Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 529: Chapter 499: My Stomach Misses Home_1

Mr. Zhao’s eyes widened with excitement as he stood up, interrupting Zhou Ning mid-sentence. He was clear about not wanting Zhou Ning to provide the answer, hoping to try and guess by himself.

"Could it be the air hostesses? Hurry up! Mr. Qu, use your computer to check whether any of these individuals’ household registration information includes their place of employment, or even simpler... just look up their social security information with their ID numbers. That way, we can find out directly where they work."

Mr. Qu quickly got to work, but even before he could find anything, Xu Dayuan’s call came through. Zhou Ning answered the call, and Xu Dayuan spoke rapidly:

"I just made contact, with Wan Yinghong from Hushang City. She confirmed she’s the person, and I’ve instructed her to go to the local police station to verify her identity with her ID card and also mentioned that we have a case here involving a victim who resembles her, hoping for her cooperation."

She didn’t refuse, and after verification, it was indeed Wan Yinghong herself. As for the remaining three, I couldn’t get in touch with any of them. Can you provide some additional information? I’ll send people to their doors to verify, but that takes time, and I don’t want to wait."

Zhou Ning held his forehead, Xu Dayuan was still as impatient as ever. After all, they had spent the whole morning deploying personnel to search for the building from the video, and despite narrowing down the search area, it was still like looking for a needle in a haystack—no wonder he was anxious. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

"Director Xu, don’t worry, we’ve found some information. I’ll call you back shortly."

The call ended with a click, and everyone hung their heads to stifle their laughter, even Peng Shinian looked at Zhou Ning and gave him a thumbs up.

"You’re impressive, not many dare to be that direct with their superiors."

Mr. Zhao waved his hand dismissively. "You don’t understand, if Zhou Xiaozhou doesn’t hang up, Director Xu will go on and on. It’s more efficient this way."

By this time, Mr. Qu had stopped searching, as three pieces of information appeared on the screen. He quickly screenshotted all three and sent them to Xu Dayuan, then connected to the big screen.

Everyone looked up at the big screen and saw the first piece of information, which got Mr. Zhao incredibly excited.

"Damn, two of them are air hostesses, which matches the occupation I guessed earlier!"

After a moment of silence, Zhou Ning glanced at Zhu Xingxing. "Go and prepare boxed lunches. We’ll eat lunch as quickly as possible. I think we should be receiving news soon."

Zhu Xingxing finally caught on and hurried outside, bumping into Sun Gaotie and his group. He called over a few guys to go get food together. Xu Dayuan’s call was taking a while to come through, leaving everyone wondering if there were issues with contacting those individuals.

Zhou Ning didn’t say anything, while Mr. Zhao was visibly anxious, pacing back and forth.

Peng Shinian didn’t dare speak up, keeping busy typing away at his computer. When the office door opened, everyone looked to see Sun Gaotie and his group walk in, letting out a collective sigh of relief. Zhu Xingxing, entering last, quickly urged:

"Everyone, hurry up and eat. Don’t think about anything else."

One by one, they went up to get their boxed lunches, with Mr. Zhao holding three. He walked over to Zhou Ning, Xia Momo, and Liu Yongxin to distribute them, rushing them:

"Eat quickly. We’ve got their workplaces, but we’re still not getting through to their phones. It might take longer to confirm."

Opening their lunch boxes, Peng Shinian let out a "wow," causing everyone to look his way. Feeling somewhat embarrassed but enduring the awkwardness, he pointed at his boxed lunch and asked:

"Is this standard because we’re working on a case and it’s a special nutritional meal arrangement, or is it always like this?"

Before Mr. Zhao could reply, Zhu Xingxing leaned in, glanced at Peng Shinian’s lunch, and saw nothing amiss, quickly responding:

"Do you have any dietary restrictions? If you do, you can let them know, and next time they prepare boxed lunches, they’ll make a special one for you. Today was a bit rushed, we got there late, and the canteen only had a few dishes left, so it’s a bit simple. Just make do with it for now."

Peng Shinian pursed his lips and didn’t say anything else, simply bowing his head to eat. After he finished, Mr. Zhao noticed the newcomer’s expression was off.

"What’s up, poet? What’s with your face?"

Peng Shinian shook his head, his face full of emotion. "It’s nothing, just that I’m feeling very sentimental. Do you know why I rushed back home as soon as Professor Li mentioned there was a suitable job for me in China?"

Mr. Zhao glanced at Peng Shinian’s empty lunch box, which was scraped clean with chopstick marks all going in one direction. It seemed as if Mr. Zhao understood in a moment and hugged Peng Shinian’s shoulder, laughing.

"Poet, could it be because you couldn’t adapt to the food in Mi Country? Hahaha! Did a single boxed lunch conquer you?

"Don’t hit me, I’ll stop laughing. Just half a month ago, a friend of mine went through something similar. He spent years studying abroad, and the day he finished his courses and got his diploma, he flew straight back home, not willing to stay a minute longer. We all asked him why he was in such a rush to get back, and he said his stomach was homesick!"

Peng Shinian nodded vigorously. "Those who’ve never been abroad can’t understand what it feels like."

Zhu Xingxing was puzzled. Based on Mr. Zhao’s introduction, Peng Shinian arrived from Mi Country with Li Chengbin. If that was the case, why was he feeling so sentimental today only after a few days back?

"What have you been eating these past few days?"

Peng Shinian sighed and then showed dissatisfaction on his face.

