Chapter 83 How could a beast be someone's son...?
Wu Zhongguo had just contacted his family; Xiao Chuan and Xiao Kai were already sleeping in the living room.
The phone rang once and was answered by Li Ying. He didn't tell Li Ying too much, but said that Xiao Kai was suspected of committing a crime and that they had to be careful. He also told her that Lu Ye, Zhou Chuanxi, and the Third Team were surrounding and protecting the house.
"What exactly happened?"
"We're in the confidential phase right now. Just go about your business as usual, and everyone will protect you. Just remember, Xiao Kai is extremely dangerous, so stay vigilant at all times."
The landline phone was on the corner cabinet between the living room and the bedroom. After hanging up the phone, Li Ying felt uneasy. Suddenly, she heard Xiao Kai's sleepy voice a few steps away: "Mom, why are you up? Do you want some water? I'll get you some."
Li Ying didn't turn around, and said with a pale face, "I don't want to drink water, I just need to go to the toilet. You should go to sleep early."
Xiao Kai's long-cherished dream was about to come true. In the darkness, he didn't notice Li Ying's panicked expression and obediently said, "I've put all the paperwork I need for tomorrow on the coffee table. I'll go over it again before I leave in the morning."
"Okay, I'll take you to KFC after I finish my business tomorrow." Li Ying forced a stiff smile, put her arm around Xiao Kai's shoulder and patted him: "Good son, go to sleep, you'll be busy tomorrow."
Xiao Kai asked, seemingly unintentionally, "Where's Dad?"
Li Ying suddenly felt that this child was too familiar. His biological parents had only been dead for a short time, yet he could call other people's parents "Mom and Dad" so quickly. How come she hadn't noticed anything wrong before?
"Same as always, I've been working on a case lately and need to work overtime. You'll have to get used to it." Li Ying covered him with the blanket and tucked him in. Seeing Xiao Chuan still sleeping soundly with his feet to his, she tucked him in as well.
She couldn't accept Xiao Kai's sudden change of heart, and she knew that Wu Zhongguo wouldn't tell her the wrong information.
Knowing that Xiao Kai was extremely dangerous, how could she bear to let Xiao Chuan have close and unguarded contact with him?
Li Ying struggled with the decision of whether to pretend to have insomnia and stay up all night in the living room.
But doing so would definitely alert the enemy.
"Mom?" Xiao Kai called out in confusion.
Suddenly, in the darkness, Xiao Chuan's warm little hand, hidden under the covers, squeezed her hand and patted it twice as if to comfort her.
son!
Li Ying's anxious heart was gently lifted by the child's tender hand. She suppressed her trembling voice, got up, touched Xiao Kai's face, and said gently as always, "Sleep well, baby, don't be afraid, I will always be by your side."
Xiao Kai replied sleepily, "Okay, goodnight, Mom."
Xiao Chuan, who was fast asleep at his feet, turned over and began to snore softly. Li Ying's eyes suddenly reddened, and she slowly returned to the small bedroom and closed the door.
“I’ve heard about this case. The victim’s family reached a consensus and had no objections, so no autopsy was performed.” After Qin An conducted a preliminary examination at the funeral home, he also discovered something amiss and brought Xiao Hongyan and her husband’s bodies back to the forensic room for autopsy.
After speaking with his family by phone, Wu Zhongguo is now watching Qin An's autopsy in the forensic room.
Qin An cut open Xiao Hongyan's chest cavity, looked up and found Wu Zhongguo staring intently at him, and couldn't help but say, "Why don't you all from Team Four go to the forensic department for internships? You're all so interested in dissecting corpses."
"That's a good thing. Autopsy is one of the most powerful methods for solving cases, and we should keep learning and improving." Wu Zhongguo was slightly relieved and focused intently on observing Qin An's movements.
Qin An quickly dissected Xiao Hongyan's husband's body as well, and showed the two bodies to Wu Zhongguo for comparison, while Lu Xiaobao took photos and made dissection records on the side.
