screen, pointing to the area marked on the map where the body was found.

Mr. Zhang nodded and skillfully operated the monitoring system: "Officer, the area you need is a bit special. There are only two surveillance cameras near the unused lawn on the north side, one next to the main road on the east side of the lawn and the other near the pavilion on the west side. Moreover, both cameras were installed last year, so the resolution is not high, and the image will be blurry at night." As he spoke, he pulled up the surveillance footage, and the scene on the screen instantly switched to a scene from six months ago.

Xiao Wang leaned closer to the screen, his eyes fixed on the image: "Let's start from six months ago, focusing on the time period from 8 pm to 4 am every day. Is anyone carrying tools like shovels or hoes near the lawn, or are there any vehicles parked nearby?" Team members Xiao Li and Xiao Wang also watched the other two computers, the three of them working together, checking each day and time period.

Time passed quietly in the monitoring room, the images on the screen constantly changing—during the day, tourists occasionally passed by on the lawn, and in the evening, residents took a stroll, but at night, the monitoring images became blurry, showing only indistinct light and shadow, and even the figures were difficult to distinguish. "These cameras are so blurry!" Xiao Li rubbed his sore eyes, his tone filled with helplessness, "Around 10 pm last night, the camera on the west pavilion captured a blurry figure approaching the lawn, but it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman, whether they were carrying any tools, let alone facial features."

Xiao Wang sighed, "The surveillance cameras on the main road on the east side are even more outrageous. At night, the trees block the view, and most of the lawn area is in the blind spot of the cameras. We can only see the headlights of passing vehicles, and we can't even get a clear picture of the license plates. I checked the nighttime footage for nearly a month, and apart from the occasional passerby, I didn't find anyone deliberately stopping or entering the lawn."

Xiao Wang frowned and asked Master Zhang to pull up the surveillance footage from the past week: "Let's review the footage from the construction period again, and see if any strangers were loitering near the construction area." But the results were still not ideal—the construction period was noisy, and the surveillance footage was full of workers and construction equipment. Occasionally, tourists would pass by, but they walked normally and did not stop unusually.