Chapter 56: Two Lives Gone in One Breath

Shu Yan asked Taozi, "So what kind of guy are you looking for?"

Taozi replied, "I don't know, just go with the feeling. If the feeling is right, that's it. I haven't found the right person with the right feeling yet."

"What about your ex-boyfriend then? Why did you break up?" Shu Yan asked curiously.

Taozi showed a look of disgust, "Don't even mention that trash. When we were dating, he cheated on two boats and I caught him red-handed. He still refused to admit it, so I gave him a severe beating and told him to get lost."

The police officer walking in front turned his head and said with a smile, "A man like that really deserves a thorough beating."

Shu Yan agreed, "There's no need to keep trash around. Getting rid of it quickly is the right thing to do."

Taozi giggled, "Don't worry, Sister Yan, I'm not love-brained, and I don't think I liked him all that much anyway."

After hiking for about ten minutes, the four of them finally arrived at the crime scene.

At this point, the scene had already been cordoned off with police tape, and officers from the local police station were guarding it.

Seeing them arrive, Gao Yi ran over to report to Shu Yan:

"There are multiple slash wounds on the victim's back, but none of them were fatal with a single blow. If she had been sent to the hospital in time, she could have been saved." He wore a look of pity and regret.

Taozi asked curiously, "Brother Yi, do you mean the victim died of excessive blood loss?"

"What is the time of death?" Shu Yan asked.

Gao Yi answered, "Oh, judging by the livor mortis, rigor mortis, and body temperature, the victim's time of death should be between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM yesterday."

"The village chief said he saw the victim enter the mountain around 3:00 PM yesterday. At that time, he even greeted her, and the victim said she was going to dig for bamboo shoots."

Lu Chengfeng said to himself, "The victim entered the mountain at 3:00 PM and died between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM. Does that mean we only need to screen the people who entered the mountain during that time window?"

Yet, Shu Yan felt something was amiss.

She explained, "If the victim died from excessive blood loss, it's very difficult for us to determine when she was slashed, because this is a slow process of dying."

Unfortunately, the others did not understand what she meant, and she herself had not yet fully sorted out her thoughts.

"So before dying, the victim might still have been conscious," Taozi exclaimed.

That was the most painful process of dying.

Shu Yan stopped talking and put on her investigative gear one by one—gloves, cap, and shoe covers.

When putting on her face mask, she deliberately wore two.

However, when she walked up to the victim, she was still overwhelmed by the pungent, bloody stench wafting over from the scene.

She quickly turned around, ran to the side, took off her mask, and started retching.

Liu Xun looked in Shu Yan's direction and muttered, "Why is Director Shu vomiting again?"

Gao Yi was also puzzled. "Hey, Sister Yan, you really should take some time off and go to the hospital for a check-up. You can't go on like this."

The only person at the scene who knew the truth, and the instigator himself, Lu Chengfeng, pulled a bottle of water and a pack of tissues from his bag and walked over.

He handed the tissues to Shu Yan. "Don't go over there. Just ask the crime scene investigation team for their camera to look at the photos."

Shu Yan took the tissues to wipe her mouth, then took the mineral water from Lu Chengfeng's hand to rinse hers.

After finishing, she shoved the water bottle back into Lu Chengfeng's hand, said nothing, put her mask back on, and turned to walk back.

Holding her breath, she quickly walked to the side of the corpse and squatted down to examine it.

While conducting the surface examination of the body, she rapidly committed the physical signs to memory in her mind; they were basically consistent with what Gao Yi had stated.

After finishing the inspection, she quickly stood up and walked aside to catch her breath.

Only then did Lu Chengfeng realize that Shu Yan had held her breath for a very long time just now.

He couldn't help but tighten his brow.

Once she caught her breath, Shu Yan held it in again and turned back to inspect the area surrounding the victim.

When she saw the machete not far from the victim, she hurried over to take a look.

