Miss Forensics – Chapter 10

Volume One: First Scroll

Clouds of Suspicion

Such indicators would be impossible to find in a person who drowned in freshwater.

Four hours passed, and the autopsy came to an end.

Lin Yan put down the scalpel, her back completely soaked with sweat. “Done. Have all the samples been collected?”

An assistant medical examiner nodded: “Yes, they’ll be sent to the lab shortly.”

“What about the records?” She looked toward Duan Cheng, who patted his camera: “No problem, everything’s here.”

She lifted her chin slightly in acknowledgment, then turned to remove her gloves and tossed them into the medical waste bin. For a moment as she lowered her head, she seemed to zone out.

From his angle, Lin Yan’s profile appeared excessively pale under the harsh white lights.

Seeing her motionless, Duan Cheng called out: “Medical Examiner Lin?”

Lin Yan turned back and continued: “Run diatom tests on the deceased’s lung, cardiac muscle, liver tissue samples, as well as bone marrow fluid and teeth.”

Fang Xin looked troubled: “For diatom testing, we’ll need to send it to the provincial department.”

“How long for results?”

“About two days or so.”

“…” Lin Yan took a deep breath, suppressing her urge to curse: “For just one simple diatom test that I could do in my sophomore year, you need to send it to the provincial department? Why not send it straight to central headquarters?”

“To be honest, our technical investigation budget is limited, and we’re short-staffed. When we had many cases before, we even had to outsource autopsies to third-party institutions. It’s not that we can’t do it, it’s just…”

Another medical examiner chimed in.

Lin Yan raised an eyebrow: “So it all comes down to money then? Easy to solve. I’m going to sleep – clean this up, will you?”

She jutted her chin, stretched lazily, and walked away with an air of arrogance.

Quickly disposing of her clothes that reeked of corpse, Lin Yan entered the shower room. The water was cool, and when the stream hit her face, she shuddered, steadying herself against the wall while slowly regulating her breathing.

Five minutes later, Lin Yan emerged drying her hair. She retrieved expensive perfume from her locker and sprayed it liberally over herself as if it cost nothing, until the faint smell of decay was completely masked. Finally letting out a sigh of relief, she took out a pack of gum from the locker.

Opening the cap, she poured two pieces into her palm, when suddenly she heard movement at the door. Turning around, she found Song Yuhang standing silently in the darkness, watching her.

The locker room was dimly lit. Lin Yan smiled: “Need something?”

She closed the locker door and walked toward the exit while drying her hair, casually offering the bottle: “Gum? It helps stay alert. Want some?”

Song Yuhang stepped aside: “No thanks. I’m here about the autopsy results.”

Lin Yan stopped in her tracks, yawning: “Da jie [大姐 | dà jiě | informal address for an older woman], would you mind checking the time? Can the police department really make people work overtime endlessly?”

As she said this, she turned around, her face bare of makeup yet elegant, her complexion exceptionally pale, with dark circles under her eyes from staying up late.

Song Yuhang checked her watch: “It’s 5:30 AM. I’ll give you one hour to rest. Be ready for the meeting at 6:30 sharp.”

Lin Yan stumbled, gritting her teeth: “Are you even human?”

Song Yuhang gave a cold smile: “No.”

Lin Yan nodded in emphatic agreement: “I thought not. No wonder you’re still single in your thirties. You know what? Don’t bother with my brother – staying single would be better for everyone.”

“What does being single have to do with anything? Does being together automatically mean happiness?” She shook her head slightly, seemingly disagreeing with this notion.

Lin Yan instinctively retorted: “Of course… two people are always better than one. At least… someone will listen when you talk, even if it’s just about trivial things.”

But that’s just who Lin Yan was – she feared loneliness, feared waking up at midnight to an empty room, feared dreaming about Chunan, and feared even more not dreaming of her at all.

She needed someone to listen to her talk about trivial things.

Even if that person only loved her body or her money, it didn’t matter. After all, money was all she had to give.

As for happiness? What was that anyway?

Since her eighteenth birthday, she hadn’t genuinely smiled once.

One shouldn’t bare their soul in shallow relationships. Lin Yan snapped back to reality with a self-mocking smile: Song Yuhang was hopelessly old-fashioned – why bother telling her these things?

