Chapter 395 - The Case

“Serve the Yuanlao Senate and the people!” Xu Ke shouted again, as was the custom.

“Serve, serve,” Ming Qiu nodded and said, “Sit down.” He pointed to the sofa.

After taking a seat, Ming Qiu asked directly, “Looking at your file, you were a police officer before D-Day?”

“Yes, I worked in traffic police for two years, then criminal investigation for three years, and the last year in the legal department, until the transmigration,” Xu Ke replied, sitting upright on the sofa with his hands on his knees, a little stiffly.

“Don’t be so formal, relax,” Ming Qiu smiled. “You’ve been in the military, right?”

“I enlisted in my junior year of college and served in the North Sea Fleet of the navy for two years.”

“So, you have quite a bit of experience. You worked in the navy after D-Day, and then in the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. Haven’t you covered all the bases of military, police, gendarmerie, and special services?”

Xu Ke slowly realized something. He didn’t answer but waited for Ming Qiu to spell it out.

“Here’s something for you to look at,” Ming Qiu picked up a folder from his desk and handed it to Xu Ke.

Opening the folder, the first thing he saw were several photographs. At this stage, with the supplies brought from the old world constantly being consumed and substitutes not yet in mass production, photographs were rarely used except for a few important purposes.

The photos were of a type he was all too familiar with: crime scene photos.

The first photo showed the naked, headless body of a man lying on the beach. He had nothing on him, and more terrifyingly, no head.

“This is a murder case discovered on the beach yesterday. The body was washed ashore. Although his head is missing, the fatal wound should be the knife wound on his lower back.”

“At the time, we didn’t know the victim’s identity, nor whether the crime occurred within our jurisdiction, so the Kaohsiung police station was temporarily in charge. But yesterday afternoon, someone recognized the victim from his tattoos as a naturalized citizen navy sergeant named Zhang Qianniu. The police station took his fingerprints and compared them with the fingerprint records in Zhang Qianniu’s file, confirming it was him. He didn’t return the night before last, and we didn’t expect him to have met with such a tragic end!” Ming Qiu paused deliberately here. Xu Ke still didn’t speak, but listened intently.

“Since the case involves navy personnel, after discussing it with Wei Bachi, we plan to take over the case from the police station. Considering you are the only one in the navy with investigation experience, we are preparing to put you in charge. What do you think?” Ming Qiu finished speaking and looked at Xu Ke without saying a word.

Although Ming Qiu’s words ended with a question, Xu Ke knew very well that it was actually a statement. He immediately stood up and replied loudly, “I guarantee I will complete the mission.”

A smile appeared on Ming Qiu’s face. He gestured, “Sit down first. I’m a layman when it comes to solving cases, but can you tell me your plan?”

Xu Ke slowly said, choosing his words carefully, “First, I plan to go to the scene to have a look and conduct interviews in the surrounding area. Perhaps someone saw or heard something. Then, I will start with the victim’s social relationships and his activities in the days before his death to see who he associated with, whether he had any enemies, and see if I can find some clues to decide the next step.”

As he spoke, Xu Ke couldn’t help but find it amusing. Even in this new world, he was back to his old profession.

Ming Qiu nodded, “You’ve put it very well. Let’s start with that. Do you have any difficulties or requests?”

“What about my work at the Foreign Intelligence Bureau?”

“I’ve already contacted Jiang Shan, and he said he agrees with my opinion: let Li Di help out for now. You can just guide him.”

“I need some people to help me with interviews in places like Dongmen Market. Also, I need authorization to question civilians and military personnel. I also need the assistance of the police station.”

“No problem. The personnel of the base service company are at your disposal. I will immediately sign an order appointing you as the concurrent security officer of the Kaohsiung base. All navy personnel must cooperate with your inquiries. As for the civilians, I’ve already spoken with Ma Jia from the Arbitration Tribunal, and he has given you authorization. Here are the documents,” Ming Qiu said, taking out two documents.

“I also need Zhang Qianniu’s personal file,” Xu Ke quickly added.

“You can get it from my adjutant later,” Ming Qiu said readily. “When can you start?”

“I need to study the case file first. I can start this afternoon.”

Xu Ke immediately began his investigation. He first read Zhang Qianniu’s file. Zhang Qianniu’s life was not much different from that of most navy officers and soldiers: he was from a fisherman’s family, his parents had died early, and he had a brother and a sister who had gone their separate ways and whose whereabouts were currently unknown. He had been a pirate under Zhu Cailao, and after the great defeat at Nanri Island, he and some of his former companions drifted to the coast of Guangdong to continue their piratical activities. He surrendered during the navy’s anti-piracy and recruitment campaign and then joined the navy.

