Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 220

After all the hospital specialists had left, only five people remained in the office.

For about half a minute, no one spoke.

The director touched the doctor’s desk and was the first to speak. “Zhang Ping, you and Xiao Chen—the two of you go out.”

The person who was named felt relieved and stood up to prepare to leave.

Lin Chen rubbed his forehead and said to Secretary Chen, “Could you please help us find two sets of clean clothes? I have them in my ward.”

“What are you going to do, Lin Chen?” The director blew his beard and stared, suddenly understanding. “You want to involve yourself in the interview with the reporters?”

“You easily catch on,” Lin Chen said calmly.

“Is this the tone you use to talk to your boss’ boss?” The director angrily said. “This was originally my job, and you want to take over everything.”

“At the barbecue stall, crazy diners bit each other, and even a police officer was killed. Have you ever thought that if this is not handled properly, it could easily become a serious crisis of public trust? Do you think the killer’s goal isn’t related to this?” The director’s face was uncertain, but Lin Chen seemed not to have noticed and was only observing Xing Conglian’s expression. He said to Xing Conglian, “The reason why government crisis public relations are important is that rumors themselves may be more terrifying than the case.”

“What’s the point of you talking if you can’t persuade anyone? Maybe you’ll offend all the media as soon as you appear!” The director continued to mutter. “If it doesn’t work, just issue a gag order.”

“This is different from a normal case. The more it is silenced, the more the public’s imagination will run wild,” Lin Chen continued.

“Are you saying that only you can handle this?”

“Please trust me.”

“Lin Chen, I’m old, and my heart isn’t good. Take it easy.” The director finally relented and asked, “How do you plan to deal with the details of the case when the media asks?”

“It’s still under investigation.”

“Why were so many police officers carrying out arrests in the Drum Tower Community and suddenly encountering such a situation? Why didn’t the police stop the tragedy from happening in advance?”

“Your questions are tricky, and I don’t know how to answer them for now.”

“Is this your response?”

“I will ask Captain Xing for the specific details.” Lin Chen turned to the old director and said, “He didn’t say no, so don’t argue with him.”

Xing Conglian had no emotions on his face earlier, but with these words, he finally came to his senses. “Wait, when did I agree?”

Lin Chen touched his face and just said, “Be good.”

Xing Conglian pursed his lips and looked fierce. He was a typical figure of great dignity when serious, and now he appeared even more imposing.

Just then, the old director’s phone suddenly rang. He was very annoyed and picked it up to see the screen flashing the two words “Huang Ze”.

When the old director was in a bad mood, he wasn’t very friendly towards Young Master Huang either. Huang Ze said something on the other end of the phone, and the old director shouted, “What’s wrong with firing two shots during a disturbance? If you don’t shoot, the number of people who die will have a zero added to the end. Are you taking responsibility, or am I?”

Huang Ze seemed to be saying something else, but the old director continued, “What’s the use of coming? I feel like your inspectorate is like a hunting dog that barks at the smell of blood. Our front-line police officers are charging ahead, while behind them is a pack of hounds and eagles chasing and biting at them. It’s chilling just to hear about it!”

After finishing his words, the old director hung up the phone without giving Huang Ze any face.

Hearing this, Lin Chen couldn’t help but turn to Xing Conglian and say, “It’s okay to beat up Huang Ze, but don’t kill him.”

Xing Conglian had already been holding back, and he was about to speak when the office door was pushed open again. Secretary Chen quickly brought two sets of clean clothes from somewhere, handing them to Xing Conglian as he said, “Captain, Officer An’s family has arrived.”

Lin Chen’s heart sank. Director Wu had already gotten up, and Xing Conglian was also about to stand up. Seeing this, the old director stared at Xing Conglian. “Do you have to be in front of everything? This is something I need to handle!” He looked at the bloodstained clothes on Xing Conglian’s body and blocked everything Xing Conglian was going to say. “Are you going to see Officer An’s family covered in blood? Hurry up and change your clothes.”

After speaking, the old director left in a hurry, and Secretary Chen followed suit.

The old director acted decisively, as if everything had happened in the blink of an eye. When the office door closed, Lin Chen took a deep look at Xing Conglian, then turned around and locked the door to the doctor’s office and turned off the lights.

“Change your clothes,” Lin Chen said to Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian didn’t move. Lin Chen looked around the room and saw a curtain surrounding a medical bed. He pulled Xing Conglian over and brushed the curtain shut before forcibly pressing him onto the bed.

As he got closer, the strong smell of blood from Xing Conglian’s body hit him. In the faint light coming through the glass on the door, he began to unbutton Xing Conglian’s shirt without hesitation.

Xing Conglian held down his hand.

Lin Chen broke away from Xing Conglian’s hand and unbuttoned the second button of his shirt without hesitation. “Because of the lighting, the bad guys in the corridor can hardly see what’s happening in the dark, so don’t worry about anyone seeing us.”

Xing Conglian remained silent.

Lin Chen placed his hand on Xing Conglian’s chest but suddenly didn’t know what else to say. At that moment, Xing Conglian’s hand gently enveloped his stiff fingers.

“Lin Chen,” Xing Conglian’s low voice rang out in the space where they could barely see each other’s faces.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your hand is shaking.”

Lin Chen finally stopped and couldn’t help taking a deep breath. He withdrew his hand and took a step back, then started to unbutton his patient gown.

The sound of fabric rubbing against fabric filled the room as Xing Conglian quickly took off his shirt. Lin Chen reached for the clean clothes on the bed, but Xing Conglian’s hand covered his again.

“Lin Chen, let’s talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Lin Chen turned his head and looked in the direction where Xing Conglian was speaking.

Xing Conglian was about to speak when Lin Chen suddenly pushed him onto the bed and leaned over him, his hands passing through Xing Conglian’s armpits to hold him tightly.

They were both naked. Lin Chen felt the many scars on Xing Conglian’s skin, thick and thin. They didn’t kiss, but Lin Chen just held Xing Conglian tightly, his fingers almost embedding themselves in Xing Conglian’s shoulders. He could feel Xing Conglian’s icy body gradually warming up, and his stiff muscles relaxing. Finally, Xing Conglian’s hand gently rested on his waist.

“Don’t say anything about how this is inappropriate right now,” Lin Chen propped himself up a bit and said to Xing Conglian, nose to nose. “The world won’t be missing these five minutes even if it ends.”

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to call you just now.” Xing Conglian’s voice became more relaxed.

“Why apologize? Are you apologizing because you think you scared me or for some other reason?” Lin Chen asked. “Am I that fragile?”

Xing Conglian just stared at him and said, word for word, “I’m just very worried about you.”

Lin Chen quickly replied, “Worried about me? When I heard the news that the arrest had gone wrong and saw you covered in blood in front of me, I was almost scared to death. And professionally speaking, for about half a minute, I didn’t have the time to think about anyone else. I thought of hundreds of sentences to make you feel better, but suddenly I became clear-headed and remembered that I was facing Xing Conglian, not a patient or a visitor. He’s very powerful and doesn’t need any comfort from me. Then I became confused again. I’ve been trying to stay calm, like I am now, but you can see that my hands are trembling, and my speech is faster than usual. I’m telling you all this to make you understand that… “

“Lin Chen…” Xing Conglian gently stroked his back.

Lin Chen paused for a moment and began to speak in an extremely calm tone to Xing Conglian. “That everyone will have a corresponding stress response after trauma. There are almost no humans who are completely unaffected, even if they are psychopaths or those with anti-social personality disorders.” He turned Xing Conglian’s head and forced him to listen to every word he said. “I will become unprofessional and lose my calm because of you, and you will also not be able to handle everything perfectly in some sudden situations. This is all normal, and we must face it rather than telling ourselves that we are strong and can get through it, which is meaningless.”

Xing Conglian blinked; his curled eyelashes covered by a faint light.

Lin Chen lowered his head and kissed the eyes of the person on the hospital bed, whispering, “Listen, we are not omnipotent.”

Xing Conglian was no longer as numb as before. He took a deep breath and pointed to his ear, saying in a slow voice, “I understand, Consultant Lin.”

Lin Chen nodded, ready to climb off Xing Conglian’s body, but Xing Conglian suddenly pressed his back and pushed him against his chest.

Xing Conglian held him tightly, to the point where he could only maintain this posture, leaning against Xing Conglian’s flat chest, listening to the sound of Xing Conglian’s heart beating more and more slowly, although this calmness may also be his illusion. However, Lin Chen still felt that it was good; even if it was the end of the world, they could get through it.

“Lin Chen.” Xing Conglian sighed.

“What’s wrong now?”

“I want to say thank you, but I feel like it’s too cheesy,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen suddenly felt like laughing, it was so difficult, yet so funny. He stroked Xing Conglian’s face, climbed off him, and as he was about to grope for the clothes on the bed that might have been messed up by them, he suddenly heard the person lying on the hospital bed say in a very quiet voice, “I love you.”

Xing Conglian didn’t move, and Lin Chen thought he was hearing things. He looked down at the person on the bed, who just sat up, reached out to touch the back of his neck, gently kissed his lips, and said again in an ordinary tone, “I love you.”

Lin Chen struggled to describe his feelings at that moment. It was so sudden and yet so ordinary. He picked up the clothes on the bed and put them on, calmly saying, “I love you too.”

All the hugs and confessions ended quickly. Lin Chen had imagined that it would take about five minutes, but when Xing Conglian let go of him, only about a minute had passed. This gave Lin Chen the illusion that he wanted to give back the minute Xing Conglian had left.

They sat on a hospital bed and quickly changed into clean clothes. The noise and clamor from the corridor seemed to rush back into the office as soon as they separated.

Lin Chen buttoned up his shirt. He had thought many times about what love was or should be and why humans needed such a thing.

But as he looked at the person next to him carefully buttoning up his clothes, he suddenly understood.

Perhaps it was because there were too many unexpected difficulties in life, it was good to have a companion to support each other.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Note: Xing Conglian did say [wo ai ni] (我爱你).

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 219

The slight sound of high heels could be heard. Tap, tap, tap…

Lin Chen suddenly sat up in his ward, which was pitch black. He listened carefully and heard faint weeping coming from somewhere, drifting in and out.

He unlocked his phone and checked the time: 9:11 p.m. Xing Conglian hadn’t called since they started their operation, indicating that they hadn’t caught Shen Lian. It wasn’t normal for a single woman to not return home after 9.

Lin Chen felt increasingly uneasy.

Suddenly, he discerned the sound of an ambulance coming from outside the surrounding space.

One, two… It seemed like more and more ambulances were driving into the hospital.

He looked at the drip bag, which only had a little bit of saline left. Without hesitation, he pulled out the needle and walked to the window to look down.

There weren’t too many people gathered outside the emergency building, but he could vaguely see uniformed police officers and some frightened onlookers. Because he was on a high floor, it was difficult to tell exactly what was happening down below. Shortly after, another police car drove into the hospital. Lin Chen recognized the figure and the bright head from the person who got out of the car.

He immediately turned around and left the room. The corridor in the special care ward was empty, and the light at the nurse’s station not far away was blinding.

As he passed by the nurse’s station, someone called out to him.

“Hey, patient! It’s rest time now. You can’t walk around freely. Go back to your room.”

As the young nurse spoke, Lin Chen’s phone began to vibrate furiously. The number on the screen didn’t belong to Xing Conglian or Wang Chao. Lin Chen gestured for the nurse to wait and answered the call.

“Lin Chen. Please speak.”

“Are you at the hospital? The operation has gone wrong… The director has arrived, and we need you to come down immediately.”

“Where are you guys?”

“We’re at the emergency building. The media is probably going to show up soon, so please hurry.”

“I understand.”

Lin Chen ended the call and quickly explained the urgent situation to the nurse before sprinting towards the elevator.

When he reached the emergency building, the first thing he heard was crying. Of course, crying was normal in a hospital, but this sound was too sorrowful, as if someone’s heart and lungs were being ripped out. During a break in the sound of the emergency room door opening and closing, Lin Chen looked inside and could only see a large number of blood-stained gauzes. He almost collided with a nurse holding blood plasma as he backed out. Using the flow of people as a guide, he found the old director in a doctor’s office.

Director Wu was retiring in less than half a year and had always been calm and relaxed. Lin Chen had never seen him look so serious before.

“What happened? Where’s Xing Conglian?” Lin Chen asked.

Director Wu looked up at him and visibly frowned at the mention of Xing Conglian’s name. Lin Chen steadied himself by holding onto the desk and remained surprisingly calm. Several doctors were sitting across from him at the desk, and he glanced at their badges: brain surgeon, neurology…

Something must have happened for all of the brain science-related experts in the hospital to have been called in.

Seeing that the director didn’t say anything, the assistant police officer beside him spoke to Lin Chen. “Wait a moment, Consultant Lin. We’re waiting for the Criminal Investigation Department to arrive and have a brief meeting with the experts.”

Lin Chen nodded.

Just then, chaotic footsteps were heard in the hallway outside the office. The door swung open, and Xing Conglian appeared with his deputy captain, Zhang Ping. Wang Chao wasn’t with them.