Gao Yi walked over and said, "This knife should be the one the victim used to dig for bamboo shoots. I think the slash wounds on the victim's body were probably caused by this kind of machete. I asked Village Chief Huang, and he said every household in the village has a knife like this."

"But Chief Huang said they searched the vicinity and didn't find a similar murder weapon. The murderer most likely took the knife away."

Shu Yan handed the knife to Lu Chengfeng, who was following closely behind her.

She analyzed, "At the very least, we can now be certain that the murderer is very likely a local villager, who also has a similar machete at home, should be someone who frequently comes to the mountain to dig for bamboo shoots, and is extremely familiar with the terrain and the victim."

"So the possibility of the crime being committed by someone the victim knew is very high," Lu Chengfeng agreed.

He turned to look at Liu Xun. "Liu Xun, did you hear that? Step up the investigation into the victim's interpersonal relationships. Also, go door-to-door in the village to find out who all entered the mountain to dig for bamboo shoots yesterday afternoon."

"And by the way, check which households have similar machetes."

Liu Xun nodded. "Yes, Captain Lu. Should I take a few people down the mountain to conduct the interviews and investigations first?"

"Go ahead," Lu Chengfeng replied.

"Wait a minute," Shu Yan called out to stop Liu Xun, asking, "Where is the victim's mobile phone?"

Chief Huang walked over to explain, "The victim's mobile phone wasn't found at the scene, so we also suspect whether this might be a robbery."

Shu Yan said, "If only the phone is missing, we cannot determine it's a robbery. It's also possible the killer was afraid the victim wasn't dead yet and wanted to prevent her from going down the mountain to call the police."

Liu Xun remarked, "Anyway, the killer wanted her dead and cut off all her chances of survival."

Taozi sighed, "Just how deep of a grudge must this be?"

Yang Guang sidled up to Shu Yan and asked, "Sister Yan, can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead," Shu Yan replied.

Yang Guang hesitated for a moment. "It's just... why are all the victim's injuries on her back? If someone wanted to commit murder, shouldn't they slash the front?"

Gao Yi chimed in from the side, "It's not that the killer didn't want to slash the front, but that the victim wouldn't let the killer do so. Didn't you see the victim's hands? She was protecting the baby in her belly. She wanted to protect her child even in death."

Shu Yan's heart tightened, and a mist blurred her vision.

Her hand moved down to her abdomen.

Two lives lost in a single tragedy; she must solve this case as soon as possible to avenge the victim and her unborn child.

Lu Chengfeng's expression was also very grave, and he took in all of Shu Yan's subtle actions.

Zhang Yong, the head of the crime scene investigation team, walked over and sighed, "There are bamboo leaves everywhere here, so it's completely impossible to extract footprints, nor are there any other useful clues. Director Shu, the pressure is on your team now."

Shu Yan nodded slightly and carefully surveyed the scene once more to avoid having to re-inspect it later.

Coming up here once wasn't easy, so she wanted to avoid making a second trip if possible.

After confirming that no details were missed, she instructed Gao Yi to have the body carried down the mountain and taken back to the municipal bureau's forensic center for an autopsy.

The heavy task of carrying the victim down the mountain fell upon the local police officers.

By this time, the victim was in the stiffest stage of rigor mortis, and stuffing the body into the body bag took a great deal of effort from everyone.

Carrying the corpse, it took them half an hour to reach the foot of the mountain.

Lu Chengfeng needed to stay behind to conduct interviews and investigations, so Shu Yan went back with the investigation vehicle.

It would take two hours to return to the municipal bureau, and the autopsy would take at least another two hours.

This meant it would be at least four hours before she could report the autopsy results to Lu Chengfeng and the others.

Shu Yan hurriedly boarded the investigation vehicle with her team members and left, while Lu Chengfeng asked Chief Huang and the village chief to take him to the victim's home.

The two men got into his car, and Chief Huang sat in the passenger seat to guide the way.

After driving for about five minutes, Chief Huang pointed to a house at the entrance of the village and said, "We've arrived. It's that rundown house right at the village entrance."