Free Web NovelChapter 137: Chapter 136: Can’t See the Driver’s Face_1
On the following day, Zhou Ning briskly made his way to the forensics department. Before he could push the door open, Cui Lili opened it for him.
"Good morning, Mrs. Cui!"
"You’re here early, the results are in. No CA125, carcinoembryonic antigen CEA, or squamous cell carcinoma antigen SCC were found, but the toxicology report is quite unusual, take a look for yourself."
As she spoke, Cui Lili tossed the report into Zhou Ning’s arms. He scanned it quickly, and by the time he was finished, his eyes had widened in surprise.
The assay revealed substances: coumarins and indanediones.
It then listed a whole array of products that might contain such toxins, including rat poison, rat bait, Diphacinone, Bromadiolone, rodenticide, possibly sodium salt for poison, Chlorophacinone, Zhou Ning thought for a moment.
"Mrs. Cui, the level of toxins in the victim’s body isn’t high, are you suggesting he was poisoned over a long period of time? If so, we would expect delayed onset of symptoms, usually about a week after taking the drug. That would also explain the symptoms of gastrointestinal and bronchial bleeding."
"Last year I worked on a case that involved Bromadiolone. It’s a rat poison that’s relatively easy to obtain. That murderer stole the drug from a pig farm."
Zhou Ning gave Cui Lili a grateful smile. Though she always seemed cold and rarely joked, she never dropped the ball when it came to lab work.
"Thanks, Mrs. Cui. Oh, and here’s a USB drive for you. One of my teachers, who specialized in toxicology laboratory analysis and detection, went abroad. He’s developed a lot of expertise in that area, and he sent this to me recently. It contains some of the most advanced lab methods and comparison techniques internationally."
Cui Lili paused, then stretched out her hand to accept the USB drive.
"Thanks, I’ll have a look when I get back."
Zhou Ning didn’t linger and left directly. In fact, the contents of the USB drive were all organized by him from memory, based on what he had learned from the system; it was published in 2022, and the testing and comparison methods were naturally more advanced than what’s available now.
Zhou Ning walked quickly to the detective unit. The conference room doors were wide open, with several people sitting inside, the air thick with cigarette smoke that seemed to obstruct breathing if one got too close.
However, Zhou Ning’s attention was captured by several specimen bags on the table. Xu Dayuan waved at him.
"Come in and have a seat, what did you find?"
Zhou Ning didn’t stand on ceremony and went to open the windows in the conference room before returning to the table and presenting a stack of reports to Xu Dayuan.
"A second examination of the victim’s vehicle was performed. Aside from the victim’s fingerprints, no second person’s prints were found. To be precise, aside from the car door, steering wheel, gear stick, and the head of the seat belt, no other fingerprints were detected. The interior of the vehicle had been carefully cleaned."
Xu Dayuan was taken aback. Although the news didn’t provide any substantial findings, it indicated that the murderer or the person behind it all had a strong anti-surveillance awareness, knowing that leaving fingerprints would raise suspicion.
"Impressive, huh? Any other findings?"
Zhou Ning didn’t answer, instead, he opened all the specimen bags on the table. They were from various hospitals; when X-rays are taken, they’re given out in plastic or kraft paper bags like these, each bearing the name Zhang Guanglei. Clearly, Zhang Guanglei had long suspected he was ill, and gravely so.
"Were these found at the victim’s home? Where were they hidden?"
Mr. Liu smiled, speaking up quickly.
"At that time, we were too concerned with shutting off the water valve and didn’t search thoroughly. These were hanging behind the door of the secondary bedroom, covered by some clothes and a calendar, so we missed them."
By this point, Zhou Ning had already taken out the various medical reports and reviewed them; the patient complained of symptoms starting in February 2010 such as nosebleeds, headaches, abdominal pain, coughing blood, occasional bloody stools, and hair loss. After numerous tests, no organic disease was detected.
Of course, the subsequent hospital diagnoses were much the same, with some doctors prescribing medications affecting nerve protection and gastrointestinal mucosa, others for cough suppression and smooth muscle relaxation, and even one suggested he see a psychiatrist.
Zhou Ning put down the medical reports and placed the assay report in front of Xu Dayuan.
"It seems the victim discovered anomalies in his body. The recent lab results indicate the presence of coumarins and indanediones in both the heart’s blood and the organs, although the cumulative amount isn’t that large.
Oh, I forgot to explain, these substances are anticoagulant rodenticides, like rat poison or Diphacinone, which show signs of chronic poisoning and take about six to seven days to become effective.
