Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 492: Chapter 463: Employ a Scheme_1

Liu Yufei put aside her thoughts and nodded at Chen Cheng.

"Every time I come here, I seem to cause you trouble; we need to get going. I owe you another favor, and thanks for the glycerin."

Chen Cheng smiled.

"You should pay attention to rest even when you’re on a business trip; don’t skip meals because you’re too busy with work. Let’s meet up when I’m back and have a good chat, alright? I have a lot to tell you. Don’t turn me down."

Liu Yufei hesitated for a moment. They were surrounded by people who all turned to look. She gave Chen Cheng a complicated look and, seeing his sincere eyes, paused before nodding.

"After I’m done with this case, I’ll come to find you."

Joy appeared on Chen Cheng’s face. As everyone got into the vehicles, Liu Yufei took one more look at Chen Cheng before leaving, and the convoy merged with the swift traffic.

Mr. Zhao clicked his tongue twice and said mysteriously:

"Mrs. Fei definitely has something going on; you see, she’s not that resistant to Doctor Chen."

Sun Gaotie leaned in.

"What’s the matter?"

Mr. Zhao gave him a look and then quickly made a shushing gesture when he saw Zhou Ning closing his eyes.

"Kids shouldn’t pry into adult matters. I’m just expressing my thoughts. Get some rest now because we’ll be busy when we arrive!"

Hearing Mr. Zhao speak like that, everyone adjusted their seats and closed their eyes to rest.

...

10:21

As the vehicle made an abrupt stop, Zhou Ning opened his eyes.

He glanced out the window; they seemed to be at a highway exit, but there was a serious traffic jam ahead, populated mostly by large container trucks. The police car in front turned on its siren and headed toward a closed passage.

Staff ran over; some negotiations seemed to be happening, and not long after, the gate opened. Several police cars moved quickly through, and the drivers of the lined-up trucks all poked their heads out to watch, pointing and probably not having anything nice to say.

Zhou Ning looked away and shook his neck. Mr. Zhao squeezed into the seat behind Zhou Ning.

"Are we going straight to Xinghua Municipal Bureau or to the first crime scene?"

Zhou Ning shook his head; Liu Yufei hadn’t said.

"It doesn’t matter where we go. I’ve never been to Xinghua before. Why are there so many containers around here?"

"We get off the highway, and there is a bonded area nearby. Lots of trucks pass through here. It’s kind of a radiation zone extending from the port, where many western goods exported from Qindao Port are transferred." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Zhou Ning realized that for such matters, Mr. Zhao was the one to ask. He seemed to have some understanding of various industries, giving off an air of a jack-of-all-trades.

After about fifteen minutes, they arrived in front of Xinghua City Public Security Bureau. The number of vehicles gathered attracted quite a few glances. Seeing Liu Yufei and others get out of the car, He Hongjian did not. Zhou Ning gestured and pulled Mr. Zhao out with him.

The rest, uncommanded, stayed in the car obediently since the situation was unclear. From He Hongjian’s introduction, they knew the forensic doctor had performed an examination but had not released a related autopsy report and had directly ruled the cause of death as a fall.

The county situation was still unclear at that time.

Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao walked up to Liu Yufei. A man hurried out from the building, looking to be middle-aged; he held his hat with one hand and extended the other towards Liu Yufei.

"Liu Da, good to see you. I’m Zhong Xin’an, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation at Xinghua Municipal Bureau. We’ve met before at a meeting in the city. Are you here for assistance with a case today? Please come inside our bureau to talk."

Zhong Xin’an spoke warmly, yet his eyes kept glancing at the vehicles behind, perhaps expecting a higher-ranking leader to arrive, especially given the sudden appearance at the bureau without prior notice.

Zhou Ning knew that, by now, someone had probably already called the director of Xinghua Municipal Bureau, and a crowd was guessing what they were here for today.

Liu Yufei’s expression was distant as she forced a smile and withdrew her hand from Zhong Xin’an’s grip.

"Director Zhong, nice to see you. We have come to Xinghua on orders from Mr. Hu to set up a task force for the reexamination of a case. I’m just here to make a report to Xinghua City Public Security Bureau. There’s no need to go up; we will start the investigation right away."

Zhong Xin’an was taken aback and drew closer to Liu Yufei, who was visibly put off by his proximity and stepped back beside Zhou Ning.

This reaction left Zhong Xin’an slightly embarrassed, but he managed to control his expression and then asked:

"May I know which case it is?"

Liu Yufei laughed.

"Let’s add each other on WeChat first. I don’t have your contact details; it will make future communication easier."

How could Zhong Xin’an refuse? He quickly took out his phone, scanned Liu Yufei’s QR code, but it didn’t work the first time. He lifted the phone, seemingly looking for a better signal, and with an awkward second scan, he succeeded. After Liu Yufei saved her name in the contact, she put away her phone and said:

"It’s somewhat complicated," he began, referring to the autopsy report provided by the Xinghua City Public Security Bureau, the deceased was said to have died by suicide from jumping off a building. However, after our technical department and forensic doctor’s office analyzed the relevant photos and the copy of the autopsy report, it’s clear this was not a suicide.

Therefore, Mr. Hu ordered us to investigate this matter thoroughly. I’m discussing this with you in the hopes of coordinating our efforts. We want to conduct a second autopsy and make contact with the personnel who handled the case at the time, and of course, with various pieces of evidence, especially the surveillance footage collected from various locations."

Zhong Xin’an’s expression kept changing and eventually, he cocked his head with a face full of confusion.

