Chapter 104: Chapter 103 Report Details [1 Update]_1
Zhou Ning was taken aback by the system’s reaction speed, which left him somewhat overwhelmed; he quickly clicked to submit later.
Since the system could verify it, it was evident that the blood fingerprints in this notebook were the best evidence, given that the DNA of all the victims was in the case file. This time there was no need to wait for the comparison results.
Seeing Zhou Ning suddenly freeze, Mr. Zhao came over, steadied him with a hand, and looked deeply concerned.
"Zhou Xiaozhou had been following the interrogation. That Cui Guanglin insisted on making him answer questions and would only reveal the murder process if he was personally present. I listened next door and it was terrifying, even a slightly wrong answer and he would clam up."
After the explanation, Liu Yongxin quickly waved his hand.
"You take Zhou Ning home to rest. The pressure is too great on him. After all, the man almost became his brother-in-law. As for his home, don’t mention anything yet; let’s wait until the test results come out."
Zhou Ning nodded, not refusing his master’s kindness. He truly felt exhausted. Once his tense nerves relaxed, he now found his head spinning.
"Don’t I need to go for the evidence submission?"
"Buddy, forget it. Doctor Liu said so; I’ll take you home."
Mr. Zhao dragged Zhou Ning to the car, drove him home, and even considerately bought him a bowl of wontons on the way since it was almost six o’clock and he had only eaten something in the morning.
Carrying the wontons home, Zhou Ning hurried into the bathroom. After the shower, he felt a bit stuffy in the nose. It’s like this with people; when you’re tense, you don’t feel anything, but once you relax, all the discomfort seems to emerge.
After a simple meal of wontons, Zhou Ning threw himself onto the small sofa in front of the computer, rubbing his hair, he clicked to submit the task.
Immediately, there were ding-dong sounds in his ears, which were very different from the usual drip-drop notification sounds, like hitting the jackpot on a slot machine.
The ringing went on for a while, and then a line of text appeared on the transparent screen.
The binding person’s submitted task details are as follows:
1. Cause of the victim’s death: exsanguination shock, remaining time 60 minutes;
2. Identity of the victim: Cheng Chunyan, female, 22 years old, warehouse manager at Wanhua International Logistics Co., Ltd., task remaining time 10:22 hours;
3. Optional task completion: the murderer Cui Guanglin, blood sample of the murderer collected at the scene of the 3.10 case, the medical records from the hospital, the murderer’s notebook found in the carriage, and the fingerprints stained with the blood of twelve victims on it, evidence complete.
Congratulations to the binding person for completing this task beyond their current level. The system will raise the forensic level of the binding person to level 1 and award the X-ray automatic scanning feature, which will be loaded after twenty hours.
Binding person, would you like to receive the regular reward for this task, or wait and upgrade together next time?
Zhou Ning blinked.
Seems like completing this extra task beyond one’s level offers rich rewards. What’s this X-ray feature about? Can I just get anyone’s X-ray images, or does it mean I can get the films in the system without the X-ray equipment?
As he was spacing out, the system already shifted the screen. The binding person did not make a selection within the allotted time, so the reward obtained this time will be issued together next time.
Damn!
Zhou Ning jumped to his feet. Regret was futile now; he turned around twice in place and sighed helplessly. Getting angry was pointless; it’s fine not to select the upgrade. Maybe saving up for a combined reward exchange might yield more.
Zhou Ning clicked to view the information. This time, he wasn’t stingy; his current information appeared directly.
Binding person: Zhou Ning
Age: 26
Forensic level: 1
Comprehensive evaluation: Learning ability is decent
Reward utilization: 35%
Upgrade accumulation value: 60 (500 accumulation points are required for an upgrade)
Seeing his forensic level finally in the positive, he couldn’t help being stirred.
The last item was somewhat surprising to Zhou Ning. Previously, he had received rewards twice for rapid task submissions, each time just 5 accumulation points. Could this 50 be the reward for enduring the night’s ordeal?
Zhou Ning thought about it, shook his head, and dismissed it. As far as he remembered, the points were deducted almost immediately; it probably had something to do with this task. It wasn’t worth obsessing over.
After drying his hair, he threw himself onto the bed, but shortly, he was drawn back in front of the dissecting table.
Ding!
Case number 2467867’s cadaver is about to arrive, please have the binding person ready for the preparation, countdown starts!
...
March 21, 2011
Waking up early in the morning, Zhou Ning quickly went to the office; all the related evidence had been sent to the city bureau the previous night.
Even if Liu Yongxin personally arranged it, it was still a bombshell because if the DNA of those eleven victims gets matched successfully, it means the five-year-long Red Dress Serial Murder Case would be cracked.
The case had already been touched by both the Provincial Department and the Ministry of Public Security, the review process would be incredibly cumbersome, and there might even be a dedicated investigation team coming to supervise, ostensibly a feather in Qindao’s cap for cracking the case.
