Forensic Forensic - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Qi Ming was sitting at his computer, typing intently, when something bumped his heel, distracting him. He paused, took a sip from his coffee cup, and resumed typing. Less than five minutes later, his heel was bumped again.

The most annoying thing about writing is frequent interruptions.

“Luo Jianan! Move that crap out of here!”

Luo Jianan put down his game controller and waved to the robot vacuum circling at Qi Ming’s feet: “Aqiang, come over to Daddy. Don’t bother me, or you’ll get torn apart.”

As if the robot vacuum understood Luo Jianan’s words, it turned and silently moved toward him. After being interrupted twice in a row, Qi Ming felt a bit lost for words. He stared at the screen for a moment, then turned to Luo Jianan and complained, “Why don’t you mop the floor when you have time to play games?”

“Don’t we have Aqiang? Just enjoy the lifestyle changes brought about by technology.” Luo Jianan shrugged.

“It’s been circling me non-stop since a while ago, making so much noise that I can’t write anymore.”

“I muted the TV, and Aqiang isn’t making any noise. It’s just a naughty kid, wanting to play with you.”

“That’s enough, Luo Jianan! You give a robot vacuum a name and have it call you ‘Dad’?”

Aqiang was running out of battery. It rested beneath Luo Jianan’s legs, its yellow light flashing like a pitiful blink, looking pitiful.

Patting Aqiang’s case soothingly, Luo Jianan ordered, “Go charge.”

Aqiang slowly moved towards the charger, using the remaining power. Qi Ming glared at the voice-activated robot vacuum cleaner, his face etched with displeasure.

“Apologize now! You’ve upset Aqiang,” Luo Jianan continued, fanning the flames.

“You should be thankful there’s no autopsy table in this room.” Qi Ming gritted his teeth, stood up, and went to the kitchen to refill his coffee. “Or else, we’ll throw both of you ‘father and son’ on it for autopsy.”

Aqiang suddenly dashed into the storage room where the chargers were kept.

“…”

“…”

Glancing at Qi Ming, Luo Jianan said dryly, “You better watch your words. These high-tech gadgets are so smart these days. What if he gets upset and runs away from home?”

“Do you know how many missing persons cases are actually murders with their bodies destroyed?” Qi Ming asked coldly.

Luo Jianan decided it was best to avoid the subject and returned to his game.

————————

The weather station had issued a typhoon warning this morning, and before the end of the workday, the sky was already thick with dark clouds. But don’t even think about leaving work. In this kind of catastrophic weather, officers must remain on duty and enter emergency disaster preparedness status unless there’s a special reason.

Miao Hong stared at the computer screen, reading a few pages of news before saying, “It’s already this month, and there’s still a typhoon! The climate is really becoming increasingly abnormal.”

“Greenhouse effect, ozone hole, melting glaciers—Master, how much longer can the Earth hold out?” Luo Jianan asked slowly.

Turning her head to her apprentice, Miao Hong smiled and said, “I didn’t realize you were so concerned about environmental issues.”

“That’s called environmental awareness. In the summer, unless it’s too hot to sleep, I never turn on the air conditioner.” Luo Jianan was speaking when he looked up and saw a pretty girl standing at the door, dragging a suitcase. He quickly stood up and went over to help her pull the suitcase under Xu Jie’s desk. He asked, “Gao Wen, why are you here?”

“I was planning to fly today, but the typhoon warning grounded all flights. I was scared to go home alone, so Xu Jie asked me to come to the station.” Gao Wen turned to greet Miao Hong. “Hello, Sister Hong.”

Miao Hong smiled and nodded. Gao Wen was Xu Jie’s fiancée. They were actually married, but they hadn’t had a wedding banquet, so no one else knew they were married. Miao Hong knew this because she happened to run into Xu Jie and Gao Wen at the Civil Affairs Bureau that day. Xu Jie’s idea was to wait until the wedding banquet to inform everyone, lest everyone beg him for favors once he announced the marriage.

It’s okay to experience the uproar once.

“Xu Jie’s gone to the police station to run some business. He should be back soon. You can sit at his table and wait.” Luo Jianan poured Gao Wen a glass of water. Gao Wen was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. When Xu Jie first introduced his girlfriend to everyone, almost everyone was stunned. No one had expected Xu Jie, a plain-looking man with a low income and a criminal investigation job, to marry a beautiful flight attendant.

Under everyone’s urging, Xu Jie recounted how he and Gao Wen met. While returning home for the Spring Festival holiday to visit family, Xu Jie encountered a passenger being held up by security at the airport. His professional acumen enabled him to discern something fishy from the passenger’s uneasy demeanor. Sure enough, the moment airport security approached, the passenger took off running. Xu Jie dropped his luggage and gave chase, loudly identifying himself as a police officer. Upon hearing the police, the man drew his knife, but Xu Jie wrestled him away and subdued him with a shoulder throw.

