Miss Forensics – Chapter 54

Care

“Last night… really?”

“How could it be fake?”

“It’s too bad; I lost a year’s supply of spicy snacks.”

…

In the cafeteria, small groups of people were chatting.

Lin Yan walked to the door and sat down with a bowl of rice porridge. It is said that she was sociable and knew how to get along with people, and also that she preferred to be alone and didn’t like to join in the crowd.

Song Yuhang, a female, watched her walking away and took a steamed bun from a plate and followed her.

“Here.”

Faced with her kindness, Lin Yan sipped her porridge and didn’t reach out to take it. “I’m full.”

Song Yuhang had no choice but to take it back, but before she could say anything else, her phone in her pocket started vibrating. Regardless of whether she wanted it or not, she handed the steamed bun to Lin Yan and hurried to the side to answer the call.

Lin Yan looked at her stiff body and knew she was talking to someone, either Director Feng or Director Zhao.

The steamed bun she had in her hand was still warm and emitted the fragrance of wheat. Lin Yan took a bite and perked up her ears to listen to the conversation.

Song Yuhang moved her phone a bit further away, listening to the other person yelling, “Director Feng…”

The other person shouted, “You useless brat, hurry up and bring Lin Yan back to me! Do you know that even the local police station has filed complaints with the Disciplinary Inspection Commission?!”

It was as if she could feel the other person’s spittle flying through the screen, and Song Yuhang moved the phone a bit further away, somewhat disdainful. “As an official, I must sometimes act against my wishes…”

There was a three-second silence on the other end, and Song Yuhang quickly spoke up before the person could start yelling again. “Please listen to me…”

She glanced at Lin Yan and turned her back to her. “Dr. Lin may have employed somewhat aggressive methods to solve the case, but she hasn’t done anything unreasonable. If she had, why would I go out to pursue the person in black? We could have just arrested her on the spot.”

Feng Jianguo let out a cold laugh, picked up a teacup, took a sip to calm himself down. “I didn’t know you two were birds of a feather! Acting without proper authorization is unauthorized action. Who gave you the right to interrogate a witness in an excessive manner? Do you know that this is illegal?”

Song Yuhang stood up straighter. “Sir, Dr. Lin didn’t act without authorization. I sent her. As for excessive interrogation, I think that’s a stretch. At most, it was an aggressive method…”

She said it with a sense of righteousness.

Feng Jianguo slammed his teacup onto the table, causing tea to spill over, and he was trembling with anger. “Song Yuhang, listen to me, is what you’re saying even reasonable?”

Song Yuhang narrowed her eyes for a moment, as if she had made a significant decision. She had never revealed the true purpose of Lin Yan’s presence in Wuli Town.

“Anyway, since I am in charge of the criminal investigation and the head of the special task force, all of Lin Yan’s actions have been authorized by me. After the ‘White Whale Case’ is resolved, I am willing to accept any punishment from the organization.”

Song Yuhang hung up the phone, and Lin Yan shifted her gaze, casting a shadow on the ground in front of her. Song Yuhang crouched down and looked at her.

“Is it good?”

Lin Yan hadn’t taken more than a few bites of the steamed bun in her hand and didn’t look up at Song Yuhang. “There’s no need for this.”

“You’re at it again. Didn’t I talk to you about this last night?”

Lin Yan was momentarily taken aback and lowered her gaze.

Song Yuhang had initially wanted to pat her on the head, but the cafeteria was crowded, so she refrained.

“You still don’t trust me.”

Even a stone would warm up, but when it came to Lin Yan, her guard was stronger than anything, and distrust was her instinct.

Song Yuhang felt a bit disheartened, but she still didn’t say anything.

“Quick, eat. After you’re done, I’ll take you to see Li Bin’s body.”

Lin Yan only raised her head when she heard this. In no time, she stuffed the steamed bun into her mouth, choking and coughing. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she wiped her lips and stood up with a stammer.

“I, I’m done.”

* * *

The town’s funeral home had no air conditioning; it was essentially a morgue.

As soon as he stepped inside, Duan Cheng pinched his nose and backed out, taking a deep breath. He put on an additional layer of a mask before mustering the courage to go back in.