"Mr. Liu Da, please hold on, I’ll ask for you now. I haven’t heard of such a case, and if it hasn’t been filed, I’m afraid our municipal bureau wouldn’t know about it!"

Liu Yufei laughed, Zhou Ning coughed, and that smile bore the hallmark of Xu Dayuan’s influence—just one glance was enough to send chills down one’s spine. Clearly, Zhong Xin’an’s reaction did not sit well with her.

"Not know? There should at least be a record for the autopsy done here, right? You can contact Chief Zheng from Zhuquan Police Station now. Calling 110 would also leave a record, right? Without a record, I think this is no longer about simply investigating a case, but about recommending an investigation into the overall operation of the Xinghua Municipal Bureau."

Zhong Xin’an put away his smile and quickly pulled out his cellphone. Even though Liu Yufei hadn’t mentioned Mr. Hu, today he knew he had to spill the beans or else they couldn’t move past this matter, so he promptly made a call.

"Hello, Old Zheng, is there a case involving someone falling from a building over there?"

At this point, he seemed to remember he hadn’t asked about the timing, so he hurriedly covered the mouthpiece of the phone and turned to ask Liu Yufei,

"When exactly did this happen?"

"The incident occurred on the night of March 28th; a resident made an emergency call at 5:44 on March 29th, and the autopsy report was issued on the afternoon of March 29th, 2013. The deceased’s name is He Jiahong, she attended Xinghua City No.5 Middle School, and her father is He Hongjian."

Zhou Ning fixed his gaze on Zhong Xin’an, and upon hearing these two names, Zhong Xin’an quickly squinted his eyes, but it was only for an instant before he repeated the information into the phone.

"The deceased is called He Jiahong, do you have any record of the relevant emergency call? Was the autopsy performed at our municipal bureau? Oh, okay, got it. Please come to the bureau as soon as you can."

Liu Yufei raised her hand to interrupt Zhong Xin’an.

"No need, we’re just briefing you, we’re now going to the primary scene. Just have Chief Zheng head directly to the Salt Company Community, we’ll head over there right away."

Zhong Xin’an glanced at Liu Yufei, holding back the words he wanted to say, and quickly arranged over the phone.

"You head to the Salt Company Community now, right away, and wait for Mr. Liu Da and his team from the municipal bureau to arrive."

After hanging up, Liu Yufei didn’t rush to move. She looked at Zhou Ning, then continued to speak to Zhong Xin’an,

"Director Zhong, how many staff members are there in the forensic department of our Xinghua Municipal Bureau?"

"Just one, a single forensic doctor. When things get busy, we call a couple of assistants from the criminal police team. As for the autopsies, they are all done at the municipal morgue. However, I am not sure if the body of the deceased has been preserved, let me check on that now."

Liu Yufei waved her off.

"The deceased’s body is expected to be claimed by family members after the autopsy, so there’s no need for you to worry about that. Tell the forensic doctor from your bureau to be on standby, and prepare all his autopsy records and the related videos. We’ll head straight to the morgue’s dissection room after we’ve seen the scene."

Having said that, Liu Yufei gestured with her hand.

"Let’s go, head straight to the primary scene."

With that, she quickly got into the car, no longer paying any mind to Zhong Xin’an. Watching the convoy speed away, Zhong Xin’an hurriedly pulled out his cellphone, making another call.

"Hello, boss, it’s Zhong from the Public Security Bureau. I need to report an urgent matter to you. Are you in a position to talk?"

...

The car raced down the road, Mr. Zhao had already raised a tablet in front of Zhou Ning; Liu Yufei was sitting beside Zhou Ning, with Mr. Zhao and Fang Mu in the back.

Mr. Zhao scratched his head, looking worried.

"Mrs. Fei, we’re not heading to the scene first, but going straight to the Xinghua City Public Security Bureau instead. Aren’t we alarming the enemy? According to what He Hongjian said, there are quite a few people involved within the Xinghua Municipal Bureau. If they tip off the suspect and he runs away, how will we continue the investigation?"

Fang Mu chuckled, and Mr. Zhao shot a glance at him. That smile made Mr. Zhao uncomfortable, as if Liu Yufei had made some arrangements he wasn’t aware of.

"I am indeed looking to flush out the enemy. If we don’t ruffle some feathers, how are we supposed to know who’s behind all this? This way, we can also speed up our investigation."

Mr. Zhao blinked, seeing that Zhou Ning wasn’t surprised either. Mr. Qu was rapidly working on a laptop while wearing over-ear headphones, busy to the point of not looking up, and Mr. Zhao was filled with curiosity.

"Explain it to me in detail; my curiosity is peaked. We only have so many people with us, we’re one vehicle short, and I’m aware of that. If I’m not wrong, the missing car went to the morgue, likely where the deceased’s body is stored, to guard and monitor the area. However, deliberately alerting this Mr. Zhong—could it be you’ve been monitoring him? When was that put into place?"

Liu Yufei looked back at Mr. Zhao with a hint of surprise and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Not bad, you know about our tactics."

Mr. Zhao grew anxious, clinging to his seat, his round face pressing in close.

"Mrs. Fei, come on, satisfy my curiosity. How did you pull it off? You haven’t sent anyone to watch, and even with monitoring equipment, you couldn’t receive the signal unless..."

He paused, his eyes widening as he looked at Mr. Qu.

"Unless when you added him as a friend scanning that QR code, there was something fishy about it! No, not fishy, but that was when you installed the monitoring software—Mr. Qu, you’re incredible!"