lcionline Chapter 1266 Oriental Building Parking Lot
Chapter 1266 Oriental Building Parking Lot
Seeing Zhao Liang's remorseful expression, Xiao Wang knew that no amount of repentance could bring Li Baowei back to life. He put away the interrogation records and said to the police officer at the door, "Take him away."
It was already dark when Xiao Wang walked out of the interrogation room. Standing in the corridor, looking at the lights outside the window, he knew in his heart that the truth of the murder case in Oriental Park had finally come to light. Li Baowei's soul could finally rest in peace, and his family would finally receive a just outcome. As for Zhao Liang, in order to cover up his selfishness and in the heat of the moment, he chose to take another's life, and he would ultimately pay the price for his cruelty, spending the rest of his life in prison to atone for his crimes.
At this moment, the technical department reported that, based on Zhao Liang's confession, Li Baowei's measuring tape and screwdriver were found in the bushes deep within the sycamore grove of Oriental Park. The fingerprints on them matched Zhao Liang's perfectly, further strengthening the chain of evidence. This investigation surrounding Li Baowei's murder case finally came to a just end in the face of irrefutable evidence and confessions.
Less than a week after the case was closed, the criminal investigation team received another report.
At 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the lights in the underground parking lot of the Oriental Building flickered, and the air was filled with the smell of car exhaust and dust. 58-year-old security guard Li Baocun, holding a flashlight, began his night patrol as usual. This office building is bustling with people during the day, but at night, apart from a few employees working overtime, there are hardly any people. The parking lot patrol is mostly to check whether the car doors and windows are closed and whether there are any suspicious people loitering around.
He walked slowly along the parking spaces on level B2, the beam of his flashlight sweeping across the rows of neatly parked cars. When he reached the innermost corner, the beam suddenly stopped—on the ground near the fire lane, a person was curled up, lying on their side outside the parking space line, a black coat covering most of their face, motionless.
"Who's sleeping here?" Li Baocun frowned, assuming it was some overworked employee who had fallen asleep. He took a few steps closer and called out twice, "Wake up! You can't sleep here, get up!" There was no response. A sense of unease crept into Li Baocun's heart. He crouched down and shone his flashlight on the person's face—the face was deathly pale, the lips were purple, and the eyes were tightly closed; it didn't look like someone was asleep at all. He hesitated, reaching out his hand. The moment his fingertips touched the person's arm, he recoiled as if electrocuted—the touch was cold and stiff, devoid of any human warmth.
"Someone's dead!" Li Baocun's voice instantly changed tone, and the flashlight clattered to the ground, its beam flailing wildly. He staggered back a few steps, pulled out his phone, his hands shaking so much he could barely press the unlock button, and finally managed to dial the police number, his voice trembling with tears: "Hello... officers! In the B2 underground parking lot of the Oriental Building... someone's not breathing! Please come quickly!"
Forty minutes later, Li Ming's police car arrived along the main road of the Oriental Building and stopped at the entrance to the underground parking lot. "Seal off the scene immediately!" Li Ming pushed open the car door, his black leather shoes stepping on the concrete ground of the parking lot, and gave instructions to the team members behind him, "Use warning tape to cordon off the parking spaces and fire lanes at the corner of B2 level, prohibiting unauthorized personnel from entering, especially the ground around the body, don't let anyone step on it; Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun are responsible for the initial on-site investigation, focusing on the location of the body, traces of surrounding vehicles, items left on the ground, and the status of the locks on the fire lanes; Xiao Wang and I will go and question the person who reported the case, the rest of you stay at the parking lot entrance, register the information of people and vehicles entering and exiting, and check if any suspicious persons have left."
Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun, carrying investigation bags and wearing gloves and shoe covers, cautiously entered the cordon. The underground parking lot was dimly lit. Xiao Yang turned on the high-intensity investigation light, the beam first falling on the body on the ground. The deceased was a middle-aged man, appearing to be 30-40 years old, about 172 cm tall, wearing a black jacket and dark blue jeans, with brown leather shoes on his feet. The jacket pockets were turned inside out, as if they had been rummaged through. Xiao Sun squatted down beside the body, took out a ruler, and gently measured the distance between the body and the fire escape door. He then used tweezers to remove the jacket covering the body's face and carefully examined the deceased's hands—there were slight abrasions at the finger joints, and a little light brown powder, like dirt or dust, stuck in the nail crevices.
"Don't touch the body yet, focus on checking the surrounding environment," Xiao Yang reminded, moving the beam of the investigation light to the ground around the body. The ground was paved with gray tiles, with a small amount of dust in the grout. About 50 centimeters to the left of the body, there was a shallow drag mark, a straight line extending to the parking space next to it, as if someone had dragged the body from the parking space to the fire lane.
“There are drag marks here,” Xiao Sun said, picking up a black fiber next to the marks with tweezers and examining it against the light. “The fiber looks like it was snagged from a coat, and the color matches the deceased’s coat.” He put the fiber into an evidence bag and then carefully searched under the parking space. Soon, he found a cigarette butt on the ground next to the tire. The cigarette butt was a “Chunghwa” brand, with obvious teeth marks on the filter and a small amount of damp dust on the surface—it looked like it hadn’t been discarded for long.
"Have you checked the fire escape doors?" Xiao Yang asked, and the two got up and headed towards the fire escape. The normally closed fire door was ajar, with a silver metal wire, about 3 centimeters long, stuck in the crack, as if it had broken off from something. Xiao Sun pushed the door open; the passageway was pitch black. He shone his searchlight on the ground and found several dark red marks on the steps. The edges of the marks were dry, but it was still clear that they were traces of liquid dripping.
“The marks look like bloodstains, but we need to go back for testing to confirm the person,” Xiao Yang touched the marks with his hand. “There are signs of being trampled on in the dust on the steps. The shoe prints are blurry, but you can tell they are the tread pattern of men’s leather shoes, about size 41. They are different from the size of the shoes on the deceased’s feet, so they may have been left by the suspect. In addition, there are no signs of forced entry on the lock of the fire escape door. The suspect may have had the key, or he may have come down from another floor.”
At the same time, Xiao Wang led Li Baocun to the security room at the parking lot entrance and handed him a cup of hot water. Li Baocun took the cup, his hands still trembling slightly, his face pale: "Officer, I've been a security guard for so many years, and this is the first time I've encountered something like this. My legs are still weak."
"Don't be nervous, bring me some food, tell me slowly, how did you find the body? Was there anyone else around when you found it? Tell me the whole story." Xiao Wang took out his notebook, pen hovering over the paper, his eyes focused intently on Li Baocun.