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墨書 Inktalez
In just a few minutes, the situation took several twists and turns. At that moment, I was asking the old man from the Winter Swimming Team about the situation, while the flashes from cameras continued without pause. Guan Zengbin was organizing a few people to put the body into a Body Bag. After the recent "explosion," the body had deflated quite a bit, with almost all the gas inside expelled.
During this time, the crowd gathered around seemed to react as if they had seen a beautiful woman, murmuring in amazement. I estimated that it wouldn't be long before videos of this body retrieval would appear on major social media platforms. However, there was nothing we could do to stop it, and I couldn't understand why this incident had gained such explosive attention.
Was it because Yumu City hadn't seen a murder in so long that people flocked to witness it? Moreover, it was too coincidental; just as videos were going viral in our social circles, someone discovered a body. It was like waves crashing one after another, catching everyone off guard.
One must understand that the public is the most fickle group of people. Today they might be discussing the issue of the body, and tomorrow they could be debating which TV drama is good. Today they might swear to get to the bottom of this incident, and tomorrow they would forget what they said. It was just like how the lawyer who defended Li Yi was also Wang Baoqiang's lawyer; he had been vilified back then but later became a friend of the people.
Ironically, those who criticized him and those who praised him were often the same group.
Such an intense and explosive news story might have been orchestrated by someone intentionally.
I continued to ask, "Have you noticed any suspicious individuals?"
The old man pondered for a moment before replying, "Actually, yes. When we were drilling through the ice, someone asked me what I was doing. I told him it was for winter swimming. He asked when we would start, and I said it would be in about a week or so and even invited him to join us. But he mentioned he had an injury on his arm and couldn't swim..."
"And then?" I prompted.
He moved his arms around a bit. "He left after that. He said this place was good; I don't know what he meant by that—he seemed a bit eccentric."
"Injured on his arm," I asked seriously. "Was it similar to yours?"
The old man nodded. "He even patted his left arm as if he were somewhat proud of it."
That was a bit awkward; who would casually show off their arm injury to others? This situation had occurred more than once, but why would Zhang Bin behave like this? He lingered in various places and always made sure others noticed his arm injury, as if he were afraid they wouldn't know he was Zhang Bin.
From what we currently knew from witnesses and evidence, all signs pointed toward Zhang Bin. Cheng Yimin and Zheng Shuai could even confirm with the hotel boss that he indeed sent Du Ziguo to assault his own sister, while Zhang Bin's defense sounded like drunken ramblings.
Zhao Li wasn't entirely sure that her captor was Zhang Bin; however, Zhang Bin's fingerprints were found at the scene, and aside from his and Zhao Li's fingerprints, there were no others present. This evidence confirmed that Zhang Bin was indeed the murderer.
From the murder video of Du Ziguo and the discovered corpse, both serve as complementary evidence proving that Du Ziguo's words are indeed true.
Even those who had only seen Zhang Bin once could confirm that he indeed wanted to ruin Hao Ren's family, to burn down Hao Ren's house, and to toy with his daughter. However, Zhang Bin defended himself by claiming that those were just angry words and that he had never acted on any of them. Yet, such a defense was utterly useless in light of the numerous testimonies against him.
At the same time, we could not find any direct evidence of Zhang Bin's crimes. This left us feeling somewhat perplexed—was Zhang Bin hiding too well, or was someone trying to frame him? The public opinion online was overwhelmingly against him; without evidence, they wanted Zhang Bin dead, and with evidence, they would likely want him torn to pieces.
As we were leaving, I don't know who started it, but the crowd around us began to chant: "Truth! We want the truth! We will keep following this matter."
Watching the crowd through the car window, I felt a mix of happiness and sadness. I was glad they wanted to know the truth, but I wondered if they truly did.
We quickly returned to the City Bureau.
At that moment, Mary was investigating the IP address of the person spreading rumors online. To her surprise, the IP address turned out to be from Dongxing City. It takes at least four hours to travel from Yumu City to Dongxing City, yet this video had been uploaded in less than three hours. This meant that the person should still be in Dongxing City. But why would Du Ziguo, a resident of Yumu City, upload this video from a computer in Dongxing City?
Captain Shao sighed and said, "It seems we're just like Conan—wherever we go, there's death."
I chuckled and replied, "Wherever there are living people, there are also dead ones. Every second, approximately 1.8 people die in this world; every minute, about 106 people pass away. Most people remain unaware of this and will do everything to avoid death. Perhaps the next person you brush past will collapse and die just as you turn a corner."