"Liu Zhi was burned to death before he was born. There is respiratory damage here. His mouth, nose and throat are carbonized and invisible, but soot and carbon dust can be seen in his trachea. This is due to the inhalation of high-temperature smoke and combustion products. Some of the uncarbonized skin tissue on his back has redness, swelling and blisters at the edges of the burns, indicating that he was still alive and had an active reaction at the time."
Qin An used tweezers to pick up the black carbon dust he had wiped away and had Lu Xiaobao take a picture. He then pulled out the blood test report and said, "The carbon monoxide concentration in his blood reached 70%, indicating that he survived in a high-concentration carbon monoxide pollution environment. Therefore, the conclusion that Liu Zhi died from being burned is correct. However—"
Qin An changed the subject, pointing to one of the components in the blood test report, and said, "Propofol and benzodiazepines were detected in both the stomach contents and the blood. These are anesthetic and hypnotic substances. We cannot rule out the possibility that the person was deliberately made to fall into a coma and then set the body on fire."
Wu Zhongguo, who had access to Fang Chengkai's computer search records, said, "That's very possible."
Qin An then went around to Xiao Hongyan's side at the other end, opened her airway and chest cavity to examine her, and said, "There are only a small amount of soot and carbon dust in her airway, and the carbon monoxide content in her blood is much lower than Liu Zhi's, only 7%. Look here—"
He pointed to Xiao Hongyan's relatively intact lungs and said, "The lungs are congested and edematous, which are typical signs of asphyxiation. Compared to Liu Zhisheng's body, which was burned to death and showed a 'fighting posture,' her limbs are relaxed and there are no blisters or redness. There are strangulation marks in the subcutaneous tissue of her neck, and diazepam was detected in her blood. I judge that she was strangled to death and then dragged to the bed to be burned. Xiaobao, check the inside of her mouth."
Lu Xiaobao was taking pictures nearby, and under the flash, he saw the inside of Xiao Hongyan's mouth: "Master, there is knitted material on her upper teeth."
These words immediately perked up Wu Zhongguo and Qin An.
What else could possibly be in Xiao Hongyan's mouth?
It must be evidence left from a struggle with the murderer!
Qin An hooked a chair over his toe and sat down next to Xiao Hongyan's head. Lu Xiaobao helped him pry open Xiao Hongyan's mouth, and Qin An gently and meticulously used tweezers to remove the contents from the mouth and held it up to Wu Zhongguo: "We've found a treasure, there's blood!"
******
The Cherokee's xenon headlights, powered by high-voltage current, shone intensely on the ruins, revealing everything clearly. The engine emitted a deep, rumbling roar, like a predatory beast surveying its territory.
Inside the cordon, police officers were searching through a section of the ruins, following Section Chief Shen's instructions to leave no stone unturned.
Shen Zhenzhu carried a powerful flashlight, wrapped in a cotton coat, and exhaled puffs of white breath. The white breath condensed and dissipated in the cold night. She squatted in front of the charred ruins, and the strong smell of burnt sour rot and black charcoal hit her face, forcing Shen Zhenzhu to put her mask back on.
Wearing only his olive-green uniform, Gu Yanzheng surveyed the area of the ruins, mentally reconstructing the possible scenes of the fire to determine where a lighter might have appeared after the floor collapsed.
“He asked to speak with Ye Shengwen, and I suspect it’s to find the lighter that ignited the fire,” Shen Zhenzhu told Gu Yanzheng. “This is the only crucial evidence that could shake the case. I can’t sleep or eat until I find him. Even though Ye Shengwen is about to be sent to the prosecutor’s office and face execution, the meticulous Fang Chengkai desperately wants to find the lighter to destroy the evidence so that no one can catch him red-handed later. That way, even if Ye Shengwen recants, it will be useless.”
“It can only be a lighter, and a lighter that is not easily burned.” Gu Yanzheng believes that Shen Zhenzhu’s reasoning is consistent with Fang Chengkai’s criminal psychology: “If it is a match or a plastic lighter that is lit, it is very likely to be burned. Only a metal lighter can be preserved.”
