Chapter 152: Uncovering Clues and Confirming Manager Qiu's Identity

Historically, unsolved cold cases are notoriously difficult to crack primarily due to a scarcity of clues, a lack of physical evidence, and the absence of discernible patterns.

The case of Chen Zhi, which has remained unresolved for eleven years, is no exception. Based on the police department's prior investigative findings, forensic reports, and a synthesis of various information sources, Xu Lang formulated a bold hypothesis: if Chen Zhi was indeed murdered by someone within the pyramid scheme, it was most likely a crime of passion. Xu Lang's deduction is supported by several key pieces of evidence.

First, this was Chen Zhi's first time visiting S City and his initial encounter with a pyramid scheme. Aside from his university classmate Su Jiayi, who was also trapped in the organization, Chen Zhi did not know a single person among the members. Given this complete unfamiliarity, it was impossible for him to have developed a deep-seated hatred or an irreconcilable, violent conflict during such a brief period of contact. Therefore, murder stemming from a personal vendetta can be ruled out.

Second, following Chen Zhi's death, his mobile phone was never used again, and his phone number was eventually deactivated due to unpaid bills. According to police investigations, even after eleven years, the funds in Chen Zhi's bank accounts and savings passbooks remain completely untouched. The total amount stands at eighteen thousand eighty-six yuan and twenty fen, down to the exact fraction. This clearly demonstrates that Chen Zhi was not killed for financial gain.

Third, within the pyramid scheme, Chen Zhi knew no one other than Su Jiayi. While there were women in the organization, they constituted a minority. Chen Zhi was not particularly striking in appearance, making it highly improbable that he could have romanced a girl shortly after arriving in the organization. Had Chen Zhi possessed such charm, he would not have reached the end of his university years and his time in the workforce without ever having been in a romantic relationship or having had a girlfriend. Consequently, the possibility of Chen Zhi being murdered out of romantic jealousy can essentially be eliminated.

In summary, Chen Zhi's murder should be classified as a crime of passion—provided, of course, that he was indeed killed by someone within the pyramid scheme. If Xu Lang's hypothesis holds true, a new question arises: among the numerous individuals in the pyramid scheme, exactly who killed Chen Zhi? Was it committed by a single person, or did multiple perpetrators act in concert? If it was the act of a single person, were the others aware of it? If multiple people were involved, what could possibly have driven them to such an extreme? Could it be that Chen Zhi uncovered some unspeakable secrets within the organization? Or perhaps, after discovering that the company Su Jiayi introduced him to was a pyramid scheme, Chen Zhi attempted to threaten or blackmail Manager Qiu and the others, but failed? The answers to all these questions cannot be found until that man, Hu Xueming, is located.

Upon uncovering the lead regarding Manager Qiu, Zhao Hua and his team meticulously reviewed the case files from that era. During this review, Zhao Hua discovered that among the individuals summoned to the public security bureau back then, everyone claimed that above Manager Qiu—whose real name was Hu Xueming—there was a higher-ranking leader known as Director Wu.

Armed with this discovery, Zhao Hua, Xu Lang, and the others grew increasingly convinced that Hu Xueming and Director Wu, who appeared in the illegal detention case handled and cracked by the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office nine years ago, were indeed members and leaders of the very same pyramid scheme that Su Jiayi had once belonged to.

Consequently, Zhao Hua and his team pursued their investigation along this thread. Following a series of inquiries, they found that the identity information registered by the man calling himself Manager Qiu—Hu Xueming—was indeed authentic. The photograph on his identity card, the ID number, and his registered domicile all matched. At a time when the economy was still developing and transportation was far from advanced, police work was largely localized, with officers tending strictly to their own jurisdictions. Consequently, whether Hu Xueming's identity was genuine or fabricated had never been conclusively verified at the time.

This gave rise to a serious complication: Zhao Hua and his team could not ascertain whether Hu Xueming was Manager Qiu's real name or an alias. The veracity of Hu Xueming's identity would dictate the entire trajectory of the investigation. If the identity was false, tracking him down would undoubtedly be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack; when someone employs a fake ID and nobody knows their true identity, the trail runs completely cold. Conversely, if Hu Xueming's identity was real, the police could follow the clues and press forward with the investigation.

Therefore, when Zhao Hua reported this lead back to Ning Yanran, she immediately contacted the police in F City, requesting them to check their records to determine whether an individual named Hu Xueming actually existed in their jurisdiction.

Shortly after the notice of assistance in investigation was issued, a reply arrived from the F City police. In a subordinate county under the administration of F City, there indeed lived a person named Hu Xueming. His identity information and all other details matched perfectly. This individual had once tested into N University in N City with outstanding scores, entering two classes ahead of Chen Zhi, making him an upperclassman. However, ever since Hu Xueming left for N City to attend university, he rarely returned home. This became even more pronounced after his graduation and the commencement of his career in S City. Furthermore, Hu Xueming's mother had died in an accident when he was in high school, and his father had passed away from illness several years prior. Ever since those losses, Hu Xueming had never set foot back in F City, leaving the local police entirely unaware of his current whereabouts.