Xing Conglian was covered in blood from his chest to his collar, his hands were red, and his coat was nowhere to be seen. Lin Chen met his gaze, and Xing Conglian’s eyes remained numb for a few seconds. Then he looked at him with grief in his deep eyes.

“Come over here and explain what happened today!” Director Wu slammed the table, and everyone in the office was shocked.

Lin Chen turned around and calmly looked at the angry director, saying, “You need to calm down.”

“I lost a police officer under my command, and you want me to calm down?” The director’s face became stern. He stood up, pointed at Xing Conglian, and cursed, “Xiao An’s girlfriend and parents are coming here soon. You need to explain to them why a routine arrest turned into this. And why did you randomly shoot in the downtown area? Who gave you permission to do that? Have you considered the consequences?!”

Lin Chen replied for Xing Conglian. “He was carrying out his duties on the front line, and only he knows whether or not he should have fired his weapon. It’s unfair to hold the front-line officers responsible without understanding the specific situation.”

He then dragged over two chairs from the corner of the room and motioned for the two who had just entered the room to sit down.

Director Wu was so angry that his veins were popping, but he didn’t say anything more.

“Did Officer An die in the line of duty?” Lin Chen sat down on a chair and asked.

Xing Conglian looked at him and nodded.

Lin Chen’s heart sank as he looked at Xing Conglian, who was covered in blood. He immediately understood where the blood came from. “Was it because of Shen Lian’s refusal to be arrested?” he asked Xing Conglian.

“No.” Xing Conglian finally spoke up but didn’t say anything more.

Zhang Ping said, “We didn’t even see anyone associated with Shen Lian.”

“What happened at the scene? Why did it turn out like this?” Crying and footsteps were heard in the hallway outside, but the office was completely silent, with only the faint flicker of the fluorescent lights.

“I don’t know,” Xing Conglian said clearly, one word at a time.

“You fucking don’t know?!” Director Wu slammed the table again.

Ignoring the furious director behind him and everyone else in the room, Lin Chen grabbed Xing Conglian’s hand. His hand was trembling, but he still tried to calm himself down and said softly to Xing Conglian, “The hospital experts are all here. The sooner we figure out what happened, the sooner we can solve the problem.”

Xing Conglian pursed his lips. For a moment, he showed a look of extreme indifference, and then his focus gradually converged, and he said, “We really don’t know where the problem came from. Around 21:00, there was interference in our communication channel, and then there was a disturbance at the barbecue stand in the alley. The stall owner and customers who were dining fought each other, and a police officer died in the line of duty while protecting the residents.” Xing Conglian’s report was concise and to the point. “During this process, I fired two shots, one hitting the barbecue stand owner and the other hitting the suspect who was attempting to kill the police officer. The ballistic evidence and eyewitness testimony at the scene can confirm this.”

Lin Chen’s thoughts raced, and he quickly figured out what the problem was.

He had faith in Xing Conglian’s marksmanship, but with Xing Conglian on the scene and clearly stating that he hit the suspect, the police officer still died. It was clear that this wasn’t a simple issue that could be explained away.

Xing Conglian seemed to be lost in deep memories. He said, “This was my mistake. I should have chosen to kill the suspect from the beginning instead of merely disabling him.”

“So your bullets didn’t disable him?” Lin Chen asked, looking up.

“No,” Xing Conglian said. “They seemed to have no pain response and acted solely on instinct. The incident happened too suddenly, and we still haven’t figured out what went wrong.”

“How is it possible that the bullets didn’t disable them?” a department head who had been very quiet in the office asked. “Did they turn into zombies?”

“The scene has been completely sealed off. People from the Food and Drug Administration and the Epidemic Prevention Center have arrived, and only then did we come back,” Xing Conglian said.

“The Epidemic Prevention Center?” Lin Chen asked.

“Because there were reports of people biting others at the scene of the incident, some members of the public were unable to control their own emotions, so they reported it to the Disease Control and Prevention Center,” Xing Conglian said.

“Is this a biohazard crisis?” Director Wu couldn’t contain himself and said, “We were just trying to catch a person. Why did it suddenly turn into people eating people?”

“How could this situation suddenly arise?” another expert said. “We haven’t had a case like this in our city in recent years.”

“You are all neuroscience experts and should know that the possibility of this situation occurring still exists,” Lin Chen said calmly.

“That’s right. It could either be a brain disease or effects from a drug,” another person said. “Rabies?”

“I believe effects from drugs are more likely,” Lin Chen said.

“That’s right.” The experts discussed it in a flurry. “But we need to do a detailed examination to determine which specific drug it is.”

“However, the approach taken by the Disease Control and Prevention Center is correct. I believe it is necessary to implement level-one biohazard isolation, and all personnel who have come into contact with the patient should be isolated and observed,” Lin Chen said.

Xing Conglian pursed his lips. When he heard the other side talking about isolation, he interjected forcefully, saying, “I suggest finding other reasons for isolation and observation to prevent public panic. After all, this case has already been sensational enough, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to use the phrase ‘mandatory isolation’ again.”

“This is understood, but how specifically should we phrase it?” the doctor asked.

“We should explain it as drugs. If we can confirm that those involved in the fight and violence didn’t have a history of subjectively taking drugs, then they must have involuntarily ingested the drugs. As the incident happened at a barbecue stand with heavy smoke, it can’t be ruled out that other bystanders may have also involuntarily ingested drugs. For the health of everyone involved, we hope that those involved can accept observation in the hospital,” Lin Chen continued to explain to the other party. “If the media asks you about the patient’s condition, you can use relevant cases that have occurred in the United States to explain. ‘A few years ago, in a town in the United States, there was a similar case where a homeless person turned into a zombie and attacked residents, biting their faces. The local police eventually determined that the homeless people were affected by a drug called ‘bath salts’, causing them to exhibit uncontrolled panic and attacking behavior.”

“Oh… I think I’ve heard of that, but if the media asks how drug users suddenly appeared at the barbecue stand and how those crazy bystanders ingested the drugs, how should we answer?” asked another expert.

Lin Chen remained surprisingly calm from beginning to end. “Experts, please tell the media that this part of the problem should be investigated by the police. You don’t know the specific progress of the investigation, so just push it to us,” Lin Chen answered calmly.

“Okay, then let’s go see the patient first.” Several experts stood up, one after another.

The office door opened, and the flashing lights and questioning voices of reporters could be heard outside the emergency center in the distance.

“I heard there were reports of cannibalism?”

“Is this a real biohazard?”

“Is the government hiding relevant information from the public?”

Several doctors walked to the door, and suddenly someone turned around and asked, “Why are you wearing our hospital patient’s clothes?”

Listening to the voices of the reporters, Lin Chen froze for a moment, then looked at himself from head to toe, and said, “I think I should go change my clothes now.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

The incident Lin Chen is referring to is the Miami cannibal attack, where a homeless man was attacked. The assailant was Rudy Eugene, who bit off the homeless man’s face. Police sources speculated that he was high on “bath salts” which might’ve been a factor in his actions, but why he attacked remained unclear.

This is different from what Lin Chen is describing, as the homeless man is the victim, not the assailant.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 218

20:47, at the Hongjing Drum Tower Community.

The middle-aged and elderly people who were out for a stroll or square dancing started to head home. The props used for the square dancing, in various shades of red and green, were swept past Xing Conglian’s Jeep from the roadside. The vendors at the street-side stalls also began to pack up.

The deputy captain of the Hongjing police force, Zhang Ping, sat in the jeep, observing a resident on a certain floor of building 3, block 6 of the Drum Tower Community.

The curtains were tightly closed, and the lights were still off.

Zhang Ping pressed the wireless headset and asked, “Lao Shu, any movement?”

The officer with the code name “Lao Shu” was standing in a small convenience store downstairs of building 3, observing the movements at the entrance. After two groups of returning residents had passed by, the entire community was now quiet and deserted.

“The target hasn’t appeared yet.”

“Keep watching.”

“Got it.”

Zhang Ping retracted the binoculars and looked at the captain, who was smoking in the passenger seat. He had just arrived home before 8 in the evening and hadn’t even had the chance to hug his daughter, who was doing her homework, when he was called out by the captain to prepare for the arrest of a suspect. Although he wasn’t clear about what had happened during the time, he was commuting home from work, the criminal suspect had changed from a man to a woman and from a teacher to a student, which was somewhat confusing. What was even more important was that the captain only mentioned that they had to detain the person in secret, and even the evidence wasn’t sufficient. It would have been more reasonable if they were asked by the higher authorities to cooperate with the investigation. He thought for a moment, then quietly turned off his headset and couldn’t help but speak privately with his captain, “Captain Xing, are we being too hasty in arresting this person?”

“Yes, we are,” Xing Conglian said.

“Then should we wait a bit longer?”

“We can’t wait.”

“Huh?!” Zhang Ping took the cigarette from the dashboard of the Jeep and lit it for himself. “Lao Xing, are you hiding something from us? Tell me what’s going on. How dangerous is this woman named Shen Lian? The people you have called in are almost as equipped as the special forces for catching bandits.”

“Why are you so troublesome? Are you possessed by Wang Chao?” Xing Conglian gave an impatient click of his tongue and extinguished his cigarette.

It wasn’t like Xing Conglian couldn’t answer Zhang Ping’s question, but he really didn’t know whether it was right to arrest so hastily. He simply thought that this woman named Shen Lian sounded dangerous; not to mention that she was likely to be involved with the Zaratul drug factory. What was most crucial was that many times, many things simply made no sense.

The words spoken by Lin Chen just now were still echoing in his ears. Although they weren’t clear about Shen Lian’s motive and the complex ramifications, they had directly located Shen Lian herself through a shortcut. Essentially, it was a shortcut obtained by exchanging the life of Duan Wanshan. They knew information that the murderer didn’t know, so they could take the initiative and be one step ahead. Therefore, he couldn’t let this shortcut go to waste.

At exactly 21:00, Shen Lian still hadn’t returned home.

The personnel on the roads inside and outside the community had all cleared out, and a wild cat darted into the bushes. As soon as Shen Lian stepped into the encirclement, there would be no chance of escape.

The inside of the car was dimly lit and filled with smoke. Xing Conglian rolled over and looked at his phone. He wondered if he should call Lin Chen, but he didn’t know if he accidentally pressed the lock button or for some other reason, but the screen suddenly went dark.

Xing Conglian reached out and turned off the overhead light in the car, leaving only the faint light of Wang Chao’s laptop screen in the entire space.

Zhang Ping frowned at him, as if wondering why he suddenly became so nervous. The deputy squad leader began to look around, and Xing Conglian also looked up. There was no one at the end of the road, and all the police officers were guarding key positions as usual.

There was a faint rustling sound on the communication device, and Zhang Ping began to inquire about the situation at the mouth of the road. The wind brushed the leaves, and a light came on in the distance.

“What car? Is there anyone in the car? Report quickly,” Zhang Ping asked.

There was only the same rustling sound on the communication device. Xing Conglian loaded the gun without hesitation and pushed open the door to get out of the car. Just then, a completely black private car quickly drove towards him. Xing Conglian stood in the middle of the small path and looked into the car.

Two seconds later, the driver suddenly realized that something was wrong and slammed on the brakes, the sharp sound echoing through the night sky.

The distance was close enough. With the help of the streetlamps and car lights, Xing Conglian could clearly see the driver cursing wildly in the car. There was no one in the front or back seats, and the black leather seats gleamed with a warm luster.

The darkness around them once again became quiet, and Xing Conglian watched the driver ranting and raving in the car like he was watching a silent play. Two households turned off their balcony lights, making the streetlamps turn into gentle veils. Wild cats sprinted past, and the wind rose again, followed by a suppressed gasping sound.

Xing Conglian pressed his headset and confirmed that the gasping sound was indeed coming from his earpiece, like a wild beast being strangled or a dying animal caught in a trap. The sound went from coarse to fine, like a steel knife scraping across the scalp, and finally became extremely mournful.

“What’s going on? What’s going on? Who’s causing the interference in the channel!”

Zhang Ping’s anxious inquiry came from the channel, and the undercover police officers on the scene reported one by one. Xing Conglian made a hand gesture to Zhang Ping to have the driver detained and started running.

“Mouse here!”

“Lion here!”

Xing Conglian ran past bushes and flower beds, and the wind brushed past his ears. The barbecue stall at the mouth of the road became increasingly clear.

“Camel here!”

“Wild Horse here!”

The smoke from the barbecue rose, and the fan blew all the smoke and dust into the night sky. The sound of noise and laughter drifted through the night, and people waved their beer, laughing and shouting like it was the most beautiful summer night in the city. If Xing Conglian had not seen the next scene.

All sound disappeared in the space, as if he had walked into an absolutely silent vacuum environment.

The barbecue stall owner pulled a large skewer of grilled meat from the grill, and the pointed tip of the iron skewer emitted a cold light. The gaps between the meat skewers were filled with red-hot iron rods.

The next moment, the owner’s face lit up with a smile as he grabbed the skewer and turned to hand it to a nearby customer.

At that moment, without hesitation, Xing Conglian pulled out his gun as the old, wrinkled hand reached out to hand over the skewer.

