Miss Forensics – Chapter 97

Volume One First Scroll

Dawn

“You die, you die, if you die, Yuhang will be mine!”

“Young Master, this is bad!” A subordinate ran in hurriedly, and after whispering something in his ear, the man’s expression changed in an instant.

“What?!” The view cut to the lumber mill, revealing a scene of thick, rolling smoke. The workshop had been bombed, and the entire factory area had turned into a sea of fire.

He collapsed back into his chair, grinding his teeth. Lin Yan, you’d actually go this far for Song Yuhang. You don’t even want your own life anymore?

This was so unlike the her he knew.

“Lao Zheng, what’s the situation?” Duan Cheng paced anxiously by his side.

Zheng Chengrui piloted the drone over the fire. The screen was filled with nothing but smoke; visibility was zero.

He shook his head, his forehead beaded with sweat.

“No good. I can’t see a thing.”

Duan Cheng gritted his teeth and was about to charge in, but Fang Xin grabbed him and pulled him back. “Are you crazy?! Lin-jie told us to wait for her here. If she gets out and needs rescue, who’s going to be here for her?!”

“But…” Duan Cheng still wanted to argue, but when he saw the tears welling in the other’s eyes, his heart trembled. He couldn’t get the rest of his words out. He buried his head and squatted down, clawing at the dirt on the ground.

“You can track by following traces, Lao Zheng can use a drone and crack firewalls. I’m the only one… I can’t do anything. I can’t help at all.”

Fang Xin knew how terrible he felt and was also worried about the three people inside. She squatted down beside him and gently patted his back.

“It’ll be okay. Lin-jie will definitely make it out.”

---

After the shockwave of the explosion passed, Ji Jingxing was choked awake by the thick smoke.

Lin Yan was still lying on top of her. With some effort, she rolled the woman over. With a push, Lin Yan fell onto her back on the ground, her face blackened and dazed by the smoke, her exposed skin covered in wounds.

Ji Jingxing took one look and couldn’t bear to look again, hurriedly helping up Mother Song beside her.

“Mom, Mom, wake up.”

When the explosion hit, Lin Yan had used her own body to shield them from the bulk of the shockwave. As a result, Mother Song was completely unscathed. She quickly regained consciousness, coughing violently, her eyes streaming with tears from the smoke.

“Cough, cough…“

Ji Jingxing helped her to her feet and surveyed the sea of fire. The passage that had just been blasted open was still there.

“Mom, let’s go. We have to go now.”

Mother Song stumbled as she was pulled along, turning back to call out tremblingly, “Yanyan…”

Lin Yan lay on the ground, her face deathly pale and completely unconscious. The ravaging tongues of flame were already licking at the ends of her hair.

Ji Jingxing glanced back at her in the inferno. In such a scorching environment, every fine hair on her body curled up from the intense heat. If they didn’t leave now, they would all die here.

She looked at Mother Song, and as if making a momentous decision, pushed Mother Song over to the steel door. That was the secondary explosion zone; the shockwave had cleared everything around it, so it was relatively safer.

“Mom, you stay here. If I don’t come back out in a little while, you go out, walk straight, and turn right. There’s a side door. Lin Yan’s friends will be there to meet you.”

She squeezed Mother Song’s hand, her eyes filled with hot tears. “Mom, take good care of Xiao Wei.”

With that, she kicked off her high heels and, ignoring Mother Song’s cries, plunged back into the sea of fire without a single look back.

Her bare feet stepped onto the scorching floor, a heart-piercing pain.

With every step, beads of sweat the size of soybeans formed on Ji Jingxing’s forehead. She gritted her teeth, holding back tears, and crossed a mountain of knives and a sea of fire to run to her side. She took off her overcoat to beat out the flames on Lin Yan’s body, then dragged her up from the ground, shaking her by the shoulders.

“Lin Yan, wake up, wake up!”

Lin Yan’s head lolled. As Ji Jingxing supported her by the shoulders, her hand came away sticky. A look in the firelight revealed it was covered in blood.

