Tiefe Illusion

Kapitel 5

"Yes." Fang Lei nodded.

"If it's a ghost, why would it need the rain to wash away those footprints? The police can't catch it anyway," I immediately offered my opinion.

"If it was raining when that ghost died!" Fang Lei stepped forward, looking up at the female corpse. "If someone dies a gruesome death or harbors immense resentment, their ghost will relive the scene of their death over and over again. In other words, if all of this was done by a ghost, I can conclude that this ghost must have hanged herself on a rainy night, and her cause of death must have been..."

There's something very fishy about this.

"Is this your autopsy report for this ghost?" I glanced at Fang Lei; the soft moonlight shone on her beautiful face, giving it a holy glow.

"Maybe, maybe not." Fang Lei sighed. "If I'm not mistaken, then I can also deduce why only Lin Xiao saw them at the bar earlier."

"Oh, what is it?"

"That's because of the barrier. The barrier set up by the ghost isn't something anyone can just enter. And the reason you couldn't move, speak, or hear at that time, and could only see, was because your Seven Star Heavenly Dragon Pendant only granted you the ability to see through the barrier."

"If Li Yang can't see it, that's one thing, but why can't you see it either? Don't you have magic?"

"I can see through it, and even destroy it, but," Fang Lei's face suddenly became extremely solemn, "if the ghost that creates the barrier has too much spiritual power, then I won't be able to destroy it, and I might not even notice it, like tonight."

"How powerful a ghost would it have to be for you to not be able to see it?" Li Yang, who had been silent, suddenly asked, which was actually the question I had been wanting to ask as well.

Fang Lei gave a wry smile and shrugged helplessly. "I thought my cultivation was already quite good, but now I realize there are always higher levels to reach, and more powerful beings to overcome!"

"So, you've never encountered such a strong opponent before?"

"Yes, never before. It seems this time things have exceeded both my and my master's expectations." Fang Lei frowned.

Neither Li Yang nor I asked any more questions, and Fang Lei remained silent, lost in thought, making the atmosphere somewhat awkward. I didn't know what they were thinking, but I felt increasingly agitated. This time, I couldn't escape; it was like trying to handle dry flour with wet hands—I couldn't get rid of it now. I looked up at the corpses. How many more people would die before there was a conclusion?

"Should we call the police?" Li Yang suddenly asked, looking helpless.

"Aren't you a policeman? Why do you need to call the police?" I teased him, trying to lighten the mood. But unfortunately, I forgot that in such a dreadful place, with a corpse in the background, no one would be in a good mood.

"Then, what do you mean?" Fang Lei pointed to the body. It was indeed a bit strange that we were at the crime scene. Could it be that we came out to enjoy the night view?

"Just say it's because you were eager to see the crime scene that you asked me to come with you. As for Li Yang, just say we came along because we were worried about him." I tried to make the lie sound better, but it seems that's all I can say now.

"Okay!" Li Yang and Fang Lei both nodded in agreement. Li Yang took out his phone from his pocket, which meant that his intention to go home was now impossible. What awaited me was a series of police reports, waiting, crime scene investigation, autopsy, and so on...

※ ※ ※

When I stepped into my house, it was already the evening of the second day. I was exhausted after working non-stop for a whole day and night. The autopsy report for the body was still the same: cardiopulmonary failure caused by excessive adrenaline secretion. Fang Lei's report also showed signs of ghostly influence, but of course, her report couldn't be submitted to the higher-ups.

My older sister is still not home. I'm used to her elusive nature; I always affectionately call her the "Leader of the Dragon Cult," the kind of dragon that appears only briefly and never fully emerges. She's out for the night, and during the day... who knows which boyfriend's house she's staying at? I've always felt the house is too quiet, even a bit eerie. I don't know if it's just my imagination or because of my profession, but that's why I feel this way.

All the houses were considered morgues.

Fang Lei and Li Yang tacitly refrained from revealing the mysterious woman and what happened at the bar, because no one would believe them anyway, and they might even think we'd both lost our minds. Of course, I wouldn't tell either. Sometimes, honesty doesn't guarantee leniency; concealment is sometimes a matter of necessity.

After showering, I lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time. Even with my eyes closed, I could still clearly see the mysterious woman, and her face in the bar before she died—a face that looked like a corpse. In my hazy state, I seemed to dream of the little girl again, the little girl I dreamed of when I was unconscious that afternoon. I realized I was constantly chasing her, but I just couldn't catch up.

