Criminal Investigation Notes

The sand doesn’t appear out of thin air. Each grain of sand undergoes processing before it ends up in the hands of the bomb-maker and is placed in those bombs.

The police contacted the sand factory that produces the sand, and the factory was very cooperative, providing all the production and sales data for their investigation. They even sent a salesperson who is based in Huadu to the headquarters for verification.

After testing, it was confirmed that the sand did indeed come from the sand factory in Xin County, and the peacock blue color is a new color introduced this year.

As for the wholesalers who purchased this sand, the scope narrowed down to a few companies.

In addition to cross-referencing with other colors of sand and the explosion times, after a day and night of intensive investigation, the range narrowed down to within six institutions.

Finesand had always used these sands as personal markers, and he probably didn’t expect that it would be these very common colored sands that would expose his whereabouts.

Lu Junchi divided the members of the special investigation team and the previous task force into several groups, and they began to systematically investigate each merchant, registering every person who could have come into contact with this sand.

The list gradually narrowed down, and finally, more than a hundred people were selected.

Su Hui looked at the list, and one name caught his attention—Lan An. She is a young woman, twenty-seven years old, who runs a special sand bottle art workshop.

It was described as special because the workers in this sand bottle workshop are special individuals—they have mild autism or disabilities.

Their job is to fill the sand bottles in the workshop day after day.

“There’s something off about this list. Even if it’s a small workshop, it’s not possible for only four people to have access to this sand,” Su Hui said to Lu Junchi. “I want to go and check it out.”

Lu Junchi nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll make the necessary preparations here. I’ll bring a few detectives to accompany you.”

The sand bottle workshop is located in a small alley in the outskirts of Huadu City, not easy to find. Lu Junchi parked the car outside and entered together with Su Hui.

The sand bottle art workshop is not large, only a little over a hundred square meters. On the left side is the painting area, and on the right side, there is a partition with various materials stacked behind it. At the back of the room, there are several shelves displaying finished sand bottles.

In the front corner of the room, facing the street, there is a floor-to-ceiling display window showcasing some exquisite sand bottles.

The female boss, Lan An, looks young and beautiful. She speaks in a gentle tone, “This place has been operating for over a year, providing these children a place where they can work…”

While Lu Junchi was verifying the information, Su Hui leaned on his cane, observing the small and simple sand bottle art studio in front of him.

Inside the studio, there are several tables with various sand bottles and colored sand. Several young people are quietly working on sand bottle art, fully focused and paying no attention to the visitors.”

There was inevitably a lot of fine sand scattered on the floor of the room.

“I see that there are already eight people here, why aren’t their names on the registration list?” Lu Junchi asked.

“Some of them have disabilities, and some are young, so their names were overlooked in the previous registration…,” Lan An’s face showed a hint of embarrassment. “Um, Officer, you don’t think these children could be criminals… many of them are incapable of taking care of themselves, let alone wandering around. Coming here from their homes every day is already a big outing for them. And they are all good-hearted and innocent children…”

Some of those children are unable to attend school, and some may not be of legal age. The employment practices here are not standardized.

Lu Junchi said, “I’m not suspecting them, but we are currently investigating a case, and the list you provided might affect the police’s judgment. So, I hope Miss Lan can register them truthfully.”

“Alright…” Lan An tidied her hair and took the registration form. “I will write down each of them on the form.”

“Including their home addresses, phone information, and so on,” Lu Junchi instructed.

Lan An nodded, took out a pen, and began filling in the form by comparing it with the information left behind.

“Are you married?” Lu Junchi looked at the woman and suddenly asked her.

In her form, she hadn’t written about her family. If she runs this sand bottle art workshop, then her family members would also have a chance to come into contact with this sand.

Lan An’s pen paused, and she looked up, saying, “My parents have passed away, and I’m not married. I’ve been alone… that’s why I opened this sand bottle art workshop.”

“Are all the children here disabled?”

“Some of them are diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome,” Lan An explained.

“Asperger’s?” Lu Junchi heard this term for the first time.

“The symptoms of Asperger’s are similar to autism, but milder. This condition, along with autism, falls under the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)…” Lan An lowered her head and continued filling in the form. “Children with this condition have poor language skills, lack coordination in large movements, and may repeat certain phrases, but it doesn’t significantly affect their daily lives. Those with autism generally struggle to integrate into society, but Asperger’s is different. With long-term training, these children can communicate with others, work, and become self-reliant.”

Lan An quickly finished writing the information of those people, and Lu Junchi checked each one against the paper, one by one.

He wanted to make sure that the names matched the people.

“Are there many children in the art studio with this condition?”

“Currently, there is a boy named Dong Ancheng and a girl named Xu Sha who have this condition.”

“Which one is Dong Ancheng?”

Lan An pointed him out.

Lu Junchi followed her hand and looked over. It was a very clean-looking young man who was focused on the sand bottle in his hands. He appeared to be in his early twenties, and if Lan An hadn’t already informed him about his condition, Lu Junchi would hardly have guessed that the young man before him was a patient.

“What about Xu Sha?”

