Ring, ring, ring...
A phone ringing pulled Zhou Ning out of his sleep. He fumbled for his phone and upon seeing the name "Xu Da" on the caller ID, he instantly perked up and quickly sat up to answer the call.
"Xu Da, good morning!"
"You haven't gotten up yet?"
"Um."
Zhou Ning blurted out the truth unconsciously, but why would his boss suddenly be concerned about whether he had gotten out of bed?
Wait, could it be that the case had progressed? He recalled that yesterday they had mentioned taking in the ex-boyfriend mechanic for questioning and that the rich heir, currently the boyfriend, was also cornered at the airport. Could there be a discovery?
"Xu Da, has there been progress in the case?"
Xu Dayuan laughed.
"Come to the station once you're awake, there's work for you."
After freshening up, Zhou Ning headed straight out the door and took a taxi to the criminal police team. Normally, he would walk, but he was genuinely anxious this time.
That unease was because the moment he put on his glasses, the countdown timer sprung up before him.
35:27—the time had suddenly reduced by a quarter.
According to the rules of that temporary mission, he had to find the vehicle and the driver responsible for hitting Su Manli. This was not as simple as picking option A or B in a multiple-choice question—if he made a mistake, he would lose everything he had obtained thus far.
Shortly after, Zhou Ning arrived at the criminal police team, jumped out of the taxi, and saw Xu Dayuan standing in front of the building smoking and waving at him.
"Making money now, are you? Why take a taxi?"
Zhou Ning felt a bit embarrassed and scratched his head as he spoke.
"The moment Xu Da mentioned progress in the case, I got anxious. I wanted to get here as soon as possible. Let me know what you need me to do. Just command me, Xu Da!"
Xu Dayuan was very pleased with Zhou Ning's proactive attitude and pointed toward two cars at the corner of the yard.
"We found the cars—one belongs to that current boyfriend, Yang Yufei, the Nissan GT-R he drives. The other is a Volkswagen CC found in Mr. Su's Volkswagen 4S shop maintenance garage, exactly where the ex-boyfriend, Wang Fuhao, works, concealed under a car cover.
I called you here to help us determine if this car was involved in the accident because, from the exterior, no traces of the accident seem to be visible, and as for that tire track testing you mentioned before, it's not feasible right now."
Zhou Ning nodded, trying to contain his excitement, and looked in the direction Xu Dayuan had indicated.
The two cars were parked side by side in the northwest corner of the building, seemingly brand new, and especially the CC which could be described as totally new. The sides of the tires were black as night, even the sprue from the injection molding completely intact.
The more carefully he looked, the less confident Zhou Ning felt.
This was the car involved in the accident?
Don't panic, the suspects have been apprehended and questioned all night; there's got to be something to go on, right?
"Xu Da, have neither of the suspects confessed to anything?"
Xu Dayuan stubbed out his cigarette, clearly exhausted.
"Both admitted to illegal racing on the Northern Outer Ring Road, betting on who would win Su Manli. The loser would back out. Neither, however, confessed to hitting anyone.
When asked what cars they drove, Yang Yufei said he drove the Nissan, but the mechanic, Wang Fuhao said they switched cars during the race. He drove the Nissan, claiming it was fairer since neither was familiar with the car's condition."
Zhou Ning was taken aback, trying to calm himself.
The suspects had been caught, and the cars were found. If it came down to it, he could just get closer and feel for any clues, hoping the system might provide a prompt. With that thought, Zhou Ning looked up at Xu Da.
"According to the ex-boyfriend, Wang Fuhao, they switched cars to drive. If we find Wang Fuhao's fingerprints in the Nissan, that could prove Yang Yufei is lying. As for the CC, I need to find the traces of the impact from hitting a person, right?"
Xu Da patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder with such force it almost knocked him over.
"Doctor Zhou, you're onto something! I've been at a loss for an hour, if I'd known, I would've called you at five in the morning."
Zhou Ning's face twitched—so ruthless!
But now, Zhou Ning was the one eager to find the hit-and-run car, so he ignored Xu Dayuan's excitement, contemplating how to attempt completing his task.
"Xu Da, I need a few helpers. I have to collect fingerprints from both suspects and inspect the vehicles. Oh, and bring Zhao Xinli over to help me; he knows cars better."
"You want people, you've got people. I'll send Mr. Zhao and the others to help you. As for the suspects' fingerprints, we already have them; they were sent to your forensics office in the middle of the night."
Xu Dayuan gestured and several police officers came running out, with Zhao Xinli holding two egg-stuffed pancakes, walking up to Zhou Ning with a grin and stuffing one of the pancakes into his hand.