She was wearing black, so the bleeding wasn’t visible, and she was so agile that Ji Jingxing had thought she was fine. But now, pulling back her clothes, she saw a wound so deep the bone was visible.

No matter what prejudices she held against her, a sliver of compassion finally surfaced.

Ji Jingxing bit her lip. Seeing that she was still unconscious, she raised her hand and viciously slapped her across the face.

“Lin Yan, wake up! Don’t think you’re so great for saving me! I’m telling you, this whole thing started because of you! If anything happens to Xiao Wei, I’m f#cking not done with you!”

“You die, you die, if you die, Yuhang will be mine!”

Ji Jingxing roared, shaking her by the collar. It was a rare sight to see the typically poised and gentle woman spit out profanities.

The slap was both fast and vicious. It caught Lin Yan completely off guard, making her head snap to the side. She spat out a mouthful of clotted blood, literally shaken awake.

Lin Yan grabbed her by the collar and shoved her away. “In your f#cking spring and autumn dreams¹. If you all hadn’t gotten into trouble, I’d be f#cking engaged by now. F#ck.”

She hissed softly, wiping the blood from the corner of her lips with the back of her hand. Damn, that woman is vicious.

Seeing she was awake, Ji Jingxing, despite having done it to save her, felt a pang of embarrassment. In her thirty-some years as a proper lady, she had never done something like slapping a person without a word of explanation.

“It’s good that you’re awake. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Lin Yan knelt on the ground, fumbling around. “You go first.”

Ji Jingxing stomped her foot in frustration. “What are you looking for?!”

“My baton, my baton…” Lin Yan muttered, her eyes so irritated by the smoke she could barely open them, her fingers feeling across the scalding hot floor.

“Are you insane?! You’re about to die, who cares about some stupid baton?!” Ji Jingxing, exasperated, came to pull her, only to be shoved away again.

Lin Yan crawled forward on her knees, heedless of the heat, and with both hands, she picked up a fire poker that had been scorched jet-black. Tears welled in her eyes, but the corners of her lips curved into a smile.

She gripped it in her hand, and that familiar, grounding sense of security returned.

Lin Yan shoved it into the belt at the small of her back, then grabbed Ji Jingxing and started running for the exit.

“Go!”

They picked up Mother Song at the door, and the three of them supported each other, stumbling and crashing their way out.

The flames lit up the sky, and the crackling sound of burning wood was everywhere. Fire flowed across the ground wherever they passed, and a beam from the roof fell down.

Lin Yan looked up, her pupils contracting. She pushed the two women forward. “Go!”

A massive force came from behind. She stumbled and slid forward. When she looked back, she saw Jingzhe using his back to block the collapsing wooden pillar for her.

“Jingzhe!”

“Miss, go!” Jingzhe yelled, trying desperately to arch his body up, but the pillar was too heavy. He suddenly raised his head, and his gaze fell upon her running back.

Lin Yan used every last ounce of her strength², and together they strained, pulling him out from under the beam.

“If we go, we go together!”

“Lao Zheng, can you go any lower?” Duan Cheng urged from the side. Zheng Chengrui was already chubby, and with this urging, he grew anxious, panting for breath and sweating more than anyone else.

He tried his best to lower the drone a little more. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he shot to his feet, remote controller in hand.

“Got them, got them! They’re coming out!”

Duan Cheng sprinted over in a single bound, carrying them out of the side door one by one.

The last one was Lin Yan, with Jingzhe supporting her by the shoulder. Her face was grimy with smoke and fire, long stripped of its pretty features. But when she saw the faint light of dawn outside, her eyes were scorching hot.

She did it.

Song Yuhang, wait for me, wait for me. Whatever you do, don’t give them the U-disk³. Whatever you do.

As Lin Yan thought this, she pressed her lips together tightly, her eyes growing slightly moist.

“Here, have some water, wash your face. Then we’ll take you to the hospital.” Fang Xin took a few bottles of mineral water from the car and handed them to Ji Jingxing and Mother Song, then had Duan Cheng bring over the first-aid kit.

