Case Files Chapter 46: Campus Suspicions (8)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

“How come Zheng Fei and the others aren’t here?” Ding Ding asked Wen JingHan.

“There’s some trouble in the west district, so the bureau requested support. Zheng Fei, QiaoYu, and Gu Xiang are focused on supporting them there.”

Since they had already let the school know, in the name of safety inspection and renovation of the laboratory building, the building was closed the entire weekend, and neither students nor teachers could go in. Wen JingHan brought a few police officers and the people in the ‘undercover team’ with him and went into the laboratory.

“We’re going to try to reenact the scene so we can take initiative before we start questioning people.” Wen JingHan looked around the chemistry laboratory that was full of various instruments.

“What do you mean by reenacting the scene?” This wasn’t the first time Guan Jin had heard of this word, but he didn’t really understand it.

“This isn’t a typical scene, since there’s no bullet or blood that the forensic team can analyze. We can only follow the photos of the scene and the state of the victim when they died to figure out what they were thinking or doing before they died.”

“Little Bai, you’re Cheng JiaoJiao now.” Wen JingHan pointed at him. Lin Bai obediently walked over and laid down on the outline of a human figure that had been drawn in white chalk on the floor, pretending to be dead.

“That’s not realistic enough, her left leg was curled up, and her right leg was slightly outstretched behind her. Her left hand was covering her neck, and her right hand was reaching forward, fingers curled,” directed Guan Jin as he looked at the photos.

“…Are you sure this is what someone who’s about to die would do?” Lin Bai was struggling to pose on the ground.

 A group of people were watching him, so the pressure on Lin Bai was quite big.

“This looks like she was struggling to crawl forward,” said Ding Ding.

“The records say that the knee areas of her pants were slightly frayed, and there was some dust on them. The floor here is very old and rough, so if she really was crawling forward, then it would’ve caused such traces,” agreed Wen JingHan.

“The laboratory table is on the other side of the room, and the sealed container containing the phosgene was knocked over, yet she ran here and fell. Judging from the position and direction in which she fell, she should’ve been facing the door and was crawling from the corner. The poisonous gas had clearly been released, yet she stayed there in that corner, unmoving. What was stopping her?” Guan Jin walked to the corner and looked around.

“Could it be like what we analyzed before, she was hiding there to hide from someone?” Ding Ding and Lin Bai, who had gotten up, both acted it out. “Suppose there’s a Person A, and they lured her into the laboratory for whatever reason.” 

Ding Ding walked in from the door, and Lin Bai quickly ran to the corner and squatted down. Since the sink counter was blocking him, as long as one didn’t walk closer, there was no way of seeing him.

“And then…” Ding Ding walked to the laboratory table, purposely knocked over a container, walked around the laboratory room a few times, and left.

“If Person A stayed for a long time, long enough for Cheng JiaoJiao to get poisoned, then why was Person A still fine? Even though Person A appeared in the laboratory, could Cheng JiaoJiao really have rather died than get discovered? This isn’t in line with the human instinct for survival,” disagreed Wen JingHan.

“Then there’s only one possibility. The threat outside was even scarier to her than getting poisoned.” Guan Jin looked at the corner again.

“Getting poisoned is a slow process, so there’s still a possibility of survival. That means that once she went outside, she would’ve faced more direct pain or even death,” said Lu YunYang. “Think, what kind of serious threat could it have been?”

“The person outside was holding a knife or a gun and was planning to kill her?” Ding Ding furrowed her brows, and when she thought about it again, it was quite nonsensical, and she immediately rejected her own idea. “How could a female student get into this much trouble? And, the laboratory is only so big, so if someone wanted to murder her, it would still be very easy to find her.”

“What if Person A didn’t plan on killing her with their own hands and purposely made her hide so she would have to die painfully of gas poisoning?” Lu YunYang suddenly suggested.

“That’s too evil…” Lin Bai shuddered.

“Let’s do it again.” Ding Ding pretended to hold something in her hand as she entered the room.

