After Song Lang satisfied his smoking addiction, he returned to the scene and asked Peng Sijue how he was doing.

"Male, over fifty years old, and died within the last two hours. His body was only stabbed once. There is almost no blood on the surface of the body. It may be that blood had accumulated in the lungs and caused suffocation. The specific cause of death will have to be determined by the autopsy when he’s taken back. These are things we found on the body."

Peng Sijue handed over a wallet and a mobile phone.

There were a few thousand yuan in the wallet, a bunch of tiny metal keys, and a photo of a family of three that looked like it had been taken at some tourist attraction. The man in it was the deceased. His name was noted on an ID card - He Taiyang.

The phone had been dropped and couldn’t be turned on.

Song Lang cast his gaze on the body again. The body had been placed in an open body bag. In order to facilitate observation without damaging the wound, he was placed on his side. It was obvious that his front was dirty. It had rained two days ago, so the ground in the alley was still a little muddy. Song Lang noticed a long scratch on the ground.

"After being stabbed by the knife, he struggled and crawled for a certain distance. Instinctively, people would crawl in the opposite direction away from the murderer. Check the footprints there." Song Lang pointed to where Lin Qiupu was standing, and Lin Qiupu quickly stepped back in fright.

"No, based on the direction of the deceased's footprints and the penetration of the weapon, he was wounded from above." Peng Sijue said.

"A knife wound from above? Was he squatting down and tying his shoelaces?" Song Lang glanced at the deceased's feet, which had a pair of leather shoes on. "Or he was punched by the murderer and bent over, then the knife stabbed him from above... "

"Captain, the right wrist of the deceased." Lin Qiupu thought that Song Lang hadn't seen it, so he pointed it out.

"I saw that." Song Lang said flatly. "The deceased carried a box, and the box had been robbed from him."

"Wasn’t... wasn't it a watch?" Lin Qiupu asked in surprise.

Dachang laughed and said, "Rookie, don't try to show off. If the captain says it’s a box, then it must be a box."

Song Lang took out the tiny keys from the deceased’s wallet and said, “These are the keys to the handcuffs. Scars in that kind of shape are usually left by handcuffs. Have you watched any TV shows? When carrying boxes with valuables, some people would use handcuffs to handcuff their wrists to the box... Ah, I have suddenly figured it out. The drag marks on the ground may not have been left by the deceased when he crawled away, but from the murderer tugging at the box which dragged the deceased a certain distance."

"But the keys to the deceased's handcuffs are still on him!" Lin Qiupu objected.

"Haha, how hard do you think it is to open handcuffs?" Song Lang smiled, took the handcuffs from Lin Qiupu's waist and put them on his own wrists. He then asked Peng Sijue for a needle. After picking lightly at the keyhole a few times, they were opened.

This shocked Lin Qiupu, and his admiration for his idol deepened.

Song Lang threw the handcuffs back to him. "Also, these are police handcuffs. The kind that civilians are able to buy can be poked open with a wire."

Song Lang stood up, took off his gloves, and took out a cigarette from his cigarette case. "The deceased shouldn’t live too far away. He was carrying a box of valuables late at night. It was perhaps for a transaction that can’t see the light of day, or he was being blackmailed. The murderer was someone who knew... Newcomer, you and Dachang take this ID card and go search for his residence nearby."

"Captain, my name is Lin Qiupu."

"I know. Go!"

Lin Qiupu and Dachang left together. When they left the alley, they saw Song Lang stretching lazily and saying, "I'm hungry. Let’s order takeaway!"

Peng Sijue said, "When will your work and rest habits be more normal?"

"You’re controlling me? Are you my wife?" Song Lang retorted.

Lin Qiupu said to Dachang in a low voice, "The relationship between Captain and Captain Peng is pretty good!"

"The two of them are old friends of many years, naturally their relationship is like this. Doesn’t our captain leave a deep impression?" Dachang asked with a smile.

"He’s really extraordinary."

"In fact, he really doesn't know how to be a leader, but he’s solved too many cases. If he really wants to climb up, he may already be the deputy chief. The previous captain was transferred away, and he became the captain very reluctantly. He’s slovenly like this all day long... but those of us in the second team like him very much from the bottom of our hearts."

After going around the neighborhood, it was already 10:00 in the evening, and Dachang said impatiently, “Let’s stop, let’s stop searching. Investigating in the middle of the night? The murderer may still be wandering about nearby. Let’s go back and sleep. We’ll investigate tomorrow."

"But the task was entrusted to us by the captain..."

"Aiya, if you’re so serious, then it might get very hard for you in the future. The captain just asked us to try searching, but didn't say that we must find it. Let’s go home! It’s already so late.”

"I want to go to the housing district ahead to try asking around."

Dachang smiled bitterly. "You can go ahead. I'll go to the convenience store over there to eat something and wait for you."

Lin Qiupu asked the property management of that housing district. The staff member checked on the computer and said that there was no such owner. Lin Qiupu thanked him before leaving, then stood on the street and looked around blankly, not knowing where to look.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on a golden sign. There was a Taiyang pawn shop on the street corner. Looking down at the ID card in his hand, the deceased just happened to be called He Taiyang!

One will search high and low only to find it when one least expects to. Lin Qiupu was really excited and ran over to knock on the door.

The roller shutter of the pawn shop was locked tightly. He knocked on it a few times and thought that there was no one inside. When he was about to leave, a woman opened the small door in the roller shutter and walked out. She looked up and down at Lin Qiupu, who was in a police uniform, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"Does He Taiyang live here?"

"He’s my father. What happened to him?!" The woman asked in surprise.

"Is this him?" Lin Qiupu showed her his ID card, and the woman nodded. Her expression became more and more nervous.

"He has been murdered. The body was nearby. We just found it." Lin Qiupu told her the truth.

The woman opened her mouth wide and burst into tears. Seeing this, Lin Qiupu was very awkward and didn't know what comforting words to say.

"Where is he now? Take me to see him!"

"He should have been taken to the bureau, but I don't know if family members can go and see him. I have to call and ask."

"Please, he’s my biological father!"

"Okay... Alright!"

The woman went back and changed her clothes. She changed from her jeans and jacket into a black dress and brought a pair of gloves as well. Lin Qiupu thought to himself that this girl was very particular!

Lin Qiupu didn't own a car, so he called Dachang, took the girl into the two-person patrol car, and drove back to the bureau.

Dachang asked Lin Qiupu to inform the captain, and Lin Qiupu asked, "He's here now?"

"If there’s a case, he would be here all night."

Lin Qiupu knocked on Song Lang's office, and when he went in, he saw a pile of takeaways spread out on Song Lang's desk. The sweet and sour pork ribs smelled particularly fragrant. He was eating a large bowl of rice, and looked a little surprised when he saw Lin Qiupu.

"This is not supper. It's dinner. I haven’t yet had dinner tonight." Song Lang explained.

"You eat so much by yourself?"

"I have selection obsessive-compulsive disorder, so I ordered one of everything. You can also have a bite if you’re hungry."

"That... I found the deceased's daughter and brought her here. Would you like to meet her?"

Song Lang slapped his chopsticks down and praised, "Wow, you are so capable on your first day. You’ll be able to sit in this position if you keep up this enthusiasm!"