T.N: Thank you MUGS for your continuous support, here’s one extra chapter! ❤️
When they arrived at the forensic lab, the medical examiner handed them masks before they went in. Xia Hang took one and put it on. Han Huaixiao took two, then passed one to him. Xia Hang glanced at it, accepted it, and also secured the second one properly.
He had already examined the crime scene photos of Guo Zhengqi’s body in the case files, but seeing it up close was an entirely different experience. Xia Hang felt both calm and unsettled at the same time. He had seen many corpses before… Intact ones, mutilated ones, bodies reduced to fragments, victims of gunfire, electrocution, savage animal attacks. Yet most of the bodies he had seen belonged to people who had brought disaster upon themselves, people who had reaped what they sowed.
However, Guo Zhengqi was different.
The old police officer had still been working a case an hour before his death. In his final moments, he had been protecting a victim. A police officer so principled and responsible, yet he had been hacked beyond recognition by a criminal. Now, he lay without dignity and unable to rest, hastily embalmed and preserved for two whole years after death.
And to this day, his killer was still roaming free.
Han Huaixiao glanced at Xia Hang and saw him with his head slightly lowered. Thinking that he might be shaken by the sight of the body, Han Huaixiao stepped closer and spoke in a low voice: “If you’re not feeling well, you can step outside first.”
But Xia Hang shook his head, signaling that he was fine.
Seeing that Xia Hang truly seemed all right, Han Huaixiao said nothing more, only putting on a pair of gloves and beginning his examination. He checked carefully, methodically, while Xia Hang stood beside him and watched. However, neither of them was a forensic professional. This was only a surface-level inspection, hoping that, from a criminal investigation perspective, they might catch some overlooked detail.
But in the end, they found nothing more.
When Han Huaixiao failed to uncover anything new, the people from the Sanshan County Public Security Bureau who were present all let out a quiet breath of relief. Every single person in the criminal investigation brigade had examined the body multiple times, especially the forensic staff. If Han Huaixiao had found something with a single inspection, the entire Sanshan County criminal investigation team would have had no face left to show. Yet even as they relaxed, a heavier feeling crept in. This case had dragged on for far too long. Without a key breakthrough, the longer it went on, the harder it would be to solve. Left unresolved long enough, it could easily become a cold case.
The police uniform Guo Zhengqi had been wearing at the time of the incident was also kept in the forensic lab, no longer looking like clothing at all, but more like a heap of shredded fabric. If the bloodstains had not been washed away by the torrential rain, the entire uniform would have been soaked through, though even after being rinsed by rainwater, the bloodstains could still yield DNA. The Sanshan County forensic team had tested the entire uniform thoroughly, yet they had not found DNA from anyone other than Guo Zhengqi himself.
“Captain Han, we just can’t figure it out,” Tang Gaoxiong said with a frown. “Old Guo was injured that badly. Could the killer really have escaped without a scratch? Otherwise, why isn’t there even a trace of the killer’s blood on his clothes?”
“Officer Guo was already in his fifties,” Han Huaixiao replied. “He had been working all day, and it was deep into the night when this happened. His physical strength was probably nearly depleted by then, and he had no weapon on him. The killer, on the other hand, had a weapon in hand and was very likely young and physically strong.”
That was why the struggle had ended so tragically. Yet even under those circumstances, Officer Guo had not given up, forcing the killer to resort to using his gun.
He had truly done everything he could.
Once again, the room fell silent. At that moment, the wounds on Guo Zhengqi’s body spoke more clearly than words, reminding everyone just how brutal and harrowing the scene must have been.
Han Huaixiao changed into a fresh pair of gloves and felt along the torn areas of Guo Zhengqi’s uniform, asking, “What kind of axe was the weapon?”
The medical examiner stepped closer, answering, “Have you seen the kind of axe rural households use to chop firewood? It was that kind. A straight-edged blade.”
“These days, most rural areas use gas. Not many people still burn firewood, right?” Han Huaixiao asked.
“In other places,” Tang Gaoxiong answered, “maybe axes are rare now. But Sanshan County is mountainous. In the countryside here, people rely on local resources for winter heating and go into the mountains to cut wood. Many households still keep an axe.”