My chest felt so tight. The sunlight was so intense, it hurt my eyes and made me dizzy; I couldn't make out the girl's face at all. Strangely, I couldn't feel the sun's warmth, but instead felt a chill run through my body, like I'd fallen into an icebox; my hands and feet were numb. Was it all because I was dreaming?

When I woke up the next day, my head was throbbing. It was more painful than even after a hangover. I shook my head and looked at the culprit that woke me up: the phone. The phone was ringing wildly and relentlessly. Who said that the phone is the hero that brings people closer together?

I rolled over, not wanting to leave it, but it seemed very persistent, ringing incessantly. Finally, I gave in, picked up the receiver, and immediately heard Li Yang's urgent voice: "Xiao Xiao, come to the police station right now!"

"What are you doing so early in the morning? I'm not even awake yet!" I mumbled, my words indistinct.

"Something terrible has happened!" Li Yang said anxiously.

"What's wrong?" I really wanted to go back to sleep, but Li Yang's next words almost made me fall off the bed. As for sleep, I'll have to wait until next night.

Chapter Ten: The Sudden Murder

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"The murderer has turned himself in!" Li Yang's deep voice still seemed to echo in my ears. I knew which case he was referring to, but his tone wasn't relaxed; this wasn't his usual style after solving a case. Sitting in the taxi, I still had bread stuffed in my mouth and a carton of milk in my hand. In my haste, I hadn't even buttoned up my shirt properly. I wolfed down my breakfast, regardless of...

No matter how busy I am, I never forget to eat breakfast, because it's Yin Xue's reminder. I used to think she was nagging, but now, I'll never hear that again. Looking at the text message on my phone, there's only one short sentence from Li Yang: The murderer has turned himself in, come quickly!

Turning herself in? I suddenly burst out laughing. Now I could practically quote a famous line from Pi Zi Cai: "Can pigs fly?" No, so that mysterious woman would never turn herself in. So, what exactly happened? For the first time since starting work, I desperately wanted to get to the police station; the journey that had seemed so short suddenly felt incredibly long.

※ ※ ※

"You're only just arriving!" Fang Lei stopped me at the police station entrance. It seems she'd been waiting for a while. Being greeted by a beautiful woman is truly a wonderful thing. If it weren't for all these recent awful events, I think it would be even better.

"What's going on?" Fang Lei and I hurried towards the office, and I started asking anxiously along the way.

"The killer has turned himself in, but it's not the mysterious woman you saw. It's a taxi driver."

"Taxi driver?"

"Yes, he turned himself in early this morning. Ren Gang, 51 years old, is an employee of Datong Taxi Company. He has a wife and a daughter. His wife, Li Fengyin, is 48 years old and is unable to work due to severe uremia and stays at home to recuperate. His daughter, Ren Yingying, is 23 years old and has just graduated from university." Fang Lei briefly told me about the murderer.

"Ren Yingying? I'm Linghu Chong!" I reached for the white coat on the hanger, thinking her dad was probably a Jin Yong fan, and the kind who read a lot of *The Smiling, Proud Wanderer*. But based on my personal speculation, someone who likes this book must be a very chivalrous and straightforward person, how could they be a perverted serial killer? Usually, a person's preferences and habits are subtle manifestations of their personality.

In criminology, there is also a theory called criminal psychological identification. Experts can infer a criminal's appearance, habits, personality, and even medical history and family situation from the slightest clues about the criminal, the object of the crime, traces at the scene, and the modus operandi.

"Don't joke around!" Fang Lei scolded me seriously. I think I saw a pointer in her hand. It's a waste of resources for someone like her not to be a teacher!

"Okay, I got it." I smiled at her. "What was his motive?"

"Because I don't like them!" Fang Lei's answer really surprised me. There are all kinds of people these days, completely beyond people's imagination.

"What a terrible yet perfect excuse!" I poured myself a glass of water. The more illogical the excuse, the more perplexing it is for the police, often leaving them with no clues and potentially requiring a psychiatrist to assess the person's mental state. It's terrible because no murder is without reason; money, passion, revenge, or power are all extreme expressions of human desires.

Even a deranged serial killer has underlying motives: he may have suffered abuse in childhood, and the type of abuser would become his target as an adult; he may have been abandoned by a lover, and the emotional trauma would fuel his murders. He may be aware of the pain and suffering caused by past relationships, but this trauma doesn't disappear with time; instead, it erupts after a certain period. As Lu Xun once said, "Either perish in silence or erupt in silence." This statement aptly describes the psychological process of criminals.