Lin Yan was already gloved up and conducting the autopsy. With her left hand wrapped in gauze, which was a bit inconvenient, Song Yuhang held the examination light for her.

“I stumbled upon him as he was about to escape through the window, and we came face to face…”

As Song Yuhang spoke, Lin Yan gently pressed Li Bin’s forearm, then opened his eyelids. “There are pinpoint-sized hemorrhages in the conjunctiva, and the facial skin has a bluish tint.”

After examining the eyeballs, Lin Yan’s hands gently pried open Li Bin’s mouth, and she leaned down to observe. “There are signs of bleeding in the mouth muscles.”

Duan Cheng hastily recorded the findings in his notebook.

When the examination light passed over, Lin Yan discovered a small clothing fiber on his broken and almost falling front teeth.

“A cotton swab.”

Song Yuhang handed her the item.

Lin Yan used a cotton swab to collect the thread and placed it in an evidence bag. “This is something from the perpetrator.”

The reason she was so confident was that, despite the short duration of their encounter last night, she not only had an impeccable memory but also had incredible eyesight. The perpetrator had worn gloves and was well-prepared; otherwise, how could there be no fingerprints left at the scene?

After this, she tore open Li Bin’s clothes, pressed on his chest, and Song Yuhang’s examination light followed.

“Dilation of veins and capillaries throughout the body, preliminary cause of death is asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen.”

In other words, he was suffocated to death while alive.

Lin Yan looked at him with a touch of sorrow in her eyes, her hands clenched into fists on the autopsy table.

Song Yuhang reached out and patted her shoulder. “Do you want to perform an autopsy?”

Lin Yan let out a heavy sigh. “No, the cause of death is clear. There’s no need for an autopsy. Let the old man rest in peace.”

After the group left the morgue, Song Yuhang asked the head of the local police station, “Does Li Bin have any other relatives at home?”

“No, he was on government welfare and divorced from his wife over thirty years ago. His son and daughter were taken by his ex-wife. He relied on the government for food, drink, and living after retirement.”

Song Yuhang nodded and offered him a cigarette. “In that case, let’s pay a visit to Li Bin’s former residence and go to Xiaohe Village in the afternoon. You’ve been very helpful…”

The police station head was pleasantly surprised and took the cigarette, lighting it up promptly. “No need to be so polite, Captain Song. I’ll make the arrangements right away.”

* * *

Li Bin’s home was not far from the police station, just about a hundred and eighty meters away. It was surrounded by fields, and coal trucks occasionally passed by on the road, causing dust to fill the air.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed. Song Yuhang removed the padlock, pushed the gate open, and entered. The yard was in a state of disrepair, covered in dry leaves, and there were several empty vegetable patches. There was nothing planted in the soil, and a pear tree in the corner of the yard had withered, leaving only bare branches.

This was a typical two-story rural building in the south. Song Yuhang assessed the courtyard while Lin Yan went straight into the main room. In the center of the main room was an altar dedicated to Guan Yu, but the incense was sparse, and the altar was covered in a thick layer of dust.

This investigation had nothing to do with the “White Whale Case,” which is why Song Yuhang had intentionally sent away the other team members.

“Judging by the level of decay in this courtyard, no one has lived here for at least a decade,” she remarked, her hands getting dirty from touching the furniture.

Lin Yan finished inspecting the main room, even searching the incense burner. “Don’t you find it strange? Li Bin was in his fifties over ten years ago, and it’s too early for him to be in a nursing home. He wasn’t even at the age for senile dementia, was he?”

Song Yuhang was taken aback and followed her into the inner room. “Are you saying someone forced him to act crazy and senile?”

Lin Yan thought of the way he had held her hand before he died, the gleam in his eyes when he heard she was a forensic expert, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness.

“I don’t know. I’ve been secretly investigating for so many years, and every time I feel like I’m making progress or about to make progress, I always feel an invisible force pushing me back to square one. I don’t know if this is fate or just random chance.”

“You’re a forensic expert and have received a Western education. You should be a staunch materialist, shouldn’t you? Do you believe in destiny?”

As Song Yuhang spoke, she picked up a photo frame from the bedroom nightstand and gently blew away the dust on it. In the photo, a family of four was smiling happily.

