National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 361 - 361 328 Reporting

361: Chapter 328 Reporting 361: Chapter 328 Reporting “If I report and expose an accomplice, could that be considered a significant contribution to merit a reduced sentence?” Wang Kedian spoke again, his first words startling.

Meng Chengbiao’s expression changed involuntarily, then smoothly transitioned into a smile, “You seem to know quite a bit.

The criteria for a significant contribution are quite high.”

“When I was inside, someone made a significant contribution and had their sentence reduced by several years.

That’s how it works, right?” Wang Kedian pressed.

Meng Chengbiao chuckled twice and said, “You would need to report and expose a crime punishable by life imprisonment or more to possibly be recognized for making a significant contribution.”

His words weren’t entirely clear, but as the interrogating officer, Meng Chengbiao indeed had no obligation to make everything fully comprehensible.

After all, this wasn’t a class—could you really expect an exam to prove whether you understood or not?

Wang Kedian hesitated slightly.

His education was limited, but he knew that some police officers indeed lied to people.

Seeing the expression on Wang Kedian’s face, Meng Chengbiao couldn’t help but make a guess and then said, “I can report this up the chain.

If it truly is a major clue that can solve the case, the likelihood of it being considered a significant contribution is quite high.

And let’s be honest, if you can’t clear yourself from this case, you’ll be spending your life behind bars.”

Wang Kedian didn’t take long to think this time and quickly said, “On the 2nd of November, I was indeed called to pick a lock.”

“And then?”

“Then…

I picked it,” Wang Kedian sighed and continued, “After I went back, I watched TV and saw that the warehouse had been burned down.

They mentioned finding a body.

I thought I was in trouble…”

“Which warehouse?”

“8178 Ke Si Road,” Wang Kedian recalled it quite clearly.

“Continue.”

“Then…

as I was figuring out what to do, someone threw a bag of money into my yard, 100,000 yuan, and a train ticket to Kunming.

I thought about it and just packed up and left.”

Wang Kedian’s response left Meng Chengbiao silent for a moment.

It was completely different from the scenario he had anticipated.

Initially, Meng Chengbiao—or rather, the special case team—had envisioned a lone criminal who handled everything from lock-picking to murder and arson, similar to Jiang Yuan’s assumption of a single perpetrator completing the task.

Later, when Wang Kedian mentioned wanting to make a contribution, Meng Chengbiao thought he had an accomplice.

But Meng Chengbiao was still thinking of a traditional accomplice scenario; one person primarily responsible for the murder and arson, and another for the lock-picking as well as serving as a lookout and driver.

Meng Chengbiao never imagined Wang Kedian could distance himself so completely from the crime.

And yet, his story was somewhat logical and reasonable.

After receiving this answer, Meng Chengbiao’s view of Wang Kedian shifted, and he no longer seemed like a vicious arsonist and murderer.

With over twenty years of experience as a criminal detective, Meng Chengbiao found Wang Kedian’s movements and demeanor matched that of a middle-aged petty thief; calling him an old thief would have been a compliment.

“Who asked you to pick the lock?” Meng Chengbiao had many questions and doubts, but he did not delve into these.

He simply pursued the question of who the murderer was, the primary purpose of the interrogation, even if Wang Kedian was making up a story.

He wanted to see the end of the story before going back to weigh its truthfulness.

“Zhang Xiang.

Those who knew him called him Zhang Da Nao Dai; we used to call him Zhang,” Wang Kedian replied.

A nearby officer asked, “Which characters are in ‘Zhang Xiang’?”

Wang Kedian answered, “The ‘Zhang’ for open, and the ‘Xiang’ for project.”

“Is ‘Zhang Xiang’ his real name?” Meng Chengbiao also pursued the matter of the name because it could very well be the most crucial answer in the entire case.

Wang Kedian replied affirmatively.

“What does he do?”

“He’s a parking lot security guard for Jianyuan Pharmaceutical,” Wang Kedian said.

“A security guard, how did he end up mixing with you guys and become so chummy?”

