Free Web NovelChapter 452: Chapter 425 The 3rd DNA_1
Chapter 426: The Hairless Skin
Cui Lili rolled her eyes gracelessly and huffed.
"If I had your skills, I wouldn’t be doing this job. Rest assured, the pictures I sent you were taken with a professional camera under a microscope. Analyze the pattern and such yourself; I can’t tell which part it is."
Zhou Ning nodded, picked up the report, and waved to Cui Lili.
"Thanks, Mrs. Cui. We’ll let Director Xu treat us to a meal later. He already owes our office one. We’ll try to get him to pay up before the Spring Festival."
"Get going now, I wouldn’t dare say such things to the leadership."
Zhou Ning walked briskly back to the office with Sun Gaotie. Mr. Qu was yawning and holding a cup of coffee, sitting on the couch looking sleepy, obviously having not slept the entire night.
"Any progress last night?"
Mr. Qu nodded.
"Last night, no, I should say this morning, we found two surveillance videos. One is from November 26th, 2012, at 15:27 in the afternoon. There were three people sitting in Zhang Wannian’s black Camry, but the window tint was too dark, we could only capture a side-view image.
The other is from the morning of November 30th, 2012, at 8:33. It shows Zhang Wannian’s black Camry again, but with two people inside this time. I analyzed it for quite a while but couldn’t figure out anything, so I’ve let the software do the analysis to see if it finds anything.
Also, Director Xu has sent people to Huining Province. They think there’s nothing to be found on Zhang Wannian’s side, so they are starting to investigate from Liu Xiangrui’s end. They suspect that there might be some emotional or financial entanglement with Liu Xiangrui that led to the collaboration with Zhang Wannian."
Zhou Ning nodded; getting help from Huining for the investigation couldn’t be as detailed as doing it himself.
"Who went to Huining? It’s not Mrs. Fei, is it?"
Mr. Zhao came over, grinning with a bared teeth.
"Right before you came in, Director Xu just left. Mr. Bai came back last night, so Mrs. Fei and Mr. Bai are leading the team to Huining. That outdoor sports equipment company Liu Xiangrui owns, it’s managed by someone else and they also run a club. They want to have a detailed talk with this person."
That combination was somewhat frustrating. In terms of individual ability, Mr. Bai was not quite as good as Mr. Zeng, but Mr. Zeng’s relentless pursuit of Liu Yufei was causing Xu Dayuan a headache. Additionally, their being together was affecting work, so Mr. Zeng was sent down for some training.
But Mr. Bai’s competence was really not something to be commended; his level of performance was inconsistent. Shaking his head, Zhou Ning did not dwell further on the matter, forwarded a few emails, and then dialed Xu Dayuan’s cell.
"Leader, I heard you’re going to Huining?"
"Ah, no, not me. Liu Yufei is leading the team there. Have you discovered something on your end?"
"The report is out; I just sent it to you. Take a look when you can."
"I just came downstairs and don’t feel like going back up. The letters in the report are too small, it’s really tough to read on the phone. Just tell me, what’s included in the report."
Zhou Ning was speechless for a moment but found the situation oddly familiar; it seemed he had said similar words to Mrs. Cui just before. Rubbing his nose, Zhou Ning repeated the information he had just obtained, and Xu Dayuan indeed focused on the key points.
"So, have fingerprints been compared?"
Zhou Ning grew even more speechless and sighed.
"I went to the inspection department and called you the moment I had a result. Leader, we can’t rush like this. Besides, I’ve seen the fingerprint images. They’re just partial prints from the edges of fingers, which are usually not even collected for fingerprinting. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
The probability of finding someone based on this is quite low unless we identify a suspect and extract prints from the same area for comparison. I’m calling you because I heard Mrs. Fei is heading to Huining. I want her to collect all the fingerprints and blood samples from the people who were questioned; they can test them locally."
"Heh, you’re anxious, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’ve already given instructions to Liu Yufei. They flew out early and should arrive in a bit over an hour. But as for fingerprints, give it a try. Who knows, you might find something! Oh yes, there’s also another matter for their trip to Huining. It’s about Zhang Wannian’s ex-brother-in-law. They found a withdrawal record; he withdrew twenty thousand in cash from an ATM on December 31st, 2012. They’re also going to investigate his whereabouts."
After finishing, there was the sound of a phone being hung up.
Zhou Ning looked at his phone, speechless. Talking too much with Xu Dayuan really was irritating, but that’s the leader, you can’t just retort.
Liu Yongxin came over and patted Zhou Ning’s shoulder.
"He’s just like that. By the way, did you send the fingerprint to the email? Let’s look at it together."
Zhou Ning smacked his forehead, remembering the skin flap issue, and quickly asked Mr. Qu to open the email to download the image. He passed the fingerprint to Mr. Zhao for searching, while he enlarged the skin flap image to fill the screen.
Indeed, the photos taken with a high-definition microscope camera were very clear. However, after scanning the screen, Zhou Ning noticed that the skin flap was very thin, almost without any ridges, and there wasn’t a single hair on the surface, which caught him off guard.
Zhu Xingxing and Xia Momo leaned in, with Xia Momo being the first to grasp something.
"Huh, how big is this piece of skin that doesn’t have a single hair on it? Is it a woman?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Not necessarily a woman. There are areas of the human body that don’t grow hair, like the palms, soles, flexor surfaces of fingers and toes, extensor surfaces of the last finger joints, vermilion zone of the lips, glans, inner surface of the prepuce, labia minora, inner side of the labia majora, and the frenulum. These areas have no hair distribution."
