Chapter 118: Chapter 117 Beasts!_1
Xu Dayuan’s words were highly influential, and almost everyone in the forensic teaching and research office nodded imperceptibly in agreement.
Zhou Ning fixed his gaze on Xu Dayuan’s eyes. He knew from the first day they met that Xu Dayuan was an impatient man, yet he had never been rash.
But today, he was restless.
Every case that gets media exposure like this becomes more difficult to solve, especially when there’s a military order to solve it within a month looming over him, his pressure was immense.
However, this case was indeed special. Now was not the time for persuasion. A second examination of the scene was necessary, and it seemed that the skeleton would need another careful review.
"Later, I will take another close look at the deceased’s skeleton, but from the current evidence, I haven’t found conclusive proof that Luo Suqin killed Zhang Min’an," Zhou Ning said.
Xu Dayuan seemed about to say more, as it was almost a certainty that the case was nailed down, yet Zhou Ning had made such a judgment, completely overturning his understanding. Mr. Pang reached out to stop him.
"Mr. Xu, arguing now is pointless. The top priority for the technical department is to get the evidence we collected today tested as quickly as possible. As for the second crime scene examination, let Mr. Zhao and his team go now. For the cause of death, let’s have a meeting overnight to discuss it, what do you think?" Mr. Pang suggested.
Xu Dayuan nodded, glancing at Zhou Ning. He had been too hasty in his speech and was indeed overbearing in shouting at Zhou Ning, especially since he was new. It wasn’t conducive to Zhou Ning’s work in the technical department. Thinking of this, Xu quickly softened his tone and said,
"Since the beginning, the case was at a standstill; it was not easy to find some clues that then deviated from our initial judgment, so I was a bit hasty. Zhou Xiaozhou, don’t take it to heart.
I’ll take Mr. Zhao and the others now. We also need to conduct some inquiries around the area, and as for the site where the body was dumped, I’ll have someone search it thoroughly once more. Let me know the results here, and then we can summarize them. Also, I need to inform his son, Zhang Guoqing, for a DNA comparison."
After speaking, Xu Dayuan left with his team. Before leaving, Mr. Zhao saluted Zhou Ning with two fingers, eliciting a smile and a roll of her eyes from Zhou Ning; Mr. Zhao had quite a knack for finding humor in hardship.
Mr. Pang tidied his hair and looked at the remaining people in the teaching and research room. The staff from the physics and chemistry department and the trace examination department had left, leaving only Zhou Ning and the forensic doctors from the fourth and fifth groups.
"Mr. Xu is under a lot of pressure, and it’s a big task to take on right after taking office. We understand that. As for finding the cause of death, it’s not something that can be done in a moment. Doctor Zhou, you go rest for a bit. The people from the fourth and fifth groups can start to compile and organize the information," Mr. Pang said.
Zhu Zuozhang and Feng Zhijian didn’t say much, and since Zhou Ning had finished the brunt of the work, it really wasn’t helpful for him to follow to the scene since there was nothing more to pick apart.
However, Zhou Ning quickly added,
"Thank you, Mr. Pang. However, I don’t need to rest. I will follow up on the cause of death investigation shortly; having the original scene photos from when the skeleton was found would be even better."
Zhu Zuozhang was swift to act, walking to the computer with a hard drive and pulling up photos of where the body was dumped. After all, it was more authentic to view them on the big screen.
Zhou Ning observed each photo, each one marked with a number. He then walked up to the table where the deceased’s bones had been reassembled, picked up the 3rd and 4th ribs from the right side, and examined them closely with a magnifying glass fitted with an LED light.
Indeed, erosion marks were visible on the inside of both ribs, appearing as if they had been gnawed and were missing some parts; the cartilaginous substance had completely disappeared. During his previous examination, he had also considered this to be the result of animal gnawing, given that the bones had been exposed outdoors for a long while.
"Get the scene photos of the right 3rd and 4th ribs for trace examination, let’s compare them," Zhou Ning directed.
At Mr. Pang’s call, a skinny trace examiner walked over and handed a notebook to Zhou Ning.
It seemed they had been handled so often before that he quickly found two photos, which were then enlarged on the big screen.
Zhou Ning walked over and pointed at a spot next to the rib with a laser pen.
"Enlarge this area."
Seeing that Zhou Ning might have spotted something, the other forensic doctors also gathered around. They had seen these photos countless times without noticing any issues.
As the image’s clarity increased with magnification, several small black particles the size of grains of rice, along with some grass leaves and snow at the rib edge, became evident. Those irregular granules did not reflect light.
Zhu Zuozhang was the first to react.
"Previously, we analyzed the damage to these ribs; after all, the cartilaginous substance was also missing, and it looked more like the result of animal gnawing."
Zhou Ning nodded at Zhu Zuozhang; after all, the experienced forensic doctor didn’t need much explanation to see the issue, but clearly they had not thought much about it before, nor had they made such a comparison.