"A blunt knife doesn't hinder the chopping of firewood, hurry up and eat!"
Zhou Ning smiled; this guy really was thoughtful. He didn't hesitate to take it.
Xu Dayuan, just about to say something, was interrupted by the sound of a car braking urgently.
Zhou Ning and the others turned their heads to see two cars had stopped in front of the police's small two-story building.
The first to get out was a girl in a red dress. She was petite and not particularly beautiful, but her curved smiling eyes added much charm.
Swiftly, she walked to the back door of the luxury car, assisting an exceptionally dignified middle-aged woman to step out, while a man dressed in a suit got out of the car next to them.
Seeing this middle-aged woman, Zhou Ning instantly guessed who she was: the mother of the rich second generation, Yang Yufei, and the Chairwoman of Lihua Group, Yang Lihua. It seemed his mother had brought people to their doorsteps. He quickly glanced at Xu Dayuan.
Xu Dayuan didn't move. The girl in the red dress led Yang Lihua up to Xu Dayuan, speaking first.
"This is Yang Yufei's mother. We would like to know when the related investigation on Yang Yufei might be concluded?"
Xu Dayuan nodded and glanced at his watch.
"Please understand, family members, the deceased was Yang Yufei's girlfriend. We need to confirm some matters with Yang Yufei and get information about the deceased.
However, on another note, he participated in illegal racing; we're entitled to detain him. Having him here for 24 hours for the investigation, I think, is reasonable."
"Ah, how can this be acceptable!"
The girl in the red dress, perhaps regretting having spoken out, turned her head away, but from Zhou Ning's angle, her face and the shape of her mouth were clearly visible—it looked like she muttered a curse under her breath.
Yang Lihua patted the girl in the red dress and turned to Xu Dayuan.
"Wenxuan, don't be anxious. I've brought a lawyer. Our company is public and can't withstand such issues. After all, no one wants to affect the city's economic development, right? We do hope that the Criminal Police Team can release him as soon as possible. As for the racing matter..."
Yang Lihua smiled, and a man dressed in a suit behind her stepped forward, handing Xu Dayuan a phone.
Xu Dayuan's brows furrowed, but he took the phone nonetheless, responding with nods and affirmatives like "Mhm, mhm, okay."
Yang Lihua nodded slightly, smiling gracefully.
"Then, we'll entrust this to you, Xu Da. We'll be leaving first."
After speaking, the girl in the red dress supported Yang Lihua and turned to leave.
At that moment, Zhou Ning, with his sharp eyes, noticed a small slit near the bottom of her backpack.
The edges of the slit were frayed, and there seemed to be purple-black marks at the bottom. Zhou Ning quickly looked at Xu Dayuan, wanting to speak, but Xu Dayuan raised his hand, stopping him.
These people hurriedly got into their cars and sped away.
Seeing the people leave, Xu Dayuan's expression grew even more solemn.
"Hurry up with your actions, go check those two cars. We don't have much time. Someone from the city is applying pressure. By the way, Zhou Ning, what did you want to say?"
"Check the identity of that girl in the red dress. There's a hole near the bottom of her backpack. The edges looked like they had bloodstains. Don't forget, Su Manli's cause of death was a stab wound!"
Xu Dayuan was taken aback, grabbing Zhou Ning's hand.
"Did you see clearly? Are you certain?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"I'm not certain, but when you mentioned the deceased, she muttered to herself, and then I saw her curse under her breath. You know the saying, respect the dead. No matter how much she may dislike or disdain, the person is already dead, yet her reaction was so much like... so like..."
Zhou Ning couldn't find the right words at the moment, and Zhao Xinli, having finished the last bite of his egg-filled pancake, interjected unclearly.
"A love rival!"
"Right, a love rival!"
Xu Dayuan fixed his gaze into Zhou Ning's eyes, as if trying to find some answer on his face.
"Why didn't you say sooner?"
Zhou Ning was speechless. How had this become his fault?
However, recalling what Yang Lihua had said, he hurriedly added:
"Yang Lihua called that girl... Wenxuan!"
Xu Dayuan went to adjust the surveillance to search for people, while Zhou Ning and the others hurried to inspect the two vehicles.
Touching the Volkswagen CC, Zhou Ning thought to himself and submitted a temporary mission: This is the hit-and-run vehicle.
After waiting quite a while, there was no response from the system at all.
It wasn't like the first time he submitted a mission, where it immediately popped up saying the mission submission was successful and proceeded to the reward draw. What on Earth was the reason? Had he answered incorrectly?
