Chapter 1060: Selenium-Rich Spring Water

Qin Chuan discovered that some detailed information left by the suspect at the crime scene seemed to be mere coincidences, as if the suspect accidentally left them.

Whether it’s fingerprints or footprints, they all require careful judgment and forensic analysis to link them to their owners.

Therefore, it couldn’t be coincidental every time, Lu Chuan believed there must be some connection between the suspect and Gao Zhiyuan.

"What I can’t understand is why the victim’s severed finger was placed by the killer into the plastic bag where Gao Zhiyuan threw his trash, and why are there tea leaves inside as well? These tea leaves couldn’t possibly belong to Gao Zhiyuan. Were they brought by the suspect or obtained from elsewhere?"

Lu Chuan couldn’t come to a conclusion about this question.

If the tea leaves don’t belong to Gao Zhiyuan, whose are they?

Could they belong to the killer? Why would he put these tea leaves inside, wouldn’t that intentionally expose his identity?

"So my suggestion is to focus the investigation on Gao Zhiyuan’s interpersonal relationships, and compare them with the backgrounds of the victim Zhu Panpan’s interpersonal relationships."

Besides this work, Lu Chuan also undertook some other tasks.

"Regardless of whether it’s the tea leaves or other trash in the plastic bag, I have extracted some micro-evidence, and the technical identification center should provide feedback on some results by this morning."

Lu Chuan basically finished his report.

He sat down and said, "Now we will see if the micro-evidence analysis of these items in the trash bag can extract any DNA information. If so, comparing it with the DNA found in the victim’s remains may help us identify the true suspect."

Even if nothing is found, we can still classify the DNA information from the black trash bag.

The bag was thrown away by Gao Zhiyuan, and it has his fingerprints, so the contents theoretically should belong to him or his family.

However, if any DNA information on these items doesn’t belong to his family members, such as the DNA remnants Lu Chuan is focusing on found on the expensive Da Hong Pao tea stems, that would be intriguing.

Of course, the possibility of detecting DNA information on tea stems is very small, unless these tea leaves were chewed, leaving some saliva behind.

Otherwise, it’s very hard to determine ownership.

This is Lu Chuan’s biggest concern.

After listening to the reports from various aspects, especially Lu Chuan’s Crime Scene Investigation technical report, Li Donglin recalibrated the direction of the case.

The interpersonal relationships of Ai Family Supermarket worker Staff Member Gao were narrowed down as key investigation targets.

Meanwhile, Li Donglin instructed Wang Song to lead the inspection of all surveillance around Gao Zhiyuan’s home, especially places with visible trash bins.

As for Gao Zhiyuan himself, he needs meticulous contact. Through his information, we need to investigate where he usually throws trash and scrutinize every individual at those locations.

The number of people being investigated has increased to more than 3,000, so adding one or two thousand more doesn’t matter.

Li Donglin even decided, if no major findings emerge from Gao Zhiyuan’s house, they will conduct DNA sampling of everyone in his residential area and proceed with comparisons.

Since it’s impossible to accurately target the suspect, Li Donglin’s strategy is akin to a scattergun approach, firing as many shots as possible to widen the search area.

Even if the suspect hides deep without leaving any significant clues, as long as they enter this suspect range, they can’t escape.

A few hours later, the micron evidence identification results from the technical center about the black plastic bag were sent to Lu Chuan.

The worst of Lu Chuan’s worries happened; they did not detect genetic material on the Da Hong Pao tea stems.

This quashed Lu Chuan’s hopes of matching the genetic information from tea stems with the body fluids of the victim to identify the suspect.

However, the technical identification center’s analysis of micro-evidence was not entirely devoid of clues.

Water stains remained on the white stems.

Chemical analysis of the water revealed selenium levels exceeding the normal range.

Selenium-rich water?

Suddenly, a place popped into Lu Chuan’s mind.

In the province, Dongzhou City is known for its rich selenium produce, especially the famous selenium-rich millet.

Not just province-wide, but nationally and even globally, it has a good reputation; much of its grain is exported.

Meanwhile, Dongzhou City’s North Suburb boasts a selenium-rich spring.

Brewing tea with selenium-rich spring water is said to have anti-aging properties, allowing its drinkers to live long.

Especially in Dongzhou City, drinking tea with selenium-rich spring water is considered a high-end indulgence.

However, the spring’s water flow is limited, and so the annual selenium-rich spring water sales are not abundant, as much is consumed internally.

Consequently, this selenium-rich water never retails on the market.

Dongzhou City even adopted a rationing system for the selenium-rich spring water, recording who has access to it.

This is intriguing.

Regarding other trash in the plastic bag, saliva and feces samples extracted confirmed to belong to Gao Zhiyuan’s family.

Years ago, technology for extracting genetic information from feces and urine was still underdeveloped.

Extracting genetic information from feces and urine primarily involved identifying residual blood cells in these carriers.

Normally, urine doesn’t contain blood cells, but might include cellular wall debris, expelled during urination.

This cellular wall debris can be identified through RNA genetic information.

Feces usually contain blood cells, though the amount varies, because the friction against the intestinal wall during expulsion may cause lesions.

Normally, these lesions are very small and not visible to the naked eye, but they do exist.

Over the years, advancing micro-evidence identification technology improved the accuracy of genetic information identification from various carriers.

The analysis of the contents in the black plastic bag has mostly been completed, with focus now on the rationing of the selenium-rich spring water.

Li Donglin had no objections when Lu Chuan applied to investigate the rationing list of the selenium-rich spring water.

However, what puzzled Li Donglin was that these selenium-rich spring water allocations mostly catered to Dongzhou City’s elites.

Either affluent or influential people.

Could the Red-clothed Killer be associated with such individuals?