Captain Shao suggested, "How about this? I'll take some people to Dongxing City to investigate who uploaded this video. Then I'll head back to the City Bureau; it's been months now; they should have been reassigned."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Guan Zengbin said, "Then let's proceed with the autopsy."
We arrived at the Autopsy Room and placed the body on the autopsy table. Gu Chen clearly had reservations about this corpse; it was no wonder since he had nearly lost his life because of it.
Guan Zengbin put on her mask and gloves while observing the corpse. Before starting the autopsy, she said, "Looking at this body, you've all seen the gases inside. The way it has formed into this giant shape, especially in winter, suggests it's been like this for about four or five days."
The four or five days matched the timeline in Zhang Bin's video, meaning Du Ziguo indeed went to confront Zhang Bin right after recording the video. However, Du Ziguo clearly did not manage to overpower Zhang Bin. Yet, there were scars on Zhang Bin's arm. Was Du Ziguo so weak that he couldn't even defeat someone with a cut on their arm?
Suddenly, something flickered in my mind, as if something had touched me.
Guan Zengbin began the autopsy on the body. She said, "Although performing an autopsy like this doesn't necessarily mean you'll get addicted to drugs, I still advise you to wear proper protection. Fortunately, he hadn't been using drugs for long—only about a month—otherwise you would really need to see this person's viscera; drug users' viscera are usually shattered..."
Gu Chen didn't approach to look; it seemed he was still shaken.
Once I had put on my protective gear, I stepped closer to observe.
Guan Zengbin worked on the emaciated yet "swollen" corpse for a good half hour before finally saying, "Do you see this strangulation mark on the neck?"
There was indeed a mark on Du Ziguo's neck, but it didn't appear very deep. I nodded and asked, "Is this the fatal injury?"
Guan Zengbin shook her head and continued, "That's the point of doubt because this mark is not a fatal injury at all. Based on the depth of this strangulation mark, it wouldn't be enough to cause death. Moreover, considering the direction of force applied, it seems somewhat off."
"Off?" I inquired.
Guan Zengbin demonstrated a motion for me. She pretended to loop a rope around my neck and then pulled downwards at an angle. If she applied force like that, my body should naturally fall backward unless we were back-to-back and she was using her own weight to support me.
But then I suddenly thought of an issue: Zhang Bin's left arm couldn't exert any force. If that were the case, the strangulation mark shouldn't look like this; the force from the left hand was clearly more significant. Therefore, it couldn't have been Zhang Bin who caused this mark.
"The direction of force is wrong!" I exclaimed.
Guan Zengbin smiled lightly.
Then she said, "So when we do the autopsy later, pay close attention."
With that, she gently sliced open the lung of the corpse. As soon as she made an incision, she noticed a significant amount of fluid in the lung. Guan Zengbin carefully extracted a bit of green substance with her knife. "See this? It's algae. The lungs are severely waterlogged, which indicates he must have been thrown into the water while still alive."
"Moreover," Guan Zengbin pressed on the kidneys with her knife. "Based on the degree of failure in his kidneys and liver, he has a history of drug use, but it hasn't been for long. Otherwise, the concentration would be higher than it is now. Overall, the time of death was around noon four days ago."
Gu Chen called out from a distance, "Doesn't that coincide with Zhang Bin's medication change? It's possible that after leaving, Du Ziguo had been tracking Zhang Bin all along, and Zhang Bin realized this. So he deliberately lured Du Ziguo here. Then, Zhang Bin strangled Du Ziguo with a rope and kicked him into the river."
I replied, "But Du Ziguo was still conscious at that time. Do you remember those grooves you saw on the ice surface? How do you think they were made?"
"Scratched by Du Ziguo's nails?" Gu Chen suggested.
I countered, "If Du Ziguo could make those scratches with his nails, he might as well have swum to another hole in the ice to escape."
"What does that mean?" Gu Chen asked, furrowing his brow.
I glanced at the cold body lying on the autopsy table and slowly said, "Is it possible that Du Ziguo wasn't killed by Zhang Bin? What if Du Ziguo committed suicide?"
"Suicide?" Both of them were taken aback by this idea.
I nodded seriously. "That's right. The whole situation stemmed from Zhang Bin, and everything ended with him as well. They might really want Zhang Bin dead. If it weren't for Zhang Bin, none of this would have happened afterward. Perhaps something is about to unfold."
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