S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 10

The Digital Killer 10: Clues 

Early the next morning, a radiant, high-spirited Zhan Zhao and a yawning Bai Yutang walked through the main gates of the police department together.

"By the way, why did you sleep on the floor last night??" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, utterly perplexed.

Bai Yutang felt a wave of sheer exasperation...

Just as they stepped into the main lobby, they ran into Zhang Long, Wang Chao, and Ma Han, who were walking over while cradling massive stacks of files.

"Boss!" Zhang Long looked up and spotted Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

"How is it going?" The two took a portion of the files from their hands, and the group walked toward the elevator together.

"Whew..." Zhang Long shook his head. "There is a mountain of information here. The victims all vary wildly, and no matter how much we look it over, there doesn't seem to be anything special. Still, we've brought all the files back and plan to dig into them for another couple of days."

"Wang Chao, did you find those documents at Wu Hao's house?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Heh..." Wang Chao let out a bitter laugh and said, "It was completely bizarre. When we arrived there, we ran right into fire engines putting out a blaze!"

"What?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were startled at the same time. "Wu Hao's house caught fire?"

"That's right. It took them half an hour of dousing it to put it out. We went inside to check, and anything made of paper was entirely incinerated."

"Are you saying only the paper was burned?" Bai Yutang asked.

"The arson department experts inspected the scene and said it was very clearly intentional arson! Moreover, the primary targets were the bookshelves, cabinets, and desks—the exact places used to store paper." Wang Chao shrugged. "Later, we combed through the place again and managed to find a few fragments and some... paper ash..." As he spoke, he showed a cardboard box in his hands to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. "This is a gift for Jiang Ping."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other and smiled. "This will be enough to keep Jiang Ping busy playing jigsaw puzzles for the whole afternoon."

Exiting the elevator, they walked briskly toward the Special Crime Investigation bureau office.

"Where did Zhao Hu go?" Bai Yutang looked around and saw no sign of Zhao Hu in the office. "How is the investigation into that black Honda I asked him to look up?"

"We've already found it; it's a stolen vehicle." Buried in front of his computer, Jiang Ping raised his head. "The colleagues from the traffic department called just a moment ago. He went downstairs to grab the files..."

The office door was pushed open, and a somber-faced Gongsun walked in.

The moment Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw his expression, they knew he must have spent the entire night in the dissection room.

"How are things?" Bai Yutang asked as he handed over his own coffee, which he hadn't yet had time to drink.

"Heh..." Gongsun let out a cold laugh, took the coffee, and said, "This fellow is an absolute, thorough psychopath!!" As he spoke, he handed a thick autopsy report over to Bai Yutang.

"Alright everyone! Meeting time." Bai Yutang called the team into the conference room.

Gongsun first explained Wu Hao's cause of death. "Yesterday's preliminary examination at the prison pointed to poisoning because his heart stopped working under abnormal circumstances. However, I didn't find any common poisons in his stomach or his blood afterward. Instead, I found something else."

Gongsun paused for a moment and said, "A narcotic."

...? ... Bai Yutang and the others were stunned. What on earth was that?

"Meperidine." Zhan Zhao suddenly frowned, looking at Gongsun as he said, "Its effects and mechanisms on the human body are similar to morphine, but its analgesic and anesthetic potency is smaller, equivalent to only one-tenth to one-eighth of morphine. It is a strictly controlled anesthetic substance."

Gongsun nodded.

"Drugs?" Bai Yutang looked at Gongsun. "Wu Hao has no history of substance abuse. Besides, the potency of meperidine is relatively mild; how could it cause his death?"

Gongsun continued to nod. "That is precisely why I said this fellow is a psychopath." Next, he pulled out another photograph and placed it in front of everyone. "This is the left side of the victim's chest, right over the heart area. Look!"

The group leaned in to take a closer look. They saw a tiny red dot located directly over the position of the heart on the left chest of the corpse.

"What is this?" Zhang Long was puzzled.

"A needle puncture," Gongsun replied.

"I get it..." Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao. "Cat, remember what that lunatic from Cell Number Two said? That the doctor had a needle in his hand?"

Zhan Zhao nodded. Bai Yutang turned back to ask Gongsun, "The killer drove the needle directly into Wu Hao's heart and injected the meperidine right into it, didn't he?"

Gongsun adjusted his glasses with his index finger and said, "Correct! With just a single syringe plunging down, a person will die of heart failure within five minutes."

Exchanging glances, everyone's faces were written with utter astonishment.

Zhan Zhao picked up the photograph. "This person might truly be a doctor."

"I think so too," Gongsun agreed. "Even if he isn't a doctor, his profession must allow him access to this kind of controlled anesthetic. Furthermore, looking at the location and technique of his injection, he has absolutely received professional training."

Just then, the conference room door was pushed open, and Zhao Hu rushed in breathlessly. "Boss, the report is here."

With that, he handed a file straight into Bai Yutang's hand.

Bai Yutang flipped it open and saw that it was a registration form for a stolen vehicle. After looking down at it for a moment, his expression instantly turned grave.

"What's wrong? Is there an issue with the car?" Seeing Bai Yutang's poor expression, Zhan Zhao asked hurriedly.

"There is nothing wrong with the car," Bai Yutang shook his head and said. "It's just that the location where the car was stolen is a bit subtle."

...? ...

"Subtle? What do you mean?" Zhan Zhao looked at him in confusion.

Bai Yutang turned his face to look directly at Zhan Zhao, speaking in a rarely serious tone, "It was at the north gate of C University."

...! ...

"Cat, I recall that you go to C University every week to give a lecture to the psychology students, right?"

"..." Zhan Zhao nodded. "The north gate faces the psychology department building directly..."

Bai Yutang closed the report, looking slightly worried. "A car stolen at the exact place where you give your lectures was tailing you all day yesterday, and even tried to run you down last night."

Zhan Zhao let out a helpless, bitter smile. "It seems... they are coming for me…”