Miss Forensics – Chapter 18
by Little PandaPart One
Truth
The more loyal, honest, and dutiful a person is, the more they cease to be human when they go crazy.1
“Tell us, what were you doing on the night of May 14?”
“Haven’t I already told you? I was working at home.”
He had been in custody for over two hours now. Multiple teams of investigators had taken turns grilling him with the same questions. This was a classic interrogation tactic: under intense psychological strain, if a suspect was lying, asking for the same details repeatedly would eventually expose a crack.
Sun Xiangming’s mouth was parched. He licked his dry lips, but no one offered to pour him water.
“Officer, may I ask why you suspect me?” Seizing a brief lull, he spoke up, still projecting the same mild, honest facade.
The criminal investigators sitting opposite exchanged a look. “No comment. Don’t change the subject.”
“Yes, I admit Xiao Xue and I argued sometimes. But for married couples, isn’t it normal to fight over the child’s education or petty household matters?”
“Officer, have you really never fought with your own wife at home?”
This question left Zhang Jinhai momentarily speechless. He could only pick up his teacup and take a sip. The investigator next to him slammed his pen onto the table. “Confess! Do you really have to wait until we search and find the evidence before you give up this act?! I’m telling you, behaving like this won’t get you any leniency! The court will hand down a severe sentence! Spending the rest of your life in prison would be letting you off easy!”
Outside, Song Yuhang frowned as she watched the monitor. She tapped on the door, gesturing for them to swap out.
Zhang Jinhai’s expression was grim when he stepped out. “Captain Song, weren’t we a bit too impulsive this time? According to regulations, we can only hold him for twenty-four hours. If we don’t have definitive evidence linking him to the murder within twenty-four hours, we’ll have to let him go.”
The implication was clear: if word got out that they were detaining and releasing people on a whim, where would the Municipal Bureau’s reputation go?
Bureau Chief Feng had also arrived. He sat to one side, skimming the froth off his tea, his brow deeply furrowed into a sharp, troubled frown.
For a conviction and sentencing in a case with no eyewitnesses, both a confession and physical evidence were indispensable.
Song Yuhang looked at Zhang Jinhai, but directed her response to Bureau Chief Feng. “Within twenty-four hours, I will secure a confession that seals his capital crime. As for the evidence, I trust Forensic Examiner Lin.”
Fang Xin sprayed the Luminol reagent2 onto the coffee table. To observe any latent blood reactions, the lights were kept off. In the dim, shadowy room, everyone’s faces appeared faint and indistinct.
But to their frustration, they had searched almost every inch of the living room without finding any useful fingerprints or bloodstains.
Lin Yan walked toward the bedroom, her flashlight beams cutting through the gloom. “Keep searching.”
Less than eighteen hours remained of the twenty-four-hour limit.
Song Yuhang stepped into the interrogation room and sat down opposite him, her notepad in hand.
Sun Xiangming’s head hung low. He let out a yawn, clearly exhausted by the relentless questioning. Without even looking up, he mumbled, “I really didn’t kill anyone…”
Though his eyes were bleary with sleep as he spoke, his expression was completely open, free of any nervous tells or micro-expressions.
Song Yuhang slid a glass of water toward him. “Don’t be nervous. I’m just here to have a chat.”
Sun Xiangming’s gaze flickered to the glass. He licked his lips but did not move.
Song Yuhang leaned back in her chair, adopting a relaxed posture. “Drink up. It’s fine. We live in a society governed by the rule of law; we don’t mistreat suspects.”
Only then did Sun Xiangming sluggishly reach for the glass. He took two sips, then gulped down the rest in one breath.
Song Yuhang gestured for an officer to refill it.
Sun Xiangming wiped his lips and set the glass down. “I really didn’t kill her…”
Song Yuhang relaxed further, her legs resting naturally apart. Her sharp, striking brows eased, and the fierce, commanding aura around her dissolved. This posture made her appear far more approachable.
“We won’t talk about that today. Let’s talk about how you two met.”
Click. The bedroom light flicked on. A child’s bed sat right next to the double bed, blocking most of the narrow walkway. Lin Yan squeezed past it carefully.
