When Xu Yao entered, Lin Yalin and an assistant were standing next to Wang Tao's body, working intensively.

"Sister Lin, how is it? Have you found out the cause of death?" Xu Yao asked.

"It can probably be confirmed that he was strangled."

Xu Yao put on gloves and asked, "Are you sure it's not suicide?"

"Further examination will prove that it can't be suicide." Lin Yalin said while pointing at Wang Tao's neck. "

The deceased's face was bruised and swollen, and there were many bleeding spots on the skin. The incidence of bleeding spots on the conjunctiva of the eyes was high and the number was large. Sometimes they merged into patches, and the conjunctiva was sometimes edematous. Bleeding from the external ear canal and nose is also common, and sometimes there is foamy liquid in the mouth and nose.

These phenomena can infer that he died of suffocation. But..."

"But what?" Xu Yao asked anxiously.

Lin Yalin said, "When the victim is strangled from behind with a rope, there are often signs of struggle and commotion at the scene. Because the victim struggled and resisted, there were struggle and resistance injuries on the victim's head, face and limbs, with abrasions and subcutaneous bleeding being the most common. On the back of a strangled corpse lying on its back, epidermal peeling and subcutaneous and muscular bleeding are common in the shoulder blade area.

But the strange thing is that there is no sign of struggle on Wang Tao's body."

"Could there be other causes of death, such as poisoning?" Xu Yao said.

"We also did a toxicology test and checked more than 200 toxins, but all showed no poisoning." Lin Yalin could only record the clues she found on the corpse, and leave the contradictions to the police to solve.

Xu Yao nodded and began to check all the physical evidence brought back from the crime scene. Because the church was kept very clean on a daily basis, there was not much evidence.

He walked to the evidence table and began to observe the woolen and gray cotton coat that Wang Tao was wearing when he died.

Xu Yao noticed that there were two or three small burn holes on the cotton coat near the pockets. He picked up the cotton coat and put it to his nose and smelled it, and a strong smell of nicotine penetrated his nostrils.

This caught Xu Yao's attention, and he reached into the pocket of the cotton coat again, and his hand was stuck with cigarette ash.

Xu Yao murmured to himself, "This shouldn't be. In previous investigations, Wang Tao didn't smoke.

He looked at Wang Tao's pale face, his eyes closed, lying there quietly without moving. But Xu Yao seemed to see something from his face, zipped up, turned around and ran out.

He had just rushed out of the forensic room when Mo Xiaoqing called to report on the work.

Xu Yao said directly on the phone, "Mo Xiaoqing, come to the parking lot immediately and take you to the police."

There was still a cordon at the entrance of the church on Liuyuan Road, but Xu Yao did not go in but went straight to the management office and asked the person in charge about the cleaner who was responsible for cleaning the church on the day of the incident.

Soon, two female cleaners in their 50s stood in front of Xu Yao nervously.

Mo Xiaoqing quickly stepped forward and comforted them for a while, trying to keep a low profile. After all, ordinary people are always cautious and afraid when facing the police.

Xu Yao didn't have that much free time. After three minutes, he immediately asked:

"A person died in your church yesterday. You should know it, right? When you were cleaning, did you find anything unusual?"

The two cleaners shook their heads and said, "I'm not sure. We cleaners are only responsible for doing our job well."

"Then what kind of garbage was there in the church when you were cleaning this morning?" Xu Yao continued to ask.

At this time, another cleaner said, "Oh, I remembered that we swept out a lot of cigarette butts from under the first row of seats yesterday. Many people who come to worship in our church are very conscious and will not throw paper scraps and cigarette butts around.

I have been complaining to Sister Li about how someone could be so unethical as to smoke in the church.

Xu Yao's expression relaxed. The cleaner's words confirmed his guess. "How many cigarette butts are there? A lot?"

"I didn't notice that."

"Did you sweep them all away?"

The two cleaning ladies looked very surprised. They naturally didn't understand why the police were so interested in cigarette butts, and their answers sounded a little impatient.

"You police comrades are asking strange questions. You left a lot of cigarette butts. Are you waiting to be scolded?"

After asking all the questions, Xu Yao asked the two cleaners to leave and said thank you!

After he and Mo Xiaoqing came out of the management office, they slowly walked across a cobblestone road, walked across the tree-lined avenue, and continued to move forward.

They came to the front of the church. Xu Yao looked at the cordon, then raised his head to look up at the sky, and muttered to himself:

"I guess I can get the answer from here."

The church was opened, and the closed door made a dull sound.

Mo Xiaoqing, who was following behind, was actually also puzzled and couldn't help asking, "Captain Xu, what does the cigarette butt have to do with this case?"

Xu Yao answered slowly, "Can I ask you, a person who never smoked was found to have small holes burned by smoke on his coat, a few cigarette ashes in his pockets, and the smell of nicotine on his clothes.

Moreover, in the church where Wang Tao died, many cigarette butts were found under the wooden chairs at the time of the crime.

What does that mean?"

Mo Xiaoqing suddenly understood, "Captain Xu means that Wang Tao once met a man here, and talked to him for a while. That man also smoked and had a heavy addiction to cigarettes."

Xu Yao slowly walked to the first row and sat down, looking up at the front.

"Wang Tao suddenly chose to escape from the police's sight, and then took the surveillance video he left at his friend's house and fled here.

But less than two days after escaping from the police, he was found dead in the church.

So that person started planning a long time ago. Maybe someone must have come to find Wang Tao when he was detained in the criminal police team!"

Xu Yao immediately picked up his phone and called Liu Xiaobo, "Xiao Liu, check right now, who had contact with Wang Tao during the time he was detained, quickly!"

Mo Xiaoqing proposed a very bold idea. "Captain Xu, I think the conditions must be very tempting to make Wang Tao give up the offer of reducing his sentence by three or four years and choose to meet this person at the church. Maybe it was driven by money.

Wang Tao has always been obsessed with money. If the protagonist in the surveillance video knew that the surveillance in his hands was very disadvantageous to him, he would find a chance to get close to Wang Tao..."

Xu Yao continued Mo Xiaoqing's words, "So Wang Tao lied and said he would use the surveillance video to exchange for his freedom. In fact, this was just a cover. No wonder he insisted on going to get it himself at that time. He just wanted to find a chance to escape."

"Yes, Wang Tao thought the other party would really keep his promise, but he forgot that he had also watched the surveillance video and the other party would definitely not let him go, so he was killed."

Xu Yao thought of something and immediately stood up, "Let's go back to the police station now."

As soon as he returned to the office in the Criminal Police Building, Xu Yao immediately ordered Mo Xiaoqing to call all relevant police officers to a meeting.

20 minutes later, all personnel were present and the meeting officially began.