Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 505: Chapter 476: The Bloodstains Underneath the Paint_1

Fang Mu hurriedly made a phone call and hung up with a hint of joy, saying,

"Finally found the homeowner’s information. The homeowner said that after the tenant moved out, they voluntarily gave him two thousand yuan, saying the house had gotten a bit dirty and needed cleaning, which was quite embarrassing.

He didn’t take over the house himself but just had a renovation company repaint and clean it up. He also contacted a cleaning company to tidy it up and instructed them to throw the keys into his yard. Unfortunately, he broke his leg and is hospitalized in Qindao.

As for his home address, it was just sent over. He mentioned that the police should be careful when they go there; there’s a dog in his yard that has a bad temper. These last few days, a neighbor has been helping to feed it, but even then, the neighbor got bitten."

While speaking, Fang Mu’s phone chimed a few times. He opened WeChat to see a photo that had been forwarded to him.

In the picture stood a German Shepherd with a dark expression in the center of a courtyard with a one-storey house, behind which was a red wooden doghouse. Next to it was the house’s balcony French window, and a key tied with a red string lay next to the dog’s food bowl. The courtyard gate had a lot of scattered dog food, obviously put there by someone who didn’t dare enter.

"Let’s go, before we meet up with Liu Da, do we have to battle it out with this German Shepherd, Director Zhou? Do you have any anesthesia?"

Mr. Zhao couldn’t stop laughing as he stepped closer.

"Come on, let’s go. We’re forensic doctors, how could we have anesthesia? We’ll see what to do when we get there. If it really comes to it, we can call someone from a pet hospital over. They’ll have a way, and besides, I still have a secret weapon."

Fang Mu looked intrigued.

"What secret weapon? Can Mr. Zhao train dogs too?"

Zhou Ning kept silent, as he truly couldn’t feel happy about it; after all, the ’renovation’ mentioned by the homeowner had left him half cold.

...

Half an hour later.

In front of an apartment building in Xinghua City, this place was considered a rare upscale community in Xinghua City, with four units per building and a duplex layout for each unit—the upper residents had an additional rooftop while the lower ones had a courtyard, everyone getting what they needed.

Following the address, with security guard accompaniment, they found the homeowner’s yard. Looking inside the yard, they didn’t see the dog.

Sun Gaotie leaned on the fence, took a careful look, and just as he was about to speak, a black shadow rushed over. Fang Mu, quick as a flash, pulled Sun Gaotie away. The German Shepherd snapped at the air, and the sound of its upper and lower jaws clacking together was enough to make everyone’s hairs stand on end.

Afterward, the dog barked incessantly.

From the building, the sound of a window opening could be heard. A woman, seeing people below along with a security guard, asked uncertainly,

"What are you guys doing? That dog is pretty fierce, don’t get close!"

Fang Mu held up his police badge and shook it towards the woman.

"Police. We’ve contacted the homeowner, he said he’s in Qindao with a broken leg, and he placed the keys in the yard, told us to come get them ourselves. Sorry for the disturbance, we’ll leave shortly."

Upon hearing this, the woman didn’t say another word and promptly closed the window. The group thought she was impatient, but not long after, she came downstairs wearing slippers, stopped in front of them, and pointed towards the spot next to the dog house,

"You want that bunch of keys, right?"

Fang Mu nodded and the woman made a phone call, presumably confirming with the homeowner before nodding to them.

"Okay, I’ve confirmed it with him. I’ll go find some tasty food; this dog is greedy. If you have something to do inside, you must bring meat."

Mr. Zhao stopped the woman, smiling as he opened a bag, from which the rich aroma of roasted chicken emerged.

"How about this? I’ll peel off the skin since dogs shouldn’t eat too much salt."

The woman gave Mr. Zhao a few more glances and then laughed.

"Oh, you’re well-prepared."

Mr. Zhao smiled in response.

