Insights Chapter 51: Simulation

Chapter 51: Simulation

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

At nine in the morning, Penang Medical Examiner’s office, inside the autopsy room. The corpse of Zuo Junming still lay on the dissecting table, illuminated by the shadowless light which made the entire room very bright, revealing every detail on the corpse. Shen Junci saw off Gu Yanchen and began going through the case files left by him, belonging to Zhang Kabei.

Qi Yi’an took the initiative to pick up the needle and thread, sewing up the corpse on the dissecting table. After finishing the stitches, he looked up at Shen Junci. “Teacher, should we send this corpse for storage now?”

Shen Junci, still engrossed in reading the information, just finished after a long time. After pondering for a moment, he said to Qi Yi’an, “Wait a moment, don’t send it downstairs yet.”

Qi Yi’an asked, “So what should we do now?”

“I still haven’t figured something out,” Shen Junci said, making a decision quickly. “Let’s conduct an experiment first. You go to Director Lu’s office and ask for a silicone dummy, and then prepare all the weapons. We’ll simulate the entire crime process.”

Qi Yi’an understood and nodded lightly. For convenience, the forensic department had several silicone dummies available. These dummies were the same height and weight as real people, with soft bodies and considerable elasticity. Although typically used for simulating falls and environmental scenarios, they could recreate crime scenes. Using a silicone dummy to simulate the victim was something Qi Yi’an had never heard of before.

Now that they had finished dissecting the corpse, it was just after nine in the morning, and other medical examiners had already come to work. Qi Yi’an hurried to the director’s office and obtained a model similar in size to the deceased Zuo Junming, as well as a chair resembling the one at the crime scene. Luckily, the weapons weren’t hard to find. Running up and down the building, after half an hour, Qi Yi’an finally gathered all the weapons, including a stick he grabbed from a cleaning lady and a glass beer bottle similar to the one at the crime scene, obtained from the security guard.

Shen Junci glanced at a belt, noticing an “H” logo on it. “This belt is nice.”

Qi Yi’an replied, “I took it from the pants of Medical Examiner Liu.”

There was no other way; only Medical Examiner Liu would wear such a stylish belt in the entire forensic department.

Shen Junci moved away from the corpse, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it slowly. He waited for the weapons to be prepared and placed on the table next to the dissecting table. Shen Junci prepared to time the simulation. “We’ll simulate the entire process. First, tie the person’s hands and feet. You remember the knots from before, right?”

“I remember…” Seeing Shen Junci sitting there without coming over to help, Qi Yi’an figured it out himself, mimicking the scene at the crime scene, tying the silicone dummy’s hands and feet.

Shen Junci said, “Are you ready? I’ll time it. It’s ten to ten in the morning now. The violent process last night took about two hours, so you need to finish the simulation before twelve, and your movements need to be quicker.”

Qi Yi’an nervously tightened his grip on the stick in his hand. “Okay.”

Shen Junci said, “Begin. The first strike should be on the facial area, specifically the bridge of the nose.”

They had just summarized the entire process and its order, which was also written on a whiteboard nearby. Qi Yi’an swung the stick in his hand and hit the dummy, making a loud noise, startling himself.

Shen Junci, however, was not satisfied and shook his head. “No, redo it. Your force is too weak. Have you ever hit someone before?”

“Never…” Qi Yi’an protested. “Teacher, I’m putting all my strength into it. Should I call a detective?”

Shen Junci said, “Bringing a detective would require explaining everything again. It’s too troublesome. Don’t worry; this thing won’t break. Think about the victim’s nasal bone fracture. How much force would that require?”

Qi Yi’an tried to get a feel for it, gripping the “weapon” tightly and swinging it again.

Shen Junci nodded in satisfaction. “That’s better, but still not vicious enough! You need to imagine someone you hate and then hit them. Were you bullied as a child?”

Qi Yi’an was on the verge of tears. “Teacher, I have no enemies. I’ve never had any conflicts with anyone.” He had been a good child from childhood to adulthood, never experiencing any violence.