When Lin Bai heard her, he quickly hid in the corner, sneakily poked his head out over the counter, and when he saw Ding Ding holding a ‘weapon,’ he shrank back in fear.

Ding Ding purposely knocked over a container and stayed in the room. Lin Bai could only cover his mouth and remain where he was, unmoving.

“Ah…” Lin Bai pretended to feel his strength slipping away, and he did his utmost to crawl out from the corner.

“Mwahaha…” Ding Ding cackled evilly as she watched Lin Bai crawl a little before tilting his head and falling down limply.

Wen JingHan applauded. “Good acting, though it feels a little weird. Could Person A have brought a gas mask?”

Lu YunYang suddenly asked, “What kind of person was Cheng JiaoJiao?”

“According to investigations, Cheng JiaoJiao was pretty independent and emotional, and she liked to travel. She chose marine biology as her major because she liked to go on voyages and explore things,” replied Wen JingHan.

“These types of people usually wouldn’t cower under heavy pressure, and they’d rather burn their boats. I think that once she felt unwell, she would understand that the effects of the poisonous gas were already taking hold, so she was bound to die soon. At this time, she should’ve thought that she was going to die anyway, so it’d be better to at least die fighting, and perhaps there would even be a chance of survival, which is still better than being a sitting duck. There must be other factors here that we’ve overlooked or haven’t even thought of,” analyzed Lu YunYang.

“This requires a deeper understanding of Cheng JiaoJiao and this series of incidents.” Wen JingHan beckoned for them to follow him outside. “Let’s go take a look at the warehouse.”

Ever since the death that had occurred in it, the warehouse had been completely locked up and hadn’t been used again, so everything was covered in a layer of dust when they went in.

Tall shelves lined one wall, and there were piles of boxes, equipment, and books along the other walls… The forensic team that had come in before had placed a ‘fence’ made of cardboard between the some boxes to the right of the last shelf.

“This is the ladder?” Guan Jin pushed the ladder with wheels that was next to the door. It was a lot like the step ladders used at libraries.

“It’s quite stable and safe.” Ding Ding shook the ladder to test it.

Guan Jin pushed the ladder, but before he could get very far, Lu YunYang quickly helped him pull it in the other direction, stopping it next to a shelf.

Guan Jin glanced at him and slowly climbed the ladder, reaching the tallest cabinet. He opened the cabinet door and saw some glass utensils in a disarray.

He looked down again at the ‘sharp’ fence on his right.

“How did Wang TianPeng fall? And, even if he lost his balance, how could they have guaranteed that he fell to the right?” Ding Ding walked around the ladder. “There’s no way of planning this out at all, it probably really was just an accident.”

“Then what was Wang TianPeng, a physics student, looking for in a place filled with biochemistry experimentation materials? And why did Fang YuTian, that person I saw sneaking around here, try to unlock the door to this warehouse?” Lin Bai was confused, but he suddenly had an idea. “Could it be that there was a treasure map leading here?! Their Kaidan Society was actually for finding treasure, but there were internal conflicts…”

“You’ve read too much irrelevant fiction.” Wen JingHan interrupted his conjecture without hesitation. “However, it’s very possible that they were looking for something just as important.”

Guan Jin got down from the ladder and dusted off his hands. “There’s nothing up there besides cups, bottles, and whatnot that are used for experiments.”

There didn’t seem to be any progress, and everyone felt dispirited. Wen JingHan left behind a few officers to thoroughly inspect the items in the warehouse.

Lin Bai kicked a nearby box in frustration.

“Ah!” He jumped backwards and grabbed onto Wen JingHan like a koala. “There’s a cockroach!!!”

“Get off,” Wen JingHan said calmly.

Wahhh, my leader is so scary, but the cockroach is even scarier!!! Lin Bai weighed his options and continued to hang from Wen JingHan, unafraid of death.

“Did you see that? Perhaps Cheng JiaoJiao encountered an extremely scary person or thing which happened to be her weakness, so she lost all reason completely and even forgot about the danger of getting poisoned.” Lu YunYang seemed to draw inspiration. “But, since she’s not even scared neither about trekking alone in the wilderness nor ghosts and supernatural things, what else can she be scared of?”