"The key thing is we didn’t know the neighbor lady would be so enthusiastic. Had I known, I would have saved it for my midnight snack. This is from Qindao, Sanxian Residence’s roasted chicken, unbelievably delicious."

The woman laughed and, using a pole-like object, poked at the roasted chicken, opened the door with the key, and the German Shepherd, now drooling profusely, focused entirely on the chicken. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

The woman pointed to a set of steps to the west side of the courtyard, where the air conditioning maintenance was accessed and which was a bit farther from the dog house,

"Babao, go sit over there."

At her command, like a well-trained individual, the German Shepherd dashed over and plopped down, making endearing grunting sounds while the woman hummed twice.

"You foodie, wait until I count to three. Lie down first, then I’ll give you the chicken."

The German Shepherd immediately lay down, and as the chicken was placed in front of it, Mr. Zhao quickly dashed inside, grabbed the keys, and ran back out. The entire series of actions were smooth and fluid; he then closed the door behind him.

The German Shepherd looked up at Mr. Zhao’s direction when it heard the noise, whining twice before the woman tapped the rail with the pole.

"Don’t want to eat anymore? I’m taking the chicken away, alright?"

Hearing this, the German Shepherd buried its head in the chicken. Mr. Zhao quickly gestured for everyone to leave, being the last one out, continuously waving to the woman.

"Big sister, thank you so much!"

The woman smiled and waved back as the group hurried back to their car. Mr. Zhao wanted to wash the keys, but Zhou Ning stopped him.

"It appears the key is very old. According to the homeowner, he gave the keys directly to the renovation company, so there might be traces left on it."

Mr. Zhao gasped and quickly ceased his actions.

"I forgot about that, but the smell is too strong, forget it. Should we go find Liu Da first or head straight to the Salt Company Community?"

Zhou Ning thought for a moment, waved his hand, and said:

"Let’s go to the Salt Company Community first."

Mr. Zhao grinned with a snarl and gestured towards Mr. Wang.

"Off goes Mr. Wang, let’s get to work!"

Fang Mu got into the car with them. Once driver Mr. Wang got in, the first thing he did was turn on the air conditioning and then close all the windows. This action made Zhou Ning pause because although it was a bit sunny outside, it definitely wasn’t hot enough to need the air conditioner. Mr. Wang, always steady, must have had his reasons.

"What’s going on, Mr. Wang?"

Mr. Wang started the car, but didn’t leave quickly. Considering his skills, he could easily have pulled out without any issues. However, this time, he reversed a bit on the spot and then moved forward a little, as if he was adjusting his position, but he didn’t leave the original spot. He kept saying:

"Two o’clock direction, see that black, old Santana? The person inside has been following us all the way since we left Jinping Town Shuaijia Village. There’s also a grey Wuling Hongguang with the license plate ending in 372. These two cars have been switching places back and forth. Just now, that Wuling Hongguang was outside the community. Not sure if it’s still there right now."

Fang Mu squinted his eyes but didn’t lean over to look out the window, as the film on the windows of the Iveco wasn’t dark enough to hide them from view.

"Got it, Mr. Wang. Drive normally. We’ll go straight to the Salt Company. I’ll have someone look up that car right now. We’ve got plenty of people with us. If all else fails, we can call 122 and have them stopped. Then we’ll find out what these people are really up to."

Mr. Zhao raised an eyebrow, amused by the cunning trick, yet quite liking it.

"Sounds good, Mr. Dui. Have them turn on their enforcement recorders. I want to see the video afterwards. It’s going to be a blockbuster at the scene, too bad we can’t watch it!"

Trying to suppress his laughter, Fang Mu hurriedly made arrangements. With two phone calls out, Mr. Wang had already turned the car around and began driving towards the Salt Company Community. On the way, he deliberately didn’t use his turn signals, and the trailing car clung tightly to them.

When approaching a traffic light at an intersection, Mr. Wang pretended to slow down and pull over, but as soon as he saw the following car stop, he floored the accelerator and sped away.