Shen Junci changed tactics. “Then imagine an extremely evil person. If you don’t fight back, you’ll be killed.”

Qi Yi’an muttered softly, “But aren’t there detective teams around…”

They, as medical examiners, shouldn’t be at the forefront.

Shen Junci sighed, supporting his chin with his fingers, inspiring him. “You can think of him as someone you hate, like the leader who woke you up from your sleep early in the morning.”

The air conditioning in the forensic department was a bit chilly. Qi Yi’an shuddered. “…”

He thought, Teacher, why don’t you just give me Captain Gu’s ID number? Thinking about being woken up by Gu Yanchen with a phone call at six in the morning, Qi Yi’an still felt a bit resentful. He swung the stick in his hand again, accurately hitting the dummy’s nasal area. This time, it was both precise and fierce.

“Not bad, that’s enough force,” Shen Junci nodded in satisfaction, making a note on the file in his hand. “Now, imagine all the unused annual leave you have…The concerts you missed…Missed out on the latest movie…”

Qi Yi’an seemed to have tapped into a deep reserve of energy, rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. Following the sequence of strikes, he began with the stick, then switched to other weapons. Qi Yi’an said, “Teacher, I think I’m getting the hang of it. This is quite stress-relieving.”

Shen Junci continued to guide him from the sidelines, “There’s only one beer bottle, you have to aim carefully. The whip lacks force. The angle of the hammer is wrong, try again.”

Qi Yi’an swung away, feeling less like a medical examiner and more like a violent assailant. Chairs were knocked over and then set upright again. Qi Yi’an exerted himself with the final blow. Finally, the entire simulation process came to an end.

After completing it all, Qi Yi’an couldn’t help but pant heavily. He almost collapsed from exhaustion, saying, “Teacher, for the first time, I realize that committing a crime also requires physical strength…”

He had beaten the lifeless dummy, leaving himself drained and sweaty.

Shen Junci checked the time, and it was just past twelve. He patted Qi Yi’an’s head, “You’ve worked hard. I’ve found the answers I was looking for.”

—

The morning at the Criminal Investigation Building was unusually busy. At this point, the case finally had its first suspect. Gu Yanchen attempted to contact Zhang Kabei. Her phone was turned off, and her fixed address was empty, as if she had vanished into thin air. Fortunately, Fu Meng’s interrogation finally made progress. Before ten in the morning, Lu Ying called Gu Yanchen to the interrogation room for three rounds of questioning.

When asked if she knew Zhang Kabei, the woman remained silent for a while, seemingly undergoing a complex internal struggle before finally speaking up, “I know Zhang Kabei. At that time, I had a quarrel with my husband and left to stay somewhere else, while she had escaped from home due to constant abuse… We both lived in the temporary housing provided by the Women’s Federation. She helped me a lot during that time. After my husband died in a car accident, she also helped me with some arrangements. Our relationship has always been good.

“Just a few days ago, she suddenly called me, asking if she could borrow my house. I asked her what she needed my house for, but she refused to tell me. I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I just told her not to mess up my house, and she said she wouldn’t. Then I sent her the keys to my house via express delivery. Last night, it was raining, and I felt particularly uneasy. Then, at five in the morning, I suddenly received a call from an unknown number… The call was from Zhang Kabei. She said, ‘Fu, I originally wanted to teach my ex-husband a lesson, but I accidentally went too far, and he died. I need to lay low for a while. I’m sorry for messing up your house. If the police ask, just say you don’t know me, don’t get yourself involved.’ I was panicked at the time. When I went to the house, I found the dead man in the basement. I immediately called the police.”

After listening to Fu Meng’s account, Gu Yanchen found that it addressed all the doubts he had raised earlier that morning. Lu Ying continued to question Fu Meng, “Zhang Kabei’s case is in the past, they’re already divorced. Why would she kill this man and turn herself into a murderer?”