Back then, photography was limited to black and white, and she carefully examined the two men and two women in the picture. The man was likely Li Bin, and the woman was his wife, while the smaller figures were probably their children.

Song Yuhang was about to put the photo frame down but suddenly felt that the little boy in the picture looked familiar. She called out Lin Yan’s name.

“Take a look at this. Who does this look like?”

Lin Yan, upon hearing her, came over, picked up the photo, and examined it for a while, then furrowed her brows. “I can’t recall. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

The young boy in the photo was only about five or six years old, slim and small. His bright, intelligent eyes gave him a handsome and clever appearance, which was a common trait among good-looking young boys as Lin Yan remembered them.

Song Yuhang touched her nose, her throat feeling itchy from all the dust in the room, and she decided to put it down.

“Alright.”

After inspecting the two bedrooms, only the kitchen and the bathroom were left. The dry toilet in the rural area was connected to the pigsty, and the stench was overwhelming.

Lin Yan felt a bit disappointed. “Logically, as a veteran forensic expert who worked for several decades, there shouldn’t be nothing in his house. It’s strange not to find any work records or even a diary.”

Song Yuhang pondered for a moment. “Let’s keep searching. If Li Bin was pretending to be crazy and senile, he might have hidden something, even in such a small place.”

“In this tiny place? Where could he hide anything?” Lin Yan continued to search around. If they couldn’t find anything soon, they would have to resort to searching the pigsty.

Song Yuhang even looked behind the woodpile behind the house. As she moved some dry branches, a thumb-thick garden snake was startled, slithering out like lightning. She didn’t have time to dodge, and her index finger was bitten, causing her to let out a slight cry of pain. The bundle of firewood she was holding also fell to the ground.

Lin Yan heard the commotion and ran over. She only saw the creature that had bitten Song Yuhang swiftly retreat into the furrow of a field, its long patterned tail disappearing.

She broke into a cold sweat, her heart racing. In one swift movement, she dashed towards the field, while Song Yuhang took a couple of steps back and was steadied by someone.

“Why are you so careless?!”

“I…” Perhaps due to the pain, Song Yuhang’s face turned pale. She didn’t finish her sentence before Lin Yan’s actions froze her in place.

Lin Yan squeezed the area around Song Yuhang’s injured finger forcefully. Seeing only a small amount of blood seeping out, she opened her mouth and gently sucked on it.

An electric sensation swept from the tip of her tongue to her spine.

An indescribable pleasure lurking within the dull ache.

Song Yuhang’s throat moved slightly, and for a moment, she forgot to react, staring blankly as Lin Yan sucked out the pooled blood and spat it onto the ground, repeating the process until the wound returned to its normal color.

Lin Yan let out a sigh of relief and raised her head. There was still a bit of bloodstain on her lips, and her increasingly fair skin accentuated her stunning beauty.

Song Yuhang felt the lingering itch had crawled into her heart, causing her to be anxious and restless. Her entire body and soul seemed to be teeming with ants, agitating and stirring.

“It’s alright. Let’s go down the mountain now and get some antiviral serum…” Lin Yan tried to comfort her, but before she could finish speaking, she met Song Yuhang’s slightly dim gaze and was suddenly taken aback.

It was too familiar; it was the same expression she had seen in her eyes when they locked gazes last night. While Song Yuhang hadn’t fully comprehended her emotions towards her, there was already a desire within her.

Lin Yan felt a mixture of anxiety, anger, and frustration and couldn’t help but burst out in anger. “Song Yuhang, what are you always thinking about? People’s lives are at stake, don’t you know? You should hurry and…”

Seeing her get angry, Song Yuhang chuckled softly and her eyes and lips carried a sense of delight.

Lin Yan was getting more and more flustered.

“What are you laughing at?!!” Lin’s temper was about to explode.

Song Yuhang hugged her tightly, and her slightly amused voice rang in her ear. “I’m laughing at how you care about me but still put on a fierce face. Don’t you have the words ‘honesty’ in your life dictionary?”

Seeing her standing there for so long, saying so much, and still having the strength to hug her, Lin Yan finally realized that the snake was not venomous at all!