The owner still maintained his posture of grabbing the iron skewer, his elbow bent, and all the iron skewers in his hand stabbed towards the open mouth of the young man sitting at the table.

Gunshots rang out.

A spray of blood splattered into the night sky, and the skewers scattered and traced chaotic arcs in the air, finally landing on the ground.

“Anomaly detected at the alley entrance. Requesting backup!” The chaotic voices in the earpiece sounded again, and Xing Conglian ripped off his headset.

Screams pierced the night sky, from both men and women, as chaotic footsteps trampled on the sticky black oil and various shellfish waste on the ground. Some people fell, but more people stood still, staring at the horrifying scene in front of the grill.

“Police investigation! Irrelevant people leave the scene!”

A police officer guarding the other side of the entrance shouted from a distance to the diners at the barbeque stall while waving his arms. Xing Conglian scanned all the nearby faces, some showing fear, some showing numbness, and even some showing a terrifying smile. But among all these faces, there was not one that belonged to Shen Lian.

In the brief moment that he searched for the suspect, no one noticed that the young man who had been stabbed by the barbecue stall owner had regained his senses.

The young man’s eyes flashed with an unusual excitement, as if the wildest blood in his veins had been ignited. He pushed hard with his legs and pounced on the barbecue stall owner. The grill collapsed, and charcoal rolled all over the place as the two rolled in it. The air was filled with the smell of grilled meat and the sizzling sound of burning. However, neither of the two in the charcoal felt any pain. The owner grabbed a burning piece of charcoal and stuffed it into the young man’s mouth, and the young man bit down on the middle-aged owner’s face without hesitation.

With a piercing sound, a large chunk of flesh was torn off. Blood flowed down the young man’s white teeth as he continued to grin widely. The owner picked up a piece of charcoal and stuffed it into his mouth, along with the blood and shredded flesh that flowed down his wrist. The partially cooked, crispy, sweet smell was tantalizing. The owner looked at his hand and bit down, still smiling.

Smoke rose into the night sky, and the fallen fan spun weakly on the cement floor.

Xing Conglian stood still, as if someone had suddenly shot him in the head, but that wasn’t the case. He just felt like all his thoughts were scrambled, and the air was no longer filled with the scent of the city but with the putrid smell of the rainforest; everything was bloody and primitive, making him almost vomit.

A male student sitting at the same table as the young man also stood up. He wore a gold-embossed skull hoodie and picked up a piece of white porcelain shard from the ground. He turned around and walked toward the trembling guests huddled in the corner.

A police officer who had crossed the street suddenly pounced on the male student in the skull hoodie, but the male student raised the porcelain shard and held it tightly against the officer’s throat.

Xing Conglian started running again, and the air around him became scorching hot. He yelled at the guests who were still lingering near the barbecue restaurant, “Go, hurry up and leave!”

The stunned guests screamed again; their eyes filled with terror. Xing Conglian ran at his fastest speed, scanning the scene of the brawl, 20 meters, 10 meters…

The male student in the skull hoodie used some unknown force to push the police officer to the ground. Xing Conglian fired his gun again, hitting the male student’s shoulder, causing blood to flow out, but the frenzied male student seemed unaware of the injury.

Just as Xing Conglian was about to pull the trigger for the third time, the porcelain shard had already plunged into the police officer’s throat.

At the moment the porcelain shard was inserted into the throat, the night sky paused, and the background faded away. The bloody scene became bright, and Xing Conglian saw his colleague struggling to turn his head, saw his eyes wide open in the dark, and saw the bright red blood spurt out along the white porcelain shard.

He saw the young man’s hand still desperately gripping the porcelain shard, as if wanting to stab deeper.

Xing Conglian finally rushed to the two of them. He pulled the assailant away and stepped heavily on the hand that was holding the porcelain shard, knocking him out. Then he quickly took off his coat and covered his colleague’s throat with it.

Xing Conglian pressed his clothes tightly against the wound, but blood spurted out like an open tap, soaking his coat in no time. “Hang in there! Hang in there! Can you hear me?”

He shouted with all his strength, but the police officer lying on the ground only opened his mouth, as if trying to say something, but eventually closed his eyes slowly.

Someone burst out laughing, and the whole Drum Tower Community under the night sky seemed like hell on earth.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 217

It wasn’t raining outside the ward. Tonight, the view outside the window was pitch black and unusually dry. Even inside the room, there was no sound of clattering keyboards or rapidly clicking mice. They were all waiting for Duan Yang’s email.

Lin Chen sat on the hospital bed, resting his other hand on the table next to the bed, with a pen placed nearby. He had just asked Wang Chao for a sheet of paper, but now he sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at the blank page.

Since Duan Yang’s deeply bowed back disappeared from view, the atmosphere in the ward had become heavy. Xing Conglian couldn’t even express his own emotions and could only lean on the sofa, looking at Lin Chen’s indifferent profile under the light in the ward. Lin Chen was a typical person whose features made people feel comfortable. None of his features were particularly outstanding, but when combined, they were quite handsome, with an inexplicable chill and calmness. Xing Conglian knew he shouldn’t be thinking about these things while looking at Lin Chen’s face. They were currently handling a very dangerous case, whose exact danger was impossible to pinpoint. That was the scariest part.

“Let’s reorganize this case,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen still looked down at the blank A4 paper on the table, not even lifting his head.

“The murderer’s modus operandi is simple. They first fabricated the motive of academic plagiarism, then killed Tan Kang, and finally falsified Lao Duan’s DNA and fingerprints, pushing everything onto Lao Duan. The train of thought is clear, but the question is: why?”

Wang Chao looked very anxious as he looked at his computer, not even listening to what Xing Conglian was saying.

Lin Chen seemed to have finally come to his senses and said, “Yes, why.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a critical question. Did the murderer use Duan Yang from the beginning to complete the framing process?” Lin Chen said.

Xing Conglian thought about it and answered, “Suppose the murderer didn’t know Duan Yang and only occasionally saw the academic plagiarism incident on the internet. They thought that someone like Duan Wanshan was a good scapegoat and happened to have Duan Wanshan’s fingerprints and DNA on hand, so they set up this trap. Although this possibility exists, the chance is just too small. Duan Wanshan has been abroad for so many years. Who would still keep his DNA and fingerprints?”

“Right, the cost and benefit don’t match up, and high-IQ criminals aren’t stupid enough to act so recklessly.” Lin Chen’s voice was very calm. “In fact, the first possibility didn’t exist from the beginning—the killer couldn’t have been looking for a scapegoat after killing Tan Kang and then planted the blame on Duan Wanshan.”

“So, he chose Duan Yang from the beginning,” Xing Conglian said.

Xing Conglian looked at Lin Chen, listening to him continue in a calm tone. “I can understand why he chose Duan Yang. Duan Yang used to be very simple and pure, easily hot-headed, and deeply loved Duan Wanshan. When he learned that his teacher’s research results, which had serious side effects, had been plagiarized and turned into a new drug on the market, he would definitely try his best to solve the problem for his teacher. Therefore, he was the most likely person to leave all kinds of traces that the police could follow on the internet. Duan Yang was the perfect choice because he wasn’t like others who might stand by and do nothing, right?”

“That’s it, but…” Xing Conglian couldn’t help but frown. “I feel like there are still problems with this.”

“But why did he have to use Duan Yang?” Lin Chen continued sharply.

Xing Conglian replied, “For criminals, isn’t it easier to expose themselves the more steps they take to achieve their goal? Although he later kidnapped Duan Yang through the hands of others to make up for the loophole, to be honest, wasn’t it easier for the police to discover the problem when Duan Yang disappeared?”

Lin Chen nodded. “The next question is whether Duan Yang’s kidnapping was a coincidence, or a necessary arrangement made by someone. I used to think it was a coincidence, like Zaratul’s men finding Duan Yang, who had posted online and had a lot of information, and then bringing him back to Dana to continue research. But this was only a possibility inferred under certain conditions at the time. Now it seems too coincidental.”

“Indeed. There are so many experts out there. Why bother to catch a small doctor like Duan Yang?”

Lin Chen said, “In other words, the greater possibility is that the other party specially used Lu Jia, a fake expert responsible for researching drugs under Zaratul. He’s now dead, so we have no way to investigate the process. However, this person may have mentioned Duan Yang to Lu Jia and praised him greatly, which led Lu Jia to send someone to kidnap Duan Yang from China. The purpose of doing so is simple… To kill two birds with one stone…”

“He’s really ruthless to Duan Yang.” Xing Conglian understood why Lin Chen had been silent all the time. This matter was too cruel to both Duan Yang and Duan Wanshan, especially considering that they loved each other deeply. He continued, “It seems that the murderer’s target may have included three people from the beginning: Duan Yang, Duan Wanshan, and Tan Kang, who may only be an accessory. He used Duan Yang to create a chain of evidence to frame Duan Wanshan, then killed Duan Yang, and finally killed Tan Kang to blame Duan Wanshan. This process can be basically confirmed. So we have to go back to the original question: Why did he do this?” If it weren’t for being in a hospital ward, Xing Conglian would have wanted to light a cigarette. “Honestly, I don’t think falsely accusing Duan Wanshan of murder because of academic plagiarism can hurt him in any substantial way. He’s been meticulously trying to throw dirt on Duan Wanshan, but this dirt can’t even cross the Pacific Ocean.”

“So, this matter is even more devastating, and the murderer only wanted the process.” Lin Chen hadn’t changed his posture from the beginning until now. “The murderer’s feelings towards these three people are different. He killed Tan Kang cleanly and decisively, like throwing away useless garbage. Xiao Ming felt that the murderer was very happy. What made the murderer happy was the process of releasing the balloons—that is, the process of throwing out the murder weapon that framed Duan Wanshan. I don’t even think his ultimate goal was to turn Duan Wanshan into the real murderer of Tan Kang or to send him to jail, because, as you just said, this matter can’t cause any substantial harm to Duan Wanshan. This is also where I don’t understand…as for Duan Yang…”

Lin Chen’s gaze was obviously dim and flickering.

Xing Conglian asked, “What’s wrong with Duan Yang?”

“Duan Yang is like a subtle chess piece. The killer used him to lay clues to Duan Wanshan and then didn’t hesitate to let him die, which is strange,” Lin Chen said. “It depends on whether the killer, like us, understands the secret love between the two. If the answer is yes, then he used Duan Yang, who deeply loved Duan Wanshan, to lay out Duan Wanshan’s motive for murder, and separated them forever before Duan Wanshan learned the truth… Even the motive for sending Duan Yang to Dana is very subtle, isn’t it? They obviously love each other and are on the same land, but they can’t meet. And you can imagine how sad Duan Wanshan would be if he knew all this if he hadn’t died. So I think the killer probably really hates and loves Duan Wanshan, who loves Duan Yang…”

“So, that person is likely to know the relationship between Duan Yang and Duan Wanshan?” Xing Conglian asked.

“I think so. So now the suspect’s range is very small. He must know Duan Yang, be able to get Duan Wanshan’s DNA samples and fingerprints, know the relationship between the two, have been to Dana, and understand the inside story of Zhourui Pharmaceutical and Tan Kang’s plagiarism…”

Before Lin Chen’s words fell, Wang Chao’s computer made a light sound of receiving a message.

“Has the list been sorted out?” Xing Conglian asked sharply.

“Yes, according to Duan Yang’s email, the senior sister who has been giving him information is named Cheng Jing, and the person who provided information for him within Zhourui Pharmaceutical is named Li Fengping. In addition, he has temporarily sorted out 14 suspicious names,” Wang Chao said quickly, and then began to retrieve everyone’s information.

“Is there a problem with Cheng Jing?”

“After returning to China, Cheng Jing worked at the Third People’s Hospital of Yongchuan City, and there seems to be no contact with Zhourui Pharmaceutical. The information has been sent to the tablet. Please take it out from my backpack, Boss,” Wang Chao said quickly.

Xing Conglian took out the tablet and sat on the bed with Lin Chen to watch.

Lin Chen’s fingers quickly scanned Cheng Jing’s personal information. In the photo, Cheng Jing was wearing a white robe and looked gentle and quiet. She was a pediatrician with a happy family and a clean resume.

“It’s not her. What about Li Fengping?”

The teenager frowned, suddenly picked up the Coke can next to him and poured it into his mouth, but he didn’t expect that there was no carbonation left. The teenager clenched the can body violently and made a cracking sound.

“There’s no one named Li Fengping.”

“How is that possible? Otherwise, where did Duan Yang get the internal information of Zhourui Pharmaceutical? Duan Yang isn’t a fool. How could he believe someone with an unknown identity?”

Lin Chen suddenly spoke. “This Li Fengping should have sent an email to Duan Yang. Check Duan Yang’s mailbox.”

As Lin Chen spoke, he dialed Duan Yang’s phone.

“Consultant Lin, have you found the person?”

“There is no one named Li Fengping in Zhourui Pharmaceutical. How do you know him?”

On the screen, Duan Yang hesitated for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing, as if he had reached a sudden understanding of everything. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he spoke. “Am I just a fool being played in the palm of someone’s hand?”

“No, to me, you’re just a young doctor with a sincere heart and kind intentions.”

