Chapter Thirty: You Finally Look Like a Proper Person

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“I was only saying that. You actually took me seriously.” Yu Dazhang smiled. “If a case could be solved by guesswork alone, what would we need the technical department for?”

At that, Qian Cheng’s expression returned to normal.

That made sense. To determine the composition of an object, they still had to rely on the test results.

“I’ll go now. As soon as the report is ready, I’ll bring it straight to you.”

After saying this, Qian Cheng hurried out of the conference room.

The vast room now contained only Yu Dazhang.

He had realized it while assigning the tasks: no one in the task force, including his mentor, understood what he was doing.

He had instructed Lü Zhongxin to interrogate in the direction of proving innocence, while sending everyone else to investigate the social backgrounds of both sides involved in the case.

Those two decisions alone made it clear that Yu Dazhang had already concluded that Kong Lingjie was not the real murderer.

No one knew where his confidence came from.

Yu Dazhang himself felt helpless. He wanted to explain everything, but there were things he could not say aloud.

In his previous life, Kong Lingjie’s alibi had definitely been genuine. It had also been the most crucial evidence enabling him to escape conviction.

And that famous lawyer had certainly been hired for Kong Lingjie by someone else.

From these two points, it could be inferred that Kong Lingjie was merely a puppet pushed into the spotlight.

Unfortunately, Yu Dazhang could not speak of things that had not yet happened.

His current predicament was simple: he knew the truth, but he could not voice it.

Even if he claimed to be a reincarnated person, someone would first have to believe him.

.

Near noon, Qian Cheng returned with an examination report in his hand.

“The report is ready. Guess what that particle was?”

Qian Cheng looked excited. Whenever the subject involved his profession, he became abnormally animated.

“Carbon,” Yu Dazhang answered without hesitation. “More precisely, activated carbon.”

Qian Cheng: !!!!

He had let it slip. He had given himself away!

A moment ago, he had insisted that guesswork alone could not solve a case, and now Yu Dazhang had guessed it with astonishing accuracy.

Could this really be identified with the naked eye?

Were Yu Dazhang’s eyes connected to some kind of analytical instrument?

What on earth was he made of?

Seeing Qian Cheng standing there with his mouth open, staring blankly at him, Yu Dazhang smiled.

“It’s nothing to get so worked up about.”

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“The scene examination report states that the body was lying on its back on the bed, with the head positioned at the foot of the bed.”

“That particle was found at the foot of the bed. The only logical explanation is that it fell from the victim’s hair.”

“That is also the only hypothesis linking it to the victim.”

“Considering the condition of the rental property, it isn’t difficult to infer what role the particle played.”

What role? Qian Cheng looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Go on, big brother!

If I could figure it out myself, I wouldn’t be working in the technical department.

Seeing Qian Cheng looking as though he wanted to speak but could not, Yu Dazhang was a little bewildered as well.

Hadn’t he made the hint obvious enough?

With no other choice, he continued.

“When the two of us went to the scene that day, didn’t you notice anything strange about the place?”

Qian Cheng thought for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.

“Nothing particularly unusual. By the time we arrived, the scene examination had already been completed.”

Yu Dazhang had already surprised him by uncovering two new clues. He truly could not imagine what else might have been wrong.

“The smell!” Yu Dazhang said with an exasperated look. “At normal temperatures, a human body begins to give off an odor twenty-four hours after death. After forty-eight hours, the stench becomes unbearable.”

“But when Zhang Yan’s body was discovered, she had already been dead for four days. Considering the temperature in Songhai at the time, imagine how terrible the smell should have been.”

“Even if the body had been removed, the odor left behind would have lingered for at least a week.”

“But when we were in the rental property, there was an odd smell, yet it was very faint. You could hardly detect it without deliberately sniffing for it.”

“You said at the scene that the principle of scene preservation was to maintain its original condition.”

“That meant no one could have deodorized the place.”

“So the murderer must have used some method to preserve and treat the body…”

At this point, Qian Cheng’s eyes lit up, and he immediately raised a hand to interrupt.

“I know, I know! The murderer took advantage of activated carbon’s strong adsorption properties to remove the odor and preserve the body.”

He had figured it out, but only because Yu Dazhang had practically revealed the answer beforehand.

Looking at this newcomer, who had not yet been officially confirmed in his position, Qian Cheng began to question his own intelligence.

They had gone to the same scene. How had Yu Dazhang managed to notice so many unusual details?

While he himself had done nothing more than take a one-day tour of the crime scene.

Now he felt as though his thoughts had been unlocked, and his mind had become much more agile.

“The murderer must have read books on forensic medicine, and may even have received specialized training in the field,” Qian Cheng said as he pondered. “If the body had been preserved by freezing, that would definitely have been discovered during the autopsy. That is the kind of method an amateur would use.”

“Only someone who had studied forensic medicine would think of using activated carbon for treatment.”

“Not only would it conceal the odor, it would also effectively slow the decomposition of the body.”

“In other words, the victim’s actual time of death must be moved further back!”

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At last, you sound like a real investigator…

Yu Dazhang nodded in satisfaction.

He had previously suspected that Qian Cheng had joined the task force merely to make up the numbers. After all, it was rare for someone from the technical department to become part of a special task force.

But after spending time with him, Yu Dazhang discovered that Qian Cheng’s professional knowledge was nothing short of expert.

A man like that did not need to analyze the case himself. As long as he could offer a rapid professional opinion whenever a question arose, that was enough.

Just as he had done now.

Yu Dazhang had realized that the murderer had used activated carbon to preserve the body, but he had not known that activated carbon could also slow decomposition.

That was the difference between him and a true specialist.

“There’s something else.” Qian Cheng grew more confident as he spoke and began correcting Yu Dazhang. “What you said about the body becoming extremely foul-smelling after forty-eight hours wasn’t precise.”

“In reality, the body begins to soften after forty-two hours. As the muscles relax, urine and feces are expelled from the body…”

“All right, all right.” Yu Dazhang hurriedly cut him off. “You don’t need to give me a lecture. I only need to understand the general idea.”

Lunch was almost upon them. You’re doing this deliberately to ruin my appetite…

Yu Dazhang knew people like Qian Cheng. Once they started talking about their specialty, they became completely engrossed, eager to share everything they had learned.

Still, he had Qian Cheng to thank.

Without his professional knowledge, Yu Dazhang would never have known that the estimated time of death could be revised.

If the time of death were moved earlier, Kong Lingjie’s alibi would no longer hold.

“Brother Qian, you’ll need to make another trip to the forensic center.” Yu Dazhang spoke quickly. “Explain the new circumstances to the forensic pathologist and request a second autopsy. Determine the time of death as soon as possible.”

Yu Dazhang knew how important this was. The time of death was itself a form of evidence.

And words alone would not be enough. They needed a genuine, valid autopsy report.

“I’ll go now.”

As he spoke, Qian Cheng handed Yu Dazhang the particle examination report.

His conclusion about the inaccurate time of death had been reached through professional deduction.

That meant he had also played a role in advancing the investigation.

For that reason, Qian Cheng was now filled with energy.

Yu Dazhang, meanwhile, went to the room beside the interrogation chamber and picked up the microphone on the table.

“Master, let’s take a break. There’s been a development in the case.”

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