A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

"How did he die?"

Wu Liang looked at Meng Jiang.

"Traffic accident. Rainy night, overpass..."

As Meng Jiang said this, he frowned as well.

"To be precise, the old bridge in the south of the city had just been converted into an elevated road not long ago. A section of the guardrail broke off, the car plunged down, and the person could not be saved."

"The old bridge in the south of the city?"

"Um."

Meng Jiang pushed his plate away, suddenly losing his appetite.

"This happened twenty years ago, and it caused quite a stir back then. The bridge had just been built, and only a few months after it opened to traffic, a fatal accident occurred. The newspapers were full of criticism, saying that Huijin Group had cut corners and had problems with the safety design."

Wu Liang frowned.

"Huijin Group? That name sounds familiar."

"Shen Xuejun's company."

When the name was mentioned, the three people at the table fell silent.

The young auxiliary police officer at the canteen window was still diligently cleaning up his spatula when a sudden clanging sound came from behind him.

Zhang Ze couldn't help but curse.

"How the hell could this come full circle?"

Meng Jiang didn't respond; he had seen too many things like this before.

An engineering accident, an economic dispute, and a police report that has been left unread for a long time.

When they actually investigated later, they discovered that each opening was connected to a sewer.

Wu Liang spoke.

"Lin Huaishan died on a bridge built by Shen Xuejun's company. The following year, Shen Xuejun was investigated for issues related to project quality and funding, and his company collapsed."

Zhang Ze looked at him.

"That's quite a coincidence."

"I'd rather it's a coincidence," Wu Liang said, poking at the ginger in his plate with his chopsticks. "It saves trouble."

Meng Jiang took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts for a long time.

Zhang Ze glanced at it.

"Who should I look for?"

"Old Fu," Meng Jiang dialed. "He used to be in the traffic police brigade, now he's retired. He should remember those old accidents on the Chengnan Elevated Road."

The call was connected.

"Feed?"

It was a bit noisy over there, with the clattering of mahjong machines.

"Old Fu, playing cards?"

Who are you?

Meng Jiang's face darkened.

Zhang Ze almost burst out laughing.

"Meng Jiang".

"Oh, Xiao Meng." The tone on the other end of the phone suddenly became more familiar. "It's been so many years. I thought you wouldn't recognize us old bones after you got promoted."

"Come on, don't give me that." Meng Jiang picked up a piece of food. "Let me ask you something. Do you remember what happened on the South City Elevated Road?"

The sound of mahjong tiles stopped.

Someone called out, "Uncle Fu, it's your turn!"

Old Fu ignored him and lowered his voice.

Which one?

Meng Jiang glanced at Wu Liang.

"On October 7, 1998, the Santana that crashed through the guardrail, the man who died was named Lin Huaishan."

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the phone.

"Lin Huaishan..."

Old Fu read it aloud slowly.

"That accountant from Tianyue?"

Wu Liang looked up.

"Do you remember?"

"How could I not remember?" Old Fu sighed. "The bridge had an accident just a few months after it opened to traffic, and the city held meetings to criticize it for who knows how long."

"Is there something wrong with the accident?"

"You can't just say things like that." The sound of a chair being moved came from Old Fu's side, he must have gotten up and moved to the side. "It was treated as a single-vehicle accident back then. It was a rainy night, the bridge surface was wet, and the guardrails were really not good quality, the car fell off as soon as it hit it."

Suddenly, Wu Liang thought of something, looked down at his phone, typed out a sentence, and showed it to Meng Jiang.

Meng Jiang glanced at it, a puzzled look on his face, but still asked the question anyway.

"Old Fu, did you investigate why Lin Huaishan took the South City Elevated Road that day?"

"How could I remember that? It was an accident twenty years ago, who remembers why someone took which road?"

"Where are the files?"

"It should be in the old archives of the branch, but we can only find someone to open it this afternoon." Old Fu thought for a moment, "I think I have a copy of the summary at home. We did an internal review of the Chengnan Elevated Road accident back then, and I kept the materials."

