Free Web NovelChapter 87: Chapter 87 Try Searching_1
March 12, 2011
Zhou Ning quickly arrived at the small second floor of the Criminal Police Team, and as he approached the forensic doctor’s office, he heard voices from the next door. He was slightly surprised and glanced at his watch. It was only 7:30 in the morning—could it be that these people had come in so early?
He tiptoed to peek through the door’s window and saw that, indeed, many were busy inside.
Zhou Ning shook his head. These were the madmen who worked in technical fields. He hastened back to his office, turned on the computer, and logged straight into his email. He was anxious to know the results of the lab tests since they hadn’t been released yesterday, and there had been an argument with Xu Dayuan and the inspection center.
Fortunately, there were three unread emails in his inbox. Zhou Ning hurriedly clicked to open them.
He skipped the others and went straight to the results for the pathogen extract. There was no identification of greenish rice grains, only the presence of various greases. The component analysis matched the common ingredients used for surface coatings on spirit stopping charms. However, among the body fluids, a DNA sample not belonging to the victim was extracted.
And below this DNA sample, there was a line of red text stating:
Special attention, the sex chromosomes of this DNA sample are XXY.
Upon seeing this red annotation, Zhou Ning’s heartbeat accelerated. Such a unique DNA was highly specific.
Zhou Ning quickly flipped through the rest of the tests. After all, there were also bloodstains on the windshield. Finding the last page, indeed, the residual bloodstain matched another DNA found inside the victim. Zhou Ning slapped the table twice with force.
He had guessed right, really guessed right. It seemed the murderer had decided to act on the spur of the moment upon finding the victim alone. As for the DNA remnants inside the victim, they could be either from skin flakes and grease on the hands or from wounds on the hands.
Naturally, Zhou Ning leaned toward the latter. A wound on the hand had scraped against the windshield. When assaulting the victim, the murderer hadn’t paid any notice to this wound, especially since 90% of XXY individuals lack sperm.
As he clicked print, the door was opened. Liu Yongxin walked in with a swagger followed closely by Mr. Zhao. Seeing Zhou Ning with shining eyes, they both hesitated slightly in their steps.
"So early in the morning, what has got you so excited? Did you find a golden retriever’s head?"
Zhou Ning said with a smile,
"Almost that good. The lab report is out."
Liu Yongxin hurried to the printer and went through the reports one by one. By the end, his mouth was agape in awe. Mr. Zhao stood behind Liu Yongxin, also looked through them again, scratching his head with a puzzled face.
"What does XXY chromosome mean?"
Zhou Ning was in a good mood and naturally willing to explain,
"You should have learned this in biology class. In sex chromosomes, males are XY, and females are XX. People with XXY chromosomes usually have male XY physiological characteristics, along with varying degrees of feminization of secondary sexual traits due to a lack of androgens.
For instance, they might seem male, but have a short stature, less prominent Adam’s apples, no pectoral muscles but instead have thickened fatty tissue development, underdeveloped testes and facial hair, might have normal genitalia, but are sterile, or might suffer from hypogonadism.
Tennis player Sara Groneweld is an example of an XXY intersex individual. She underwent surgery to remove male reproductive organs at age 19 and is physiologically female, later competing in various women’s events."
Mr. Zhao’s mouth hung open, unable to recover from his shock for a long time.
"Does that mean the murderer is a ’hermaphrodite’?"
Liu Yongxin paused, not particularly excited, but rather concerned.
"This DNA clearly differs from the DNA in the bulletin request for assistance issued by the city bureau. Does that mean this case is unrelated to the red-dressed serial killings?"
Zhou Ning nodded, he’d thought of this as well.
"I think whether it’s an extension of the red-dressed serial killings or not has little to do with our investigation of this case. Let’s just do our job. If there is a connection, or if it overturns the previous investigation of the city bureau, that’s something to be discussed later. After all, for the time being, the only commonalities are the red dress and the severed fingerprints."
Liu Yongxin exhaled deeply.
"Let’s inform Doctor Lu; aren’t they still busy with the reconstruction of the five unidentified skulls?"
Zhou Ning picked up a printout and nodded to Liu Yongxin.
"I’ll mention it—why don’t you give this set of information to Xu Da, Zhou Ning suggested. I think that if the killer can clearly understand his own medical condition and still boldly assault victims, he must have sought medical examination. We can start from that angle." freёwebnovel.com
Liu Yongxin laughed.
"Exactly what I had in mind."