The distant barking of dogs pierced the thick night, and the horizon turned a hazy gray, as if thick smoke covered the sky, making it hard to breathe.
With nearly half of the 48-hour deadline given by Park Heung-sung approaching, the night wind swirled around Shen Zhenzhu's feet one last time, then vanished, carrying with it a cloud of ash.
“Brother Zheng!” Chen Zhenzhu’s voice was particularly clear in the silence. Underneath the cement blocks she was turning over, she could see the golden reflection of the rising sun through the cracks in the carbonized ruins.
"You're here." Gu Yanzheng liked hearing her call him that, and strode over, forgetting to turn off the Cherokee's lights.
He crouched down next to the sunken pearl and saw a copper lighter lying intact and quietly among the rubble!
"You were absolutely right."
The two exchanged a knowing glance; this discovery was truly important.
On the lighter's metal casing, a fingerprint gleams in the natural light, seemingly telling the untold secrets of the night it witnessed.
"This is amazing! It's so well preserved. We all thought it was going to explode." Kanghe and the other searchers gathered around, and the wind they brought swept away the ash clinging to the lighter, revealing three or four fingerprints that were smaller than an adult's fingerprints.
"A miraculous completeness." Gu Yanzheng squeezed Chen Zhenzhu's shoulder and noticed that her slender shoulders, which had been tense for a day and a night, had quietly relaxed a little.
Chen Zhenzhu's sore neck and shoulders were relieved, and she exclaimed with relief, "There wasn't much damage at all, it's so much better than I imagined."
Gu Yanzheng took out an evidence bag, put a copper lighter inside, and Shen Zhenzhu carefully carried it in her hand.
“Last time Fang Chengkai went to the Criminal Investigation Team to visit Ye Shengwen, I asked Zhao Qiqi to keep the cup he drank from in the evidence bag,” Shen Zhenzhu said slyly. “We’ll go back and compare the fingerprints immediately. With so many traces, we can nail him to the spot!”
"Section Chief Shen is too outstanding; there's absolutely no room for Captain Gu to interfere." Gu Yanzheng was in a good mood and opened the passenger door to see Chen Zhenzhu, who was carrying a bag of evidence, into the car.
Kanghe, who was following behind, rubbed his ears and thought that staying up late had damaged his kidneys and caused him to hallucinate.
Is that something Captain Gu would say? It's so blatantly flirtatious.
A cool morning breeze brushed against his neck, and Kanghe shrank back, feeling the eerie chill of the ruins. The smell of car exhaust lingered in his nostrils…car exhaust?!
With a broken elbow, the Cherokee, carrying the passenger Chen Zhenzhu, drove through the receding darkness and disappeared from sight.
Wu Fugang, who had come to search in a Cherokee with him, stood dumbfounded behind Kang He, staring blankly at the empty road.
"What, what should we do? There are no buses this early in the morning!"
Cam scratched his head, his internal organs gurgling, and said helplessly, "Will walking eight stops be a problem?"
Wu Fugang, a newcomer to the third team this year, said somewhat cluelessly, "About five kilometers? No problem. But Brother Kang, where are we going?"
Kang He pursed his lips and said, "Let's storm into the Fourth Team's stronghold—Sixth Sister's Restaurant. This month's pay will all go to Team Leader Gu's account."
The Cherokee returned to the criminal investigation team, and Shen Zhenzhu jumped out of the car to see Guo Daye riding his bicycle to work.
If Wu Zhongguo was the top performer in the fourth team, then Guo Daye was the top performer in the entire city bureau's criminal investigation team.
"So early?" Guo Daye had never seen Shen Zhenzhu and Gu Yanzheng at this time before, and his mind didn't quite process it.
Gu Yanzheng closed the car door and nodded: "Working overtime."
After Shen Zhenzhu and Gu Yanzheng jogged upstairs, Guo Daye stood there and realized that they had been working non-stop for a day and a night without rest.
He arrived early to prepare for writing the bulletin board downstairs, further implementing the daily management regulations. He also arranged a meeting at 8:30 to continue emphasizing the ideological content to everyone.
That was the original plan.
Now he hesitated.