This thought was immediately dismissed by Zhou Ning. If he had been wrong, given the nature of this system, it would have downgraded his previous rewards long ago.
Thinking it over carefully, the temporary mission seemed to have two requirements.
That is to find both the vehicle and the perpetrator of the accident that injured the victim. It seems he had been too hasty. The first time he had not even thought about submitting the mission, it was just the thought that popped into his head, and the mission was considered complete.
Zhou Ning's eyes flashed, which meant that his current answer was not wrong, just not standard enough, or rather, his answer was correct, but it was not comprehensive enough and lacked evidence.
Beep beep, two sounds rang by his ear, and a transparent mission submission page popped up, displaying three conditions.
Evidence?
Driver?
Hit-and-run vehicle?
Zhou Ning gritted his teeth, thinking to himself it really was just like this, a trap within a trap. If he hadn't figured it out himself, there was no way to submit the mission, especially since the submission page hadn't even opened.
With a sigh, Zhou Ning looked at the detectives circling the car. Zhao Xinli had already taken down the crime scene kit, and the supplies were being distributed.
Collecting fingerprints didn't involve much skill, just meticulousness. Zhou Ning didn't rush to get in the car. He carefully brushed every surface that could be touched when opening and closing the car doors, such as door handles, windows, upper edges of the doors, and center console switches, with a special powder.
Several fingerprints appeared, which Zhou Ning carefully collected.
Doctor Zhou, I've found a few fingerprints here too."
Zhao Xinli was kneeling on the passenger side of the Nissan, with a barrier suit cushioning his knees, and sure enough, there were fingerprints and handprints on the gear stick.
Zhou Ning carefully extracted them, holding the collected items and looking toward the Volkswagen CC where three people were searching. How come there was no noise now?
Handing the items to Zhao Xinli, Zhou Ning walked towards the Volkswagen CC.
"Is there no discovery on this side?"
"We only found some fingerprints from nylon gloves, nothing else. It looks like this car has been carefully cleaned, even the interior smells cleaned."
Zhou Ning was somewhat dumbfounded. The car had been repaired, and the interior cleaned so thoroughly; how could he prove this car was the hit-and-run vehicle?
Stepping out of the car, Zhou Ning stood in front of it, studying the vehicle closely.
Mr. Zhao, making a car involved in an accident look brand-new like this within 24 hours, do you think that's possible?"
Zhao Xinli promptly shook his head.
"Impossible."
"Impossible?"
Zhou Ning was taken aback, and Zhao Xinli hurriedly opened the hood, pointing inside and explaining.
"Don't be in a rush. If it were panel beating and painting, of course, it couldn't be done. I've looked inside; the screws on the hood and other places don't show any signs of being turned, indicating they haven't been replaced. The victim's legs were broken, which means the car, going at high speed, hit the victim's legs and sent her flying.
If that's the case, the damage to the car wouldn't be severe; just replacing the bumper and headlights would be enough, and that wouldn't leave any noticeable traces. Of course, if replacement parts were taken from the same model car, we wouldn't be able to see the difference, and as for the tires, they've been changed too."
Zhou Ning pushed up his glasses, the image discovered at the first crime scene of the victim appearing on the transparent screen and rotating continuously. Zhou Ning stared at the glass shards on the victim's cheek and slowly shook his head.
"No, the victim didn't just suffer fractures to the left shin and fibula bones; there were also glass fragments on her left cheek, and there was bruising around the eye socket. This indicates that after her legs were hit, the side of her head collided with the glass."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xinli leaned over a corner of the windshield, scrutinizing with a magnifying glass for a long time, his eyes suddenly lighting up.
"Amazing, Doctor Zhou. This windshield has indeed been replaced. Although it's the original glass, the production date is wrong!"
This discovery left Zhou Ning silent.
With the windshield, bumper, and headlights replaced, if these removed parts were disposed of and the suspect continued to deny involvement, the car could not be identified as the hit-and-run vehicle. They could only prove that the two had participated in illegal racing. They surely overlooked something.
Zhou Ning stood in front of the car, silent for several minutes. The detectives seemed to want to say something but were stopped by Zhao Xinli. He had fully grasped Doctor Zhou's temperament by now; his contemplation wasn't a bad thing, perhaps he would come up with some good method soon.
Engrossed in thought, Zhou Ning suddenly had a flash of inspiration as he remembered the wounds between the victim's ribs and last night's lesson on crime scene sampling.
Zhou Ning sprang into action, found a bottle of Luminol reagent, and quickly sprayed it evenly on the hood. At the center of the hood, two columnar shapes and a large area of blue-green fluorescence appeared.
