Captain Liu walked over to Zhang Yihan with a troubled expression and said, "Officer Zhang, I'm just following orders from my superiors, please don't make things difficult for me."
"Exactly, Xiao Zhang, don't trouble Captain Liu. He's not the one calling the shots here. Until their chief gives an order, I'm in command," Jin Zhijian said with a smug grin.
Captain Liu stood beside Zhang Yihan with an awkward smile. Before Jin Zhijian arrived this morning, both Captain Liu and a deputy director of the police station had spent a long time trying to appease Zhang Yihan, so Captain Liu was well aware of her temperament. Though we currently lacked the authority to enforce the law, the lower-ranking officers might ignore us, but Captain Liu dared not.
"Captain Liu, don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. I just want to borrow your phone to call your chief, is that okay?" Zhang Yihan smiled sweetly.
Although others might not know her intentions, I did. Zhao Mingzhu, our team leader, had mentioned on the phone that he would call the Baichu County Public Security Bureau Chief and use Xiao Li's situation to pressure him. Zhang Yihan was clearly planning the same.
However, unaware that we had support from our team leader, Jin Zhijian saw this and felt emboldened. "Xiao Zhang, stop causing trouble. The chief is busy, why would he take your call? Do you still think you're the expert sent by the Cold Case Investigation Team? Don't you realize you have no authority here anymore?"
The enforcement authority within the police system has its rules. Generally, without higher approval, officers can't enforce the law outside their jurisdiction. That's our situation now.
"Hmph, Jin Zhijian, don't get too full of yourself," Zhang Yihan snorted coldly. Then she extended her hand to Captain Liu, asking for his phone, "I won't make things difficult for you. I just want to borrow your phone to make a call, is that too much to ask?"
Captain Liu looked at Jin Zhijian with some hesitation. Jin Zhijian smiled slightly and mocked, "It's okay. Maybe Xiao Zhang just wants to say goodbye to your chief. Go ahead, lend her the phone. Haha... Coming here to investigate and getting all their phones and clothes stolen, how do you even conduct investigations?"
Seeing Jin Zhijian's response, Captain Liu handed the phone to Zhang Yihan and even dialed the chief's number for her.
"Hello, Chief? Haha, this is Xiao Zhang from the Cold Case Investigation Team's Fifth Squad..." Zhang Yihan said as she walked out of the cordoned area with the phone, likely to give the chief some face and not threaten him in front of everyone.
A short while later, Zhang Yihan returned with the phone. She handed it to Captain Liu and said, "Captain Liu, your chief has something to tell you."
Hearing this, I knew it had worked.
"Oh..." Captain Liu quickly took the phone from Zhang Yihan. As he stood beside us, he nodded repeatedly during the conversation, ending it with a "Goodbye, Chief."
After the call, Captain Liu's expression was uncertain. He looked at us, then at Jin Zhijian, seemingly unsure of what to do.
Jin Zhijian sensed something was wrong and sternly ordered Captain Liu, "Xiao Liu, I was personally sent here by our team leader as an expert from the Cold Case Investigation Team. I now order you to remove these two and all the villagers immediately. Clear the scene! Do not let these people interfere with our work."
"What do you mean? What's wrong with us being here?"
"Exactly, this is our village. Is standing here also against the law?"
Jin Zhijian's words sparked an outcry among the villagers, making the scene chaotic.
"Officer Zhang, what should we do? I'll follow your lead," Captain Liu whispered to Zhang Yihan.
Jin Zhijian didn't hear this exchange and yelled again, "Xiao Liu, what are you waiting for? Didn't you hear me? Do you still want your job?"
"Xiao Liu!" Zhang Yihan suddenly shouted coldly, pointing at Jin Zhijian, "Get him and those two in the house out of here immediately. Don't let them contaminate the scene. What a joke, they have no authority here and are still acting all high and mighty."
"Yes, ma'am!" Captain Liu responded loudly, then shouted to the surrounding officers, "Didn't you hear Officer Zhang?"
