Volume One: First Scroll
Suicide Note
Based on the skull, the deceased should be a very young female.
A dark red tire track from a large truck dragged across the ground for several meters; the stench of blood was nauseating.
Lin Yan sniffed, her fingers gently picking up a clump of dark, sticky organ fragments from the ground.
Memories flooded back, her face instantly turning pale; she suddenly bit her lower lip.
The area with the most blood was concentrated under the truck’s two front wheels. Without the examination platforms, there would have been nowhere to step. Even so, the scene was badly disturbed, with various messy and jumbled footprints—from the driver, the person who reported the incident, and other construction workers.
Fang Xin was suppressing her nausea while measuring the footprints. Soon, her face turned pale, and she stumbled out.
Lin Yan frowned. Perhaps because she hadn’t been feeling well since she woke up that morning, her stomach churned. A fair-skinned wrist reached out, offering her a tissue.
“Here.”
Lin Yan felt utterly insulted: “Get lost! I don’t need that!!!”
Song Yuhang, holding the tissue, was momentarily stunned. Then, a slight smile curved her lips. She walked to the side to question the eyewitnesses.
The part of the deceased’s body below the chest was completely caught in the wheels. After being repeatedly run over, it was flattened against the ground, thin as paper. The head and neck were separated, connected only by a few blood vessels. Half of the head had been crushed by the wheel, the whitish-gray brain matter sticking to the front tire. The entire face was unrecognizable, utterly disfigured.
It was difficult not only to perform an autopsy on such a body but even to lift it from the ground.
After the forensic investigators finished taking photos, Lin Yan reached into the pool of blood, found a tooth, held it up to the light, and placed it in an evidence bag.
“Based on the degree of tooth wear, the deceased was very young, under eighteen.”
Duan Cheng quickly went over to take a photo and made a record.
“Judging from the skull…” Lin Yan’s hand gently touched the remaining half of the skull, sliding back and forth on the side: “The skull is relatively thin, the muscle lines are not obvious, the forehead is vertical, and the top is flat. This should be a female deceased.”
“There’s a large pool of blood at the scene, flowing in a columnar pattern and seeping into the cracks in the ground towards the south.” Lin Yan stepped back. Since she had touched the deceased, she couldn’t touch the ground. She signaled for several assistant forensic pathologists to come and collect the blood traces.
“Dig up the soil along with it.”
With one scoop of the shovel, a large chunk of soil was uprooted and placed entirely into an evidence bag.
The others were wearing gloves, searching for bone fragments in the large pool of blood. This was crucial for later confirming the deceased’s identity and age.
Lin Yan bent down again, examining the half skull, muttering, “The wound shows clear signs of vital reaction…”
She raised her eyes and looked up. The broken railing on the rooftop was swaying precariously.
The truck driver had been apprehended. He was handcuffed, and as several criminal investigators questioned him, he cried and howled: “I really didn’t know there was a person here! I really didn’t know! It was so dark. I started work as usual at four-something, transporting building materials to the construction site. People often throw construction waste downstairs. I really didn’t think much of it!”
A man over six feet tall struggled forward, crying, his face flushed, with a prominent bulbous nose.
Song Yuhang walked over: “Test his blood alcohol content.”
“Open your mouth!” Several criminal investigators held him down and put the device in his mouth.
“Blow.”
The man blew lightly, and the reading on the device immediately soared to the peak.
A criminal investigator brought it over for her to see, indignant: “This bastard drank a lot last night. Look, his blood alcohol content is still so high. No wonder he ran over someone and didn’t even know it!”
The foreman next to him was trembling. Song Yuhang’s gaze shifted to him: “You discovered the body?”
The foreman nodded, stammering: “Ah… y-y-yes… it was me…”
“Don’t be nervous. Take your time and tell me what happened.” Song Yuhang signaled for someone to give him a cigarette. The foreman took it, his fingers trembling as he pressed the lighter. He took two deep drags before calming down, his voice still shaky.
“A little after five in the morning, I started work as usual…” He was still shaken by the memory. Song Yuhang interrupted him.
“Do you remember the specific time?”
The foreman thought for a moment: “I usually get up at 5:10. It should have been around 5:30. I was walking towards the construction site with my hard hat, and when I got to the front of the building, I… I discovered…”
He still felt weak in the knees remembering that scene.
Old Li, who was responsible for delivering building materials to the construction site, was an old acquaintance. He knew he liked to drink, but nothing had ever happened. The two even greeted each other warmly.
“Morning, Foreman Liu.” Old Li rolled down the car window, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth.
“Morning. You haven’t been drinking today, have you?”
“Beer, just a little?” The other person took out a bottle from the seat next to him and shook it at him. There were also some scattered peanut and melon seed shells next to it.
“No, no. I have to work soon. The boss will smell it.”
