Animal Detective

Chapter 511: Chapter 417: Panacea

Once they found a thread to pull in the tangled mess of the situation, the case progressed so quickly Shen Xin could hardly believe it.

The airport’s contraband log clearly recorded the confiscation.

July 16, 2014.

It even had a specific time: 10:20 AM that day.

One bottle of "World No. 2" brand all-purpose rat poison was found in the carry-on luggage of passenger Guo Jinhua (ID number included) and confiscated in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

It even had Guo Jinhua’s handwritten signature at the end.

Although there was no photo record and no mention of the specific manufacturer, having the brand name was enough.

Rat poison falls under the category of pesticides. To be sold on the market, it needs a pesticide registration certificate, a production license, and a product standard number—all three are required.

This information could be looked up directly on the relevant government websites.

But a search revealed that there was no rat poison with this product name in Qiong Province, or even anywhere in the country.

There were none among products with expired registrations that had been pulled from the market either.

Under these circumstances, it actually wasn’t hard to investigate.

This proved that the brand of rat poison Guo Jinhua bought was produced by an illegal manufacturer.

If it had already been investigated and shut down, there would be a record.

If not, then they would have helped the local Qiong Province police discover a case of illegal rat poison production and sales.

A quick check showed it was the former.

They found nothing locally in Qiong Province, but they did find a match in Jiaozhou, just across the sea.

The investigation revealed that in February 2015, Dong’an City in Jiaozhou had cracked down on a case of illegal pesticide production and sales.

The case file noted that this workshop-style illegal factory had produced a large quantity of counterfeit brand-name pesticides, as well as so-called "in-house developed" pesticides.

Among them was a rat poison called "World No. 2."

The case had long since been closed, and the main culprits were now in prison.

Yang Zeran immediately rushed to Dong’an City, reviewed the relevant case files, and confirmed with the female security officer that this was indeed the product that had been confiscated back then.

It was a white bottle, not very large, with a mostly green label. The product name, "World No. 2," was printed in an extremely exaggerated font.

Beside it were promotional slogans like "Three steps and you’re down," "One sniff and you’re dead," and "Kills all."

With the cooperation of the local police, Yang Zeran interrogated the individuals involved in the case. The moment he left the prison, he called Shen Xin.

There was no video, but just from the sound of his voice, you could feel how excited Yang Zeran was at that moment.

"Shen Xin, I found it. And there’s a good chance we can get the key evidence," Yang Zeran said, his voice filled with excitement.

It was almost the end of the workday when the call came. Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei were discussing their interview notes.

The interviews regarding Guo Meijing were still ongoing.

Shen Xin put the call on speaker and said, "Don’t keep me in suspense. Spit it out."

Yang Zeran said, "First, their little workshop was reported and shut down in February 2015."

"And they also said they didn’t dare sell their products out of the region. They had no channels, so they only sold in the provinces near Jiaozhou."

"After the case was cracked, the local police also did their best to recall all the illegal pesticides based on sales records."

"In other words, Guo Jinhua, who only started the poisoning in June 2015, couldn’t possibly have bought this brand of rat poison at that time."

"So, Shen Xin, do you get it? As long as we can prove that Fu Lanting was poisoned with this World No. 2 rat poison, then the killer has to be Guo Jinhua."

Guo Jinhua had bought the rat poison in July 2014. Then, in March 2015, he had it mailed back to Nanjiang.

At this point, Yang Zeran’s voice grew even more excited, unable to contain himself. "And you know what? That so-called ’high-tech’ stuff Guo Jinhua talked about is complete bullshit."

"I asked them. They advertised this rat poison as a panacea."

"Not only does it kill rats, but also cockroaches, bedbugs, and fleas. It kills all insects."

"That’s why they came up with the name ’World No. 2,’ claiming it was a high-tech product from overseas."

"But in reality, it’s just ordinary rat poison, still primarily based on a diluted bromadiolone concentrate."

The common solvent for bromadiolone is ethanol, and the typical concentration is 0.5 percent.

For actual use, it must be further diluted to 0.005%.

However, to cut costs, the so-called concentrate they produced only had an actual ingredient concentration of about 0.2 percent.

On top of that, to achieve the cockroach-killing effect, they added another ingredient.

"It’s the broad-spectrum insecticide fipronil. The country restricted its use after 2009, so now it’s mainly used in the production of cockroach poison."

"In the production of legal, compliant rat poison, this is absolutely not allowed. But their little workshop didn’t care about that, all for the sake of their so-called ’effects’."