While the confirmation of Hu Xueming's true identity by the F City police ignited a glimmer of hope for the investigators, it also presented a formidable challenge. The good news was that Manager Qiu, the leader of the pyramid scheme involved in the illegal detention case nine years ago, was indeed Hu Xueming, and he was highly likely to be the Manager Qiu from the organization Su Jiayi had joined. This marked the first time since the inception of the investigation that Ning Yanran and her team had uncovered Manager Qiu's real identity—a milestone worth celebrating. The bad news, however, was that neither the S City police nor his hometown police in F City knew where Hu Xueming was currently located. If Ning Yanran wished to find him, she would have to approach the case from entirely new angles.

At this juncture, the investigation had once again hit a deadlock and bogged down in a quagmire. Yet, unlike previous setbacks, every member of the Second Serious Crimes Investigation Squad felt that the breakthrough in Chen Zhi's murder case was now within arm's reach. As long as they could locate Hu Xueming, uncovering the truth behind Chen Zhi's death would not be far behind.

***

After returning from the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office with Hu Xueming's records, the Second Serious Crimes Investigation Squad convened another pre-case analysis meeting. During the session, everyone summarized and categorized the data and evidence gathered thus far. The ultimate consensus remained unchanged: they had to find a way to locate Hu Xueming. As for *where* to find him, that was the most urgent priority. Since no one knew his whereabouts over the years, tracking him down posed a monumental challenge.

Throughout the meeting, Xu Lang remained largely silent. Sitting quietly in his chair, he kept his head down, flipping through the documents Zhao Hua had brought back. Just as everyone else was wracking their brains over where to search for Hu Xueming, Xu Lang discovered an inconspicuous clue hidden within the archival records of the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office: the vast majority of the members within that particular pyramid scheme were graduates or current students of N University, alongside a few alumni from other institutions. For instance, He Yuhua, a graduate of S University, had been lured into the scheme solely because of his relative who was an alumnus of N University.

By this point, the police had essentially confirmed that the Manager Qiu of the pyramid scheme dismantled by the public security system nine years ago was the exact same Manager Qiu from Su Jiayi's organization—none other than Hu Xueming. Given that both Su Jiayi and Chen Zhi were graduates of N University, an invisible thread emerged, prompting Xu Lang to formulate another bold hypothesis.

Could the pyramid scheme operated by Hu Xueming have been an illegal enterprise planned and organized collectively by a network of N University graduates and current students?

Xu Lang voiced this discovery and his subsequent conjecture to the room. Prompted by his insight, the expressions of everyone present, including Ning Yanran, instantly lit up. They had been agonizing over how and where to find Hu Xueming, but with this hidden thread now brought to light, a surge of renewed vigor swept through the entire team.

Acting on Xu Lang's analysis, Ning Yanran decided to dispatch personnel to N University in N City to conduct field investigations. The officers chosen for this mission were Zhang Lei and Zhao Hua; given that Lü Xing was primarily a technical specialist, frontline fieldwork was unsuited for him.

Concurrently, Ning Yanran and Li Lei coordinated with subordinate police units across S City to scour the locality for Hu Xueming. According to the data provided by the F City police, Hu Xueming should be approximately thirty-seven years old this year. Although the photographs supplied by the F City police were over a decade old, barring any plastic surgery, a person's facial structure retains the fundamental traces and characteristics of their youth. After all, unlike women, adult men do not undergo drastic transformations as they age.

In addition, Ning Yanran once again contacted the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office to check whether any individuals named Hu Xueming or bearing the surname Qiu had surfaced in connection with pyramid schemes cracked down upon in recent years. Given Hu Xueming's history, if he had continued his illicit operations following the police crackdown nine years ago, he would inevitably have left a paper trail and likely fallen into the net of the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office once again.

Thus, the Second Serious Crimes Investigation Squad split into three distinct fronts and embarked on a grueling phase of evidence collection.

Following the adjournment of the meeting, Zhang Lei and Zhao Hua boarded a flight to N City, heading straight for N University. Having contacted the university's administration prior to their departure, the two detectives were met at the main gate by school officials waiting for their arrival.

After a brief exchange of polite formalities, the two parties got straight to business. The university administration provided the rosters of all enrolled students spanning the five years surrounding Chen Zhi's graduation for Zhao Hua and his team to review.

Much like S University, N University was a prestigious key institution in the Huaxia Republic, boasting massive cohorts of incoming and graduating students every year. Sifting through a decade's worth of student records to find a single individual named Hu Xueming was a formidable task, as the names numbered in the tens of thousands, with plenty of exact duplicates. Fortunately, before setting out, Zhao Hua and his colleagues had already secured Hu Xueming's precise enrollment and graduation dates, which drastically narrowed down the search parameters.

Sure enough, after hours of exhaustive browsing, Zhao Hua's team spotted the name Hu Xueming among the 1993 graduating class list. The discovery filled them with excitement, and it also yielded an unexpected bonus: right beneath Hu Xueming's name appeared that of Wu Yulong, alongside several other familiar names—individuals who had been processed by the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office in connection with the case nine years prior.

