After staying home for two days over the weekend, Zhao Donglai indeed made some time to apply on Monday when he returned to work for Zheng Changjun.

Upon hearing they wanted to investigate old cold cases, Zheng Changjun was very supportive.

"The files of the five cases I previously picked for you are right here with me. Take them back and study them with Luo Fei. If they're not suitable, let me know."

"Alright."

Zhao Donglai returned to the police team with the files, immediately notifying everyone for a meeting in the conference room.

"Why is there suddenly a meeting? Could it be that there are new orders from above?"

"Any arrangements are fine, just as long as it's not more training."

"Speaking of training, I wonder if I passed this time."

"I definitely didn't pass…"

The room was abuzz with chatter.

It wasn't until Zhao Donglai entered that everyone fell silent.

"Pull yourselves together. Weren't you all eager for some merit to earn honor? Now, the opportunity is here!"

Zhao Donglai said, waving a few files in his hand.

Liao Xingyu seemed to realize something, "Captain Zhao, could these be the old case files? Did you really apply through Director Zheng?"

"Of course, or do you think I was joking?"

"These five files were personally selected by Director Zheng. We're to study them first, and if any case seems unsuitable, we can switch to another one."

"In short, Director Zheng trusts us so much; we can't let him down. Focus, this is your chance to reclaim your lost dignity!"

Inspired by Zhao Donglai's speech, everyone's fighting spirit was instantly ignited.

"Rest assured, Captain Zhao, we guarantee not to fall behind!"

"Yes, fight for the honor of our squad!"

"Alright, let's proceed to study the cases now."

Zhao Donglai had previously conducted a thorough study of these five files.

The difficulty of solving them is neither too high nor too low, mainly due to missing key evidence and the inability to confirm suspects, which led to them becoming cold cases.

The team gathered and went through the five files. Each gained a general understanding of the cases.

Zhao Donglai spoke up, "We've all gone through the files. Now, everyone share your thoughts on which of these five cases seems the easiest to crack."

"I think the missing wife case is promising. I heard that Team Leader Luo previously solved a case where Yang Dawei killed his wife."

"The nature of these two cases is similar. Based on his experience, it shouldn't be hard to solve."

"Or maybe the case of the child with the heart removed. Such gruesome actions are clearly vengeful. I always felt the culprit was likely a fellow villager with a grudge against the child's family."

"It's just too bad there were too few clues at the time. But with Team Leader Luo leading, I'm sure there will be no issues."

"Or perhaps this one…"

Everyone was discussing animatedly.

Zhao Donglai waited until they had mostly finished talking before turning to Luo Fei, "Luo Fei, what do you think?"

At these words, everyone fell silent and turned their heads towards Luo Fei.

Without a doubt, though Luo Fei had only been with the police team for just over two months, he had already become the core figure of the entire team.

Don't be fooled by their heated discussion; their confidence was all based on having Luo Fei on their side.

Under everyone's expectant gaze, Luo Fei pondered briefly before saying, "I think we should start investigating the case mentioned by Zhao Hai about the child with the heart removed."

The case Luo Fei referred to occurred in May three years ago.

The victim, Zhou Kaieri, was a little boy aged only three years and two months, living in Group Four of Baimao Village, Qingshan Town, Guangyuan County. At the time of the crime, his grandfather had gone to town on business, leaving him and his grandmother alone at home.

Around eleven in the morning, the grandmother went inside to cook, leaving Zhou Kaieri playing in the family courtyard.

About ten minutes later, when she stepped out, she found the child missing and immediately mobilized the entire village to search, followed by residents reporting to the police.

Half an hour later, the police arrived.

After a brief understanding of the situation, the police split into two groups: one group continued the search in the village with the villagers, while the other immediately extracted the surveillance footage from the main roads leading out of the village and issued a collaborative search notice.

An hour and a half later, colleagues from the county arrived at the crime scene with three police dogs.

After the dogs sniffed the child's daily clothing, they lost direction when they traced to an old tree at the village entrance.

Everyone persistently searched for two days but still found no trace of the child, and the colleagues investigating the surveillance footage did not spot any suspicious vehicles.

Three days later, one morning, a villager who went up the mountain to gather pig grass found Zhou Kaieri's body in the mountain bushes.

Upon receiving the report, the local police station and the county criminal investigation team immediately arrived and secured the scene for investigation.

According to the on-site investigation records, Zhou Kaieri was found lying on his side in the bushes, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt on the upper body and brown trousers on the lower body, the same clothes as when he disappeared.

Besides obvious strangulation marks on the neck, no significant injuries were found on the exposed skin.

According to the initial forensic examination, the child's face was cyanotic, eyes protruded, conjunctiva congestions, and tongue extended, consistent with mechanical asphyxia death.

However, when the body was moved, the coroner discovered heavy bloodstains on the child's chest garment.

Lifting the child's clothes revealed a large artificially made hole at the heart area, flesh flipped outward, sternum fractured, with the child's heart nowhere to be found.

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