Free Web NovelChapter 143: Chapter 142 Mr. Xia, Is It This Person?_1
Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao were sent back to the city bureau, and Xu Dayuan left immediately afterward to investigate Sun Yannian’s departure time from school, along with all the details.
Just as Zhou Ning and the others reached the floor, they saw Sun Gaotie about to go down, and he hurried over with a smile upon seeing them.
"Doctor Zhou, do you need me to get food for you both?"
"Have Mr. Xia and the others gone to the cafeteria?"
"They have already gone."
Turning around, both of them followed Sun Gaotie to the cafeteria and indeed saw Xia Momo and Liu Yongxin there. Joining them for a meal, Zhou Ning asked:
"Mr. Qu isn’t here?"
"He went to Qin University. Is there something wrong?"
Liu Yongxin was the first to speak.
Zhou Ning briefly explained everything from the morning, and Liu Yongxin nodded repeatedly.
"Is Xu Da suspecting Sun Yannian or does he think there is a connection between Wang Mengmeng and Sun Yannian?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"It’s all just suspicion, so we’re hoping to see what state the video can be restored to. Even if there’s a disguise, height can’t be disguised, nor can hands, right? You can still calculate some data?"
Liu Yongxin looked toward Xia Momo since, after so much time working together, they had come to understand her capabilities with videos and animations. Apart from computer operations, she was no less skilled than Mr. Qu.
"Let’s go up later and have a look. Since we’ve already determined there’s a disguise, we can also attempt to remove it systematically, as Zhou Ning mentioned. Things like height, build, and finger length are still analyzable."
With that said, everyone quickly finished their meals, and Mr. Pang also joined them.
As soon as he sat down, he looked at Zhou Ning.
"Doctor Zhou, I just got off the phone with Mr. Xu, and he said to give you the detailed autopsy file for Sun Manqing, to have another look over it. I’ve already notified the morgue, and the body will be sent over soon."
Zhou Ning was startled, about to refuse, when Mr. Pang quickly explained:
"The case comes first; don’t worry about saving face. I’m aware of my own abilities. I’m familiar with traffic accidents, but when it comes to the details of criminal cases, that’s not my strength. After all, aside from during my internship, I’ve never been involved in the handling of criminal cases."
With such a remark, Zhou Ning didn’t even know how to respond. Liu Yongxin at his side took hold of Mr. Pang.
"Mr. Pang, don’t put such a heavy burden on my apprentice. Although this young person has been dealing with criminal cases, he lacks experience and hasn’t been through as much. However, since Xu Da has arranged it, our lab will certainly keep up. There’s no need for an autopsy right now, is there?"
Mr. Pang laughed, embracing Liu Yongxin’s shoulder.
"Alright, I’ll take your advice. But with the laboratory here, I truly feel confident. No more talk; I’ll have someone send over the autopsy report and various scans later. How about following along in the special case meeting if I am not present?"
Liu Yongxin smiled and nodded; the two chatted away warmly, while Zhou Ning, the subject of the conversation, just accompanied them with a smile. After Mr. Pang left, Mr. Zhao leaned close to his plate, barely holding back his laughter.
"Doctor Liu is protective over Zhou Xiaozhou, just like an old hen watching over her chick, afraid someone might set him up. I too wish to acknowledge Doctor Liu as my master."
Liu Yongxin gave him a blank stare.
"It was my apprentice that helped you pass your trace examiner’s certificate. Study diligently and prepare for your intermediate certification exam."
Mr. Zhao was left with a bitter expression at that remark, and the group swiftly went upstairs.
As they approached the door of office 302, a trace examiner was already waiting outside. Zhou Ning had seen him the day before; he seemed to be surnamed Feng.
"Doctor Zhou, Mr. Pang asked me to bring all the materials here, and as for the scans and such, I’ll send them to your email in a while."
"Thank you, Mr. Feng!"
Mr. Feng was taken aback, not expecting Zhou Ning to remember his surname; his face lit up with a surprised joy, and he waved more politely before leaving quickly.
With the materials in hand, the group headed straight to the laboratory on the fourth floor, which was formerly the forensic teaching and research office. Zhou Ning reviewed the autopsy report, and the details within were impeccable.
Sun Manqing sustained an open wound from the crushing pressure between his chest and abdomen and the steering wheel, multiple fractures in the thoracic vertebrae, ribs, and sternum, ruptures in the spleen, liver, and kidneys, puncture wounds to the lungs, with the cause of death being hemorrhagic shock.
Seeing the end, Zhou Ning paused for a moment before standing up to search for his phone, while Liu Yongxin had already come over.
"What did you find?"
"The contents of the stomach reveal that the victim Sun Manqing’s last meal was also spicy shredded vegetables, fried dough sticks, and tofu pudding."
The word ’also’ from Zhou Ning made Liu Yongxin stop in his tracks.