Meng Jiang's brows twitched.

"You're not playing cards anymore?"

"Screw you guys play," Old Fu cursed, then shouted into the distance, "I have something to do."

There was a chorus of complaints from the mahjong table, but Lao Fu ignored them.

"I'll go home and look for it, and I'll take a picture of it for you in half an hour. Don't worry about the original document; I'll go to the branch office this afternoon."

Meng Jiang's tone softened.

"This is troublesome."

"Stop with the nonsense," Old Fu said. "Remember to bring the wine later, don't pretend to have amnesia again."

The phone hangs up.

The cafeteria fell silent.

Zhang Ze touched his chin.

"Old Fu has a good memory."

"He's a veteran traffic cop." Meng Jiang put his phone away. "He handled quite a few of those construction accidents in the south of the city."

Wu Liang suddenly spoke.

"His first reaction wasn't to ask who Lin Huaishan was."

Meng Jiang was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"This shows that Lin Huaishan's accident was not an ordinary accident that no one remembered back then."

Meng Jiang and Zhang Ze exchanged a glance, their pupils contracting slightly.

Wu Liang looked down at the piece of ginger on his plate.

I thought it was hateful just now, but now it looks a bit more pleasing to the eye.

At least once they're picked out and laid out, you can tell at a glance that they're not potatoes.

Unlike some things, which are born with an outer layer of skin.

……

In the conference room.

The photos Lao Fu sent were printed out and covered half a table.

The photocopy, taken twenty years ago, is blurry in both text and photos of the accident scene. The front of the car is deformed, a section of the guardrail is broken, and the area under the bridge is completely dark.

Zhang Ze turned two pages.

"This material doesn't look like anything special."

Wu Liang didn't speak immediately.

He laid out the accident report, on-site investigation records, and interrogation transcripts one by one, arranging them in chronological order.

On October 7th, at approximately 10:45 PM, a single-vehicle accident occurred on the Chengnan Overpass, where a vehicle crashed into the guardrail and fell off.

The driver, Lin Huaishan, died despite all efforts to save him.

The roads were slippery due to the rain, and there were defects in the bridge construction quality.

It's very standard; there's nothing seriously wrong with it.

Zhang Ze leaned back in his chair and scratched his hair.

"Judging from this, it really is an engineering quality accident. It's no wonder that Shen Xuejun was investigated the following year."

"Don't rush."

Wu Liang flipped through the first document, but he couldn't find any major flaws.

Just looking at this case file, Lin Huaishan is clearly unlucky.

Driving on a rainy night, I encountered a newly repaired bridge that had been built with substandard materials. My car crashed into it, and the guardrail couldn't stop it; I was killed.

Wu Liang extracted several transcripts separately.

"Where did Lin Huaishan come from that day?"

Zhang Ze glanced at the summary.

"The old office building of Tianyue Industrial. The security guard said he left around 9 p.m."

"The incident occurred at 10:45."

"It took more than an hour in the middle," Meng Jiang added.

Zhang Ze frowned.

"Twenty years ago, the time wasn't always accurate. The security guard said it was a little after nine, but it might have been nine fifty."

Wu Liang nodded.

"Leave it for now."

He then turned to the route map.

Old Fu is very meticulous; he even took a picture of the hand-drawn diagrams he made during the internal review back then.

That's not a problem. Tianyue Company is in the north of the city, and Lin Huaishan's home is in the south of the city, so it's normal for them to pass by the elevated road.

My gaze fell upon the interrogation record.

They were the gatekeeper, the security guard, and a colleague.

Lin Huaishan was an accountant who worked overtime to check the accounts on the day of the incident, and all three statements matched.

My colleague gave the most detailed explanation.

Accountant Lin left in a hurry, grabbing her briefcase and saying her child had a fever and she needed to get back quickly.

Wu Liang finally stopped when he saw this. He took the list of Lin Huaishan's belongings and examined it carefully before frowning.

Zhang Ze followed his gaze.

"briefcase?"

"Yes."

Wu Liang showed the two the list in his hand.

"The bag is gone."