Clearly, the poisoning process was extensive, and the murderer didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Judging from when the victim sought diagnosis, he must have noticed changes in his body for over a year. An intimate and prolonged contact would be required to maintain such consistent drug efficacy."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"Your analysis makes sense. It looks like we have to search for clues in the victim’s private life. Any news from Zhenshan?"
Mr. Liu shook his head.
"No."
Zhou Ning rubbed his nose. He knew Xu Dayuan was anxious, but this was not a matter to be rushed.
"How about this, I’ll have Mr. Zhao and Sun Gaotie go to the deceased’s home to check, starting with the fingerprints left at the scene and other aspects."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"That works. Mr. Liu, you follow Doctor Zhou to the tech department, then join Mr. Zhao and Mr. Sun to take a look at the deceased’s home. The car’s fingerprints were wiped clean, so it’s not certain that anything will be left at home, but it’s still reassuring to have a look. Right, retrieve the surveillance footage, check the community’s cameras, and did the victim’s car have a dashboard camera or anything?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"No, we checked that at the time."
"Okay, then off you go. Let me know the instant Mr. Xia and his team’s animation is ready."
Zhou Ning hadn’t expected Xu Dayuan to still remember this matter. He nodded and left with Mr. Liu. When they arrived at the tech department, Mr. Zhao and his team had already come down. Actually calling her Mr. Liu, she was two years older than Zhou Ning; her real name was Liu Yufei. It was definitely not easy for a girl to be a competent detective. It was said that few men in the team could outperform Liu Yufei in hand-to-hand combat.
"Doctor Zhou, I’m taking Mr. Zhao and the others now."
After saying goodbye to Liu Yufei, Zhou Ning headed straight upstairs to the lab. Liu Yongxin was standing by the computer, talking to Xia Momo who was swiftly tapping at the keyboard. Xia Momo’s typing speed was not at all inferior to Mr. Qu’s, and the more Zhou Ning noticed this, the more ashamed he felt about his previous prejudices.
He opened the door gently and walked straight over. Mr. Qu was the first to notice Zhou Ning.
"Doctor Zhou, you’re here!"
Zhou Ning smiled and nodded. It was only then that Xia Momo noticed Zhou Ning and gave him a smile.
"Perfect timing. The animation is ready. Based on the extent of damage to the vehicle, as well as the distribution of force from various angles, we’ve put together this animation. Take a look." freewebnøvel.com
Zhou Ning walked over to take a closer look. Xia Momo started the playback. On the screen, a black Sonata crashed directly into a lamppost. The first collision caused the upper part of the lamppost to break off and fall into the distance.
Inside the car, the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, and the sequence of fractures was displayed. Of course, the left temporal bone fracture was marked as the original fracture and wasn’t included in these parameters.
With the deceased’s chest pinned by the steering wheel, Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes. Judging by the degree of impact, even an unconscious person could possibly wake up, but being tightly trapped, there was no way to call for help or escape, especially since the mobile phone wasn’t on hand.
Just then, the Sonata was hit from behind by a white Jeep. The Jeep’s height was much taller than the Sonata’s, making the crush on the front car even more severe. The Sonata’s driver’s compartment was halved in space, and the engine in the front was completely wrapped around the lamppost.
With such a violent shake, the broken lamppost fell from its breakage point, piercing through the Sonata’s windshield and stabbing directly towards the victim’s face.
However, the Jeep driver’s injuries were not as severe as Zhang Guanglei’s. Why didn’t he call the police or an ambulance right away?
As Zhou Ning was pondering, the Jeep was hit sideways and its rear swung out onto the roadway. Then, from behind, seven or eight cars appeared, crashing towards the Jeep in a manner akin to dumplings being dropped into boiling water.
Such a chain reaction was incredibly rapid, and Zhou Ning realized that had the Jeep driver escaped immediately, he might have had a chance to survive.
This indicated that the possibility of the Jeep intentionally hitting Zhang Guanglei was not high, and the sideways hit was indeed perplexing.
Once the animation ended, with the Sonata so compressed, the most significant impact was from that final chain reaction, which ultimately led to the death of the Jeep’s driver, Sun Manqing too.
"Did you take this time interval from a segment of the road not covered by heavy fog?"
Xia Momo smiled and rolled her eyes playfully.
"Nothing gets past you. We pulled the road surveillance footage from a section a hundred meters east of where the accident happened. The vehicle speed and time intervals, all were obtained from that video. But what surprised me was that we couldn’t see the driver in the last car clearly."
Zhou Ning paused.
"What do you mean you couldn’t see the driver clearly? Didn’t you use our software for the enhancement?"