Guan Jin glanced at Lu YunYang. “I think that some people are a lot scarier than ghosts.”

*****

“Wen JingHan plans to get everyone to the police department tomorrow to do a formal questioning, so let’s wait and see their progress.” Lu YunYang put a shrimp into Guan Jin’s plate. “Let’s eat first.”

Guan Jin looked at the shrimp and put it back. “If you will.”

Lu YunYang picked up the shrimp and began peeling it. “What do you think about our current situation?”

“What current situation?”

“Well, we work on cases together, and at night, I come back to make dinner, we eat together, we sleep, and then we go to work again,” Lu YunYang said casually.

Guan Jin felt that Lu YunYang was acting a little strange, but since he was eating his food, he couldn’t be too rude. He said reluctantly, “It would be better if there were two beds.”

“Is that so?” Lu YunYang placed the peeled shrimp back in front of Guan Jin. “It’s also quite nice to continue on like this.”

Guan Jin hastily dipped the shrimp in the sauce and said offhandedly, “It’s just so-so.”

Lu YunYang was satisfied, and he continued to peel the shrimp. In terms of Guan Jin, the evaluation of ‘so-so’ was already very good. As for the thing about sharing the bed, they could take it slowly, and Guan Jin would get used to it sooner or later. Anyway, he also felt that it wasn’t bad to live together like this.

After they finished dinner, someone called.

Guan Jin picked up and walked into the bedroom. “What are you doing?! Are you clocking into work?”

“Ah, I’m just dutifully updating you about the situation, don’t be like this.” Tony felt wronged.

“If you have something to say, then say it quickly.”

“Do you want to eat the watermelon cold or at room temperature?” Lu YunYang suddenly called from the other room.

“Cold,” replied Guan Jin.

“Wait, I heard something! There’s someone in your room? A man? Gosh, Ethan, I’m so sorry for you. Your body isn’t even cold yet, and your little lover has already crawled into another person’s bed…”

“…Don’t contact me ever again. Goodbye.”

“Hey, wait, don’t hang up! I was just kidding, you really don’t have a sense of humor.”

“Do you have something to say or not?”

“I do! Spider arrived in City S.”

Guan Jin was surprised, and he lowered his voice. “Then do you have information about Hermes? Did he also come to City S? Spider wouldn’t leave his prey and come here by himself.”

“How would I dare to ask about that person’s whereabouts, they’re the experts in intelligence. If I mess up, I might expose myself, so it’s not worth it. You need to be careful, it’s not good news if Hermes is here. Even if you’re near him, you can’t kill him…”

Tony began rambling again, and Guan Jin stopped paying attention. He wasn’t going to let go of this opportunity to get an eye for an eye. Definitely not.

*****

After Wen JingHan ordered the people in the black suits to appease A-Dai and A-Gua and put them to bed, he returned to his bedroom.

“My personal bodyguards have been reduced to petsitters.” The man put down the document he was holding.

“They’re quite useful, and they can do anything. They’re definitely worthy of being bodyguards for an important person.” Wen JingHan didn’t feel guilty at all.

“Which case have you been working on recently?”

“Oh, you also care about my work now?” Wen JingHan was surprised.

“Some small fish and shrimp have come to City S recently, and I don’t want them to cause you any trouble.” The man’s hands began to be disobedient again.

“What’s the situation?” Wen JingHan used his elbow to nudge him. “Share it with me.”

“Right now, I only want to share you.” The man turned over and got on top of Wen JingHan.

“It’s not called sharing if you’re doing it by yourself, that’s just called eating alone.”

“I like eating alone the most, especially when I’m eating you.”

“Can’t we talk about the serious things first?” Wen JingHan pushed him lightly.

“You don’t need to know about them. If anyone dares to make trouble here and make it so that you have to work overtime and can’t come back home in time, I’ll see to it that they won’t see the sun the next day.”

“It sounds like you’re a dangerous criminal that I should capture first.”

 

“I’ve always been your captive.”