While waiting for her fingerprints to be compared, Shen Zhenzhu curled up on the sofa and dozed off for a while. It felt like only a few minutes, but when she opened her eyes, more than an hour had passed.
Wu Zhongguo entered the room carrying the complete autopsy report. Seeing that she was awake, he pointed to the food on the small table by the door: "Want to eat something first?"
Chen Zhenzhu stretched and got up, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes a little bloodshot from fatigue. Ignoring her rumbling stomach, she asked, "How did it go?"
Gu Yanzheng's voice came from the other side of the blackboard: "It's not easy to get Qin An to work overtime. Did you gain anything?"
Wu Zhongguo sneered, "It's even more vicious than we imagined. It's been confirmed that Xiao Hongyan was smothered to death and then dragged to the bed and burned. Sedative drugs were detected in the blood and stomach of both Xiao Hongyan and her husband. Furthermore, trace amounts of blood found in the fabric in Xiao Hongyan's mouth matched Fang Chengkai's blood type."
"Zheng and I found the lighter that started the fire. There are several fingerprints on it that are being identified. The results should be available in about half an hour at most." After Shen Zhenzhu finished speaking, her stomach growled again.
Gu Yanzheng said, "Let me eat a couple of bites first, I'll be busy later. I'll apply for an arrest warrant in advance."
Chen Zhenzhu walked to the small table by the door and found that in addition to the breakfast made by her sixth sister, there were also several warm bowls of beef offal noodles and fried cakes: "Who bought these?"
Gu Yanzheng handed her disposable chopsticks and said with a smile, "You'll never guess."
Shen Zhenzhu looked at him with a smile without saying a word or urging him.
Gu Yanzheng sighed inwardly, realizing that he had unknowingly been manipulated by Section Chief Shen: "It was Political Commissar Guo who bought it for everyone. He probably felt sorry for us working non-stop without food or drink, so he let us eat outside of the 'meal time'."
Gu Yanzheng laughed after hearing this.
After spending the night outside in the cold, Chen Zhenzhu really wanted something soupy. She dozed off for a while and felt a bit more awake. Instead of eating her bowl of beef offal noodles properly in the office, she insisted on sitting on a stool outside the office to eat.
Many people passing by greeted her, and seeing her eating beef offal noodles, they thought it was a new delicacy created by Sixth Sister.
"No, it was Political Commissar Guo who bought it for us because he saw how hard we were working overtime." Chen Zhenzhu sipped her powder and didn't forget to promote Guo: "He is indeed a senior figure in ideological work. He is strict in his thinking, caring in his work. He may seem strict, but he is actually full of human touch."
"Really? I'll take some." Tian Yongfeng, carrying the new trash can he bought at his own expense, habitually strolled around the entrance of the fourth team and got a bowl of beef offal noodles, two fried cakes, and a bag of soup dumplings from Sixth Sister.
Taking back the second team is impossible. He turned the trash can upside down, sat on it, and sipped his noodles alongside Chen Zhenzhu.
When Park Heung-sung came over, he also picked up his beef offal noodles and started eating them against the wall.
Guo Daye could smell the delicious aroma of butter wafting from downstairs. He opened the back door so that Shen Zhenzhu and the others could eat in the office to avoid being seen by other comrades and causing a bad impression. He held back for a while, but couldn't help going upstairs to remind them.
Before they even reached the entrance of the fourth team, they saw Chen Zhenzhu pouring vinegar for each of her colleagues.
"......" Have you opened a breakfast stall?
Guo Daye's eyelids twitched. Suddenly, Tian Yongfeng walked over, carrying a trash can that looked menacing, as if he was about to dump it on Guo Daye's head.
But Tian Yongfeng not only didn't deduct the money, he also said to him in a rare normal tone, "It tastes good, thanks."
After a while, Park Heung-sung came over, a fried rice cake in his mouth, and nodded to him: "Good morning."
Guo Daye: "...Good morning."
He put the prescribed meal schedule he was holding into his pocket, thought for a moment, walked over to Chen Zhenzhu and said, "Thank you for helping me."