“Auntie, are you injured anywhere?”

Mother Song shook her head. Fang Xin checked her over. Although the old woman only had a few bruises and minor whip marks, after such a great ordeal, her spirits were clearly flagging and she was not as energetic as before.

Ji Jingxing was actually in better shape. Besides the burns on the soles of her feet, there were no major issues.

Fang Xin applied some burn cream for her. Ji Jingxing reached out and took it. “It’s fine, it’s fine, I can do it myself. Thank you. So you’re the friends Lin Yan mentioned.”

She had thought it would be more of her subordinates. This was rather surprising.

As they were talking, the person leaning against the car let out a muffled groan of pain.

Jingzhe tore open her clothes and poured iodophor onto the wound.

“Miss, bear with it.”

Jingzhe glanced at her. Lin Yan was biting down on a white towel, large beads of sweat on her forehead, her body tensed into a straight line, her hands propped on the ground, helplessly clawing at the dirt.

From the pain, she was forced to throw her head back and gasp for air, the veins on her neck bulging.

Ji Jingxing glanced over, her heart pounding. She looked again. Letting a strange man treat her wounds like this? Isn’t she about to get engaged?

So unladylike.

She wasn’t even sure who she was feeling indignant for.

Lin Yan met her gaze, weakly turning her head. She lifted her chin slightly, her eyes defiant, and raised a middle finger.

The meaning was clear: We’re not done with that slap you gave me.

Jingzhe wrapped the gauze under her armpit and tied it in a tight, dead knot. Lin Yan let out a muffled grunt, a large bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. She spat out the towel in her mouth and kicked him square in the chest.

“F#ck your mother, would it kill you to be a little gentler?”

Jingzhe stumbled back a few steps, clutching his chest as he stood up. His red hair was particularly striking in the dark night. He gave a slight nod as an apology and turned to leave.

Lin Yan pushed herself up against the car and pointed a finger in Ji Jingxing’s direction. “Wait. Take them with you.”

With that, she started to climb into the car.

Ji Jingxing took a few steps after her. “Xiao Wei still hasn’t been found. I can’t leave.”

Lin Yan’s fingers gripped the car door as she looked back at her, then at Mother Song. She nodded. “Jingzhe, take Auntie to the hospital.”

“Jingxing, Yanyan…” Mother Song was helped past them, and Fang Xin followed.

She knew well that if she stayed, she would be of no help and would only get in the way, so she said:

“Lin-jie, I’ll go with this…” She glanced at the red-haired man. “This red hair to take Auntie to the hospital.”

With a familiar face around, Mother Song should feel more at ease.

Lin Yan nodded. “Okay, go on.”

She glanced at Duan Cheng, who had climbed into the driver’s seat. “Lin-jie’s hand is injured. I’ll drive.”

Ji Jingxing walked forward and took Mother Song’s hand. “Mom, don’t be afraid. We’re all out. Once I get Xiao Wei, we’ll come see you together.”

Tears glistened in Mother Song’s eyes. She looked at her, then at Lin Yan. Lin Yan gave her a gentle nod.

Mother Song pulled her over too, and the three women’s hands clasped together tightly, even though two of them were still not seeing eye-to-eye.

Mother Song squeezed their hands firmly, choking up. “Yanyan, this time, Auntie owes you my life. From now on, you’re my own daughter. If Yuhang treats you poorly, I’ll break her legs and kick her out of the house.”

Finally, she added a warning, “You two… must be careful.”

After saying her piece, she was finally helped away by Fang Xin.

Once they were gone, Lin Yan pulled her hand back, opened the car door, and sat inside, telling Duan Cheng to drive.

Not to be outdone, Ji Jingxing followed her in. Zheng Chengrui sat in the back, tracking Song Yuhang’s car with his laptop the entire time.

“She’s entered the Yeling Mountain Tunnel.” On the screen, the fleeting image of her Audi flashed by.

Zheng Chengrui hit the pause button.

Duan Cheng turned his head to look at her. “Lin-jie, can we still make it?”

