Autopsy
Lin Yan carefully illuminated the row of refrigerators with her flashlight, her fingertips grazing across them. She was searching for that name and number.
Song Yuhang followed behind her, holding a flashlight, and crouched down. “Here it is.”
Opening the bottommost refrigerator, a rush of cold air greeted them. Lin Yan shivered, but before she could say anything, a coat was draped over her shoulders, still warm from its owner.
She glanced up at Song Yuhang, who had stepped back and was now wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt, as if she was afraid of being scolded again.
A subtle smile graced Miss Lin’s lips. Although neither of them had seen “Vulture” in person, one was the captain of the criminal investigation team, and the other was wealthy and influential. Obtaining a photo of “Vulture” in person would be all too easy.
Although the body had long swelled beyond recognition, the forensic instincts kicked in instantly, confirming to her that this person was indeed “Vulture.”
Lin Yan retrieved a small toolbox from her bag, not missing a beat. “You’re a captain of the criminal investigation team. You could investigate the case openly and honestly. Why come to a place like this?”
Song Yuhang thought for a moment but still didn’t reveal the fact that she had been put under house arrest. “This is a case directly handled by the Provincial Bureau; I couldn’t intervene.”
Lin Yan’s gloved hands hesitated briefly as she lifted the deceased’s eyelids. “Do you find it strange too?”
This time, Song Yuhang didn’t hide anything and nodded. “How did Scarface recognize you? Or was he targeting you all along?”
Unfortunately, the person was already dead; otherwise, following this lead would surely have uncovered more dangers lurking around Lin Yan.
As for Lin Yan herself, she didn’t dwell on it too much; she had grown accustomed to it. Scarface wasn’t the first person who wanted to kill her, and he wouldn’t be the last.
As the sole heir of the Jingtai Group, both openly and covertly, she had encountered countless life-threatening situations. Otherwise, why would she deliberately practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for self-defense?
What concerned her was something else. “Why was our whereabouts exposed?”
While speaking, her hands didn’t stop moving.
The conjunctiva beneath the eye exhibited visible hemorrhaging, the lividity was faint, and apart from the lividity, the skin was pale.
Lin Yan switched the flashlight to a high-intensity mode once again, took a cotton swab, and scraped off a bit of mushroom-like foam from the deceased’s nasal cavity.
Based on the physical evidence, it was indeed a case of drowning.
Seeing her busy at work, Song Yuhang remained silent for a moment and then said, “I don’t know.”
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A slight, ironic smile played at the corner of Lin Yan’s lips. “It seems this ‘ghost’ is still hiding quite well.”
Song Yuhang stood by, providing illumination with a handheld flashlight. “Whether it’s a person or a ghost, I won’t let you undertake dangerous tasks like tracking or be alone in the future.”
Lin Yan chuckled and opened the dead person’s mouth using a mouth opener. “It won’t be that extreme…”
She paused in the middle of her sentence, sensing the person across from her staring at her face. Subconsciously, she looked up, and their eyes met. Song Yuhang’s lips were tightly pursed, clearly not joking.
Lin Yan forced a dry laugh twice and swallowed the rest of her words. She tried to refocus her attention on the body but accidentally glanced at the wound on Song Yuhang’s wrist, where two deep bite marks were visible, with dried blood around them.
Lin Yan felt a bit uncomfortable and turned her face away. Song Yuhang switched her flashlight to the other hand, nervously wiping her injured hand on her clothes, concealing it behind her back.
The atmosphere suddenly took on an eerie quality.
Particularly unsettling was the fact that in the bottom row of this refrigerator, both individuals could only crouch with their heads close together. Lin Yan’s neck seemed to unintentionally edge closer to Song Yuhang’s gaze, and her eyes, too, seemed to inadvertently glance at herself.
Lin Yan closed her eyes; it was impossible to continue examining the corpse in this situation.
She clenched her teeth and said, “Song Yuhang, are you looking at the body or at me?!”
Having not lifted the piece of cloth to examine it closely, Officer Song was still lost in thought. But Lin Yan’s words snapped her out of it, and she quickly stood up, stammering, “Uh… I’ll wait by the door.”
She was about to walk away, but with the flashlight gone, the surroundings plunged into darkness.
Lin Yan got angry again. “Damn it, come back and shine the light for me!”
