Miss Forensics – Chapter 25
by Little PandaPart One
Suicide Note
Inferring from the skull, the deceased was likely a very young female.
A thick, dark-red tire track from a large cargo truck dragged across the ground for several meters; the stench of blood was nauseating.
Lin Yan sniffed, her fingers gently pinching a dark, sticky clump of internal organs from the ground.
Memories rushed in. Her face paled in an instant, and she suddenly bit her lower lip.
The heaviest bloodstains were concentrated beneath the truck’s two front wheels. Without the forensic stepping pads1, there would have been no place to step. Even so, the scene was thoroughly compromised, marred by a messy jumble of footprints from the driver, the person who reported the crime, and other workers at the construction site.
Fang Xin was suppressing her nausea while measuring the footprints. Before long, her face went pale, and she stumbled as she ran outside.
Lin Yan frowned. Perhaps she’d been feeling unwell since waking up that morning, but her stomach was also churning. A fair, slender wrist suddenly extended toward her, offering a tissue.
“Here.”
Lin Yan felt instantly insulted. “Get lost! I don’t need that!!!”
Song Yuhang froze with the tissue in her hand, then curved her lips into a faint smile before walking over to question the eyewitnesses.
Everything below the deceased’s chest had been dragged under the wheels. Run over repeatedly, the remains were pressed flat against the ground, thin as paper. The head and neck were severed, held together by only a few stray blood vessels. Half of the skull had been crushed by the tires, greyish-white brain matter smeared across the front wheel, making the face completely unrecognizable. She was, in every sense of the word, mutilated beyond recognition.
Once the criminal investigators finished taking photos, Lin Yan finally reached her hand into the pool of blood. Feeling around, she retrieved a tooth, held it up against the light to inspect it, and placed it inside an evidence bag.
“Judging by the wear on the teeth, the deceased was very young—under eighteen.”
Duan Cheng quickly leaned in to snap a photo and jotted down a note.
“Inferring from the skull…” Lin Yan gently placed her hand on the remaining half of the head, her fingers sliding back and forth along its side. “The skull is relatively thin, with indistinct muscular lines, a vertical forehead, and a flat crown. The deceased was likely female.”
“There’s a massive amount of blood at the scene, seeping southward into the cracks of the ground in streams.” Lin Yan took a step back. Having touched the body, it was inconvenient for her to touch the ground again, so she gestured for the assistant forensic doctors to come over and extract blood samples.
“Dig it up along with the soil.”
A single scoop of a shovel lifted a large chunk of dirt, which was placed entirely into an evidence bag.
Everyone else wore gloves to search through the massive pool of blood for bone fragments—critical for confirming the identity and age of the deceased later on.
Lin Yan leaned over again to study the half-skull, murmuring under her breath, “The wound margins show clear vital reactions2…”
She looked up to where the broken railing on the rooftop teetered precariously.
The truck driver had already been detained. Handcuffed, he wept and wailed under the questioning of several criminal investigators. “I really didn’t know there was someone here! I really didn’t know! It was so dark. I started my shift as usual around four o’clock to deliver construction materials to the site. Usually, people just dump construction waste down there, so I really didn’t think twice!”
The robust, six-foot-tall man3 struggled forward as he cried, his face flushed and his rhinophyma—the classic sign of a heavy drinker—prominent.
Song Yuhang walked over. “Test his blood alcohol content.”
“Open your mouth!” Several officers held him down and shoved the device into his mouth.
“Blow.”
The man blew gently, and the reading on the display immediately spiked to its maximum value.
An officer brought the device over to show her, speaking with righteous indignation. “This bastard drank a lot last night. Look at this—his blood alcohol content is still this high. No wonder he ran someone over and didn’t even realize it!”
The foreman stood nearby, trembling. Song Yuhang looked over at him. “You’re the one who found the body?”