"You're all here!" Li Yang walked in from the door, looking haggard and helpless, as if he had aged several years in an instant.

"How's the interrogation going?" I asked.

"Don't even mention it, he's incredibly stubborn. My colleagues and I have questioned him repeatedly, but he still insists it was him." Li Yang came up and snatched the cup from my hand, gulping it down. "He said he just couldn't stand them, so he killed them. He chose Heart Lake because he knew no one would go there at night, making it easier for him to dispose of the bodies."

"So, Heart Lake wasn't the primary crime scene? Then where was it? And how did he manage to hang the body so high up in the tree after arriving at Heart Lake? Did he possess some kind of superhuman skill or ability to fly on grass? Also, how did he scare them to death? Don't tell me he used a ghost mask!" I successfully snatched my cup back while Li Yang wasn't looking; I didn't want to have a direct confrontation with him.

kiss.

He said he first drove the car to a relatively secluded place, then pretended the car broke down. While getting out of the back seat to retrieve tools, he strangled the victim. Then he drove to Xinhu Lake. As for how he hoisted the body up, it was simple: he tied a stone to one end of a rope, threw it over a tree trunk, tied the body's neck to the other end, pulled down the end with the stone, and finally...

"Just tie a knot at the end of the rope around the corpse's neck, and you're all set!" Li Yang shrugged.

"Impossible. If that were the case, the downward pull would be enough to severely injure the neck bone of a corpse, possibly even causing a fracture. But there's absolutely no such sign on the corpses." Fang Lei preemptively said what I was about to say. Furthermore, their deaths weren't due to strangulation, because if they had been strangled, there would definitely be bruises on their necks, even if they wore gloves.

There is also the phenomenon of minor congestion in the eyes. When a person is choked, the blood supply and circulation system to the brain will be obstructed, which will lead to local congestion in the eyes, leaving small congestion spots on the whites of the eyes.

"So, he transported the body in his taxi?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then order an inspection of his taxi. Even if he washed it, we can still find things like hair, clothing fibers, and skin tissue. And if, as he claims, he was strangled, there should also be urine from incontinence due to suffocation. These things could be used to create hundreds of lab reports." I said confidently, refusing to believe we couldn't find evidence.

Every crime leaves behind evidence sufficient to uncover the truth, although sometimes the evidence is not obvious and requires time, manpower, and resources. I firmly believe this; no criminal is perfect, and there will always be loopholes in their actions.

"I don't think there's any need to investigate. It's definitely not him. I really don't know what's wrong with him!" Fang Lei crossed her arms angrily. Even when she was slightly angry, she was still so beautiful. It seems that what some people call the equality of all people is just a way to fool the masses.

"But the thing is, he makes a lot of sense in some aspects." Li Yang sighed. He was just like Fang Lei, not believing anything that Ren Gang said.

"Don't you think he's too organized and too prepared? It's like he prepared a speech beforehand on how to deal with your police questions?" I glanced sideways, secretly admiring Fang Lei's stunning face. To be slacking off at work, she really has no professional ethics!

"The problem is..." Li Yang emphasized, "the higher-ups really want to just close the case like this."

"What?" My gaze immediately shifted from Fang Lei to Li Yang. "Have the higher-ups lost their minds? Putting everything else aside, my autopsy report just won't pass! Are they afraid that some things going on outside are going to be bad for them, so they're just looking for a scapegoat?!" Although people outside are saying that the police are incompetent and incapable of handling the case, they shouldn't be this impatient. They can't even handle a little bit of criticism!

"I can't say for sure, but the higher-ups' intentions are very clear. They're already preparing to hold a press conference to disclose the details of the case and shut people up." Li Yang rubbed his temples. For a junior criminal police officer who had just graduated, the words of his superiors were orders, and he couldn't change them.

I was a little angry. I didn't know what the higher-ups were thinking. Did they really want this case to start and end inexplicably? I couldn't help but think of Li Yang's superior, Chen Kai. When did this veteran detective, who was known as Bao Zheng, learn to find scapegoats? Was he just getting old and his eyesight was failing?

"Xiao Xiao, come here for a second." Just like that, Chen Kai was already standing at the door, beckoning me. I glanced at Li Yang, but that kid gave me a look that I had no idea what he meant.

"Here I am." I put down my cup and walked out of the office.