“Kindness that is used by others is foolishness, isn’t it?”

Lin Chen shook his head and said seriously, “You are attributing criminals’ malice to people’s pure kindness. I think this is an incorrect attribution, although many people make this mistake.”

Duan Yang took a deep breath, and his eyes turned red. “You’re always so convincing, Consultant Lin.”

“I’m good at it,” Lin Chen said softly.

Duan Yang said seriously, “It was my former classmate named Shen Lian. She should be working in the medical department of Zhourui Pharmaceutical now, and she also knew about Teacher’s plagiarism incident. She said she felt there was a problem when she was responsible for conducting clinical trials for the new drug, so she introduced me to a friend who could get first-hand information from within Zhourui Pharmaceutical. Actually, that friend may have been her all along, pretending to be someone else.”

Lin Chen glanced at Wang Chao, who quickly typed in a search query and reported several keywords. “Shen Lian, from Hongjing, former associate researcher of the R&D department, former deputy director, and director of the medical department at Zhourui Pharmaceutical… Went abroad in January of the same year and returned to China in September of the same year. Since five years ago, Shen Lian has had multiple records of leaving the country for short-term or long-term stays ranging from three to five months, ostensibly for business trips, but it is very likely that she was secretly sent to Dana by Zhourui Pharmaceutical…”

After Wang Chao finished his report, he looked up at them.

Xing Conglian looked at Duan Yang on the screen who had been listening all along, and finally heard him ask, “Why?”

“We will find out,” Xing Conglian said, nodding at Duan Yang and ending the call.

From the moment Shen Lian’s name appeared, Lin Chen had been silent, listening like an old monk in meditation, as if he had fallen into an inexplicable emotion.

Xing Conglian was keenly aware of the problem and said, “Wang Chao, find Shen Lian’s address and notify the bureau to put out a warrant. Go out now and give me a minute.”

Wang Chao packed up quickly and brushed past him. The sound of the teenager making a phone call came from the hallway.

Xing Conglian walked over and turned off the lights in the ward, then walked back to Lin Chen’s bedside and kissed him hard.

For about the first thirty seconds of the kiss, Lin Chen was in a state of silence, but then he began to respond to him.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Chen asked softly, looking up.

Xing Conglian pulled away from Lin Chen’s lips. The bitter taste of Lin Chen’s mouth lingered on his lips and teeth as he touched his face and looked into his eyes in the darkness. He asked seriously, “What are you thinking about? Your emotions suddenly seemed off.”

“I just suddenly felt that this feeling wasn’t good,” Lin Chen said slowly and seriously. “If Teacher Duan hadn’t died, we might have taken a very long time to notice the problem here and finally locate Shen Lian.”

“Maybe,” Xing Conglian said.

“But now?” Lin Chen asked. “I was thinking about profiling the killer earlier, but I don’t need to do that because I know I can’t make any difference here. The killer will easily be revealed. But we achieved this result through a series of unfortunate events, including the death of Teacher Duan. The cost is too high, really too high.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 216

There was a time difference between China and Dana. When the video call connected, Lin Chen was startled for a moment when he saw the blinding sun shining all over the sky.

Then, Duan Yang’s face appeared, with a very short crew cut and skin that had tanned charcoal black in just a few days, and his eyes were even brighter and more determined.

After seeing him, Duan Yang’s first words were, “Consultant Lin, you don’t seem to have been taking your medicine and resting properly.”

At that time, Lin Chen had already finished his X-rays and was lying on a hospital bed. During that time, he had also been scolded by the attending doctor for a suspected lung infection. So now, he confidently moved the camera to the IV bag and his striped patient gown and said to Duan Yang, “I’ve been in a semi-quarantine state and have been very obedient.”

Xing Conglian’s voice interjected, “He’s been obedient for the past five minutes.”

Duan Yang’s gaze became stern. “Consultant Lin, I believe you’ve been through a near-death experience, so you should recognize the importance of good health…”

Lin Chen came to his senses and interrupted Duan Yang. “Hold on, I have something to tell you.”

“Have you found the problem with Zhourui Pharmaceutical?” Duan Yang asked.

Lin Chen shook his head and looked at the young man, who was now very different from before. He didn’t know if what was coming next would push him into another abyss, but he still spoke up. “No, but it’s still related to Zhourui Pharmaceutical and your teacher.”

Duan Yang narrowed his eyes. “Something happened?”

Lin Chen didn’t answer his question but said, “Before that, I have a question for you.”

“Related to my teacher?” Duan Yang insisted on not following his line of thought.

Lin Chen sighed, remembering the young doctor who used to stutter in front of him over half a month ago. Xing Conglian squeezed his hand, as if to say that if he found it difficult to speak, he could do it for him. Lin Chen held Xing Conglian’s hand and looked at Duan Yang’s dark face on the screen, asking, “Have you told anyone else about the news of Teacher Duan’s death in Dana?”

When he heard this, there was no obvious grief in Duan Yang’s expression. He looked calm and replied in an overly calm tone, “No, we arrived at this estate the day before yesterday, and we’ve been cleaning and making arrangements these past two days. We haven’t had any contact with anyone other than you guys.”

After Duan Yang finished speaking, he just looked at Lin Chen, as if waiting for what he would say next.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“You wouldn’t have gone through such a long introduction before telling me if it were good news,” Duan Yang said.

“Tan Kang is dead,” Lin Chen said directly.

For a moment, Duan Yang didn’t speak. The background consisted only of the sound of the wind and the laughter and running of children, rising and falling.

After about 30 seconds of silence, Duan Yang finally spoke. “How did Tan Kang die?”

“Stabbed to death at Hongjing Amusement Park. Died with a single blow,” Lin Chen answered.

“Such an unsophisticated technique?” Duan Yang asked. “Did Zhourui Pharmaceutical silence him in public? Why?”

“No.” Lin Chen pursed his lips and chose to get straight to the point. “All evidence now points to someone else—your teacher, Mr. Duan Wanshan.”

Duan Yang’s calm face shattered quickly. In that moment, his face showed joy, doubt, pain, and confusion. But in the end, when Duan Yang’s excited emotions subsided, all of this was hit by the reality of grief, leaving nothing but debris.

“How could this be?” Duan Yang asked. “It’s not like it’s some cliché of twins or clones, is it?”

“Mr. Duan Wanshan’s DNA was found on the murder weapon, and his fingerprints were also found on items related to Tan Kang’s relics,” Lin Chen said.

As he spoke, Lin Chen’s gaze never left Duan Yang’s face from the beginning. Even now, after finishing this sentence, he was still staring at Duan Yang’s face, wondering how Duan Yang would respond and how he should respond in turn.

But Duan Yang blushed, and only a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he looked at him seriously and said slowly, “If it’s true, that would be great.”

If it’s true, if it’s Teacher…

It would be great if Teacher was still alive…

When Lin Chen heard Duan Yang say those words in a calm voice, he didn’t know why, but he couldn’t control his emotions for a moment, and his eyes felt sour.

“Consultant Lin, don’t be sad.” Suddenly their positions switched, and Duan Yang comforted him. “Everyone has to die. It’s good to understand that. Before my teacher died, he had no regrets or remorse. We don’t need to have regrets either. In his lifetime, he lived a life that was much more meaningful than most people.”

“Just ten days ago, you weren’t like this,” Lin Chen said. “Growing up so fast can be annoying sometimes.”

Lin Chen saw the children running barefoot behind Duan Yang. In the camera, he could vaguely see Zhang Long and Comrade Zhao Hu standing like bodyguards in the back, watching over the children. In the distance, there was a monkey bread tree and a messy field of grass, and of course, there was the pleasant plantation beyond the grass. The surviving more than 500 people from the Gaomeng Tribe should be living there. Looking at the scenery there, he suddenly felt that there were also things in the uncivilized society that people longed for. At least, good and evil, life and death, were very pure. Killing was also done with real knives and guns, without so much intrigue and exhaustion.

Duan Yang laughed. “Let’s continue with the case. How did my teacher’s DNA end up on the murder weapon that killed Tan Kang?”

“Through special techniques of forgery.” Lin Chen paused and added, “I think.”

“Then the person who could get my teacher’s DNA should have had contact with him before or had a very close relationship with him?” Duan Yang paused and asked him, “Can I make such an inference?”

“Your reasoning process was a bit fast, but basically without problems.”

“Teacher had no children in his lifetime. The most likely people who could obtain his DNA were his students and colleagues around him. Moreover, we, these people, have the skills to forge a sample of Teacher’s DNA,” Duan Yang said quickly and clearly. When he said this, he suddenly realized something, stopped, and asked them, “But why did the killer need to forge Teacher’s DNA sample on the murder weapon and falsely accuse him with such great effort?”

Lin Chen was about to speak but was interrupted by Duan Yang.

“So that’s why you asked me whether anyone else besides us and the Gaomeng knew about Teacher’s death because you had to confirm the real motive of the person who forged Teacher’s DNA sample. If no one else besides us knew about Teacher’s death, it means that the killer’s purpose was clear. He did it just to shift the blame for the murderer to Teacher,” Duan Yang said.

“We also have this suspicion now,” Lin Chen said.

“But why? Why did he do this?” Duan Yang frowned, as if thinking could make him feel better. “Teacher was in Dana, and the killer couldn’t possibly not know. Even if falsely accused, the Chinese police couldn’t possibly arrest Teacher across the border. This kind of false accusation is a meaningless move.”

“You make sense. So there are two possibilities. First, the other party knows that Teacher Duan is in Dana and can’t return home. He may not be contacted for a good two or three months, making him a perfect candidate to be a scapegoat. Second, the other party doesn’t care whether this matter can ultimately lead to Teacher Duan’s conviction. He only wants the process.”

“Why is Teacher a perfect candidate to be a scapegoat? There must be a motive for killing. Are the police so foolish as to believe this unfounded slander?”

“Because your teacher’s research results were plagiarized by Tan Kang,” Lin Chen answered word by word. “The other party is very likely to have used his research results to obtain huge profits.”

Duan Yang fell silent again.

“Duan Yang…” Lin Chen spoke softly.

“So that’s it,” Duan Yang said with a calm expression but with a brief moment of disappointment. “I thought I could get closer to Teacher through this matter and do something for him. It turns out that I’m still helping the killer make up a motive for murder…” But Duan Yang quickly pulled himself out of this emotion, or rather, he tried to make himself think logically instead of getting carried away. “So, now it seems that the person who spread the news of Tan Kang’s plagiarism is very suspicious?”

Lin Chen lowered his eyes and said to Duan Yang, “Wang Chao has just confirmed through keyword searches that the IP of the primary disseminator of the news about the plagiarism is at the Guai Guai Pet Shop. In other words, that person is you.”

Duan Yang suddenly looked up. “Only me? The other party is using me? Why?” Duan Yang spoke quickly. “Isn’t it ridiculous? When the police investigate the clues, they will find me. Won’t that person be exposed quickly?”

Earlier, Lin Chen had already pondered over this question, so now he could quickly and cruelly answer Duan Yang. “Have you ever thought that if you were kidnapped, it wouldn’t be just a coincidence, but someone deliberately planned it?” Lin Chen asked him. “That person used armed groups in the Dana Region to carry out cross-border kidnappings. That person knows very well that you will die in Dana.”

Duan Yang was stunned for a moment, then grinned with his mouth wide open. His lips were lifted high, but there was no trace of laughter in his eyes. Instead, they were icy cold to the extreme. “So, it’s the one who should have died but didn’t, and the one who should have lived who died?” he asked.

“You shouldn’t think that way,” Lin Chen interrupted him.

“Then how should I think?” Duan Yang asked back.

“It’s fate,” Lin Chen said very cruelly.

“That’s superstition…” Duan Yang laughed. “Consultant Lin, you don’t seem like someone who believes in fate.”

“I do, really.” Lin Chen looked at Duan Yang and said, “I believe in fate, but I don’t believe in justice prevailing. God is never kind, and everything about good and evil eventually has a reckoning. It’s just deceiving the minds of children to think otherwise. I only believe in those who are still trying to practice justice and righteousness.”

“I understand.” Duan Yang calmed down.

Lin Chen nodded. “So, the second thing I want to ask you to confirm today is to tell me the name of the person who informed you that Tan Kang was suspected of academic plagiarism. This includes the high-level executives of Zhourui Pharmaceutical who leaked the information to you, as well as the senior sister who informed you of the plagiarism incident at the time. At the same time, I also need you to provide a list of the specific names of people who have studied under Teacher Duan in Dana in recent years. Among these people, there is a very high possibility that they can obtain Teacher Duan’s DNA, and those who know that you have a crush on Teacher Duan are the most suspicious.”

“I will find out as soon as possible and send it to you by email,” Duan Yang said.

“Okay, then that’s it. I’ll contact you if there’s anything else,” Lin Chen said as he was about to close the communication.

“Consultant Lin.”

Before the call was about to end, Duan Yang suddenly stopped him.

Lin Chen looked up. “Please speak.”

“Everything you told me today means that even after Teacher’s death, there are still people using his genes for evil and even trying to blame him for everything. I can’t accept it,” Duan Yang said.