The foreman nodded and stammered, “Y-Yes… yes… it was me…”
“Don’t be nervous. Take your time and tell me what happened.” Song Yuhang gestured for someone to give him a cigarette. The foreman took it, flicked his lighter with trembling fingers, and took two deep drags before calming down slightly, though his voice still shook.
“A little past five this morning, I came to work as usual…” Remembering that scene still filled him with lingering dread. Song Yuhang cut in.
“Do you remember the exact time?”
The foreman thought for a moment. “I usually wake up at 5:10. It must’ve been around 5:30 when I grabbed my hard hat and walked toward the construction site. As I approached the building, I… I saw…”
His legs still felt weak at the memory.
Old Li, who was responsible for hauling construction materials to the site, was an old acquaintance. The foreman knew he liked to drink, but nothing had ever gone wrong before, so they’d even greeted each other warmly.
“Morning, Foreman Liu!” Old Li rolled down the truck window, revealing a mouth of yellowing teeth.
“Morning. You didn’t drink today, did you?”
“Just beer. Want some?” The driver pulled a bottle from the passenger seat and waved it at him. Scattered peanut shells and melon seed husks lay beside it.
“No, no, I have to start my shift soon. Can’t let the boss smell it on me.”
Foreman Liu stepped back to make way for the truck. Then, he heard a loud thud. He was unbuckling his belt to urinate against a wall at the time, and he jokingly cursed, “You bastard, drunk again, aren’t you?”
Old Li spun the steering wheel as he reversed, grumbling, “To hell with it! Which bastard dumped trash here again? Don’t they know this is the only road in and out for trucks?”
He stepped on the gas, revving the engine to push through, but he kept feeling something lumpy caught under the wheels.
In a rush to unload his cargo, he slammed the gas pedal to the floor, rolling back and forth several times without ever getting down to check.
After Foreman Liu finished urinating, the construction site’s floodlights automatically switched on. When the pale, harsh light cast over the area, he looked back, was instantly scared out of his wits, and collapsed straight onto his backside!
Trapped beneath the wheels were shredded fragments of clothing. A pool of blood seeped out from under the tires. Half of the skull had been squeezed out and sent flying; it was as if one could still hear the sickening sound of crushing bone and tearing flesh.
Foreman Liu didn’t even bother to pull up his pants as he scrambled up and rushed over to stop the truck.
“That’s exactly what happened, Officer, I swear! It had nothing to do with me!”
Song Yuhang handed him a pen and paper. “Leave your name and contact details. Fang Xin, come over and draw his blood. If necessary, please continue to cooperate with our investigation.”
Fang Xin looked as if she’d just received a grand pardon. Carrying her forensic kit, she hurried away from the gruesome scene and efficiently drew blood from the truck driver and the eyewitness.
Song Yuhang looked over. Lin Yan was still squatting in the pool of blood. In a rare occurrence, she was dressed in formal wear today, with a layer of protective gear over it, and her hair pinned up to expose her slender, pale nape.
Song Yuhang handed the case notes to another officer, slipped on her gloves, and walked over to squat beside her.
The space on the stepping pads was limited, so Lin Yan nudged aside slightly. “Is there a problem?”
Song Yuhang’s gaze also seemed slightly awkward, drifting over her face. “Cough… I came to ask about your findings.”
“The deceased is a female under eighteen. Based on the size and color of the blood pool, the time of death should be around four o’clock this morning.”
Lin Yan delivered the assessment in a single breath, then moved to the other side to observe the fragmented skull from a different angle.
Song Yuhang followed her. “Is there anything unusual?”
She pointed at the depressed portion of the skull, her fingertips rubbing together to shed a bit of bone dust. “Comminuted fractures. It matches the characteristics of high-fall trauma.”
Duan Cheng had long reached his limit. Having finished taking the photos, he was bent over to the side. “Blegh…”
Lin Yan clicked her tongue. “What a rare case study, yet his psychological resilience is this weak. Captain Song, you’d better replace him for me as soon as possible.”
