Chapter 86: The Kiss

Lin Dongxue said, “Are you suspecting that the DNA sample we found in Cheng Chao’s room isn’t actually his?”

“What did Captain Peng say?”

She recalled and repeated Peng Sijue’s words from earlier that afternoon, “‘The DNA found in the room matches that of the male victim.'”

“Captain Peng is very meticulous. He wouldn’t easily claim the deceased is Cheng Chao, because we’ve encountered tricks like this before—placing skin flakes or hair from the deceased around the house to deliberately mislead the police.”

“‘We’ve encountered’?” Lin Dongxue caught onto this phrase. “Who are ‘we’?”

Chen Shi, usually composed, seemed flustered for a moment. “It’s nothing. ‘We’ just means ‘me.’ Don’t TV hosts often say, ‘Let’s reveal this secret’?”

“Is that so?” Lin Dongxue looked suspicious. Did Chen Shi accidentally reveal something about his past?

“Let’s continue!”

“Oh… okay!” Lin Dongxue blushed again. The kiss she planted on Chen Shi’s face just now was very light—did he not feel it?

She feared he might bring it up, yet also feared he felt nothing at all.

The simulation began from the death of the female victim. Chen Shi stood in the “cave,” Lin Dongxue outside. Chen Shi said, “According to your reasoning, what was the male victim doing at this time?”

“Uh… maybe he didn’t have the courage to commit suicide, or he was looking at his deceased girlfriend.”

“For how many hours? You told me the deceased had eaten just two hours before her death, which means after the female victim died, the male victim callously had a meal while brewing up emotions to commit suicide in the cave?”

Wide-eyed, Lin Dongxue realized this was indeed a flaw in her deduction.

“Maybe… maybe he didn’t want to die?”

“If he didn’t want to die, then he’s a murderer. He couldn’t be unaware of the consequences. Let’s try reversing your thoughts. At this time, the male victim wasn’t even in the cave, because he wasn’t the one who committed suicide out of love.”

Lin Dongxue was stunned. Swallowing hard, she continued along Chen Shi’s line of thought, “The lover who couldn’t bear to commit suicide left?”

“Several hours later, the current male victim enters. He was attacked frontally, proving he was defenseless against the killer. So who was the killer? Why did they come to this cave? Coincidence?”

“The killer is the lover who returned later! Knowing once the female victim’s identity is revealed by the police, he’d essentially be guilty of murder. So he had to kill the witness.”

“Exactly!” Chen Shi snapped his fingers. “He killed the inadvertent intruder and disfigured the witness and his girlfriend’s faces. When he arranged the bodies, he subconsciously placed them in the pose of lovers holding hands, because he unconsciously believed the disfigured male was his stand-in, thus ensuring he could escape scot-free!”

Chen Shi’s reasoning was flawless, impressing Lin Dongxue immensely. But she raised a question, “Your reasoning hinges on the assumption that the male victim isn’t Cheng Chao.”

“We’ll need forensic methods to prove that.”

“I’ll call Captain Peng now.”

Lin Dongxue made a call. Captain Peng listened to her request and calmly said, “Are you with him?”

“Yes… yes.”

“Let him speak.”

Chen Shi took the phone. Peng Sijue asked, “How did you figure it out?”

“I guessed.”

“In fact, when Winter Snow brought the sample this afternoon, I was already suspicious. The skin flakes found in the room should have naturally shed, but those flakes had tiny traces of blood, as if scraped off a person. The hair in the sample had intact follicles, which natural shed hair wouldn’t have. So I checked the body and found a patch of hair forcibly removed from the deceased’s scalp.”

“So the DNA you tested was actually from the deceased herself, not Cheng Chao’s?”

“That’s my suspicion.”

“Then please investigate further.”

“Take care to secure the scene,” Peng Sijue said calmly before hanging up.

“That Captain Peng…” Chen Shi chuckled.

“What did he say?” Lin Dongxue took the phone back.

“He also suspects the sample might be fake. So it seems highly likely Cheng Chao is the culprit… Have you noticed any new clues?”

“New clues?”

“Cheng Chao isn’t the victim, but An Xu insists he is. Could he be lying?”

“But… he and Cheng Chao are romantic rivals. Why would he help him?”

“That’s something you’ll have to uncover… It’s late. Let me take you home.”

In Chen Shi’s car, they rode in silence. Lin Dongxue kept thinking about the kiss just now. She stole glances at Chen Shi, who seemed indifferent and focused on driving, which annoyed her.

It was a bit funny to her. Could she really be falling for him?

Being with Chen Shi always felt relaxed and pleasant. She could show her true self, but she had always believed it was just friendship. What did he think?

So frustrating!

“Just now…” Chen Shi spoke up.

“Just now what?” Lin Dongxue straightened up.

“I forgot to mention something. The person who could have placed the hair and skin flakes at Cheng Chao’s house could easily be someone who had unrestricted access to his home.”

“Oh!”

Lin Dongxue felt irritated. He was still talking about the case. How annoying!

“We’re here.”

Lin Dongxue got out of the car and asked him, “Will you come help us tomorrow?”

“Depends on how busy I am.”

“You’re not even working. I don’t know what keeps you so busy. Hmph, come or don’t come, it’s up to you!”

“Get some rest. I’ll try to make it.”

After Chen Shi left, Lin Dongxue felt empty inside. She didn’t really want to go home.

The next morning, as Lin Dongxue arrived at work, a police car pulled up at the precinct with a suspect from the mountainous area. It wasn’t from the local police. Two officers brought down a suspect, saying he seemed suspicious and might be connected to the case.

Lin Qiupu was very interested in this and personally interrogated him. The suspect claimed to be a homeless man from Caoji who had a grudge against a forestry boss, sneaking into the mountains to use chemicals to corrode the boss’s tree roots.

Lin Qiupu showed him a photo of the female victim and asked, “Do you know this person?”

After looking for a while, he shook his head. “Don’t know her.”

After a morning of interrogation, Lin Qiupu came out disheartened. The suspect stubbornly denied any involvement in the murder case. His attitude indicated he genuinely knew nothing. He was just a small fry caught while fishing for bigger prey.

Such things happened frequently in criminal cases.

Meanwhile, Peng Sijue had results as well. After receiving a call, Lin Dongxue rushed over excitedly. “Captain Peng, did you find the DNA?”

“No!” Peng Sijue tossed the report onto the desk. “Too much time has passed. The saliva enzymes have already degraded, and we couldn’t extract the DNA of the second person.”

Just as Lin Dongxue’s heart sank, Peng Sijue pushed up his glasses and said calmly, “But…”