“I can’t accept it either,” Lin Chen said.

“I never understood the feelings of victims’ families before, but now I suddenly have a strange understanding.” Duan Yang looked at him. “Although Teacher has passed away; although it seems meaningless to find the real murderer who killed Tan Kang for the teacher, I still ask you to bring that person to justice.”

The young man stood up, took a step back. “Because I really loved him. So even if he died, I don’t want him to suffer any unjust treatment.”

This was what Duan Yang said, and the scene ended with the figure of him deeply bowing to Lin Chen.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 215

Speculations rose one after another while Lin Chen and Xing Conglian remained silent.

Indeed, all the physical evidence was there, but only testimonial evidence was lacking. Lin Chen didn’t even doubt that there could be witnesses who saw Duan Wanshan in the next few days.

The current situation was interesting. Their colleagues and comrades who had always supported them surrounded them, but they couldn’t tell them that Duan Wanshan was really dead, and all their guesses were wrong.

Lin Chen couldn’t help coughing. The feeling of having enemies in the dark and them in the light was really uncomfortable, and the fact that these conspiracies were centered around the dead Duan Wanshan made it even more difficult to accept.

Xing Conglian looked at him with concern, and Lin Chen looked at the dim eyes under the bright light and said, “Shall we go to the forensic room?”

“Okay.”

……

The forensic doctor at Hongjing Police Station was a woman with bright, curly red hair.

When they arrived at the door, the forensic doctor was holding milk tea, carrying a bag, and preparing to leave work. Xing Conglian went over and pressed the door, pushing her back into the office.

“Hey, I like women. Stay away from me,” the forensic doctor shouted.

“It’s okay. I like men,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen pushed open the door and saw Xing Conglian holding the forensic lady in the chair, taking the boba milk tea from her hand, and accurately throwing it into the trash can.

“Xing Conglian, what the hell?!”

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave?” Xing Conglian asked sharply.

“Fuck, brother, it’s already 7 in the evening, and I’ve been working overtime for two hours!” Forensic Doctor Yu was very impatient.

“Then sit for a while longer.”

Xing Conglian dragged a chair over, and Lin Chen sat down and greeted the beautiful lady in front of him, “Forensic Doctor Yu.”

“Consultant Lin.”

“Is there any way to falsify DNA evidence?” Lin Chen asked straightforwardly.

“Consultant Lin!”

The forensic doctor’s face sank. “It’s one thing not to let me leave, but why did you suddenly ask such a strange question?”

Lin Chen said, “We suspect that the DNA sample on the murder weapon in the Tan Kang case belonging to the suspect Duan Wanshan was forged.”

For a long time, the forensic doctor didn’t speak. The smell of formalin and the fresh gel water from the forensic doctor’s red hair floated in the air.

“What do you mean?” The forensic doctor leaned back in her chair and asked seriously.

Lin Chen replied, “Duan Wanshan has been abroad all this time, and there’s no record of him entering Hongjing, so he cannot suddenly appear here and commit murder.”

“You guys are criminal investigators. You should be able to find hundreds of ways and possibilities for him to come back,” the forensic doctor said.

Lin Chen replied concisely, “It’s impossible.”

“Okay, according to what you said, then someone falsely accused him by stealing his blood sample and stained it on the knife handle.” As Forensic Doctor Yu spoke, she crossed her legs.

“It’s impossible.”

“Why not?” The female medical examiner leaned forward suddenly.

“I can’t tell you right now.”

“You’re driving me crazy.” Forensic Doctor Yu leaned back in her chair, looking like she was saying, “Well, it looks like you already tested it, so what do you need me for?”

“So we need a possibility that there’s no relation between Duan Wanshan and this matter, but there is a possibility that the blood sample containing his DNA could appear on the knife handle.”

The red-haired female forensic doctor’s expression suddenly froze, and her eyebrows arched high. “I understand. You want me to tell you if there’s a way to fake DNA evidence, right?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever thought that if a typical case of DNA evidence forgery appears, it will create a lot of pressure on the prosecution in future court debates, and countless defense lawyers will use this to attack the reliability of forensic appraisal?” Forensic Doctor Yu countered.

“But this is an unavoidable problem. In this case, I am very sure that there is evidence of forgery,” Lin Chen persisted.

Finally, Forensic Doctor Yu sighed and said, “In fact, it’s very simple.”

“How simple?”

“Suppose I can get your DNA sample—I don’t need much. Even a single strand of your hair is enough. Amplify a large amount of DNA through certain techniques, then draw a tube of Lao Xing’s blood, separate the white blood cells containing DNA using a centrifuge, and then add your DNA to Lao Xing’s blood…”

Lin Chen looked directly at the medical examiner. “If the blood is subjected to forensic examination, it will only belong to me, not him.”

The beautiful female medical examiner nodded solemnly. “This is just the simplest method that even a biology undergraduate can complete.”

“I understand.” Lin Chen stood up and thanked her.

“You doubted my appraisal results and want to run away after saying thanks?”

Lin Chen lowered his eyes and said to Forensic Doctor Yu, “Actually, there is something else I want to know.”

“You have a very questioning look.” Forensic Doctor Yu crossed her arms and looked at him.

“I suddenly realized that you didn’t explain something to us clearly. Although I’m not sure about the specific division of the gene bank, I’m still surprised that you were able to quickly identify that it was Duan Wanshan’s DNA.”

“What the hell? Are you suspecting me?”

“I’m seeking answers.”

Forensic Doctor Yu stared at him for three seconds, took a deep breath, took off the hair tie from her left wrist and tied up her hair, then took out her laptop from her backpack and opened it with a snap. “Do you know about the Dingyuan Forum?”

Lin Chen frowned. “A medical forum?”

“It’s the largest medical-related forum in China.” Forensic Doctor Yu turned on her laptop. “I’m a sub-forum administrator there, so I basically go there every day to deal with site-related issues.” Forensic Doctor Yu paused. “I’m explaining this to tell you that I’m not looking for trouble.”

Lin Chen nodded.

“I wouldn’t be pursuing this if it wasn’t for this kind of situation.” Forensic Doctor Yu clicked open the forum, typed in “Tan Kang plagiarism” into the search bar, and hit enter. “About a month ago, someone posted a thread implying that Tan Kang had plagiarized Duan Wanshan’s research results. Because both of them are academic giants, there was quite a heated discussion. But the original poster didn’t provide any conclusive evidence, so it was dropped.”

Lin Chen’s heart trembled, finally realizing where his unease was coming from. If the other party had designed to falsely accuse Duan Wanshan, they would have made a complete chain of evidence, including not only physical evidence but also the motive for murder. And now, with this thread’s existence, the motive for murder was becoming apparent.

Duan Wanshan, harboring a grudge against Tan Kang’s plagiarism of his research results, returned to China and murdered him.

“After Tan Kang’s death, someone else resurrected this thread,” Forensic Doctor Yu said with a meaningful look. “You know what I mean…”

Xing Conglian leaned over to look at the various conspiracy theories on the webpage and shouted, “Wang Chao!”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Lin Chen asked Forensic Doctor Yu. “You knew about this thread’s existence, so you deliberately searched for Duan Wanshan’s DNA in the citizen’s gene bank, right?”

“Hey, hey, don’t give me that look!” Forensic Doctor Yu widened her eyes. “Obviously, I was standing on Duan Wanshan’s side, which is why I concealed this thread. It’s an obvious motive for murder. But if I really found his DNA, how could I not report it?”

The young man quickly pushed open the door and seeing the three people in the forensic doctor’s office, especially the red-haired woman, he took a step back. “Do you want to talk first?”

“Come over here,” Xing Conglian said.

Wang Chao also walked over to the forensic doctor and saw the laptop on the table and the contents on the computer screen. He quickly rushed over to move the mouse and carefully checked everything.

Finally, the young man apologized to them. “I’m sorry, Boss A’Chen. I didn’t realize this involved an online debate.”

Xing Conglian didn’t joke with him and only said, “Check the IP.”

Wang Chao nodded and quickly got to work. For a while, there was only the sound of rapid typing and the clicking of the mouse in the office. Lin Chen looked at the constantly changing computer screen and had a worse suspicion.

“I found it,” Wang Chao said, pulling off a slip of paper and writing down a string of numbers.

“The specific address of the poster,” Xing Conglian said.

Wang Chao turned back to continue working, and before long, his brow furrowed tightly. “The poster’s address is in Hongjing, very close to our home…”

Lin Chen raised his eyes suddenly.

Wang Chao stared at the screen and read, “At 7 Yanjia Lane, the Guai Guai Pet Shop.”

As soon as he heard the words “pet shop,” the blood drained from Lin Chen’s face, and he began coughing violently. Xing Conglian noticed and quickly patted his back. Holding Lin Chen’s hand, he felt the heat in his palm and said, “I’ll take you to the hospital first, and then we’ll go to the pet shop.”

“No need.” Lin Chen interrupted him, suppressing the discomfort in his lungs, and looked up at Forensic Doctor Yu.

“So can I get off work now since it seems you have some private matters to discuss?”

“I’m sorry.” Lin Chen nodded.

Forensic Doctor Yu pointed to her laptop. “Don’t use it to look at porn.”

“You can take it with you,” Lin Chen said.

“You should have said that sooner.” The beautiful forensic doctor glared at them, picked up the laptop, and walked out. When she was near the door, she turned back and gave them a worried look.

The door closed.

“What happened?” Xing Conglian asked.

Lin Chen took a deep breath. “It’s a post written by Duan Yang.”

Lin Chen couldn’t describe how he felt right now. Perhaps because he was running a fever again, he felt chills all over his body.

In fact, after experiencing everything in the rainforest, he would never doubt Duan Yang’s feelings for Duan Wanshan. If possible, Duan Yang would be willing to die for Duan Wanshan.

So since Duan Yang had no intention of framing Duan Wanshan—perhaps a long time ago—this matter had turned into a scheme that someone had been deliberately using Duan Yang to frame Duan Wanshan.

Every step that Duan Yang took to avenge his teacher and every trace he left on the Internet may have been designed by the mastermind behind the scenes to push Duan Wanshan into the abyss.

If Duan Wanshan hadn’t died, all of this would have happened as planned, and Duan Yang’s well-intentioned actions would have harmed his teacher.

Unfortunately, Duan Wanshan died…

This kind of arrangement may be small malice, but it was as strong as ink, and the smell was extremely fishy.

Lin Chen’s mind was in chaos for a while, but no matter what, there were some things that had to be done. “We need to confirm two things.”

Xing Conglian nodded.

“First, in order to confirm the true purpose of the person who forged the DNA evidence, we need to confirm with Duan Yang whether there are other people besides us who know about Professor Duan’s death.” Lin Chen paused, then continued, “Second, we must ask Duan Yang about the entire process of Tan Kang’s plagiarizing Professor Duan’s academic research results. If the murderer didn’t improvise to frame Duan Wanshan after seeing Duan Yang’s post, then this is a deliberate conspiracy. In my opinion, the latter is more likely.”

“But… But do we have to tell Duan Yang about this?” Wang Chao started with difficulty. “How much pain will he feel?”

“He has the right to know,” Lin Chen said, looking at the teenager’s conflicted face.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 214

When Xing Conglian loosened his chopsticks, the chicken leg that he just picked up fell down with a loud bang. Soup splashed all over, leaving Wang Chao stunned and Zheng Xiaoming confused as he looked at them.

Lin Chen felt uncomfortable, but he still comforted Zheng Xiaoming by patting his head, stood up, and instructed Wang Chao, “We may not be able to come back for a while. Please wait for Zheng Xiaoming’s parents to come and pick him up.” Even after Lin Chen finished speaking, Zheng Xiaoming still held onto his hand.

Lin Chen touched the little fatty’s face and said, “Your mother has my phone number. If you want to see me, you can ask her to call me.”

Saying so, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian left the cafeteria and headed for the forensic department together.

As they walked side by side, the officer who came to deliver the test report was very excited and kept saying, “Captain, this is a major discovery. The forensic doctor suspects that the suspect accidentally cut himself while committing the crime, leaving his blood sample on the weapon. Although it was wiped clean, DNA samples can still be found.”

“Uh-huh.” Xing Conglian had no reaction and just faintly responded.

The officer was even more excited, “So the reason he had to dispose of the weapon was also because it had his blood on it, and he had to destroy it to get rid of the evidence?”

Xing Conglian remained silent, and the officer continued, “Speaking of which, Duan Wanshan is also very strange. I just briefly looked at his personal information. He used to be a famous university medical professor, but he resigned and went abroad. There has been no record of him since. He is still a citizen of our country, but why did he suddenly enter the country and want to kill Dr. Tan Kang? I’ll go check his entry records later.”

Xing Conglian was still silent, while Lin Chen followed behind.

The sky outside the window had already turned dark, and the air conditioning in the corridor was turned up high, making it very cold. Lin Chen couldn’t help but cough lightly.

Seeing that he looked unwell, Xing Conglian asked, “Is your wound hurting?”

“No,” Lin Chen said.

“I’ll take you back to the hospital first. As soon as we find out, I’ll let you know the results,” Xing Conglian said, looking worried. If there weren’t other officers around, Xing Conglian might have stopped and hugged him.