Song Yuhang looked at Lin Yan, then at Duan Cheng, seemingly weighing the option. Seeing her expression, Duan Cheng panicked, fearing she’d deem him useless. He quickly stood up straight and said, “I’m fine, I can keep going!”
Her gaze shifted back, lingering on Lin Yan’s face. “You mean she died from the fall, not from being run over by the truck?”
Lin Yan nodded. Knowing the other woman’s gaze was fixed on her, she avoided making eye contact. “Yes. At most, the truck running her over only caused secondary damage. Look at the severity of these skull fractures and that pool of blood—”
Song Yuhang followed the direction of her finger.
“The soil over there is noticeably darker than it is here. That’s very likely where she fell.”
“Can you determine if it was an antemortem or postmortem fall?”
Song Yuhang walked over and touched the ground in that spot.
Lin Yan shrugged. “Hard to say. Since she’s in this state, I’ll have to perform a detailed autopsy back at the bureau and see.”
Song Yuhang straightened up and shielded her eyes, looking up at the rooftop. “I’ll take a few people up to investigate.”
Upon entering the building, a gust of dust mixed with the scent of cement rushed over them. The elevator wasn’t yet operational, so Song Yuhang led her team up the stairs to the sixth floor. A metal door separated the stairs from the rooftop.
The door was unlocked, swaying back and forth in the wind. Song Yuhang gestured for the trace evidence technicians behind her to come forward immediately to lift fingerprints. Once they’d finished, she gently pushed the door open.
The rooftop was small, completely empty and desolate. Several criminal investigators dispersed to search for useful clues.
Song Yuhang walked straight toward the railing.
“Alright, let’s clean this up and take it back to the bureau.” While Song Yuhang searched for clues upstairs, Lin Yan prepared to wrap things up below.
Duan Cheng stared at the pool of crushed bones and shredded flesh with an expression of utter despair. “How… how do we even clean this up?”
“No shit, with a shovel, of course. Chop chop, make it quick, and we might still make it back in time for lunch.” Lin Yan rolled her eyes impatiently. Holding a small, specialized shovel, she scooped up the larger fragments of tissue from the pool of blood and placed them into a body bag along with the bones.
“…” Duan Cheng endured it with a pale face, finally swallowing down the wave of nausea as he joined the team in shoveling up the remains.
Leaning half her body over the edge, Song Yuhang saw Lin Yan loading the body bag into the vehicle below. She then bent down to examine the scuff marks at her feet.
“Ruler.” She squatted down to measure them. The footprints were small, matching Lin Yan’s assessment that the deceased was under eighteen.
The railing showed no signs of tampering. Neglected for years, it was covered in a layer of mottled rust from rainwater. The moment her fingers brushed against it, it let out a groaning creak.
Song Yuhang traced her fingers along the railing until she reached the break, where she discovered a tiny scrap of cloth.
Slipping on her gloves, she pinched it off and placed it into an evidence bag.
An investigator ran over to report, “Captain Song, we’ve checked everything. There are no signs of a struggle on the rooftop, and the door lock only has one person’s fingerprints. We found this in the corner over there—it was probably blown there by the wind.”
He handed over a thin sheet of paper completely soaked by rain. Song Yuhang held it with utmost care, fearing she might tear it apart if she applied too much force.
Bringing it close, she shone her investigation light on it. The ink had almost completely bled out, leaving only the first two characters faintly legible: “Suicide… note…”
Down below, Lin Yan took off her mask to breathe. As Duan Cheng loaded the body bag into the vehicle, he caught a glimpse of the bruises on her face and suddenly cried out, “Forensic Examiner Lin, how did you get those?”
Everyone else’s eyes instantly snapped toward them. Without a second thought, Lin Yan swung her leg and kicked him. “I’ll teach you to shout like that! Shouting like that!”
With that, she self-consciously scrambled to put her mask back on. The sudden movement just now had been too violent, aggravating her sore cheeks. Wincing in pain, Lin Yan grumbled under her breath, “How else? I got chewed by a dog!”
