Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 360: Chapter 347: Do you understand?_1

The mention of military service made everyone take the matter seriously.

Xu Dayuan and his two colleagues were all pressed against the single-pane glass, intently scrutinizing Mr. Chen’s statement.

"Explain it in detail, what do you mean by military service? Have you seen him?"

Mr. Chen licked his lips and recalled carefully before finally slapping his thigh in realization.

"The village committee should have a record of it. It was the year my brother and his wife passed away, and Chen Gang hadn’t dropped out of school yet. The village committee had recommended Chen Gang for a military-civilian support activity. I can’t remember the exact name of the event, but it involved someone sponsoring struggling families or children. My wife went to collect money once, and she received eight hundred yuan."

By the end, Mr. Chen had already put on a defensive face, and Liu Yufei cast a glance at him.

"Keep going, did someone specifically come over? Have you seen them?"

Mr. Chen shook his head.

"I never saw anyone, the money was distributed by the village committee. However, around New Year, the troops brought a truck and seemed to visit all the families they were supporting. They went directly to see Chen Gang. By the time we heard the news and went over, they had already left. They brought milk and other things. As for whether they gave more money, Chen Gang didn’t say."

"Only this one time?"

As far as we know, just that once. After all, Chen Gang dropped out of school later. The village committee’s support recipient was supposed to be a student in school, and he no longer fit the criteria. However, I heard from people in the village that someone wearing something like a military uniform has visited Chen Gang, but neither our family nor the Suns have seen them.

Liu Yufei asked many more questions, and this time Mr. Chen did not hide anything, explaining clearly that after Chen Gang died, he went to the old house several times to look for the property deed. After Chen Gang came of age, the village committee re-issued the deed and switched it to his name once. freewebnovёl.ƈom

Despite turning the place upside down, he still couldn’t find the property deed. Mr. Chen always felt that Chen Gang had given the property deed to the Sun family early on since they had contributed money for the burial of Chen Gang’s parents.

After several fruitless searches and disputes with the Sun family, which even involved the police, the matter was finally settled by signing a contract for both families to jointly inherit the demolition compensation.

Xu Dayuan dialed Director Sun’s number and the call was answered after just a couple of rings.

"Director Sun, Xu Dayuan here. I need to trouble you with something. Could you help me look up an incident around 1995? Chen Gang seems to have benefited from a military-civilian support activity, apparently aimed at struggling families and orphans, with the village committee distributing eight hundred yuan, which was collected by Mr. Chen.

Could you check the details for me? We’d like to know which military unit, which department, or who made the donation. It would be best to find out who came over from their side. We’d appreciate all efforts to get to the bottom of this."

"Don’t be so polite, I’ll get the old clerk on it right away and we’ll investigate. Usually, for any military-civilian mutual assistance activity like this, we keep records."

After hanging up, Xu Dayuan sent a message to Mr. Sun, briefly explaining the situation. After all, it was necessary for Mr. Sun to check with the charity association and the education commission of Qidong District for details. Such military-civilian support is generally done in collaboration with the armed forces department, the education commission, and the charity association, especially for orphans, and these three are the most reliable sources for information.

Mr. Chen, who had been in the interrogation room, was taken away, and Liu Yufei came out.

"Director Xu, I think Mr. Chen told the truth, but he didn’t tell the whole truth. How about we bring his wife in for a chat?"

Xu Dayuan waved his hands and quickly comforted Liu Yufei. He knew what kind of person she was—once she got stubborn, no one could hold her back.

"I’ve already asked the village committee to check the records, and Mr. Sun is also looking into it at various departments. I believe there will be records for such support activities, and we might even find information on the donors, so there’s no need to rush. However, you should send someone new to follow Mr. Chen closely and see who he meets and what he says without being noticed."

Liu Yufei nodded, not arguing this time, and quickly went to make arrangements.

Xu Dayuan let out a sigh of relief, and Liu Yongxin nudged Zhou Ning.

"Apprentice, what are you thinking about? You seemed distracted during Mr. Chen’s interrogation. Did something occur to you?"

Zhou Ning looked at Liu Yongxin and then at Xu Dayuan. The two instinctively drew near to Zhou Ning.

"Say whatever comes to mind. This isn’t a meeting room. There’s no need to hold back anything."

Zhou Ning stared at Liu Yongxin for a long while before speaking:

"I have this feeling that the murderer is related to Chen Gang’s biological father. I can’t clearly explain why I have this thought. Back in those days, Yu Xiulian endured so much pressure to give birth to the child, disregarding her status as a university student.

If her child’s father was someone she could have married, she wouldn’t have made such a choice. Doesn’t it implicitly suggest that Chen Gang’s father might have a special identity or hold a significant position? However, after the child’s birth, for some reason, Yu Xiulian gave up on using the child as leverage.

Living far from her hometown might have been a compromise from the other party, and the condition might have been Chen Gang’s disappearance. Of course, this theory sounds over-dramatized, like something even a TV drama wouldn’t dare to depict."

Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning, not commenting on whether the analysis was too dramatic. In truth, speculation involved using these clues to lay out all the possibilities and analyzing which one seemed most likely.

Before Xu Dayuan could speak, Liu Yongxin had already slapped his thigh and stood up.

"Based on your analysis, Chen Gang’s father could be like Mr. Zhao’s people, coming from a military family, and his marital partner could also be arranged by the elders. A middle-aged man meets a beautiful university student and momentarily loses control.