Lin Chen knew that he wasn’t in very good condition right now, but he still insisted, “We’ve been here for so long. It won’t matter if we go to the forensic department first.”

Xing Conglian reached out and placed his hand on Lin Chen’s forehead, frowning. “It’s a little hot.”

“I feel okay. I just finished eating, so my body temperature is naturally a little high.”

“Have you had your X-rays taken yet?” Xing Conglian asked.

“That’s the only test left,” Lin Chen said.

“Let’s take it when we get back. I’m afraid you have a lung infection,” Xing Conglian said seriously.

Lin Chen nodded.

The officer who was leading the way ahead turned around again and said, “Consultant Lin, you need to stay in the hospital if you’re not feeling well. The case has made a breakthrough now, and you don’t have to be so tightly focused. Take care of yourself. Your health is the foundation of everything.”

Lin Chen shook his head, not knowing how to respond.

……

The entire forensic department still had more than half of its staff working, and the lights were on in the office.

Because the results had just come out and a DNA sample match had been found, many people had heard the news and were in good spirits.

Xing Conglian greeted the officers inside, found a chair to sit down on, and asked, “What’s the progress?”

The forensic officer replied, “The DNA results from the forensic doctor have come out, and we are now preparing to compare the fingerprints on Tan Kang’s notebook and those extracted from the tape with the fingerprints of the suspect, Duan Wanshan.”

“Weren’t the fingerprints on the notebook unidentifiable from the beginning? And since we don’t have Duan Wanshan’s fingerprints in our database, where did we find the comparison object?” Xing Conglian asked.

“We just called Duan Wanshan’s former employer, Yongchuan Medical University, to see if they have any relevant records.”

“After so many years, can Yongchuan Medical University still keep fingerprint records of former employees?”

“You never know, right Captain?” the officer chuckled.

Suddenly, the fax machine in the forensic department rang.

Someone picked up the contents of the fax and shouted, “Comrade Xiao Zhang, your fingerprints are here!”

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian looked at each other.

Officer Xiao Zhang ran excitedly to the fax machine, took a look at the content, and turned to say, “Captain, Yongchuan Medical University still has the fingerprint records of Duan Wanshan’s laboratory that he used to lead. It’s only the thumbprints, but that should be enough.” As he spoke, Xiao Zhang opened his own email, and an email lay quietly there.

Officer Xiao Zhang quickly operated his computer to compare the fingerprints in the email with the two sets of fingerprints found on the notebook and plastic bag.

Lin Chen lowered his head, and for some reason, his heart was beating a little fast.

The results soon came out, and the printer made a crunching sound as Officer Xiao Zhang took out the paper and walked toward them.

“How is it?” Xing Conglian asked.

Officer Xiao Zhang smiled, showing his teeth, and happily reported, “Captain, 14 characteristic points matched. It can be determined that the fingerprints found on the victim’s notebook and the bag containing the murder weapon belong to Duan Wanshan himself!”

Lin Chen suddenly raised his head as his heart trembled.

Duan Wanshan was already dead in the Dana Rainforest. He had witnessed it himself. Now, his DNA sample and fingerprints had reappeared. What is going on?

There was a whisper in the forensic department, as if they were overjoyed to have identified the suspect.

“Captain, what should we do next?” Officer Xiao Zhang asked.

Xing Conglian rarely had such moments when he was tongue-tied, and the surrounding eyes seemed to be waiting for him to give the command to arrest the suspect. “Wait a minute, I have a few questions.” Xing Conglian sorted out his thoughts and then spoke.

“The first question is, why were there two DNA samples found on the murder weapon?” he asked.

“The second DNA sample was found on the handle of the knife,” another person answered, “so we suspect that the suspect accidentally cut his hand while committing the crime…”

“I know this.” Xing Conglian interrupted the other person. “Are you sure the DNA sample is from blood, and not from any other tissue?”

“Yes.” The officer who brought the report nodded.

Xing Conglian turned to the other person and asked, “The second question is, why do we have a DNA sample from Duan Wanshan and quickly got a comparison result? Did he commit any previous crimes?”

“It seems not…” the person answered. “I’ll go check again later.”

Lin Chen frowned. It was indeed very strange because citizen DNA samples were considered personal privacy, and the testing cost was high. Unless there was a crime or some special circumstances, they couldn’t be recorded. Thinking about the possibility of Duan Wanshan’s DNA sample appearing in the citizen gene bank, he asked, “Or is he a victim of some case?”

“That’s not clear. I’ll go and ask now.”

“No need!”

There was a light sound at the door, and Lin Chen looked over and saw Wang Chao standing at the door with his phone.

After the teenager said “no need” very handsomely, he bent over and trotted over. He first reported to him, “A’Chen Gege, Xiaoming’s father has taken my little brother away.”

“Thank you,” Lin Chen said.

“Oh, A’chen Gege, you’re being too polite again. That’s my little brother,” Wang Chao said. He grabbed the test report, took out his phone, and quickly answered Xing Conglian’s question just now. “The reason why Duan Wanshan’s DNA sample appeared in the citizen gene bank is because…” He suddenly looked up, “The Thousand Genome Project?”

“Say it in plain language,” Xing Conglian said.

“I don’t quite understand it myself.” Wang Chao was unusually humble. He licked his finger and began to tap the screen of his phone quickly, and then read word for word, “On January 22, 2008, the ‘International Collaborative Group’ composed of scientists from various countries, announced that the international ‘Thousand Genome Project’ was officially launched. This grand plan will determine the genomic DNA sequences of at least 1,000 human individuals selected from around the world and draw the most detailed and medically valuable human genome genetic polymorphism map to date.”

Xing Conglian interrupted him. “So it means that Duan Wanshan’s DNA sample appearing in the gene bank has nothing to do with any case. It is only because of a medical plan.”

“It should be like this.” Wang Chao nodded, still looking at the messages on his phone. “It seems that Professor Duan was one of the first medical experts to respond to the plan. At that time, some people opposed the plan, saying that genetic information is the privacy of citizens and that large-scale scientific investigations by the government are a violation of citizens’ privacy. So Professor Duan took the lead in participating in this plan.”

“Sounds like something Lao Duan would do,” Xing Conglian said.

The officer who came to deliver the information earlier and had been standing next to them suddenly seemed to have guessed something. He suddenly said, “Oh, Captain, do you know each other?”

“I do. We used to be…very good friends,” Xing Conglian calmly said.

“Oh… it’s your friend.” The police officer couldn’t help but lower his tone. After all, he had already identified Duan Wanshan as a criminal suspect, and now he was thinking about how to pivot. He awkwardly said, “So… do we need to invite your friend to assist in the investigation? There are actually quite a few possibilities for why his blood sample appeared on this knife, like if he accidentally got some blood on it and gave it to someone…” He began to try to explain some other possible reasons.

“I can’t bring him here,” said Xing Conglian.

“Why not?”

“Because I know he’s been abroad for many, many years and hasn’t come back to the country.” Xing Conglian spoke lightly but didn’t mention that Duan Wanshan had already passed away.

Lin Chen lowered his eyes.

The police officer next to them gasped. “This… This can’t be, with the bloodstains and fingerprints, the evidence is relatively substantial.”

“Is there any recent record of Duan Wanshan’s entry into the country?” Xing Conglian asked.

Wang Chao had already found a computer in the forensic science department and logged into the entry and exit management center to search for Duan Wanshan’s name.

He turned the computer at an angle and said to everyone, “Come take a look.”

Xing Conglian and Lin Chen didn’t move, but many people around them gathered.

“The last time Duan Wanshan entered the country was on August 10, 2007…” someone read, “and he exited on September 1st of the same year. There have been no entry records since then…”

“That’s strange.” Someone touched their nose and said, “Did the entry and exit management make a mistake? That shouldn’t be…”

“This can only mean that Duan Wanshan didn’t enter the country through regular channels, and it’s possible that he snuck in,” someone else said.

“But if Duan Wanshan has been abroad all this time, how did he become enemies with Tan Kang, and why did he kill him?” Finally, someone asked this question.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 213

Wang Chao moved fast.

When Zheng Xiaoming’s parents walked out of the portrait room with their son feeling dizzy, the little chubby kid was snatched away by a scary teenager running towards them.

Lin Chen held back Zheng Xiaoming’s parents and gently said, “They may have some problems that need… private communication…”

Zheng Xiaoming’s parents were confused, so Lin Chen had to invite them to the rest area and make two cups of tea for them.

Through the glass window, they could see Wang Chao facing Zheng Xiaoming and having a conversation that was incomprehensible to the latter. Wang Chao kept talking while Zheng Xiaoming looked up with a confused expression as if he couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

Seeing the two of them, the surrounding police officers surrounded them curiously.

“Xiao Wang Chao, are you speaking Chinese? Why can’t I understand a single word?” a nearby officer joked. “The little guy will faint because of you.”

Wang Chao glared at him and waved his hand. “You mortals, don’t disturb our communication!”

After a moment, a very strange scene happened. Comrade Zheng Xiaoming pulled Comrade Wang Chao and sat on the office chair filled with cushions. He faced the computer in front of Wang Chao without feeling intimidated and typed a few Chinese characters, and then a large number of high-rise building images appeared. Zheng Xiaoming looked at one of the buildings, took a piece of paper, wrote down a string of numbers, then obediently jumped off the chair, put his hands on his stomach, and looked up at Wang Chao again.

“Are you sure?” Wang Chao asked.

Zheng Xiaoming nodded.

All the police officers around them surrounded them, but no one dared to speak.

Wang Chao howled and quickly jumped into the chair to operate the computer.

Lin Chen nodded to the two adults in the rest area and walked to the crowd.

Several police officers made way for him, and Lin Chen stood behind Wang Chao’s office chair, with the chubby boy quickly rubbing against his leg.

Lin Chen had never understood Wang Chao’s computer interface. The young man typed a long code and then turned around to see a large crowd of people behind him. He said in horror, “What are you all doing around me? It’s so scary!”

“I heard that the murderer tied the murder weapon to a balloon and released it?” one officer asked.

“I heard that you are planning to retrieve the murder weapon?” another officer asked.

“We’re here to see you act cool,” a third person said.

Wang Chao cursed and was then slapped by Xing Conglian on the head. “Speak properly. How are you going to find it?”

“The most primitive search method is to cast a net over the entire city. We’ll put out the news, determine the final location of the balloon based on witness reports, and then judge based on the direction of the wind that day. As long as the murder weapon hasn’t fallen into the water or been picked up by some auntie who washed it and is using it to chop vegetables, it can always be picked up by the public or searched by us. It’s just a matter of time, right?”

“Cut the nonsense,” Xing Conglian said, seemingly annoyed.

“I have a faster way. I can calculate the approximate landing point of the murder weapon and narrow down the search area to the size of five football fields. If everything goes smoothly, we can find the weapon before dark today!”

“Explain,” Xing Conglian said.

“Well, in meteorology, there is a mathematical model specifically for finding the landing point of meteorological balloons and baskets after they are cut. We can use this model to determine the possible landing range of the murder weapon after the balloons pop in the air.”

“But how do you determine where the balloons pop? There are too many possibilities—from the gas inside the balloon, the weight of the weapon, and the material of the balloon’s surface—they all have a significant impact.” Xing Conglian paused and asked, “Do we need to conduct experiments?”

“Boss, this is also a primitive way of searching. Of course, we need to conduct experiments.” Wang Chao grinned. “Xiao Ming’s mother said that the balloon the murderer gave to Xiao Ming was the kind sold in the amusement park. So we will also buy a few, tie them with weights and fly them, and use this to find the possible landing point of the weapon. Here are the calculations my friend just made about the weight of the tool,” the teenager said, handing over a bunch of values written by the little fatty just now.

“What the hell is this?”

“Oh, my little brother just calculated the weight of the object tied to the balloon. That’s the possible weight range of the weapon.”

Lin Chen looked at the numbers on the paper and asked, “How did you calculate this?”

“High school physics and estimation. I just taught my little brother in class just now, and he understood it. Impressive, right?”

Lin Chen frowned and looked at Wang Chao skeptically, “Really?”

Wang Chao felt embarrassed by the gaze. “Uh…I just wanted to see if he could understand it. In fact, there are not many knives that can be lifted by three balloons and still be able to kill people. They must be light and sharp, and I just asked the forensic department. They have determined the type of knife. I just had my little brother calculate it using physics as a reference. In fact, these weight errors can be ignored when they are in the air.”

“So it was just for show?” Lin Chen looked at the chubby kid next to Wang Chao and was speechless.

Xing Conglian took the paper handed to him by Wang Chao and ignored the teenager’s constant reference to “my little brother”. He waved his hand and asked the officers to arrange an experiment at the amusement park lakeside.

The crowd around Wang Chao’s computer reduced by one-third.

Wang Chao shouted loudly at the departing officers, “Remember to install GPS up there!”

Xing Conglian twisted his neck back to the front of the computer, and continued, “The experiment is okay, but the wind speed changes every day. What is your solution to cover all possible scenarios?”

