Paradox of Evidence

"Was it your deliberate revenge that Chi Hengxun's glands were removed?" The old criminal police captain, with his ashen face, several wrinkles, and straight back supported by his hands, stood in front of him, pressing closer and closer.

“I didn’t touch his glands.” After multiple rounds of interrogation, Du Pianjian was exhausted and didn’t even want to open his eyes.

“Chi Hengxun tried to mark you, and you got angry and dug out his glands.”

"If I wanted to disable his glands, I could just release some pheromones; why go through all this trouble?"

"Because of the pleasure of revenge."

"Wouldn't it be better to watch him die little by little under my control?"

"You admit to premeditated murder!"

"I was just saying that if it were me, I would have done it differently."

"This just proves that there is a dispute between you."

“He harassed me one-sidedly! If it weren’t for his interference, Yu Zou wouldn’t have treated me so badly. If he hadn’t kept harassing me, Yu Zou wouldn’t have kept things from me, and he wouldn’t have left me.”

"So you killed Chi Hengxun because he ruined your marriage."

"If you believe I am the murderer, there is no point in arguing. Talk to my lawyer."

Du Pianjian had had enough of talking to a brick wall. Just then, there was a knock on the interrogation room door. The police went to open it, and a female Beta in a white coat held up a medicine box beside her: "I have received orders to copy his DNA and gland samples."

When she sensed someone approaching, Du Pianjian opened her eyes. In the eye contact, the forensic doctor, wearing a white mask, revealed a pair of eyes as deep and unfathomable as an ancient well, radiating coldness. She said, "Please cooperate."

Du Pianjian didn't move.

So she laid his hand flat, disinfected it briefly with alcohol, drew blood from his fingertip, tore off a piece of cotton and had him press it against his hand. Du Pianjian twirled her fingers and casually asked, "Did you find bloodstains in my house too?"

The policeman blew on the foam on his teacup, his brow furrowing deeply: "No need to test him."

The alcohol swab was wrapped around the back of her neck three times before the syringe was inserted. The cotton fell from her fingertips. Du Pianjian frowned, slamming her clenched fist on the table with a dull thud, and sneered, "Your police station has so many quacks. I need to request local anesthesia."

"Du Pianjian! Where do you think you are?" The policeman glanced at Beta's face, noticing she wasn't angered at all and even pulled his hand to the cotton pad on the back of her neck. She followed procedure, carefully placing the sample into the box, nodded to him, and left.

Once the door was closed, the policeman put down his cup and returned to interrogation mode, while Du Pianjian resumed his feigned sleep.

The police clicked their tongue, knowing that further discussion would be a waste of breath. All the previous questions were merely attempts to provoke Du Pianjian and force him to tell the truth under pressure. Whether it was his exceptional mental fortitude or simply the whole truth, after eighteen rounds of interrogation, his testimony was flawless.

The door was knocked on twice.

The police officer exclaimed in surprise, wondering if she had forgotten something.

Just as I was about to get up, the door was opened.

Two officers walked in in unison, saluted, and he immediately stood up to return the salute. One of the officers announced, "We have received orders from higher command to take the suspect, Du Pianjian, to the bomb disposal bureau."

Another officer handed him a document, which he took with both hands and looked through; the paperwork was complete.

"What? The only experienced doctor is on leave? Tell him to come back! No, the Sixth Hospital has so many psychiatrists, can't we send a few more? Fine, fine, I don't understand, but what do you mean? Yes, the health of the living is important, but the innocence of the dead is not light either. We only need a professional psychiatric evaluation, how long can that take? Tsk... just wait for the official document."

He Can hung up the phone with a ferocious expression. It was truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly. The person on the other end was a complete scoundrel, insisting on receiving the paper documents before taking any action, no matter how many electronic proofs were provided. Countless hours were wasted, and no one in the police station was willing to deal with him, so the task ultimately fell to He Can again.

Seeing Sang Pingqiu put on his gloves and shoe covers and re-enter the scene, he hurriedly followed.

The blue-green fluorescence produced by luminol dripped intermittently onto the ground, and the scraping marks could be interpreted as being run over by a car wheel. Until a pillar, the bloodstains became splattered, indicating that Chi Hengxun had fought with the assailant and ultimately succumbed to his injuries. The edge of the pool of blood connected to an irregular, dragging strip before disappearing ten meters away.

Sang Pingqiu looked around. The luxury cars had been standing still for so long that no dashcam had witnessed what had happened.

“…The victim failed to leave any evidence against the other party during the struggle, indicating that the other party came prepared and knew the deceased.” From the moment he entered the scene, Sang Pingqiu had been talking to himself, asking and answering his own questions. He Can silently followed behind him, turning from the garage to the garden. When he stopped, he stood by the soil, took out a candy box, and opened it, pouring out only a few grains of icing sugar.

"Glands, posture—there are no clues pointing to any ritual or the killer's preference, so they're irrelevant. Glands—there's a higher-level buyer behind it, a hired killer, does the killer have religious beliefs? A reverence for ghosts and gods, hence the final act of mercy. No related cases, first time." Sang Pingqiu looked up at the balcony facing the garden. "It's common knowledge that the husband's body was never found; the victim was his widow's suitor—a crime of passion?"

The murderer was extremely cautious; the only clues left at the scene were a few footprints and tool marks. Sang Pingqiu looked down at the tombstone: "I feel guilty for this delay. Why is Du Pianjian so tight-lipped about this? His death is suspicious, yet it contradicts his act of letting the victim go."

Hey! Why are you the only one here?

