The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1035 Investigation of the Mysterious Man Li Baojun

The cafeteria chef remembered that he always liked to sit in the corner, staring blankly at the scrap trucks outside the window; the night shift security guard said that he once tried to climb over the wall into the scrap area and was chased away while holding a camera. But when asked if anyone had threatened Zhang Bing, everyone remained silent, some looking down at their phones, and others making excuses to leave.

"Captain Wang, the finance department has found something!" Xiao Li ran in, holding an account book with yellowed receipts tucked between the pages. "Zhang Bing has been frequently submitting travel expense reports for the past six months, all for nearby environmental protection agencies." On the last page of the account book, a string of numbers was written in pencil: "17234"—strikingly similar to the handwriting in Li Pengcheng's notebook. Xiao Wang stared at the numbers, suddenly remembering that Old Zhang, the gatekeeper, had mentioned that Zhang Bing kept asking about the "key to warehouse number 17."

When the investigation team found Lao Zhang again, the old man was wiping a framed photo in the duty room. The photo showed a young Lao Zhang in a crisp uniform, with the newly completed Hongyuan Plastics Factory building in the background. "It wasn't like this when the factory was first built," he said, stroking the edge of the frame. "Ever since the new boss came in, and scrap metal can be sold for money, people's hearts have changed." He suddenly pulled an envelope from deep inside a drawer. Inside were several blurry photos: trucks loaded with plastic pellets driving out of the factory late at night, their license plates obscured by mud.

"Zhang Bing came three days before his death," Old Zhang's voice trembled, "saying he had evidence to report and asked me to help hide these things." The next day, his camera was found in a trash can in the factory area, but the memory card was missing. "Xiao Wang carefully examined the photos and found that the driver's profile was vaguely reflected in the rear window of the truck—wearing a baseball cap and having a striking flame tattoo on his neck, which highly matched the characteristics of the mysterious man described by Li Qiang."

As the sun set, Xiao Wang stood on the dirt road outside the factory, watching trucks loaded with waste materials disappear into the dust. His shoes crunched over the plastic scraps on the ground. He knew that although direct evidence was still lacking, this seemingly ordinary plastic factory had long been riddled with holes by the corruption of profit, and Zhang Bing's death might be the sharp blade that would tear open this web of corruption.

Xiao Wang slammed the truck photo onto the whiteboard. The blurry truck body and the driver wearing a baseball cap in the photo were like a lingering shadow. He turned to his team members and said, "This truck is the key. Get all the surveillance footage from the surrounding area and watch it frame by frame. I refuse to believe it can just disappear into thin air!"

In the monitoring room, the air seemed to freeze. Xiao Wang and his team stared intently at the screen, their eyes bloodshot from hours of continuous viewing. Images flashed across the screen, and finally, in the late-night surveillance footage from three days before the incident, the truck with the hidden compartment slowly drove out of the Hongyuan Plastics Factory. "Stop!" Xiao Wang slammed his fist on the table. "Enlarge the license plate number and check the owner's information!" The technicians quickly operated the system, and the license plate number "粤B·X7896" clearly appeared; the vehicle was registered under the name of a person named Li Baojun.

Xiao Wang immediately led his team to Li Baojun's residence. It was a dilapidated urban village on the outskirts of the city, with narrow alleyways piled high with garbage and a pungent odor permeating the air. They arrived at a crumbling three-story building, its walls covered with small advertisements. Xiao Wang knocked on Li Baojun's door, and after a long while, the door slowly opened a crack, revealing Li Baojun's wary face. "Li Baojun? We're police officers, we have some questions for you." Li Baojun's eyes flashed with panic for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and forced a smile: "Officer, I haven't done anything wrong, what do you want?"

Xiao Wang and his team members entered the room. The cramped space was filled with clutter, and there was a half-eaten bowl of instant noodles on the table. "We're investigating Hongyuan Plastics Factory. Your truck has been frequently going in and out of the factory lately. What are you transporting in the middle of the night?" Xiao Wang looked directly into Li Baojun's eyes. Li Baojun scratched his head, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. "I'm just a transport driver. I haul whatever the boss tells me to. I transport goods in the middle of the night because the factory is busy with production during the day, and there's no time to load the truck."

"Really?" Xiao Wang scoffed. "Then what were you doing in the early hours of July 9th? Where were you?" Li Baojun's hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, but his tone remained calm: "That day I went to a neighboring city to deliver goods. It takes several hours round trip." "Deliver goods?" Xiao Wang opened his notebook. "Tell me more specifically. What kind of goods were you delivering? Where did you go? Who did you meet with?" Li Baojun's eyes darted around, and he stammered, "I was delivering plastic granules. I went to a factory in a neighboring city and met with the boss."

To verify Li Baojun's claim, Xiao Wang led his team to the freight company he mentioned. The company manager, sitting behind a desk piled high with documents, looked impatient: "Li Baojun? He does frequently drive that route. His departure records for the early morning of July 9th are right here." He then pulled out a thick ledger and showed it to Xiao Wang. Xiao Wang carefully examined it; it indeed recorded Li Baojun's departure time, transportation route, and cargo information for that day. However, he wasn't easily convinced and contacted the cargo owner, Mr. Chen.

After the call connected, Mr. Chen's voice came through the receiver: "July 9th, early morning? Mr. Li delivered the goods on time, and we even had a late-night snack together. He didn't leave until after 7 a.m." Xiao Wang frowned and continued to ask: "Where did you have your late-night snack? Can anyone prove it?" Mr. Chen seemed a little displeased: "It was at a food stall near the factory. There are so many people there, anyone can tell you."

Xiao Wang then found Lao Zhou, the loader who had been working with the truck. Lao Zhou was arranging goods on the truck when he saw the police arrive. He was so nervous that he almost fell off the truck. "Officer, I don't know anything!" Lao Zhou waved his hands erratically. Xiao Wang reassured him, "Don't be nervous. We just want to ask about what happened in the early morning of July 9th. Were you with Li Baojun at the time?" Lao Zhou nodded repeatedly, "Yes, I was with Brother Li the whole time. He was driving the whole time and never left the driver's seat."

However, while investigating the surveillance footage along the transport route, Xiao Wang discovered something suspicious. On a secluded section of road twenty kilometers from the factory in a neighboring city, the footage showed the truck parked on the roadside for half an hour. Xiao Wang interrogated Li Baojun again. In the interrogation room, the lights were harsh. Li Baojun sat in the interrogation chair, his hands cuffed, his eyes beginning to dart with panic. "Li Baojun, why did your truck stop for half an hour twenty kilometers from its destination in the early morning of July 9th?" Xiao Wang's voice was like a hammer blow.

Cold sweat beaded on Li Baojun's forehead as he stammered, "The car...the car broke down, I'm fixing it." "Fixing it?" Xiao Wang sneered, slamming the surveillance photos on the table. "Then why do all the nearby repair shops say they've never seen you?" Li Baojun remained silent, staring at his toes. Xiao Wang continued to press, "You'd better tell the truth. The evidence is right in front of you; your denials are useless. Did Zhang Bing's death have anything to do with you?"