Volume One: First Scroll
Reunion
“Hey, Chunan, long time no see.”
In the open space, the satellite phone had already been set up.
Zheng Chengrui fiddled with it for a while, then came over to call her: “Captain Song, it’s ready.”
Song Yuhang ran out of the house, picked up the walkie-talkie, pulled out the antenna, and directly dialed the operations and training room of the Jiangcheng City Bureau.
Zheng Chengrui was typing on the computer, making a real-time communication log.
The blue dot on the large screen in the operations and training room was flashing. Zhang Jinhai was pacing back and forth when the operator called out: “Captain Zhang, we have news from Captain Song’s team.”
Zhang Jinhai rushed over in a single bound: “Captain Song, you’ve been out of contact for a day and a night. If we hadn’t heard anything soon, we were about to send a rescue team to search the mountain.”
Song Yuhang laughed, but her expression was serious: “We had a bit of an accident, got trapped in the mountains. It happened to be raining heavily, and all the electronic devices we were carrying got waterlogged and malfunctioned. We only just fixed them today.”
Without much small talk, she cut straight to the point: “How did the arrest operation at the Beidou Industrial Park go?”
Zhang Jinhai rubbed his brow: “We startled the snake in the grass1, it failed.”
Song Yuhang thought to herself, as expected.
“It doesn’t matter. If he were that easy to catch, he wouldn’t be ‘White Whale’…”
Zhang Jinhai was taken aback, hearing an unprecedented sharpness in her tone.
“Captain Zhang, we’ve been played for so long, it’s time to close the net.”
“You mean…” His brain couldn’t quite keep up with her pace for a moment.
Song Yuhang continued: “We’ve obtained some clues here. Yu Xinye had a de facto marriage2 back when he was in Xiaohe Village. The woman’s name is Wei Fengzhen3. She once bore Yu a daughter. After the mining accident, his wife and daughter disappeared without a trace. I suspect she changed her name and left Qing’an County long ago.”
“Have someone investigate the Jiangbei Textile Mill. See if anyone has recently sent cotton quilts to the post office in Wuli Town. This place is remote, so it should be easy to find. Find that person and bring them back for a thorough interrogation.”
“Also, investigate Li Hai4 and Li Yang5. If I’m not mistaken, one of them must be the murderer.”
Not long after the call ended, several police cars drove out of the Jiangcheng City Bureau, speeding towards their destination.
Song Yuhang was also preparing to go down the mountain. Lin Yan was packing things in the house, putting the mechanical baton into her bag. Her hand fumbled inside the inner pocket of the backpack and took out a thumb-sized card reader6.
Song Yuhang walked in and knocked on the door: “Lin Yan, are you ready?”
She hesitated for a moment, then handed the card reader to her: “Here.”
Song Yuhang asked, surprised: “What’s this?”
Lin Yan slung the bag over her shoulder: “Criminal evidence.”
Song Yuhang’s pupils contracted: “You…”
Lin Yan gave a bitter smile: “I arrived earlier than you that day. I installed a miniature camera in Li Bin’s room. I originally intended to monitor him and record his statement, but I accidentally filmed myself… perpetrating violence against Li Bin. It’s my own fault for being too blindly confident, for failing to protect him.”
Song Yuhang clutched the thin memory card, her expression unreadable: “You could have destroyed it and pretended nothing happened. Why didn’t you…”
Lin Yan shook her head: “One must take responsibility for one’s own actions. There’s no reason for me to drag you down7 because I made a mistake. Someone has to take responsibility for Li Bin’s death. That person shouldn’t be you.”
Holding the card reader felt like holding a hot potato8 to Song Yuhang; she neither wanted to keep it nor let it go.
Lin Yan walked up and gently patted her shoulder, a faint, lighthearted smile touching her lips.
“Anyway, I’ve given you the evidence. How you handle it is your business.”
Song Yuhang turned back: “Is it possible it captured the murderer’s face?”
Lin Yan’s steps faltered, the smile on her face stiffening: “I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.”