He Can's greeting interrupted Sang Pingqiu's thoughts. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw his colleagues from the technical department walking towards them. The female Beta nodded to the two of them: "The tests have made some progress. A small amount of Alpha pheromones of unknown origin were detected on site. I'm here to collect more. In principle, it should be done by multiple people, but they said that since the two of you are here, it's considered compliant."

"Of unknown origin?"

"Yes, the test report shows that the pheromone has been tagged, and it needs to be determined whether the tagged pheromone is the Alpha pheromone previously extracted from the scene."

He Can and Sang Pingqiu exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes. This marker was very likely the third person.

"If there are no other questions, I need to get back to work."

He glanced at her bracelet; the surveillance system was functioning normally. He asked, "Where are we collecting data?"

"It's tentatively designated as a bedroom."

"Okay, let's get ready and go up."

Beta nodded and turned to walk towards the door.

New clues came in, and Sang Pingqiu fell into deep thought again, completely still. Before He Can could recover, his phone rang again. He walked a few steps away to answer it, and the urgent, hoarse voice on the other end sounded like sizzling sand: "Brother Xin! Du Pianjian has been moved. I heard that Chi Hengxun's superior wants to take over the case completely and now wants us to organize the documents and send them to him."

"Are you kidding me? Can bomb disposal experts solve cases?"

"Who says otherwise? Director Ke Feng agreed. What should we do? Everyone's waiting for you to come back and take charge."

"Keep one copy," He Chan said in a low voice, "Don't give it to us unless you come to urge us..."

Sudden.

A sharp, long blast exploded in his ears. Caught off guard, He Can typed out a curse. In a split second, he exchanged a glance with Sang Pingqiu, who had turned back from the house. He Can quickly issued a request for backup, hung up the phone, drew his sidearm, and rushed to the door.

He Can entered the house one after the other, followed by Sang Pingqiu.

Using the walls as a medium, the house resembled a giant bell, ringing incessantly, as if triggering some kind of alarm. Apart from the newly opened front door, all other exits were sealed off, making the possibility of accidental activation by technicians virtually zero. He Chan felt his adrenaline surge, his excitement overflowing; only the murderer remained.

Five minutes later, the alarm stopped abruptly.

The first two floors are finished, and the third floor is halfway done, but they still haven't found any technicians.

Just as they were about to push open the next door, a loud thud came from the next room—the sound of glass being smashed. The two quickly surrounded the door on either side, and He Can kicked the door open, raising his gun to intimidate: "Don't move!"

A beam of intense light shone directly at He Can, blinding him. But Sang Pingqiu, standing behind him, recognized who it was and shouted, "Wen Ke!"

The bright light vanished instantly, and the gun barrel immediately pointed upwards.

After seeing each other's faces clearly, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Wen Ke's right hand, which had been behind his back, hung down, with a syringe full of medicine between his fingers.

Wen Ke picked up the briefcase in the corner and went over to report: "Pheromone collection complete. There is an independent alarm system in the room, which was most likely triggered by the murderer, but I didn't see anyone, so I tried to transmit the information through the glass."

The three formed a makeshift team and headed toward the unchecked area.

One minute later, backup arrived.

After a thorough search, no other traces were found at the scene.

"This is really weird!"

Wen Ke's law enforcement record was submitted as evidence. He Can gave the most straightforward evaluation of the conclusion given by the technical department: due to accidental factors, the smart home system that had been paralyzed triggered an alarm.

"A little," a junior officer from the technical team muttered, immediately drawing a glare from his captain and a reminder from his teammates. He was looking at the housing data on the screen when he looked up and saw a group of stares. He immediately tensed up and stammered, not daring to speak.

He Can squinted at him and said seriously, "What do you mean?"

“I didn’t say anyone, I just think there’s something wrong with the data in this room.”

"Which room? What's the problem?"

"The data showing that the wall between the music room and the work room, both inside and outside, is five meters thick is not accurate."

"Location."

Technicians are taking final photos, videos, and records of the wall to ensure its original state is preserved.

He Can stood in the middle, arms crossed, looking at the wall. The technical team leader, while working, kept muttering bitterly, "It's good to have money. You don't have to worry about the people involved in the case coming to your door for compensation after the case is closed. It reduces the financial pressure on the Municipal Bureau by so much. No wonder the director agreed so quickly."

"I'll allow you to be reborn as my son in your next life. Daddy will show you that this kind of life is even better than you think." He took two steps back, and the technical team leader chuckled sinisterly. "Don't back down, Team One. That way, next month you can be reborn as my son. I guarantee comfort, but I guarantee excitement."

The drilling sounded, and dust flew up.

A group of police officers stood guard behind them with guns drawn.

The feeling of weightlessness from drilling made my heart sink. The wall collapsed with a muffled thud, followed by a sharp clatter of shards. Amidst the swirling dust, beams of light shone in, revealing two rows of transparent glass cases resembling coffins peering at the crowd outside. The items displayed were all weapons used by those guilty of heinous crimes. On the floor, soil and crystal mingled, and various ribbons coiled like snakes.

The chilling order of violence watched the police advance, their footsteps echoing through the debris, each sound muffled by their shoes. He Can led the way, his fingers gripping the flashlight, cold and sharp, shining it to the farthest point. A shadowy figure lay curled up motionless on the ground, its back to him, tightly bound with rough hemp rope, a neatly folded white towel tied in a knot behind its head.

The beams of light merged into one, and several gun muzzles faced each other.

He cautiously stepped forward, knelt on one knee, pointed a gun at the person with one hand, and slowly straightened the person with the other.

The moment he saw her face clearly, it felt like a bullet had hit his brain.

He detected an extremely weak breath and jumped up, yelling, "Call an ambulance! Top priority! Block the news, notify the department, and immediately halt the transfer of Du Pianjian!"