Armed with this critical lead, Zhao Hua and his team immediately photocopied the roster and transmitted it back to Ning Yanran and Xu Lang in S City. Upon receiving the document, Ning Yanran instructed Zhao Hua's team to continue their inquiries at N University—interviewing Hu Xueming's former professors and classmates to gather any intelligence on his whereabouts—while she personally initiated an investigation into Wu Yulong.

***

The moment Ning Yanran saw the name Wu Yulong, a suspicion flashed through her mind: could Hu Xueming's superior, the elusive Director Wu, be none other than this Wu Yulong?

Next came the arduous task of conducting individual interviews and background checks based on the names listed on the roster.

Following a complex and grueling series of investigations, Zhao Hua and his team learned from Hu Xueming's former professors and peers that Hu Xueming and Wu Yulong had been exceptionally close companions. During their university days, they were not only classmates but also shared a dormitory room. Furthermore, they maintained tight-knit circles with a dozen other students in their class. According to the recollections of Hu Xueming's peers, both he and Wu Yulong seemingly departed for S City to start a business immediately after graduation. While their classmates remained unaware of the exact nature of their enterprise, it was undeniably lucrative; at every class reunion, the duo radiated wealth in their attire, speech, and demeanor, covering all expenses for the gatherings out of their own pockets.

Other classmates recalled that even before graduation, Hu Xueming appeared extraordinarily wealthy. They had long assumed that both Hu Xueming and Wu Yulong hailed from affluent backgrounds—second-generation heirs whose families were either real estate magnates or coal mine owners. However, police background checks revealed that Hu Xueming's family was far from wealthy, belonging strictly to a modest, working-class household. In the economic climate of that era, his family's financial standing could never have sustained such lavish expenditures. If the funds did not originate from familial support, they must have been acquired through other channels.

Had they resorted to theft or robbery, they undoubtedly would have attracted police attention and amassed criminal records. Yet, upon examining Hu Xueming and Wu Yulong's student files at N University, Zhao Hua's team discovered that their academic records had consistently reflected exemplary conduct, entirely devoid of any prior disciplinary actions by the school or criminal records from the public security organs. Viewed in this light, it became glaringly evident that Hu Xueming had likely been engaged in illicit pyramid-selling activities since his university years.

While Zhao Hua's team was making headway in N City, Ning Yanran's parallel investigation into Wu Yulong and other roster members in S City was also yielding results. Investigations revealed that Wu Yulong was a native of S City. His family background mirrored Hu Xueming's—neither destitute nor affluent, fitting comfortably into the modest middle-class bracket. The remaining members on the roster hailed from either N City or S City; some originated from rural households while others possessed urban registration. Their family circumstances varied wildly, yet a common thread united them: upon graduation, they had all flocked to S City to work. Though the precise nature of their occupations remained opaque to outsiders, their families, relatives, and friends all shared a singular impression—that they were engaged in extraordinarily lucrative careers.

At this point, the structural outline of the entire case had crystallized into sharp focus: Hu Xueming, Wu Yulong, and their cohorts were operatives running an illegal pyramid scheme. By trapping recruits through head-hunting tactics and defrauding them of so-called membership fees, the syndicate would pool the illicit gains and divide the spoils among themselves. This revelation perfectly explained how they had managed to fund such lavish lifestyles during their university days.

Yet, despite the clarity of the overarching framework, the whereabouts of Hu Xueming, Wu Yulong, and their associates remained unknown. Ever since the crackdown nine years prior, neither Hu Xueming nor Wu Yulong had resurfaced or left any trace of their existence in S City. For Ning Yanran and her team, this was far from good news; the current locations of the primary suspects remained a complete mystery, demanding further investigation.

With the New Year fast approaching, Ning Yanran and her team had now been relentlessly investigating for over a month. Although they had unearthed a wealth of clues and made commendable progress, they remained unable to definitively identify Chen Zhi's killer. Pursuing the pyramid scheme lead had merely brought them to the doorstep of Hu Xueming and Wu Yulong. To unearth the ultimate truth behind Chen Zhi's murder, locating these individuals was an absolute prerequisite.

As time ticked away, leaving less than half a month before the arrival of the New Year, the likelihood of the Second Serious Crimes Investigation Squad cracking the case before the holiday appeared increasingly bleak. This realization placed immense pressure on Ning Yanran, who had previously boasted to Lu Ye that she would solve the case before the New Year arrived. Her emotional state had grown noticeably volatile—which was hardly surprising. For one, she was a woman, and hormones naturally induced fluctuations; more importantly, both Ning Yanran and every member of the investigation squad desperately yearned to apprehend the true culprit before the New Year's bell rang. They wished to provide closure to Chen Zhi's family so they could spend the holiday in peace. After all, Chen Zhi's mutilated remains had languished in the morgue's freezer for far too long; it was high time to allow him, a soul who perished far from home, to return to his native soil and finally rest in peace.