"Don’t mention it. We’re staying in a five-star hotel opposite to the school. I don’t know who arranged our three meals a day, but it’s either milk and bread, or steak, salad, tomatoes with soybeans, grilled sausages—still following that same American set-up, and the prices are absurdly expensive. Eating a meal even comes with a 15% service fee."

Mr. Zhao laughed and patted his belly, then patted Peng Shinian’s shoulder.

"No wonder, I heard Mr. Lu say that he has already arranged accomodation for you. You can move in tonight. I’ll mention to him later to issue you a meal card. You can go and eat at the school faculty cafeteria before going back. They have night snacks available until midnight, with Lu cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and various local snacks. Whatever you want to eat, they’ve got it."

Peng Shinian was overjoyed, the kind of happiness that comes from deep within.

"Great, that’s fantastic!"

As they were talking, the door was pushed open. Xu Dayuan and Liu Yufei strode in. Xu Dayuan was on the phone, speaking politely with someone about arranging a visit, and everyone quickly fell silent.

After a moment, he hung up the phone, threw his hat on the table, and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Give me a boxed meal, I’m starving."

Zhu Xingxing gestured to Zou Jialong with his chin, who hurriedly brought over two boxed meals. Seeing the food, Xu Dayuan took a deep breath.

"Yufei, sit down quickly. I knew it, they would have prepared food for us."

Mr. Zhao came over, hugging his thermos, and blew on the red beans inside.

Following Liu Yongxin’s influence, these young people, despite their tender age, all paid great attention to their health. Each one had goji berries steeping in their thermos. None indulged in heavy drinking or cold foods—they were all very restrained. The only indulgence was their talkative nature.

"I’m telling you, Director Xu, you come in and start eating without a word, what’s up, did you face some setbacks? Or should I guess? Among the four suspects, you’ve largely narrowed down the direction, right? Maybe, we’re still waiting for a bit of time, like someone who is on a flight and can’t be confirmed immediately?"

Hearing Mr. Zhao’s comments, Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning and snorted twice.

He neither admitted nor denied it and hastily finished the boxed meal in front of him. After swallowing the last bite, Zou Jialong had already brought over a cup of warm water with several well-soaked red beans floating in it. Xu Dayuan took the cup and sighed.

"Dammit, I’m just a workhorse. Yufei, you heard that, right? Zhou Xiaozhou must have been a fortune teller in his past life. He can guess a thing or two before we even uncover anything."

Liu Yongxin laughed and leaned towards Xu Dayuan.

"Don’t say that, this time you actually got it wrong. Mr. Zhao analyzed the profession, and then Mr. Xia checked their employers through the social security information. That’s how we found out two of them are flight attendants. According to Mr. Xia, among the four people, three are similar because of plastic surgery, bone-shaving, nose jobs, and such major operations. I guess there must be quite a few flight attendants who have done the same, right?"

Xu Dayuan sighed and for once gave Mr. Zhao a thumbs up before continuing:

"Not bad, you’ve made progress. You guessed correctly. We have another forty minutes until the flight docks, which means arriving at Qindao Airport. Fang Mu has already taken people over there. They’ll bring them back soon."

Everyone was a bit puzzled to hear Xu Dayuan say this. They were merely investigating whether these individuals had met with misfortune. If the people were unharmed, there was no need to bring them in for verification, as identifying the victim was the essential goal.

Zhou Ning stepped forward, looked at Xu Dayuan, and spoke after a brief contemplation:

"It couldn’t be that the two flight attendants from Jin City in Chuanyu Province with the same surname, Shen Caijun and Shen Shuyi, know each other and are on the same flight, could it?"

Xu Dayuan nodded, his immunity to Zhou Ning’s ability having already built up—no longer showing much surprise.

"They are part of the same crew and they’re said to be as similar as twin sisters, almost identical in appearance, figure, and build. Their department has a deep impression of them. They were both selected for Sichuan Airlines’ promotional video at one point, but that particular footage was never broadcast. I’ve requested the video."

Mr. Zhao scratched his head, clearly puzzled.

"Hold on a second, boss. If the two are that similar and are part of the same crew, flying on the same flight, then who exactly is Fang Mu going to pick up? Who is present and who is missing? I’m totally confused. Are we going to bring the whole crew over here?"

Liu Yufei tried to hold back her laughter as she approached Mr. Zhao, realizing that Xu Dayuan wasn’t clear. Before Xu Dayuan could get annoyed, she quickly added:

"According to Sichuan Airlines’ roster, Shen Shuyi was on duty today, and Shen Caijun took a leave of absence. So, it’s highly likely that the victim is Shen Caijun. We want to ask Shen Shuyi and the rest of the crew over to talk about the last time they saw Shen Caijun and to learn more about her social relationships."

Mr. Zhao had an epiphany and quickly sat back down.

"Got it. So we wait. Let’s rest for a bit. Once the people arrive and we find out if the victim has any friends in Qindao or places she frequented, then we can proceed with the on-site search. That’s the idea, right?"

Xu Dayuan stood up and patted his belly.

"That’s right. You guys rest. Zhou Xiaozhou, come with me to walk off the meal, and then wait at the front. Fang Mu should be arriving soon, especially since Lu Airlines’ flights often arrive a good many minutes early."

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Yufei’s phone rang. She opened it to find a WeChat photo from Fang Mu, showing a van full of gorgeous women in flight attendant uniforms, with the scenery outside the window a blur, indicating they were already on the move.

"Director Xu, Fang Mu and his team have picked up the people. They should be arriving soon."