Chapter 66 Chapter 66 Can you punish me quickly?

"Officers, the circled list above is a list of all workers who have come into contact with the medicinal herb Indigo! You see, ours is a small factory with a small workforce and a high turnover rate, so record-keeping is relatively simple. Unlike those state-owned factories, where each worker has their own file..."

At Jingzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory, Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng stood in the personnel department's office, watching as a staff member handed them a thick notebook with an embarrassed look on their faces.

They took it and read it together.

Ji Yinhe counted the circled names silently in his mind.

——There are at least fifty or sixty people.

Fortunately, she had already drawn several profiles during the investigation, so she immediately looked up and looked at the personnel staff. "Could you please help us select men between the ages of 20 and 40 who live near Tongrong River Park, and eliminate those who are shorter and thinner?

"Ah..." The clerk didn't understand the situation, but still took the roster back and screened it.

The salary at the Chinese medicine factory is not high, just enough to make a living. Most of the people who come to work there are middle-aged men and rural women. After Ji Yinhe set the conditions, the number of people who meet the requirements suddenly decreased a lot.

"There are only these five."

After a moment, the clerk folded a few corners of the page with his fingers and handed it back.

Lu Zheng copied down the information of these people and asked the staff to bring photos of each person and lined them up on the table.

Ji Yinhe crossed his arms and scanned the names and faces one by one.

Unfortunately, with the information they currently have, it is still difficult to find the murderer.

"Can we take these photos back?" Lu Zheng asked the staff.

"Of course, we're happy to help the police!" The other party nodded, then suddenly slapped his forehead and pointed at the man in the middle of the line named Ma Guoqiang. "Oh, by the way, this guy has a criminal record. He used to work at Jingzhou Fourth People's Hospital. You two officers should know him. It's that famous mental hospital!"

"Mental illness?" The image of Zhao Liu suddenly appeared in Ji Yinhe's mind.

"Yes, Ma Guoqiang used to work in finance there. He had a promising future!" the HR clerk lamented. "But he was fired about half a year ago... I heard it was because he assaulted a patient. Later, he came to our factory to work as a medicine sorter."

Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng were both stunned.

The first bag of body parts was discovered exactly half a year ago, which matches the time of the crime; in terms of violent tendencies, abusing the weak is also consistent with the characteristics of a brutal serial killer.

"Is Ma Guoqiang in the factory now?" Ji Yinhe asked impatiently, "Can you take us to see him?"

"Here!" The HR staff member led them out of the office building and into the adjacent workshop. He pointed to a tall, middle-aged man in a dark blue work uniform standing by the medicine furnace and said, "Look, that's him!"

As the most likely suspect at the moment, he must be taken away now.

There were just a lot of workers busy nearby, looking at Ji Yinhe and the others with curiosity.

In order to avoid alerting the enemy, she and Lu Zheng discussed quietly and decided to surround him from the sides, take him out of the workshop, and interrogate him in the car.

Ji Yinhe was ready to fight with Ma Guoqiang, but she didn't expect that the other party looked at the ID she showed with a submissive look on his face. Without saying a word, he let the two of them grab one of her arms each and threw her into the Grand Cherokee.

"Officers," Ma Guoqiang asked, his jaw trembling, "where are you taking me?"

Lu Zheng didn't say anything, and searched the man's body neatly——

Sure enough, the same indigo powder was found on the cuffs and lapels as on the remains of the three dead bodies.

Ji Yinhe escorted Ma Guoqiang to the back seat. After Lu Zheng had loaded the evidence and got into the driver's seat, he said seriously, "We now suspect you are involved in a serial murder case. We are taking you back to the provincial government for questioning."

"……OK."

Ma Guoqiang's shoulders were slightly hunched, and he was not at all surprised by the situation.

But there was a natural sense of weakness in his expression, which made Ji Yinhe's heart skip a beat.

——I always feel that this suspect came too easily, as if something is missing.

"Can you tell us about your situation?" Lu Zheng, who was in the driver's seat, turned around and stared into Ma Guoqiang's evasive eyes. "Why were you fired from your previous job?"

"I...beat the patient..."

Ji Yinhe tilted her head. "I'm quite curious." She tapped the information in her hand. "You've worked at the Fourth People's Hospital for twelve years, won the Outstanding Employee Award three times, and are also in finance... How do you come into contact with patients?"

"...Officer, you've done a really thorough investigation."

Ma Guoqiang sighed and began to tell his past story:

"I was working overtime in the office that day when I heard a loud noise outside. A manic patient was fighting a caregiver in the corridor... I rushed over to block the punch and hit him in the face. He fell to the ground, hit the back of his head, and fell into a coma..."

"I explained the situation to the patient's family, but they thought it was abuse and hung banners outside the hospital demanding justice, attracting reporters. No matter how much I knelt and begged for mercy, they ignored me..."

"In order to keep the peace, the hospital gave them a large sum of money and fired me..."

Ma Guoqiang took a deep breath and raised his wrist as if he had finally made up his mind.

"Officer, if you are here to arrest me because of the Tongrong River Park case, I will go back with you... This is what I did—"

Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng exchanged glances silently.

——This confession of sin is too proactive, too abnormal, and too wrong!

But no matter what, Ma Guoqiang is still their biggest clue to finding the real murderer, and he still has to be brought back to the provincial department for a thorough interrogation.

