Mystery Hunter

Wang Chao watched the BMW car disappear in a cloud of dust and turned his attention to Jiang He, who was standing beside him.

“Why were you arguing with that driver?” he asked.

Jiang He made a note of the car’s licence plate and asked Wang Chao, “Can you find out who the driver is?”

Wang Chao shook his head. “We can’t use our resources for personal retaliation, no matter how much we want to,” he said firmly.

“Okay, fine. Let’s talk about me then,” said Jiang He, sensing Wang Chao’s underlying question.

“Yes,” Wang Chao agreed as he walked towards the Public Security Bureau, patting Jiang He on the shoulder. “You’re not really a police officer here, are you? What are you doing, and why did you pretend to be one just to solve a case?” Wang Chao asked in a stern tone.

Jiang He looked around him and knew that running away would only have a 5% chance of success. He opted to face the questions head-on.

“You can check my ID card. I have no criminal record,” remarked Jiang He, trying to dispel Wang Chao’s suspicions.

“It’s not your criminal record that I’m worried about,” Wang Chao said, but he was cut short by a police officer who was approaching them.

“Li Weiyi jumped from a building,” the officer said, interrupting their conversation.

“What?” Wang Chao was taken aback.

“Li Weiyi is dead. He jumped from a building an hour ago,” the officer repeated.

Wang Chao and Jiang He exchanged a glance in disbelief. Li Weiyi was the person who had been accused of killing Feng Bin, and the case had just been closed. What could have driven him to take his own life?

The officer continued with his report. A cyclist discovered Li Weiyi’s body while riding home. The police had arrived quickly, and by the time the ambulance had arrived, it was too late. The forensic team was still investigating the scene.

Wang Chao turned to Jiang He. “Let’s go and see what’s happening. Your work can wait,” he said.

Jiang He nodded in agreement, and they headed toward the scene. As they arrived, they saw a crowd of people gathered around the area, all trying to get a glimpse of the body. Wang Chao couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness for the lack of privacy in death. The forensic team had already started their investigation. Li Weiyi’s body was lying on the ground, twisted and broken. Jiang He paid close attention to the scene, taking note of the injuries on Li Weiyi’s body.

It appeared that he had suffered several contusions and fractures, and his skull was bleeding. As Jiang He continued his observation, he noticed a shoe lying six meters away from the body. The top of Li Weiyi’s clothing was twisted up to his chest, revealing his naked body. The belt was frayed, and the hems were rolled up. Jiang He knew that something was not right about the scene. He needed to investigate further to get to the bottom of this tragedy.

Jiang He took a closer look at Li Weiyi’s face. Blood had leaked from his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth, and his left face bore a large contusion. The blood had started to coagulate, giving his face a gruesome appearance. As the police investigated the scene, a familiar voice called out from the crowd.

It was Xu Yiman, the forensics expert. She hurried over to the corpse and gaped in terror

“Li Weiyi?” she gasped. “Did he escape?” asked Xu Yiman, turning toward Wang Chao, the lead investigator.

“It’s a long story,”replied Wang Chao, shaking his head. “Li Weiyi is not the real culprit. Someone else is involved in this murder. Let’s focus on examining Li Weiyi’s injuries and gather evidence first.”

Xu Yiman nodded and began to inspect the body. She slipped on her gloves and replied, “This is a common scenario. High-impact injuries, multiple blunt injuries, and fractures on the body. Even the clothing has been torn, which indicates a significant force during the fall.”

She continued, “The belt is broken, the shirt is rolled up, and the shoes have been thrown off. When people fall from a height, their clothing can come off, which may lead to false accusations of sexual assault. These baseless rumors merely make the victim’s family feel worse.”

The crowd murmured in agreement as Xu Yiman examined Li Weiyi’s body. “Internal bleeding is a sign of a high fall injury,” she explained. “Because his skull was crushed, there is less blood on the scene. Yet, you can see that blood had leaked from his mouth, nose, and other spots. This is a clear indication of internal bleeding, which makes it difficult to determine the exact cause of death without an autopsy. We need to transport the body to the hospital and perform an autopsy to confirm the cause of death,” Xu Yiman concluded.

Xu Yiman sighed and said, “A good person is dead again.”

Several officers from the nearby police station nodded, and one of them asked, “Since you all know the person’s name, do you want to notify his family?”

“There’s no one to be notified,” Wang Chao said as he sighed at the policeman. “He was the last member of his family.”

Wang Chao then turned to face Jiang He. Jiang He was raising his head to look up at the time, and a 12-story residential building was directly across the street from him.

“This building has 12 floors,” Jiang He explained. “The probability of surviving a jump from the 12th floor is 5%. Let’s go up there and take a look,” he suggested.

The small street outside the residential building’s wall led to Unit 4, which faced them. “If he jumped from the 12th floor, Unit 4 is the most likely location,” Jiang He added.

Wang Chao interjected, “But it doesn’t have to be from the top floor, right?”

Jiang He replied with a shake of his head, “This building has an elevator. Based on my case summary, 80% of suicides occur by jumping from the top floor and 90% from above the sixth floor. The remaining floors above the sixth have a similar percentage, depending on the suicidal person’s residence.”

Wang Chao considered this before agreeing, “Okay, let’s check from the top floor.”

After Xu Yiman and several police officers took the body to the hospital, the others stayed to take photos and search for fingerprints and other evidence nearby. Wang Chao and Jiang He escorted a few police officers to the 12th floor of Unit 4.

As they rode the elevator, Jiang He informed them, “Monitors are in the elevator, and someone from the property management is always sent up.”

Wang Chao looked at Jiang He, being amazed that such a young person had already become the captain of the detective team.

Upon arriving on the 12th floor, they found the door leading to the top floor in a safe passage. The door was unlocked to allow residents to seek refuge on the top floor in case of a fire.

As they prepared to step out, Jiang He cautioned, “Don’t move. There may be footprints on the ground.”

Wang Chao switched on his flashlight and shone it on the ground. They both noticed a lot of dust on the top floor, suggesting that it had not been used in some time. As they examined the ground, Jiang He and Wang Chao spotted footprints leading to the front door but none that had returned.

Jiang He stated firmly, “The shoes on Li Weiyi’s feet have the same pattern.”

“Are you sure?” asked Wang Chao.

“Yes,” replied Jiang He.

Wang Chao followed Jiang He, and they traced the footprints to the edge of the top floor. The railing was about one and a half metres high with a small gap to prevent accidental falls. The footprints on the floor were noticed by them as well.

The fact that the footprints were consistent and not scattered implied that the person who jumped did it without pacing back and forth. Scratch marks from a person’s hand were on the railing.

Jiang He looked down but could only see a faint light from the streetlamp.

“What do you think?” asked Wang Chao.

“After observing the scene, I believe there is an 80% certainty that it was a suicide,” said Jiang He. He continued after a moment of silence. “If the data from the surveillance footage is obtainted, the probability can be increased to 90%.”

“Likewise, I think it was a suicide,” responded Wang Chao, surveying the area.

“But what was the reason for his suicide?” mumbled Jiang He in a confused tone.

[T/N: Since Mr. Editor is kinda busy, the updates will be slower than usual. During this time, I’ll fix and rewrite older chapters. Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to use an Ad blocker]