Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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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/

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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/

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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.

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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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/

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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 || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 210

“What do you think?”

Xing Conglian stood up and walked to the corner, whispering back.

There was some uncommon hesitancy in Lin Chen’s tone. “I don’t know what to think. There are too many tangled background clues in this case. The upcoming new drug launch by Zhourui Pharmaceutical, the drug factory in the rainforest, the Rainforest ethnic group used as illegal drug test subjects, Dr. Tan Kang, who was suddenly killed, and even the supplier kicked out by Zhourui Pharmaceutical. Putting all these things together makes one dizzy. And it’s hard to say whether these things are related to each other, independent, or combined in pairs—there are too many possibilities.”

“Indeed.” Xing Conglian paused and asked back, “But what does it have to do with you not getting a medical checkup?”

Lin Chen choked and said, “Can you give me a hint before suddenly changing the topic in the future?”

Xing Conglian said seriously to Lin Chen, “Okay, as long as we establish a rule that if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, should you accept punishment?”

“A fine?” Lin Chen tentatively asked.

“No, Consultant Lin, I’m actually quite rich. I don’t need that,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen immediately understood. “Captain Xing, I’m still a patient.”

“No rules, no standards.”

“What do you want?”

“You can choose to be billed by the number of times or by time.” Xing Conglian thought for a moment and said sincerely, “I suggest you choose by time.”

“Xing Conglian.”

In a rare instance, Lin Chen had called out his full name.

“Yes?”

“I never realized that you were so ambitious.”

Xing Conglian finally couldn’t help but laugh.

After a while, Lin Chen’s voice came out. “I’ll listen to your advice and charge by time, but can I owe you first?”

“Three hours added for each mistake,” Xing Conglian said.

“Xing Conglian!”

Lin Chen raised his voice for the first time, and Xing Conglian could almost imagine what he looked like with his ears turning red on the phone in the hospital.

“Two hours then.” His family ran a business, so he knew what it meant to quit while you’re ahead.

“Aren’t you expecting too much now?” Lin Chen was a little angry. “What if we are not harmonious?”

“Harmony or not depends mainly on technique,” Xing Conglian said.

“Let’s talk about the case.” Lin Chen finally had to admit defeat.

“Then I’ll take it that you’ve agreed?” Xing Conglian asked with a smile.

“Tomorrow, Zhourui Pharmaceutical has a new drug presentation, and I think we need to go and listen.” Lin Chen said.

“So all the preamble just now was for this condition?” Xing Conglian pointed out.

“We know very little about Nordren. Since everything seems to revolve around this upcoming new drug, we really need to fully understand this drug and see what Zhourui is planning.”

“Reasonable.” Xing Conglian dragged his tone. “But without a medical report, Mr. Lin, how can I take you there?”

“I’m going to get a medical checkup now,” Lin Chen said, and was about to hang up the phone.

At this moment, the fingerprint test report was handed over.

Xing Conglian held the phone and said to the other side, “Hold on, don’t hang up yet.”

“What’s wrong?” Lin Chen asked.

“The fingerprint results are out.” Xing Conglian glanced over.

“Who touched the mouse?” Lin Chen asked.

“Guess?”

“Zhang Min?” Lin Chen asked tentatively.

“You really are a smart consultant.” Xing Conglian laughed.

“What about the fingerprints on Dr. Tan Kang’s notebook?”

“Guess again.”

“The fact that you’re asking means that the fingerprints on it don’t belong to Zhang Min.”

“Smart.”

“Then whose are they?”

“I don’t know.”

Lin Chen was almost choked, but after a moment of silence, he asked, “So what you’re saying is that there is a mysterious third person’s fingerprint on the notebook that does not belong to Zhang Min or Tan Kang?”

“Yes, although theoretically, the fingerprint on the notebook could belong to many people, such as anyone who happened to touch the notebook. But unfortunately, there are only two people’s fingerprints on the whole notebook—Dr. Tan Kang himself and that mysterious third person.” Xing Conglian added, “We compared the notebook with the schedule book, and the unidentified fingerprint does not belong to Dr. Tan Kang’s secretary.”

“I see, so if it wasn’t Dr. Tan Kang intentionally tampering with his notebook, then it is confirmed that only that mysterious third person touched it, right?”

Xing Conglian sighed. “You’re so smart, I really want to lock you up in a room and not let anyone else see you.”

“Captain Xing, that’s a bit twisted. I’m already at the medical center now,” Lin Chen said seriously.

“Oh, I forgot about that. Why did you suddenly bring it up?” Xing Conglian laughed.

“Because I think you’re a bit scary.”

The nurse’s voice came through the phone, directing Lin Chen to the exam room.

As the surrounding noisy voices gradually diminished, Lin Chen asked, “Why do they need to check my vision?”

“It’s a full-body check,” Xing Conglian said, folding the fingerprint report in his hand and putting it aside. Lin Chen should have entered the vision exam room, but neither of them had any intention of hanging up the phone.

Xing Conglian felt that falling in love really changed a person.

He watched the police officers bring in a large number of knives and begin a new round of comparisons. Looking at those flashing silver knives, Xing Conglian said, “I suddenly have an idea.”

“To the left.” Lin Chen was probably really checking his vision obediently, and only then asked, “What idea?”

“That fingerprint—could it belong to the murderer?” Xing Conglian said.

“You’re being too imaginative.” Lin Chen said “thank you” to someone on the other end of the line and walked out of the exam room. “But anything is possible. Maybe it was Zhang Min who did it. If you can find the murder weapon, you can nail her.”

“It’s very troublesome. Not to mention the murder weapon, we haven’t even determined what type of knife it is.” Xing Conglian sighed. “The forensic department has already brought in all the props that can be bought on the market that match the size, and it may take a few more days to find something.”

“The range of the murder weapon is too wide, so for now the most useful clue is still the surveillance. We can only start with that,” Lin Chen said. “Let’s first determine the killer’s whereabouts in the amusement park. Although I also think that a professional killer is likely to take the murder weapon away and not leave any obvious physical evidence that can be found.”

“You’re right,” said Xing Conglian gently. “Put your phone away.”

“Huh?” Lin Chen asked.

Xing Conglian covered his phone’s microphone and shouted loudly, “Wang Chao!”

There was no response from the forensic department, so Xing Conglian increased the volume again and shouted, “Anyone, bring Wang Chao to me!”

After shouting, he put the phone back to his ear and asked softly, “How is your eyesight?”

“Both eyes are 20/20, don’t worry.”

“What’s the next checkup subject?”

Lin Chen hesitated and said, “Urology.”

Xing Conglian widened his eyes and looked at the phone incredulously. “Is that a thing?”

“That’s the item you requested for me when I went in.”

“Wait, wait!” Xing Conglian quickly said.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Chen was indifferent. “It seems there’s also a digital rectal exam. I saw it on the list.”

Xing Conglian heard the sound of flipping through papers.

“What the hell is that?”

Lin Chen laughed. “Don’t you know? It’s when they use their hands…”

“No! You can’t go!” Xing Conglian suddenly woke up and felt a creepy sensation.

“But if we’re missing a few items, can the medical examination still be considered passed?” Lin Chen asked back.

Xing Conglian felt like he was caught in a difficult situation. “I’ll be responsible for those items.”