Ji Jingxing also leaned forward nervously, gripping the back of the front seat.

This night would eventually pass. The moon was about to set in the west, and a haze was already showing in the east. The vehicle sped through the mountains as if galloping through a sea of clouds. On both sides, green mountains and ancient cypresses loomed like ghostly shadows.

The sky would eventually brighten, but Lin Yan didn’t know if, should they fail to save Xiao Wei, the light of hope in everyone’s hearts would ever ignite again.

She let out a heavy breath. “I don’t know.”

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“Young Master, the Jackals are in position.”

After the Yeling Mountain Tunnel was the Wanghai Bridge, which connected Yeling Mountain and Changdao⁴. It was already built and scheduled to officially open for traffic next month. Crossing the bridge meant leaving the province and the mainland; pursuing the culprit then would be exponentially more difficult.

Under the cover of night, a sniper climbed a lighthouse near Yeling Mountain, the black muzzle of his gun aimed at Wanghai Bridge.

The man’s voice came through the earpiece, a faint “Mm.” “Make sure to kill them all, leave no one behind.”

“What about the two kidnappers?”

The man chuckled. “Heh, fifty thousand in ghost money⁵. They can save it to spend in the underworld.”

The call was cut off.

The sniper opened his scope. In his sights, a white Audi drove over, directly knocking away the triangular warning sign on the bridge. It skidded for a long time on the slick, snow-dusted road before slowly coming to a stop in the middle of the lane.

Song Yuhang opened the car door and got out, holding up the folder in her hand. “Here’s what you want. Let the person go.”

Hearing her shout, the man pushed a small child out from behind a shipping container.

“Let me inspect the goods first.”

“There’s no computer, no speaker. How the f#ck am I supposed to let you inspect the goods?” Song Yuhang gritted her teeth, watching him hold Xiao Wei by the neck. Xiao Wei’s head was lolling, completely unconscious, her face pale.

The man, holding Xiao Wei with one hand, used the other to pull a speaker from the shipping container and threw it at her feet.

“Play it for me.”

The blue speaker rolled past her feet. Song Yuhang didn’t pick it up.

“You’re f#cking with me. You promised to release all three of them, didn’t you?”

The man paused. In the darkness, Song Yuhang saw his lips move, but he didn’t speak.

Then, the man said, “You play it first. After I confirm it’s real, I’ll naturally have my brother release them.”

She tilted her head, studying his face. A full beard, shifty-eyed. He looked familiar, like she’d seen him somewhere before.

Isn’t he that human trafficker from the train station incident a while back, the one wanted by the police?

Song Yuhang remained impassive. Seeing Xiao Wei was like taking a calming pill.

She could now confirm that Ji Jingxing and Mother Song were being held in a different location, not with Xiao Wei.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have needed to pause and think about what to say.

The only variable now was Lin Yan. With her intelligence, she should have immediately guessed something was wrong the moment she saw that text message. The only thing she couldn’t guess was, what would Lin Yan do?

Would she get on the plane directly?

Would she go save Ji Jingxing and Mother Song?

This doubt only lingered in her mind for a moment before she dismissed it.

Lin Yan will go.

But her feelings were complicated. Saving them would be a trial of fire and blades. Song Yuhang both wished for her to look out for herself⁶ and didn’t want to see her family get hurt. This contradiction made her clench her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms.

She knew her chances were slim. She could only go all-in, stall for time, make the enemy lower his guard, and seize the opportunity to subdue him in one move and save Xiao Wei.

“My family’s lives are in your hands. How could I possibly try to fool you with a fake? The fact that I came here already shows my sincerity. I hope you can show some sincerity as well.”

She raised her hands. “Let the child go first. I’m just an unarmed woman, easy to negotiate with. I’ll just go with you.”

The man swallowed, seemingly at a loss for how to answer.

A roar came through his earpiece: “Idiot! She’s stalling for time! She’s no unarmed woman, don’t let her get close to you!”