Song Yuhang carefully tucked the card reader into her jacket pocket, buttoned it up, and only then looked up at her.
“This is the murderer’s evidence, not yours, Lin Yan. I believe you.”
Lin Yan was stunned. She said nothing, pushed open the door, and strode out.
Song Yuhang also lifted her foot to follow.
Hearing they were leaving, the grandma had dug up another large bag of sweet potatoes from the back mountain, dragging and pulling to stuff it into Lin Yan’s hands.
Lin Yan tried to refuse: “No, please keep them for yourself to eat…”
The grandma grew anxious, her eyes slightly red, muttering insistently.
Song Yuhang walked over, lifted the bag of sweet potatoes, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and comforted the old woman.
Lin Yan glanced at her, saying coolly: “The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention9, don’t take a single needle or thread from the masses, Officer Song.”
Song Yuhang pulled out the only two hundred yuan10 left in her pocket and gave it to the grandma: “I’m not taking, I’m buying.”
Lin Yan rolled her eyes and walked away.
Song Yuhang, carrying the woven plastic bag11, also waved to the grandma and turned to leave.
When they had walked out of the bamboo forest and looked back, the grandma was still standing in front of her house, tiptoeing and waving at them.
Lin Yan was deeply stung by this scene. She turned her face away and walked off. Song Yuhang caught up with her, and the two of them fell behind.
“Who knows when we’ll meet again? Why didn’t you go say goodbye?”
Lin Yan pushed aside the branches brushing her face and jumped down the earthen slope: “No need. We’re just ships that pass in the night12, anyway.”
Song Yuhang, dragging the large bag of sweet potatoes down the slope, was having some difficulty. She steadied herself against a tree, moving one step at a time, slightly out of breath.
“It’s precisely because we’re ships that pass in the night that it becomes all the more precious.”
Lin Yan, walking ahead, paused for a moment but didn’t turn back: “What’s truly precious isn’t the encounter.”
“Then what is it?”
“Reunion after a long separation.”
How many people in this lifetime can one only meet once?
The stars revolve, the seasons cycle, day and night alternate. This Earth has 510 million square kilometers, and China alone has 1.3 billion people.
Statisticians have calculated the probability of two people meeting. If you live to be eighty, you have about 29,200 days in your life. On average, you might meet about 1,000 people a day. Then the probability of meeting is 0.00487.
And to reunite with someone? That’s probably the probability of a comet hitting the Earth.
Ever since she turned eighteen, every birthday wish Lin Yan made was related to reunion. Although she knew it was impossible, she had wished more than once for the end of the world, for time to turn back, to return to the day she met her, and say:
“Hey, Chunan, long time no see.”
Perhaps as the investigation phase deepened, she encountered unprecedented dangers and obstacles, and she found herself thinking more and more easily of Chunan, of those past events.
As Lin Yan was lost in a daze, she heard Song Yuhang’s exclamation by her ear: “Watch out!”
She was standing on the next earthen slope. Song Yuhang, carrying the woven bag, lost her footing and slid down rapidly.
Song Yuhang wanted her to dodge, but without a second thought, Lin Yan rushed forward, using her body as a buffer between her and the rocks and trees.
Lin Yan was slammed against a pine tree, but the anticipated pain didn’t follow. Song Yuhang had cushioned her back with her hand.
“You…” Lin Yan couldn’t speak.
Yet, she smiled as she usually did. She didn’t smile often, and her smiles were faint, like the autumn afternoon sun—not intense, not dazzling, but always making people feel warm.
“You’re right, but I think just being able to meet is already remarkable. It’s precisely because we don’t know if we’ll ever meet again that each time, we must embrace life and embrace each other with all our might, as if it were the first time, trying our best not to leave any regrets.”
As they spoke, a team member below called out softly. Song Yuhang released her, leaving the meaning of her words for Lin Yan to savor.
Lin Yan leaned against the tree, the chattering of her teammates in her ears.
She looked up at the empty sky. A line of wild geese flew over the treetops, heading south.