Fu Meng sighed, “People believe everything they see online. Zhang Kabei gathered the courage to sue Zuo Junming, but that was just the beginning of her tragedy. After the divorce, Zuo Junming didn’t leave her alone. He would often come to Zhang Kabei’s doorstep drunk and hurl abuses. Once, he even brought a knife. He sent people to throw paint and rotten eggs at Zhang Kabei’s door. Not long after, Zhang Kabei’s mother died of a heart attack, and her father soon passed away too. She was left all alone, with nowhere to go back to. She must have hated Zuo Junming a lot. If she wasn’t pushed to the brink, why would she commit murder?”

Lu Ying then asked, “Where do you think Zhang Kabei is now?”

“How would I know what she’s thinking?” Fu Meng lifted her head. “Officer, I was feeling disturbed this morning, and there were things I didn’t tell the truth about. But now I’ve confessed everything. If lending my house and lying about it is a crime, then punish me according to the law.”

No longer weaving lies like earlier in the morning, Fu Meng’s gaze lowered.

Gu Yanchen said, “Finish recording your statement first. We’ll deal with the follow-up later.”

After Fu Meng finally confessed, Gu Yanchen checked her call records. Indeed, there was a call at five in the morning, lasting about three minutes, from an unfamiliar number that was now switched off.

Lu Ying asked him, “Is this a case of abused women joining forces to kill their ex-husbands?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “Dig deeper and look for other evidence.”

As they finished organizing, Bai Meng also emerged from the interrogation room, handing a thick stack of statements to Gu Yanchen. “The female driver, Zhao Xiaohan, has confessed. She said a friend called her to pick someone up, drop them off, and then help carry a person to the basement. I showed her some photos, and she accurately identified Zhang Kabei. Additionally, she provided Zhang Kabei’s WeChat ID, saying they met in An Nanti-domestic violence group.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “Did she know Zhang Kabei was going to commit murder?”

Bai Meng shook her head. “She claims she knows nothing about what happened afterward.”

Next came the forensic team with evidence. “There are fingerprints on the beer bottle used as a weapon, matching Zhang Kabei’s.”

“There’s a shoe print at the crime scene, matching Zhang Kabei’s shoe size.”

More and more evidence pointed in one direction. Two verbal testimonies were recorded, and now there was physical evidence. The evidence indicated a connection between Zhang Kabei and the kidnapping and death of Left Junming. It appeared to be a case of ex-wives pushed to their limits by domestic abuse, seeking revenge through murder. But was this the whole truth?

Bai Meng asked Gu Yanchen, “Captain Gu, what’s the next step?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “Issue an internal alert and search for Zhang Kabei within the police system.”

Once entered into the system, whether buying train tickets or staying at hotels, as long as she used her ID, phone information, or bank card, the police would be notified. Gu Yanchen turned on his computer and began researching Zhang Kabei and the deceased Junming. He retrieved various records one by one. As he carefully reviewed them, he furrowed his brow from time to time. As noon approached, Gu Yanchen suddenly saw his phone light up.

He saw a message from Shen Junci: “Available?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “I need to talk to you. Lunch together?”

Shen Junci responded with a simple “Okay.”

Without further ado, Gu Yanchen chose a restaurant near the City Bureau, sending the address.

Shen Junci replied with another “Okay.”

Looking out the window, it was raining lightly at noon. He grabbed an umbrella and headed downstairs, standing outside the forensic building, waiting for Shen Junci. It was lunchtime, and there was quite a bit of traffic in and out of the forensic building.

Gu Yanchen waited for a while before seeing Shen Junci come out from the entrance. He didn’t have an umbrella, reaching out to test the rain’s intensity. Gu Yanchen called out to him. Shen Junci noticed him then, running over to stand under the umbrella, side by side. Shen Junci was a few centimeters shorter than Gu Yanchen.

Gu Yanchen held the umbrella, his hand clearly defined, steady with the umbrella in hand.

Shen Junci raised his eyebrows. “Just finished storing the corpse. You waited a while, didn’t you?”

Gu Yanchen said, “No worries, just got here. About that case…”

Shen Junci was also eager to speak, and their voices overlapped.

“This case might have some issues.”