The man was a wanted criminal who had booked a flight under someone else’s identity and was identified at the security checkpoint. Xu Jie’s throw landed him right in front of Gao Wen, who was dragging her suitcase. Gao Wen later recounted that she immediately thought the man was incredibly handsome and that she wanted a husband like him to feel secure.

It’s said that after that, all the bachelors in the police station rushed to the airport to catch wanted criminals.

Near midnight, the wind began to pick up outside, quickly turning into a torrential downpour. Large raindrops clattered against the windows, waking everyone dozing in the office. Luo Jianan rubbed his eyes and sent a message to Qi Ming, warning him that the sunroom might flood. He also specifically asked him to put Aqiang upstairs to prevent him from getting soaked.

A while later, Qi Ming sent him a message back—

“Your son is stuck under the sofa, crying for his dad.”

————————

The torrential downpour continued for nearly the entire night, and a drizzle was still falling past five in the morning. The good news was that no major disaster had occurred, and no missing persons notices had been received from the police station. Over breakfast, they discussed the high incidence of post-disaster crimes. Miao Hong told Luo Jianan that, in her experience, any deaths after a disaster were often accidental and often related to intoxication.

“Only psychos and drunks would go out in this kind of weather,” Miao Hong said. “It was five years ago, during the force 14 typhoon. A large area of ​​trees fell, roads were blocked, and the entire city was without water and electricity.”

Luo Jianan nodded. That typhoon was said to be once in a century. He was a police academy student at the time. After the typhoon, the academy organized cadets to carry out disaster relief work. They spent three days carrying broken branches. When they returned to school, they collapsed onto their beds. Everyone in the room was too exhausted to get up.

“The police station received a report that a body had been found under a billboard. They contacted the police station, and Old Han diagnosed the victim’s head with a blow from the billboard. However, the autopsy revealed two opposite skull fractures. But the billboard was so heavy, it’s impossible for the wind to lift it and hit him again.” Miao Hong raised a spoon and gestured to either side of Qiao Dawei’s head.

Qiao Dawei put down the soy milk and lay facedown on the table, pretending to be dead.

Luo Jianan smiled at the scene before him and said, “He’s still out killing people during a typhoon. He’s quite a professional.”

“No, it was an accident.” Miao Hong put down her spoon and patted Qiao Dawei on the back to thank him for his cooperation. “The investigation revealed that the deceased had a history of mental illness. Because the house was in chaos the night of the typhoon, no one noticed he’d left. The trace examination found the deceased’s shoes about two hundred meters from where the body fell, and there were wounds on the soles of his feet. The laboratory detected trace amounts of plant fibers in the wounds. This suggests that the deceased took off his shoes to climb a tree, and the tree was blown down by the wind, causing the first impact on his head. The second blow was the billboard being blown down.”

Luo Jianan’s eyes widened. “Fvck! Climbing a tree in such a strong wind? Is he trying to ascend to heaven?”

“Who can possibly know the thoughts of a mentally ill person?” Miao Hong shrugged slightly.

At this moment, Chen Fei called, informing them that the police station had reported the discovery of a body and asked them to dispatch immediately.

————————

The construction site after the rain was filled with the sweet scent of wood, but the strong wind had blew everything into a mess.

It wasn’t surprising that the forensic pathologist arrived first, but Old Han didn’t show up. Only Qi Ming and a few colleagues from the laboratory were there. What surprised Luo Jianan even more was that Qi Ming was wearing gloves and examining the body’s exterior.

“Hey, don’t touch me! Wait for Old Han to come!” Luo Jianan reached out to tug at Qi Ming’s arm.

Qi Ming gently pulled his hand away and looked up at Luo Jianan, his eyes narrowing slightly behind his glasses at the light. “My qualifications have been approved. From today on, I’ll be handling the forensic work.”

“Then where’s Old Han?” Luo Jianan asked, stunned.

“I’m completing my retirement paperwork.” Qi Ming took the clipboard from his colleague, ticked off a few items on the body’s exterior, and handed it back. “Move aside,” he said, irritated by Luo Jianan’s obstruction.

She stepped back awkwardly, suddenly feeling a little lonely at the thought of not seeing Old Han again. Although they had only been colleagues for a little over a year, he quite liked the witty old man. More importantly, though, Old Han’s wife was from the north and made delicious dumplings, something he probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy again.

Luo Jianan took the gloves his colleague offered him, put them on, and squatted down to examine the deceased. He put aside his appetite for the moment; the most important thing at hand was to find out how this man had died. Zhao Pingsheng and Miao Hong were taking the statement of the migrant worker who had discovered the body. The man was clearly terrified, his words repetitive and incoherent, unable to make a clear statement.

The body lay facedown on the ground, with a noticeable dent on the back of the head.

“What have you found?” Luo Jianan asked.

“No identification,” Qi Ming said. “The deceased suffered a blow to the head and multiple fractures. Judging from the position of his body, he fell from a building.”

He raised his hand and pointed to the bare concrete floor above. The typhoon had ripped through the protective netting, leaving a huge gap in the green fabric on the outside of the unfinished building. Luo Jianan counted and concluded the victim had fallen from somewhere between the fifth and seventh floors.

