One hour later, the four arrived at Qin Xiao's hometown — Phoenix Dance Village.

The police car stopped at the village entrance, and Wan Junjie asked, "Mr. Li, should we head directly to the address where Qin Xiao's household registration is?"

Li Jian looked up at the village ahead, which was quite large and populated.

"Such a big village, it will be quite exhausting to search."

"Let's go directly to the village committee to find the village officials."

Wan grinned and said with a smile, "Does the village committee operate regular office hours like we do?"

"Not sure, let's go check it out first."

Immediately, Wan shifted gears and turned the steering wheel towards the village committee.

Ten minutes later, the police car arrived at the village committee courtyard.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, they saw several electric scooters and motorcycles parked at the office entrance.

The office door was open, and voices could vaguely be heard inside.

Zhang Yean said, "It seems there's a meeting inside."

Following that, Li Jian walked to the office entrance.

He raised his hand and knocked.

Suddenly, the eight people around the round table in the office quieted down and all turned to look towards the entryway.

The four of them walked in together.

"Hello! We are detectives from the Jiangcheng City Bureau, here to investigate a case in your village."

The middle-aged man sitting in the main seat adjusted his reading glasses, glanced at the police badge in Li Jian's hand, and said, "Hello, I'm the village head of Phoenix Dance Village, Yang Guang."

"Hello! May I speak with you privately?"

Yang Guang nodded and said, "Today's meeting is adjourned, we will find another time to discuss this issue."

Then, the attendees stood up, nodded, and left.

Yang Guang laughed and said, "Four policemen, please sit down, I'll make you some tea."

Li Jian waved his hand and said, "Mr. Yang, there's no need for formality."

"Time is tight this time, we're here to investigate someone."

"Who are you investigating?"

"Qin Xiao!"

After listening, Yang Guang nodded and said, "We don't have many people with the last name Qin in our village, I do have an impression of this girl."

Then, Li Jian asked, "Please take us to find her family!"

"Okay, please follow me."

"Her home isn't far from here, let's walk over."

On the way, Li Jian asked, "How many people are still in Qin Xiao's family?"

Yang Guang replied, "Currently, only her stepfather is at home."

"Five years ago, Qin Xiao's biological mother passed away from illness, and after living with her stepfather for a while, she went out to work."

"Does Qin Xiao come back often?"

Yang Guang said, "I haven't seen her for two or three years."

"Nowadays, young people in the outside world rarely come back to the village."

Jiang An looked around; the place was full of elderly and children—much quieter compared to the bustling scene from his childhood.

Suddenly, Jiang An thought of a question.

With her biological mother deceased and no blood relation with the stepfather, how can Qin Xiao's identity be verified?

Jiang An asked, "Mr. Yang, where is Qin Xiao's biological father?"

"More than ten years ago, Qin Xiao's biological father died accidentally while using an electric scooter to fish in the river."

"It's a pity; no wonder this girl never came back."

Jiang An continued to ask, "Were Qin Xiao's biological parents given burials or cremations?"

Yang Guang recalled and said, "Her father was buried, on the hill beside us, and her mother was cremated at the crematorium."

Wan curiously asked, "Why are you asking this?"

Jiang An replied, "To confirm a deceased person's identity, you must have the biological parents' genes. Without the parents' DNA, you can only use remains."

"So that's how it is."

Zhang Yean turned and smiled, saying, "Senior, you should read more and recharge your knowledge."

"Our office has a lot of forensic textbooks."

Wan patted Jiang An on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Forensic textbooks are too dry to read; working cases with Jiang An helps you improve faster."

Fifteen minutes later, the five arrived at a two-story house, with the iron gate of the yard closed.

Yang Guang raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

"Mr. Qin! Are you home?"

A man's rough voice came from inside.

"Coming! Coming!"

With a "creak," the door opened.

The man, with sleepy eyes, rubbed his eyes, "Mr. Yang, you looking for me?"

"It's almost noon, and you're still asleep!"

"I drank too much last night."

Then, Yang Guang introduced, "These four are detectives from the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau. They came today to learn about Qin Xiao."

"Qin Xiao?"

The man shook his head, with a look of displeasure.

"She hasn't returned in four years!"

Li Jian asked, "Has she contacted you at all?"

"She hasn't been home since four years ago when she came back to visit her mother's grave."

The man said angrily, "She even changed her phone number, such an ungrateful child."

"Fed her for a decade, don't even know where she died."

Li Jian glanced around and noticed many empty bottles of white wine in the yard.

After a brief pause, Li Jian said solemnly, "She might really be dead."

Instantly, the man raised his head and looked at Li Jian in shock.

A minute later, the man asked excitedly, "What do you mean?"

"A few days ago, we found the body of a young woman, and it might be Qin Xiao."

The man said, "Officer, don't get it wrong."

"How could Qin Xiao be dead? I was just speaking in anger."

Seeing the man's face of excitement, Li Jian said, "Please accept my condolences."

"Later, we'll have to go through the biological comparison to confirm the deceased's identity."

After a moment, the man sighed and softly said, "That little girl was so clever since childhood, never thought her life would be so short."

After calming down slightly, Li Jian asked, "Does Qin Xiao have any childhood friends or close companions at home?"

The man replied, "She started living with me after her biological father passed away."

"She didn't have any especially good friends at home."

"However, she had a good relationship with her cousin Zhang Rui, and they kept in touch often."

Jiang An asked, "Do you have any photos of Qin Xiao and her cousin at home?"

The man thought for a while.

"Qin Xiao used to have an album of photos."

Jiang An said, "Please find it."

Five minutes later, the man came out holding an album covered in dust.

"This is it!"

He opened the cover, and the first photo was of two girls together.

In the photo, both girls had radiant smiles.

The man said, "The girl on the left is Qin Xiao, and the girl on the right is her cousin, Zhang Rui."

Jiang An took a look and already had the answer in his mind.

He turned to look at Li Jian and nodded.

Then, Wan Junjie took out the skull reconstruction diagram and held it up in his hand.

Li Jian, Zhang Yean, and Wan examined it carefully and all nodded in agreement.

The other female deceased was Zhang Rui.

Immediately, Li Jian asked, "Do you know about Zhang Rui's situation?"

The man replied, "I don't know much."

"Three years ago, I heard she married a young carpenter from the neighboring village."

Upon hearing the word "carpenter," Jiang An suddenly thought of the cut marks on the remains.

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