Lin Chen’s low laughter came through the phone. “Come on.”

……

Wang Chao gasped for breath as he ran up from the ground floor to the forensic department. What he saw was his boss holding the phone and laughing.

He wanted to turn around and leave, but his boss noticed him in advance and beckoned him over with a finger.

Wang Chao walked over to the corner and slapped his boss’s shoulder hard. He said with a serious tone, “Boss, I’m on your side. Can you please tone it down a bit?” He glanced around at the colleagues passing by. “Although your corner is quite secluded, haven’t you noticed that everyone is looking at you?”

Xing Conglian hung up the phone. “What are they looking at?”

“Your teenage boy’s crush looks suspicious, you know?”

“It’s okay. I’m in love. It’s normal.” Xing Conglian patted his head amiably and suddenly felt very apologetic. “Sorry, I forgot again. You’ve never been in a relationship, so you don’t understand.”

Wang Chao turned around to leave.

“Come back here.” His boss shouted behind him.

Driven to desperation by poverty, Comrade Xiao Wang stamped his feet and obediently returned to his original position.

“How’s the surveillance going?”

“I have some leads.”

“What do you mean by ‘some’?”

“I’ve confirmed 70% of the killer’s activity route and found a very strange detail.”

Xing Conglian nodded. “Let’s go. I’ll go with you to take a look.”

Comrade Xiao Wang widened his eyes. “So, why did you specifically call me to run over earlier?”

“To pick you up. Don’t you even understand this?” Xing Conglian patted his head lovingly.

Wang Chao turned his head and left. Xing Conglian jumped off the table and hooked his neck. “What did you find in the surveillance?”

Wang Chao didn’t even listen to what was said, still immersed in sadness. “Boss, why are you in love, but you’re not nice to me at all?”

“How am I not nice to you?”

“You keep saying that I haven’t been in love.”

“Well, you really haven’t.”

“It’s all because of you that I haven’t been in a relationship.”

“Blaming me?”

“You always make me do this and that, so I don’t have a personal life.”

“That’s great. You can choose to run away from home and find your own personal life.”

“No, I have no money.”

“So what? If you’re poor, you shouldn’t be in love. Can’t you just make money?”

“Asshole!”

“Oh, you know how to curse now.”

Wang Chao’s heart hardened, and he asked, “Can you introduce me to a girlfriend?”

“Wang Chao, it’s the 21st century. Parents don’t arrange marriages anymore.”

“Boss!”

“Yes, yes.”

“I’m really tempted to destroy the hard drive of the surveillance right now!”

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 209

Lin Chen had certainly thought before that if one day he could be lucky enough to be with Xing Conglian, they would definitely have a very interesting life. As it turned out, his speculation was correct.

After saying “goodbye” to Xing Conglian, Lin Chen took out his headset and walked out of the ward with a thick stack of medical examination reports that needed to be filled out by a doctor.

At the moment the door opened, the medical staff pushing the hospital bed whizzed past, and Lin Chen stepped back and stood back in the doorway.

In a moment of surprise, he saw an old man lying on the hospital bed, feeling that fate was unpredictable, often just like this moment.

He remembered yesterday walking through the special care ward and seeing the old man full of energy educating his subordinates, but now he lay on the hospital bed without any awareness, as if only one breath remained.

The elevator door opened in the distance, and the hospital bed was quickly pushed in. The iron gate closed, and the floor numbers on the elevator sign quickly descended.

Slow footsteps sounded behind him, and Lin Chen turned his head and was surprised to see the young subordinate who had been reprimanded by the old man yesterday.

They looked at each other, and the young man in a suit and leather shoes avoided his gaze. It seemed he didn’t intend to chase after the hospital bed.

Lin Chen held the medical examination report and took a brief look at the other person. He turned his feet and walked towards the other person.

The young man’s hair was very soft, as if deliberately highlighting a fierce temperament, and his hairstyle was cut very short, making him look out of place. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and an ill-fitting suit, looked dejected, and had no pain or resentment on his face, only confusion.

“Hello,” Lin Chen greeted the other person.

“I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

He didn’t expect the other person to answer like this. “Troubled? “

The young man lowered his head even more. “When I was scolded by the chairman yesterday, you just happened to pass by.”

Lin Chen was even more surprised. With such short eye contact yesterday, the young man could remember him, and now he mentioned this embarrassing thing specifically. Following the principle of saying what was on his mind, he asked strangely, “Why suddenly bring this up?”

“I…” The young man hesitated. Although he looked like he didn’t know whether to speak or not, he continued, “I thought…you wanted to talk to me about something. I thought that this would be…the beginning…”

He patted the other person’s shoulder calmly and explained to him, “Would you feel that such a beginning is suited for starting an intimate conversation?”

The young man rubbed his face with his hand, shook his head, and turned to leave.

Lin Chen was helpless. Why did he always encounter such vague and unclear things when he just went out for a medical examination? After the young man took a step out, he stopped him. “I’m going for a medical examination now. It will take about an hour. If you have time, would you like to accompany me?”

The young man turned around and nodded vigorously.

Lin Chen stood at the elevator entrance, and the young man beside him politely pressed the elevator button for him as if he were used to doing this. When the elevator door opened, the other person even held the door and let him go in first.

“The chairman is sick. Don’t you have to go and keep him company?” Standing in the elevator, Lin Chen found a topic to chat with the other person.

“I made the chairman sick. He told me to fuck off and never show up in front of him again.”

The young man’s voice was thin and soft, as if it could be cut off at any moment. Lin Chen thought about this sentence in his heart. Normally, when a chairman met a disliked subordinate, he would only say “you don’t have to come to work tomorrow”. Saying things like “fuck off” and “never show up in front of me again” didn’t seem quite right.

“Then resign.” He thought for a moment and replied.

The young man looked at him resentfully.

“He’s not your father, so you don’t need to be so subservient.”

The young man smiled bitterly.

Lin Chen suddenly understood something. “Is he really your father?”

The young man lowered his head again and pecked like a little chick.

“Are relationships in rich families always so twisted that the son has to call his father the chairman…” Lin Chen said, thinking of Xing Conglian for no reason.

In fact, since Xing Conglian revealed his wealth, he had always avoided thinking about this kind of issue. Who knew what the Xing family would do because the eldest grandson of the main branch married a homosexual. Although he subconsciously believed that Xing Conglian’s parents wouldn’t come to him throwing a check, it was hard to predict the thoughts of the rich.

Just as Lin Chen was getting lost in his strange thoughts, the young man who had been following him finally couldn’t help but speak. “The chairman… has always disliked me… He thinks I’m too weak… And I made a big mistake recently… I failed a bidding project… and the chairman got sick because of anger… Isn’t that my fault?”

Hearing this, Lin Chen turned his head to look. He suddenly realized that since he met Duan Yang, he might have a special physique that attracted confused young people. Why was this stranger already telling him about his personal struggles?

Lin Chen sighed, and the elevator door opened.

He walked out first, and the young man followed like a lost little duck.

“What kind of illness does your father have?” Lin Chen stood at the elevator entrance and asked, looking at the floor indicator in the lobby.

“Hypertension, but the doctor said there might be a cerebral hemorrhage…”

“If there is a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, the patient should be sent for an MRI first, right?” Lin Chen followed the indicator and walked to the right.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“I don’t know why, but when I see you, I want to talk. I’m really sorry… It’s not good for someone like me to be so forward, right?”

