Animal Detective

Chapter 313 - 259: Nanjiang Won’t Allow a Murderer This Skilled

Shao Jingming pointed at Shen Xin and said, "Lao Liu, give Xiaoshen a proper rundown of the situation. I’m going to go take a look over there."

He took Zhong Yu with him to check the suspect’s escape route.

Liu Baoqing understood what Shao Jingming meant.

The case had hit a stalemate, and he wanted Shen Xin to offer his perspective.

Shen Xin had, after all, solved quite a few cold cases. He was more than capable.

A fresh pair of eyes might lead to a new discovery.

Liu Baoqing gathered his thoughts for a moment before speaking. "The most troublesome part right now is that our investigation into Huang Weili’s social circle hasn’t turned up any suspects."

He went on to detail the investigation they had conducted over the past few days.

It was now the fifth day since the crime occurred. It was safe to say they had investigated Huang Weili’s background down to the last detail.

His parents’ situation, his current family situation, how many mistresses he’d kept, how he made his fortune, and who he’d had conflicts with in business—they had looked into all of it.

Huang Weili was a local. He’d been a university student in the nineties and went to work for a real estate company after graduation.

He was extremely capable and had once risen to a mid-level management position at this national real estate firm.

Later, due to shifts in the company’s business, he backed the wrong side in an internal power struggle and left.

When he turned thirty, he tried his hand at starting his own business.

He had once partnered with some friends to develop a real estate project in Ji Port.

But it didn’t earn him enough.

Later, he blazed a new trail and set his sights on the building materials industry.

He had a deep network of connections in real estate, so his building materials business flourished.

It was only in the last two years that business started to decline slightly, due to too many competitors, fierce competition, and a general downturn in the industry.

As he approached forty, he was feeling a bit burned out and began to embrace a more relaxed, semi-retired lifestyle.

He handed the company over to a professional manager, only dropping in to check on things occasionally. He made a few investments, but with plenty of time on his hands, he developed all sorts of hobbies.

Like fishing.

It was also during this period that his relationship with Hu Yueqin fell apart.

Hu Yueqin wasn’t from the area. She had previously worked in finance, and the two of them met through business dealings, gradually growing closer.

During his entrepreneurial phase, Hu Yueqin had helped Huang Weili a great deal.

This was the main reason their divorce proceedings and asset division were so messy.

Hu Yueqin was no trophy wife; she was genuinely capable.

During this time, Huang Weili grew tired of her and started keeping a mistress, which Hu Yueqin eventually discovered.

They had argued. They had fought.

Eventually, Hu Yueqin also started seeing other men. It became a case of ’you do your thing, and I’ll do mine.’

Liu Baoqing said, "Actually, Hu Yueqin is a very strong suspect. They were going through a messy divorce with significant financial entanglements."

"If Huang Weili died, Hu Yueqin would be in a position to inherit his entire estate."

"And their conflict wasn’t just about him having a mistress. Huang Weili also suspected Hu Yueqin of cheating and believed their son wasn’t his."

The couple first had a daughter, and then had a son when they were in their thirties.

Huang Weili believed this son wasn’t his.

The reason was that the boy didn’t look like him.

He had a huge fight with Hu Yueqin over it.

But he had a paternity test done, and it turned out the boy was indeed his biological son.

Shen Xin took Liu Baoqing’s phone and glanced at the photo of Huang Weili’s son.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Xin said, "Captain Liu, are you sure the paternity test wasn’t tampered with?"

You couldn’t blame Huang Weili for being suspicious; the father and son really didn’t resemble each other.

Liu Baoqing shook his head, explaining that they had persuaded Hu Yueqin to cooperate, and they had conducted their own paternity test. The boy was Huang Weili’s son.

"So you see, the conflict between Hu Yueqin and Huang Weili was immense. She had more than enough motive to kill him."

"And among Huang Weili’s entire social circle, no one else had a conflict with him of this magnitude."

It takes more than a common grudge to drive someone to murder.

"We investigated anyone who had even a slight conflict with him, and we did our best to confirm everyone’s alibi."

"And just like Hu Yueqin, they all have solid alibis."

"We also looked into Huang Weili’s finances and found no problematic entanglements."

Shen Xin frowned.

’No wonder Captain Liu said the case was at a dead end.’

’They had walked right into a blind alley.’

Everyone with a possible motive for murder had been investigated.

Most importantly, they all had alibis.

That was concrete evidence. If a suspect had an alibi, what did their motive matter?

"So you suspect a hired killer?" Shen Xin asked in return.

If they didn’t have time to do it themselves, the only option left was to hire someone—a contract killing.

In recent years, with the good economy, improved public safety, and surveillance cameras everywhere, the cost of committing a crime had skyrocketed.

Cases like in the old days, where people would kill for a small amount of money, were very rare, but they still happened.

Just last year, Shen Xin remembered a case in the Southern region.

A boss hired a hitman, offering a bounty of several million, but the contract was then subcontracted through several layers of assassins until the final payout was only a hundred thousand.

When the final contractor saw how little money was involved, he realized he was being played for a sucker and just walked away from the job.

So, even in this day and age, there were still desperados willing to kill for money.

Thus, it was understandable that after their investigation into Huang Weili’s social circle yielded nothing, Liu Baoqing and his team would start considering a contract killing.

Shen Xin remembered using Odin to track the suspect’s escape route and asked Liu Baoqing if they had found anything.

"Not yet."

Liu Baoqing shook his head, took out his phone, and showed Shen Xin a screenshot from a surveillance camera.

The image appeared to be zoomed in.

And judging by the angle, it was likely from a traffic camera on the road.

Nanjiang’s roadside trees are mostly camphor trees, which are evergreen. In the shot, a person on an electric scooter was riding on the sidewalk.