The man pulled a gun from behind his back and yelled at her, “Don’t come any closer! Or I’ll shoot!”

Song Yuhang stopped in her tracks. “Okay, okay, I won’t come closer.”

From this distance, she wasn’t confident she could take him down in one move.

That black muzzle was a serious threat, whether to her or to Xiao Wei. She had to find a way to deal with it.

“Play your U-disk for me!”

The opportunity had come.

Song Yuhang bent down, picked up the blue speaker, opened the folder, and took out a black U-disk. Then she casually tossed the paper bag, which did a twirl in the air before drifting into the sea.

The man watched her open the speaker, insert the U-disk, and then press the play button.

“I, Guo Xiaoguang, son of Zhu Yong, ID number…”

Song Yuhang pressed pause. “Can you release her now?”

The man nodded. “You can. Put the speaker on the ground and kick it over.”

For some reason, Song Yuhang felt that his speech and actions were extremely stiff, like a string puppet. He always seemed to need a moment to buffer, especially when speaking, which came in fits and starts.

She frowned, feeling that something was not right about this. She slowly bent down, preparing to place the speaker on the ground.

The man watched her movements without blinking, swallowing hard, his palm holding the gun slick with sweat.

In the distance, the faint sound of a steam whistle came from the sea’s surface.

Song Yuhang’s eyes lit up. “My friends are here for me!”

The man turned his head in a panic. Song Yuhang swung her arm fiercely, hurling the speaker at him. It hit him square on the forehead. Blood sprayed from his nose, the gun fell from his limp hand, and he stumbled back a few steps.

She lunged forward in a single bound. Before she could pull Xiao Wei behind her, a short, stout figure rushed out from behind the container, swinging an iron rod straight at her head.

F#ck, two of them. I miscalculated!

She couldn’t dodge in time and was struck hard on the back of the head. She collapsed to the ground, and when she reached up to touch it, her hand came away covered in blood.

Song Yuhang performed a carp jump to get back on her feet, immediately met with a vicious and ruthless whip kick. The short, stout man was sent flying, crashing into a container. Steel materials clattered and scattered everywhere.

Seeing the situation was bad, the tall, thin kidnapper lunged for the gun on the ground. Song Yuhang did a side slide, tripping the man and kicking the gun far away at the same time.

He then went to grab Xiao Wei, who was lying on the ground. Song Yuhang held the child and rolled to dodge him. The short, stout man climbed out from the pile of construction materials and swung the rod at her back.

Song Yuhang immediately coughed up a mouthful of bloody spittle. She propped herself up with one hand, flipped over, and hooked a single foot around his leg, yanking hard. The man’s center of gravity pitched forward. She bent down and delivered a heavy elbow strike to his face, simultaneously grabbing his arm, pulling it back, and smashing his jaw with another brutal elbow strike. The force was so great you could hear the sound of muscle and bone breaking.

She was different from Lin Yan. Lin Yan would use weapons to compensate for her lack of strength. For her, her fists, her feet, her knees—every joint in her body was the best weapon.

The man’s teeth were shattered on the spot, blood pouring from his mouth. Song Yuhang grabbed his arm and shoved him aside. He slammed into the guardrail and collapsed into a sitting position.

She turned, picked up Xiao Wei, and ran.

“Xiao Wei, Xiao Wei, wake up!”

No matter how she called, the child just kept her eyes tightly shut, silent.

Tears swirled in Song Yuhang’s eyes. She clenched her jaw and choked out, “Xiao Wei…”

The tall, thin man lunged forward and grabbed her leg, yelling at the stout one, “Get her! Fifty thousand US dollars!”

Those words made her jolt. Song Yuhang looked back and saw the faint, indistinct wire hanging from his ear. Her heart sank. She kicked her leg up, sending him flying.

Just as she was about to turn, the stout man charged at her again with the iron rod. Holding Xiao Wei, her movements were restricted, and she could only dodge. Under their pincer attack, she took quite a beating.

Mist rose from the sea’s surface. The mountains remained dark, without a single light. On the silent Wanghai Bridge, there was only the muffled thud of a rod hitting flesh.