As she walked away, she heard the other person’s low response: “I don’t know about happiness, but without genuine passion, one can’t persist at something for over ten years. Without heartfelt respect, it’s impossible to achieve excellence.”

“I may be nothing, but at least I’m a people’s police officer. Solving cases is my duty.”

Lin Yan sneered and ignored her, her thin figure disappearing into the long corridor.

This conversation would seem cryptic to anyone listening, but smart people need few words to understand each other.

Song Yuhang turned her gaze toward the autopsy room just a wall away. She probably didn’t know that she had watched the autopsy recording.

That moment when she bowed her head in silence – that expression was very un-“Lin Yan-like.”

Back in her office, the two pieces of gum had melted, the thin candy coating feeling uncomfortably sticky in her hand.

Lin Yan popped them into her mouth, took a big gulp of mineral water, lay flat in her chair for a moment, then pulled out her phone to make a call.

“Hello? This is Lin Yan. I need ten centrifuges… mm… delivered to the city police station after dawn.”

“Director Lin, this… the timeframe is too tight…”

Lin Yan gave a cold laugh: “If they don’t arrive, next quarter’s financing…”

“No, no, no… Director Lin, let’s discuss this reasonably.”

Lin Yan hung up with a sharp click, her gaze falling back to the bottle of gum on her desk.

After some thought, she picked it up and put it in the drawer.

An hour later, Lin Yan was awakened by the clatter of keyboard typing. She sat up abruptly, causing the uniform jacket covering her to slip off.

She rubbed her hair and quickly caught the jacket, but couldn’t remember if she had covered herself last night.

Her memory seemed to have a gap.

Zheng Chengrui saw she was awake and hurriedly approached with a fawning expression, offering her hot baozi, youtiao, soy milk, and a freshly boiled egg.

“Medical Examiner Lin, you’re awake! Quick, eat up. Captain Song wants us to meet after you finish.”

Her stomach growled right on cue.

Lin Yan waved her hand impatiently: “I know. Get out of here – I can’t eat with you watching.”

“Alright, alright, take your time.”

The chubby man seemed used to being ordered around, and his temperament was exceptionally good in front of Lin Yan.

“If it’s not enough, I have more.”

Lin Yan opened the plastic bag, used a tissue to pick up one item, took a tiny bite, frowned, then spat it all out, throwing the rest straight into the trash bin.

“Is this even fit for human consumption? This is pig feed, isn’t it?”

The chubby man’s face turned red: “This… this is from the cafeteria…”

Everyone in the room looked over as Lin Yan leaned back in her chair with a sardonic smile.

“Only you lot could stomach this.”

Someone’s face showed hints of anger but was pulled away by a colleague, while others stood up.

“Let’s go, meeting time, meeting time.”

After everyone left, Lin Yan leaned back in her chair and called for delivery, then went to wash her face and rinse her mouth while waiting.

When she returned to her seat, Cantonese dim sum had been placed on her desk.

Three dim sum dishes, two steamed dishes, and two bowls of congee – this wasn’t ordinary delivery food, but a nutritious breakfast prepared by the Lin family chef.

All her three daily meals were meticulously prepared, requiring both balanced nutrition and controlled calories.

Therefore, she rarely ate “junk food” from outside, let alone street food like baozi.

However, she couldn’t finish this much food. Like a cat, she sampled a bit of everything before feeling full, threw the rest in the trash, dabbed her mouth with a tissue, and leisurely made her way to the training room.

“Where’s Medical Examiner Lin?” Song Yuhang scanned the room, noting the empty seat in the technical investigation section.

“Here!” All eyes turned as the great Medical Examiner sauntered in wearing slippers, her curly hair loose, dressed in the tank top she’d changed into after washing up last night. A black fitted top perfectly outlined her figure, with curves in all the right places, paired with matching loose-fit short sports pants, her long legs and slim waist drawing everyone’s attention.

Beautiful as she was, she stood out conspicuously among the roomful of people in their meticulously buttoned uniforms.

Fang Xin looked at her, then at herself, lowering her head in shame.

Duan Cheng’s eyes had been glued to her since she entered – one didn’t need to guess what he was thinking.

As for Zheng Chengrui, he wiped away the drool from the corner of his mouth.