“Time of death?”

“Estimated between two and four in the morning, but the typhoon caused the body’s temperature to drop too quickly. We’ll have to wait and see if the stomach contents are analyzed.” Qi Ming reached out and slightly tugged at the victim’s collar, revealing a platinum necklace as thick as a thumb. “It’s definitely not robbery.”

Luo Jianan stared at the tattoo on the victim’s forearm, which peeked through the rip in his sleeve. “It could be a vendetta. Competition for cement transportation, sand, stone, and wood is fierce on construction sites.”

“Sand bully?”

“Oh, Teacher Qi, you know that term?”

“It’s not just a domestic thing.” Qi Ming rolled his eyes at Luo Jianan and stood up. “Take him back to the medical examiner’s office first. Leaving him soaking in a puddle will only cause further damage to the evidence.”

————————

The victim’s true cause of death was a fall, but the fall was caused by a head injury that resulted in fainting. Regardless of the cause, it was undeniably murder. Qi Ming entered the deceased’s fingerprints into the system and discovered that the man was Zhou Daguo, 32 years old, with a criminal record for armed fighting and a year and a half in prison.

Luo Jianan took the information to Shangguan Yunfei to retrieve Zhou Daguo’s resume. Yunfei’s younger sister searched for a long time and found that his file before his imprisonment was almost blank, with only household registration information.

“Too clean,” Luo Jianan shook his head. “A person like that should have a long history of scandals before he went to prison. It’s unrealistic that after being honest for more than 20 years, he would suddenly learn to stab people with a knife.”

“Brother Nan, are you talking about yourself?” Shangguan Yunfei teased him. “I heard you registered at the police station before attending the academy.”

Luo Jianan raised his chin. “Brother Nan, I was a hero saving a beautiful woman.”

“Where did you save my sister-in-law?”

“Eh… I was doing something righteous. How could I expect someone to give their life to me?”

Shangguan Yunfei gave him a look that said, “I think you’re stupid.”

Luo Jianan called Old B and asked him to investigate Zhou Daguo’s background. Although Old B had retired from the underworld, he had many friends and was well-informed, even among the most reputable thugs. Soon, Old B called back and told Luo Jianan that Zhou Daguo had arrived in the city only six months ago. He was rumored to be a top aide to a certain tycoon, and was here to expand his market.

“Explore cement transportation for construction sites?” Luo Jianan asked.

“How much money can you make?” Old B’s voice dropped a few notches. “Think about it, what’s the fastest way to make money right now?”

“Become an internet celebrity and open a Taobao store?”

A chuckle broke from Old B’s voice.

“You’re kidding, I get what you mean.” Luo Jianan continued on his phone as he walked towards the office. “Zhou Daguo is a drug dealer.”

“Brother Nan, I wouldn’t dare make such a claim without evidence, but as far as I know, this Zhou Daguo has been ordered to die by ‘Jinshan’.”

Hearing this, Luo Jianan frowned.

“Jinshan,” whose real name is Qiao Jun, is the top target of the Municipal Bureau’s Narcotics Division. This “Jinshan” isn’t the one killed by Chen Fei ten years ago, but rather the heir to the once-nationally renowned drug lord’s name. Rumors circulate that he’s a protégé of the old “Jinshan.” Everyone knows he rose to prominence through drug trafficking, but there’s no evidence. Anyone who could warrant his death must be deeply involved in drugs.

Entering the office, Luo Jianan reported his investigation findings to Chen Fei. Afterward, Chen Fei made a phone call to his colleagues in the Narcotics Division to see if a joint task force was necessary.

Seeing the man in the sharp uniform enter the office, Qi Ming asked Luo Jianan, “Who’s this?”

“Zhuang Yu, Team Leader of Team 3 of the Narcotics Division.” Luo Jianan didn’t even look up.

Luo Jianan had worked with Zhuang Yu once before, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. In Luo Jianan’s opinion, Zhuang Yu was rigid, bordering on stubborn. Simply put, he was too righteous. During that joint task force operation, he chased the suspect for five blocks, only to find him beaten to a pulp. Zhuang Yu then issued him an injury assessment report, which infuriated him so much that he went to the Narcotics Division and overturned Zhuang Yu’s desk.

Qi Ming estimated Zhuang Yu to be no more than 32 or 33 years old and asked, “How can he be a team leader so young?”

Luo Jianan looked up at Qi Ming, his eyes filled with melancholy.

“The Narcotics Division has a very high death rate; few survive to retirement.”

The author has something to say: Please continue to support new cases.

By the way, I was planning to pre-order a book in the Police Story series about Team Leader Zhuang’s story, called “Deadly Undercover.” However, that book flopped, so I don’t know if Team Leader Zhuang’s story will ever see the light of day again. [Sob!] I’ve created a post, and I hope everyone will pre-order it.

I’ve created a Penguin group to discuss the plot. I wonder if anyone would like to join? I’ve put my account on Weibo: Leng Yue Zhi Bing 884

First kill bonus! As usual.