Forensic Forensic - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Qi Ming felt quite relieved when he heard Luo Jianan’s words, which were far from comforting. He hated being pitied, so much so that he instinctively resisted when Luo Jianan tried to help him. From childhood to adulthood, he’d been looked at with pity and regret by countless people because of this illness.

“Are you… feeling better now? Should we take you to the hospital?” Luo Jianan asked cautiously. He didn’t want to wave his hand in front of anyone again, as that would be too rude.

Qi Ming put on his glasses and said, “Let’s go! Confirming the suspect’s hiding place is more important.”

Luo Jianan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Qi Ming’s eyes were clear as before. The alley was too narrow, so they could only walk one in front and the other behind. But Luo Jiannan didn’t walk carelessly as he had just before. Instead, he looked back at Qi Ming every two steps. The thought that Qi Ming could suddenly lose his sight at any moment inexplicably gave him a strong desire to protect him. “No wonder you don’t drive. Having this condition is quite dangerous.”

“Not only can you not drive, you can’t do anything that could pose a threat to others.” Qi Ming urged him forward with his gaze. “I’m a doctor of medicine. I once dreamed of going into neurosurgery. You might not know that neurosurgeons’ hands are known as ‘the hands of God’ by their peers. Besides, I have this condition myself, and I hope to find a safe solution through extensive practice.”

“That’s good,” Luo Jianan said, glancing back at Qi Ming. He had tried not to show his worry, but Qi Ming’s expression just now, as if the world had come to an end, still made him feel uneasy.

“Ideals are beautiful, but reality…” Qi Ming sighed. “I was interning at the emergency center. One day, there was a pileup on the highway, and the emergency room was packed. The patient assigned to me needed immediate surgery because a Doppler scan showed internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, but all the surgeons were in the operating room… The patient’s oxygen saturation and bl00d pressure kept dropping, and the bl00d transfusion couldn’t keep up with the bleeding. The nurse urged me to find a solution. Normally, I wasn’t qualified to perform surgery independently at the time, but exceptions were made in critical situations… When we opened the abdomen to explore the bleeding source, I found it a complete mess—a torn hepatic artery, a perforated gastrointestinal tract, and a spleen punctured by a broken rib… I cleaned the wound, stopped the bleeding, and sutured. Honestly, I did a pretty good job. Many surgeons with years of experience in trauma surgery praised my skills, which far surpassed those of an intern.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Luo Jianan agreed. According to common sense, after glory comes fall. He waited for Qi Ming’s “but.”

Sure enough, after a moment’s silence, Qi Ming said, “But I still gave up. I gave up on becoming a surgeon… I suddenly went blind on the operating table. I had just clamped a bl00d vessel that had retracted to the bottom of my stomach, but I couldn’t see the hemostat the nurse held out to me. It was only a few seconds, but it made me realize that next time, if I were to stand by the operating table and this happened again, the patient would very likely die in my hands.”

If the situation hadn’t been so narrow, Luo Jianan would have wanted to give him a comforting hug. After much deliberation, he decided against it. After all, Qi Ming had such a strong sense of self-esteem, and it would be disastrous if he felt sorry for him.

“So… since you can’t save the living, you’ve decided to keep the dead company?”

“Not at first. I switched to diagnostic medicine and earned my doctorate in psychology at the same time.”

“…”

What’s with that brain? Was it the malformed bl00d vessels? Luo Jianan felt a little sorry for himself—how could the difference between people really be so great?

Qi Ming, of course, was unaware of Luo Jianan’s inner cries. He continued, “My first exposure to forensic medicine was conducting a coroner’s autopsy for a police case. The deceased had asthma, and the police medical examiner’s office concluded he died of respiratory edema and asphyxiation, which is consistent with an asthma attack. However, the police investigation revealed that the deceased’s respirator was full at the time of the attack. They believed the case was more complex and even suspected foul play.”

“And then what happened?” Luo Jianan’s interest piqued upon hearing the case. He turned and listened while walking backwards, fearing to miss a single detail.

“I detected elevated levels of immunoglobulin in the deceased’s bl00d, leading me to hypothesize that the cause of death wasn’t sudden asthma, but anaphylactic shock. Swollen airways could be a symptom of an allergy. Furthermore, the body was discovered more than 24 hours after death, and the forensic doctor mistook the allergic skin reaction for livor mortis. We confirmed this through testing.” Qi Ming spoke, looking down at Luo Jianan’s feet and warning, “There’s a—”

Luo Jianan sat down with a thud.

“It’s a trap,” Qi Ming finished.

“Couldn’t you have said so earlier?” Luo Jianan complained and patted the dirt as Qi Ming pulled him to his feet, but his focus was still on the case. “Was it murder, or did the deceased accidentally ingest something that caused an allergy?”

