Lin Dongxue was very embarra.s.sed. "He doesn't mean anything when he gives me something."

"I understand you. You rarely owe things to others. You usually use the AA system where you pay for your own portion when you go out to eat and you wouldn't take the flowers I gave you. However, you're willing to accept his gifts.”

Lin Dongxue blushed to the tips of her ears. "Don't talk nonsense."

"What nonsense do you mean? The nonsense where you like Brother Chen?”

"You're still on about that?" Lin Dongxue hit Xu Xiaodong with a light punch.

"Okay, okay! Confidential! It's confidential! I won't tell anyone."

"I should go home. Be careful on the road."

"Alright!"

Looking at Lin Dongxue's silhouette disappearing into the community, Xu Xiaodong felt a bit at a loss. He remembered the first time he saw Lin Dongxue at the police academy. She was wearing a police uniform and stood in the team. Her eyes were keen and she stood tall. She exuded soft and gentle light like a G.o.ddess. She was the object of affection across almost all the students who lived in the academy.

Later, when they were a.s.signed to a team together, Xu Xiaodong was very happy and began to go on the offense to pursue her. He thought of various ways to please her, but he was repeatedly rejected.

Besides the sense of loss, he also felt a bit of relief. This war of unrequited love had a peaceful finish. He didn't need to hold onto it from now on.

"Friends are good too. Friends are also good." He muttered to himself repeatedly and started the car.

Although he slept very late, Chen s.h.i.+ still got up very early. He cooked breakfast and called Tao Yueyue to wake up and eat. The breakfast was just a simple egg and ham sandwich with milk, but Tao Yueyue had no appet.i.te. She often grumbled that she was tired of eating the dishes Chen s.h.i.+ made recently.

After eating, Tao Yueyue stood up. "I'm going back to my room to study."

"You are very motivated. You didn't play games last night?"

"Who wants to play that kind of boring thing? I have so much homework to do. How else am I going to make up for the time I lost?”

"That makes me relieved."

"I don't like to study, but I just don't want to be a bad student. The worst students academically are the most discriminated people in each cla.s.s." These words were spoken in a childish manner, making Chen s.h.i.+ want to laugh.

He took out his wallet and put two hundred yuan on the table. "Here's your pocket money. If you go out with friends on weekends, you should have a little money on you."

Tao Yueyue took the money, "Thank you... But I have no friends."

"You can make friends."

"Everyone is all very naïve. They're still watching cartoons even though they're so old now. Otherwise, they're playing games.”

"Don't you think that you'll be isolated if you think like that? You need to learn to integrate with the crowd. I was also very smart when I was young, but I pretended to be very ordinary.”

Tao Yueyue pulled a face again. "I don't believe it!"

Chen s.h.i.+'s cell phone rang and he found that Lin Dongxue was calling him. She reported, “The woman yesterday died in her own home last night. I just received the report this morning since her neighbors smelled blood.”

"Tell me the address; I will come right away."

Tao Yueyue was eavesdropping. After Chen s.h.i.+ hung up the phone, she asked, "Why is there always a murder case?"

"Now you know how dangerous the world is! Be a good girl and stay at home. If you're hungry at noon, you can call for takeout. I'll come back at night.”

"Buy me a kitten. I'm bored at home all by my lonesome."

"As long as you are within the top 30 at the end of year exams, I'll buy one for you."

Tao Yueyue muttered with disdain, "The trick of adults!"

"If you give me money, I would listen to you. Rights and obligations are equal. Do you understand?”

At ten o'clock, Chen s.h.i.+ rushed to the scene of the crime. Peng Sijue was telling people to take samples from the scene. Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong were also there. The room was messy, like a dispute had happened there. There was a woman lying on the living room floor face down. The blood that was all over the place had coagulated.

Chen s.h.i.+ put on the rubber gloves that Lin Dongxue had handed over. "It shouldn't be due to retaliation, right?"

"Not sure."

Peng Sijue said, "From the body, the time of death is estimated to be about 20 hours ago. The cause of death is due to excessive blood loss from the stab wounds on her chest and abdomen. This blood loss caused a lack of oxygen. The deceased's clothes are intact, suggesting that she wasn't violated. Additionally, some b.l.o.o.d.y dandruff was found underneath her nails.”

Chen s.h.i.+ said, "Old Peng, your estimate is a bit inaccurate this time. When w.a.n.g s.h.i.+lun called at seven o'clock last night, the deceased was still alive. This places the time of death to be about 15 hours ago.”

“I only talked about the 'body'. When we came in, the air conditioner was still on. The room temperature reached 30 degrees, so it accelerated the decaying process of the corpse.”

Chen s.h.i.+ squatted down and Peng Sijue turned the body over. The sweater of the deceased had been stained red with blood. There was a slash wound on the left breast and there were three stab wounds on the abdomen. Chen s.h.i.+ used a ruler to measure the length of the wound. "The weapon is about five centimeters wide with a sharp edge."

Peng Sijue went on to say, "The deepest stab wound on the abdomen only reached ten centimeters. The knife's handle left a mark on the skin, so the weapon is about ten centimeters long.”

"Then it's a dagger." Chen s.h.i.+ concluded and looked around. He then stood up and walked towards the door. He checked the lock. “The lock is intact and there's a peep-hole on the door. This crime should have been committed by an acquaintance… The welcome mat at the front door is displaced by thirty centimeters. There was something that fell off the shelf at the entrance. The first blood splatter found was twenty centimeters from the door. After the murderer entered the room, they pushed the victim, forcing her to lose balance, and then they slashed her.”

Peng Sijue continued, "The deceased tried to struggle and knocked down some vases on the TV cabinet. The murderer grasped her left shoulder and pulled her back towards them, then stabbed her a few times in the abdomen. There's no visible theft in the house. The murderer must have planned the murder and it should be due to revenge.”

Lin Dongxue smiled and commented, "You two really know how to work well with each other."

"Come over here; you and the deceased are about the same height. Stand here." Chen s.h.i.+ pulled Lin Dongxue in front of him and acted out the stabbing before shaking his head. "The angle is wrong, the murderer should be even taller."

"Let me try." Peng Sijue came over and acted out the actions of the murderer. Lin Dongxue, who was being used as a mannequin was a little embarra.s.sed.

"The angle is just right. Then the murderer should be around 180cm tall... How are you so tall? You haven't worn pads, right?”

Peng Sijue glanced at Chen s.h.i.+ coldly in response.

A police officer came over and held a test strip in his hand. They said to Peng Sijue, "Captain, the results are out."

Peng Sijue glanced at the results. "You're not mistaken?"

"I tested it three times."

Peng Sijue turned to Lin Dongxue and Chen s.h.i.+. "The deceased tested negative for AIDS!"

"Negative?" Lin Dongxue was shocked.

"Is she really the woman we were looking for?" Chen s.h.i.+ raised a question.

The mobile phone of the deceased was on the sofa. They picked it up but the phone was out of power, so they found the charger.

When they finally turned it on, the phone held the photos they had seen previously. There were also several apps with the chat records from the officers who were trying to “fish” her out yesterday. They compared her photos to her body. Although the photos were modified, the victim was undoubtedly Kong Tingting.

"I'll tell the CDC expert about this and ask him to check everything again." Lin Dongxue called the expert and told him about it.

Chen s.h.i.+ was a little thirsty. He stood up to open the refrigerator door and took an unopened drink. Lin Dongxue said, "Hey, pay attention!"

"This isn't part of the evidence." Chen s.h.i.+ opened his mouth and took a sip. “Huh? That's odd. Why has the food in the refrigerator gone off?”