National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1128 - 1060: Secret Base

Sun Xiuwen’s two close friends, after being brought to the police station, still behaved with an air of indifference. Their boyfriends, on the other hand, resembled stereotypical delinquent youths who appeared to have no regard for the situation, likely not their first encounter with the police station.

Their parents were relatively more self-aware, offering some conciliatory words before hastily making phone calls to contact so-called influential people, albeit with limited results.

Meng Chengbiao observed the group coldly, taking only a short amount of time to notice that among the seemingly carefree young women, one of them had a trace of unease in her eyes.

"Take all four of them to the interrogation room," Meng Chengbiao confirmed his target and then added, "I’ll interrogate Liu Mingxue first."

"Yes." The police officers at the station had no choice but to cooperate in such cases, freeing up their interrogation rooms.

At the same time, Jiang Yuan ordered someone to open the gate of an abandoned courtyard halfway up the hill.

This house belonged to Sun Jianyu’s uncle, who worked out of town and hardly returned, entrusting the house to Sun Jianyu’s parents for upkeep. Sun Jianyu secretly made a copy of the key and occasionally sneaked in to watch TV.

Once a few of his friends found out, they started gathering there frequently, turning it into an unofficial secret base.

The village didn’t have many residents left, and the house was tucked away in a remote spot. The group pulled the heavy curtains shut and used clips to secure them, making the house completely opaque from the outside.

This house provided Sun Jianyu and his group happiness for quite a long time.

From the entrance onward, traces of their carefree life could be seen. Garbage strewn in the courtyard included some unspoiled food, while the flower plants in the yard were almost all withered.

At the doorway, Jiang Yuan suited up fully before entering the courtyard and proceeding with the site examination.

For Jiang Yuan that day, this meant two security personnel clearing the way, followed by four crime scene investigation technicians, one criminal photographer responsible for labeling and photographing evidence, and one videographer dedicated to documenting the site to build an evidentiary chain, strategically vital for death penalty reviews.

A total of nine people entered the premises, which imposed a certain strain on this particular house.

Jiang Yuan quickly surveyed the space and began assigning personnel to different floors for examination to distribute tasks and expedite the process.

After arranging the inspection of the ground floor, Jiang Yuan moved to the bedroom upstairs.

This was the true secret base and most likely the primary crime scene. Jiang Yuan initially planned a meticulous, layer-by-layer examination but upon entering, a Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation methodology drew his focus to a pillow on the bed’s headboard.

The bed in this bedroom didn’t have any blankets, the bed sheet was disorderly and filthy, and the nearby pillows showed signs of long-term use, yellowing due to wear. freeweɓnovel.cøm

Only the pillow closest to the door was strikingly white, clearly indicating it had been recently washed.

Jiang Yuan sighed inwardly, picked up a magnifying glass and approached the pillow, studying it silently.

When a person is suffocated, fluids often emerge from the mouth—not usually blood—so spraying luminal wasn’t helpful in this case. After washing, any remnants on the pillow would be significantly reduced.

Still, the pillow’s core is notoriously difficult to clean thoroughly, especially for inexperienced youths relying solely on detergent or laundry liquid to soak and rub. Some residual evidence might remain embedded in the pillow’s filling.

Jiang Yuan signaled for someone to take photographs, then donned gloves, picked up the pillow, and inspected it closely. Finding no visible stains, he placed it into an evidence bag and handed it to the team, saying, "Send this with the other collected evidence to the Criminal Science Center for testing first."

Such an expedited process would be unimaginable for most police teams. Not only is evidence rarely sent solo, but transportation arrangements are often cramped. Immediate testing at the Criminal Science Center was even more uncommon, given its perpetual overload; without pressing need, leadership seldom allocates the vast investments required. Evidence is typically queued.

Only specialized homicide task forces or director-commanded special groups enjoy slight privileges. Jiang Yuan’s authority was broader; evidence he submitted—even to Beijing’s Criminal Science Center—would never be delayed.