“I can only say that your personality is not suitable for the job you are doing now, such as being in charge of the bidding case, right?” Lin Chen said as he walked.

“You’re being too direct.” The young man couldn’t take it.

“Actually, it’s not really your personality that’s the problem, but rather your temperament. You seem to have a typical phlegmatic temperament. You can remember me after a brief eye contact, which indicates that your intelligence and memory abilities are quite good. You are better suited to be a scientist or an artist, rather than managing a factory. The factory has wasted your potential,” Lin Chen comforted him.

“How do you know that I work at a factory?”

“You’re wearing a suit with the logo of ‘Guanghua Chemicals’ embroidered on it.”

The young man nervously touched his pocket and said embarrassedly, “I used to work in chemistry, but the chairman said I had to take over the factory in the future and couldn’t do research anymore, so I was transferred to management. But I really don’t understand it.”

“It’s already not easy for you to know what you can and cannot do,” Lin Chen comforted him and led him to turn right.

At the end of the hallway was a closed magnetic resonance imaging room, and the door reflected a metallic silver light.

The young man also saw it, and his words trembled. “You mean…me?”

Lin Chen folded the medical report and put it in his pocket. “Since he is your father, let me accompany you.”

He didn’t know what was wrong with his words, but the young man’s eyes turned red in an instant.

Many people came and went outside the MRI room every day. Lin Chen stayed outside with the young man for a while, watching the patients and their families come and go, and listening to him talk about things related to the chairman.

The young man said his name was Zhan Tianming, only one letter away from a famous railway expert. He hoped his father could survive, because he was worried that he would have to take on the heavy responsibility of managing the entire factory, but he also felt that such a mentality was too selfish. He wanted to become stronger, but his personality issues became a deep problem for him. He really couldn’t manage people.

Zhan Tianming didn’t have deep feelings for his father, which stemmed from the constant criticism and lessons he received during his upbringing. His father controlled everything in his life, including his choice of major in chemistry in college and his current transfer to management. All of these decisions were made with the factory in mind.

Lin Chen listened silently, building a psychological profile of this young man. Zhan Tianming’s case was all too typical, and distorted father-son relationships often have similarities. He also quickly understood why Mr. Zhan would vent his inner emotions to anyone he could find because, in his life controlled by his father, he really didn’t have anyone to talk to.

Not long after, the isolation door of the MRI room opened again, and Mr. Zhan’s attending doctor walked out. Zhan Tianming rushed up to him.

“The patient’s brain hemorrhage is still relatively severe, but there should be no immediate danger to his life. I still recommend conservative treatment…” The doctor said a lot.

After listening for a long time, Zhan Tianming finally asked, “The chairman, will he recover?”

“You know, the brain is very difficult to predict. The specific damage situation depends on the absorption of the hematoma. I will still lower the blood pressure in the early stages and cooperate with some drugs that can absorb brain hematoma. However, brain damage is irreversible, and there are many drugs to choose from. The specific treatment plan will be determined after consultation…” The doctor wore a mask. When he said this, he suddenly stopped and said, “I remember Mr. Zhan is in the pharmaceutical industry?”

“We are a chemical company and also produce pharmaceutical-related chemical additives. But strictly speaking, we cannot be considered a professional pharmaceutical company,” Zhan Tianming answered very honestly.

“If you can get some Nordren through special channels, Mr. Zhan’s recovery may be better.” 

Upon hearing this, Zhan Tianming’s expression visibly lowered. ” Nordren…?”

Lin Chen had been sitting outside the MRI room all this time. When he heard the word ” Nordren”, he looked at the doctor in surprise. The doctor was about forty years old, and his expression when he mentioned Nordren didn’t seem fake. He seemed to recommend the drug because its efficacy was indeed significant. And according to the doctor’s words, Nordren hadn’t yet been officially mass-produced, so it could only be obtained through special channels. Therefore, he had no great interest in making recommendations for his own benefit.

“Do you… know about Nordren?” Lin Chen stood up from the bench and asked the doctor.

“Who are you?” The doctor hesitated.

“I… am a friend of Mr. Zhan.” Lin Chen looked at Zhan Tianming and answered.

“Oh.” The doctor didn’t ask much and answered very straightforwardly. “This drug is closely related to our neurology department, so I have been tracking and observing it. Its clinical effect is indeed good, but it is a later-stage treatment. The early stage is still mainly drugs that promote hematoma absorption.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen suddenly remembered the scene when Duan Yang first took him to the hospital. They were at the door of the neurology department, watching the elderly people who were unable to move due to brain damage, and Duan Yang explained to him what a revolutionary drug it was.

“Is this drug really that good?” Suddenly, a nearby patient’s family member approached.

The auntie’s voice was very loud, and there were many patients’ family members at the door of the MRI room. When they heard the word “drug”, more people crowded around.

“In the pharmaceutical industry, it is difficult to define good or bad standards,” the doctor said frankly.

The auntie grabbed the doctor and said, “Didn’t you just say it’s good? My husband also had a brain hemorrhage last time, and now he is paralyzed. Can this drug cure him?”

“Specific circumstances depend on your husband’s medical case. It’s hard to say.”

“We can’t understand what you doctors are saying!” the auntie complained. “Just tell me the truth.”

Seeing more and more family members of patients around prick up their ears, Lin Chen said slowly, “But I remember the listing process for Nordren was quite complicated, and it caused fatalities.”

“I’m not too sure about that.” The doctor put his mask back on. “I’m just suggesting an option. I remember Zhourui will be holding a new drug presentation at a hotel tomorrow. You can go check where it is and learn more for yourself. It should be better than just listening to me.”

After the doctor finished speaking, Mr. Zhan’s hospital bed was pushed out, and the doctor left with it after nodding to them.

However, the family members outside the MRI room were in an uproar.

The auntie with sharp ears grabbed Mr. Xiao Zhan. “Do you have connections? Can you get this medicine? Tell me, how did you manage to get it?”

Lin Chen backed away and avoided the onslaught of the patients’ families. He watched as Mr. Xiao Zhan became a small boat in a storm, being pulled and tugged until his clothes were all wrinkled. The people around him finally let him go, probably because they felt he was too inky in his speech.

Zhan Tianming stood there in silence, looking depressed from the moment Lin Chen mentioned “Nordren”.

Seeing this, Lin Chen walked over, patted his shoulder, and asked, “Does your failed bidding project have anything to do with Zhourui Pharmaceutical?”

Upon hearing this question, Mr. Xiao Zhan was about to cry.

“Can I go see the chairman first?” Mr. Xiao Zhan looked around. “Where did they take the chairman?”

“Just now, the doctor said that Chairman Zhan will be sent to the intensive care unit. No visitors are allowed,” Lin Chen replied.

“Oh?” Mr. Xiao Zhan hesitated. “I see. Are you still going for the physical examination? Shall I accompany you?”

“Forget it, let’s go see your father in the ICU,” Lin Chen said as he walked forward, and Mr. Xiao Zhan followed closely behind.

After walking for a long while, Mr. Xiao Zhan finally asked, “Why do you want to know about the bidding project, and… What is the Nordren fatality case all about?”

