Zhong Te looked at the anxious police officer beside him and said, "Take me to the Jingang River."
"Yes!" the police officer replied, then turned and ran back the way he came.
Zhong Te followed the police into a courtyard, where piercing cries could be heard from inside.
The gate was wide open, and Zhong Te squinted, immediately spotting the hemp rope hanging from the lintel.
Jingangjiang's body had been laid flat on the ground, and a village woman threw herself on top of him, crying her heart out.
Zhong Te slowly stepped in, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings before finally settling on Jin Gangjiang Qingzi's face, his eyes bulging and his death gruesome.
Something's not right, something's really not right!
Zhong Te frowned deeply. If these two brothers were truly Japanese soldiers or traitors, their deaths were far too "quick and clean."
But if this matter has nothing to do with them, why rush to commit suicide?
It now appears that a third person must know the secret of the experimental base.
Zhao Daming summoned all the men in the village to the ancestral hall to arrest Jingangshan, presumably to put pressure on them and force out his accomplices.
Upon hearing the news, Jin Gangjiang committed suicide out of fear of punishment, which was "reasonable."
It was precisely this "reasonableness" that made Zhong Te sense a hint of deliberate intent.
Footsteps came from behind him. Zhong Te turned around abruptly, and six or seven police officers quickly approached.
"Deputy Chief Zhong!" Sun Lichao, the middle-aged police officer in the lead, nodded to Zhong, then squatted down, quietly persuaded the village woman to leave, and began to examine the body.
After a moment, Sun Li stood up, looked at Zhong Te, and said helplessly, "Jingangjiang should have hanged himself; there are no signs of external force."
He gave a bitter smile. With the deaths of Jingangshan and Jingangjiang, the trail had probably gone cold.
Just then, Zhao Daming arrived at the courtyard with a team of police officers.
"How is the situation?" Zhao Daming strode inside, his gaze fixed on Sun Li.
Sun Li shook his head, his voice heavy:
"We can't find any other clues. Chief Zhao, how about we just close this case? Two footprints in the experimental base, and with the Jin Gangshan brothers dead, it'll be an explanation to the higher-ups."
Zhao Daming's eyes turned cold as he stared at Sun Li: "Confess? Sun Li, what are you talking about? Who do you think you are!"
Sun Li choked and his face turned red.
Jin Hanshan, the village chief of Jin Village, and a group of villagers have also rushed over upon hearing the news.
"Why would Gangjiang hang himself out of the blue? Could it be that he and his brother are really traitors?"
"Gangjiang has no guts... how could he possibly dare to commit suicide?"
The villagers were talking about it.
Jin Hanshan, leaning on his cane, walked into the house with a livid face. He stared at Jin Gangjiang's contorted face, his breathing becoming increasingly labored. He turned to Zhao Daming, his teeth clenched: "Officer, Gangshan and Gangjiang are both dead. That should give you some closure. Do you still want to investigate?"
Zhao Daming's eyes sharpened as he met Jin Hanshan's gaze. He couldn't help but sigh, "Old village chief, this matter is not something I can decide alone. Besides, if Brother Jin Gangshan is truly innocent, don't you want to find the real culprit? Of course, at the moment, the possibility that they are innocent is extremely slim."
Before Jin Hanshan could speak again, Zhong Te suddenly turned around and walked straight into the inner room.
Zhao Daming's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly followed.
Inside the room, Jin Gangjiang's wife sat on the edge of the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Auntie, where were you when Jingangjiang hanged himself?" Zhong Te asked bluntly.
"I...I was chopping firewood in the yard!" the village woman sobbed, her head bowed even lower.
"You were in the yard? Didn't you hear a single sound?"
"I really didn't hear anything, boohoo!"
Zhong Te's eyes flashed like lightning as he stared at the village woman who was weeping with her face covered. After a moment, he turned to Zhao Daming, who had followed him in: "Chief Zhao, go and question Jingangshan's wife."
Zhao Daming was slightly surprised and looked Zhong Te up and down: "Jingangshan's wife has been apprehended. Deputy Chief Zhong, have you made any discoveries?"
“I wouldn’t call it a discovery.” Zhong Te’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. “It just feels like this went too smoothly. Director Zhao, to give you an example, if it wasn’t the Jin Gangshan brothers who infiltrated the experimental base, then who could it be that would make the two brothers willing to die to protect them?”
Wife and children!
“Furthermore,” Zhong Te said, quickening his pace, “Director Zhao might want to check how many pairs of shoes Jin Gangshan has. I suspect he doesn’t have many. I even suspect that the pair Jin Gangshan is wearing was the one that went into the experimental base. So, who could easily take away a pair of shoes that Jin Gangshan usually wears without arousing his suspicion?”
The person next to you in bed?
A sudden inspiration struck Zhao Daming. He turned and rushed out of the inner room, shouting, "Old Liu, hurry to the ancestral hall and get the shoes from the foot of Jingang Mountain to compare with the footprints at the experimental base!"
Almost simultaneously, the weeping village woman in the inner room suddenly looked up, her right hand flashing as she reached into the quilt and pulled out a gleaming pair of scissors, which she forcefully stabbed at Zhong Te, who was standing right in front of her!
Zhong Te was already on guard, and when he saw her unusual movement, his hand was already on the gun handle!
"Bang!"
Gunshots rang out.
The village woman groaned as she was shot in the left shoulder, but her eyes burned with even more resentment as she charged forward recklessly.
Zhong Te quickly took a step back and raised the gun again.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two shots hit the woman in both legs. She staggered and fell heavily to the ground.
As soon as the gunshot rang out, Zhao Daming and the others outside rushed into the house.
"Damn it!" Just as Zhong Te was about to step forward to subdue the woman, he saw her raise her right hand, which was tightly gripping scissors, and plunge it viciously into his heart!
"Director Zhao, hurry to Jingangshan's wife's place!" Zhong Te's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sharply.
Upon hearing the sound, Zhao Daming, who had just rushed to the door of the inner room, immediately understood and turned to run outside.
The villagers outside the courtyard were already stunned into silence.
Jingangshan's wife also died.
At this point, the trail seemed to have truly gone cold.
But Zhong Te's decisiveness earned him the silent praise of everyone present.
The two families of the Jin Gangshan brothers were thoroughly searched inside and out, but nothing was found.
After working until dawn, Zhao Daming decided to return to Zhangjia Village to report back to Director Yu.
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