In this way, the son was gone, and Li Shuanxiang burst into tears while hugging his son's photo. Our reporter Yuan Xiaofeng took the photo. "Are you Li Shuanxiang? Your son Li Yong's case has been solved." On the afternoon of December 28, 2011, Li Shuanxiang, 48 years old, received a phone call from a police officer in Yangling Demonstration Zone. "Did you find my child? Where is he now?" "It has been confirmed that he was a victim of murder." Upon hearing this, the phone slipped out of Li Shuanxiang's hand... ■ After searching for his son for three years, he learned just before New Year's Day that his son had already been killed. "My son Li Yong was 17 years old in 2008, nearly 1.8 meters tall, handsome, and everyone who saw him praised him," said Villager Li Shuanxiang in Group One of Shuaijia Village, Wuchuan Town, Yangling District, holding his son's photo to show the reporter... Li Shuanxiang and his wife couldn't help but cry out loud. In the autumn and winter of 2008, Li Shuanxiang was working in Weinan, and his wife Chen Juyan was working in a community in the Yangling Demonstration Zone, leaving their child alone at home. One day in November of that year, when Chen Juyan returned home, she found the gate open and didn't see her son. She noticed that the floor in her son's room was very clean. "I thought the child had become sensible and knew how to do housework..." Chen Juyan said with tears streaming down her face. But then she realized that the quilts and bed sheets were missing, and so was the kitchen knife. A sense of foreboding crept over her as she asked around the neighbors. As the Spring Festival approached, there was still no news of her son. Helpless, they reported the case. In March 2009, upon returning home from Weinan, Li Shuanxiang suddenly discovered bloodstains on the wall and behind the door. Later, after a DNA test by the police, it was confirmed to be Li Yong's blood. But since they hadn't seen their son, Li Shuanxiang and his wife refused to give up. They searched in various places such as Fufeng and Gongwu until "at 3 p.m. on December 28, 2011, a police officer called me and said the case involving my child had been solved... confirming that he had been killed..." ■ Leaking information at a drunken dinner revealed "this huge secret" After Li Yong disappeared, the police investigation never ceased. At the time, someone reported seeing Li Yong on the streets of Wuchuan Town; others said Li Yong mentioned online chat that he was out of town and might return in August. Without evidence, it was unclear whether Li Yong was temporarily "missing" or had met an unfortunate fate, causing the case to once fall into a stalemate. In early December 2011, the Public Security Bureau of the Yangling Demonstration Zone suddenly received a clue: one of Li Yong's playmates bragged about being involved in the case of Li Yong's disappearance during a drinking session, saying "this is a huge secret, can't tell anyone." Based on this important clue, the special task force arrested three suspects, Ju, Wang, and Zhang on December 22 and 23, 2011, but Li Yong's body had not yet been found. During interrogation, the suspects kept throwing up smokescreens. First, they claimed they and Li Yong were childhood friends and could not possibly commit such an immoral act; then they said that Li Yong had "visited" their QQ space several times in the past two years, proving he was still alive? In fact, the police had already obtained evidence that the suspects had stolen Li Yong's QQ password. After 16 hours of work, the three suspects finally confessed everything, and the police subsequently arrested four more suspects. ■ Making a pact Seven post-90s sworn brothers rehearsed the killing process The seven post-90s suspects Wang, Ju, Lü, Zhang, Zhang, Wang, and Ju (all male) confessed that they indeed grew up together with the victim Li Yong. Three years ago, while playing together, Li Yong's behavior caused their dissatisfaction. They said that Li Yong, being tall and strong, often acted "arrogantly" when with them. One evening in October 2008, the seven suspects conspired to kill Li Yong and made a pact. They knelt down, burned incense, swore brotherhood to "keep this secret," and vowed "to share meat together, brothers united." They even burned scars on each other's bodies with cigarette butts to show determination. At the time, they all studied specific methods to "kill" Li Yong and even practiced. The next day, Li Yong escaped because they couldn't find him. Around 8 p.m. on October 28, Wang and Zhang went to Li Yong's home and cruelly murdered him while he was still sleeping. That night, they used a wheelbarrow to transport the body to farmland south of Jujia Village in Wuchuan Town, hiding it under corn stalks. The following evening, they called Ju and Wang to burn some of Li Yong's clothes and bury the body. Subsequently, they scattered across different regions, working nervously and cautiously. ■ Finding the hidden body The villagers did not let the parents see the remains "The child has become a pile of white bones..." Tears streamed down Li Shuanxiang's face as he said, the villagers were worried about the shock to the couple, so they didn't let them go to the burial site. "Later, people told me that after the child's body was exhumed, forensic doctors identified a knife wound on the eyebrow bone and another on the back. The rest were on the neck, adding up to more than ten wounds..." Li Shuanxiang held two banners, saying: "Although the child is gone, the Public Security Bureau has continuously worked hard, and the case has finally been solved. The people who harmed my child have also been caught. After burying my child, I must express my gratitude today." Our reporter Yuan Xiaofeng, communicator Li Ruilong