The room was small and cluttered. Their child was already three years old and still sharing a bedroom with them. How did the couple have any semblance of a sex life?
Lin Yan pulled back the blanket. The sour, sharp scent of a child’s urine rushed into her nose. She reached in to feel; the bedding was damp and cold. The child must have wet the bed quite some time ago.
Things dried quickly in the summer, so it must have been neglected for a long while to end up this wet and cold.
With a look of disgust, she smoothed the blanket back down and moved to search the adults’ bed. She lifted the duvet and pillows one by one to collect hair samples, but still, nothing of value came to light.
Meanwhile, Song Yuhang’s conversation had also hit a standstill.
It was not that Sun Xiangming refused to speak. He was highly intelligent—or at least far craftier than his outward appearance suggested. Knowing that the more he said to the police, the more mistakes he might make, he offered only brief replies to Song Yuhang’s questions. He was not resistant, but he was far from cooperative.
“We met through a blind date.”
“According to Ding Xue’s mother, you were head over heels for her back then. You pursued her for a long time.”
When there were no questions, he remained silent.
Song Yuhang was in no rush either. She took a sip of her tea and poured herself some more. “Do you know Ge Jun? The principal at her school.”
Sun Xiangming flicked his eyelids upward. “I know him. I heard he was locked up, too.”
“Yes. He harassed your wife and has a long history of misconduct. He got what he deserved.”
She saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward in a barely perceptible smirk before his face quickly returned to a calm mask.
If that smile was supposed to represent happiness, it actually carried a much stronger sense of sarcasm.
“The man who spent so long harassing your wife has finally been brought to justice. Aren’t you happy?”
Sun Xiangming said nothing, his jaw tensed. Sensing Song Yuhang’s probing gaze, he finally said, “Happy. Of course I’m happy.”
Song Yuhang shook her head. “No, you aren’t. Because the one who was truly harassing her all this time wasn’t Ge Jun.”
Under the table, Sun Xiangming clasped his hands together. He was struggling, analyzing his options, yet his exterior remained perfectly composed, showing not a single crack.
This kind of suspect was incredibly difficult to crack.
Put any ordinary person in front of a seasoned detective, and they would be lucky to survive a single round of questioning, let alone multiple sessions.
Of course, there was always the exception of someone who was telling the truth; no matter how much you pressed them, their story would never waver.
Yet every indicator pointed to a broken marriage. Sun Xiangming was the most likely candidate to have killed Ding Xue.
His stubborn refusal to confess—did it stem from some hidden truth, or had he truly not committed the crime?
This question had been weighing heavily on her mind.
Ding Xue’s cause of death was drowning, but exactly when and where she had drowned remained an absolute mystery.
“I’ll search the bathroom myself.” Lin Yan took the Luminol reagent from Fang Xin, parted the shower curtain, and stepped inside.
The floor tiles, the sink, the bathtub… she did not overlook a single corner, searching with meticulous precision.
Lin Yan lay flat on the floor, switched off the overhead light, and shone her flashlight into the narrow gap beneath the bathtub. Still, she found absolutely nothing. It was too clean—suspiciously so.
A wave of frustration washed over her. Just then, her phone rang. It was Song Yuhang.
With time running out, neither of them wasted any words on pleasantries. Song Yuhang cut straight to the point. “How is it going?”
Lin Yan wedged the phone between her shoulder and jaw, her hands never stopping. “I haven’t found a single useful clue.”
A brief silence followed. Through the receiver, Lin Yan heard the steady patter of rain. Song Yuhang must have stepped out of the interrogation room, which meant her questioning was also at a dead end. If Lin Yan could not secure any key physical evidence on her end, they would have to release him after twenty-four hours, and neither of them was willing to accept that.
Lin Yan cleared her throat, about to speak.
Song Yuhang’s slightly low, raspy voice came through the line. “It’s fine. Just do what you can.”
“Oh? Captain Song has changed her tune today? Your reaction actually took me by surprise,” Lin Yan teased, her hand sliding along the inner curve of the bathtub.
Outside the interrogation room, Song Yuhang stood facing the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the rainwater trace winding paths down the glass. A lit cigarette was pinched between her fingers.