“Boss, now I’m going to tell you about another search method,” Wang Chao said excitedly. “You just said that the difficulty in calculating the final landing point lies in the time when the balloons pop in the air, and there may be multiple cases where one or two balloons pop, so the trajectory will be very erratic. So, how can we calculate the erratic trajectory of the balloons?”

Comrade Xiao Wang dragged out his tone, but no one paid attention to him. He had to increase the volume of his voice and answer himself loudly, “Radar.”

“That’s impossible,” Xing Conglian said. “How could such a small balloon and its attachments be detected by radar? Meteorological balloons can be detected by radar because they are 10 to 20 times larger than normal balloons in size.”

“Have you heard of airport bird detection radar?” Wang Chao asked in return.

“Go on,” Xing Conglian stopped talking.

“All radars are the same. I won’t go into the specifics of the principle. Commonly used moving target radars can detect high-speed moving targets while suppressing fixed useless targets such as buildings, mountains, and clouds. However, they cannot identify small reflective cross-sections and low speed moving objects. In order to detect and filter low speed flying objects with small reflective cross-sections through radar, an improved filtering algorithm is needed, which is worth tens of billions.”

Xing Conglian gave him a glance. “Your A’Chen Gege has been listening to your nonsense for ten minutes here, so there’s no condition for negotiation.”

Wang Chao deflated and could only suggest, “Let’s go to the Civil Aviation Administration and request the radar data from yesterday’s incident. I’ll filter it, but the algorithm is not for sale.”

The time they found the murder weapon was not too far off from Wang Chao’s estimate. The police could always manage to find what they were looking for, barring any unexpected circumstances.

Before that, Lin Chen had been sitting in the lounge, not saying much, and had refused Xing Conglian’s offer to take him to the hospital. He sat barefoot on the couch, watching everyone in the police station busy at work.

Zheng Xiaoming was sitting next to him, doing his homework. The parents of the chubby boy still had to go to work in the afternoon, but since their child refused to go back to school, they had no choice but to leave him at the police station.

Lin Chen watched the little boy grip his pencil tightly with his fleshy fist, writing Chinese characters stroke by stroke in his notebook. The thing about geniuses wasn’t that they were scary; it was that they had strong willpower, which could basically destroy the earth.

When Xing Conglian came in for a break, Lin Chen was patting the little boy’s head, telling him to study hard at school.

“I thought you would suggest to his parents to send him to a class for geniuses to be with his peers.” Xing Conglian handed him a cup of warm water.

“Is there such an elementary school in Hongjing?” Lin Chen asked.

“Uh…” Xing Conglian squeezed in beside him and smiled. “Why don’t we start one?”

Lin Chen held the cup of water and smiled.

“Your smile seems forced, Consultant Lin,” Xing Conglian said. “It’s not like the kind of smile that sweetens my heart when I see it.”

Lin Chen didn’t respond to the joke.

“Since we found out that the suspect released the weapon, you haven’t said much,” Xing Conglian finally said.

“It’s not that. It’s just hard to explain.” Lin Chen took a sip of water. “I still feel like it’s an unnecessary thing to do.”

“Hmm?”

“Using balloons and releasing the weapon. The target is too big. Would a savvy killer do that?”

“It’s hard to say. It depends on the killer’s personality. Some are born with twisted minds and get extremely excited after killing someone, even wanting to strip and dance,” Xing Conglian said.

“Yeah, that’s why I think it’s difficult to explain this matter clearly.” Lin Chen shook his head. “If he is a professional killer, he shouldn’t be unaware that the police would find the discarded murder weapon. If he did it purely to get rid of it quickly, I can understand. But I can’t understand why he didn’t tie the last balloon to the weapon and instead took it with him to give to Xiao Ming.”

“There is a theory that murderers should quickly release the evidence related to their crime in batches, but it’s not reasonable to explain why he gave the balloons to Xiao Ming.”

Lin Chen didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only tell Xing Conglian, “I think there’s nothing for me in this murder case, so I have to find some meaning for myself.”

Xing Conglian said seriously, “Blame Wang Chao for being too capable. I’ll go back and beat him up.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xiaoming, who had been doing homework all along, looked up with a frightened expression and shifted his butt to the other side of the chair.

This was so cute that Xing Conglian went over and kissed the little boy’s face.

Zheng Xiaoming and Wang Chao were probably similar in some ways. After Xing Conglian kissed him, Zheng Xiaoming stood up without saying a word, walked to the tissue box, took out a tissue, folded it neatly, and carefully wiped the spot where Xing Conglian had kissed him on the cheek.

Xing Conglian was stunned.

Just then, there was suddenly an excited celebration outside the lounge.

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian looked at each other.

A police officer rushed in and shouted, “Captain, they found the black bag!”

“So fast?” Xing Conglian stood up, surprised.

“It happened to fall on a lawn in the suburbs, and it was very conspicuous. Xiao Wang calculated the address, contacted the local police, and they used a metal detector to find it right away.”

About forty minutes later, the black plastic bag and the murder weapon wrapped inside it, along with the remnants of the burst balloons and ropes, were delivered to the Hongjing Criminal Investigation Division.

Because the process of finding the weapon was so exciting, most of the forensic department and forensic doctors had gathered around by the time the evidence was delivered.

The black plastic bag was carefully unpacked layer by layer, finally revealing the silver-white, blood-stained blade inside.

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

Xing Conglian stepped back and said, “Let’s get to work. First, let’s confirm that this weapon was used by the suspect.”

Samples of blood on the blade were extracted, and the forensic doctor began examining the fingerprint traces on the plastic bag and transparent tape wrapped around it.

When the test results came out, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian were eating in the cafeteria with Wang Chao and Zheng Xiaoming.

Zheng Xiaoming preferred the braised chicken legs cooked by the chef at the police canteen. To show his good virtue of brotherhood, Wang Chao made an exception and bought five chicken legs with 30 yuan from his small coffers and gave them all to Zheng Xiaoming.

Lin Chen watched as Zheng Xiaoming had already eaten three whole chicken legs and was preparing to eat the fourth. He felt that this wasn’t good, so he quietly moved the dish to a place where Xiao Ming couldn’t reach it, in front of Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian glanced at the fingerprint report and asked in surprise, “The fingerprints on the tape and the notebook I brought back from Tan Kang’s office are from the same person?”

“Yes,” the officer nodded, and he handed the second piece of paper to Xing Conglian. “Then we analyzed the blood sample on the knife and confirmed that it belonged to the victim, Tan Kang.”

Xing Conglian nodded and sighed, raising his chopsticks to put the chicken leg in his own bowl.

Suddenly, the officer continued, “At the same time, another set of DNA samples not belonging to the victim, Tan Kang, was found on the murder weapon, and a match was found in the database with the second set of DNA samples.”

Lin Chen suddenly looked up, and Xing Conglian’s chopsticks stopped in midair.

“Who is it?”

The officer handed over the last piece of paper and said, “His name is Duan Wanshan.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 212

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, who immediately stopped talking and began to pour tea for Xiao Ming’s parents.

Xing Conglian said politely, “Originally, I wanted to invite your family of three to the police station to assist in the investigation, but since we know each other quite well, I thought we could have a meal together first and discuss some matters related to a case.”

“What case?” Xiao Ming’s parents became quite nervous. “It has nothing to do with Xiao Ming, right?”

“No, no.” Xing Conglian hurriedly interrupted the nervous parents and said seriously, “I just wanted to ask if you went to the Hongjing Amusement Park with Xiao Ming yesterday.”

Xiao Ming’s parents became even more nervous. “I heard that someone died at the park yesterday. We’re not that unlucky to be involved, are we?”

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian exchanged a glance, confirming their previous judgment.

“During the time from 10:00 to 12:00, were you and Xiao Ming both in the park?” Xing Conglian asked.

Xiao Ming’s mother recalled, “We arrived at the park at 9:30 in the morning and left around 5:00.” She patted her son’s head and said, “He likes to stand under the roller coaster and watch the tracks, but he refuses to ride it.”

“Talented children are like that.” Wang Chao sighed. “When I was young, I liked to watch the tracks of the roller coaster. I thought the curvature was particularly beautiful.”

Xing Conglian patted Wang Chao’s head like Xiao Ming’s mother did, asking him to be quiet, then said to the parents, “So I wonder if you remember if a stranger gave something to Xiao Ming?”

Xiao Ming’s mother poked Xiao Ming’s father and whispered, “I knew that person was suspicious!”

Xing Conglian’s expression turned cold. “What kind of person was he, and where did you meet him?”

“I can’t remember exactly where we met him, but he was a strange person who gave our Xiao Ming a balloon and then left…” Xiao Ming’s mother said.

Xing Conglian gave a signal to Wang Chao, who quickly handed over his tablet. The screen showed the moment when the stranger with a duckbill hat tied a balloon to Xiao Ming’s hand.

“That’s him,” Xiao Ming’s mother said excitedly, as if finally recalling something. Suddenly, she changed her tone, “The person who gave the balloon to our Xiao Ming isn’t the murderer, right?”

At this, Xiao Ming’s father poked Xiao Ming’s mother again, saying, “Don’t talk nonsense. The police are here.”

Xing Conglian found it difficult to answer the question and could only say, “The specific situation is still under investigation.” He paused and continued to divert the parents’ attention with another question. “By the way, do you still have the balloon that was given to Xiao Ming?”

“We threw the balloon away long ago. We didn’t drive that day and took the subway instead. You can’t bring balloons on the subway,” Xiao Ming’s mother said with some disdain. “And we always thought that person was too strange.”

Xing Conglian sighed quietly.

Lin Chen picked up the tea on the table and took a sip. He asked Xiao Ming’s mother, “You just mentioned that the person was strange. What did you mean by strange?”

“Well, how should I say this…” Xiao Ming’s mother tried to remember again. “Have you ever seen anyone who covers themselves up so tightly in the middle of summer, wearing big sunglasses and a mask? It was terrifying.”

“Are you saying that he tried hard to hide his face from others?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Yes, his sunglasses were very big, covering half of his face, and I remember his collar was flipped up high,” Xiao Ming’s mother said.

Lin Chen nodded. “Later, I’ll have to trouble you and your husband to come with Xiao Ming to the police station to create a simulated portrait.”

“Is it a criminal suspect?” Xiao Ming’s father interrupted. “But it’s been so long. We really can’t remember.”

“The police have officers dedicated to drawing portraits who can help you recall…”

Before Lin Chen finished speaking, suddenly, Zheng Xiaoming, who had been holding onto his arm tightly, jumped up and snatched the tablet from his mother’s hands.

Xiao Ming’s mother was about to scold her son, but Lin Chen shook his head and stopped her with his eyes.

He looked down and saw Zheng Xiaoming, who was familiar with the device, return to the main interface of the tablet and open the drawing app. He took out the stylus and began drawing on the blank canvas.

As Zheng Xiaoming’s strokes became faster and faster, the image on the blank paper gradually became clearer.

The shape of a face gradually appeared, followed by sunglasses and a mask. Lin Chen noticed that before drawing the mask, Zheng Xiaoming drew a raised corner of the mouth and then covered the lower part of the face with a mask.

Wang Chao leaned over and admiringly rubbed Zheng Xiaoming’s head. “Holy shit, you’re so awesome. Can I recognize you as my little brother*?”

*[Didi] (弟弟) Basically like [gege] but referring to younger brother.

Xing Conglian covered the teenager’s mouth and dragged him back.

Soon, Zheng Xiaoming stopped drawing.

Lin Chen had been placing his hand on Xiao Ming’s head the whole time. The child looked up at him and tentatively probed with his eyes.

Lin Chen looked at the picture, then at the child’s face, and softly said to him, “You drew it well. The details are very comprehensive.”

The chubby child had a soft face with big, watery eyes, like a young and inexperienced animal. If it weren’t for Zheng Xiaoming’s weight issue, Lin Chen would have liked to hold him on his lap. Now he could only lean in close to the child’s soft face and ask him, “Did the person who gave you the balloon seem very happy at that time? Is that what the smiling face you drew means?”

Xiao Ming nodded vigorously.

“Why was he so happy? Did something happen before that?” Lin Chen asked again.

Xiao Ming looked at him, picked up his pen again, and lowered his head to create a new canvas.

Wang Chao hurriedly stopped him. “Wait, wait, little brother, save it first. Damn, this is such an important clue. If Teacher Zhang sees it, he’ll definitely kneel down and ask you to be his apprentice!”

“Who is Teacher Zhang?” Xiao Ming’s mother asked.

“The police station’s portrait expert,” Lin Chen answered for Wang Chao.

Xiao Ming scrambled to save the paper that was almost deleted, then began drawing on the blank canvas again.

Soon, a lawn and a vast lake appeared on the screen, followed by the shapes of children playing by the lake and flocks of flying pigeons.

Then, a man appeared on a bench by the lake, looking up at the sky. Lin Chen noticed that the man on the bench had only one balloon left in his hand. Afterward, Zheng Xiaoming started drawing in the sky.

One, two, three…

Three hydrogen balloons appeared in the air above the lake.

Wang Chao took a deep breath, and before the young man could speak, Xing Conglian reached out and covered his mouth.

