Yang Lin gave a wry smile: "Where do we find the time? A few days ago, everyone in our department was all over the Song Kun murder case."

"After that case was solved, two weeks of backlogged work piled up, and I've been returning to the dormitory at midnight these days."

"This arson case isn't anything major; nothing valuable was burned, and no one was injured. The water company hasn't been demanding answers, so it's been left aside."

Lu Chuan nodded; this is the reality of local police station work.

Lack of manpower and a lot to manage.

Neighborhood mediation and trivial matters take up half of the manpower.

Although Lu Chuan never worked at a police station, he had heard a lot from Yang Lin.

Just last night, there was a noise complaint due to late-night house renovations, and Yang Lin's team responded to the police call seven times.

It's unavoidable; calls keep coming, and police are required to arrive at the scene within the stipulated time — ten minutes in Haizhou City upon receiving an alert.

Of course, different cities have different requirements; Lu Chuan heard that sensitive areas require a response within three minutes, or even one minute.

Lu Chuan picked up the blue paint bucket and examined it repeatedly.

The fact that nobody had checked it might be a good thing another way, indicating that nobody had tampered with the bucket.

Lu Chuan had a better chance of finding something new.

Quickly, Lu Chuan discovered things that Yang Lin hadn't noticed.

The strength of intermediate crime scene investigation skills was fully on display; besides the fingerprints at the bottom of the blue bucket, Lu Chuan found some stains on the inside of the handle.

Although there were no fingerprint residues, the stains were clearly not left by the fire.

Because there was a layer of soot-blackened residue, Lu Chuan used a cotton swab to take samples for further analysis later.

In addition, Lu Chuan collected some white substances at the bottom edge of the blue bucket where it touched the ground.

These appeared similar to powdery substances like flour or lime.

These things evidently did not come from contamination at the police station but were likely residues from where the paint bucket had been previously stored.

While Lu Chuan was collecting and analyzing physical evidence, the action team was also at work.

They were conducting interviews and investigations; there are communities and shopping streets around the archive room, and there's considerable foot traffic, meaning more surveillance cameras.

Currently, most surveillance video footage is saved for three months.

The arson case happened three weeks ago, so if surveillance captured anything, it might still be traceable.

Compared to a corpse-dumping case, solving this simple arson case posed much less difficulty.

The following noon, significant progress was made in the related work.

Meeting Room No. 1.

Ren Qiang turned on the projector: "This is footage captured by surveillance from a Half Past Eight Supermarket next to the archive room three weeks ago."

The timestamp on the footage showed 1:08 AM.

At the entrance of the supermarket, a short, stout man wearing a hooded black down jacket walked past with a blue paint bucket.

Fifty minutes later, the same man passed the supermarket entrance again, but the blue paint bucket in his hand was gone.

"The fire-damaged archive building's surveillance was out of order, so our investigators did not find valuable clues."

Yang Lin and his team had checked the surveillance video at the time, but due to its disrepair, naturally, nothing was found.

"Near the archive building, there are three supermarkets and a massage parlor, all equipped with surveillance cameras at their entrances."

"Zhang Hui and his team found this footage at a Half Past Eight Supermarket, located 800 meters west of the archive room."

Of the four stores, two are on the east side and two on the west side of the archive building.

Nothing was discovered on the east side, and the massage parlor's surveillance footage near the west side of the archive building also showed nothing.

"It seems the suspect might have deliberately avoided the surveillance near the massage parlor due to its proximity to the archive building, and the angle of the cameras, which is why he wasn't captured walking on the sidewalk."

Qin Yong nodded; this analysis was consistent with general logic.

However, the man in the video appeared short and somewhat stout.

This did not match the footprint analysis report Lu Chuan had created at the crime scene.

The first time a corpse was dumped, the crime scene investigation estimated the suspect's height to be over 1.8 meters.

The second time, footprints collected at the scene suggested the suspect was about 1.84 meters tall, weighing around 100 kilograms, aged between thirty-five and forty.

But the man in the surveillance footage was short, stout, and appeared to be around 1.7 meters tall.

His physical characteristics did not match the suspect in the corpse-dumping case.

However, now was not the time to ponder that.

The fingerprints found on the ankle of the corpse matched those on the bottom of the blue paint bucket, so this lead must be pursued.

"Ren Qiang, deploy more personnel to find the arson suspect as quickly as possible."

With the visual identification of the arsonist from the surveillance footage, locating the individual became relatively easier.

By 3:30 PM, Ren Qiang had returned with good news.

"Captain Qin, we've caught the suspect!"

Interrogation Room.

Zhang Hui was interrogating the suspect.

"Qin Jun, where were you in the early hours of December 6th?"

Qin Jun, male, forty-six years old, project manager at the Water Company's engineering management department.

"I... I don't quite remember... I should have been sleeping at home."

Qin Jun's darting eyes and hesitant speech blatantly showed a guilty conscience.

Haizhou City's Criminal Investigation Team's interrogation room was just under thirty square meters.

A heavy curtain covered the windows, and a bright spotlight shone on the interrogation chair.

The interrogators sat across from the questioned individual with a simple desk between them.

Next to the desk was a recorder, and there were surveillance cameras in the corners of the ceiling.

Unlike wealthier Criminal Investigation Teams, Haizhou's interrogation room lacked a one-way mirror observation port.

Qin Yong and the others were in the room next door, observing the interrogation through surveillance cameras.

"Qin Jun!"

Zhang Hui suddenly shouted, startling Qin Jun into a shiver, causing his handcuffs and shackles to clank.

"Do you know the charges of arson?"

"Arson is one of the eight major offenses: arson without causing severe consequences results in a sentence of three to ten years!"

"Serious injury, death, or significant public or private property loss leads to ten years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty!"

Qin Jun was sweating profusely upon hearing three to ten years.

At the mention of life imprisonment and the death penalty, he slumped in his seat.

"Do you know what significant loss means? Fifty thousand yuan!"

"You know better than anyone what's inside your company's archive building!"

"You know better than I do how much was lost!"

"Do you think we have no evidence and would just arrest you randomly?"

"You still have a chance to confess, but if you continue to resist..."

"I... I... I'll talk... I'll tell you everything!"

A project manager, usually just indulging in small gains from contractors, had never faced such pressure.

Under Zhang Hui's inquiry, he confessed to everything.

"I set the fire, but I wasn't alone. Our director ordered me to do it!"

"I was just following orders, really, everything I'm saying is true!"

"Oh, I have recordings! I have recordings!"

The details of the arson case soon became clear.

The arsonist was indeed an insider.

Qin Jun was the arsonist, but he wasn't the mastermind.

Recently, the Water Company intended to conduct an internal engineering audit, and the management department had too many issues.

"Our director said that as long as all the archive materials were destroyed, there would be no evidence, and they wouldn't find any problems during the audit."

"He promised to promote me to deputy director afterwards, so I did it."

The saying "honesty brings leniency" is like firing bullets; once it starts, there's no stopping it until the magazine is empty.

Often, even a few final flutters are needed.

Qin Jun had prepared recordings and other evidence, leading to the arson case being considered solved.

"Alright, since the arson case is clarified, let's discuss the Qinghe Amusement Park corpse-dumping case."

What?

Qin Jun's just-relaxed body suddenly tensed, screaming at Zhang Hui: "What... corpse-dumping?!"

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