With her mouth all red from eating, Chen Zhenzhu looked up blankly and asked, "Help what? Beef offal noodles have a strong smell. It's not against the rules for me to eat out, is it?"
Guo Daye was feeling a bit tired.
Eat up, eat up. He really doesn't want to deal with this anymore.
"The fingerprints are in! They match Fang Chengkai's fingerprints!" Wu Zhongguo's voice came from the other end of the corridor as he quickly walked over with the examination and comparison report in his hand.
Chen Zhenzhu threw down her breakfast box, wiped her mouth, and was about to rush into the office when she bumped into a strong, warm chest. Rubbing her forehead, she looked up and said, "Brother Zheng, compared to—"
Gu Yanzheng patted the back of her head with his large hand and said naturally, "You're so impulsive. We can 'invite' Fang Chengkai over to explain."
Why.
Iron tree, oh iron tree, why do you always bloom?
Wu Zhongguo looked at the ceiling and said, "Captain Gu, I request to go along."
******
Liancheng Civil Affairs Bureau.
Monday, at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
In the marriage registration queue, some were overjoyed, while others wept with disappointment. In the welfare collection queue, people counted their year-end expenses. Nearby, a charity distributed winter supplies to disabled elderly people.
Every line was long, except for the one in front of the adoption registration counter where Li Ying and Fang Chengkai were, which was scattered and moved the slowest.
Fang Chengkai kept tapping his fingertips along the seam of his trousers; his heartbeat was unusual when he woke up this morning.
Li Ying's failure to wake him on time made him feel uneasy, as if his plans had been disrupted. He attributed all of this to the fact that he had been "reborn."
Feeling tense, excited, agitated, and trembling.
Xiaochuan did not come over, silently resisting everything that had naturally come to pass.
Fang Chengkai didn't care. Once the legal procedures were completed, he and Xiao Chuan would be on equal footing, and neither of them would have to be subservient to the other.
That's not necessarily true.
He smiled smirked and followed the line into the Civil Affairs Bureau's service hall.
This summer was unusually hot, and the early winter was unusually cold.
He was dressed in new clothes from head to toe, with a red scarf draped over his shoulders. The cold wind still managed to seep into his collar and cuffs, and before he could shiver, Li Ying, who was standing next to him, shivered first.
"Mom, why are you shaking? Do you have a cold?"
"fine."
Fang Chengkai took off his red scarf and personally wrapped it around Li Ying's neck. He wrapped the red scarf around her neck again and again, making Li Ying hold her breath, almost unable to breathe.
The person in front of Li Ying in line was holding a baby girl. He turned around and looked at them in surprise. When he saw Fang Chengkai's delicate features, he smiled and said, "Young lady, you're so lucky. This child is as pretty as a girl. She looks like she'll do well in her studies."
Upon hearing this, the people in front of him in line turned around to look at Fang Chengkai. One of the older men even said, "He looks sensible and filial."
Normally, if grandparents were approached like this, they would chatter on and on, telling everyone how outstanding they are.
He waited a moment, then slowly turned his head and saw Li Ying's calm face, seemingly having no desire to talk to them.
His newly ignited vanity was ruthlessly extinguished, and all his achievements remained unspeakable, causing him to fade into obscurity.
That calm, matter-of-fact expression instantly reminded him of his biological mother's face. Afraid of being discovered for his distorted expression, he lowered his head, looking at his toes, and quickened his tapping on the seam of his trousers.
Faster, faster!
Finally reaching the counter, Li Ying slowly took out her household registration book, ID card, marriage certificate, and other documents from her purse. Her hands were trembling, and she accidentally dropped her ID card on the ground. Fang Chengkai picked it up and handed it to her, noticing that her fingers were icy cold.
Fang Chengkai's brows slowly furrowed. He stepped back and stood aside, carefully observing Li Ying's expression. Gradually, his excited and thrilled emotions seemed to be extinguished by a bucket of cold water.
She was different from usual.
What did she know?
Fang Chengkai's eyes darted around frantically as he carefully recalled every interaction they had had since waking up that morning.