Zhou Ning, holding the report, went next door, where Doctor Lu, seeing Zhou Ning, hurriedly waved his hand.
"Doctor Zhou, come take a look—we’ve made some progress over here."
Zhou Ning folded the report in his hand and approached Doctor Lu. The latter was here to help, after all. No matter what, he couldn’t squash such enthusiasm, so he wasn’t in a rush to talk about the report.
Doctor Lu pointed to the display screen, which wasn’t the size of a regular computer monitor, but a sixty-inch LCD screen. On it appeared the colored headshots of five women, with options to select skin tone, hairstyle, and iris color beside each.
After a careful look, Zhou Ning realized that at the moment, all five had the same ear-length hairstyles, skin, and hair color. However, at a cold glance, it seemed these five shared a similarity. Exactly where, he couldn’t pinpoint—there was just this instant feeling of resemblance among them.
"We didn’t adjust the details; this is based on the software’s synthesis and it has calculated various facial feature data. However, for hair color and length, take a look for us. This is the case file from back then," said Doctor Lu.
As he spoke, Doctor Lu handed Zhou Ning a tablet with some electronic case file documents on it. Zhou Ning put the report down on the table and started to browse through them one by one.
The clarity of the crime scene photos was very high. However, one shouldn’t even think about the skin tone of a highly decomposed corpse—it swells to a purplish-black color, the face bore signs of multiple abuses, and as for the irises, they were indistinguishable. After all, once death exceeds 24 hours, the corneas begin to cloud over; after 48 hours, they become completely opaque.
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes, staring at the composite images for a while before Mr. Qu came over and handed him the control stick. The previous hairstyle, skin color, and iris color were Zhou Ning’s choices, as he felt Zhou Ning’s judgment in this area was more persuasive.
"Doctor Zhou, you can make adjustments."
Zhou Ning didn’t refuse. He took the control stick, looked at the first composite image, and, imagining the facial features of Cheng Chunyan, changed the hair to chestnut brown, the style to long curls, then adjusted the skin to be fairer, and the irises to dark brown—after all, that’s the most common color among people of Asian descent.
With these adjustments complete, he clicked apply and the first composite image changed completely. Doctor Lu propped his chin with one hand and looked at the reconstructed image.
"Why do I feel like this victim looks a bit like Cheng Chunyan, the one we reconstructed before?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"These people all share common features: wide distances between eyebrows and eyes, wide pupil spacing, thin lips, non-prominent cheekbones, and slightly protruding jawline. I wonder if there’s any way to compare them with the photos of the previous six identified victims."
Realization dawned on Doctor Lu, who quickly started searching on his computer. Meanwhile, Zhou Ning didn’t stop his work, hurrying to adjust the remaining four composite images one by one, choosing the same parameters for each as the first except for the hairstyle.
By this time, more and more people had gathered around the display screen, their eyes fixed on the composite images as they shared their thoughts. Mr. Qu leaned in closer.
"We can even add makeup to this, though I’ve input only a few types," Mr. Qu noted.
Zhou Ning smiled and shook his head. He didn’t understand makeup, but he knew that with the images adjusted to this state, a search through the household registration system would suffice.
Before he could articulate this thought, an excited Doctor Lu approached with a laptop in his arms, showing Zhou Ning.
"Doctor Zhou, take a look—these are the photos of those six victims. With what you’ve said, I just realized, despite these six girls being younger and still in school, their hair was big waves and dyed," Doctor Lu observed.
Zhou Ning took it and looked closely. Each page had two photos: one of the victim’s ID, the other from the crime scene, clearly showing the demarcation line from the dyed hair and the state of the long curls.
"I’ve just reviewed the inspection reports for these five victims, and the estimates of their body sizes were all around 160 centimeters tall and weighing 80-90 kilograms. It seems like the killer has a specific preference for chestnut brown curls and slender women," Zhou Ning remarked thoughtfully.
Zhou Ning paused, then added:
"Doctor Lu, the results of our case’s forensic report are out. We found a distinctive DNA on the victim’s body and the windshield, but it doesn’t match the one disclosed in the city bureau’s cooperation request. This might not be the twelfth red-dress serial murder case."
Doctor Lu waved his hand dismissively.
"Don’t get bogged down by details. We’re researchers; we must see hard evidence. We’re not trying to find faults with the city bureau, think of it as an experiment. Hurry up and search using the reconstructed images in the household registration system, give it a try!"