Regrets…
Her current obsession with Chunan’s death, her inability to let it go, besides wanting to find out the truth, was there also an element of regret?
She thought, yes, there was. For the words unsaid, the things undone together all those years ago, she had regretted it for fourteen years, the best fourteen years of her life.
Now…
Lin Yan’s gaze fell upon that person.
She wore a black training uniform, no hat, her hair somewhat messily piled behind her ears, currently struggling to carry a large bag of sweet potatoes down the mountain.
Song Yuhang didn’t rush her, focusing on her own path, but suddenly felt the load in her hand lighten. Looking back, Lin Yan was helping her hold one side.
“Let’s go.”
A gentle curve appeared on Song Yuhang’s lips: “Okay.”
At the foot of the mountain, the police car was still parked by the roadside. The engine had been soaked in water overnight and was undergoing emergency repairs.
Song Yuhang took off her jacket, went to the ditch to wash a few sweet potatoes, and brought them back, wiping them again and again on her clothes before handing one to her.
“Here, they’re very sweet raw. Have some to tide you over, otherwise you’ll get motion sickness again.”
Just a bowl of goat’s milk in the morning definitely wasn’t enough.
Lin Yan looked at the water in the mountain ditch with some disdain: “Is it edible?”
“Why wouldn’t pure natural mountain spring water be edible?” Afraid Lin Yan wouldn’t believe her, she took a bite herself as a demonstration.
“See? Very sweet, crisp, and quenches your thirst.”
Lin Yan took it, half-believing, half-doubting, unable to bring herself to take a bite.
Song Yuhang couldn’t help but chuckle watching her, then reached out and took it back: “Alright, alright, you really have the constitution of a pampered young lady. Except when it comes to autopsies, where you’re not particular, you’re truly particular about everything else to an outrageous degree.”
She grumbled as she took out a tactical knife from her pocket and began peeling the sweet potato.
Lin Yan stood by, watching her busy herself: “Hey, you’re wrong there. I’m not particular during autopsies because I’m in full protective gear, all contaminants are isolated. If you asked me to touch a corpse bare-handed, I wouldn’t do it either. Besides, this is a wild environment. Can you see what microorganisms or bacteria are in the water? An upset stomach is a small matter, ingesting parasites is the big deal, Officer Song~”
She dragged out her words, and Song Yuhang chuckled, handing her the peeled sweet potato: “Fine, you’re the one with all the fuss. I shouldn’t discuss these things with a forensic doctor; it ruins the appetite.”
“And what about scrambled eggs with tomatoes, large intestine with knife-cut noodles, mung bean and fly stewed with brains, five-spice spare ribs? Care to learn about the four great dishes of the forensic world13?”
Lin Yan pursued relentlessly, determined to gross her out even if she couldn’t win the argument.
Her words made Duan Cheng recall those grotesque, colorful images under the microscope again. His face instantly turned pale, and he felt like retching.
“Captain Song, Captain Song, can’t you control her? Is she going to let anyone eat or not…”
Song Yuhang shrugged: “If I could control her, do you think I’d still be getting beaten up?”
Lin Yan couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her eyes curved, the corners of her lips lifted, and finally, a genuine smile, the first in days, appeared.
“Captain Song, a call from the City Bureau.” Zheng Chengrui called out.
Song Yuhang rushed over in a single bound, grabbed the car door, and pulled out the walkie-talkie from inside.
“Hello, Song Yuhang speaking.”
“Li Hai found? What?! Already dead?!”
The car was fixed, speeding along the winding mountain road.
Song Yuhang took out a notebook from her bag and was looking around for a pen when Lin Yan handed one over.
She didn’t even look up: “Thanks.”
The notebook recorded the newly acquired clues. Song Yuhang had written them down neatly, categorized, and in an easy-to-understand manner.
She spoke as she wrote, everyone listening with bated breath: “After Li Hai returned to the city from Xiaohe Village, he, also a medical school graduate, got a job at Jiangcheng City Hospital through family connections…”
At the mention of Jiangcheng City Hospital, something vague stirred in Lin Yan’s mind.
