As night descended, the rain poured down like a curtain, striking every inch of the city's land. After a sudden downpour, the city's rivers surged with force, littered with branches and debris, resembling a distorted painting warped by time. Amidst the chaotic waters, a murky drift bottle slowly floated, catching the attention of the police.
Su Wanqing and Lu Chen Zhou had just returned from another case when they received a special case report after the rainstorm. When they arrived at the riverbank, the drift bottle had already been retrieved by the water patrol team. What it contained was shocking—a woman's body, bound by fine rope, firmly secured inside the bottle like some strange specimen.
"This doesn't look like a typical corpse disposal case," Su Wanqing observed the body in the bottle and thought for a moment. "First, we need to identify the victim."
Lu Chen Zhou furrowed his brow as he stared at the bottle, clearly puzzled. "How could anyone use such an unusual method to dispose of a body? Why place a corpse inside a drift bottle?"
"It's not just a random disposal," Su Wanqing spoke softly, "This is a meticulously planned act, almost like a message or a warning."
They immediately began their preliminary examination of the body. The time of death appeared to be a few days before the rainstorm. There were no obvious external injuries, but the water in her lungs indicated that she had suffocated in the water. Based on the degree of decomposition, Su Wanqing speculated that the victim was not immediately thrown into the river but was cruelly murdered somewhere else before being dumped into the water.
"The water in her lungs has traces of chemical contamination," Su Wanqing analyzed swiftly. "This suggests that the body was disposed of upstream from a chemical factory. Either the water source was polluted, or the body carried some chemical residue."
"A chemical factory?" Lu Chen Zhou frowned, clearly confused. "So, the victim has some connection to the factory?"
"Most likely," Su Wanqing nodded. "Whether it's the waste water from the factory or contact with factory workers, there would be traces on the body. The killer is likely in this area."
The two continued their examination of the body and searched for other clues. Upon analyzing the material found under the victim's fingernails, Su Wanqing made another startling discovery—the victim had had close contact with an employee from the chemical factory, as the chemical reaction could only be found in certain substances from that factory.
With this new information, Lu Chen Zhou quickly pulled up surveillance footage from around the area of the incident. They discovered that just before and after the rainstorm, strange vehicles had been spotted around the abandoned chemical factory, particularly a farm tricycle that frequently passed by the area where the body was disposed of. The identity of the vehicle owner soon came to light.
After further investigation, Lu Chen Zhou identified the owner of the tricycle as Zheng Ping, a waste disposal worker at the chemical factory. Zheng Ping had a distinguished history, having worked at the factory for many years, handling chemical waste. However, a deeper look into his background revealed a shocking secret.
Zheng Ping's personal files showed a troubled family life. His wife suffered from severe mental illness, and he had an affair outside of his marriage. The victim was his mistress. Even more surprising was that Zheng Ping seemed to fear his wife finding out about the affair, leading him to take extreme measures to cover it up.
It turned out that the relationship between Zheng Ping and the victim was complex and secretive. They had met at a work party at the chemical factory and quickly became lovers. However, Zheng Ping's wife gradually sensed his behavior was off, especially his coldness after returning home, and several times showed dissatisfaction with his hidden emotions. Zheng Ping knew that if his wife discovered the affair, it would ruin their marriage and potentially harm his position and income at the factory.
On a rainy night, he decided to meet his mistress while his wife was away. However, when he arrived at their meeting spot, the mistress demanded that he make a promise to start a new life with her. In a fit of anger, Zheng Ping violently strangled her, then placed her body into the drift bottle and threw it into the river.
To make the "suicide" seem more believable, Zheng Ping carefully bound the body inside the bottle and threw it into the river. The bottle drifted to the abandoned area of the chemical factory, and it seemed that everything had gone according to his plan.
However, the storm intensified the water flow, and the body was eventually carried downstream, where it was discovered by the patrol team. Zheng Ping's perfect crime plan was exposed because he had overlooked the traces of chemical contamination.
After confirming the evidence, the police quickly launched a manhunt for Zheng Ping. Under questioning, Zheng Ping finally broke down. He confessed to the murder and disposal of the body and described the sequence of events.
"I just wanted everything to end," Zheng Ping sighed, his head bowed. "I thought I could bury the past this way, but I was wrong."
The truth behind the case was finally revealed. However, the police did not let their guard down. As Zheng Ping's confession unfolded, they realized there might be a larger, darker world behind it, waiting for them to uncover.