As for the follow-up actions, they seem more like tactics commonly used by women. And this Yu Xiulian, just the fact that she could give her child away shows that she isn’t kind-hearted. How could a mother easily give up her own child?

Hang on, so that means the kidnapper might be related by blood to Chen Gang. But that doesn’t make sense. If they’re from the military compound, they’re either well-educated or molded by the military. How could they resort to kidnapping? Is that even possible?"

Xu Dayuan rubbed his chin, seeming to carefully listen to Liu Yongxin’s analysis. Zhou Ning was also somewhat lost, as Liu Yongxin’s expanded analysis sounded bloodier, like a plot from an old-fashioned drama.

The half-brother from the same father found Chen Gang, and originally, he might have wanted to teach the boy a lesson. Seeing his pitiful situation, however, he changed his mind. Afterwards, he grew closer to Chen Gang in their interaction.

But why did the kidnapping start?

That Chen Gang was able to stop at the last moment, and even persuade the person to stop the killing, felt like it could be the case upon further analysis.

The sound of Xu Dayuan’s voice interrupted Zhou Ning’s thoughts.

"What you said makes some sense, but the Zhu Family, or the Fang Family, seem like ordinary families. How could they be connected to the people living inside the military compound?" frёewebnoѵēl.com

At those words, Zhou Ning’s expression froze for a moment, and he snapped his fingers, saying:

"Do you remember when Mr. Zhao introduced us to Fatty? He mentioned that Fatty used to work at the Qindao Grand Hotel. The hotel is right across from the military compound. They would sneak over for snacks; how else could they have known Fatty?"

Xu Dayuan was momentarily stunned, then his expression turned more serious.

"It seems our investigation into the Zhu and Fang families hasn’t been thorough enough. I’ll go make some arrangements now. Do you want to stay in Qidong, or come back to the city center with me?"

"Back to the city center!"

...

The next day.

Zhou Ning arrived at the office to find Mr. Zhao printing reports. Seeing the large stack of reports on the table, Zhou Ning’s eyelid twitched. With this many reports, it was a wonder Cui Lili hadn’t bombarded them with phone calls. She must have been in a good mood these last few days.

Mr. Zhao turned around and saw Zhou Ning, breaking into a smile.

"Zhou Xiaozhou, no more hiding. I’ll tell you that the comparison was done with a mixed test. Besides finding DNA samples collected from the Chen Family and Sun Family, Mrs. Cui has already compared Chen Gang’s DNA, and we also found several incomplete fingerprints, along with DNA from three males that hasn’t been found in the database."

Zhou Ning quickly looked at those incomplete fingerprints; indeed, they were very incomplete. Each corresponding sample had been marked clearly. Two of these fingerprints were found on a table in the old Chen Family house, and the rest were extracted from the Pear Orchard.

As for the DNA, the first two—one found in the old Chen Family house, and related by blood to Mr. Chen, the second on the outside of a wardrobe at Pear Orchard.

As for the last one, it was a bit special. Among the bloodstains taken from the table by Mr. Zhao, a male DNA was discovered. This finding excited Zhou Ning, as right beneath that trace, an incomplete fingerprint had been extracted.

"The one found in the old Chen Family house related to Mr. Chen, I think it might not be Mr. Chen but his son, since this boy is older than Chen Gang. As for the DNA outside the Pear Orchard wardrobe, whether the old night watchman had descendants, we can compare that."

Zhou Ning flipped through the report and noticed that this DNA had not been compared with Chen Gang’s. He felt a bit anxious.

"Eh, hasn’t this been compared with Chen Gang’s yet?"

Mr. Zhao waved his hand nonchalantly, pulling Zhou Ning aside.

"Zhou Xiaozhou, don’t be so impatient; as soon as I arrived, I asked Mrs. Cui. She’s busy, said she’d call after she’s done the comparison."

Just as he finished speaking, Zhou Ning’s phone rang. Seeing Cui Lili’s number, he quickly answered.

"Good morning, Mrs. Cui. Are the results out?"

Such a straightforward question caused Mr. Zhao to slap his forehead in impatience, but Cui Lili seemed to have become accustomed to Zhou Ning’s bluntness and didn’t diverge on other matters.

"I’ve sent you the comparison report, but I still need to tell you. In the DNA from blood trace 407 marked at the Pear Orchard table, we’ve discovered a third unknown male DNA. After comparison, this male DNA shares a 26% similarity with Chen Gang’s DNA. I suspect these two are brothers."

This answer was already very close to the previous day’s judgment. Without thinking, Zhou Ning asked a rather naive question.

"Big sister, can you tell if they’re half-brothers sharing the same father or full brothers from both the same father and mother?"

"Theoretically speaking, whether brothers are from the same father and mother or just the same father, the similarity could range from 22% to 100%. That’s theoretical, but from my experience, these two people should be very similar, and I believe they’re half-brothers sharing the same father. However, the report can’t be based on that."

Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

"That’s already very helpful, thank you; I understand without a report!"

After hanging up the phone, Mr. Zhao also perked up, though there was still some confusion on his face.

"So, should I go find my dad?"

This abrupt sentence left Zhou Ning dumbstruck, temporarily unable to react. When he did come to, he couldn’t help but laugh.

"Don’t panic. Let’s find out from Director Xu. I’m not sure about the progress of the investigation yesterday. If there’s a clear direction, there’s no need to ’search for a needle in the ocean’ by asking your dad."