“I thought you didn’t care,” Lin Chen turned around and said.

“Really?” Mr. Xiao Zhan hesitated for a moment and continued, “I didn’t ignore your question just now. I just didn’t know where to start.”

“You can start anywhere,” Lin Chen said.

But about five minutes later, Lin Chen deeply regretted what he had just said.

To be exact, although Mr. Xiao Zhan spoke slowly, it didn’t mean he spoke less.

Mr. Xiao Zhan was a bona fide chatterbox, starting from the entire process of a drug going to market and explaining in detail the complex process of a drug ultimately being used by patients.

Lin Chen frowned and listened. On the pharmaceutical company side, there were a series of processes such as early project selection, product research and development, animal experiments, and clinical trials. It was rare to obtain approval for a drug to be marketed, and there were still many problems in drug production, promotion, storage, transportation, and other aspects.

Mr. Xiao Zhan’s father’s factory mainly provided an emulsifier to Zhourui Pharmaceutical in the long term. The specific chemical terms made Lin Chen’s head spin, but he still summarized the key information in Mr. Xiao Zhan’s words. Guanghua Chemicals had been providing emulsifiers to Zhourui Pharmaceutical for years, but they lost to another relatively unknown company in the bidding meeting for the new year.

What was originally well arranged suddenly changed, but business losses were secondary. The main issue was that Chairman Zhan doubted Mr. Xiao Zhan’s ability.

Today, Chairman Zhan heard from an insider in Zhourui’s procurement department that the reason why Guanghua Chemicals failed in the bid wasn’t because of the price but because abnormal impurities were detected in the emulsifier they previously provided. Fortunately, the pharmaceutical factory’s quality inspection personnel were responsible and discovered the problem. However, the company’s senior management was furious and put Guanghua Chemicals on the blacklist.

Lin Chen and Mr. Xiao Zhan walked to the vending machine, took out three coins from their pockets, and bought a bottle of chilled Coke. Mr. Xiao Zhan’s voice was so gloomy that it could squeeze out water. “I was in charge of production before, and Chairman Zhan thought…I didn’t manage production well and caused the problem. But I…I don’t know what happened.”

The Coke rolled out, and Lin Chen bent down to take it.

Mr. Xiao Zhan continued, “But if there is a problem with our product, why didn’t they come to us for compensation? Both the business process and the legal process can be followed, but they just kicked us out without giving us a chance to make things right. This is just unreasonable.”

Lin Chen had been silent all along, but when he heard this, he handed the Coke to the young man in front of him and said calmly, “Indeed.”

Mr. Xiao Zhan looked up and refused his Coke. “I don’t drink carbonated drinks.”

Lin Chen showed him his injured hand and said calmly, “I’m asking you to help me open it. It’s not convenient for me.”

Mr. Xiao Zhan was embarrassed again and quickly helped him open the can.

Lin Chen took a sip of the Coke, thought about something, and asked, “Can your father’s internal relationship with Zhourui Pharmaceutical tell you what type of impurity it is?”

Mr. Xiao Zhan shook his head vigorously. “I don’t even know how the chairman got this information, and he didn’t tell me. If I knew, I would definitely go and ask him!” Mr. Xiao Zhan pushed his glasses up and rolled up his sleeves.

Now that Chairman Zhan was in a coma and the matter involved an insider, it was unlikely they could find the specific person for the time being. Lin Chen pursed his lips and said to Mr. Xiao Zhan, “Are you a chemical expert?”

“Well… I can’t say I’m an expert in chemical engineering. I just studied it…”

Lin Chen interrupted him. “I suggest you go back and check your factory’s emulsifier products yourself, and it would be better to have a report from a reputable professional institution. At the same time, check all the supply reports for previous batches, and if there are samples left, it would be even better to preserve all the evidence.” Lin Chen put the Coke bottle on the windowsill and took out his phone. “In short, do it as soon as possible.”

“I was planning to do that, and I’m going back now!” Mr. Xiao Zhan said as he was about to leave, but he suddenly stopped, feeling uneasy. “But… what about the chairman?”

Looking at him, Lin Chen asked, “Do you think the factory is more important to your father, or his own life?”

“Of course, the factory is more important,” Mr. Xiao Zhan answered without hesitation.

“So, do you understand what you should do?” Lin Chen asked in response.

……

Xing Conglian was in the forensic science department, waiting for the fingerprint identification results.

Around him were forensic police officers coming and going. Some were examining the blood-stained clothes from when Tan Kang was stabbed yesterday, but more were doing knife comparison work.

The crime scene where Tan Kang was stabbed, and the surrounding garbage bins didn’t reveal the weapon used by the killer. They could only determine the type of knife used to stab Tan Kang from his wounds. The forensics lab was filled with all kinds of knives of various sizes purchased from the market, but so far, they hadn’t found a weapon that matched the size.

There were very few leads available, with only a pile of blurry surveillance videos left. Wang Chao and the other officers were tirelessly reviewing the videos.

Xing Conglian took out a cigarette, and just then, his phone rang.

As he answered the phone, Xing Conglian felt inexplicably nervous. “What’s wrong? Is the medical checkup result not good?”

“Um…” Lin Chen’s voice came through the phone.

Hearing the hesitation in his voice, Xing Conglian suddenly had a strange suspicion. “You haven’t gone for the checkup yet, have you?”

“I was planning to, but something came up,” Lin Chen said.

If Lin Chen were in front of him, Xing Conglian would have the urge to knock him down, take off his pants, and spank him, but this was Lin Chen. He couldn’t do that, so he just imagined the scene in his mind and patiently asked, “What happened?”

“I met someone strange.” Lin Chen paused and said, “To be precise, it’s a lead that can’t be called a lead.”

Xing Conglian switched the phone to his other hand and listened to Lin Chen’s simple description of the supply problem at Guanghua Chemicals. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Zhourui Pharmaceutical suddenly changed its supplier because of impurities in the raw materials?”

“It’s not exactly sudden, but it did happen recently,” Lin Chen said.

“Do you think there’s a problem here?”

“I’m not sure. It may be because I’ve been listening to too many complicated issues in the drug marketing process that I suddenly feel that we may have jumped to conclusions at the beginning, and this matter may not be as we thought.”

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 208

Since Tan Kang was killed, he must have done or prepared to do something that crossed the killer’s bottom line.

There were, of course, psychopathic killers who would just kill if they didn’t think you were pleasing to the eye, but obviously this was an extreme example that didn’t apply to Dr. Tan Kang’s murder. He was killed in a premeditated conspiracy, and they were all sure of that.

But being sure of this didn’t mean they had solved the case. It was just a direction; they still had to investigate who the killer was and why Tan Kang was killed.

Xing Conglian went with Wang Chao to search for clues before Tan Kang’s death at the Zhourui Pharmaceutical headquarters, while Lin Chen stayed alone in the hospital. The office wasn’t a place where one would want to hide secrets. The slightest movements and changes in emotions would be noticed, remembered, and discussed secretly. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. This was how social interaction works.

The staff at Zhourui Pharmaceutical had already prepared tea early on.

Xing Conglian sat alone in the reception room, listening to the other party politely offer to replace the green tea with coffee or any other beverage if necessary.

He didn’t seem eager to investigate the case, but instead smiled and asked if they also provided an alcohol menu.

