Volume One: First Scroll
Autopsy
I won’t let you be alone again from now on.
Lin Yan switched on her penlight, her fingertips brushing past rows of refrigerated drawers as she searched for the name and number.
Song Yuhang, holding a flashlight, followed behind her and crouched down. “Here. This must be him.”
Pulling open one of the bottommost drawers, a blast of cold air hit her face, and Lin Yan shivered involuntarily. Before she could say anything, a jacket was draped over her shoulders, still carrying its owner’s warmth.
Lin Yan lifted her eyes to look at her. Song Yuhang had already stepped back, crouching nearby in a white short-sleeved T-shirt, as if afraid of being punched again.
The corners of Miss Lin’s lips curved imperceptibly. Although neither of them had met ‘Vulture’ in person, one was a criminal investigation captain, and the other was wealthy and influential; getting a photo of ‘Vulture’ himself was all too easy.
Although the body was already badly swollen, her forensic intuition instantly confirmed it for her: this person was ‘Vulture’.
Lin Yan took a small toolkit out of her bag, her mouth wasn’t idle either: “You’re a criminal investigation captain. If you want to investigate a case, just do it openly and properly. Why condescend1 to come to a place like this?”
Song Yuhang thought for a moment but still didn’t tell her about being put in confinement. “It’s a case directly under the Provincial Department. I can’t interfere.”
Lin Yan’s movement as she put on gloves paused slightly, then she went to lift the deceased’s eyelids. “Don’t you find it strange too?”
This time, Song Yuhang didn’t hide anything and nodded. “How did Scarface recognize you? Or was his target you all along?”
Unfortunately, the man was already dead. Otherwise, following this lead would definitely uncover more hidden dangers surrounding Lin Yan.
Lin Yan hadn’t thought much about this; she was used to it. Scarface wasn’t the first person who wanted to kill her, nor would he be the last. As the sole heir to the Jingtai Group, she had faced countless life-threatening dangers, both overt and covert. Otherwise, why would she have deliberately practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for self-defense?
What she cared about was something else: “Why were our movements exposed?”
As she spoke, her hands didn’t stop moving. Petechiae2 were visible beneath the conjunctiva3. Lividity4 was faint. Areas of skin apart from the lividity were pale white.
Lin Yan switched the penlight to its bright setting and used a cotton swab to extract a bit of mushroom-like foam5 from the deceased’s nasal cavity.
A vital reaction6. It was indeed death by drowning.
Song Yuhang watched her work, remained silent for a moment, then said: “I don’t know.”
A faint, mocking smile touched Lin Yan’s lips. “Seems this ‘ghost’7 is hidden quite deep.”
Song Yuhang shone the flashlight for her from the side. “Whether it’s a person or a ghost, I won’t let you do dangerous things like tailing someone anymore, and I won’t let you be alone again.”
Lin Yan chuckled, using a mouth gag to open the deceased’s oral cavity. “It’s not that serious…” She stopped mid-sentence, feeling the other person’s gaze land on her face. She subconsciously lifted her eyes to look, and their eyes met again. Song Yuhang’s lips were pressed tightly together, clearly not joking with her.
Lin Yan gave a dry laugh and swallowed the rest of her words. She wanted to pull her attention back to the corpse, but inadvertently glanced at the injury on the webbing between Song Yuhang’s thumb and forefinger. Two deep rows of teeth marks remained, the blood already dried.
Lin Yan looked away, somewhat uncomfortable. Song Yuhang also switched hands holding the flashlight, wiped the injured hand on her clothes again and again, and hid it behind her back.
The atmosphere instantly became strange again. Especially since, with the drawer being on the bottom row, both had to crouch with their heads almost touching. The proximity meant Lin Yan’s neck kept drifting, intentionally or not, right in front of Song Yuhang’s eyes, and Song Yuhang’s gaze, intentionally or not, kept landing on her. Lin Yan squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t examine the body like this. She gritted her teeth. “Song Yuhang, are you looking at the corpse or at me?!” Having not lifted that gauze earlier for a careful look, Police Officer Song was still preoccupied8 by it. Snapped back to reality by her words, she shot to her feet. “Ah… ah… I’ll go stand guard at the door.” With that, she started to walk out. Without the flashlight beam, the surroundings plunged back into darkness. Lin Yan flared up again. “Dammit, get back here and hold the light for me9!”