The private room of the restaurant was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Everyone was waiting silently for Zheng Xiaoming to finish his drawing.

In the picture, three hydrogen balloons were tied to a black, ribbon-shaped object that wasn’t very clear, slowly rising into the air. Looking at the picture, Lin Chen’s palms began to sweat.

“What the hell is this?” Wang Chao finally had the chance to speak, and his voice was tinged with panic.

The atmosphere in the room tensed up again.

“What did my son draw?” Xiao Ming’s mother asked. “Did the murderer really give the balloons to my son?”

“It’s still under investigation, and we can’t be sure.” Lin Chen rubbed Xiao Ming’s head. He had no choice but to avoid talking about topics that weren’t convenient to discuss in front of him. “Xiao Ming is really talented. He has a gift for painting, but he still needs you to take him to the police station and make a more detailed portrait.”

Wang Chao also chimed in, “Yes, yes, little fatty is a genius! He’s like Picasso reincarnated! He’s amazing!”

When Xiao Ming’s mother heard someone praising her son, her nervousness temporarily subsided. “If it weren’t for Teacher Lin saying he’s a genius… we’ve always treated him like an idiot.”

“So you sent him to learn to paint?” Lin Chen asked.

Xiao Ming’s mother became excited. “Yes, how did you know? Mainly, we couldn’t communicate with him, so we thought maybe if he could draw more, he’d have a way to express himself. That’s why we did it… Right?”

Lin Chen nodded. “Xiao Ming does have some language deficiencies, and he can’t communicate normally in many situations. But his talent for painting is related to his visual-spatial ability. In this regard, it seems that it is his strength.”

“By the way, Teacher Lin, can you please give me your WeChat so we can keep in touch.”

For almost an hour, Lin Chen had been chatting with the parents of the gifted child about education issues, until they arrived at the police station. Xiao Ming’s family of three was then sent to Teacher Zhang’s portrait room. Only then did he and Xing Conglian have time to sit down and discuss the problem of Xiao Ming’s drawing on Wang Chao’s tablet. They were all silent as they looked at the bizarre-shaped object floating in the air with three balloons tied to it.

“Is this something the suspect released?”

“Probably?”

“Holy shit. What the hell is this dark lump under the balloon?”

Lin Chen pursed his lips and said lightly, “If I’m not mistaken, it should be…”

“The murder weapon,” Xing Conglian finished.

Upon hearing Xin Conglian’s answer, Lin Chen fell into deep thought. The police didn’t find the murder weapon at the crime scene or in the surrounding area. They speculated that the perpetrator who assassinated Tan Kang was an experienced criminal who was very clever in choosing to either take the weapon away from the scene or dispose of it in a better way. However, they never imagined that the perpetrator would tie the murder weapon to three balloons and release it into the sky.

“He must be crazy to release the murder weapon like that. What if someone sees it? It’s very easy to spot,” Wang Chao said, not understanding.

“For criminals, the longer they carry the weapon, the more likely they are to make a mistake. Knowing how to quickly dispose of the weapon is a must for every criminal,” Xing Conglian replied.

Wang Chao suddenly had a thought and asked, “Does the fact that the suspect released the weapon mean that there are clues related to him on the weapon, such as fingerprints, so he had to dispose of it immediately?”

“There’s a high possibility of that,” Xin Conglian said.

“But why did he release it? Couldn’t he have just thrown it into the lake?” Wang Chao asked, puzzled.

Lin Chen didn’t answer.

Xin Conglian continued, “Does he think we’re fools? If he threw it in the lake, it would be easily found.”

“But even if he released it, it’s still easy to find,” Wang Chao said, looking relaxed.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 211

Of course, Comrade Xiao Wang was just talking. After all, he couldn’t afford to even date when he was poor, so how could he really upset the boss?

Wang Chao sat down in front of the desktop computer, and a light cough came from behind him. He stood up suddenly and gave his seat to his boss.

His boss wasn’t embarrassed at all and sat down in front of the computer with great ease, forcing Wang Chao to bend over and manipulate the mouse aggrievedly.

Wang Chao moved the screen to the last scene where the suspect was holding a balloon and leaving the crowd and said, “This is the scene when the suspect left.”

“Mm,” Xing Conglian said lightly.

Wang Chao dragged the mouse, and the timeline was moved to a later position. The suspect could be vaguely seen walking past the amusement park restaurant and out of the surveillance screen.

Afterwards, Wang Chao rubbed his fingers and excitedly said, “The moment of witnessing a miracle has come!”

Xing Conglian gave him a slap and said irritably, “Stop chanting slogans.”

But after he finished speaking, even Xing Conglian was surprised.

In the surveillance video, the suspect was walking on the main road of the amusement park, heading towards the exit, passing by many cute girls who were dressed up and holding balloons.

“This is five minutes later.” Wang Chao pressed the pause button and spliced the scenes five minutes before and after together. “Let’s find the differences!”

Xing Conglian looked at the object in the suspect’s hand on the left side of the screen and then looked to the right side of the screen. “The suspect’s four balloons in his hand are missing?”

“Yes, is it popular to kill people and release balloons to make wishes now?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, Boss!”

“Can you find out where the suspect went during the missing five minutes?”

As Wang Chao spoke, he snapped his fingers and called up a 3D stereoscopic image. Xing Conglian looked at the restaurant and exit positions, recalled the direction in which the suspect left the surveillance range, and finally looked at the amusement park’s vast artificial lake.

“He went to the lakeside?”

“Surely he went to the lakeside to release the balloons!” Wang Chao said.

Xing Conglian ignored him and asked with a frown, “Is the lakeside a blind spot in the surveillance?”

“Yes.”

“Retrieve the surveillance records from here and here.” Xing Conglian looked at the 3D image and clicked twice on the screen.

Wang Chao did as he was told, and the screen began to move. These two surveillance points were the only way the suspect could have taken from the lakeside to the exit. The suspect walked slowly against the crowd, disguised very well and looking down.

“Stop!”

Xing Conglian said it coldly. The screen froze.

Looking at the suspect’s balloons floating in the air on his head, Wang Chao couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn, why did he keep one balloon in his hand, and then none at the end?”

Xing Conglian didn’t answer but pressed the enter key to slow down the following scene.

From the surveillance footage, it was clear that after passing by the same couple, the suspect bent down and tied his last balloon to the hand of a very chubby little boy. In the end, he even kindly patted the little boy’s head.

The sun was shining. The little boy looked up with confused eyes, not knowing exactly why the other party gave him the balloon.

For a moment, no one spoke in front of the computer screen.

Wang Chao shuddered and spoke with some difficulty. “Boss, is this a pervert?! Should we call A’Chen Gege?”

Xing Conglian looked at the little boy on the screen and felt a sense of familiarity, but the image was blurry. He said to Wang Chao, “Can you choose a clearer camera angle and process the boy’s face?”

Wang Chao immediately perked up. “Boss, do you know him? Is he your illegitimate child?”

Xing Conglian couldn’t help but give him another slap. “Can your A’Chen Gege give birth?”

Wang Chao’s face froze with an expression of “Boss, you’re a beast”, then he turned his head stiffly and quickly processed the black and white surveillance footage.

After a while, the blurry grayish image gradually became clear through calculations, and the fat on the little boy’s face changed from mosaic into smooth lines.

Looking at the screen at the bewildered chubby face, Xing Conglian took out his cigarette and phone, and dialed Lin Chen’s number. Taking advantage of the gap before connecting the call, he said to Wang Chao, “It looks like we can only ask him for help.”

……

Lin Chen walked out of the ear examination room, leaving only one X-ray to be taken before he could finish his entire medical examination.

His phone vibrated, and he smiled helplessly when he saw the caller ID. “I just hung up not long ago…”

“I’ll come pick you up.”

In fact, before answering the phone, Lin Chen didn’t expect the lead to come so suddenly.

“Hmm?”

“We’ve found a clue about the suspect.”

“So fast.”

“Somebody had contact with the suspect after the crime.” Xing Conglian seemed to be talking while walking; his voice was urgent.

“Who?” Lin Chen suddenly realized the purpose of Xing Conglian’s call. “Do I know them?”

The sound of Xing Conglian opening the car door came through the phone. “Not only do you know them, but you might be the only one who can talk to them…”

Lin Chen was even more surprised, “Who?”

“The little fatty who wanted to eat KFC.”

“Zheng Xiaoming???”

Remembering the little kid who asked Xing Conglian to exchange KFC for a handful of sand, Lin Chen quickly reacted. He widened his eyes, looked down at his phone screen, and was immersed in a strange feeling of how small the world was. He was speechless for a long time before speaking, “This is too…”

“Too bizarre, right?” Xing Conglian started the engine and stepped on the gas. “But, isn’t that little fatty our matchmaker?” Xing Conglian sighed and then hung up the phone.

Lin Chen stood at the entrance of the medical examination building, wearing a hospital gown and a wristband. He got into the passenger seat and asked Xing Conglian, “Have you contacted Zheng Xiaoming’s parents?”

“School is in session today.” Before Xing Conglian could reply, Wang Chao interrupted. “So Xiaoming is still at Shishi Elementary School. His parents will pick him up this afternoon, which is just in time for us to go there!”

Lin Chen nodded, still a bit dazed. “Are we sure it’s Zheng Xiaoming?”

“Who else could be that fat?” Xing Conglian’s tone was also vague.

Wang Chao handed Lin Chen the tablet. “A’Chen Gege, take a look for yourself.”

Lin Chen lowered his head, and the face of the child on the tablet was somewhat blurry, but he had a chubby face and a somewhat dull look in the eyes.

“It’s really him,” Lin Chen said.

“Isn’t this a good clue?” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen didn’t answer the question quickly. His gaze fell on the balloon floating on Zheng Xiaoming’s wrist.

“This balloon?”

“You’re amazing, A’Chen Gege. This balloon was given to Zheng Xiaoming by the killer,” Wang Chao said.

Lin Chen felt the air in the car was a bit cold.

Wang Chao leaned over and pulled up the surveillance video to show him.

Lin Chen carefully watched the slowly advancing picture. When he saw the killer who had just stabbed Tan Kang tie the balloon to Zheng Xiaoming’s wrist and gently pat his head with his hand that had just killed someone, Lin Chen felt shivers down his spine.

“He’s disturbed. Why did he take the risk of exposing himself and give the balloon to the chubby kid?”

“I don’t know,” Lin Chen said. “I remember he had four balloons in his hand before. Why are there only three now?”

“That’s what I find strange. He had balloons before he went to the lake, but when he came back, he didn’t have them anymore. If he didn’t give all the balloons to the kid by the lake, then he released the balloons! Is he doing something romantic?” Wang Chao shivered. “Isn’t this killer too cold?”

Lin Chen didn’t answer.

……

Outside the gate of Shishi Elementary School, Lin Chen saw Zheng Xiaoming and his parents, whom he had not seen for more than a year.

Zheng Xiaoming had grown taller. Before Xing Conglian’s car had even stopped, he had broken free from his parents’ hands and ran in the direction of the Jeep.

Lin Chen got out of the car and squatted down. Zheng Xiaoming, like a heavy missile, rushed into his arms. If he had not leaned against the car door, Lin Chen suspected he might have been knocked down directly, but even so, he still felt pain in his chest.

Xing Conglian hurriedly got out of the car and pulled the little fatty from his arms.

Only then did Zheng Xiaoming’s parents arrive, looking at him with the same embarrassed expression as a year ago.

Wang Chao reached out, and Lin Chen helped the young boy up. He coughed lightly and nodded to the two adults.

“Teacher Lin… Long time no see. Are you feeling unwell?” Zheng Xiaoming’s mother only reacted after a while.

“Well, there are some minor health problems, but they are not contagious. Please don’t worry.” Lin Chen rubbed the boy’s head and said to Zheng Xiaoming’s parents, “I came to see you today to ask about some clues related to a case. Can we go eat lunch together?”

On the way from the school gate to the restaurant, Zheng Xiaoming, the chubby child, clung to Lin Chen’s arm, unwilling to let go.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lin Chen rubbed the soft hair on the child’s head. “Do you like a girl but dare not confess?”

Zheng Xiaoming suddenly looked up and shook his head hard.

The parents coughed slightly and said, “Actually…”

Xiao Ming’s parents coughed awkwardly and said, “Actually…we don’t know how to communicate with him. Since you left, he has…”

“He even squatted outside our house for a while,” Xing Conglian added.

Looking at the child whose eyes were turning red, Lin Chen suddenly realized the so-called “when he left” referred to the time when he left Hongjing by feigning death. Although Xiao Ming’s parents didn’t seem to know that he had disappeared, there should have been some sporadic reports when he fell into the river. Xiao Ming was smart, so he must have noticed.

Lin Chen felt a little guilty. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He rubbed the kid’s chubby face. “And when I came back, I should have let you know.”

Xiao Ming still held his hand tightly and shook his head desperately, then looked at the pedestrians rushing by outside the window.

“Don’t go?” Xing Conglian guessed the meaning behind Xiao Ming’s gaze before Lin Chen did, and he pursed his lips. “Comrade Zheng Xiaoming, you can’t be too ambitious in life!”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>