“Oh,” Song Yuhang touched her nose and obediently turned back. However, this time, she was much more well-behaved and no longer stared at Lin Yan’s neck.
Lin Yan thoroughly examined the body from head to toe, not even missing the nail crevices. Song Yuhang watched as she occasionally took out new items from the investigation kit and chuckled, “You came pretty well-prepared.”
Lin Yan rolled her eyes and ignored her. If only she knew Lin Yan had a professional autopsy lab set up in her villa, she’d be jaw-dropped.
They say that for technical skills, if you don’t practice for three days, you’ll get rusty.
“Get me an evidence bag.”
Song Yuhang held the flashlight in her teeth and rummaged through Lin Yan’s bag, then handed an evidence bag to her.
Lin Yan placed the cotton swabs with the mud and sand from the deceased’s fingernails into the bag. “We need to take these back for analysis to determine if it’s water algae or sediment from that river.”
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Song Yuhang sealed the evidence bag and placed it back in Lin Yan’s bag, nodding. “Alright, but we can’t have it analyzed at the Public Security Bureau’s direct forensic assessment center.”
Lin Yan’s hands didn’t stop moving. “Of course, I know that. Don’t worry about it; I have my own connections.”
“Give me the fingerprint inkpad.”
Song Yuhang retrieved a steel rod from the toolbox, about five centimeters long. Lin Yan took it and wrapped a layer of white paper around the rod. She then instructed Song Yuhang to apply ink to the deceased’s fingers.
Although Song Yuhang didn’t quite understand the purpose, she complied.
Due to the fact that the deceased had been dead for some time, coupled with the prolonged storage in the freezer, rigor mortis was unlikely to ease anytime soon, making fingerprint extraction a challenging task.
Lin Yan rolled the fingerprint inkpad wrapped in white paper down the deceased’s finger, and the problem was swiftly solved.
Song Yuhang couldn’t help but be impressed.
With an appreciative look directed at her, Lin Yan could practically raise an eyebrow triumphantly. “How about that? Wasn’t this visit worthwhile?”
Song Yuhang nodded earnestly. “Early or late, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.”
“But speaking of which,” Lin Yan continued, “what can a criminal investigator like you discern from looking at a corpse?” She used a cloth to wipe the ink from the deceased’s fingertips, erasing all traces.
This question hit the mark, leaving Song Yuhang at a loss for words. After a moment of hesitation, she stammered, “A newspaper.”
Lin Yan was puzzled. “What newspaper?”
“A newspaper, from today, no, yesterday,” Song Yuhang checked her watch. It was already past midnight, so she corrected herself, “Yesterday’s newspaper.”
“From the perspective of a seasoned detective with over a decade of investigative experience, I didn’t believe this person would make such a basic mistake. And… based on what I know about you, if you sensed something was amiss, you would be eager to investigate it immediately. So, I decided to take a chance.”
Unexpectedly, the blind cat did find a dead mouse, so to speak. It could be seen as a fortunate accident.
Heaven knows how excited Song Yuhang was at the moment when Lin Yan charged at her with a knife.
Lin Yan stared at her in a daze, causing the person in front to feel a bit embarrassed as she touched her nose and averted her gaze under Lin Yan’s scrutiny.
“You really are… quite unique.”
Song Yuhang forced a smile. “I had no choice. I couldn’t get in touch with you.”
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Lin Yan raised an eyebrow, feeling somewhat irritated for some reason. “Have you even tried to contact me? You only visited the detention center once, you know?!”
After that one time when she was rejected, she never came back!
Damn it, Lin Yan had been worried about her injuries, and now she was grinding her teeth.
Seeing that her expression had taken a wrong turn, Song Yuhang quickly waved her hand. “I really didn’t. I even asked someone to look for you.”
But it had been over a month, and there was no word from the informant. Whether they found something or not, there was nothing.
As Song Yuhang thought about this, her heart sank, and her smile faded from her face.
Lin Yan had already turned her face away, and she let out a disdainful snort. “Well, who would know, Officer Song.”
Song Yuhang wasn’t the type to boast about how much she had done for someone, and besides, she didn’t want Lin Yan to know about the unsavory incident of the fight at the prison entrance. There was also a hint of shyness creeping in.