Stepping into Chen Kai's office, I noticed his exhaustion. His once bright eyes were now deeply sunken, his dark circles were prominent, and his full beard made him look much older. I imagined he hadn't had a good time these past few days. After all, maintaining the reputation of Bao Zheng (a legendary upright official) is indeed a demanding and exhausting task!

"What's up? Why did you call me?" I asked first.

"It's like this, Xiao Xiao. The higher-ups are taking the recent murder cases very seriously and want us to solve them as soon as possible."

"Oh!" I replied softly, wanting to see how far he would beat around the bush before finally getting to the point.

"You did a great job. Old Cao has already reported it to me."

"That's because Lao Cao taught me well." I laughed along with him.

"Yes!" Chen Kai looked helpless, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He probably didn't know how to bring it up. Being a straightforward person, he wasn't good at beating around the bush, and immediately stated his intention, "I think these cases are very important, so it's better to let the experienced Lao Cao take over. After all, he's the head of this place!"

"Oh!" I replied with a nonchalant "oh." I knew you'd say that the moment I stepped into your office. Hypocrisy, the original sin that no one can escape. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now." I didn't want to face him anymore and prepared to slip away.

"Xiao Xiao!" Chen Kai called out to me, his face full of earnestness, "Sometimes, there are things we just can't do!"

"I know, Captain Chen, you've had a tough time too." I didn't want to argue with him, and I guessed he was just following orders.

As I turned to close the door, I saw Chen Kai quietly turn his head away from me, and a feeling of a hero's decline immediately welled up in my heart. At that moment, I finally understood why Xiang Yu would rather die than cross the river. As a hero, one can only be powerful for a time, not forever.

Chapter Eleven: The Altered Autopsy Report

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After leaving Chen Kai's office, I didn't go back to my own office immediately. Instead, I went to the interrogation room. As I stood at the door, I ran into Li Yang who was coming towards me.

"What did the captain say to you?" Li Yang asked.

"It's nothing, I just hope you can handle the case with Lao Cao." I peeked through the slightly ajar door. A middle-aged man was sitting opposite several policemen. His gray hair and wrinkled hands revealed the hardships life had brought him. This must be Ren Gang. Being a taxi driver isn't an easy job, and he has a wife who needs huge medical bills and a recently graduated...

The daughter of a businessman.

"Really? We're really in the same boat!" Li Yang patted my shoulder, looking helpless.

"What, you've been removed from your post too?" I looked at Li Yang. It seemed that the higher-ups were determined to close this case this time, otherwise they wouldn't have demoted all the people who initially took over the case.

"Yeah, what a fucking bad luck." Li Yang muttered, and without even knocking, he pushed the door open and walked into the interrogation room.

"Xiao Wang, here, the case file." Li Yang tossed a stack of documents to one of the policemen, speaking irritably. It's understandable; anyone would be furious if a case they were originally assigned to was suddenly transferred to someone else. It felt as humiliating as having your girlfriend stolen.

"Alright, Xiao Li, be a little nicer. Isn't it great that the captain is giving you a long vacation? Haven't you been asking for a vacation for a while now?" Xiao Wang comforted him.

"Ha, yes, I couldn't be happier!" Li Yang turned to Ren Gang and said slowly, "I really don't know what some people are thinking?"

A flicker of panic flashed in Ren Gang's eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. His expression was noticed by Li Yang and me as we entered the interrogation room. Because Li Yang and I were standing between Ren Gang and Xiao Wang, we created a visual obstruction for them, so I don't think they saw it.

"Let's go, Li Yang." I grabbed Li Yang and dragged him outside. This wasn't the time to act on emotion. Li Yang was a very loyal, warm-hearted, and righteous person, but that was also his downfall; being too emotional wasn't a good thing. He was always very dedicated and serious when solving cases because he believed that justice could never prevail over evil. Every victim felt like family to him.

Hands also deeply abhor pain. Compared to Li Yang, I am perhaps more calm and rational. As a professional, I prefer to view victims and perpetrators from a forensic perspective. To me, the victim is the object of every forensic examination, while the perpetrator is merely the creator of that object. Sometimes, I even think that the perpetrator and those teaching methods I used in university...

The specimen manufacturers are largely the same; the only difference is that one is legal and the other is illegal. Isn't that cold-blooded or lacking in humanitarian spirit? I've asked myself this question more than once. Every autopsy is just a routine scientific examination; what I care about isn't the truth of the case, but merely the mysteries surrounding the body itself. But it is precisely because of this...

My university advisor once said that, in a way, I was well-suited to be a forensic pathologist in this class.