"Same as whom? Surely not Zhang Guanglei?"
Mr. Zhao drew near, gesturing to Zhou Ning.
"No need to look, I remember clearly, Zhang Guanglei had the same meal; the lab results matched too. Oh right, there were also traces of chili oil in the results. What does it mean, both the ex-husband and the current husband shared breakfast, then both died tragically together?"
Zhou Ning shot him a glance. He disliked this kind of talk, but Mr. Zhao was always blunt, and this habit needed to change, Liu Yongxin glared at him directly.
"Are you asking for a beating, kid? This isn’t something to joke about. From now on, if you keep this up around my apprentice, I won’t feel at ease. Later on, I’ll go see Mr. Pang and have you replaced."
Seeing Liu Yongxin get angry, Mr. Zhao quickly raised his hands in apology. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"I was wrong, I won’t treat work matters as jokes anymore."
Liu Yongxin kicked him in the leg and gave him a disdainful look.
"The deceased should be respected. And what is our job? We speak for the deceased, helping to reconstruct their final moments and find the real murderer. Although it might sound overly serious, we cannot make jokes about this. Alright, go to the office and bring me Zhang Guanglei’s autopsy report."
Mr. Zhao bolted out like he’d been granted amnesty, at which point Xia Momo coughed softly to the side.
"Would you like to come over and have a look?"
Zhou Ning hurried over, and Liu Yongxin also approached with a smile on his face. He genuinely liked Mr. Xia, and looking at the two before him, he felt they were especially well matched.
"Last year, when Mr. Xia helped Zhou Ning with the skull reconstruction, I knew without having met him that Mr. Xia must be a beautiful and meticulous person. Now after working together for a while, I’ve realized my judgment was not accurate."
Both Zhou Ning and Mr. Xia turned to look at Liu Yongxin, who walked closer and continued:
"There’s another thing—that is the intelligence. Just operating these devices, Mr. Qu explained it once, and Mr. Xia got it right away, working so well with you. Such a high level of compatibility is truly rare."
Xia Momo felt a bit embarrassed. She glanced at Zhou Ning’s profile, glimpsing his perfect jawline, but quickly averted her eyes after only a moment and cleared her throat, turning her attention to the screen.
"I finally understand why Zhou Ning speaks so appropriately. It turns out he learned from Doctor Liu, not wasting the essence at all, inheriting it completely. Let’s look at this screenshot!"
Liu Yongxin rubbed his nose, glanced at Zhou Ning, his heart racing a bit. His apprentice was good at everything, but when it came to seeking a partner, he was rather slow, not in any hurry at all.
The way Xia Momo looked at him, even a fool could see it, but Zhou Ning himself felt nothing. Rubbing his hands and suppressing the urge to hit someone, he focused on the screen as well.
On the large screen, a face in the cockpit was magnified. In the original screenshot, one hand was on the steering wheel, and the other was flipping down the sun visor. However, the fingers were quite distinct. Zhou Ning stared at the screen, and Xia Momo said:
"I’ve referenced the same model to calculate the scale, and this person’s right middle finger is about 9.2 cm long, the length of the hand is estimated to be between 18.5 and 20 cm, and the seat height is 92 cm. According to the height ratio of Hua Country citizens, the person’s height is between 180 and 184 cm; the margin of error won’t be big."
"Alright, now I’m going to process this in layers. I’ll enhance the video quality first and then gradually remove these disguises. If you think there’s an issue, you can stop me anytime."
Zhou Ning nodded, quickly making notes in his notebook. In the Qindao Area, such a height and hand length for men under thirty were above average.
Xia Momo had begun operating, and as the video quality improved, the face became clearer while transparent points and lines appeared across the facial features, surrounded by various data. Zhou Ning knew this—it was an idea he had proposed for the software’s Phase II project, one that he hadn’t expected to be already in use.
This process involved collecting all data on the facial features, such as the height from the cheekbone to the eyebrow, the distance between cheekbones, the width of nostrils, the distance from the corners of the mouth to the jawline, and the angle of the lip peaks, among others—all very specific data points.
It was as if translating the physical features into numerical values, with precision and reference values that could be captured by computers, converting double eyelids and a hooked nose into computer language. Zhou Ning just hadn’t expected Xia Momo to operate the software so swiftly.
He cleared his throat and refocused his attention, his mind straying for a moment, as he continued watching the screen. As Xia Momo worked, the image on the screenshot changed more and more drastically.
Soon, the glasses on the person’s face were faded, revealing the eyes more clearly, the curly hair was edited out and replaced with a buzz cut, then a middle part, and a side part. While Xia Momo was continuously changing hairstyles,
Zhou Ning took out his phone, found a photo he had taken earlier, and then tapped Xia Momo’s arm.
"Mr. Xia, hold on a second, do you see this person in the image?"
