Clue integration

Lin Chaoying was completely baffled. "Li Chao and Jiang Chuan Gu are well-known figures. How dare the Ghost Gate act so openly?"

Qian Fei explained, "We submitted the information of the two people to the information network. Maybe the two of them had accidentally come into contact with people from the Ghost Gate."

"I have a question," Jiang Chuan Gu asked suspiciously, "Is Li Chao's younger brother, Li Ming, also a superhuman?"

Qin Ming shook his head. "He's not." He pointed upstairs and said, "He's been brainwashed. Kong Yue will take a few more days to regain her senses after she's been purified."

Seeing his actions, Lin Chaoying exclaimed in shock, "You didn't take him back and lock him up? You let him stay at my guesthouse?"

“That’s right.” Qin Ming spread his hands and said matter-of-factly, “He is a human being, not a superhuman. I only detain superhuman prisoners. If you want to pursue the matter, Li Ming is under the jurisdiction of the police station. You can take him to the police station. I’ll have Kong Yue issue you a medical report.”

“I’m not saying he’ll be convicted.” Lin Chaoying felt uneasy thinking about how he had been rampaging around the guesthouse like a bear, slashing people everywhere. “I’m saying he hates Jiang Chuan Gu to the bone right now, and when he wakes up, they’ll start fighting again.”

Qin Ming smiled and said, "Then let Kong Yue give him another injection."

Kong Yue stared blankly and said expressionlessly, "Boss, Kong Yue works in the medical field, not sales. There's no buy-one-get-one-free deal."

"Don't worry, let's not talk about that now. There's a procedure we need to follow before we discuss the case." Qin Ming took out two sheets of A4 paper and handed them to the two people opposite him.

Lin Chaoying and Jiang Chuangu took it and looked at it carefully. The title read: Confidentiality Agreement.

Qin Ming explained, "We cannot disclose anything related to the case or Twelfth Street to the outside world. Otherwise, if public opinion erupts one day, even if we can control it, we will trace the source and take relevant measures against you."

Qian Fei added: "Lin Chaoying is a superhuman under the jurisdiction of the Twelfth Street, so the case will be handled by them. Jiang Chuan Gu is human, so he will be sent to the human docking organization for judgment."

Without saying a word, Lin Chaoying signed the document and pressed her fingerprint on it.

Jiang Chuan Gu hesitated to put pen to paper, saying, "After Li Chao's case is resolved, how can we explain it to his parents, younger brother, and friends?"

Qin Ming patiently explained, "Don't worry about that. The organization will consult with the higher-level judicial authorities to prepare a public disclosure document. If the murderer really only has Scarface, there will only be one outcome after his arrest: the death penalty." He then changed the subject, "Now this case involves not only Scarface, but also the mastermind behind it."

"Okay." Jiang Chuan Gu signed his name and pressed his fingerprint.

Putting away the documents, Qin Ming turned on the computer and the thumb-sized projector.

With a snap of her fingers, Qian Fei drew back all the curtains, blocking out the light from the windows and plunging the room into darkness.

Qin Ming opened the folder, which contained four documents: the scene, the autopsy report, the testimony, and the deceased. He said, "You need to be thoroughly familiar with the information in your hands. The three of us have been verifying and studying the information over the past two days."

“Let’s start with the crime scene upstairs.” Qin Ming became serious, which was quite reliable. “Besides the testimony, there are four videos in total: the video Linlin took at the door, the surveillance video on Li Chao’s computer, the police’s law enforcement records, and finally, my final survey the day before yesterday.”

The timeline is linked as follows: First, Scarface appears four times on surveillance footage, each time committing acts of violence against Li Chao; second, after Li Chao's death, Linlin arrives at the door and is so frightened that she captures Scarface placing the "murder weapon" in Jiang Chuan Gu's hand; then, the police arrive at the scene and see the unconscious Jiang Chuan Gu holding a knife at the door, with the disemboweled victim inside the house; finally, a week after the case, only withered petals and dried blood remain at the scene.

Lin Chaoying asked in confusion, "That's not right. If Jiang Chuan Valley was also a target of the Ghost Gate, why did Scarface's first reaction upon seeing him was to frame him? Why didn't he just stab him to death?"

Qian Fei: "Could it be because the goal at that time wasn't Jiangchuan Valley?"

“It’s possible, after all, the brainwashing of Linlin happened after she was admitted to the hospital.” Qin Ming opened the surveillance video again. “And this part, I’ll turn up the volume, listen carefully to the last sound.”

Accompanied by a squeaking and sizzling sound, Lin Chaoying closed her eyes and listened intently. The pattering footsteps grew fainter and fainter, mixed with the sound of flowing water, and the man's intermittent voice could be heard, very indistinct.

"...Killed...but couldn't find..."

"Of course... I know..."

"Shut up..."

"...Let's compare..."

That's all.

Qian Fei couldn't help but complain, "Is this guy talking nonsense? I really can't hear him."

Lin Chaoying said, "It should be the location of the bathroom. I was worried that the pipes would make a lot of noise, so I specially thickened the walls of the bathroom to improve sound insulation."

"Found it? Compare them?" Jiang Chuan Gu felt something was off. Thinking of how Li Chao was lying on the ground that day, he guessed, "He... was looking for something inside Li Chao's stomach?"

As soon as he finished speaking, surprised looks came from the audience.

Previously, everyone thought that because Scar belonged to the Ghost Gate, had a vicious personality, and was also a superhuman, it was natural to assume that it was a brutal killing, focusing on the "torture".