The female employee in professional attire suddenly turned red when she heard this. Just then, the office door was pushed open again, and the female employee suddenly stood at attention and reverted to her professional routine look.

From the sound of the sharp high heels stepping into the office, Xing Conglian could probably guess that the person coming must be a cold and arrogant lady who didn’t tolerate nonsense. He took a sip of tea and said to the female employee in front of him, “Just green tea,” before turning to look behind him.

The fragrance of cold perfume, tall and styled black hair, high heels over 10 cm, and the pure black professional suit of the lady coming towards him were more terrifying than he had imagined.

Yesterday, after the case was reported, some police officers from the bureau had already conducted a round of investigations at Zhourui, and the two who came back told Xing Conglian that the manager of the public relations department, Zhang Min, was particularly…

They couldn’t think of any adjectives to describe her after saying “particularly”. Xing Conglian could now fill in the missing adjectives for these two people.

Manager Zhang of the public relations department at Zhourui Pharmaceutical was particularly precise, particularly meticulous, and particularly tough like a well-oiled machine on the assembly line.

Xing Conglian stood up and shook hands with the other party.

“Hello, Captain Xing, can the child who came with you wait in the lobby?” The first thing Manager Zhang asked was this.

Xing Conglian sighed secretly, knowing that the investigation work from Zhourui Pharmaceutical was really well done. He and Wang Chao entered the door one after the other, and the other party even knew that Wang Chao came with him. He sighed and half-jokingly replied, “Yes, my wife is not feeling well, and the child has no one to take care of, so I had to bring him to work with me.”

Manager Zhang didn’t look at him suspiciously but pointed out the problem directly. “You don’t seem to be old enough to be the father of a high school student.”

“Mainly because I have a baby face.” Xing Conglian replied.

A normal person would probably be choked and unable to speak after hearing such an obviously evasive answer, but Manager Zhang insisted on making herself clear. “If you’re here to investigate Zhourui Pharmaceutical with some secret personnel, there’s no need to do this. Everything in our company is open to the police.” She paused, then continued, “Of course, except for some commercial secrets. You need a search warrant from the court to see those.”

“Why bother?” Xing Conglian raised his voice. “Zhourui Pharmaceuticals pays so much tax to our city every year, and the higher-ups have already explained it to me. We must not be too difficult on our taxpayers. This is a routine investigation. You don’t have to worry too much.”

Manager Zhang crossed her arms and smirked coldly.

“So, Captain Xing, how do you plan to investigate?”

“I’d like to go to Dr. Tan Kang’s office first and see if his secretary is available to accompany me,” Xing Conglian said, thinking for a moment. “I’ll also need your cooperation to talk to the office staff and ask for their cooperation in the investigation. I might find some clues and need to ask someone a few questions…”

“Please rest assured that Zhourui Pharmaceuticals will definitely cooperate with the investigation,” Manager Zhang said confidently, gesturing to the side.

Xing Conglian tilted his head and smiled. “Then, would you please lead the way, Manager Zhang?”

With just a few words exchanged with the head of the public relations department, Xing Conglian was already missing Lin Chen. Without Lin Chen by his side, he could only deal with these difficult people himself during the investigation.

Xing Conglian walked along the corridor in the office area, smelling the faint scent of disinfectant in the air, and casually remarked, “Zhourui Pharmaceutical has had a lot of trouble recently. There was even an employee who held a doctor in Yongchuan hostage before and was killed…”

Manager Zhang suddenly stopped in her tracks, and Xing Conglian almost ran into her.

“Captain Xing, please speak plainly if you have something to say. Don’t beat around the bush,” Manager Zhang turned around and said coldly.

“Hey, hey. I was just talking casually. Don’t get excited. It’s not good for your health.”

“As a Zhourui employee, how could I not get excited? Captain Xing, aren’t you implying that our company has some shady dealings in the process of promoting our new drug, or even maliciously attacking the experts from the Food and Drug Administration during the review process? But have you ever thought about how this would have a more negative impact on our company than benefits? Do we have any reason to tarnish our new drug in this way? If we’re not careful, the drug could be permanently banned, and the billions of dollars in initial investment would be wasted.”

“That makes sense…” Xing Conglian rubbed his chin. “But now, your new drug—what’s it’s called—’Nordron’, has already been approved for marketing. It doesn’t seem to have a big impact, does it?”

“Nordren,” Manager Zhang said directly. “Your conversation just now was full of ridicule. I can feel your bias against our company.”

In Xing Conglian’s impression, those in charge of the public relations department were usually soft-spoken and easy to talk to. Zhourui Pharmaceutical had a unique taste, since they had hired such a strong-willed person in charge.

“I wouldn’t call it bias. Look, for the sake of a drug, several people have died in your company. Even if I’m not a detective, ordinary people would be suspicious, right?”

“If you have any doubts about our company’s medication, you can apply for intervention from the Food and Drug Administration to investigate…”

“Well, I don’t really have any suspicions for now!” Xing Cong interrupted her. “Chemical medicine is something that really gives me a headache. Don’t make me look into that. What I mean is, you’ve been working here for so long, you must have a good eye for things, yet you didn’t find anything unusual, especially with Dr. Tan Kang…”

The female manager was about to speak, but Xing Conglian interrupted her again, his tone serious. “Think carefully before you answer. Answering too quickly will make it seem rehearsed.”

After speaking, he walked straight to the large office of the research and development department, not saying anything more to Manager Zhang.

As he walked into the office, at least a dozen pairs of eyes looked at him. Xing Conglian smiled and looked back at the most cautious-looking pair of eyes in the corner. The person quickly looked away, and Xing Conglian noted the position of that desk before he came to the door of Mr. Tan Kang’s office.

There was still a nameplate with “Tan Kang” on the door, and a police seal was posted on the side of the door.

In fact, this seal didn’t quite meet the standards, but Xing Conglian was mindful of it before the forensic police officers came here to do their work yesterday. He instructed the officers not to touch anything inside after collecting the evidence, put all the items back in their original places, take photos of the scene, and then post the seal before leaving.

He tore off the seal, walked into the office, and closed the door. There were no signs that the seal had been removed, and the office didn’t look like someone had sneaked in. This indicated that there might not be any important clues in Mr. Tan Kang’s office that the killer was interested in, which disappointed Xing Conglian. He put on gloves and sat in Mr. Tan Kang’s office chair.

The same was true of the desk. Lin Chen would probably make some character evaluations if he were here. In fact, with Lin Chen’s restless personality, he was probably lying in bed now, looking at the photos of the office taken by the forensic police officers yesterday…

Sure enough, just as he thought this, Lin Chen’s voice sounded in his ear. “Tan Kang’s is left-handed.”

“Didn’t we agree to focus on the medical examination?” Xing Conglian asked as he scanned the layout of the entire desk. There was a photo of Tan Kang working on the desk, and Dr. Tan Kang did indeed hold his pen with his left hand. The lighting and the placement of some important items on the desk all indicated this. Finally, his gaze fell on the mouse next to Mr. Tan Kang’s keyboard.

“Is it reasonable to have a left-handed mouse on the right side?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Lin Chen said.

This situation could only mean that after Mr. Tan Kang last used his computer, a right-handed person had also used it.