The following car instinctively sped up to follow, and the Wuling Hongguang behind it did the same, but it ran a red light. The cars from the other side of the intersection didn’t give way and blocked them, causing the old Santana, unable to react in time, to slam into them. Of course, the Wuling Hongguang behind it crunched into the pile-up in a sandwich-style collision. The drivers got out, tugging at their collars, and yanked the Santana driver out of his car.

The others from the Santana also got out, seemingly trying to calm the situation.

Fang Mu hung up the phone and turned his gaze away from the rear.

"Called 122, and we’ve managed to stop them. But I guess whoever is coming will blow it off as a minor incident."

Mr. Zhao shook his head with a smile.

"When it comes to identity, that’s the least of our worries. Let’s declare ours too, we’re also officials. And local police following the city bureau’s special case team, they really don’t know who’s in charge here. Do they think Xinghua City is their autonomous region?"

Zhou Ning glanced at him, and Mr. Zhao quickly fell silent. It was better for Fang Mu to handle these matters, as talking too much didn’t help their work. Mr. Zhao understood all this; he was just a bit irritated earlier.

With no further conversation, they arrived at the Salt Company Community, and without even getting out of the car, they saw Mr. Shan loitering at the entrance of the community.

"What’s the meaning of this, kid? Why didn’t you stick with Liu Da? Aren’t you the ’shadowless hand,’ best at taking notes? Did Liu Da abandon you?"

Mr. Shan shook his head and quickly walked up beside Zhou Ning. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

"Director Zhou, Liu Da asked me to tell you that they went to the repair shop. They left just five minutes before you arrived here, saying you should come here, check the place, and then head to Jiulaofeng Park."

Zhou Ning thought for a moment. It seemed that right next to Auto City was Jiulaofeng Park. The victim had run into it to hide. The implication of going there – could it be that there was something discovered in that area?

Mr. Shan quickly handed his phone to Zhou Ning, who then realized it was their email. Presumably, they had been too busy on the road to hear any notifications.

Opening the email and browsing through, he found that the lung effusions and some of the lung tissue sent for examination contained a high amount of water. After conducting the diatom test, they found various algae and microorganisms.

This discovery made Zhou Ning suddenly realize.

"Is there a lake or pond in Jiulaofeng Park?"

"There used to be a spring, then they built a pond around it, quite a big one, but the spring dried up and they started to artificially refill it."

Zhou Ning waved to those behind him. There was no use in hurrying now. Their delay wouldn’t allow the pond to run away after all. The most important thing was still the crime scene investigation.

"Don’t just stand there, hurry up. For the two apartments on the fifth floor, conduct a thorough examination. If necessary, you can break apart parts of the renovation."

Upon receiving Zhou Ning’s affirmation, the team was naturally quite pleased. They ascended to the fifth floor and, before even entering, Mr. Zhao pulled out the keys. Zhou Ning stopped his movement.

"Did you take samples from the keys?"

"Relax, I’ve sampled everything."

With that, the door was swiftly opened, and everyone spread out, one to a room, to begin a carpet-style search. Zhou Ning, taking Mr. Zhao with him, first entered the east apartment on the fifth floor. The room was simply decorated, just painted, with the floor cleaned.

Looking at the cleanliness of the cleaning, Mr. Zhao shook his head slightly.

"The floor has been scrubbed, and there are replacement floorboards here. Zhou Xiaozhou, where do we even start looking?"

As he finished asking, Mr. Zhao noticed Zhou Ning slowly walking towards him, his face serious and puzzled. Mr. Zhao felt a bit silly and coughed.

"Zhou Xiaozhou, don’t look at me like that; it’s freaking me out. Hey, hey, say something, will you?"

Zhou Ning reached out, pushed Mr. Zhao aside, and stared at the wall behind him. He wiped his hand across it and said with conviction:

"Shut up, I think I’ve found a bloodstain. Come, let’s chip this painted plaster off the wall."