Author: 长洱 / Chang’er
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 43
For a place like a university, even if a hundred years passed, there wouldn’t be much change.
In fact, Lin Chen didn’t have much attachment to it, but he felt bad for passing by the school gate without going in to take a look.
In the early morning, the mist hadn’t dissipated yet, and the campus was very quiet, with only the sound of birds all around.
Lin Chen took Xing Conglian to walk on the old brick road down a path going towards campus.
At the end of the path was an old-fashioned Republic of China building that could vaguely be seen. The trees on the side of the road were lush, which obscured most of the scenery in the distance, so it was quite interesting to walk around and gawk at the scenery.
Xing Conglian put his hands in his pockets as they walked down the road. He suddenly said, “Your principal must not be a businessman.”
“Hm?” The spring breeze was light. Perhaps it blew Lin Chen into confusion, as he didn’t understand Xing Conglian’s words.
“It’s a pity this place doesn’t charge 20 yuan for admission.”
Lin Chen found it funny. “You’re just exaggerating, aren’t you?”
“A place that can teach you naturally is good.”
Lin Chen looked at him.
Xing Conglian’s eyes were lowered. His eyelashes trembled slightly in the breeze, and his eyes were gentle and sincere.
Lin Chen sighed. This person had a truly powerful ability. He could speak such cheesy words so candidly, yet the person on the receiving end would feel the words were rightfully deserved. Apart from sighing, he couldn’t think of a better way to respond.
Lin Chen stood in place, trying to find his words, when a siren suddenly sounded in the distance, penetrating the dense forest.
It sounded extremely urgent and seemed to still be moving, so it could be judged that it was a fast-moving police vehicle.
The two looked at each other.
Lin Chen was the first to speak. “It’s not my fault. You said you wanted to come here.”
Xing Conglian laughed helplessly.
Following the sound of the siren, the two quickly came to a lake.
Far away, they could see the outside of the grove by the lake, surrounded by bright yellow warning tape and police officers in navy blue uniforms.
At the end of the thickets, under a banyan tree, there seemed to be a forensic doctor in a white robe squatting.
Not far away, the cafeteria had started cooking, filling the air with the smell of fragrant rice.
Occasionally, students passed by the cordon. They looked at the police, who were going in and out with strange and curious expressions on their faces. The security guards stood on the outer side of the cordon, driving the students who wanted to watch away.
Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, and the two hurried their pace.
Coincidentally, when he walked to the edge of the woods, Xing Conglian discovered the person who was leading the team was the vice captain of the Yongchuan Police Criminal Division, and he was the one who wanted to hand over new information on Yang Dianfeng’s case.
The two looked at each other and were surprised.
“Lao Xing, why are you here!” The vice captain, whose surname was Jiang, said casually.
Xing Conglian patted Lin Chen on the shoulder and introduced him to the other party. “Lin Chen, our new consultant. He graduated from Yongchuan University. It’s still early, so we decided to walk around the university first. Since you’re here, I’ll go to the car later and give you information about that case,” Xing Conglian said politely. He didn’t inquire about what happened in the grove.
“Is he the one who engaged the ‘Candy Bandit’ with you?” Vice Captain Jiang stared in surprise as he whispered to Xing Conglian.
Seeing Jiang Chao’s reaction so mysterious, Xing Conglian glanced at Lin Chen and said with a smile, “Yeah, why?”
“How awesome. A hero, a hero!” Jiang Chao took Lin Chen’s hand and shook it heavily. “Come, come.”
Lin Chen had seen too many cautious police officers but had never met such an enthusiastic person as Jiang Chao. This had made him quite unaccustomed. “We’re at a crime scene. This isn’t a convenient place to talk, right?”
“Rules, rules!” Jiang Chao waved his hands carelessly and raised the cordon, pulling Lin Chen inside.
Xing Conglian patted him on the shoulder, leaned into his ear, and whispered, “Fang Zhiming’s former comrade-in-arms.”
Lin Chen nodded, seemingly understanding.
——
On the side of the woods closest to the lake was a lush banyan tree with a green and lush canopy. As soon as the lake breeze blew, it swayed gently.
Lin Chen stood under the tree, a little surprised.
This banyan tree was one of the most beautiful landscapes in the minds of all Yongchuan students.
He remembered that when he was in college, many of his classmates liked to read books or fall in love under this tree. Because it wasn’t too cold or too hot here, you could shoot the breeze, read a few pages of your book, or take your lover’s hand and whisper sweet nothings to each other. Since the trunk was thick and the shade plenty, everything under the tree would appear calm and tranquil, including the person lying in the pit under the trunk right now.
It was a young man. His skin was a bit dark. His clothes were so dirty that their original color could no longer be recognized because they had been buried under the soil for so long. His legs were straightened, and he had his hands crossed on his chest. He looked very ordinary, with thick eyebrows and thin lips. It was almost the kind of face that no one would pay attention to if they came face-to-face with it, but to everyone who was present, when they first saw him, they couldn’t help but keep their eyes on his face.
Lin Chen stared quietly at the man lying in the ground.
The expression on that face was so comfortable and serene, as if the place where he was lying wasn’t a cold and hard pit, but the warmest bed in his home. At this moment, he seemed to just be resting on a down pillow and having a good dream without ever waking up.
