The case of the teddy bear hiding a corpse, Part 1.7
"The youngest editor of the journal *Frontiers in Forensic Anthropology*, a genius with a 92% accuracy rate in profiling serial killers..." Chen Ming tilted his head to look at him, "I'm curious what kind of brain structure can produce such thinking. Unfortunately..." He suddenly let go, and the old teddy bear fell into the rain, "My mother is always soft-hearted."
At that very moment, Fan Jinci strode forward and grabbed Chen Ming's wrist with such force that his gold-rimmed glasses fell to the ground and shattered. The two were locked in a stalemate on the slippery edge, with half of Chen Ming's body already suspended in mid-air.
"You shouldn't have died like this." Fan Jinci's voice was strained from the effort. "Ms. Zhang Shufen's body is still in the morgue... She deserves a proper funeral."
A flicker of disorientation crossed Chen Ming's eyes. Taking advantage of that moment, Fan Jinci abruptly pulled him back to safety, and the two of them fell together onto the puddle ground.
The teddy bear rolled out of Chen Ming's pocket, and after being soaked by the rain, it revealed the truth behind the stitches—it didn't contain human tissue, but rather a stack of yellowed photos and a USB drive.
"All the evidence." Chen Ming lay on his back, letting the rain lash his face, "including the recordings of Liu Zhiqiang bribing witnesses back then... In the end, I couldn't become him."
Fan Jinci picked up the USB drive and saw a label on it that read "For a smarter opponent".
When Yu Yan led his men to the rooftop, this was the scene they saw: Fan Jinci sat soaking wet in the puddles, Chen Ming's head resting on his lap, the two of them quietly watching the city in the downpour, like a pair of exhausted climbers who had finally reached the summit.
Three days later, under a clear sky, the special investigation team's office was piled high with case files. Wen Lin was organizing the indictment materials, Situ Jin frowned at the list of seven specimen jars, and Li Weimian was repeatedly studying the fingerprints on the old teddy bear.
"So Chen Ming's son's case will be retried?" Situ Jin asked.
Yu Yan nodded, but his eyes were fixed on Fan Jinci by the window. The forensic doctor had reverted to his white coat and gold-rimmed glasses and was quietly reading a neuroscience monograph.
"Brother Fan," Yu Yan suddenly asked, "if Chen Ming had really jumped off the rooftop that day, what would you have done?"
Fan Jinci's finger hovered over a page—a chapter about post-traumatic changes in the prefrontal cortex. Sunlight streamed through the pages, casting fine shadows on his face.
"A forensic pathologist's job is to interpret death," he said softly.
"It's not about offering death."
Li Weimian looked up and saw a photo of Zhang Shufen's funeral on Fan Jinci's desk—a brand-new teddy bear stood in front of the tombstone, looking exceptionally clean in the sunlight.
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