“Oh.” Song Yuhang rubbed her nose and resignedly turned back. This time, however, she behaved herself, no longer staring at Lin Yan’s neck.
Lin Yan examined the body from head to toe, not even missing the fingernail crevices. Song Yuhang watched her occasionally take new items out of the investigation kit, and chuckled. “You came quite well-prepared.”
Lin Yan rolled her eyes and ignored her. If Song Yuhang knew she had also built a professional dissection lab in her villa, her jaw would probably drop.
As they say about technical skills: miss three days of practice, and your hands become clumsy10. “Get an evidence bag for me.”
Song Yuhang held the flashlight in her teeth, rummaged through Lin Yan’s bag, found an evidence bag, opened it, and held it out. Lin Yan placed the cotton swabs, dipped in the mud and sand from under the deceased’s fingernails, inside. “Need to take this back and test if it’s algae or sediment from that river.”
Song Yuhang sealed the evidence bag and stuffed it back into Lin Yan’s bag, nodded. “Okay, but it can’t be done at the Ministry of Public Security’s directly affiliated Evidence Appraisal Center.”
Lin Yan’s hands didn’t stop moving. “Of course, I know that. Don’t worry about it; I have my own ways11. Hand me that fingerprint roller12.”
Song Yuhang rummaged in the toolkit and pulled out a steel rod about five centimeters long. Lin Yan took it and wrapped a layer of white paper around the rod, instructing Song Yuhang to apply ink to the corpse’s fingers. Although Song Yuhang didn’t understand the purpose, she did as told.
Since the deceased had been dead for some time, and had been stored in the cold vault for so long, the rigor mortis was difficult to relieve quickly. Extracting fingerprints was a problem. Lin Yan took the paper-wrapped fingerprint roller and rolled it along the finger, and the problem was readily solved13.
Song Yuhang couldn’t help but look at her with new eyes14.
Feeling the appreciative gaze on her, Lin Yan felt smug enough for her fox tail to wag to the heavens15. “How about that? Wasn’t a wasted trip, right?”
Song Yuhang nodded sincerely. “Coming early isn’t as good as coming at the right time16.”
“But speaking of which,” Lin Yan said as she used gauze to wipe the ink from the deceased’s fingertips, destroying the evidence17, “you’re a criminal police officer, what exactly can you tell from looking at a corpse?”
This question hit the mark. Song Yuhang was speechless. After a pause, she stammered: “The newspaper.”
Lin Yan was completely baffled18. “What newspaper?”
“The newspaper. It was today’s. No, yesterday’s.” Song Yuhang glanced at her watch—it was already past midnight—and corrected herself.
“Based on my years of experience as a veteran criminal investigator, I didn’t think this person would make such a low-level mistake. And… based on my understanding of you, if you sensed something was wrong, you’d definitely be eager to investigate19. So I came to try my luck.” She hadn’t expected the blind cat to actually stumble upon a dead mouse20, a case of unintentionally planting a willow and having it grow into shade21. Heaven knows how thrilled she’d been the moment Lin Yan charged at her waving that knife.
Lin Yan stared at her blankly, making the person before her rub her nose, somewhat embarrassed, averting her gaze under Lin Yan’s stare.
“You really are… really are one of a kind22.”
Song Yuhang gave a wry smile. “Nothing I could do. I couldn’t get in touch with you.”
Lin Yan raised an eyebrow. Speaking of which, for some reason, she started to mind it too. “Did you try to contact me? You clearly only came to see me at the detention center once, okay?!” After being rejected that one time, she actually never came again! Dammit, and here she was worrying about her injuries in vain! Lin Yan started grinding her teeth.”
Seeing the look in her eyes turn dangerous, Song Yuhang quickly waved her hands. “I really didn’t mean to stop trying! I even asked someone to look for you.” But it had been over a month, and the informant hadn’t relayed any news to her—nothing, whether found or not. Thinking of this, Song Yuhang’s heart skipped a beat, and the smile faded from her face.
Lin Yan had already turned her face away and snorted disdainfully. “Who knows about that, Officer Song.”