Thinking of Dr. Tan Kang being murdered, Xing Conglian asked, “Do you think the people from Zhourui Pharmaceutical deleted important information from his computer, or did they come over to check if Dr. Tan Kang had ‘smuggled’ company secrets out?”

“Anyway, we need to investigate to find out. I hope the forensics department has collected fingerprints from the mouse.” Lin Chen’s voice came through the earphones, making him feel itchy. Since he started dating Lin Chen, Xing Conglian felt that his enjoyment of life had been increasing day by day.

“Of course, we’ve collected them…” Xing Conglian was about to speak but was interrupted by a light cough on the earphone channel.

“Boss, there are two black-clothed bodyguards from Zhourui sitting ten meters away from me, monitoring me. Can you stop dating for a moment? Do you think they will do something to me?”

Only then did Xing Conglian remember that Wang Chao was still in the channel. He thought the teenager was probably playing games on the sofa in the lobby, and he was angry. “Do you look like you are worth someone doing something to you? I need to check the computer usage records of Tan Kang…”

“But I’m being monitored now.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Wang Chao dragged his tone. “First, please turn on the computer.”

Upon hearing this, Xing Conglian bent down to turn on the computer. The office door was pushed open by Manager Zhang, who was accompanied by Dr. Tan Kang’s secretary. Manager Zhang said sharply, “Captain Xing, what are you doing?”

“Tying my shoelaces.” Xing Conglian replied.

“I thought you were secretly checking the office computer of our company’s important developer,” Manager Zhang sneered. “This computer belongs to the company’s property. Its owner was the most senior R&D personnel of our company. Unless you confirm that there is evidence or clues closely related to the murder of Dr. Tan Kang, and obtain a search warrant from the court, you can’t…”

Xing Conglian smiled and raised his hand, “No, no…”

However, the computer’s startup sound betrayed him.

The screen suddenly lit up, and Xing Conglian glanced at the main interface. The only hope was that Wang Chao’s hand speed was fast enough. Zhang Min stepped on her high heels hard and rushed over at lightning speed. Xing Conglian had to pretend to stand up with too much movement and swept the mouse to the ground. In that instant, Zhang Min almost impossibly picked up the mouse; her gaze cold.

Xing Conglian took a step back and apologized, “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Although he said so, there was no hint of remorse on his face. The female manager bent down to pick up the mouse, and Wang Chao’s comment “It’s done, but your acting skills are too poor, Boss” came through Xing Conglian’s earphones.

The computer was turned off again, and Xing Conglian began to wander around the office as if nothing had happened. He wore gloves, and his fingers swept across Tan Kang’s bookshelf.

Zhang Min was still emphasizing to him, “Captain Xing, the state has given us taxpayers the right to accept fair and just investigations. Our company has opened Mr. Tan Kang’s office to you, which shows our sincerity.”

Xing Conglian turned around and asked the female secretary, who had been standing by silently, “Why is Manager Zhang so nervous? Is there anything particularly strange on your boss’s computer?”

The female secretary rubbed her clothes’ corners with her fingers, hesitant to speak.

Xing Conglian shifted his gaze to Zhang Min. “Manager Zhang, this is still a problem for us police.”

“If you have anything to say, Mr. Police Officer, ask it,” Zhang Min said solemnly.

“No, Manager Zhang is very nervous because there are indeed some company secrets on the boss’ computer. Basically, all the materials from the R&D department and the medical department are collected by the boss. It’s really not because we don’t want you to see it.”

“Understood,” Xing Conglian said. “Do you have things like Mr. Tan Kang’s schedule? I want to take a look.”

“Yes.” The secretary ran out quickly and came back in a hurry.

Zhang Min stood with her arms crossed and supervised their conversation.

Xing Conglian flipped through the schedule book. Sure enough, Tan Kang’s schedule for yesterday was originally full of meetings, but suddenly it was canceled and changed to a day off.

“The boss suddenly proposed to take the day off. It was about 7 p.m. the day before yesterday. He suddenly called me and said that he had a severe cold and would take a day off tomorrow, canceling all his schedule.”

“Did he come to work on the day he asked for leave? Was there anything unusual happening?”

“The boss came to work that day. As for unusual things… there doesn’t seem to be anything… except that he left a little late.” Ms. Secretary fell into deep thought. “There was nothing special except that.”

Xing Conglian nodded and suddenly asked, “Seeing that Manager Zhang is so nervous about the computer, I suppose Mr. Tan Kang’s office is off-limits to outsiders, right?”

“Yes, if the boss is not here, we cannot enter. There are also surveillance cameras at the entrance. Indeed, there are too many commercial secrets involved here.”

“I see.” Xing Conglian put away the schedule book and asked, “Can I take this book with me?” He handed the notebook to Zhang Min. “Does Manager Zhang want to check it again to see if it involves any of your company’s commercial secrets?”

Zhang Min shook her head and handed it back, saying, “No need. Our company is not that secretive.”

Xing Conglian put the notebook in his pocket and walked around the office again. He suddenly stopped in front of a small book on the desk and flicked it with his hand. A loose-leaf notebook with the logo of Zhourui Pharmaceutical was scattered.

He pressed the notebook with his finger and asked the secretary, “Is this notebook exclusively for your boss? I see that the cover is the same as yours.”

“Yes, they are all distributed uniformly by the company.”

Xing Conglian looked at Zhang Min, casually flipped through the notebook, looked at the photo of a little girl inside, and silently put it back.

He symbolically looked around the office a few times and finally smiled and said to the two people in the office, “I’m done.”

“Captain Xing’s efficiency is indeed high.”

“Well, as I said, it’s just a routine matter, but Manager Zhang is so uneasy.” He walked to the door and said, “I’m very interested in Mr. Tan’s notebook. If Manager Zhang thinks the content is inconvenient, I can leave it, but can I take the shell?”

……

Lin Chen sat on the hospital bed, very surprised to hear Xing Conglian’s words.

“What did you find?” he asked.

Xing Conglian took a while before answering, “That woman is very powerful.”

“Boss, you can’t be afraid of women just because you’re gay!” Wang Chao said.

Then Lin Chen heard the usual sound of pulling hair and a scream, followed by the sound of the car door opening and closing.

He calmly peeled off the grape skin beside him and waited for the two to finish their war.

Finally, the voice of Xing Conglian sounded. “Have you ever seen a manager of a public relations department who can fight better than your brother Zhang Long?”

“So powerful?”

Lin Chen didn’t know when arrogant Comrade Zhang Long became a benchmark for fighting, but Xing Conglian added, “That kid is actually a coward.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Lin Chen said.

“That Manager Zhang’s reaction is too agile, and her posture and demeanor indicate that she is quite skilled,” Xing Conglian said.

“Boss, do you suspect that this terrible woman is the murderer who killed Dr. Tan Kang?”

“I didn’t say that, but I remember that large pharmaceutical companies have global security departments, and Wang Chao…”

Before Xing Conglian finished speaking, Wang Chao said, “Zhang Min, 2001 to 2016, served as a staff member, deputy director, and director of the security department of Zhourui Pharmaceutical…”

“So they specially found the head of the security department to deal with us police. Why are those in public relations never satisfied with their work?” Xing Conglian laughed. “What is Zhourui Pharmaceutical afraid of…”

“Boss, can you not laugh so sinisterly?”