She figured it out and suddenly felt a bit agitated. “You knew all along that the snake wasn’t venomous, and you still… you made me… made me…”

She was so angry that she couldn’t find the words to express herself. Her instincts had driven her to rescue Song Yuhang without a second thought, but when she came to her senses, she felt her face burning with embarrassment.

Song Yuhang held her face and teased, “You said you didn’t care about me? You wanted me to go away, to die?”

She still remembered their argument from yesterday, and when it came to holding grudges, Song Yuhang was unparalleled.

Feeling the finger inching towards her lips again, Lin Yan smiled wryly and decisively stomped on it with her foot, even giving it a little twist.

Song Yuhang hopped away on one foot, hissing in pain. “Hiss… Hiss… You…”

Lin Yan let out a cold snort and turned to walk away. “You never change. Clean up your mind filled with perverted thoughts!”

Limping, Song Yuhang followed her and said, “No… listen to me… I’ve figured out where he might have hidden something…”

* * *

Song Yuhang, wearing gloves, reached into the hearth to scoop out ashes, while Lin Yan held a dustpan to collect them. Dust filled the air, and she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Cough… Have you recovered?”

“I’m fine now,” Song Yuhang replied. With one hand resting on the hearth’s edge, she reached deep inside and pulled out a half-burned book.

“I thought that since it’s something important, if Li Bin didn’t want it to be found, he might have destroyed it. So, I took a chance in the kitchen, and I actually found…”

She explained while brushing off the ash from the notebook and wiping her sleeve.

The notebook had a hardcover, but the pages inside had been mostly burnt.

Lin Yan flipped through it page by page, but most of it was incomplete. She handed it back to Song Yuhang with a hint of disappointment.

“It was a lot of effort to find it, but it doesn’t seem very useful.”

Song Yuhang took it back and continued flipping through the pages. “Fortune favors the persistent.”

While Lin Yan’s case didn’t yield any valuable clues, she noticed the three names, Yu Xin Ye, among the burnt pages with a keen eye.

She pointed to a yellowed, burnt corner of a page and said, “Look here. It says, ‘The blood type test of the deceased Yu Xin Ye and the blood relatives of Yu Xin Ye did not match, raising suspicion that the deceased may not be the actual person.’ What does that mean?”

Lin Yan shivered all over, took the notebook from her, and considered the text. At that time, when DNA testing wasn’t widespread, blood type testing was a relatively accurate method for identifying the deceased, especially in large-scale disasters.

“There are two possibilities: one, Yu Xin Ye didn’t die and they swapped the body, or two, there was simply an issue with the blood type test.”

As she finished speaking, a draft of air gently blew in, causing a slight chill in the warm afternoon of autumn.

* * *

As they set off towards Xiaohe Village, there were checkpoints and inspections along the highway in Wuli Town, Qing’an County, and Jiangcheng City.

“Stop, stop! Routine inspection. Show your ID and driver’s license.”

The driver grumbled as he got out of the car, “I’m in a hurry to get home. Why are they checking today when they never do it usually?”

“Quit the complaining and show your documents.”

Reluctantly, the man took out his identification. While the traffic officer checked his documents, a few other officers inspected his car. Once they found nothing suspicious, they allowed him to proceed.

“Damn it, wasting my time.”

Although he cursed, the traffic officers stepped back, saluting him as a gesture of apology, and watched him drive away.

Qing’an County.

“Officer, have your hospital recently received and treated gunshot victims?”

Upon seeing several armed detectives enter the hospital, the receptionist nurse immediately stood up and started searching through the medical records. “No…no… all the patients we’ve admitted in the past week are here…”

The medical records were meticulously detailed, containing information from patient names to causes and conditions, as well as the admission times. One detective remained at the reception desk, flipping through the records, while the others dispersed into the hospital.

At the end of the corridor, in the distance, the two men saw the police.

One of them took a step back, sat down on the steps, and held his shoulder, panting heavily, his face pale.

His companion helped him up, saying, “Let’s go to the next hospital.”

The man’s forehead was covered in large beads of sweat. He had lost a lot of blood, and the overnight exertion had left him completely exhausted. He licked his dry lips.

“No, the police are already becoming suspicious. It doesn’t matter which hospital we go to.”

“What about your injury?”

“Let’s go. I’ll figure it out myself…”

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