Zhou Ning’s explanation quieted everyone down. Xia Momo didn’t understand at first but caught on to the latter part. Zhu Xingxing felt embarrassed. Liu Yongxin came over, and they made room for him. Liu Yongxin glanced at him and said:
"The color is pale, and the thickness is about the same as normal skin. There’s a deep horizontal wrinkle in the middle, and lighter vertical wrinkles. Putting these characteristics together, including Zhu Xingxing and Sun Gaotie and the rest of you, can’t you see where this is from?"
Such a remark made Zhu Xingxing’s face turn red. As a forensic doctor, she should not be embarrassed discussing parts of the body. After a brief moment of thought, she realized:
"I get it now. This is the skin from the sides of the proximal and middle finger joints, the middle and distal joints. In plain terms, it’s the skin on the side of the finger joints. This area metabolizes quickly, and even for those who don’t have scar-prone skin, it’s still easy to leave scars here."
Zhou Ning nodded, and Xia Momo still seemed not to catch on. Zhou Ning held out his hand to show her the exact spots he’d just mentioned. Sun Gaotie looked puzzled and stretched out his hand, making a scratching motion.
"Scratches in that area are rare. Usually, the injuries inflicted on the attacker during the struggle are on the back of the hand or the forearm. Who opens up their fingers to tussle with the victim? That would make holding a dagger inconvenient, wouldn’t it?"
Zhou Ning laughed. Sun Gaotie was quick-witted, capable of analyzing the situation on his own – an excellent quality for a forensic doctor.
"Good point. Analyzing Zhang Wannian’s state at death, the stab wound is on the upper edge of the right clavicle, with an angle of entrance from top to bottom at a 30-degree angle. After stabbing, the assailant didn’t pull the dagger out directly but instead cut horizontally towards the front of the victim’s neck.
Zhang Wannian was 176 cm tall, one centimeter taller than Liu Xiangrui, which is above the average height. Unless Zhang Wannian was squatting or kneeling, the assailant couldn’t have inflicted the frontal stab and slash wounds.
There were no injuries found on Zhang Wannian’s knees or sacrum, and his clothes were dirty only on the front. He hadn’t been sitting or squatting, inconsistent with a frontal attack. Therefore, I think the victim was controlled from behind, holding his hair, as there are traces of scalp tearing on Zhang Wannian.
After being controlled, the assailant inserted the dagger at an angle into the victim’s neck, reaching as deep as the seventh cervical vertebra. It took considerable force and hesitated for a moment, but Zhang Wannian could still cry out and didn’t immediately die. The assailant pulled out part of the dagger’s depth and then horizontally slashed Zhang Wannian’s neck.
Based on these analyses, the assailant is right-handed, held the dagger with a reverse grip while attacking. As for the scratched hand, it should be the left hand since it was holding the victim’s hair or controlling his head. When Zhang Wannian raised his hand, it was easy to scratch the assailant’s finger joints.
Another point to mention, which I hadn’t considered before, is that Zhang Wannian was a liver cancer patient with lung metastasis and weak coughing. Even though he was heavy, he could easily be controlled. All that was needed was to pull Zhang Wannian’s hair to stab him. The assailant’s height was advantageous over Zhang Wannian’s but not by much.
After stabbing Zhang Wannian, the assailant didn’t deal with the dagger but just pushed him down, indicating panic at that moment. The one who conspired with Zhang Wannian to starve Liu Xiangrui to death and dump his body, and also found such a place to dispose of the corpse, must have been well-prepared and had a meticulous plan. So why did he panic?"
With a single sentence, the room fell silent. Even the sound of pens moving on paper ceased. Liu Yongxin looked at Zhou Ning, impressed by the depth of his beloved apprentice’s analysis. Indeed, the current evidence seemed somewhat contradictory.
After pondering, he slightly shook his head and said:
"Our analysis considers rationality, but sometimes there’s no logic to a murderer’s actions. Maybe the killer was interrupted, or perhaps the emotions were too intense when stabbing Zhang Wannian, exceeding his original plan, which is why he fled quickly."
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"It wasn’t a hasty escape. Both victims’ IDs, mobile phones, valuables, and everything that could prove their identities were gone, leaving only two empty backpacks. Is this a deliberate misdirection?
It makes everyone focus their attention on the backpacks, given that all the connections between Zhang Wannian and Liu Xiangrui go back to this outdoor sports club."
With this analysis, everyone’s spirits were lifted. Zhu Xingxing counted on her fingers and said:
"Let’s summarize: Based on these analyses, we can deduce that the killer is right-handed, young with good strength, has an oval-shaped scar near the inside of the left hand’s finger joints. Finding this individual would allow DNA comparison!"
Sun Gaotie said:
"The DNA indicates that this third person is not related to Zhang Wannian or Liu Xiangrui by blood. We can rule out family members, which means the scope has broadened, hasn’t it?"
Mr. Zhao slapped Sun Gaotie on the head and gave him an annoyed look:
"How could the scope possibly get broader? Mrs. Fei has already gone to Huining to check that vice-president Sun Nan’s hands, and get his blood sample for DNA, that’s enough. As for Zhang Wannian’s side, check the hands of the people in the Dayao City company, and the timeframe from November 26 to December 1 will suffice."