“Can we access Tan Kang’s computer now?”

“I just set it to automatically turn on, and it should have already turned on.” Wang Chao paused and said timidly, “Boss, what do you want to check?”

“Only check the usage record of this computer. Are there any abnormal emails and external device usage records in the three to five days before Tan Kang’s death?”

“Hey, Boss, it’s not easy for you to use the term ‘external device’!” Wang Chao made a deadpan, sarcastic remark again.

Lin Chen stuffed the peeled grapes into his mouth and saved the teenager before he was beaten again. “Did you find anything?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“What does that mean?” Xing Conglian’s hand was still…

“Boss, there were no abnormal email and external device usage records.” Wang Chao said.

Lin Chen was very surprised. Although no one had mentioned it before, everyone was guessing in their hearts that Tan Kang was likely to have been killed because he had stolen company-related information and was ready to hand it over to relevant parties, just like in movies. But now, Tan Kang hadn’t used his office computer to steal any information, which was hard to understand.

There was silence in the communication channel. In the end, it was Wang Chao who spoke. “It’s also possible that Mr. Tan Kang used a lab computer, and the key information is not here?”

“Should we change our thinking?” Wang Chao said, “Maybe Mr. Tan Kang was a loyal person and was killed by a traitor. It’s like the game Legends of the Three Kingdoms*!”

*Chinese card games based on the Three Kingdoms period of China and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the game, one of the roles is a traitor.

“Don’t guess for no reason,” Xing Conglian angrily said. After a moment of contemplation, he asked, “Who entered his office after Tan Kang left two nights ago, and what did that person do on the computer?”

“I can’t tell you who it was.” Lin Chen heard Wang Chao munching on potato chips in his earphones. “Because all the company’s surveillance cameras were out of order during that time. How unlucky.”

“What’s the answer to the second question?”

“From the time Tan Kang turned off the computer and left two nights ago until the day he was murdered, there was only one record of turning on the computer at 9:03 p.m. two nights ago. Oh, that big brother or sister did the same thing as us and checked the usage of external devices.”

“So…” Xing Conglian dragged his tone.

“Someone also suspected that Tan Kang had stolen company information?” Wang Chao exclaimed incredulously.

“Comrade Xiao Wang…” Xing Conglian began to speak.

“What the fuck?!”

“We should thank the computer for changing human life…” Xing Conglian said proudly.

“But how can you determine who the last person was that operated the computer?” Wang Chao asked.

“The mouse will leave fingerprints,” Xing Conglian said. “Thank you fingerprint identification technology.”

“What’s the use of fingerprints if you don’t have a comparison object?” Wang Chao began to pour cold water on it.

Lin Chen thought to himself, then said, “Did you get Zhang Min’s fingerprint… from the schedule book?”

“Hey, why are you so smart?” Xing Conglian said with satisfaction.

Perhaps it was Xing Conglian’s proud tone that left Wang Chao speechless.

Lin Chen continued with the first question, “Why did you suddenly stop the search just now? What’s wrong with Tan Kang’s own notebook?”

“Tan Kang’s notebook is a spiral notebook with loose-leaf pages.”

“Um…”

“And he’s left-handed. Left-handed people, because writing in a spiral notebook is uncomfortable, are more likely to get used to starting from the last page of a notebook and writing from left to right.”

Lin Chen was very surprised. “Are you saying that someone tampered with Tan Kang’s notebook but put the paper in the wrong order?”

“Thank you to the lefties. Even after death, they can leave so much evidence.” Xing Conglian changed the subject, and said very seriously to him, “Consultant Lin, your appointment for a physical examination should have started by now.”

“Mm, I’m putting on my shoes.” Lin Chen looked at the time and felt that Xing Conglian was really sharp.

“I’m going to the police station to deliver the physical evidence. It will take a while before I can come and accompany you.”

“It’s okay. It’s just a small matter, and you’ve mentioned it several times already.”

“No, it’s not a small matter for me. The proof of passing the physical examination is very important…” Xing Conglian raised his tone lightly, emphasizing the word “passing”.

Lin Chen understood the implicit meaning in his words and laughed.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

I mean… it’s not like using his hands or mouth would put Lin Chen at risk… or vice versa. Just saying…

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 207

The next morning, before eight, Wang Chao came to report.

With the intention of scaring them, the teenager burst in without even knocking on the door.

But the scene inside wasn’t as bad as he had imagined.

As Wang Chao snuck in like a thief, Lin Chen was reading an uninteresting magazine with the bedside lamp on. He looked up at the quietly approaching youngster and saw him petrified in front of the sofa.

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

The young man recovered from his shock and disappointedly pointed at the dismantled sofa bed.

On the sofa bed, Xing Conglian had covered himself with a thin blanket and slept with his clothes on. He was sleeping deeply and didn’t even wake up when Wang Chao pushed the door open.

Lin Chen explained, “He went back to the police station for overtime yesterday and didn’t return until five in the morning.”

Hearing this, Wang Chao snapped out of his shock.

The teenager sat down at the bedside table with a breakfast bag, feeling hesitant to speak. But the mischievous glint in his eyes gave him away. “A’Chen Gege, I didn’t mean it like that. The Boss actually slept on the sofa?”

Lin Chen put down the magazine and started to look into today’s breakfast delivery. He asked Wang Chao, “Is there a problem?”

Wang Chao whispered into his ear and looked at the sleeping gentleman on the bed, “A’Chen Gege, is there something wrong with Sister* Xing? You can quietly tell me.”

*The term he’s using is (大嫂) which is sister-in-law (Lin Chen’s wife).

Lin Chen calmly grabbed the disposable bamboo chopstick, opened the box of preserved egg and lean meat porridge from the best Xu Ji porridge shop nearby, and then replied, “I don’t think so.”

Wang Chao grinned and asked, “How do you know?”

Lin Chen didn’t know when this little comrade had become so gossipy. He took a sip of porridge and said leisurely, “Wang Chao…”

“Yeah!”

“Stop asking.”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid it will shock you,” Lin Chen replied as he opened a bowl of porridge for Wang Chao and handed him a pair of chopsticks.

Wang Chao opened his mouth in surprise and looked disapproving. He had a confused expression on his face as if he was questioning life. In the end, he had no choice but to obediently start drinking the porridge.

The fragrance of breakfast porridge wafted over, and Lin Chen took a light sniff. He felt that something was off in the air. He looked at Wang Chao, only to realize that the young man was still wearing the same black punk burnout cotton T-shirt with a few patches from yesterday, and he had a faint smell of smoke all over him.

So Lin Chen asked suspiciously, “You didn’t go home last night?”

“No, I went to an internet café last night,” Wang Chao replied happily.

Lin Chen frowned. “Wasn’t anyone cleaning the house?”

“Probably, but I didn’t go back to check. The internet café serves food, has a place to sleep, and even has League of Legends. What’s not good about it?” Wang Chao said while taking out three portions of crispy beef cakes from the breakfast bag. “Besides, the internet café I went to even has a bathroom. Hehehe, it’s amazing.”

“Don’t sleep at the internet café in the future. At least get a hotel room…”

“Ah, A’chen Gege, don’t worry. I mainly went to the internet café to watch surveillance videos. I can open ten computers to watch simultaneously. It’s awesome,” he said excitedly, patting his thighs. “And A’Chen Gege, you were right. There really is such a mysterious man in a hoodie!”