She rarely smoked, doing so only when she absolutely needed to calm her mind and think.
Such moments were rare.
“Actually, there is one thing I find very strange. Sun Xiangming doesn’t deny that his marriage was falling apart, yet he constantly denies having killed her. Or rather, it is less like a denial and more like… he genuinely believes he didn’t kill her.”
Lin Yan’s hand froze. Something vague and elusive flickered in her mind, but it vanished before she could grasp it.
Song Yuhang was about to hang up. The cigarette had burned down close to her fingers, so she stubbed it out in an ashtray.
Sensing her movement, Lin Yan stood up. “Wait. Although I haven’t found any direct physical evidence pointing to murder, we did discover something else. See if you can use it to break his silence.”
Song Yuhang turned around. “Go on.”
“I suspect Sun Xiangming might be abusive toward their child.”
“If she says she doesn’t want a second child, then she doesn’t!”
“She’s been married into this family for years and can’t even produce a boy—a hen that doesn’t lay eggs3!”
“It’s good she’s dead! Good riddance!”
As those words from that night at the funeral home suddenly rushed back into her mind, Song Yuhang hung up the phone and strode back toward the interrogation room.
“Alright, I’ve got it,” she murmured.
While the investigators who had been working for most of the night hadn’t had a bite to eat or a drop to drink, Sun Xiangming was already eating. He held a cup of soy milk in his hand, and a plastic bag in front of him contained two steamed flower rolls4.
He took a bite of a roll, swallowed, and upon seeing her enter, reached out to offer her the rest. “Officer Song, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? Want one?”
Song Yuhang sat down opposite him. “No, thank you. Are you full? If not, I can have someone buy you a couple more.”
Sun Xiangming devoured the remaining flower rolls like a whirlwind, washing them down with the cup of soy milk. Feeling a sudden surge of energy, he relaxed in his seat.
He let out a loud burp and glanced at the wall clock. “I’m full. When can I get some sleep?”
“No rush. It’s still early. I have a few more questions for you, Mr. Sun.” Song Yuhang straightened her spine, discarding her earlier relaxed posture. Her expression turned cold and profound.
“Ding Xue was having an affair.”
She stated it as an absolute fact. Sun Xiangming’s pupils contracted, but he remained silent.
“The reason you won’t tell us who he is… is because you don’t actually know yourself.”
“Let me guess. He is wealthier than you, more attentive, smarter, and knows exactly how to make a woman happy. More importantly… you can’t even match him in bed.”
“Has it been a long time since Ding Xue last let you touch her? Ever since the baby was born?”
Her voice was low and quiet. Against the backdrop of the howling wind and torrential rain outside, her words carried a deeply unsettling, eerie weight.
As her voice trailed off, Sun Xiangming’s lips pressed into a hard, rigid line.
“I imagine you loved Ding Xue very much when you first got married. But under your mother’s influence, as the years dragged on, you grew resentful. You felt that although Ding Xue was perfect in every other way, she couldn’t bear a child easily, and when you finally had one, it was a girl. You wanted her to have a second child, but she refused, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” For the first time, Sun Xiangming shot back with heated intensity. “Yes, I admit I wanted a son, but I really didn’t kill her! If you don’t believe me, go investigate! She was perfectly fine when she walked out of that house!”
Song Yuhang let out a soft smile. “You’ve finally said it.”
Sun Xiangming froze. “You—”
She leaned back in her chair again, relaxed. “The issue is that on the night she left your apartment, she looked absolutely terrified, running like her life depended on it. I could never figure out what she was so afraid of. Now I know—she was afraid of you.”
“You didn’t kill her directly. You did it indirectly.” She pulled a cigarette from the pack on the desk and lit it. Through the rising curls of smoke, she watched the color drain from Sun Xiangming’s face.
Unlike the sultry, mesmerizing way Lin Yan smoked, when Song Yuhang lit up, her entire presence grew immensely powerful and self-assured. She projected a crushing psychological pressure onto her opponent, as if nothing could ever hope to escape her penetrating gaze.
“Let me guess. That night, you wanted to have sex with her, didn’t you? But she turned you down and told you she had a date. You two got into a massive argument right in front of your daughter. As the child wailed, you lost your temper and slapped her across the face.”