Song Yuhang was dizzy from the blows, her eardrums ringing. She held Xiao Wei tightly, refusing to let go. Her gaze fell on the gun not far away, and she gritted her teeth and began to crawl towards it.

The stout man stomped on her hand, panting. “Damn it, this woman can really fight.”

Desperados always have a few tricks up their sleeves. With Song Yuhang’s hands occupied protecting the child, her legwork alone was giving them a hard time. Both men were already bruised and bleeding.

The tall, thin man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and walked over, trying to pull the child from her arms.

“You know, this kid is quite pretty. If we sell her in Southeast Asia, she should fetch a good price.”

Watching his filthy hand touch the child’s face, a surge of blood rushed to Song Yuhang’s head. Her eyes turned red as she roared, “Don’t touch her!!!”

With that, summoning strength from who knows where, the hand being stepped on clenched into a fist and pushed up. Her other hand grabbed his knee, and she body-slammed him to the ground. A beast-like roar escaped her throat as she jumped up and lunged at the tall, thin man.

“Maniac, maniac…” The tall, thin man was so scared he scrambled backward, forgetting to even grab the child. He fell to the ground, was grabbed by the collar and hauled up, and a right hook smashed directly into his chin, beating him until he was spitting blood and his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.

Song Yuhang gave him no chance to breathe, pressing his head down and smashing her elbow into the back of his neck. The man fell to his knees, retching a mouthful of clotted blood onto the ground.

She brought a knee up into his jaw. The man was forced to tilt his head back, nosebleed spraying, as he flailed his hands to block, crying for his mommy and daddy.

Song Yuhang was seeing red. She grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the bridge pier, leaving a trail of splattered blood.

The stout man swallowed hard, snatched the gun from the ground, and aimed the black muzzle at her. His voice, distorted with fear, was slightly shrill.

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!”

Song Yuhang paid him no mind. The man swallowed frantically, squeezed his eyes shut, and lightly pulled the trigger.

In the distance, car headlights blazed. Duan Cheng laid on the horn, charging forward like a bolt of lightning.

The stout man’s pupils shrank. The shot ultimately went wide. He was lucky he dodged quickly, or the car’s wheel would have rolled over his leg.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Lin Yan threw the door open and jumped out. Her eyes immediately landed on Xiao Wei lying on the bridge. She sprinted over, picked her up, and handed her to Duan Cheng.

“Take her and go.”

Ji Jingxing and Zheng Chengrui had stayed at the entrance to the bridge to provide support and hadn’t come over.

Duan Cheng gave a slight nod, placed the child in the car, and immediately turned it around.

The stout man tried to block him. Lin Yan pulled the mechanical baton from her lower back. With a snap, it extended, and she held it out to block his path.

“Your opponent is me.”

Song Yuhang’s rusted brain finally started working again. Seeing her appear, a trace of fondness welled up in her eyes. Her whole body was covered in wounds, her face smeared with blood, yet she smiled at her, half-reproachful, half-relieved.

“Why did you come?”

“If I didn’t come, you’d be dead.”

“Where’s my mom?”

“Sent to the hospital. No major issues.”

“My sister-in-law?”

“In the back waiting for Xiao Wei.”

Her questions Lin Yan answered one by one, holding the baton and watching the short, stout man warily, not giving an inch.

The man couldn’t gauge her strength and didn’t dare to open fire rashly.

Song Yuhang looked at her figure, so thin, yet so indestructible.

The two of them were a pair of sorry sights.

Lin Yan’s fair face was dazed and grimy from the smoke, and her shoulder was still wrapped in gauze. Her long, soft, seaweed-like hair, which she loved so much, had been scorched, curled together in clumps.

Song Yuhang choked out, “Where’s my fiancée?”

Lin Yan lifted her chin slightly. “Alive. Right beside you.”

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LP: My hatred for Lin Ge just reignited alright ( ｡ •`ᴖ´• ｡)

Re-translated on June 30, 2025

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