This discovery greatly boosted Zhou Ning's confidence. He leaned over from the side of the car's front, spraying the Luminol reagent into the crevice where the windshield met the hood, and sure enough, there was also a fluorescent reaction there.
On the wiper cover, Zhou Ning found two purple-black blood drops and waved to Zhao Xinli.
"Pass me the camera and get me the swab,"
Zhao Xinli hurriedly handed over the camera, then found the test tubes and swabs and approached Zhou Ning closely to watch him take pictures, asking eagerly.
"What did Doctor Zhou find?"
"Blood traces. I suspect this is the victim's blood, which fell on the wiper cover. It seems it wasn't discovered during cleaning, as they only wiped off the blood from the hood.
Although it's not possible to sample here, the shape of these two columns is exactly the same as the blood traces under the right ribs of the victim. I've sampled the blood drops. Hurry and send this to the county hospital's lab for a blood type comparison with the victim; this can be done at the county hospital."
Zhou Ning was speaking very fast, and his hands were moving even faster. He dipped the swab in distilled water, collected the blood sample, broke one end off, and put it in a test tube, which he handed to Zhao Xinli.
Zhao Xinli didn't waste any time and ran off with the tube while Zhou Ning climbed down from the car, holding the freshly collected fingerprints and palm prints, and went straight to the office on the second floor.
He turned on the computer with the bulky screen. Though the computer looked shabby, its performance was still decent, and it had fingerprint comparison software installed.
Zhou Ning entered the fingerprints and palm prints he had just collected, as well as those marked with the names Yang Feiyu and Wang Fuhao from his desk, and then he started the comparison process.
Excluding a few too damaged for comparison, several fingerprints showed a successful match. He directly clicked to print out the comparison results.
Zhou Ning clenched his fist and swung it, feeling relieved. Although the VW CC had no fingerprints, fingerprints of Wang Fuhao were found on the door and gear stick of the Nissan. This indirectly proved Wang Fuhao wasn't lying, and they really had switched cars.
As for who hit the victim, the answer was self-evident, but why would Wang Fuhao be so eager to get the car fixed in a hurry, helping Chen Yufei cover up these pieces of evidence?
As these thoughts bubbled up in Zhou Ning's mind, he heard that familiar notification sound in his ear.
Ding, congratulations, binding person, temporary mission submission successful!
Evidence: Fingerprint collection complete, blood trace extraction comparison successful;
Driver: Yang Yufei;
Vehicle involved in the accident: Volkswagen 2010 CC
Countdown remaining time: 33:30
Rewards are being distributed, loading time ten minutes.
Zhou Ning subconsciously sat down, remembering the discomfort of the previous loading process, he braced himself. This time it was not as bad as the first, though the feeling of something bursting in his head came again, just not as intensely painful.
This sensation lasted for quite a while, Zhou Ning even felt as if time had slowed down. As two dings sounded, all the discomfort dissipated.
Zhou Ning slumped in his chair, gasping for air, and curiously sifted through the forensic field knowledge in his mind. When other comparisons showed no results, he directly flipped to the end of the section on rubber mark examination and found the paper listed there.
Indeed, the last paper was from 2019, [Year (Volume) Issue]2019(036)008, Zhou Ning excitedly rubbed his hands together.
Awesome, he had gained another three years of new knowledge.
Taking the comparison results in hand, he had not even risen when the door to the office was pushed open and Xu Dayuan strode in. Seeing the expression on Zhou Ning's face, he asked hopefully.
"How'd it go? Did you find any evidence?"
........
PS:
[1]Luminol: (Luminol) also known as luminescence ammonia. Its chemical name is 3-aminophthalhydrazide. It is a yellowish powder at room temperature, a relatively stable synthetic organic compound.
For blood traces that are not visible to the naked eye at crime scenes, Luminol reagent can reveal extremely small blood trace patterns (latent blood reactions), and Luminol is a relatively strong weak acid, which can cause irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract.
Since hemoglobin contains iron, which can catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, turning hydrogen peroxide into water and singlet oxygen, the singlet oxygen then oxidizes Luminol to make it glow. Therefore, Luminol is widely used in criminal investigation, bioengineering, chemical tracing, and other fields.
In forensic science, Luminol reaction can identify blood stains that have been wiped and dated back a long time. In biology, Luminol is used to detect the presence of copper, iron, and cyanides in cells.
[2]Swab: Can be understood as an extended version of a cotton swab, with a head that can be broken off, generally used as a medical examination tool for collecting microorganisms, shed cells, or secretions.
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