“He used to be in the underworld too,” Wang Kedian opened up, explaining, “The parking lot security guards at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical are not like ordinary guards.

They have several small parking lots, collect cash, and even the QR codes for the payments are managed by the security team themselves.”

Meng Chengbiao frowned, “How could such a big enterprise like Jianyuan Pharmaceutical not know about this?”

“They turned a blind eye.

This team of security guards is the one that does the dirty work for Jianyuan.

Besides their normal salary, they get a share of the parking fees from the parking lots.

No matter how much they collect, it all goes to their small group, and the Jianyuan Company doesn’t care.

Zhang, or Zhang Xiang as he used to tell me, said that in good months, he could pull in twenty to thirty thousand.”

Meng Chengbiao was going to ask what dirty work he referred to but then thought better of it and decided not to dig deeper for the time being.

So, he brought the conversation back, saying, “Zhang Xiang tells you to pick locks, and you just do it?

You didn’t go inside with him?”

“At the time, he said the key he prepared himself wouldn’t work, and he fiddled around with it in the keyhole for a while,” Wang Kedian shook his head, his chubby cheeks jiggling as he spoke: “I actually asked him at that moment.

I said, why not knock on the door, surely there’s no problem with me picking the lock…

He said there was some dispute and told me to mind my own business.

So I just…

Well…”

“Enough talk, let’s get your statement down on record,” Meng Chengbiao pointed to the side.

Wang Kedian: “So I just opened the door.

It took me quite a while, like ten minutes, and there was no noise coming from inside at all.

Once the door was open, Zhang told me to go back, so I went.”

“The train ticket, do you still have it?” Meng Chengbiao asked another core question in a calm tone.

If Wang Kedian was telling the truth, then he must have kept the train ticket from that day.

It was a very important piece of evidence.

To this day, that train ticket held considerable evidentiary value.

Because if Wang Kedian truly had the train ticket from that day, as a small-time thief who had been struck twice by the people’s democratic dictatorship, his first and correct choice would be to hit the road immediately.

However, if he had bought the ticket himself, it was more likely that Wang Kedian would dispose of it, since that ticket proved that he left Changyang City after the incident occurred, making him a suspect in the crime.

But then again, if the ticket was given to him by someone else, Wang Kedian would need to keep it in order to prove this story, and to assert his innocence.

This story is not something that could have been concocted starting eight years ago.

Wang Kedian himself might not have fully understood the logic behind this, but he answered without hesitation: “I have the ticket, I hid it.

In the pocket of an old piece of clothing.”

Meng Chengbiao’s expression suddenly turned serious.

Wang Kedian didn’t even bother to hide the tools he used to pick locks, but he cunningly hid the train ticket in a very appropriate place.

Old tickets in the pocket of old clothing couldn’t be more appropriate; not easily lost and unlikely to raise suspicion.

Meng Chengbiao didn’t think Wang Kedian was making it up.

If it was made up, it would be too complicated.

Besides, he had provided physical evidence, and testimonial evidence, all of which could be verified.

Inside the office of Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad, Jiang Yuan’s expression also became increasingly serious.

“It seems that Zhang Xiang is a major suspect,” Jiang Yuan gradually had grown accustomed to his commanding role.

First, he called Yu Wenshu to report the case details, then he named a few individuals, directing them to go conduct their inquiries.

Yu Wenshu soon hurried over, looking pleased.

From his perspective, the progress made on a cold case homicide to this point was extremely exhilarating.

If it were before, he would have already started thinking about how to commend Jiang Yuan in a way that didn’t seem too repetitive.

Of course, commendation was still in order, but it could be slightly delayed now.

Because Jiang Yuan was now the head of the Cold Case Squad, and theoretically, he needed to solve the case completely to finish his task.

It was unlike before when securing evidence and completing its trace was considered the end of the task.

Nonetheless, this further elevated Jiang Yuan’s value.

If a detective could see through the investigation of a homicide cold case, then in the detective squad, he would truly be considered a seasoned police officer.