Song Yuhang’s lips pressed into a straight line.

Zhang Jinhai spoke up timely, breaking the silence: “Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s discuss the case.”

“The deceased, Ding Xue, thirty years old, English teacher at Jiangcheng First Middle School, went missing after leaving home between 8 and 10 PM on May 14, 2008. At 10:23 PM, she sent a text message to her husband Sun Xiangming, content as follows:”

The printed text was enlarged on the PowerPoint screen.

Song Yuhang sat opposite Zhang Jinhai, twirling a pen: “Without finding the victim’s personal belongings, we can’t confirm if this message was sent by the killer or the victim herself. There’s a high possibility she was already dead by then.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Yan leaned back in her chair, head propped up, yawning drowsily.

“Impossible. Based on the corpse presentation, vital reaction, body and liver temperature, and environmental conditions, the time of death should be between 11 PM and 1 AM three days ago.”

Zhang Jinhai considered carefully: “How’s the surveillance footage investigation going?”

Zheng Chengrui stood up, stammering: “Still reviewing… haven’t found any suspicious individuals entering or leaving the park yet.”

“What if the killer was after money, stole her belongings after she sent that message, then pushed her into the water?”

An investigator suggested.

“Then the victim’s phone becomes crucial to solving the case. According to her husband, she carried an iPhone worth over 4,000 yuan when she left, along with cash and bank cards in her handbag.”

“We’re monitoring all accounts under the victim’s name. Once anyone attempts a withdrawal, officers from nearby stations will respond immediately.”

Song Yuhang nodded: “Send people to check Jiangcheng’s secondhand markets, especially those selling used phones. Bring in anyone suspicious for questioning.”

Lin Yan stretched lazily, as if their heated discussion had nothing to do with her, and yawned again indolently.

“Say, have you considered that the lotus pond might not be the primary crime scene?”

“Of course we have, why else would we be checking surveillance footage?” an investigator responded.

Lin Yan stood up, pulled a USB drive from her pocket, took over the computer and plugged it in. After a few mouse clicks, several images appeared on the large screen.

“This was discovered during the autopsy. The blood in the victim’s right ventricle was highly diluted, with lower viscosity, specific gravity, hemoglobin levels, and red blood cell count than the left ventricle.”

“This is highly unusual in forensic medicine, because such indicators would be impossible to find in a person who drowned in freshwater.”

Zhang Jinhai had just lifted his teacup but sprayed out his drink before swallowing: “W-what does that mean? Are you saying she drowned in seawater?”

Although Jiangcheng was the coastal province’s closest city to the sea, the nearest seaside park was still over 200 kilometers from the city center.

According to Sun Xiangming’s statement, Ding Xue left around 8-9 PM and died between 11 PM and 1 AM. This timeframe wasn’t enough for a round trip. Even if the killer rushed to drown her in seawater and sped back to dump the body, what if they encountered a checkpoint on the highway? Wouldn’t that be walking straight into a trap?

In the ensuing silence, everyone scratched their heads in frustration. A sleepless night had yielded nothing but made everything more complicated.

“Let’s send it to the provincial department for diatom testing. If we can determine which body of water she died in, it would greatly help our investigation.”

As always, Song Yuhang spoke with unwavering seriousness, completely unruffled.

Lin Yan restlessly swiveled in her chair. Her seat was next to Song Yuhang’s, and as she leaned slightly forward, a sweet feminine fragrance wafted into the other’s nostrils.

Song Yuhang instinctively pulled back, avoiding the movement but couldn’t escape those bright sparkling eyes that seemed to seek recognition.

“Why send it to the provincial department? I can do it,” Lin Yan checked her watch: “Hmm, the equipment I ordered should arrive soon.”

The implication was clear: Captain Song, if you want to solve this case, you’ll need to thank me properly.

Song Yuhang maintained an expressionless face and turned away as if she hadn’t heard: “That’s all for now. We’ll split into three teams. First team investigates the secondhand markets, second team visits the victim’s home, I’ll go to Jiangcheng First Middle School to gather information.”

Jiangcheng First Middle School.

Upon hearing this name, Lin Yan silently repeated it in her mind, then raised her hand: “I’ll go too.”

---

LP: Re-translated on March 02, 2025

---

---