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

Chapter 1312 Closed-Loop Chain of Evidence, Park Identification

He paused, wiping away his tears: "After that, I rode my electric tricycle to the lawn on the north side of the park, dug a hole with a shovel, and buried him. I was afraid of being discovered, so I washed the blood off my coat and hid the plastic fragments and the shovel at my uncle's house... I thought no one would find it, but I didn't expect you to find it anyway."

While taking notes, Xiao Zhou pressed for answers: "Why did you choose to strangle him with the corner of the quilt? Where did the electric tricycle come from? What about Chen Wannian's money and phone?"

“I had seen Li Dahai’s electric tricycle before, and I knew he had gone back to his hometown, so I secretly took the vehicle. I used the corner of the quilt because it’s soft and doesn’t leave marks easily. I hid Chen Wannian’s money and cell phone under a bridge in Xing’an County. I originally planned to take them out and use them after things calmed down…” Zhao Gang confessed one by one, his voice growing softer and softer.

At 11 p.m., the preliminary interrogation ended. Xiao Zhou walked out of the interrogation room and said to Li Wei, who was waiting outside, "Zhao Gang has preliminarily confessed to the crimes of murder and robbery. Tomorrow we will take him to identify the location where the money and mobile phone were hidden, and at the same time contact the technical department to conduct further testing on the extracted evidence to complete the chain of evidence."

Li Wei nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. We will cooperate fully to ensure the smooth investigation of the case."

On Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., Xiao Zhou, along with his team and Zhao Gang, went to the bridge underpass in Xing'an County and successfully found Chen Wannian's cell phone and cash. Later, the technical department reported that the bloodstains on Zhao Gang's jacket were indeed Chen Wannian's, the plastic fragments at the bottom of the electric tricycle's cargo bed matched the fragments found at the scene perfectly, and the soil on the shovel matched the soil found at Dongshan Park.

All the evidence had been secured, and the truth of the case was revealed. Xiao Zhou, with Zhao Gang in tow, returned to the city in a police car. On the way, watching the sun gradually rise outside the window, he was filled with emotion—after several days of tireless effort, the murderer had finally been brought to justice, bringing solace to the deceased's soul. He knew there was still much work to be done, but at this moment, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, because justice had ultimately prevailed.

On the morning of the third day after Zhao Gang's arrest, at 9 a.m., the unused lawn on the north side of Dongshan Park was tightly cordoned off, and nearby tourists had been evacuated to a safe area. Zhao Gang, dressed in an orange prison uniform, handcuffed and shackled, was escorted step by step by four police officers towards the place where he had committed his crimes. His head was bowed low, his eyes darting around, his steps unsteady, each step seemingly under immense psychological pressure—compared to his broken confession in the interrogation room three days earlier, he now showed even more fear and a desire to escape in the face of the actual crime scene.

Xiao Zhou walked at the front, holding the crime scene investigation report and photos in his hand. He stopped from time to time to check the surrounding environment: "Zhao Gang, now take us to the place where you met Chen Wannian, committed the murder, moved the body, and dug the pit to bury the body. Tell us every detail clearly. There is no concealment." His voice was serious, and his eyes were fixed on Zhao Gang, as if afraid that the other party would fabricate or omit anything.

Zhao Gang's throat bobbed, and he responded hoarsely, "Okay..." He raised his head, his eyes sweeping vacantly across the lawn before finally settling on an old locust tree beside the path on the west side. "I... I was waiting for Chen Wannian here. The red electric tricycle was parked behind the bushes by the roadside, afraid of being seen."

Xiao Zhou immediately checked the on-site investigation record: "Are you sure this is the place? What did you do after parking? How did Chen Wannian get here?"

Zhao Gang nodded, his body trembling slightly: "It's definitely here. I parked my car here around 7 p.m. last Sunday, and then sat under a tree smoking, waiting for Chen Wannian. Around 7:30 p.m., he rode over on his bicycle and asked me, 'What's the emergency?' I said, 'It's about borrowing some money. There aren't many people here, let's go inside and talk.' He didn't think much of it and followed me into the depths of the lawn."

Team member Xiao Li, responsible for recording the scene, immediately marked the parking location on the map, which perfectly matched the description given by the shop owner during Xiao Wang's previous visit: "a red electric tricycle parked on the west side of the alley." At the parking spot identified by Zhao Gang, the tire marks from the red electric tricycle that Xiao Yang had previously extracted were still faintly visible, perfectly matching the tire parameters of Li Dahai's electric tricycle—this perfectly corroborated Zhao Gang's confession of "secretly driving away Li Dahai's vehicle."

Zhao Gang was then taken to an open area in the middle of the lawn, about 10 meters away from the planting pit where the body was found. Pointing to the ground, his voice was filled with obvious fear: "Chen Wannian and I stopped here. I told him, 'I owe gambling debts and urgently need 3 yuan.' He said, 'I've already done more than enough by helping you find your electric bike. I can't lend you any more money.' He even cursed me, saying I was 'lazy and good-for-nothing, and that I'd get into trouble sooner or later.' I was so angry at his cursing, and thinking that he had money but wouldn't lend it to me, I took out the corner of a quilt that I had prepared beforehand and suddenly strangled his neck."

Xiao Zhou pressed further, "When you strangled him, did he resist? Did he scratch you when he resisted?"

“He struggled desperately, grabbing wildly with both hands, and scratched my arm—right here.” Zhao Gang raised his left arm, where there was still a faint scar on his forearm. “He tried to call for help, but I was afraid someone would hear, so I tightened my grip on him. After about three minutes, he stopped moving. I checked his breathing and found that he was no longer breathing. My legs went weak at that moment.”

This confession perfectly matched the autopsy findings of forensic pathologist Zhang Lin: Chen Wannian had a 5-centimeter-wide cotton band-like ligature mark on his neck, and scattered bleeding points under the tracheal mucosa, consistent with the cause of death being "mechanical asphyxiation caused by the corner of the cotton quilt"; moreover, the skin tissue fragments extracted from Chen Wannian's fingernails, after DNA comparison, were indeed Zhao Gang's – confirming that Zhao Gang's claim of being "scratched" was not a lie.

Next, Zhao Gang was led to the planting pit where the body was found. Upon seeing the pit, his body tensed instantly, his hands clenched tightly, his breathing became rapid, and tears welled up in his eyes: "I... I dug this pit here, using a shovel I got from Sun Qiang's house. I dragged Chen Wannian's body here and first dug a 60-centimeter-deep pit in the ground. While digging, the shovel accidentally hit a tree trunk next to it and scratched it."

Xiao Yang immediately walked to the tree trunk next to him and pointed to a scratch that was 10 centimeters long and 0.5 centimeters deep: "Is this the one?" Zhao Gang nodded tremblingly: "Yes... this is it. After I dug the pit, I curled up Chen Wannian's body and put it in the pit, then covered it with soil. I also pushed his bicycle to a distant grove of trees to hide it—I was afraid that someone would become suspicious if they saw the bicycle."