"I also thought so before seeing the deceased’s medical records, but now it looks like it’s erosions caused by cancer. Those black granules are the missing parts. Alright, let’s continue."
With that, Zhou Ning moved sideways by two steps and started re-examining the deceased’s skull.
Time ticked away second by second, and in an instant, more than three hours had passed. By the time Zhou Ning had finished reviewing all the bones and scene photos, his judgment became even clearer.
Zhu Zuozhang leaned in, peeling off his gloves and mask as he said,
"Doctor Zhou, all the other remains have been checked. Besides these incision marks, no fatal wounds have been found. I think it can be determined that the victim died of natural causes, right?"
Zhou Ning shook his head with a sigh, which was also the most perplexing issue for him.
"As it appears now, the victim’s thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone are intact, so they weren’t strangled, choked, or killed by blunt force trauma. The bones have been cut, but none of the cuts were postmortem wounds, and toxicology tests have also revealed no sign of poisoning.
However, we can’t rule out other causes of homicide like slit wrists, drowning, suffocation, or air embolism; it’s just that we can’t prove any of them. It seems we have to wait for the results of the second crime scene investigation."
"Ah, it’s like we’re back where we started."
The slightly overweight forensic doctor, Feng Zhijian, also came over and pushed up his glasses as he spoke.
"It’s not going back to the beginning. The more we rule out, the closer we get to the truth."
Zhou Ning nodded. He agreed with this statement. The work they’d done was not in vain. Xu Dayuan and his team were under pressure and naturally eager to find the perpetrator, especially with a dismemberment case that had been reported by foreign media. From Zhou Ning’s perspective, uncovering the factual truth was most important.
Mr. Pang glanced at the time and waved to everyone.
"Alright, go have some food and rest. Even if the second investigation does yield clues, we’ll have to wait for them to come back before discussing them."
Everyone didn’t insist any further, as they were all tired. Zhou Ning, carrying back some translation manuscripts and notebooks from Zhang Min’an’s home, returned to his office.
Mr. Sun went to the cafeteria to get food, not daring to disturb Zhou Ning.
After brewing two packs of instant coffee and donning gloves, Zhou Ning began to examine these items.
The manuscript was a work on analyzing and comparing ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty architecture with existing ancient Japanese buildings. From the handwritten records and notations, it seems to be a translation commissioned by a publishing house. Flipping to the last page of the last volume, it appeared that the translation was complete, probably just needing final editing.
Zhou Ning put down the manuscripts and then looked at the notebooks. He set aside the ones concerning specialized vocabulary and two diaries caught his attention. Upon opening the first page, he saw a date.
[May 13th, 2009]
This morning, Xiaoqing called, he needs to grease some palms for the doctoral selection, and he started by asking for money.
Suqin said to give it to him, but this is already the third time this year, if it’s not his wife changing jobs, it’s the kid needing to join some classes, and it’s always at least twenty or thirty thousand. He also knew I was picking up translation work and threatened that if I didn’t pay, this book’s translation fees would be lost as well.
Ah, what a sin!
Again?
So that means, such threats are not the first, and they have indeed followed through.
Zhou Ning slightly frowned. Xu Dayuan had people ask Zhang Guoqing before, and he said he only called his father during holidays to give greetings. It seems the truth was not so simple.
Zhou Ning continued reading and saw that almost every one or two months, there were records like this. It seemed that Zhang Guoqing knew his father made good money from translating, and despite his age, he was still financially dependent on his parents, threatening and intimidating them, truly despicable.
[March 7th, 2010]
This afternoon, I came back home from the publishing house and found Suqin lying motionless on the ground, with blood all over her head and the floor.
I was terrified and immediately called an ambulance. After frantic treatment and resuscitation, she was thankfully out of danger. Under my questioning, Suqin finally told the truth.
This morning, Xiaoqing came over and started saying as soon as he entered that he heard we bought a house and put it under Suqin’s name, which was absolutely unacceptable. He scolded Suqin, saying she would have to atone for her whole life because Xiaoqing’s mom wouldn’t have committed suicide had she not discovered our affair.
Suqin didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t argue with Xiaoqing and tried to call me. That animal pushed Suqin over, making her hit her head on the bookshelf, and then ransacked the place, taking more than twenty thousand cash from the house.
I wanted to call and yell at Xiaoqing, but Suqin stopped me. She said the past events couldn’t be cleared up from a child’s perspective, and though we were not wrong, we shouldn’t have cut off relations. I still kept Suqin’s handwritten letters; otherwise, Xiaoqing’s mom wouldn’t have taken such drastic measures.
But after so many years, carrying guilt, slaving away, supporting his education, marriage, house purchase, and even all their expenses—how can he still say such things?
The money for the new house came from Suqin’s hometown’s demolition compensation. We received over eight hundred thousand in total, of which a hundred thousand was already given to Xiaoqing, that beast!
