Free Web NovelChapter 97: Chapter 97 He is the Murderer_1
A ring from the phone alarm woke Zhou Ning up; he grabbed his cellphone, discovered it was the alarm, quickly shut it off, but Zhou Xiaoyu on the hospital bed was already awake. Zhou Ning revealed a smile.
"Awake? I’ll go buy you breakfast right now!"
Zhou Xiaoyu grabbed Zhou Ning’s hand, stopping his movements.
"Don’t make such a fuss, alright? I’m perfectly fine, why do I need to stay in the hospital?"
"Observing for 24 hours is necessary, you must listen to me on this."
Zhou Xiaoyu pressed her lips together.
"Brother, tell me the truth, is there something wrong with Cui Guanglin?"
Zhou Ning looked at Zhou Xiaoyu; this girl wasn’t particularly outgoing. The only outrageous thing she had done was date Cui Guanglin, completely disregarding their aunt’s opposition. The two had been in a relationship for over a year, and it was false to say there were no feelings involved. However, regardless of whether this man was a suspect in the Red Dress Serial Killing case, they had to break up.
"According to relevant regulations, I can’t disclose case details to you, but there is one thing I can tell you. Cui Guanglin has issues. He went to a hospital in the provincial city for a check-up in August 2004, and it revealed that he has XXY chromosomal abnormality, which is what people refer to as an intersex individual."
Zhou Xiaoyu was stunned, sat straight up in bed, and stared intently into Zhou Ning’s eyes.
"Are you lying to me?"
Zhou Ning sighed; often the truth is the hardest for people to accept. He unlocked his phone, found a previous screenshot, and handed it to Zhou Xiaoyu.
"Private hospitals take a screenshot every time they see a patient. They archive the symptoms and the patient’s facial features. After all, they know most visitors use fake names, so it’s like keeping a record of everything. Take a look, is this him?"
Zhou Xiaoyu took the phone, her fingers sliding across the screen, zooming in on the photo until the whole screen filled with a nose, then stopped her movements and handed the phone back to Zhou Ning.
This mole was the feature Zhou Ning recognized at a glance as belonging to Cui Guanglin, and Zhou Xiaoyu naturally recognized it as well.
After a lengthy silence, Zhou Xiaoyu looked at Zhou Ning again.
"Then what? There must be other issues for you to have dug this up, right?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"You should know, I’m from the forensic department of the criminal police team. If we are investigating, it’s definitely not a minor case. It’s either serious injury or a major criminal case. That’s all I can say for now.
I’m waiting for a lab result. Later, when I go to the office, I will be able to confirm whether he’s the suspect in a case I’m working on. Once the DNA comparison comes back, we can determine that he’s the murderer. And his problems don’t end with just this one case."
Zhou Xiaoyu nodded, continuously picking at the blanket in her hands.
"He never touched me. He said he wanted to wait until we were married, that it would make it seem more sacred..."
"I know, I’ve had someone check you. Alright, stop thinking about it and forget this man. If you don’t want to stay in the hospital, wait for me to get off work later, and I’ll come pick you up to stay at my place for a few days. Once you’ve had the stitches removed from your head, you can do whatever you want."
Zhou Xiaoyu shook her head, trying hard to show Zhou Ning a smile.
"I’m not that fragile. I’ll go to school in a bit; I can’t neglect the students’ curriculum, especially since I’m leading a senior class, and we’re already into final reviews. Plus, the sooner I go back, the fewer rumors there’ll be."
Avoiding the wound, Zhou Ning gently rubbed the top of Zhou Xiaoyu’s head.
Actually, the more composed she appeared, the more Zhou Ning worried. Even bursting into tears now would be better than such rationality; at least that would allow her emotions to be released.
"I’ve spoken to Xu Da and Mr. Bai; the school won’t make things difficult for you, nor will they mention this matter. If Cui Guanglin’s case breaks out later, the school will also actively cover up these traces. If you want to go to school, I won’t stop you, but you have to call me every day to check in. Can you do that?"
Zhou Xiaoyu sighed, seeing that Zhou Ning was not going to back down, and rolled her eyes at him.
"You’re more annoying than my mom. Honestly, my relationship with Cui Guanglin wasn’t that deep. Maybe because I was too obedient for the first twenty-five years, I always wanted to contradict her. When Cui Guanglin pursued me and escorted me home, which she saw, I felt even more that I should give it a serious try.
When he proposed marriage, I didn’t reject him either. After all, we worked at the same place and were both teachers. I thought this was the life that ordinary people should lead, so I went along with it. Now that you say he’s abnormal and involved in serious cases, I have nothing to hold onto."