“Did you check whether any households reported a missing one?”
“We did,” Tang Gaoxiong said. “But this is something many farming families own. You can buy one for a few dozen yuan. If one goes missing, people don’t bother reporting it. We had the local police stations conduct checks, but no one reported losing one.”
At that, Han Huaixiao continued, “Was the river searched for discarded evidence?”
“At the time, we cut off the upstream flow,” Tang Gaoxiong replied. “We searched the river from thirty kilometers upstream to thirty kilometers downstream of the crime scene, several times over, but found nothing. Either the killer didn’t throw the axe into the river, or the torrential rain that night increased the current and washed it much farther away. We notified all the police stations along the riverbanks and issued notices to nearby villagers as well, asking them to report immediately if they found an axe by the river. But to this day, no one has reported anything.”
Han Huaixiao nodded and removed his gloves. “Captain Tang, please take us to the crime scene again.”
“Of course,” Tang Gaoxiong said. “That night’s downpour destroyed the scene very thoroughly. Over the past two years, there have been many more heavy rains. We cordoned the area off, but it’s been badly damaged regardless.”
“You’ve already done everything you could,” Han Huaixiao said. “From here on out, we’ll keep pushing forward together.”
It was just that one sentence, yet it immediately reignited the spirits of the Sanshan County criminal investigation team. For a moment, everyone felt certain that this case would be solved.
………….
Sanshan County wasn’t very large. After driving a little over ten minutes, they were already out of the urban area, and another ten minutes later, they arrived at the crime scene. After getting out of the car, the group crossed the vegetable fields and made their way down to the riverbank.
Xia Hang scanned the surroundings. According to Han Huaixiao’s earlier words, Officer Guo must have done everything he could to leave behind clues. So… in a situation like that, in an environment like this, what kind of clue could he have left?
Tang Gaoxiong stopped at a patch of reeds along the riverbank and pointed to a spot, saying, “This is where Old Guo and Wei Zixuan were lying.”
Han Huaixiao visually measured the straight-line distance from the river to the reeds, noticing that it was less than twenty meters. “That night,” he asked, “with such heavy rain, didn’t the water level rise?”
“Under normal circumstances, it should have,” Tang Gaoxiong replied. “The river would’ve risen to this area, and their bodies should’ve been washed away. But there’s a dam upstream. At the time, many of the rice fields along the banks hadn’t been harvested yet. The authorities were worried that flooding would destroy the farmland, so that night, they closed the dam gates and intercepted most of the river’s flow. That’s why the water never reached the reeds. The killer left the bodies here in the open, without attempting to hide them. He probably assumed the rain would cause the river to rise and carry them away.”
Unfortunately, while the rain didn’t wash the bodies away, it also failed to preserve more clues.
Han Huaixiao crouched beside the spot where Guo Zhengqi and Wei Zixuan had lain. In his mind was the crime scene photo: Wei Zixuan lying on her back, beneath, with Guo Zhengqi sprawled over her.
“Why did the killer arrange Officer Guo on top of Wei Zixuan?” Han Huaixiao asked.
Xia Hang: “Could Officer Guo have been trying to protect her?”
“But the gunshot that killed him entered from the front, straight into his chest.” Han Huaixiao replied.
“We discussed this before,” Tang Gaoxiong said. “The prevailing theory is that Wei Zixuan’s fierce resistance, combined with Old Guo’s brave attempt to stop him, provoked the killer’s resentment toward both of them. Arranging their bodies in that position was likely meant as humiliation.”
As he listened, Xia Hang replayed the crime scene photos in his mind. Wei Zixuan’s top had been torn apart, her pants tossed aside, her lower body left exposed. Guo Zhengqi’s uniform was slashed in multiple places, his trousers torn as well, but still properly on, the wounds on his body horrifying to look at. If the killer had intended to humiliate both Guo Zhengqi and Wei Zixuan, then something about the way Guo Zhengqi was lying on top of her felt… off.
Yet no matter how he turned it over in his mind, Xia Hang couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
………………
T.N: Well, if the killer was betting on having the river wash away all traces and the bodies of the victims, there’s no point in displaying them in such a way when no one will be able to see them once they end up in the river, right?
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