Though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, seeing Lin Yan and Duan Cheng bicker brought a faint sense of warmth to her, despite the gruesome, horrific crime scene.
Song Yuhang withdrew her gaze. As far as her eyes could see, the area outside the police line was already packed with onlookers and media personnel.
“Exactly, what’s going on here?”
“I heard a truck driver ran someone over and rolled back and forth over a dozen times. It was a horrible death.”
“But why? What kind of grudge could justify such a brutal act?”
“I heard from my brother-in-law who works on the site…”
The crowd erupted into a flurry of whispers, trading various rumors as the media pushed forward.
“We’re journalists, journalists! Please let us in for an interview. We want to see the person in charge.”
A few rank-and-file officers had never dealt with such a chaotic crowd and could barely hold them back. Among the reporters was a short girl with dyed yellow hair. Seeing that the body bag had already been carried out and knowing that opportunity knocks but once4, she found a gap, slipped under an officer’s arm, and began snapping photos of Lin Yan wildly.
The young heiress was blinded by the sudden flashing lights. The reporter had already rushed to her front, snapping several close-ups of the body bag before thrusting a microphone right before her face.
“Excuse me, when did this incident occur?”
“Who is the deceased?”
“Do the police have any leads at the moment?”
“…”
A barrage of questions was thrown at her. Lin Yan narrowed her eyes, and when her gaze met the reporter’s, the girl visibly froze.
It couldn’t be helped—Lin Yan had left an incredibly deep impression on her.
That unforgettable face, combined with her agile combat skills.
She opened her mouth, wanting to call out to her, but realized she didn’t even know her name.
Lin Yan frowned impatiently, raising her hand to brush her aside. “Out of the way.”
She’d beaten up too many people to possibly remember this one.
Seeing that someone had breached the police line, the other reporters refused to be outdone. Since she held the highest rank on-site, she was instantly surrounded by the crowd.
“Officer! Officer! Tell us about the case!”
“Officer, has there been any progress in the investigation so far?”
“Why did the killer commit this murder?”
Someone even recognized her face despite the mask, and a whisper rippled through the crowd. “It’s Forensic Examiner Lin! It’s her, so this must be a major homicide case…”
Lin Yan moved to leave, but those people pursued her like persistent ghosts. “Forensic Examiner Lin! Forensic Examiner Lin…”
The crowding left Lin Yan feeling dizzy and lightheaded. In the hustle, someone accidentally bumped into her, making her world spin. Fortunately, someone caught her from behind, steadying her.
Lin Yan turned her head, but it wasn’t the familiar face she expected.
“Are you alright, Forensic Examiner Lin? You head out first.”
Lin Yan nodded and slipped out of the police line, leaving Duan Cheng and several assistant forensic doctors behind to handle the reporters’ questions.
Song Yuhang frowned. Seeing her safely escape the encirclement, she withdrew her gaze and prepared to go downstairs. Just as she turned, however, her peripheral vision caught a figure in a black hoodie. She was far away, but she could see that the person carried no camera, clearly indicating they weren’t a reporter. Even as part of the crowd, they didn’t whisper with those around them.
The sharp intuition cultivated over years of criminal investigation made her spin back instantly. “Binoculars.”
Her colleague handed her the binoculars. Song Yuhang searched carefully through the crowd for that black shadow, only to find that he’d already vanished into the sea of people, as if he’d been nothing but an illusion.
The author has something to say:
Thank you for reading.
Thank you, everyone. I love you all.
Footnotes
- Specialized non-slip plates laid down by forensic investigators to navigate crime scenes without contaminating evidence.
- A forensic medical term referring to physiological responses that occur only in living tissue, proving a wound was inflicted before death.
- Literally 'seven chi' (qi chǐ), a traditional Chinese measurement. In colloquial terms, 'a seven-chi man' is an idiomatic expression referring to a tall, sturdy adult male.
- A traditional Chinese idiom (jī bù kě shī, shí bù zài lái) meaning that a fleeting opportunity must be seized immediately before it is lost.
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