After disinfection, the blood and grime were washed away from the wound, leaving the red and white muscle tissues exposed to the air through the gash.
Xu Nian began stitching Zhou Yi’s injuries. Once the wound on his arm was sutured and bandaged, Xu Nian checked the gash on Zhou Yi’s head. As expected, it hadn’t been sewn up yet either. Whether it was because Zhou Yi had a particularly hard head or the killer simply hadn’t struck with enough force, the head wound was much shallower than the one on his arm.
However, what still bugged him the most was how absurdly hard bricks from the 1990s were.
After treating all the injuries, Xu Nian looked at his "masterpiece" with satisfaction and nodded. "All done, Brother Yun Chang. You can go find Captain Wu now."
"Yun..." Zhou Yi instantly burst into laughter. "Then many thanks to you, Divine Doctor Hua."
Xu Nian smiled and returned to his desk. He began organizing the blood samples he had just collected, preparing them for laboratory comparison.
Before his rebirth, Zhou Yi was intimately familiar with the Hongcheng City Bureau. After all, he had worked here for a full ten years.
Although the current decor was extremely outdated, the layout remained exactly the same. He headed straight for the Third Brigade’s office almost purely on instinct. Hongcheng City was a prefecture-level city. Its City Bureau’s criminal investigation detachment consisted of three brigades, with the Third Brigade specifically responsible for major and fatal crimes—hence its nickname, the Major Crimes Brigade.
He remembered that Wu Yongcheng was the vice-captain of the criminal investigation detachment while concurrently serving as the captain of the Third Brigade. What made it even more interesting was that in his previous life, Zhou Yi had also eventually joined the Third Brigade after a long period of hard work. His current reunion with Wu Yongcheng could be considered an encounter that transcended time and space.
He knocked on the door. From inside, Wu Yongcheng called out, "Come in."
Zhou Yi reached out and pushed the door open, expecting to see a familiar, nostalgic scene. Instead, the moment the door opened, a murky cloud of smoke carrying the strong stench of tobacco assaulted his face.
COUGH COUGH COUGH.
He thought, "Good grief, why is it so harsh on the throat? It smells like an old farmer smoking raw tobacco."
Sure enough, Wu Yongcheng was sitting behind a desk, flipping through a pile of crime scene photos with a solemn expression. A lit cigarette dangled from his lips. A long section of ash hung precariously from the tip, somehow refusing to drop, and the ashtray on the desk was completely stuffed with cigarette butts.
"You’re here?" Wu Yongcheng set down the photos, finally realizing that the entire room was shrouded in a thick haze of smoke.
He hurriedly pushed open a nearby old-fashioned steel-framed window to air the place out. Instantly, the roomful of smoke scrambled out, while a wave of cold air swept in.
Zhou Yi looked out the pitch-black window, then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 3:15 a.m.
"Captain Wu, are you done with the crime scene investigation? It’s going to rain soon. Once it rains, the scene will be completely ruined."
Wu Yongcheng looked puzzled. "Rain? I watched the national weather forecast tonight, and they didn’t mention any rain."
The moment he finished speaking, several pea-sized raindrops struck the windowpane.
PATTER PATTER.
The next second, a torrential downpour followed.
"Hey, are you clairvoyant or something? That was spot-on." Wu Yongcheng, who had just sat down, hastily stood back up to shut the window.
"Captain Wu, the crime scene..."
Before Zhou Yi could finish, Wu Yongcheng waved his hand. "Relax. I happened to be on duty today. After the joint defense patrol reported the case, I dragged the young lads living in the police dorms out of bed to get to work. We’ve already wrapped up everything we needed to do.
"If it weren’t for interrogating you, Chen and I would have been fast asleep by now."
Zhou Yi nodded in relief, saying repeatedly, "That’s good, that’s good."
This way, compared to the situation before his rebirth, the development trajectory of this case was already entirely different. First, the crime scene that would have originally been destroyed by the heavy rain had received a complete investigation. This was extremely crucial because the killer wasn’t a god; it was impossible for them to leave no clues behind.
Second, he himself had unexpectedly thrown a wrench into the works like Cheng Yaojin. The unforeseen event of the killer attacking him was bound to leave even more traces. Moreover, he was currently the only person to have come into contact with the killer.
"The identity of the deceased is basically confirmed. There’s a nurse in the emergency department of City Third Hospital named Du Xiaolin. We contacted her family, and they said she hasn’t returned home yet. Meanwhile, the hospital has a clear record of her handing over her shift. Right now, Du Xiaolin’s family is rushing over to identify the body."
Zhou Yi nodded, feigning sudden realization, though in reality, all of this was within his expectations.
"Additionally, the hospital has verified some of what you said, including the admission details of your grandfather, Zhou the Fourth, and your signature on the payment receipt."
"Boss, the family just came to identify the body. The deceased is confirmed to be Du Xiaolin," the young police officer from earlier said as he rushed into the room.
Seeing Zhou Yi there, he wasn’t surprised. He simply nodded at him in greeting. Zhou Yi nodded back in response.
Wu Yongcheng nodded and reached up to stub his cigarette out in the ashtray. He then turned to Zhou Yi. "Let me introduce you. This is my apprentice, Chen Yan. He’s two years older than you."
Seeing his mentor single him out, Chen Yan immediately saluted Zhou Yi.
"Chen Yan..."
Hearing this name, Zhou Yi froze for a split second.
This name had left an incredibly deep impression on him. He had once heard it in an internal briefing within the public security system.
"Chen Yan, a member of the Third Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Hongcheng City Public Security Bureau, heroically sacrificed his life to protect state property and the lives and property of citizens during a major case. He is hereby posthumously awarded the title of Martyr."
The time of death: April 1998.