"According to them, they added 0.1 percent fipronil to the formula, specifically for killing insects."

At this point, Yang Zeran couldn’t help but build a little suspense, asking if Shen Xin understood.

Shen Xin wasn’t stupid; he understood immediately.

’Those guys added fipronil to achieve their ’kills all’ effect.’

’It kills both rats and cockroaches.’

’And this addition is clearly a regional specialty of the South.’

’Everyone knows that in the Southern regions, not only are there a lot of cockroaches, but they can be as big as your fist.’

’That’s why there’s a demand for cockroach-killing products.’

’But locally in Nanjiang, or rather, the rat poisons sold around Nanjiang, wouldn’t have this demand.’

’So this kind of rat poison shouldn’t be available on the market in Nanjiang City.’

’The more important point is, because of this special additive, as long as we detect traces of fipronil in Fu Lanting’s body, we can lock onto Guo Jinhua as the suspect.’

’Because no one else could even buy the corresponding rat poison.’

After stating his analysis, Shen Xin thought of something else and said, "In that case, the reason Guo Jinhua took more than two months to administer the poison wasn’t that he was being cautious."

"It’s because this rat poison was shoddily made with insufficient active ingredients, so he couldn’t get the dosage right."

Guo Jinhua might have wanted to poison Fu Lanting slowly over a long period.

Who knew he’d bought a counterfeit product with insufficient ingredients? That’s why at the end of June, Fu Lanting started showing symptoms, but they were very mild.

Afterward, Guo Jinhua kept adjusting the dosage, and only then did he slowly achieve his desired effect.

That’s why it took so long.

Yang Zeran’s tone became animated. He said hurriedly, "Exactly! That’s the reason. Guo Jinhua couldn’t get the dosage right, which is why it took so long."

He silently praised Shen Xin for his quick thinking, then continued, "Shen Xin, hurry and ask Old Lv if it’s still possible to detect fipronil in the samples that were saved from back then, after almost three years."

Old Lv was the director of the Physical and Chemical Analysis Lab at the bureau’s Forensic Science Division.

A lot of physical evidence was left from the case back then, including samples taken from the house and the noodle shop’s kitchen.

At the same time, after Fu Lanting’s autopsy, a large number of human tissue samples, such as from the liver, were intentionally preserved. This was done out of fear that the original tests weren’t accurate enough and that further analysis would be needed if the case were ever reopened.

Now, these tissue samples were all sealed and stored in the Forensic Science Division’s cold storage.

Whether anything could still be detected was a question for them.

Shen Xin glanced at his watch and said, "Okay, I’ll make a trip over there in a bit to ask. You secure all the relevant evidence on your end. This is a cold case, and after so long, we can’t afford any mistakes with the evidence."

A single reminder was enough. Yang Zeran had spent years in an office just supervising cases; he knew exactly how to build a solid case.

After hanging up, Ding Yuwei, who had been silent, was already on her feet and heading out.

Zhao Tianxing was out on an investigation and wasn’t around.

The Forensic Science Division wasn’t in the city bureau building; it had its own separate location.

This was because they also handled civil injury assessments for the entire city.

On the way, both of them were silent. They understood the principle of not celebrating too early.

It was Ding Yuwei who couldn’t help but break the silence first. "Shen Xin, if it was poisoning, why would Guo Jinhua poison himself, too?"

"Was it a ’he had nothing left to live for and wanted to die with her’ kind of thing, or was it just a case of a thief crying ’thief’—a way to hide the fact that he was the killer?"

"If it’s the latter, wasn’t he a little too cruel to himself?"

’Poisoning himself just to cover up the fact that he was the killer.’

’Because in this type of poisoning case, the police usually investigate the spouse first.’

’It’s very difficult for an outsider to administer poison.’

’And in more than half of these cases, the other half is the one who did the poisoning.’

The reason Guo Jinhua wasn’t investigated back then was because he was also poisoned, almost to the point of death.

He was saved with great difficulty and was still left with such severe aftereffects.

’Even if it was a thief crying ’thief,’ you wouldn’t go to such lengths.’

Ding Yuwei worried there might be some other hidden motive.

"I know what you mean."

Shen Xin had already considered this question. His conclusion was to set those concerns aside for now and focus on confirming Guo Jinhua as the killer first.

Even if he had a hidden motive or was reluctant, as long as he administered poison and committed a crime, it was unacceptable.

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