Chapter 882: Video Evidence

The next day, Xiao Li brought a stack of videos from the traffic control office, and Lin Dongxue called Chen Shi to help review them. Chen Shi protested, “I’m a suspect’s family member!”

Lin Dongxue replied, “Do you think you can tamper with the videos? Just record the key parts, and I’ll review them later. You can’t cover anything up.”

“Alright, alright!”

Expecting a long and tedious session, they were surprised when a clue emerged quickly. In the surveillance footage from across the street, the victim’s bicycle swerved left after a crowd spilled onto the road from the bus stop.

But in the footage, the bike seemed to veer sharply before it was hit by the bus from the other side of the street.

Chen Shi had them play this segment frame by frame. He pointed to a spot and said, “The bike’s movement is strange. Normally, the front wheel turns first, then the whole bike follows. But here, it looks like it jumped from the right side of the road.”

Playing the frames repeatedly made this particularly clear.

Lin Dongxue said, “Just like I mentioned yesterday, it seems an external force acted on the bike, but this could still be Yueyue’s ‘murder hook’.”

“But the bike didn’t tip forward. It looks like someone pushed it from the side!” Chen Shi said intently.

“Pushed it?” Lin Dongxue focused on the crowded bus stop. The low resolution of the footage showed people’s heads in only sixteen-pixel clarity and hands in just four pixels, making it hard to see clearly.

After repeatedly comparing the frames where the bike was influenced by an external force, no obvious clues emerged. Xiao Li complained, “This bus stop is a mess! People are crowding onto the road!”

“I pick up Yueyue from here sometimes. This stop is always crowded because the 109 bus comes every twenty minutes. When it arrives, passengers rush onto the road, afraid they’ll miss it. An accident happened here once because of this. A delivery guy got blocked by the crowd, turned left, and got hit by an oncoming car. Yueyue’s school even held a traffic safety lecture because of it,” Chen Shi said.

“So, this is an accident-prone area. The bike had to turn left because of the crowd… Could Yueyue have known this and used it?” Lin Dongxue asked.

Chen Shi pondered, “Although I don’t want to admit it, it’s possible. She did observe Liang Zuoming riding through this area.”

After a moment of silence, Xiao Li suggested changing their perspective. They found another surveillance camera at the intersection. This camera had a deeper field of view. At 5:23 PM, Liang Zuoming’s bike passed by, then suddenly tilted left. Chen Shi noticed, “At the moment of the turn, the bike’s front wheel didn’t steer. He didn’t turn by himself; someone pushed it!”

But this footage was even less clear, and Lin Dongxue found it unconvincing.

“Why don’t we do an experiment?” Chen Shi suggested.

Xiao Li agreed, “Let’s grab a shared bike outside and test it in the parking lot.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

In the parking lot, Xiao Li held a camcorder while Chen Shi rode the bike and Lin Dongxue played the role of the pusher. As Chen Shi passed by her, she gave a hard push, causing the bike to veer to the side, and Chen Shi quickly planted his foot down to steady himself.

They repeated this three times. Xiao Li reviewed the footage and said, “Chen, your hypothesis doesn’t seem convincing. Look, each time you were pushed, your handlebars turned in the opposite direction.”

Chen Shi tapped his forehead, thinking, “Our experiment can’t perfectly replicate the scene because I was prepared. When Dongxue pushed, I instinctively turned the handlebars to maintain balance. But Liang Zuoming wasn’t prepared.”

Xiao Li said, “We can’t just find a stranger to push, can we?”

Lin Dongxue said, “I think this is missing the point. If someone pushed the victim, there should be some evidence of that action on the video.”

“Missing the point…” Chen Shi murmured, then his eyes lit up, “Right, the victim’s body is here. Why are we experimenting? Let’s examine the body!”

“Would a push leave a mark? Especially through clothing?” Xiao Li asked, puzzled.

Lin Dongxue explained, “Of course, there would be marks. After death, the body can’t repair itself. Any significant force applied before death leaves marks, which is why corpses often have bruises.”

Chen Shi added, “It’s been four days. The victim’s veins are decomposing, and rigor mortis is softening. Such marks would be very noticeable.”

The three went to the forensic unit. Peng Sijue and his team were busy with autopsies from the villa murders. Chen Shi called him over, and Peng Sijue, wearing a mask, approached. Chen Shi asked, “Can we examine the child’s body right away?”

Peng Sijue shook his head, “There’s a queue.”

“Can we look at it ourselves then?”

Peng Sijue sighed and called over a technician to accompany them to the morgue.

In the cold morgue basement, Lin Dongxue shivered. The technician opened a compartment, revealing Liang Zuoming’s body. His face was unnaturally pale from the embalming process, and his stomach had been stitched up.

Chen Shi examined the skin, “Damn, the funeral home cleaned him with hot towels to change his clothes!”

Xiao Li asked the technician, “Can any advanced methods reveal previous marks?”

The technician laughed, “It’s not that easy. Once rigor mortis and livor mortis are disrupted, the damage is permanent. That’s why we’re very careful with bodies… Don’t worry, we’ll autopsy him in a few days and might find something.”

Chen Shi shook his head, “Autopsy won’t help much. The key clues are on the skin.”

Lin Dongxue used her phone’s flashlight to inspect the body. The bluish-white skin had multiple overlapping bruises, making it hard to discern anything. She asked the technician to turn the body over.

As they checked the back, Lin Dongxue noticed an unusual mark and asked, “Does this look like a handprint?”

Xiao Li looked closely, “Sort of, but not really.”

“But it’s on the shoulder blade. If someone pushed him, it would be in this area.”

Despite his insistence on a third party’s involvement, Chen Shi now voiced his doubt, “Given the embalmers handled the body, this mark isn’t convincing. Even if it convinces us, it won’t convince a judge.”

“But there’s no clear footage of someone pushing Liang Zuoming,” Lin Dongxue said.

“The video might not have captured it!” Chen Shi said. “Traffic cameras record eight frames per second. A push is very quick and might not be caught on camera.”

“Chen, do you realize what your hypothesis implies? It means this boy wasn’t killed by Yueyue but was murdered by someone else!” Lin Dongxue exclaimed.

“That’s exactly what I think!” Chen Shi asserted.