That dusk.
The woman sat on the sofa, dabbing her eyes with a tissue: “My husband passed away early, leaving us, a widow and orphan. If it weren’t for my son being critically ill, and me having to take care of him, I at least have to raise him to adulthood, otherwise I would have joined his father long ago.”
“What illness?”
“Uremia14.”
It was as if a bolt of lightning had split through the chaos.
Lin Yan blurted out: “I know who Wei Fengzhen is?!”
Song Yuhang also looked up at that exact moment: “If I’m not mistaken, Li Hai’s current wife, Wei Lihong15, is Yu Xinye’s former wife, Wei Fengzhen.”
Fang Xin finally caught on. The last time they went to the Jiangcheng City Hospital family courtyard16, they had a slight impression of this middle-aged woman named Wei Lihong. However, no one had thought deeply about it because their target profile at the time was middle-aged men over thirty. Who would have thought that a seemingly frail, single woman living alone with a child could also be inextricably linked to a serial murder case?
“Then what are you waiting for?! Hurry up and cuff her and bring her back to the station!” Lin Yan grew anxious, afraid the newly found clue would break off again.
Song Yuhang reached up and rubbed her brow. The mountain road twisted and turned, shaking everyone around, but she couldn’t lose her composure. She had to maintain a clear mind and rational thinking at all times.
“You just said, what illness does Wei Lihong’s son have?”
“Uremia.” Lin Yan repeated: “But her son’s illness can’t be a reason not to detain her, can it?”
Song Yuhang shook her head: “No, don’t you remember? The grandma said that Wei Fengzhen bore Yu Xinye a daughter back then. But after the mining disaster, she and her daughter both disappeared. Now, the child by her side is a son. Then… what about that daughter?”
Thinking of this, Lin Yan felt a inexplicable chill run down her spine: “Is she dead or…”
“We mustn’t forget, there’s still a key figure, Li Yang. He has also disappeared.”
At critical moments, Song Yuhang’s words could always help everyone dispel the fog.
“Let’s make an assumption. If that child didn’t die back then, she should be around twenty years old now. And most of the victims in the ‘White Whale Case’ are of a similar age to her. Is this some kind of accidental coincidence, or a deliberately designed part of the murderer’s plan?”
“Why did he design it this way? Why not harm or induce younger children? Whether mentally or physically, they should be easier targets.”
The murderer used psychological suggestion to kill, seemingly flawlessly17, but in reality, the more crimes committed, the more traces left behind.
Whether it was appearing at the scene during the “He Miao Case” at the beginning, or the gamma-hydroxybutyrate detected in the body during the later “Wu Wei Case”, all were guiding the police step by step closer to the truth.
Song Yuhang closed her eyes, immersing herself in that scenario: “If I were the murderer, why would I target teenagers? Why… why…”
“Teenagers are lively and energetic, the time when the human body’s metabolism is most vigorous. They have the strongest physiques, the freshest blood…”
“Most importantly… they are of a similar age to her!”
As if a single word had awakened a dreamer, Song Yuhang’s eyes snapped open, and she grabbed Lin Yan’s hand.
“Is uremia hereditary?!”
Fang Xin was a trace evidence examiner and also had a foundation in biology. She shook her head: “Probably not. The chances of it being hereditary are very small.”
Everyone’s gaze instantly turned to Lin Yan, all waiting for her authoritative answer.
Lin Yan rubbed her brow hard, recalling literature she had read abroad, pinching a red mark into her forehead: “The chances are very small, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Whether it’s hereditary depends on the cause. If it’s caused by a congenital kidney disease, such as polycystic kidney disease18, Alport syndrome19, etc., there is a possibility of it being hereditary.”
They didn’t quite understand the names of those diseases, but they understood the meaning. Song Yuhang grabbed the walkie-talkie.
“Hello, Song Yuhang speaking. Immediately take people to Wei Lihong’s house and protect her and her son. Yes, right now, immediately!”
The words she didn’t say were: any later, and it’ll be too late.
LP: Re-translated on May 12, 2025
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