According to Jiangchuan Valley's guess, the purpose of disemboweling was probably not so simple.

"That's right!" Lin Chaoying realized. "If you turn the middle position upside down, after he killed Jiang Chuan Gu, his expression showed no joy or excitement, and his tone on the phone was impatient? That means he didn't find anything?"

Qian Fei retorted, "How could there be anything in my stomach?"

Kong Yue chimed in, "Yes."

"Hey!" Qin Ming made a bold guess at an inopportune moment, "Could it be that Li Chao is Tang Sanzang? Does the Ghost Gate think that eating his internal organs can grant immortality?"

? ? ? ?

Qian Fei really wanted to smash the documents in her hand on his head. "Boss! The organs were removed, they weren't eaten! The autopsy showed no parts were missing!"

"Hey, let's add a little something to the serious atmosphere." Qin Ming tactfully composed himself and asked Kong Yue, "What did Kong Yue find in the autopsy report?"

Kong Yue briefly summarized: "I won't go into the details of the victim's tragic condition, but there are a few important and special points. First, the DNA remaining deep in the victim's body has already cemented the guilt of the knife scar. Second, look at this photo."

The photo shows a large, bloody wound behind Le Chieu's ear.

Qian Fei asked, "Is there anything special about this wound?"

Kong Yue sighed and said with a solemn expression, "This is a piece of skin tissue that Li Chao dug out himself, not a scar."

? ?

"What?" Lin Chaoying was surprised and her mind didn't quite process it. "Why? He's covered in injuries. Maybe he fell on the corner of the table or something?"

Kong Yue took out the report, "There is a lot of skin tissue left under the deceased's fingernails. There are no traces of knife scars in this wound. I deduce that the deceased scratched himself."

Qian Fei guessed, "Is it to make himself more aware?"

Kong Yue: "I don't know the specific motives."

Behind the ear? A wound? Did Li Chao pick it off himself? Was it really to clear his head?

Lin Chaoying recalled the conversation when Scarface made the phone call, and many things were ambiguous and didn't add up.

“There’s one more thing.” Kong Yue continued to take out photos, showing two bloodstains on the ground. “An autopsy cannot accurately calculate the exact time of death, but based on the bloodstains on the ground, the DNA comparison on the ground, and the time comparison of this surveillance footage.”

After hesitating, she revealed a cruel truth.

“The deceased was still alive when Scarface made the phone call; he had tried to climb to the door.”

Lin Chaoying: "But at that time his stomach was already..."

She didn't continue speaking, and everyone fell silent.

Kong Yue had been racking her brains for the past few days, unable to figure it out. She said in distress, "Was the deceased trying to survive? But why would they pick at the skin behind their ear? If they really wanted to provoke themselves, they didn't have to raise their hand. They could have picked at the area next to their hand, which was closer."

"Could it be that he wants to stab Scarface again! A mentality of 'if we die, we die together'?" Qian Fei himself is vengeful, so it's natural for him to suspect that Li Chao's behavior might be the same as his own.

When Jiangchuan Valley saw the photos of the scene of Li Chao's death, his mind was in such a mess that he couldn't speak.

The heavy atmosphere made everyone's words catch in their throats, and they couldn't help but want to empathize with Li Chao and feel heartbroken for him.

"Alright!" Qin Ming said, trying to ease the tension. "All this guessing is just speculation. Only by catching Scarface will we know the truth about that day!"

He opened the "testimony" document on his computer. "Our breakthrough point is right here!"

A photo of a hospital appeared on the screen, showing a woman in a pink nurse's uniform standing in a corridor.

Lin Chaoying recalled half of what Jiang Xu had said: after Linlin fainted and was admitted to the hospital, the police left, and suddenly a nurse appeared.

Qin Ming explained: "On the night of the murder, Linlin fainted from fright at the guesthouse and woke up to call the police. She then passed out and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Three hours later, Jiang Xu and lawyer Qi Gong arrived at the hospital to meet with the police. An hour later, the police suddenly left. Jiang Xu and Qi Gong went into the ward once, and a nurse came. She led Jiang Xu and Qi Gong to wait at the door. The next day, Linlin's statement changed, and the problem lies with her."

Qian Fei continued, "The nurse's name is Chai Yan. She is a single mother who lives with her two children in a rented room about one kilometer from the hospital. There is nothing special about her, and she is not in the Twelfth Street system. At present, we suspect that she is an ordinary person and there is a possibility that she has not yet been investigated."

“That’s right,” Qin Ming said. “Chai Yan was the nurse on duty that night. Before I went to work, I checked her daily routine and there was nothing unusual.”

Lin Chaoying asked, "Not a person with superpowers? Is it possible for someone who has been hypnotized to also hypnotize others?"

“Yes,” Jiangchuan Gu also asked, “Is the Ghost Gate’s supernatural infection really that powerful?”

Qin Ming: "Therefore, I suspect that Chai Yan is a follower of the Ghost Gate."

After speaking for almost an hour, he drank water rapidly as his mouth became dry. He continued, "The Ghost Gate is actually quite similar to us, with a similar information network. However, we cooperate with the government and work in the open, while they are different. They are hidden in the dark. We only know about the four adopted sons, the eight ghost generals, and the 16 ghost generals' deputies. We know nothing about the other scattered believers who are willing to follow the Ghost Gate."

“They won’t register voluntarily, won’t accept our jurisdiction, and can hide their special abilities, evading our ability testing trackers. They act like ordinary people, and you can’t see any flaws in them.”