After handing off the pillow, Jiang Yuan examined the bed sheet, mattress pad, and bed frame, quickly discovering a suspicious secretion on the sheet.

As always, Jiang Yuan instructed someone to take photographs before using scissors to cut out the portion of the sheet containing the secretion.

Although this seemed like evidence destruction, it was, in reality, the proper procedure.

Some young or lazy criminal investigators, unfamiliar with protocols, might bundle the entire sheet for transport, but repeated scoldings soon correct such habits.

This isn’t solely due to the inefficiency of transporting bulky evidence—it’s also largely unproductive for testing purposes.

A large bundled sheet presented to the Criminal Science Center technicians often left them unsure of the critical testing area, potentially leading to misjudgments even after reexamining.

Additionally, forensic equipment doesn’t simply produce "beep" sound results. Whether liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, or other instruments are employed, extracting a sample piece—such as a segment of bed sheet—is standard practice for analysis.

Thus, when a criminal investigator revealed a full sheet or towel, they either tested only a small fiber segment or brought the wrong evidence altogether.

The leftover sheet parts were also collected by Jiang Yuan, considered secondary evidence unlikely needing immediate analysis. They could be used later if deemed necessary.

Jiang Yuan then cut a segment from the fabric of the bedframe’s upper surface—no need to haul the entire mattress, which would overcrowd the police evidence room.

Once these tasks were completed, Jiang Yuan felt slightly more at ease and began examining the room further.

The bedroom acting as a secret base for several youths was unsurprisingly filthy and chaotic, with various clutter scattered around. The mess was unhygienic to the point of troubling the crime scene technicians, effectively serving as an indirect method of obscuring evidence.

Bzzzz...

The phone in his pocket vibrated.

Jiang Yuan frowned, removed his gloves, and pulled out his phone: "Hello, Old Meng."

"Captain Jiang, the victim Sun Xiuwen’s close friend Liu Mingxue and Liu Mingxue’s boyfriend Sun Jianyu have confessed," Meng Chengbiao began, then continued, "Liu Mingxue said she invited Sun Xiuwen out to hang out that day. Sun Xiuwen’s boyfriend stayed home because he had arranged to video-call relatives abroad. The three of them gathered at Sun Jianyu’s uncle’s house to drink. During the conversation, an argument broke out over cleaning the house for visiting relatives, pushing Sun Jianyu over the edge in his drunken state—he suffocated Sun Xiuwen."

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly: "What does Sun Jianyu say?"

"Sun Jianyu claims Liu Mingxue first grabbed Sun Xiuwen’s neck. He then stepped in by using a pillow to smother her," Meng Chengbiao replied.

Jiang Yuan exhaled deeply. This narrowed the suspect pool to the two individuals—either Sun Jianyu committed the murder alone, or both played a primary and secondary role, or the lines between roles blurred entirely.

Having finished, Meng Chengbiao also felt relieved: "No third party was present at the scene. This means we’ll need to carefully scrutinize their testimonies, but it’s almost certain the murderer is either Liu Mingxue, Sun Jianyu, or both."

"What about the jeans?" Sun Xiuwen had climbed down from the second floor using tied-together jeans. Since she didn’t return afterward, how did the jeans get back into place?

Meng Chengbiao coughed twice, then sighed: "Sun Jianyu claims he snuck back in at night, wearing gloves, retrieved the jeans, and jumped from the second floor with them."

"Jumped?" Jiang Yuan recalled the traces downstairs and shook his head. That night had seen rain; like the soil tracks left by motorbike tires in the field, much of the evidence had been washed out. Some footprints on the wall had also been damaged—not surprising.

Meng Chengbiao assumed Jiang Yuan doubted the jumping part and added: "Sun Jianyu’s physical fitness is excellent—he’s slim but well-built. He has even filmed parkour clips for social media. His agility surpasses that of most people; jumping from a second floor uninjured seems plausible."

"Slim? Slim to what extent?" Jiang Yuan paused and asked, "Was he strong enough to independently suffocate Sun Xiuwen?"