"Boss, what’s next?" Chen Yan asked.
Wu Yongcheng stretched lazily. "Sleep."
"Sleep?" Zhou Yi and Chen Yan were both taken aback.
"Look at the rain outside. It’s pouring so hard, it probably won’t stop anytime soon. We might as well take a nap, get our energy back, and then properly investigate the case."
Chen Yan moved closer to the glass window and took a look. The rain was indeed heavy—a torrential downpour.
Fortunately, the crime scene and the body had already been examined. Otherwise, after such a heavy rain, all clues and traces would have been washed away.
"Alright, Chen, take Zhou Yi to the lounge and get some shut-eye."
"Boss, why don’t you go sleep for a bit? I’ll keep watch in case the hospital calls with any clues."
"I’m fine. I’ve smoked too much, so I’m wide awake right now." Wu Yongcheng waved them off. "Go on, get out of here."
Seeing this, Chen Yan motioned for Zhou Yi to follow him.
Just as they stepped out of the office, Wu Yongcheng called out, "Zhou Yi, how were your grades at the police academy?"
Zhou Yi scratched his head. "Just so-so."
"Has anyone taught you how to investigate a case? I don’t mean the stuff from textbooks."
Zhou Yi naturally knew what he was really asking. "Yes."
"Who?"
"God. He said I was a detective in my past life, and I have to be one in this life, too."
Zhou Yi woke up after sleeping for about an hour and a half.
It was good to be young; just a short nap was enough to refresh him completely. He hadn’t felt this way in a long, long time.
"Time spares no one," Zhou Yi thought with a sigh.
"Awake?" Wu Yongcheng’s voice suddenly rang out behind him, giving him a start.
"Captain Wu?" Zhou Yi abruptly sat up on the narrow wooden bed.
Wu Yongcheng walked over to the lounge window and pulled back the smoke-stained curtains. A cold, pale light poured into the room, prompting Zhou Yi to raise a hand to shield his eyes.
Zhou Yi noticed that Wu Yongcheng’s eyes were bloodshot, clearly from staying up all night. Back in the day, he had worked just as desperately hard, only to be ultimately defeated by someone else’s powerful connections. But this was fine, too. From beginning to end, he had always lived up to the national emblem he wore.
"Captain Wu, Forensic Doctor Xu’s test results must be out by now, right?"
"Yeah." Wu Yongcheng reached into his pocket but found nothing. He was out of cigarettes! Goddammit.
"No issues, right?" Zhou Yi asked.
"Do you think you’d still be lying here snoring if there was an issue?"
"That’s good, then." Zhou Yi stood up. "Should I go investigate the case now?"
"Wait."
"What are your orders, Captain Wu?"
"Eat breakfast before you go. Chen went to buy some."
"Oh." Zhou Yi plopped back down.
At the same time, Wu Yongcheng tossed a stack of documents in front of him with a THWACK. "Read while you eat. When you’re done, tell me how you plan to investigate."
Zhou Yi nodded. Two minutes later, Chen Yan walked in carrying a bag of steamed buns and a thermos filled with steaming hot soy milk.
Chen Yan’s eyes were equally red, but because he was young, he looked much more energetic than Wu Yongcheng.
Zhou Yi read through the documents as he ate. He was familiar with most of the information, but there was a new addition: the crime scene investigation report.
Aside from the standard examinations, two points were highly valuable.
The first was the bloodstains. Their distribution at the scene mapped out the victim’s escape path as she struggled, and the volume of blood confirmed one of Zhou Yi’s earlier deductions. The cut to the carotid artery was the very first strike; the subsequent stab wounds were deliberately inflicted after she had fallen to the ground.
This was evident because the initial blood loss was massive and presented as arterial spurts. If the victim had first suffered a non-fatal stab wound, then fled while the killer chased and continued stabbing, accidentally severing her carotid artery in the process, the initial blood volume would not have been so large, nor would it have splattered in such a manner. When Zhou Yi had previously stated that the first strike hit the carotid artery, Wu Yongcheng had immediately made this connection as well, though the forensics department hadn’t released their report yet.