Lan An pointed to her.

“I want to ask them some questions,” Lu Junchi said.

Lan An clapped her hands and spoke to them as if she were coaxing children, “Today, we have a police officer who came to see everyone’s artwork. They might ask you some questions later. Don’t be nervous, just answer what you know.”

Lu Junchi began asking questions to the workers, while Lan An found herself with some free time. She walked over to Su Hui’s side.

Su Hui gazed at the display window filled with completed sand bottle artworks.

Many of the sand bottle paintings were simple, with layers of colored sand overlapping, while some were intricate and exquisite.

“Do you like sand bottle art too?” Lan An asked Su Hui, opening the door and handing him a sand bottle.

“Beautiful artworks, who wouldn’t like them?” Su Hui lowered his head and looked at the sand bottle in his hand. Then he pointed to a few sand bottles inside and asked, “Whose works are these?”

Even though his vision was impaired, he could still tell that the paintings inside those sand bottles were highly intricate, with beautiful color combinations.

Lan An used her slender fingers to arrange those sand bottles and answered, “Those are painted by Yu Keko. She has great artistic talent, and many customers specifically buy sand bottles painted by her.”

“Is she here now?” Su Hui asked.

Lan An shook her head, with a somewhat regretful expression. “She hasn’t been working here recently.”

“Why did she stop coming?”

“Probably because it’s inconvenient for her to come here. We are a bit out of the way. She told me that she wants to paint at home and then bring them here.”

“When did she stop coming?”

“It was about a month ago,” Lan An replied casually. “I also registered her name in the record book.”

Lu Junchi asked a few questions to the young people and also learned about Yu Keko’s situation. He pointed to a group photo of a young person on the wall of the workshop and asked, “Is this the girl Yu Keke?”

Lan An nodded. “Yes, she has congenital deformities in her feet, making it inconvenient for her to go out. She worked here for a while and then stopped.”

Sure! Here’s the revised translation:

“How did she used to come to work in the past?” Lu Junchi asked.

“Her parents used to bring her here…” Lan An said.

“She used to take the bus every day…” a girl next to them raised her head and suddenly interjected.

Lu Junchi remembered her; she was the girl named Xu Sha.

The entire art studio fell silent, and the air became tense for a moment.

Lan An felt a bit awkward. “I might not have noticed sometimes…”

“Do any of you know which bus she used to take?” Lu Junchi asked again.

Some of these children had intellectual disabilities, and some had physical disabilities. They looked up at Lu Junchi, hesitating about whether to speak up.

“Bus route 78,” a boy finally spoke up.

Lu Junchi and Su Hui exchanged glances. Bus route 78, that was within Duan Siyuan’s operational range. There was nothing that could arouse the beastly desires more than a delicate, shy prey who couldn’t resist due to their physical limitations.

Lu Junchi squatted down in front of the girl and asked, “Did Yu Keke ever mention to you if anything strange happened on the bus…”

Xu Sha, who had spoken earlier, suddenly became hesitant and subconsciously turned her head, trying to find Lan An.

Lan An was about to walk over when Su Hui reached out and held her back.

Lu Junchi squatted in front of the girl, “It’s okay, you tell Police Brother. We will help her.”

The girl then stammered in a low voice, “She mentioned that a man would always harass her on the bus…”

As soon as this sentence was uttered, the other young people started speaking up too.

“Yes, it’s because of a bad person that Yu Keke doesn’t come to work here.”

“If the bad person disappears, she will come back…”

“That bad person deserves to die.”

In the sand painting workshop, there was suddenly a soft sound as someone accidentally knocked over a sand bottle, and some colored sand scattered onto the ground.

Everything finally connected together—the colorful fine sand, the molester on the bus.

Lu Junchi looked at the young people in front of him. Most of them were around twenty years old, and although some had intellectual disabilities, there was not much change in their expressions when discussing the issues.

Indeed, this sand painting studio was indeed related to the fine sand case. Lu Junchi decisively walked towards the several detectives who came with him and discussed a few words with them.

Then he turned to Lan An and said, “All personnel here need to be evacuated. The studio will be temporarily closed, and everyone here will undergo further questioning. We also need to search the studio. All your communication devices need to be handed over to us for temporary safekeeping.”

Lan An’s face changed slightly. She hesitated for a moment and said, “Their parents don’t know yet…”

“We will notify them one by one later,” Lu Junchi said sternly. “We suspect that some people in this sand painting studio are related to the recent car explosion case. We request your cooperation in the investigation.”

The detectives interrupted the work of the children in the studio and led them one by one to the hall outside for a search. Their first priority was to ensure that there were no bombs or explosive materials here.

Lu Junchi called Qiao Ze, “We need police support at South Road, No. 198.”

Su Hui stood aside, watching the young people being moved outside. They seemed to be unaware of what had happened, their expressions somewhat bewildered.

He furrowed his brows. Could the fine sand that had troubled Huadu for years have been hidden in this small and crude sand painting studio all along?

It had been operating for over a year, so who was responsible for the fine sand before that? And where could they be?