Chapter 23: Your Eyes Are Sharp Indeed

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The car stopped in front of an apartment building.

“This is the place.” Qian Cheng pointed toward a window on the third floor. “After the landlord reported the case, our Forensics Department arrived at the scene immediately. I was responsible for photographing and preserving the traces we collected.”

Qian Cheng was beginning to regret telling the other man that he worked in the Forensics Department.

All along the way, Yu Dazhang had been bombarding him with questions, probing his assessment of the crime scene and the results of the investigation from every possible angle.

Now Qian Cheng was certain: this fat man had genuinely come looking for clues.

“Do you have the scene investigation report?” Yu Dazhang asked.

“I do. It’s in the car.”

Qian Cheng got out of the driver’s seat, opened the rear door, and took a folder from a cardboard box on the back seat.

Yu Dazhang got out as well. Once Qian Cheng had retrieved the report, he beckoned to him.

“Come on. We’re going upstairs.”

Go upstairs with you?

Qian Cheng nearly dropped the report.

Did this fat man think he was his superior?

It was true that Qian Cheng had proposed accompanying him, but Yu Dazhang was the newcomer here, wasn’t he?

Even if they were going to inspect the crime scene, Yu Dazhang ought to be following behind him.

Yu Dazhang had already taken several steps when he noticed that Qian Cheng had not followed. He urged him on.

“Come on. Stop dawdling.”

And now he’s accusing me of dawdling…

The veins on Qian Cheng’s forehead throbbed. He was sorely tempted to throw down the report.

Yet for some reason, his legs seemed to possess a will of their own and obediently followed after Yu Dazhang.

His mind said no, but his body was surprisingly honest.

He wanted to see what other useful clues this fat man could possibly uncover.

And if he couldn’t find anything…

Heh heh.

Just wait to be humiliated!

Upstairs, Yu Dazhang followed Qian Cheng’s directions to a room that had been partitioned off from the rest of the apartment.

This was a characteristic feature of rental housing in Songhai: a single apartment was divided into several small rooms and rented out to different tenants.

Compared with renting out the entire apartment, this allowed landlords to collect more rent, while tenants with limited means could find somewhere affordable to live.

A solution that benefited both sides.

After all, Songhai was a top-tier metropolis where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold. Low-income workers who wanted a place to live had little choice but to rent these tiny cubicles.

Yu Dazhang first swept his gaze across the empty room, which was barely a dozen square meters, then fixed his attention on the single bed against the wall.

“After the body was removed, the bed wasn’t disturbed, was it?”

Scene investigation was the Forensics Department’s responsibility, and Yu Dazhang was not particularly familiar with it. Each department had its own duties and areas of expertise.

“Of course not.” Qian Cheng explained confidently:

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“The principle of scene preservation is to maintain the original condition and prevent any alteration.”

“The most basic requirement is that nothing may be added and nothing may be removed.”

“Any object at the scene might bear traces connected to the crime.”

Whenever the subject turned to scene investigation, Qian Cheng seemed to become an entirely different person. His earlier casual manner vanished in an instant, replaced by focused seriousness.

“Good enough, then.”

Yu Dazhang did not argue with him. Qian Cheng was, after all, the professional in this field.

At the bedside, Yu Dazhang bent down until his head formed a right angle with the mattress. Starting at the head of the bed, he moved inch by inch toward the foot, carefully examining every detail of the bed with both eyes.

Qian Cheng watched his every move and felt that the fat man was making a needless spectacle of himself.

The investigation report is right here in my hands. You could simply read it.

Your behavior clearly shows that you don’t trust the professionalism of our department!

After watching for quite some time, Qian Cheng could no longer hold back.

“What are you looking for?”

“Don’t talk yet.” Yu Dazhang raised a hand, signaling him not to disturb his concentration.

A while later, Yu Dazhang reached the foot of the bed and remained there for a full two minutes.

It was as though something there had caught his attention and made it impossible for him to leave.

But in Qian Cheng’s eyes, there was plainly nothing at the foot of the bed.

“Let me see the footprints,” Yu Dazhang said, straightening and turning toward Qian Cheng.

“Oh, sure.”

Qian Cheng quickly flipped the report to the appropriate page and pointed to the photographs.

“After examining and collecting the evidence, we determined that all the footprints at the scene were left by a single person. Based on the footprints, the person was an adult male, presumably the suspect, Kong Lingjie.”

Yu Dazhang nodded, then asked as though seeking confirmation, “Are you certain there were footprints belonging to only one person?”

The question left Qian Cheng momentarily stunned. He had no idea what Yu Dazhang was getting at, but he answered anyway.

“There were footprints belonging to another person near the entrance. After comparison and verification, we confirmed that they belonged to the landlord.”

What use was there in confirming something like that?

Qian Cheng was becoming more and more bewildered.

At first, he had thought the fat man was merely pretending to be diligent. Yet judging from that earnest expression, it did not seem to be an act.

“All right. The rest is your job.”

Yu Dazhang motioned for Qian Cheng to come over to the bed, then pointed to a spot slightly left of center at the foot.

“See that tiny black speck? Collect it and have it tested.”

“Where?”

Qian Cheng followed the direction of Yu Dazhang’s finger. He changed angles several times, but still could not see the black speck.

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“It’s right there!”

Yu Dazhang was beginning to lose patience.

These days, apparently anyone could work in criminal investigation. With eyesight like that, he still wanted to examine crime scenes?

What a waste of time.

“There’s nothing there!”

Qian Cheng nearly pressed his face against the foot of the bed, yet he still could not see it.

“Look at my finger. It’s right beneath my fingertip.”

Yu Dazhang extended one finger and gently pressed it against the bedsheet.

“I see it! I see it! Ahhh, it really is a tiny black speck. Your eyesight is incredible. You actually noticed that?”

Qian Cheng cried out excitedly.

His head remained pressed close to the sheet, like a child who had just spotted a favorite toy.

“Even from this distance I can barely see it. It’s practically blended into the pattern on the bedsheet. How did you find it?”

This must be what people called a technical obsessive…

Yu Dazhang realized that Qian Cheng became especially animated whenever the subject involved his professional expertise.

At the same time, he discovered that his own eyesight was superior to that of ordinary people by more than simply being able to see farther.

His ability to discern minute details was also far greater.

“That isn’t important. Get to work.”

Yu Dazhang ignored Qian Cheng’s question outright. Something like this would be difficult to explain.

“Wait here.”

After saying that, Qian Cheng hurried downstairs. Before long, he returned with an evidence kit and a camera.

He took out the necessary tools and completed the collection, then placed the sample, now sealed in a glass container, back where it had been.

After photographing it for the record, he rose and nodded at Yu Dazhang.

“Done. We’ll have the test results by noon tomorrow at the latest.”

Seeing the thoughtful look on Yu Dazhang’s face, Qian Cheng continued, “Did you come here just to find evidence our Forensics Department overlooked?”

Qian Cheng did not believe this was an oversight on the department’s part.

The tiny black speck was nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye. Even with a magnifying glass, there was no guarantee anyone would have found it.

This had nothing to do with professional expertise. It was purely a contest of eyesight.

“No.” Yu Dazhang shook his head. “We’re looking for different things. You’re searching for traces that already exist. What I’m looking for…”

“Are traces that should have been there, but weren’t.”