“The rest of the story is, to use a popular term these days, a melodramatic drama.” Qi Ming finally smiled. He hadn’t deliberately led Luo Jianan into the trap; he simply hadn’t had time. “The deceased’s newly changed sheets had a synthetic dye that allergic him, so he died in his sleep. The family sued the manufacturer and received over 12 million in compensation.”

“US dollars?” Luo Jianan asked, mentally calculating the equivalent in RMB.

“Yes,” Qi Ming nodded. “Since then, I’ve often been asked by insurance company claims adjusters, families of the deceased, and the police to assist with investigations. Then I thought, since I can’t save lives, then speaking for corpses and redressing the deceased’s injustice would be a challenge, so I went on to get a doctorate in forensic medicine.”

“Three doctorates! Are you superhuman?” Luo Jianan stared at Qi Ming in shock. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-nine. Nothing to be surprised about.” Qi Ming waved his hand nonchalantly. “I started college at sixteen. Once I had enough credits, I could pursue graduate and doctoral studies. The courses in these three disciplines overlap, so I don’t have to retake many credits. Besides, a doctorate is primarily based on a dissertation. I have a lot of practical experience, and my advisor couldn’t find fault with me.”

“You’re so awesome—” Luo Jianan was about to say “awesome,” but he stopped mid-sentence. Qi Ming’s three doctorates filled him with awe. Comparing things is a waste of time, comparing people is a waste of time. His first-place win in the grappling competition at the police academy pales in comparison to someone else’s three doctoral degrees.

Of course, he wasn’t jealous of Qi Ming; his intelligence was a gift from heaven. His inner turmoil quickly subsided. Luo Jiannan asked, “Why did you come to the Municipal Bureau as a consultant? A provincial department or something more prestigious would have been perfectly fine.”

Qi Ming subconsciously raised his hand to press against the scar on his head.

“This is my home. A fallen leaf returns to its roots. Even if I die, I’ll die on this land.”

————————

Luo Jiannan was still reveling in the shock of Qi Ming’s three doctoral degrees when, just as he turned a corner, he ran head-on into Tang Jianxiao. He should have feigned ignorance, secretly following him, and once he’d found his whereabouts, he’d report to Chen Fei and arrange for the police to arrest him. But perhaps because Tang Jianxiao was feeling guilty, or perhaps because his expression suddenly changed the moment their eyes met, he turned and ran.

What the hell! Luo Jiannan gave Qi Ming a helpless look and took off after him.

“Stop! Police!”

Tang Jianxiao’s run only intensified upon hearing this. He was clearly very familiar with the area; after a few turns, he disappeared. Luo Jiannan observed him for a few seconds, confirming that the idiot had gone inside the building. The area was dotted with five-story tube-shaped buildings, each connected by passageways. It felt like a maze once inside. Someone was already cooking in the hallway, and Tang Jianxiao kept knocking things over or bumping into people as he ran. Luo Jiannan climbed three floors when he heard someone yelling, “God damn it! You have no eyes!”

Rushing down the stairwell into the hallway, Luo Jiannan saw that Tang Jianxiao was almost around the corner. He quickly gave chase, leaped onto the fence, and leaped over it, throwing himself over the opposite fence to block Tang Jianxiao. The young women cooking nearby screamed in shock at the action-movie-like scene. Qi Ming followed suit, cutting off the suspect’s escape route. He saw Luo Jianan had been risking his life. A fall from the third floor would have broken his arms and legs, at the very least.

“Run!” Luo Jianan panted, flashing his handcuffs. “I don’t see where you can go!”

Tang Jianxiao was breathing even harder, swallowing for a long time before finally uttering, “Comrade, I’m turning myself in. Is that not okay?”

“Go back to the police station and tell our captain about turning yourself in!” Luo Jianan walked over, kicked the man to his knees, and handcuffed him—he always hated this. He couldn’t escape, and yet it still had to happen like this.

Qi Ming knew Luo Jianan had strained his arm the moment he saw him cuffing the man. After getting him into the car, he took advantage of Luo Jianan’s phone call to the police station to arrange for police to complete the work, went to the small supermarket, and bought a bottle of frozen mineral water.

Luo Jianan hung up the phone and was about to smoke a cigarette to catch his breath when Qi Ming suddenly grabbed his arm and began rubbing it back and forth. “Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Confused by Qi Ming’s touch, Luo Jianan’s face felt slightly hot, and he even forgot to pull his arm back.

“What?”

Tracing his way down Luo Jianan’s arm to his shoulder, Qi Ming felt the tense, burning muscles and exerted force, causing Luo Jianan to cry out, “Ouch!” The pain was so intense that tears nearly burst out.

“It’s a strained muscle or ligament, but the bones are fine. We’ll take an X-ray back at the police station.” Qi Ming raised his chin towards Luo Jianan. “Take off your coat and belt.”

What? Undressing in public? What’s the point?!

Luo Jianan thought he must have misheard.