The case involving more than a dozen corpses was considered a major case. Chu Jingqiu understood the importance of this case, so she planned to follow Gu Weimin to Northern Province immediately.
Her skull reconstruction skills are becoming more and more mature, so she estimates that it will be completed soon. So she asked Xiao Yihan and Qi Yue to take the elderly and children to Shenzhen first, and she would go to Shenzhen to meet them after she finished the case there.
Although Xiao Kexin pouted and looked a little unhappy, she understood that her mother was going to help the public security department solve the case. With tears in her eyes, she hugged Chu Jingqiu tightly and urged her, "Mom, be careful when you get there. We'll be waiting for you in Shenzhen. You must come back soon!"
After bidding farewell to their families, Chu Jingqiu and Gu Weimin boarded the car back to Northern Province.
Eleven years later, Chu Jingqiu returned to the place where he had been sent to work in the countryside. He was filled with emotion. The past ten years had seen tremendous changes. The road from Beijing to the northern province had been completely rebuilt, and cars could now travel much faster on the wide, flat roads.
After more than six hours of bumpy ride, the car arrived at the County Public Security Bureau at around 3:00 PM. Chu Jingqiu was shocked by the scene before him.
This is no longer the small county town she remembers. Many new houses have been built along the street, and there are a wide variety of shops on both sides of the street. Clothing stores, restaurants, daily necessities and other small shops have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.
There are also street vendors pushing carts, hawking their wares along the roadside, and even at the theater entrance, a group of men repairing shoes, sunglasses, and bicycles, creating a beautiful scene. These tremendous changes demonstrate the prosperity and vitality of this county after reform and opening up.
The car drove directly into the courtyard of the County Public Security Bureau. The County Public Security Bureau had also undergone tremendous changes. She remembered that when she left, it was still a simple bungalow. Now it has become a four-story office building. In front of the building, the police badge is shining, looking solemn and majestic.
While chatting on the road, Chu Jingqiu had already learned about the current situation of the Public Security Bureau from Gu Weimin.
Eight years ago, Gu Weimin was transferred from the Hongqi Town Police Station to the Criminal Investigation Section of the County Public Security Bureau, where he served as the section chief. He has now been promoted to deputy director of the Public Security Bureau.
Zhou Yiming, the former chief of criminal investigation, has become the director of the Public Security Bureau. Even Xiao Dong, who used to be his assistant, is now the captain of the criminal investigation team.
As soon as Chu Jingqiu and the others got off the car, Director Zhou Yiming and several policemen came out to greet them enthusiastically.
Zhou Yiming's face was filled with a friendly smile, and everyone shook hands with Chu Jingqiu one by one, as if they were old friends meeting again after many years.
Seeing these familiar faces again, Chu Jingqiu felt both cordial and emotional.
Zhou Yiming smiled and said, "Welcome, Mr. Chu. You should call me Teacher Chu now! I heard you're teaching at the University of Political Science and Law. You have a bright future! We're so proud to have a talent like you from our county!"
Chu Jingqiu waved his hand modestly. "No, no, we're all growing and improving. I have to change the way I address you. Director Zhou, Section Chief Dong, long time no see!"
Everyone laughed when they heard Chu Jingqiu's words.
"Chu Zhiqing, you must be tired after traveling all this time. I'll arrange for you to rest for a while. We'll have dinner together tonight to welcome you back."
Chu Jingqiu waved his hands hurriedly, "No need to bother with that, Director Zhou. Let's get back to work!"
"It's okay, it won't matter for a little while. You've been sitting in the car for six or seven hours straight, your body can't handle it.
Besides, Weimin and the driver are tired. Their trip to Beijing was quite tiring and they didn’t have any rest for more than ten hours. Let’s talk about work tomorrow!
I'll just instruct the criminal police to prepare the necessary equipment for skull reconstruction!" Zhou Yiming insisted.
Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Chu Jingqiu nodded and agreed. Then, under Zhou Yiming's arrangement, they checked into a hotel near the county public security bureau.
In the evening, Zhou Yiming invited Chu Jingqiu to dinner at a nearby restaurant. During the meal, Chu Jingqiu learned the general situation of the case from Zhou Yiming.
Hongqi Town has developed very rapidly in recent years, but due to historical reasons, there are defects in the design of the drainage pipes, resulting in poor drainage.
Whenever there is heavy rain, the town will suffer from waterlogging, causing great inconvenience to the residents. Therefore, before the rainy season arrived this year, the town began to renovate the drainage system.
One of the focuses of the renovation is the stinking ditch in the suburbs of Hongqi Town. This ditch was originally a place where paper mills and other factories discharged sewage all year round. Over time, it became a stinking ditch.
Now, the town plans to convert this stinking ditch into a drainage channel to better drain rainwater and alleviate the impact of waterlogging.
However, during the construction process, workers found thirteen female skulls in the mud of the stinking ditch, and some fragmented and incomplete corpses were scattered around the scene.
Without exception, these corpses had been brutally dismembered, and not even a single complete skeleton could be found.
Such a vile and brutal method of committing a crime is truly appalling! The higher authorities acted decisively and issued an order to solve the case within a specified timeframe.
But the biggest problem at the moment is that the true identities of the victims cannot be confirmed, and the investigation of the case has therefore come to a standstill.
After Zhou Yiming finished explaining the case, he said with a serious expression, "Teacher Chu, this case is quite complicated. We have to trouble you again. We hope you can help us identify the deceased as soon as possible and solve the case as soon as possible."
Chu Jingqiu was also shocked by the cruelty of the criminal. She felt a great sense of responsibility and immediately expressed her desire to restore the skull as quickly as possible and determine the identity of the deceased as soon as possible.
The next morning, after Chu Jingqiu had breakfast, he went to the forensic laboratory of the county public security bureau and prepared to start work.
Zhou Yiming asked several forensic doctors to be Chu Jingqiu's assistants to help her restore the skull. The bones had been cleaned up by the forensic doctors. Chu Jingqiu learned the approximate ages of the bones through the forensic doctors, most of which were between 18 and 30 years old.
After carefully observing the skulls, Chu Jingqiu began to use his superb skills and rich experience to direct the forensic doctors to restore the victim's face bit by bit.
Several people were so busy that they didn't even have time to eat. Xiao Dong and Gu Weimin specially bought some simple lunches such as buns, soy milk, rice porridge, etc. for everyone to ensure that they had enough energy to continue working.
After working tirelessly for about ten days, they completed the restoration of more than a dozen skulls. The last skull they restored was severely damaged.
Chu Jingqiu spent the most time and effort on this skull. When the restoration results came out, Chu Jingqiu and Gu Weimin were shocked at the same time. This person turned out to be Hu Mingyue, an educated youth from Qingshan Brigade.
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