Foreman Liu stepped aside to make way for the truck, and then he heard a loud bang. He was unzipping his pants to urinate by the wall and even joked: “You’re drunk again, kid!”
Old Li steered the wheel backward, grumbling: “Damn it, which bastard dumped garbage here again? Don’t they know this is the only way for trucks to get in and out?”
He stepped on the accelerator, increasing the power to push through, but he kept feeling something bumping under the wheels.
He was in a hurry to unload, so he floored the accelerator and tried several times, back and forth, without getting out of the truck to look.
Old Li finished urinating, and the construction site’s floodlights turned on at that moment. The harsh white light shone over, and when he looked back, he was scared out of his wits and sat down on the ground!
Under the wheels were fragments of clothing. Blood seeped out from under the wheels. Half a skull had been squeezed out and flew away, as if he could hear the sound of muscles and bones breaking.
Foreman Liu didn’t even bother to pull up his pants. He stumbled up and rushed over to stop the truck.
“That’s what happened, Officer, Officer, it’s not my fault!”
Song Yuhang handed him paper and a pen: “Please leave your name and contact information. Fang Xin, come over and take a blood sample. We may need your cooperation in the further investigation.”
Fang Xin, as if granted amnesty, grabbed the examination kit and ran out of the bloody scene, efficiently taking blood samples from the truck driver and the eyewitness.
Song Yuhang’s gaze swept over. Lin Yan was still squatting in the pool of blood. She was unusually dressed in formal attire today, covered with a protective suit, her hair tied up, revealing the slender, fair nape of her neck.
Song Yuhang handed the notes in her hand to someone else, put on gloves, and walked over, squatting down beside her.
The examination platform was limited, so Lin Yan moved aside: “Something you need?”
Song Yuhang’s gaze was also somewhat unnatural, flitting across her face: “Uh… asking for the results.”
“The deceased is under eighteen, female. Based on the shape and color of the blood pool, the time of death should be around four o’clock this morning.”
Lin Yan finished speaking in one breath and walked to the other side, changing direction to observe the remaining half of the skull.
Song Yuhang followed: “Anything special?”
She pointed to the indented part of the skull, her fingertip rubbing out a bit of bone powder: “Comminuted fracture, consistent with the characteristics of a high-fall injury.”
Duan Cheng couldn’t take it anymore. After taking the photos, he leaned to the side: “Ugh…”
Lin Yan smacked her lips: “What a rare case. His psychological resilience is too weak. Captain Song, you should replace him for me as soon as possible.”
Song Yuhang looked at Lin Yan and then at Duan Cheng, seemingly considering the feasibility. Seeing her look, Duan Cheng, fearing she would find him useless, immediately stood up straight and said: “It’s okay, I can hold on!”
Her gaze turned back to Lin Yan’s face: “You’re saying she died from the fall, not from being run over by the truck?”
Lin Yan nodded. Knowing that Song Yuhang’s gaze was fixed on her, she didn’t meet her eyes: “Yes, the truck running over her at most caused secondary injuries. Looking at the degree of fracture of this skull, and that pool of blood—”
Song Yuhang followed the direction of her finger and looked over.
“—The soil there is obviously darker than here. It’s likely the place where she fell.”
“Can you determine whether it was a fall before death or after death?”
Song Yuhang walked over and touched the soil.
Lin Yan shrugged: “Difficult. In this state… I’ll take it back to the bureau and try to dissect it carefully.”
Song Yuhang straightened up, shading her eyes with her hand, and looked up at the rooftop: “I’ll take a few people up there to take a look.”
As soon as they entered the building, a smell of dust and cement rushed over them. The elevator hadn’t been repaired yet, so Song Yuhang led the people up the stairs to the sixth floor. There was an iron door between the rooftop and the staircase.
The door wasn’t locked and was swaying in the wind. Song Yuhang signaled the trace evidence personnel behind her to immediately step forward to collect fingerprints. Only after they were done did she gently push open the door.
The rooftop wasn’t large, and there was nothing on it, a scene of desolation. Several criminal investigators scattered to search for useful clues.
Song Yuhang went straight to the railing.
“Come, get this up and take it back to the bureau.” While Song Yuhang was searching for clues upstairs, Lin Yan was preparing to finish up below.
Duan Cheng looked at the pile of bone fragments and flesh with a look of utter despair: “How… how do we do this?”
“Nonsense, of course, we shovel it. Hurry up, and we can still make it back for lunch.” Lin Yan rolled her eyes impatiently, using a special small shovel to pick out some larger tissue fragments and bones from the pool of blood and put them into a body bag.
“…” Duan Cheng endured and endured, his face pale, finally suppressing the urge to vomit. He also joined the team shoveling the body.
Song Yuhang leaned out halfway, just in time to see Lin Yan lift the body bag onto the car. She looked down at the scrape marks at her feet.