The expression on that face is so comfortable and serene, as if the place where he was lying wasn’t a cold and hard pit, but the warmest bed in his home, and at this moment, he seemed to be just resting on a feathered pillow, having a good dream without ever waking up.
“The deceased’s name is Li Sa. He was a worker in the logistics department of your school.” Jiang Chao’s voice fluttered into Lin Chen’s ears.
As he spoke, Jiang Chao walked to the edge of the pit. There was already a forensic doctor squatting on the ground doing a preliminary autopsy.
“Well?” Jiang Chao asked.
“It’s very strange, very strange.” The forensic doctor frowned and pulled his hand away from the back of the deceased’s neck. “No trauma has been found for the time being, and it doesn’t look like poisoning.”
“Oh!” Jiang Chao’s eyes lit up. “It’s not murder!”
The forensic doctor gave him a sideways glance. “What are you thinking?”
“Since there’s no trauma, it’s most likely not a murder. It’s probably an ordinary corpse dumping case,” Jiang Chao said while looking up at the sky as if he were praying.
“Oh, excuse me, Boss Jiang, if he was still breathing when he was buried, would that also be considered corpse dumping?” The forensic scientist said coldly.
Hearing this, Jiang Chao’s eyes glazed over, as if he couldn’t believe what he heard. “What was the cause of death?”
“The preliminary judgment is that it’s mechanical asphyxiation.”
This so-called mechanical asphyxiation referred to an external force that obstructed the body’s breathing, resulting in a physiological dysfunction of the body from a lack of oxygen and leading to death.
In layman’s terms, the deceased suffocated to death.
Jiang Chao made a depressed face, but the forensic scientist had no intention of letting him go. “The deceased’s neck has no external injuries, indicating he wasn’t strangled. I checked his mouth and nose, and there were no obvious surface abrasions or subcutaneous or intradermal bleeding. In other words, he didn’t suffocate to death, so…”
“He was buried alive?” Lin Chen said lightly.
Jiang Chao took in a cold, deep breath.
The forensic doctor turned his head abruptly. “Who are you?!”
Xing Conglian took two steps forward and stood by Lin Chen’s side. “We’re from the Hongjing police force.”
“Oh, peers.” The forensic scientist squatted on the ground again, looked at Lin Chen with great interest, and asked, “What do you think?”
“Can you give me the time of death?” Lin Chen’s gaze fell on the hands on the deceased’s chest.
“Around 3:00 AM on the 12th,” the forensic doctor replied.
“Since he was buried alive, there are two possibilities.” Lin Chen paused then continued, “First, he was buried in the soil after he was unconscious, or second, he was lying in this grave while he was alive.”
“Then which one do you think is the most likely?”
“If it’s the first one, then you should be able to detect large amounts of sleeping-type drugs in his body. If it’s the second…”
“If it’s the second?”
“It’s impossible for a person to do it perfectly—dig a pit, lie in it, and then bury himself. Were there any shovel-like tools on the scene?” Lin Chen’s became cold.
“No… No.” Jiang Chao answered subconsciously.
Lin Chen lowered his head slightly, pondered for a moment, and asked the forensic scientist. “Can I see his hand?”
At this point, the gaze in the forensic scientist’s eyes changed from flippant to admiring.
He stood up, took out a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket, and handed them to Lin Chen. He then took two steps back and made way.
Lin Chens squatted down, put his hand into the pit, and gently grabbed the corpse’s wrist.
Compared to the deceased’s comfortable and serene face, the hands of the deceased looked extremely hideous and terrifying.
His nails were shattered, and his hands were full of wounds. Blood was mixed with dirt, turning it brown, and was caked on his hands.
The forensic doctor stood beside Lin Chen and asked, “Well?”
“I have an idea.” Lin Chen put down the dead man’s hands and took off the gloves. His gaze stayed frozen on the pit.
“Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“He dug this grave himself.”
Lin Chen spoke slowly, word by word, saying the words that made everyone present shudder.
The audience was silent.
The forensic scientist took a deep breath, and then said, “Young man, do you really dare think like that?”
“Can you dig it up some more?” Lin Chen interrupted him. He turned his head, raised his hand, and compared the approximate height.
“Isn’t the pit big enough?” the forensic doctor asked.
“I mean, move out the deceased and dig down a little bit.”
——
Shovel after shovel of soil was quickly dug out.
Xing Conglian and Lin Chen stood by the lake, looking under the tree from a distance.
Lin Chen thought for a while, then asked, “Was I too arrogant just now?”
After all, earlier, Xing Conglian had reminded him that he had to be careful with everything since he was in the Chen family’s territory.
Hearing what he said, Xing Conglian laughed dumbfoundedly. “No, Lao Jiang isn’t someone who would care about that. But why are you so nervous?”
“The situation may not be good,” Lin Chen said.
Under the banyan tree, when the soil that had been dug out had piled up knee high, the police officer in charge of the excavation suddenly stopped moving.
He held the shovel in one hand and turned his head stiffly. Seeing the situation, Jiang Chao hurriedly leaned over. There was a broken banyan root running through the pit. Other than that, there seemed to be no abnormality.
“There’s something down there.” The police officer threw down his shovel towards the edge of the pit. He poked the thin soil layer with his hand and exposed a bright red cloth.
The original shout broke the exchange between Xing Conglian and Lin Chen. A policeman with dirt on his hands rushed to the two of them quickly with chattering teeth.
“Underneath… Underneath, there’s another person!”
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