Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 163 A Meticulously Disguised Murder

Wu Zhiyuan and his colleague Xiao Zhang arrived at the Jiangzhou Traffic Police Detachment.

He directly identified himself as a member of the National Security Department, demanding access to all the original files of Hu Chunjin's traffic accident, and also interviewed Lao Wang, the traffic police officer who was specifically responsible for the on-site investigation and accident handling at the time.

Old Wang recalled: "Because Mr. Hu is a well-known entrepreneur, I remember this matter very clearly."

The scene was horrific. The Audi had driven under a large truck, its A-pillar completely destroyed, and Mr. Hu died on the spot.

When we arrived at the scene, there were long skid marks, indicating that the driver had desperately tried to brake at the last moment, but failed to stop.

The responsibility is clearly determined: the Audi driver was primarily responsible for failing to maintain a safe following distance and for the overloaded truck.

The family members were emotionally distraught at the time, but they did not object to the accident determination.

The car was towed away by the insurance company for damage assessment and will be totaled.

"Which insurance company is it?" Wu Zhiyuan asked.

"Pacific Property Insurance Jiangzhou Branch." Old Wang glanced at the records. "The claims adjuster's surname is Zhang."

"Given how severely the vehicle was damaged at the time, was there any specialized, independent forensic examination of critical components such as the braking system?" Wu Zhiyuan pressed.

Old Wang shook his head: "No. In traffic accidents where one party is clearly at fault, unless the family strongly requests it or there is suspicion of homicide, such detailed forensic examinations are generally not conducted."

Procedurally, our handling of the accident at the time was in accordance with regulations.

Wu Zhiyuan nodded, indicating his understanding.

He found the contact information for Zhang Wei, the surveyor at the Jiangzhou branch of Pacific Insurance who was in charge of the claims for this case, and learned that the scrapped Audi had been towed to Shunda Vehicle Scrap Recycling Company in the suburbs.

Wu Zhiyuan and Xiao Zhang drove straight to Shunda Company.

Hu Chunjin had the accident the year before last. Two years have passed, and normally the car would have been dismantled by now. He was just trying anything, even if it seemed hopeless.

Shunda Company is located in the suburbs. The factory area is large but desolate, filled with various scrapped vehicles, and only a few workers are operating it.

After identifying themselves, they were received by the person in charge.

"Officer, our company is in trouble and is about to stop production. We have a lot of cars that need to be dismantled piled up." The person in charge said, pointing to the mountain of scrap cars.

Wu Zhiyuan had a sudden thought: maybe Hu Chunjin's Audi hasn't been disassembled yet.

The person in charge checked the records and his eyes lit up: "What a coincidence! This car is really here! It should have been dismantled a long time ago, but our factory had a problem and production stopped, so this batch of cars was put on hold. I'll take you to find it."

After searching for more than an hour among the mountains of scrapped vehicles, Wu Zhiyuan finally spotted a black Audi that was twisted, deformed, covered in rust and dust, with its license plate number clearly visible!

Wu Zhiyuan suppressed his excitement, put on white gloves, found some tools, and together with his colleagues, disregarding the filth, crawled under the severely deformed car.

He focused his inspection on the location of the braking system.

Despite the severe damage to the front of the vehicle, the brake line path area in the middle of the chassis near the driver's compartment was relatively intact.

Wu Zhiyuan carefully cleaned the dirt and rust off the oil pipe, shining a flashlight on it carefully.

Suddenly, he noticed an almost circular cut on the brake line near the middle of the vehicle.

The cut was very fine, as if it had been made with an extremely sharp knife, and the depth was more than two-thirds of the thickness of the oil pipe wall, but it was not completely cut off.

"Xiao Zhang, look here!" Wu Zhiyuan said, pointing to the cut marks.

Xiao Zhang came closer and looked in the direction Wu Zhiyuan pointed. He said in surprise, "This is man-made damage, not something that could be caused by an impact or aging."

If there is a wound in the brake line, brake fluid will slowly leak during normal driving due to oil pressure and vibration.

It may not affect braking in the short term, but after driving a certain distance, especially when heavy braking is required, insufficient oil pressure can lead to complete brake failure.

"Yes! That's it! Hu Chunjin's car was inspected at the repair shop, but he still had this hidden damage. On the expressway, when he needed to brake, he discovered that the brakes were gone. That's murder!"

He immediately took photos to preserve the evidence and contacted the criminal technology department of the court, requesting that experts be sent to conduct authoritative identification and evidence collection.