Song Yuhang wasn’t the type to proactively mention how much she had done for the other person. Besides, the incident of hitting someone at the detention center entrance wasn’t honorable, and she didn’t want Lin Yan to know. A trace of shyness also played a part. She didn’t try to explain further. Seeing Lin Yan take out a scalpel from the toolkit and about to cut, she grabbed her wrist and snapped sharply, “What are you doing?”
The scalpel hovered over the deceased’s chest. Lin Yan struggled. “An autopsy, what else? A surface examination alone can’t determine if he drowned before death or was thrown into the water after death.”
Song Yuhang didn’t yield an inch. “That’s not allowed either. Coming here tonight already crossed a legal line. We can’t keep making mistakes.”
Lin Yan laughed in exasperation. “He’s already dead. What’s this talk about lines? Worst case, I’ll just stitch him up after dissecting. Do you want to know the truth or not? Do you want to know how exactly he died, and who the mastermind23 is?”
Song Yuhang held tight, not letting her move at all. The slender wrist quickly reddened in her grip. Lin Yan gritted her teeth, forced to use her other hand to pry Song Yuhang’s fingers away.
“Of course I want to know, but not like this. Even if you stitch him up, it will leave traces. Once it’s discovered, Lin Yan, your career will be over.”
“None of your business! Let me go! Let go!” Lin Yan’s eyes reddened with anxiety and anger, roaring in a low voice and pounding fiercely against her. But the other person remained completely still24.
“Put the scalpel down first, then I’ll let go.”
Lin Yan panted heavily, her chest heaving. “Fine, I’ll put it down! I must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck25 to run into a stubborn mule26 like you!” As she spoke, she pulled her hand back towards herself, and Song Yuhang moved with her.
Lin Yan secretly reached underneath with her left hand and grabbed a hemostat27. A cold glint flashed as it came straight for Song Yuhang’s face to force her to let go. Song Yuhang was prepared and dodged by tilting her head. Intending to teach her a lesson28, she pulled Lin Yan’s wrist towards herself, making Lin Yan nearly fall halfway onto the corpse.
Gritting her teeth, Lin Yan braced herself against the drawer to pull back. Song Yuhang’s palm held that seemingly boneless and delicate29 wrist, which felt almost too smooth and soft. Her heart softened. Looking again at Lin Yan’s eyes in the darkness, they were clearly filled with unwillingness, grievance, and resentment. Perhaps she was truly furious; the corners of her eyes were red.
Song Yuhang pressed her lips together. She couldn’t bring herself to continue the fight. As this thought surfaced in her mind, the strength in her hand loosened, and she saw Lin Yan lose strength and fall backward. She couldn’t stop it in time.
When Lin Yan fell sitting on the ground, the instruments in her hand clattered sharply against the cold floor, like a time bomb dropped into a calm lake.
Song Yuhang could already feel the ripples vibrating fiercely. She quickly pulled the fallen Lin Yan up and hissed in a low voice, “Quick, let’s go!”
Lin Yan snapped back to her senses, quickly took off Song Yuhang’s jacket, and wiped the floor and the places they had just touched in a flurry of movements30, acting with practiced ease31.
“Wait, okay, quick, close the drawer door!”
Just as Song Yuhang closed the door, chaotic footsteps echoed outside the morgue. “Who! Who’s in the morgue?! Go, let’s check inside!”
She glanced around—there was nowhere left to hide. She dashed to the window in one stride, braced her shoulder against it, and pushed outward. Using all her strength32, it still didn’t budge.
Lin Yan limped over too, panting, “Don’t waste your energy. Morgue windows are usually sealed shut from the outside.”
Song Yuhang, refusing to give up33, slammed her shoulder against it hard a few more times. Not even a crack appeared. Seeing the footsteps were now right outside34, cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
“Then what do we do?”
Lin Yan rummaged through her bag. “Use this to break it.”
Song Yuhang weighed the window breaker35 in her hand, spat into her palms twice. “Stand back! Farther away!”
Crash— With a sharp sound, the glass shattered instantly. Song Yuhang’s hand was dripping blood. Ignoring it, she took the rope Lin Yan handed her, tied a dead knot36 around the window frame, and yanked it hard.
She glanced at Lin Yan’s leg. “Your foot…” She had noticed it earlier.
Lin Yan held a fruit knife, its back towards Song Yuhang, warily. Flashlight beams were already shining onto the morgue floor through the crack in the airtight door.