However, insiders all knew that through one case, the branch office had cracked the serial killings, and the municipal bureau had also arrived first thing to sift through the evidence, only to leave after dismissing it as not the twelfth incident and handing over a single piece of paper.
What was this?
Was the municipal bureau’s criminal investigation division this perfunctory?
Did the forensic department bear no responsibility?
Would there be any follow-up accountability?
Zhou Ning hadn’t thought it through before yesterday, but after a night’s reflection, everything had changed.
After booting up the computer, Zhou Ning logged straight into his email and saw a pile of unread messages, the sheer number leaving him somewhat taken aback. Had the testing center’s entire staff been working overtime?
Given the quantity of samples submitted for testing was not large, but each required DNA examination and comparison, a single sample would ordinarily take ten to eighteen hours to process.
Before he could react, the door opened, and Liu Yongxin, alongside Xu Dayuan, walked in.
"Huh, Zhou Xiaozhou, you’re here so early? Did you get the email?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I’ve just logged in, there are more than a dozen unread emails, I’m about to open them now."
While speaking, Zhou Ning’s hands didn’t stop moving, swiftly opening the attachments and printing them out one by one. The two men were already standing in front of the printer, continuously reviewing the contents.
Zhou Ning printed two copies; he couldn’t jostle with the two men, who were as frantic as if they had chicken blood pumped into them.
He could only scroll through them on his computer. In fact, there was no need to look at the detailed comparisons, just the results were enough; indeed, the bloodstains extracted from the twelve bloody fingerprints found on the notebook matched all twelve victims of the Red Dress Serial Killer.
Xu Dayuan rubbed his hair and bumped Liu Yongxin with his shoulder.
"Mr. Liu, serving up a big one before retirement, what are your feelings?"
Liu Yongxin gave him a sideways glance, raised his thumb, and wiggled it at Zhou Ning behind him, full of pride and with the airy demeanor of a grandmaster retreating to the mountains.
"My greatest work before retirement is right here! You can’t envy this. Although the case is significant and adds luster to our record, you’ll certainly have plenty of trouble ahead. I suggest you get in touch with Mr. Sun right now. The municipal bureau’s request for assistance is still hot off the press; you won’t be able to avoid some uncomfortable situations!"
Xu Dayuan, with a look of unconcern, waved his hand and laughed.
"Darn it, there you go being snippy with me again! I’m just a cop. If there’s a case, I’ll handle it. Wherever I’m needed, that’s where I’ll go. I’ve never had other concerns, so I’m unaffected!"
Liu Yongxin laughed as well.
"Alright, I guess I can retire honorably now. Hurry up and sign off on it for me. My apprentice has already found me a place. I can’t just keep loafing around here; yesterday was officially my retirement date."
Xu Dayuan paused, then squinted his eyes slightly.
"Going to Qindao University, to work on the software project?"
Liu Yongxin cursed under his breath.
"Sharp as a tack, nothing gets by you criminal investigators, always on the nose!"
Xu Dayuan nodded, placing his hand on Liu Yongxin’s shoulder.
"I think this arrangement is excellent; we could benefit from your light. Dr. Lu’s software development center has set up a trial spot here, after all. I’ll pry a little out of Mr. Sun, invest some into the new building, and then there’ll be nothing to criticize about the technology here."
Liu Yongxin clucked his tongue, shaking his head and waving his hand.
"You’re playing too smart. That’s not free labor; Qindao University is making a genuine investment. When cases with experimental significance arise, they can naturally cooperate as part of their trials, but you can’t expect to use them as free labor, can you?"
Xu Dayuan sighed, acknowledging he might have been too presumptuous.
"I was just thinking out loud. Alright, let’s not quibble. I need to go see Mr. Sun right away; I must report this immediately, though it might already be a little late."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the door to the forensic room was pushed open again, Mr. Sun entered, his face darkened, striding quickly in.
"You realize it’s late? Why didn’t you notify me in advance when sending the samples yesterday, leaving me so unprepared? Just on the way to work, the bureau’s leadership was already on the phone with me. I was clueless, but I should have known it was because you all stirred up trouble here. Tell me, how far has this progressed, is the evidence solid?"
Appearing embarrassed, Xu Dayuan remembered he had sent Liu Yongxin to the testing center, using Mr. Sun’s name incidentally.
"Yesterday was just for submitting the test. Of course, although the killer confessed, without test results for support, any claims would be unsubstantiated. But now, the evidence is irrefutable. Please look, leader!"
With that, Xu Dayuan handed the stack of reports to Mr. Sun. Without wasting words, Mr. Sun quickly flipped through them. Xu Dayuan explained alongside, pairing them with photos from the notebook, and recounted yesterday’s interrogation process. After hearing all this, Mr. Sun’s face cleared.
Flipping his cap off, his excitement was evident.
"Fine, you’ve done me proud. Let’s see who dares to mess with you!"