His service record in the navy was unremarkable. Due to his age and physical condition, Zhang Qianniu was not assigned to a combat squadron and had long served in a squadron responsible for patrol and guard duties, carrying out a large number of patrol missions. He was uneducated, with only a Class C diploma, so he could not be selected for the training corps and had been serving as a deckhand on a special service boat. His current vessel, the single-masted patrol boat Haihu-041, was currently at anchor in Kaohsiung for rest and standby.

Zhang Qianniu was not a major figure among the pirates and had never commanded a ship. But this man, who had joined the pirates at the age of sixteen and had been in various pirate gangs for more than a decade, was a typical backbone member of a pirate group and knew many people. Therefore, his political vetting report stated: “Good at making friends, values loyalty, has complex social relationships.”

Family and personal life: no family, not fond of women—occasionally visits prostitutes on leave. No homosexual tendencies or behavior.

The political vetting report issued to Zhang Qianniu by the Political Security General Bureau in the training camp was IIIC—third-level controllable use. Xu Ke turned to the latest political vetting: IIIB. For a veteran sailor who had served for more than two years, his political vetting was a bit low.

He then looked through the relevant reports from the Ten-Man Group provided by the Political Security General Bureau, which pointed out that Zhang Qianniu was “prone to fighting, undisciplined, and lacked a sense of discipline.”

Looking at his disciplinary record, he had more than a dozen violations, all of which were “no major mistakes, but constant minor ones,” and basically related to the eight characters “prone to fighting, undisciplined.” Among them, violations related to drinking accounted for the majority. Some were for not returning to the ship in time after being drunk, and some were for fighting after drinking. The last three had occurred within a month.

It was conceivable that he was not doing very well in the navy. Given his service time and the number of patrols he had participated in, he should have at least reached the rank of sergeant first class.

Xu Ke had roughly formed a picture of this person in his mind: uneducated, poor learning ability, fond of drinking, and values friendship and loyalty.

For such a person to be suddenly killed, and his head brutally cut off and thrown into the sea, the motive of the case became somewhat complicated.

Since he was neither fond of women nor homosexual, it was clearly not a crime of passion. If it was for money, a navy sergeant, with his lifestyle, would not have much savings. And the soldiers’ pay was mostly paid into their savings accounts by bank transfer, so he couldn’t have had much cash on him.

His complex social relationships were a difficulty, but this was Kaohsiung, not Lingao where anyone could come. More than ninety percent of the population in Kaohsiung was in a state of near-imprisonment. The movements and background of every person who could move freely could be clearly traced.

Xu Ke became alert: cutting off the head and stripping the clothes were obviously to prevent identification if the body was discovered. Even in the 21st century, this was a very useful counter-surveillance technique. If someone hadn’t recognized his tattoo, Zhang Qianniu might have been forever labeled as “missing.”

After careful consideration, Xu Ke called the health center to ask Lei En for Zhang Qianniu’s autopsy report.

Lei En, as a professional epidemic prevention officer, had been sent by the Ministry of Health to head the health center in Kaohsiung. He told Xu Ke on the phone that the examination showed that Zhang Qianniu’s fatal wound was indeed the stab wound to his waist, but a large amount of alcohol was found in his stomach and blood, reaching the standard for drunkenness. Therefore, he was most likely killed after being made drunk. As for the head, it was indeed cut off after death.

“Can you determine the murder weapon and the knife?”

“From the wound, the murder weapon was a dagger. The head was cut off with a standard navy cutlass,” Lei En said. “I heard they didn’t find the murder weapon, but I found a navy cutlass and compared it.”

“Thank you very much. Please keep the body for a few more days.”

“No problem. Call me if you have any more questions.”

Xu Ke hung up the phone and began to look through the records he had requested.

According to the records of the navy’s Qijin camp, Zhang Qianniu had gone out at 2 p.m. the day before yesterday. The registered destination was Kaohsiung city—there was a large army and navy service club in the city, with a tavern, restaurant, and shop. Army and navy soldiers on leave often went there for recreation. According to the rules, he should have returned to the camp before 6 p.m.

According to the records of the joint army and navy patrol after 6 p.m. that day, Zhang Qianniu’s name was not among the soldiers detained for being overdue. Obviously, he was either already dead before 6 p.m. or was being held in a secret location.

Xu Ke then went to the service club himself. The people at the service club quickly recognized Zhang Qianniu’s photo and said that he sometimes came here, but because he had been caught by the patrol for drunk and disorderly conduct two or three times, they hadn’t seen him recently.

Obviously, Zhang Qianniu did not go to the service club on the day of the incident. So where did he go to drink?

Xu Ke immediately ordered the sailors who were close to Zhang Qianniu and his direct commander to be summoned for questioning.

From them, he learned an important clue: Zhang Qianniu had recently been frequenting the tavern on the commercial street.