Lin Chen looked up and asked, “What’s the story with the mysterious man in a hoodie?”

“During the incident, a suspicious-looking man in a hoodie lingered around the European Castle area of the Hongjing Amusement Park. Afterward, he went to the scene of the crime and quickly left!”

Wang Chao jumped out of bed, biting his chopsticks, saying one thing and doing another, and quickly connected the computer and TV again.

Lin Chen held his chopsticks and stared at the monitor.

Indeed, there appeared to be a strange figure sitting on a bench outside the European Castle of the Hongjing Amusement Park, seemingly playing with his phone. The person wore a hoodie and kept his head down, never looking up at anyone else. He seemed deeply absorbed in the content on his phone. At a certain point in time, the man suddenly stood up and left the bench without hesitation.

Lin Chen noticed the time displayed at the bottom of the screen, which was exactly 10:15, eight minutes after Tan Kang was stabbed to death.

It seemed that this was the appointed time. Lin Chen thought to himself.

But…how should he put it? Lin Chen looked at the figure of the man in the hoodie that Wang Chao had just mentioned and couldn’t explain the strange feeling in his heart.

Although the case did seem like Tan Kang had come to the park to secretly meet with someone, once they found the evidence to support the inference, the inference itself gave people a sense of inexplicable absurdity.

In modern society, there were countless ways to convey information. Why did Tan Kang choose the most primitive way of meeting?

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, Wang Chao suddenly asked, “What’s wrong, A’chen Gege?”

Lin Chen held his bowl of porridge and said, “This is too simple.”

“Ah, where is it simple?” Wang Chao didn’t understand.

“Our process of finding this intermediary person is too simple,” Lin Chen said.

“But, but if it weren’t for your analysis of his falling motion, I might not have been able to find this ‘mysterious man in a hoodie’!”

Wang Chao was very persistent in giving the mysterious figure a nickname.

Lin Chen nodded and asked, “But have you ever thought about why they chose this mysterious spy-style means of meeting?”

“Because all of Tan Kang’s electronic communications were being monitored, whether it was his phone or computer, he had to meet this person in person?”

“But in any case, since they agreed to meet here, they must have had first contact with each other. How did he contact this person for the first time?” Lin Chen asked.

“Huh?” Wang Chao was speechless for a moment. “Makes sense.”

“Two possibilities: First, the intermediary person is an acquaintance of Tan Kang, and they had face-to-face conversations and agreed to meet here; second, he knew a middleman who conveyed the message and got in touch with this intermediary person through him; third…”

“What’s the third possibility?”

“The third possibility is that he called this person directly without going through anyone else and agreed to meet here.”

At this moment, Xing Conglian’s voice rang out. “The first possibility hardly exists. Hongjing Amusement Park has surveillance cameras and requires tickets. If acquaintances want to meet up, it’s not good to choose places without surveillance cameras, and it’s not as if they’re dating.”

Lin Chen turned around and saw Xing Conglian getting up from the sofa bed, rubbing his face in a daze.

Xing Conglian looked at the screen and beckoned to Wang Chao while speaking. Perhaps he had just spoken ill of Xing Conglian, so this time, Wang Chao very flatteringly served up the food.

“Why don’t you sleep a little longer?” Lin Chen asked.

“I have an appointment with Zhourui Pharmaceutical at 9:30,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen was about to speak, but Xing Conglian added, “You have a full-body examination at 11 today, so behave and stay at the hospital.”

“It’s okay. I can do the full-body examination alone, so don’t rush back,” Lin Chen said.

Wang Chao interrupted them. “It might necessarily be about dating… After all, times are changing. Maybe the mysterious hoodie man is Dr. Tan Kang’s secret lover!”

Lin Chen helplessly glanced at the young man. “Didn’t you say that this mysterious hoodie man had been to the Tan Kang murder scene?”

“Yes!”

“Retrieve the crime scene video.”

Wang Chao nodded. When the person arrived at the scene, the police and amusement park security were already there, and the cordon had been raised, with most of the crowd on the periphery.

The mysterious hoodie man mentioned by Wang Chao had indeed been to the cordon, but he only stayed at the scene for a short period of time, confirmed the situation, and then left.

“What’s your feeling?” Lin Chen asked Wang Chao.

“Uh…I can’t say for sure,” Wang Chao replied.

“If it’s a lover, when one party dies, the other only pauses and is shocked for less than 10 seconds without the usual grieving gesture like covering their mouth with their hand. Is this reasonable?” Lin Chen counted the seconds the hoodie man had looked at Tan Kang’s body and continued, “And, moreover, the body language is not that of someone grieving.”

“Uh…” Wang Chao was confused again. “Is the person I found really the one Tan Kang wanted to meet? Why did Dr. Tan Kang have such an obsession until his death, while this person left so casually?”

“Congratulations, Comrade Xiao Wang. You have finally discovered the problem!” Xing Conglian laughed, “And the video you found not only shows that the person who made contact isn’t very concerned about Tan Kang’s life and death, but also that this contact person is not very professional.”

“Boss, what do you mean by not being professional?”

“It means that spying activities that can be captured by surveillance cameras are not professional.” Xing Conglian took a bite of beef pancake and asked, “Did you capture his face?”

“He kept his head down and his hoodie covered him, so we didn’t capture it. Isn’t that professional enough?”

Xing Conglian did not comment on this. “It’s probably because the amusement park’s surveillance is poor. Haven’t you encountered someone who can avoid surveillance cameras all the way?”

Wang Chao was speechless with the rebuttal. “Then why did Tan Kang come to the amusement park to meet this unprofessional person secretly and even die in the process?”

“Then we need to investigate based on the two or three possibilities suggested by your A’Chen Gege. First, filter through Tan Kang’s recent communication records and see if he made any calls that he had never made before. If there are no results, then expand the search area a bit and see if he has used any public phones or the like…”

“I understand!” Wang Chao’s blood was boiling as he shouted, then fell back down again. “But if he used a public phone, isn’t that like looking for a needle in a haystack? We would have to analyze Tan Kang’s daily activities to come to any conclusion.”

“So my point is that if there is no significant progress in this project, we can end it, because if Tan Kang was murdered, then which of the three possibilities do you think is the most likely?”

“The second one. There may be a middleman who leaked information, leading to Tan Kang being stabbed to death,” Wang Chao replied.

“What does Consultant Lin think?” Xing Conglian turned to him and asked.

“It’s not entirely accurate.”

“Oh?”

“Rather than there being a leaker, it’s possible that this was a loyalty test in and of itself,” Lin Chen said as he looked at the dim TV screen. “The killer was able to calculate Tan Kang’s movements yesterday, intercept him accurately, and be prepared enough to kill him with one blow and then escape smoothly. This couldn’t have been done without sufficient preparation. And that so-called middleman is likely just a lure. Someone dug a pit, put in some tempting bait, and Tan Kang jumped in without suspecting anything, only to be stabbed by the blade in the pit.”

Lin Chen’s voice grew colder and colder.

Wang Chao took a sharp breath.

Xing Conglian lightly ran his index finger across his throat, revealing a very cautious and vigilant expression.

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