With his hanging heart finally at ease, a smile finally appeared on Zhou Ning’s face.
"Hearing you say that, I can rest easy. Now I’ll go buy breakfast."
...
March 20, 2011 7:10 AM frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Zhou Ning had already rushed into the office.
Still trying to catch his breath, he had just received a call from Liu Yongxin, telling him to check his email. The final test had been completed and everything was sent to his inbox. Liu would be back soon too.
Turning on the computer, Zhou Ning logged into his email quickly and downloaded several unread messages. He didn’t even read the reports before printing them.
Watching the printer anxiously, Zhou Ning felt nervous. Just then, the door opened, and Liu Yongxin and Mr. Zhao came in together, both gasping for air as well.
"Quickly, see what the comparison results in the report are! I’ve waited for ages. The people at the testing center were pestered to the brink, saying they’d just sent it to my email without letting me see the result. I couldn’t see it on my phone either; it was killing me."
Although Liu Yongxin was rambling, he rushed over upon seeing Zhou Ning holding the report without saying a word, and began examining the freshly printed pages one by one.
There were many results from the sampling comparison, and what Zhou Ning held in his hand was the DNA comparison results. Cui Guanglin’s DNA perfectly matched the DNA extracted from the victim of the March 10th case, belonging to the same person.
This sentence exploded in Zhou Ning’s mind—it was actually Cui Guanglin!
Zhou Ning clenched his molars. When you don’t know the suspect, you can remain detached; but when the suspect is someone you know, and almost harmed your own sister, that feeling chills you to the bone.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, what’s wrong?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Cui Guanglin’s DNA matches the DNA extracted from the body of the 3.10 case victim. We can send this to Xu Da. Didn’t they interrogate Cui Guanglin all last night? Maybe this will have an effect."
Mr. Zhao grabbed the report and ran with it. Liu Yongxin glanced at the other reports—they were quite consistent with the previous deductions. He patted Zhou Ning’s shoulder.
"Kid, I understand how you feel. Feeling a bit haunted, huh?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"If we’d been late yesterday, who knows what Cui Guanglin might have done. I haven’t even looked at the other reports yet. Any other findings?"
Liu Yongxin put the stack of remaining reports in Zhou Ning’s hands.
"The scab extracted from the 3.10 case contains Cheng Chunyan’s DNA. This discovery is solid evidence. It’s just that I don’t know if we can link it to previous cases. After all, Cui Guanglin’s DNA has nothing to do with the DNA mentioned in the municipal bureau’s circular."
Zhou Ning knew that linking these twelve cases together was the most difficult task. Reliance solely on the red coat and severed fingertips as evidence would be insufficient. If Cui Guanglin refused to admit anything, then it was an impasse, especially since the evidence left from the previous cases was too sparse.
Furthermore, trying to combine cases would not go smoothly with the municipal bureau, as the DNA in the assistance request had all been circulated, and moreover, this case was already filed with the Ministry of Public Security. This would be an outright slap in the face and could even lead to an investigation of responsibility.
Just then, Xu Dayuan entered the room with Mr. Zhao following behind.
"Everyone’s here. With the lab report finalized, we have solid evidence."
Liu Yongxin nodded.
"Yes, it proves that Cui Guanglin is the culprit of the 3.10 case beyond doubt."
Xu Dayuan sighed.
"Don’t be discouraged. I know what you’re worried about. Even though Cui Guanglin is stubborn as a dead duck, he can’t hide from hard evidence. We’ve prepared various reports related to this case. I just called Mr. Sun to propose combining the cases. Mr. Sun will handle this. Once the search warrant is issued, we can search Cui Guanglin’s house."
"The autopsy report has been ready for ages. Just need to add the test report, and we’ll be good to go. Should we follow to the scene when the search warrant comes?"
Xu Dayuan waved his hand.
"No rush. We’ll wait for Mr. Sun’s command. Zhou Xiaozhou, come with me to listen to Cui Guanglin’s interrogation. He didn’t mention the reason for the incident with Xiaoyu either."
Liu Yongxin patted Zhou Ning’s shoulder, knowing well the close relationship Zhou Ning had with his sister and understanding Zhou Ning’s concern for this case.
"Go and listen. I’ll organize the materials. I’ll also see if I can get a feel for the atmosphere over there. The assistance request doesn’t specify the source of the DNA found on the victims. Without crucial information like this, it’s hard to combine the cases if there’s no match.
After all, we need to speak with evidence. Mere suspicion, and the red down jacket and fingertip injuries, are insufficient to link these cases. Even if we take this to the provincial department, it would be difficult to garner support."