With Captain Liu's order, the surrounding officers moved towards Jin Zhijian like a tide.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jin Zhijian's face turned red with anger.
Within a minute, the officers had pushed Jin Zhijian and his two subordinates outside the cordon. They were now left watching from outside.
Seeing Jin Zhijian ousted, the villagers became excited.
"Haha, weren't you just telling us to leave? Now you're here with us watching."
"Haha, serves you right..."
The villagers jeered. Since Jin Zhijian and his men were in plain clothes, the villagers didn't take them seriously.
"Xiao Liu, Captain Liu, what's the meaning of this?" Jin Zhijian yelled angrily, blocked by two officers outside the cordon.
"Sorry, I only follow orders from our chief. Whoever our chief tells me to listen to, that's who I follow," Captain Liu responded to Jin Zhijian before turning to us. "This Jin Zhijian from your Fourth Squad is a real piece of work, always asking if we still want our jobs. Damn it, it's not up to him whether we keep our jobs or not!" Captain Liu was clearly annoyed with Jin Zhijian.
"Pfft..." Zhang Yihan burst out laughing.
I later learned that when Zhang Yihan called the chief, our team leader Zhao had already convinced him. Zhao Mingzhu was not only an expert in negotiation and interrogation but also knew how to leverage situations effectively. Just mentioning Xiao Li's suicide and adding some weight to it could scare the chief into cooperating with us.
Afterward, we had Captain Liu guard the scene while Zhang Yihan and I investigated Xiao Li's room.
Since we lost a lot of equipment last night and feared moving things might destroy evidence, we had Captain Liu summon county experts to help collect fingerprints from the recovered equipment.
Despite our thorough investigation until evening, we found nothing.
The equipment bore no extra fingerprints beyond ours and Xiao Li's. The other prints were from officers who helped move the equipment to the Guo family compound. No other footprints were found in Xiao Li's house either.
Clearly, Xiao Li didn't bring the equipment home alone. The only explanation was that those who tried to burn us alive last night were highly professional and adept at counter-surveillance. No wonder we found no traces around the Guo family compound this morning.
Leaving no fingerprints at a crime scene is easy—just wear gloves. But not leaving a single footprint is not something anyone can do.
We studied this professionally before. The only way to leave no footprints is to erase all your tracks before leaving. It's a skilled task. If careful, just avoid running around, remember where you stepped, and mop those areas before leaving.
Unfortunately, our lead was cut off at Xiao Li.
Feeling frustrated, we thought securing Xiao Li's scene would yield clues. Instead, after contending with Jin Zhijian, we found nothing.
I felt useless. Two suicides since last night, one witnessed by us, and we still had no valuable clues.
After returning the borrowed equipment, we dismissed Captain Liu's men. The villagers started preparing for Xiao Li's funeral, setting up a shrine. We had already searched inside and out, so there was no need to keep the scene secure.
When Zhang Yihan and I left Xiao Li's house, it was dusk.
We decided to revisit Xiao Hong's house to question her mother-in-law, seeing if her account matched last night's. If she lied, discrepancies would show.
Walking along the road, discussing our findings, we passed the luxurious rural villa where I borrowed the phone earlier. Suddenly, a coarse male voice called out, "Mom, don't lend your phone to strangers again..."
Hearing this, I froze.
"Xiao Lin, what's wrong?" Zhang Yihan asked.
"Shh..." I gestured for silence. "Yihan, remember that rough voice we heard while being burned in the well?"
"You mean the voice just now?" Zhang Yihan's face changed as she connected the dots.
"I'm 80% sure it was the same voice from last night..." I smiled slightly, feeling a bit proud. "Yihan, remember why I got extra points to join the Cold Case Investigation Team?"
"Your ears?" Zhang Yihan smiled too. She motioned for me to follow, "Let's go. Whether it's him or not, we'll catch and question him first!"