A single sentence from Zhou Yi had shattered his conventional thinking, which was one of the reasons he had developed an appreciation for the young man’s talent. A crime scene investigation provided a very objective and accurate description of the facts, but deducing conclusions based on those facts was the job of the detective handling the case. This required extremely keen observation skills and rich experience. Wu Yongcheng had to admit that even he hadn’t noticed it. Of course, with his personality, there was no way he would actually praise Zhou Yi.
The second point was the footprints.
Within a twenty-meter radius of the scene, twelve sets of different footprints were found. However, based on the depth and overlapping of the prints, only three sets were left during the time of the murder. One set was a size thirty-six, belonging to the victim. Another was a size forty-five, belonging to Zhou Yi. The remaining set was a size forty-two.
This size was a bit ambiguous—it could belong to a man, but it could also belong to a woman. If it were a woman, her height would be around 1.7 meters, making her physical features quite distinct. However, judging by the tread pattern on the soles, it was highly likely to be a men’s sports shoe. Because of this, Wu Yongcheng hadn’t entirely agreed when Zhou Yi suggested the killer might be a woman.
"Captain Wu, I’m done reading," Zhou Yi mumbled around the last bite of his steamed bun.
"Do you have any leads on cracking the case?"
"I think we can narrow the scope of the investigation further. The killer should be a colleague from the victim’s hospital."
"Why?"
"Du Xiaolin’s home is just over three kilometers from City Third Hospital. At the walking pace of a normal young woman, covering that distance would take about forty minutes," Zhou Yi said, tapping the documents. "That is highly unusual. On paper, three kilometers doesn’t look far, but is it reasonable to walk forty minutes after getting off work? In the middle of the night, no less. Why didn’t Du Xiaolin ride a bicycle?"
"Maybe she doesn’t know how to ride one?" Chen Yan offered.
"Fine, let’s assume Du Xiaolin didn’t know how to ride a bike. A nurse’s day shift ends at four in the afternoon, and the night shift ends at eight in the morning. During both of those times, she could have taken the bus. But when the evening shift ends, the buses have already stopped running. So why didn’t her family come to pick her up?
"The crime scene report makes no mention of bicycle tracks, and no abandoned bicycle was found at the scene. Given that Du Xiaolin wasn’t completely dead when I arrived, we can basically confirm that she walked home last night."
Wu Yongcheng, who had been listening to Zhou Yi’s analysis, finally spoke up. "And how does this connect to the killer being a colleague from the hospital?"
"Who would know Du Xiaolin’s shift schedule? Who would know the route she had to take to get home? Who is the most likely person to tamper with things so that Du Xiaolin was forced to walk home yesterday?" Zhou Yi asked in a deep voice. "Aside from her colleagues, I can’t think of any other possibilities."
Wu Yongcheng nodded. "The hospital and her relationships with her colleagues were already primary areas of investigation, but we can’t ignore other angles, either. How about this: Since your grandfather is currently hospitalized there, you can go snoop around as a patient’s family member and see if you can dig up any valuable clues. But remember, you can’t investigate directly as a police officer. You should know the protocol."
Zhou Yi nodded. The protocol Wu Yongcheng referred to was the standard requirement that cases be handled by a pair of officers. Although not explicitly stipulated in criminal law, from the perspectives of fairness, safety, and legality, it was an unspoken standard procedure within the public security system. It also served as a means of mutual supervision to prevent favoritism and corruption.
"Captain Wu is as thorough as always. I’ll just be a patient’s family member having a chat with the medical staff. Just a simple, innocent chat." Zhou Yi smiled slyly.
Wu Yongcheng nodded in satisfaction. This kid really was quite sharp.
"Also, make sure you don’t alert the snake in the grass," Wu Yongcheng cautioned.
"I’ll know my limits, don’t worry, Captain Wu. The killer definitely isn’t someone who worked the night shift yesterday, seeing as they have solid alibis," Zhou Yi replied immediately. He then turned his head to Chen Yan. "By the way, I’ll have to trouble Brother Yan with something. Later, can you go to the hospital’s security department and pull the personnel files for the emergency department? That’s something I can’t do on my own."
Chen Yan nodded.
"And one more thing..."
"What?" Chen Yan asked curiously, seeing him act so mysteriously.
Zhou Yi smiled. "Buy Captain Wu a pack of cigarettes."