“Ruler.” She squatted down and measured. The footprints were small, consistent with Lin Yan’s statement that the deceased was under eighteen.
The railing also showed no signs of deliberate damage. It was old and dilapidated, corroded by rain, with a layer of mottled rust. The moment her fingers touched it, it made a creaking sound as if it couldn’t bear the weight.
Song Yuhang followed the railing to the point where it was broken and found a tiny piece of cloth on it.
She put on gloves, picked it up, and put it in an evidence bag.
An officer ran over to report: “Captain Song, we’ve looked everywhere. There are no signs of a struggle on the rooftop. There’s only one person’s fingerprints on the door lock. We found this in the corner over there. It should have been blown over by the wind.”
He handed over a thin sheet of paper completely soaked by the rain. Song Yuhang carefully pinched it, fearing that if she used too much force, it would be destroyed in her hands.
She held it up to the examination light. The ink had been blurred considerably, and she could barely make out the first two characters: “Sui… cide…”1
Downstairs, Lin Yan took off her mask to breathe. Duan Cheng moved the body bag onto the car. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the injury on her face and immediately screamed: “Forensic Doctor Lin, how did that happen?”
Everyone’s eyes snapped over. Without thinking, Lin Yan kicked him: “I told you not to scream, I told you not to scream!”
Then, she furtively put her mask back on. The movement just now was too big and pulled at her cheek, making it hurt. Lin Yan grimaced and muttered: “How else? A dog bit it!”
Although she couldn’t hear what they were saying, seeing Lin Yan and Duan Cheng bickering, for some reason, she felt a faint sense of warmth even at this gruesome crime scene.
Song Yuhang withdrew her gaze. As far as she could see, the area outside the police cordon was already crowded with onlookers and the media.
“Yeah, what happened?”
“I heard a truck driver ran over someone, ran over them more than ten times. It’s a horrible death.”
“Why? What kind of grudge could lead to such a brutal act?”
“I heard from my brother-in-law who works on the construction site…”
The crowd buzzed with whispers, with all sorts of speculations. The media also pushed forward.
“We’re reporters, reporters! Please let us in to interview. We want to see your person in charge.”
The few junior police officers had never seen such a scene and couldn’t hold them back. Among the reporters, there was a short girl with dyed yellow hair. Seeing that the body bag had been carried out, she knew that this was an opportunity not to be missed. She seized a gap and slipped under a police officer’s arm, taking a flurry of photos of Lin Yan.
Miss Lin was blinded by the sudden flash. The reporter had already rushed in front of her, snapping several close-up shots of the body bag, and then thrust the microphone in front of her.
“When did this case happen?”
“Who is the deceased?”
“Does the police have any leads?”
…
A series of questions were thrown at her. Lin Yan narrowed her eyes. When her gaze met the reporter’s, the other person was clearly taken aback.
There was no helping it; Lin Yan had left too deep an impression on her.
That unforgettable face, and her agile skills.
She opened her mouth, wanting to call her, but she didn’t know her name.
Lin Yan frowned impatiently and waved her away: “Make way.”
She had beaten up too many people; she couldn’t remember who this was.
Other reporters, seeing someone break through the cordon, followed suit, unwilling to be left behind. Since she was the highest-ranking officer present, she was instantly surrounded.
“Officer, Officer, tell us about this case?”
“Officer, what progress has the police made so far?”
“Why did the murderer kill?”
Some even recognized her face from under the mask, and the crowd whispered: “It’s Forensic Doctor Lin, it’s her. Then this must be a major murder case…”
Lin Yan was about to leave, but those people followed her like ghosts: “Hey, Forensic Doctor Lin, Forensic Doctor Lin…”
Lin Yan was dizzy from being squeezed by these people. In the jostling, someone bumped into her, and she felt a dizzy spell. Fortunately, someone caught her from behind.
Lin Yan turned around, but it wasn’t the person she was familiar with.
“Forensic Doctor Lin, are you alright? You go first.”
Lin Yan nodded and slipped out of the cordon, leaving Duan Cheng and several assistant forensic pathologists behind to deal with the reporters’ questions.
Song Yuhang frowned. Seeing that she had safely exited the encirclement, she withdrew her gaze and prepared to go downstairs. But as she turned, she caught a glimpse of a person wearing a black hoodie. She was far away and only saw that the person wasn’t carrying a camera, so he clearly wasn’t a reporter. As a bystander, he also wasn’t talking to the people around him.
Years of criminal investigation work had honed her sharp instincts, and she suddenly turned around: “Binoculars.”
Her colleague handed her the binoculars. Song Yuhang carefully searched for the black figure in the crowd, but he had already disappeared into the sea of people, as if it had just been an illusion.
LP: Re-translated on March 24, 2025
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