She was calm and composed. “I’m fine. You go first. Catch me down below.”
Song Yuhang nodded. Wasting no more time, she climbed onto the windowsill, gripped the rope, and looked at the back of Lin Yan’s head. “Wait for my command. When I tell you to jump, jump.”
Lin Yan nodded once. Casting a glance behind her out of the corner of her eye, Song Yuhang was already gone. The rope tied to the windowsill was pulled taut.
Lin Yan swallowed hard, a thin layer of sweat forming on her palms, so sticky she could barely hold the knife.
Just as the beeping sound of the airtight door started, a whistle came from downstairs. Lin Yan knew she had landed safely. She shoved the knife into the inside of her backpack, leapt onto the windowsill, and a sharp pain shot through her ankle.
Beads of sweat like soybeans rolled down her forehead. Lin Yan endured the pain, gripped the rope with both hands, and rappelled down rapidly.
The pursuers burst through the door. Sharp alarms blared throughout the entire factory area. Searchlights swept over.
Song Yuhang stood on the earthen slope below, arms outstretched, and shouted sharply, “Jump!”
Lin Yan closed her eyes and let go of the rope. Of course, she was nervous too. Even though she had already slid halfway down, there were still two stories left. What if Song Yuhang didn’t catch her? What if Song Yuhang ran off first… The consequences would be unthinkable.
However, she didn’t have to be nervous for long before she fell into a warm embrace.
Lin Yan instinctively wrapped her arms around her neck. Both had extensive military experience and knew how to mitigate the impact force to minimize injury.
The world spun around them37. Song Yuhang held Lin Yan’s head, pressing her into her own chest, using her own body38 to shield her from the dirt and stones raining down on them.
It was a slope inclined at nearly 35 degrees. Inertia sent them tumbling further down, allowing them to escape the pursuers.
Lin Yan was held tightly, unable to see anything. She only felt herself spinning an unknown number of times, her hands scraping painfully against the ground. But aside from her hands, she was completely unharmed.
Until Song Yuhang’s back slammed solidly against a large tree, and leaves rained down on them.
Lin Yan spat out the sand in her mouth, dizzy and disoriented. It took her a while to come back to her senses. “Song Yuhang?”
She called out once with no response, and her lips tightened instantly.
She was lying on top of Song Yuhang. The light in the woods was dim, making it impossible to see her injuries clearly. She could only see that Song Yuhang’s back was against a towering tree, her head lolled to one side, unclear if she had hit her head.
Lin Yan struggled to lift her upper body and patted her face. “Song Yuhang? Song Yuhang, wake up?”
Receiving no answer, her heart leaped into her throat.
The arms wrapped around her waist still hadn’t loosened. The end of Lin Yan’s voice trembled slightly as she cautiously reached out to check her breathing. “Song—”
Before she could finish, Song Yuhang coughed twice, choking up the congested blood in her throat. Her whole body seemed to relax considerably.
She sat up, still holding Lin Yan. Leaves fell from her hair. A smile played on her lips, her eyes shining brightly in the darkness.
“Cough… cough cough… I’m fine.”
Lin Yan slapped her across the face. “F%ck you! Playing dead again!”
Song Yuhang stood up, holding her face, looking aggrieved. “No… I really fainted just now… Really fainted… Let me explain!”
Lin Yan didn’t turn her head, dragging her injured leg as she limped down the hill. “Get lost!”
Song Yuhang followed closely behind her. “Don’t walk so fast, your foot’s swollen up like a proofed steamed bun39…”
“None of your business! Get lost!”
Ahead was a small steep slope. Lin Yan held onto a tree, cautiously testing her footing. Dirt tumbled down. She was suddenly pulled back.
Song Yuhang put one arm around her shoulder, the other around her waist, supporting her just like Lin Yan had supported her that day.
“Slow down, no rush. They can’t catch us.”
She rarely smiled, and when she did, two canine teeth40 showed, making her look sunny and cute. All she was missing was a tail wagging behind her as she tried to curry favor41.
Lin Yan snorted but didn’t struggle anymore. “What’s your zodiac sign?”
“Monkey. Why?” Song Yuhang tilted her head to look at her.
Lin Yan turned her face away, but the corners of her lips curved slightly upward. “I think you should be a Dog.”
LP: Re-translated on April 10, 2025
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