Ji Yinhe glanced at the public telephone booth outside and said, "I'll go report to Team Leader Tan first."

"Yeah." Lu Zheng nodded. Seeing her put her hand on the car door, he said again, "Use my big brother to fight."

If returning Zhao Zhuoqun’s call last time was an emergency, it was not necessary this time.

Ji Yinhe hesitated for a moment, but Lu Zheng had already handed the mobile phone under her nose and even considerately extended the antenna.

"...Thank you!"

Comrade Xiao Ji was not a pretentious person, so he took the call immediately and dialed the number.

Tan Li quickly picked up the phone and called out naturally, "Teacher Lu, please speak."

"Captain Tan, I'm Xiao Ji," Ji Yinhe said confidently. "Teacher Lu and I found a suspect at the Chinese medicine factory. His name is Ma Guoqiang. He's a strong suspect and he admitted to the crime."

Tan Li didn't ask her why she didn't follow Zhao Zhuoqun on the visit, but went to the Chinese medicine factory with Lu Zheng.

She was silent for a moment before she spoke, "Since we've caught him, let's bring him back for interrogation! I'll have Lao Zhao, Guan Ye, and Gao Ge search the suspect's home... Xiao Ji, thank you for your hard work!"

Comrade Ji Yinhe was greatly encouraged, "Okay! Thank you, Captain Tan, we will be back soon!"

She handed the mobile phone to the front seat with a smile. Lu Zheng took it smoothly, stepped on the accelerator, and drove the Grand Cherokee out with a bang.

*

Half an hour later.

Ma Guoqiang was locked in the interrogation room, staring blankly at the floor, not knowing what he was thinking.

Tan Li put on her glasses and walked over with her confession book. When she passed the outer room, she stopped and looked at Ji Yinhe: "Xiao Ji, come in with me."

Ji Yinhe was a little flattered. Under Lu Zheng's encouraging gaze, he took a deep breath, straightened the hem of his military green police uniform, and sat down opposite the interrogation chair.

The decoration here is much more upscale than Jiangtan, and there is a video device installed on the opposite wall.

Tan Li clicked the switch and nodded to the person in the interrogation chair, "Go ahead."

"There's nothing much to say, I did it." Ma Guoqiang swallowed hard and started with this sentence.

"...I already told Officer Xiao Ji about my expulsion in the car. This is the situation. After being kicked out of the Fourth Hospital, I harbored a grudge against society and wanted to kill a few people to vent my hatred."

Tan Li pushed up her glasses and carefully took out a notebook from the evidence bag.

"This is the diary you keep on your desk at home, right?"

Ma Guoqiang raised his eyes listlessly, "Yes."

"We've seen words like 'cleaning up the trash' and 'killing everyone' in the diary many times... Did you write that?"

"It was me." Ma Guoqiang breathed out, "It was me who did it. Here's the evidence."

Now not only Ji Yinhe, but even Tan Li felt that something was clearly wrong.

She folded her fingers and looked at the suspect opposite her seriously, "Just because you were fired, you want to kill and dismember him?"

When Ma Guoqiang heard the word "dismembered," he trembled uncontrollably and nodded. "Yes, I've answered this many times. The Fourth Hospital kicked me out and made me pay a large sum of money as compensation to the patients' families. I can't live with this shitty life for even a day. It's just like being shot! Officer, don't ask me anymore!"

"Okay." Tan Li said calmly, changing the subject. "As far as we know, it's true that the hospital has burdened you with a huge debt, and we found a pile of IOUs at your house... But I noticed that you seem to have a daughter... who has a disabled leg and underwent surgery last month?"

"Is it not possible?" Ma Guoqiang raised his eyes, wiping his tears and asked, "I work in a Chinese medicine factory, living frugally and saving some money just to treat my daughter's illness. Is it not possible?"

"Of course, but we may also suspect that you are taking the blame for money." Tan Li retorted calmly.

"You have no idea how much my daughter and I have suffered!" Ma Guoqiang roared madly, his throat sliding up and down. "I can't endure this depressing and miserable life for even a day! It's all my fault. I killed and dismembered all those scumbags I disliked! Can you please punish me quickly?"

“…”

There was dead silence inside and outside the interrogation room, and Ma Guoqiang's voice was still vibrating everyone's eardrums.

Tan Li pressed her solar plexus. She had been a police officer for so many years and had rarely encountered such a situation.

The suspect admitted to the murder, and the physical evidence seemed to match... but everyone clearly felt that something seemed to be missing.

At this moment, Ji Yinhe next to him suddenly asked:

"Comrade Ma, you were also responsible for the body found in the garbage bucket at the Gangyue Road Western Restaurant a few days ago, weren't you?" She made a cutting gesture. "The four body parts are exactly the same as those of the first three victims!"

"...Gangyue Road?"

Ma Guoqiang was stunned for a moment, then quickly said loudly, "Yes, it's me too, is that not okay?"

"call--"

Ji Yinhe narrowed his eyes and looked down at him condescendingly.

"That's not right, Comrade Ma. We've actually found the real culprit in that case. He's the copycat of the Tongrong River serial murder and dismemberment case..."

Ma Guoqiang clenched his fists and asked in disbelief: "...You cheated me!"

"This isn't a false confession, it's just asking for the truth." Ji Yinhe shrugged, leaned forward, and pointed out the key points loudly:

"So why do you take responsibility for all the crimes you didn't commit?"