Chapter 39: Analysis of the Body's Hiding Location

It was still Conference Room No. 1.

By the time Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan arrived, the room was already full.

In fact, just like the people who had attended the meeting fifteen minutes ago, everyone present was a member of the Skeleton Case Task Force.

As Lu Chuan entered, all eyes turned toward him.

"Everyone is here, so let's begin."

Qin Yong's voice was much clearer and more vigorous than before; clearly, the confirmation of the skeleton's identity had significantly improved his mood.

"Ren Qiang, you introduce."

Ren Qiang nodded. During the previous meeting, his team had been responsible for screening missing persons information.

"Based on the skeletal forensic analysis conducted by Lu Chuan, we have just completed a search of the missing persons database for similar physical characteristics."

The lights in the conference room dimmed as the projector turned on: "Huang Lan, female, local, thirty-four years old, worked at the Yuanguang Farm. Her family reported her missing three months ago."

A full-body photo of a middle-aged woman appeared on the projection.

The woman in the photo was slightly plump and dressed plainly, but she had fair skin.

"The height and weight information of the missing person is very close to Lu Chuan's analysis."

"Furthermore, the farm has business dealings with the feed mill where the skeletal remains were discovered."

Although Ren Qiang's report had not yet definitively confirmed that the remains belonged to Huang Lan, based on the clues discovered so far, it was almost certain.

"Immediately arrange for personnel to go to Huang Lan's home to collect DNA from her immediate relatives and compare it with the skeletal remains!"

The meeting ended quickly.

The results arrived just as fast.

Liu Guodong personally performed the DNA comparison.

It was confirmed: the owner of the skeletal remains was indeed Huang Lan.

With the identity of the deceased confirmed, the investigation saw rapid progress.

Of course, the heavy lifting was still done by the action team. At this stage of the case, the work of the crime scene investigation office and the forensic pathologists was largely complete.

***

September 15th, Wednesday, Sunny.

Lu Chuan was in his office, tending to a delicate red anthurium plant.

After finishing the morning briefing, Liu Guodong returned to his office with a leisurely stride.

"Old Liu, how is the skeleton case coming along?" Yang Sen asked curiously, spreading out a newspaper.

A week had passed since the discovery of the remains.

During this time, Ren Qiang, Sun Jun, and their two teams had essentially been out in the field every single day.

"The suspect has been largely narrowed down to a bone-cutting worker at the feed mill named Li Bing."

Li Bing was also one of the first individuals brought into the scope of the investigation. He had been questioned immediately after the remains were found.

Since Liu Guodong attended the morning briefings every day, he was quite familiar with the progress of the case: "But we've hit a bottleneck in the investigation."

"Huang Lan was just an ordinary worker at the farm; she wouldn't normally have business dealings with the feed mill."

"Li Bing's motive for murder remains unclear. We don't know what the relationship between the two was, where the primary crime scene was located, or how Li Bing processed the remains."

"What's so hard about that? The remains leaked out from the feed mill. Just grab that Li Bing, interrogate him, and you'll find out," Old Bai remarked. Although he was older, his investigative style from the old era had not changed. In the past, without the support of advanced technology, interrogation was an extremely effective, and often the only, means of investigation.

However, that clearly wouldn't work now.

"Stop making things harder. You know what the requirements are these days," Lu Chuan said, listening from the side with a serious expression, seemingly lost in thought.

Although he was a member of the task force, he was only responsible for technical work. Running around crime scenes was not his forte.

"Master, I think we need to start from the skeletal remains themselves."

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you finish the skeletal forensic analysis? What do you think was missed?"

Lu Chuan shook his head. "The skeletal forensic analysis is very comprehensive."

"However, regarding the primary crime scene, I believe there should be clues within the bones."

Lu Chuan walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out the forensic analysis report for Huang Lan's remains. He pointed to the skeletal photos: "Huang Lan died three months ago. Given the current weather in Haizhou, if the body had been left in the open, it would have decomposed into bone in less than a month."

"But the perpetrator only dismembered and scattered the remains three months later."

"Additionally, there are no traces of soil burial on the bones. Based on these clues, combined with Li Bing's living and working locations, this might help us locate the primary crime scene."

*Ding!*

[Advanced Mission: Based on the formation time and environment of the skeletal remains, combined with the suspect's living and working locations, find the primary crime scene, complete the collection of criminal evidence, and assist the Skeleton Task Force in solving the case.]

Lu Chuan's speculation had triggered a system advanced mission. Clearly, this was a highly viable plan.

Liu Guodong obviously understood Lu Chuan's reasoning, but he wondered if the difficulty of this analysis was a bit too high.

"How about this: come with me to Captain Qin's office to report this idea and see what the leadership thinks."

***

In Qin Yong's office.

After hearing Lu Chuan's idea, Qin Yong looked overjoyed. "Good, good, good!"

"Lu Chuan, go ahead and do it. If you need any support, report directly to me!"

Li Bing was a suspect, but there was currently a lack of evidence. Once the primary crime scene was found, there was a high probability of finding decisive evidence, which would allow the case to be solved easily.

***

Conference Room No. 1.

Ren Qiang was sharing the results of the action team's work from the past week with Lu Chuan.

"In the entire feed mill, Li Bing is the only one with access to large bone cutting."

"Furthermore, we also discovered human bone tissue in the bone meal."

"So, Li Bing is a major suspect, but he had no dealings with Huang Lan."

"We also searched Li Bing's residence, but found no clues."

Spread out before Lu Chuan were Li Bing's detailed personal files. Lu Chuan listened while scanning the documents.

Regarding field investigation capabilities, Lu Chuan admitted he was far inferior to Ren Qiang. Therefore, if Ren Qiang said nothing was found at Li Bing's house and that there was no connection between Li Bing and Huang Lan, it was almost certainly the truth.

However, Lu Chuan was not approaching the problem from that angle.

The system's mission was: *Based on the formation time and environment of the skeletal remains, combined with the suspect's living and working locations, find the primary crime scene.*

If the suspect was indeed Li Bing, what were the characteristics of his living and working locations?

Where could a body turn into bone within a three-month period?

First, the temperature must be lower than the current outdoor temperature. Otherwise, in the height of summer or early autumn, a corpse would decompose into bone in less than a month.

Second, the location must be extremely difficult for people to discover. Otherwise, the stench during the decomposition process would inevitably attract attention.

Third, the possibility of hiding the body indoors was low, because Li Bing's economic status was average, and his current residence was a rental. He didn't have the financial means to rent a property specifically to murder and hide a body.

Furthermore, even if he had actually rented a place, Lu Chuan believed it would never have escaped Ren Qiang's investigation.

Therefore, there was only one possibility for the location where the body was hidden.