“Ding Xue demanded to know why you were taking your anger out on the child. She screamed that you were a useless coward, that you couldn’t make decent money, that you were a terrible father who never cared about his family. Did she also say…”
“…‘A man like you wants a second child? Keep dreaming!’” Song Yuhang mocked her haughty, domineering tone with striking accuracy.
Sun Xiangming’s breathing turned rapid and shallow. His fingers dug into each other beneath the table, the veins on his temples throbbing violently.
“When a woman loses her temper, she usually brings up all the old grievances. No matter how gentle or refined she seems on the surface, she behaves the exact same way in front of a man she doesn’t love.”
“She insulted your rural background, sneered at your dead-end job, and ridiculed your simple, dull personality and your misogynistic mother. She probably even told you that marrying you was like suffering through eight lifetimes of bad luck.”
A flicker of pity touched Song Yuhang’s eyes as she slowly exhaled a ring of smoke.
“But she forgot one thing: the more loyal, honest, and dutiful a person is, the more they cease to be human when they go crazy.”
As she spoke those words, her mind naturally flashed back to the night before, when she had placed her hand on the back of Lin Yan’s neck. She frowned unconsciously, stubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray with a swift, fluid motion.
The entire sequence lasted less than three seconds, executed with absolute, seamless grace.
Neither the assisting investigator nor Sun Xiangming noticed even a trace of her brief distraction.
The flawless veneer Sun Xiangming had carefully maintained finally splintered. His trembling hands gripped the edge of the interrogation table, scratching blindly at the wood until tiny splinters began to peel away.
Song Yuhang leaned forward slightly, delivering the final, fatal blow. “You loved her so much that you gave up everything you had just to marry her. But she never loved you back. Even your daughter was someone you forced her to conceive, wasn’t she?”
The pity in her eyes felt like a physical blade twisting in Sun Xiangming’s chest.
“You’re so pathetic. She didn’t even bother to tell you who he was before she died.”
Crash! The handcuffs slammed hard against the metal table as Sun Xiangming bolted upright. His eyes were bloodshot, staring at her with raw fury as he roared, “She was the one who didn’t care about our family! She was the one who cheated! She deserved to die! She deserved to die!”
Song Yuhang watched his explosive breakdown in silence, a faint, satisfied smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
Several officers rushed into the room, grappling with him to force him back into the chair, but Sun Xiangming had already buried his face in his hands, sobbing.
“Hehehe…” A bone-chilling sound slipped from his throat. Just as Song Yuhang thought he was weeping, he parted his fingers, revealing a single, bloodshot eye that stared back at her with a manic grin.
The officer sitting beside her shuddered, goosebumps erupting along his arms. He barked, “What are you laughing at?! What’s so funny!”
He remained locked in his state of madness, laughing hysterically behind his hands as the wall clock ticked past midnight and began to chime.
Sun Xiangming slowly lowered his hands, calming down with terrifying speed. Now, he was the one who looked relaxed, while Song Yuhang sat straight-backed and vigilant.
He stared at her, his eyes shining with pure mockery.
“So what if you figured it out? Fingerprints, bloodstains, hair… go ahead and search for any evidence that links me to her murder. But if you can’t find anything…”
He leaned forward, bringing his face dangerously close to Song Yuhang’s. “The moment the sun rises, you have to let me go.”
The author has something to say:
Here is the third update~
Thank you for reading.
Captain Song: It’s not me, I didn’t, I’m definitely not talking about myself.
Footnotes
- The more loyal, honest, and dutiful a person is, the more they cease to be human when they go crazy. A Chinese psychological observation that seemingly mild-mannered, compliant individuals can exhibit extreme cruelty or psychopathic behavior once they snap.
- A chemical reagent used in forensics that reacts with iron in hemoglobin to detect trace, washed-away bloodstains by producing blue chemiluminescence in the dark.
- A misogynistic insult used in traditional Chinese households to humiliate a wife who has not given birth to a male heir, literally meaning a hen that does not lay eggs.
- Steamed, layered scallion buns popular in Chinese cuisine, known for their rolled, flower-like appearance.
she defo having an affair with the vp