The key breakthrough has been found!

The next step is to find the person who caused this hidden injury—Old Chen, the repair shop owner.

According to the limited information provided by the traffic police detachment, Lao Chen's real name is Chen Dafu, and his Lao Chen Auto Repair shop had ceased operations and been deregistered a year ago.

Wu Zhiyuan checked the household registration and information system and found that Chen Dafu had left Jiangzhou and returned to his hometown, which was in another city.

Wu Zhiyuan immediately reported this major breakthrough—the discovery that the brake lines had been deliberately cut—to Chu Jianguo.

Upon hearing the news, Chu Jianguo attached great importance to it and immediately instructed: "This is a criminal case, and it is very likely related to foreign espionage activities. Arrest Chen Dafu immediately!"

I immediately coordinated with the police force in Chen Dafu's hometown to provide support.

With the close cooperation of the local police, Chen Dafu was quickly apprehended.

Inside the interrogation room, the lights were blindingly bright. Chen Dafu, his hands cuffed, sat on the interrogation chair, trembling uncontrollably, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

Wu Zhiyuan did not rush to ask questions, but instead pushed the photos of Hu Chunjin's accident scene and the close-up photo of the brake hose with obvious cutting marks in front of Chen Dafu.

"Chen Dafu, look at these. You can imagine how horribly Chairman Hu Chunjin died. And look at this," Wu Zhiyuan pointed to the cut marks on the oil pipe, "this skill, you did this, didn't you? Explain yourself, what is this?"

Chen Dafu avoided looking at the photo, his legs trembling.

"We have irrefutable evidence! This was not an accident, it was murder!"

Your only chance now is to honestly confess your motive, the process of the crime, and who instructed you! Strive for a major commendation!

Faced with overwhelming evidence and a powerful psychological offensive, Chen Dafu's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

He confessed to his crime haltingly: "I did it. I cut the brake line. I was forced to!"

"Who forced you? How did they force you?" Wu Zhiyuan demanded sharply.

"A man surnamed Sun has something on me."

Once, I was so infatuated with prostitutes that I went to two places at once. He had someone secretly film me, and he used those photos and videos to blackmail me.

He said if I didn't do as he said, he would send the photos to my wife and post them at my son's school. If my wife found out, she would definitely divorce me, and our family would fall apart. I'm scared...

"What did he ask you to do?"

"He told me to find an opportunity to cut a hole in the brake line when Mr. Hu came to repair the car. It shouldn't be cut off immediately; it should only start leaking oil and malfunctioning after driving for a while."

He also taught me how to cut film that looked like natural wear and tear. After it was done, he promised to give me all the negatives and two hundred thousand yuan back…”

"Did you do it?"

"I hesitated for a long time, but that guy surnamed Sun called me every day to threaten me."

Mr. Hu's car really did arrive that day. While my apprentice was getting the parts, I made my move.

I thought at the time that nothing serious would happen, that it was just to scare Mr. Hu, but I never expected…”

"What's that guy surnamed Sun's full name? What does he look like? How can I contact him?"

"His name is Sun Bin, he's in his early thirties, wears glasses, and isn't very tall. He initially contacted me using a number from out of town, but I couldn't get through to him anymore..."

The task force acted swiftly, launching a comprehensive investigation into Sun Bin.

However, the investigation did not go very smoothly.

The investigation based on the out-of-town phone number provided by Chen Dafu revealed that the number was registered under the name of a scavenging elderly man in his sixties.

When the police found the elderly man, he looked bewildered and said that he had lost his ID card a few years ago and had replaced it, so he had no idea that this number existed.

Clearly, the suspect used someone else's lost ID card to register the phone card, and the trail went cold there.

There are too many people with the same name as Sun Bin, and it's highly likely that it's an alias. Searching by name is meaningless.

A bold hypothesis formed in Wu Zhiyuan's mind: Could the person who used the alias Sun Bin to threaten Chen Dafu into murdering Hu Chunjin be Yang Baocai?

Of course, Yang Baocai is also very likely an alias.

Wu Zhiyuan asked Hu Ruoxi for a photo of Yang Baocai, but did not explain his true purpose.

Back in the interrogation room, Wu Zhiyuan immediately arranged for a mixed identification of Chen Dafu.

Among a set of twelve photos of different men, Chen Dafu pointed directly to Yang Baochai's photo without any hesitation, stating with certainty, "That's him! That's Sun Bin! I'd recognize him even if he were ashes!"