Except for not waking him up on time, everything else is normal.
Going back further, to last night, everything was normal before I went to sleep.
No, I received a call from Wu Zhongguo in the middle of the night!
Fang Chengkai's face grew increasingly gloomy.
He suddenly realized that if Wu Zhongguo wanted to work overtime, he could have called him after work, why did he have to do it in the middle of the night?! Unless it was something urgent, he could only use overtime as a temporary excuse!
he,
These days
What are they investigating?!
"What an excellent student!" The lady at the counter inside received his award certificate and recorded his academic progress in his personal information.
Li Ying nodded, still not saying anything, but her expression was actually a little better than before.
Most of the people who came to complete the adoption procedures had happy and cheerful expressions. Fang Chengkai was originally like them, but now his face didn't look good.
He frantically speculated about all the possibilities, and now, standing just one step away from the adoption procedures, his long-cherished wish was finally about to come true!
"Help your mom fill out the forms." The aunt at the counter tossed out a few sheets of paper.
“Okay.” Fang Chengkai obediently stood next to Li Ying and helped fill out the forms, his handwriting unusually flamboyant.
The aunt at the counter took the documents and said unhappily, "Don't write in cursive; write every word stroke by stroke."
Fang Chengkai filled out the form again on the side. The aunt at the counter seemed to have taken the wrong medicine today, sending his information back more than ten times.
"Auntie, it's already written very carefully."
"No, the numbers here are not clear. These all need to be put into the file. Be patient, young man."
Fang Chengkai was extremely frustrated, and he forced himself to fill in the form again and again with great patience.
After the form was finally filled out, the aunt at the counter started chatting and laughing with the people at the counter opposite, completely ignoring the person applying for adoption.
"Auntie, can you hurry up?"
"Xiao Kai, Auntie is talking to someone else, don't rush her."
Fang Chengkai shut up immediately after being told off by Li Ying.
The fact that the people queuing behind them weren't in a hurry surprised Fang Chengkai.
The clerk at the counter received a phone call, and after hanging up, she stamped the documents and threw them back out: "Sign."
"Mom, Auntie wants you to sign this." Fang Chengkai excitedly handed her a pen: "After you sign, our adoption relationship will be officially established!"
So fast?
Li Ying glanced behind the counter, but the people inside didn't look at her.
Li Ying gripped the pen, cold sweat beading on her forehead: "...Okay."
Fang Kai was still urging him on, his ideal was right in front of him, and he absolutely couldn't let it all fall short!
Li Ying slowly put down her pen and wrote the character "Li" stroke by stroke.
Fang Chengkai's hands trembled uncontrollably, and the triumphant smile on his lips grew wider. So this is what the families of criminal police officers are like—easily manipulated and played with.
"Yingzi".
Just then, Wu Zhongguo's voice from the back of the group interrupted Fang Chengkai's excited and arrogant thoughts.
Fang Chengkai exclaimed excitedly, "Dad! What brings you here?"
Li Ying didn't turn around; the pen in her hand suddenly fell to the ground, and she covered her mouth with trembling hands. She met the eyes of the woman at the counter, who nodded to her and stood up.
It turned out that the person inside wasn't a real civil affairs worker, but rather Zhang Jie, Wu Zhongguo's former colleague.
Zhang Jie gestured to Wu Zhongguo, indicating that she had not found Fang Chengkai carrying a weapon.
Fang Chengkai didn't notice this. He walked up to Wu Zhongguo and said excitedly, "Now that Dad's here, we can go directly to the police station to register our household later!"
Wu Zhongguo looked at him expressionlessly, his usual gentle demeanor gone, and pulled out the handcuffs, saying coldly, "Settle down? A beast can't be my son."
-----------------------
Author's note: Pearl: Close the door and let Old Wu out.
See you tomorrow, there will be a red envelope.
******
(I was writing until 1:17 yesterday, but I just couldn't write anymore. It's really not intentional that I got writer's block! *kneeling*)
The anatomical content in this chapter is based on and modified from "Forensic Medicine" and online resources.
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