Qiming Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Gu Yunfeng had barely paid attention during the lecture but had been observing Professor Xu. He noticed something interesting: Xu Chengyue gave lectures without detailed slides or referring to any books. He could talk for two hours with just a few simple and messy slides, using precise and concise words identical to the textbook.

Has he memorised all the books? He has an excellent memory, but his lectures were incredibly boring. Gu Yunfeng, sitting in the front row, was about to be hypnotised at any moment. These students are probably attending just because of his looks, right?

Xu Chengyue handed a USB drive with copied files to the last student leaving, then packed up his computer and said to Gu Yunfeng, "Yesterday, the leaders from the Third Institute had a meeting with our lab. They said the criminal investigation team would come today."

"You don't look much like a student, and you deliberately stayed until the end. You must be Captain Gu." He wore a black shirt with a silver school logo pin, neatly pressed sleeves, and a rose gold VCA Pierre series watch on his left wrist, holding a silver thermos in his right hand.

His style instantly shifted from an academic elite to a health-conscious old cadre.

Although Xu Chengyue was wearing glasses, it was clear they had no prescription. Gu Yunfeng found it odd but didn't ask further. He handed Xu Chengyue an ID card and said, "This is a temporary police ID for our team, valid for a year. Use it for now."

"The Municipal Bureau and the Third Institute should have briefed you on the details. You'll need to go on field assignments with our team, try to come over when you're free."

Xu Chengyue took the ID, looked at his photo carefully, and nodded, saying there was no problem. The photo on Xu Chengyue's ID was taken three years ago, showing clear, bright eyes and a slightly smiling mouth, making him look more spirited than in person.

"Let's go then." Gu Yunfeng took long strides ahead, turning back to say, "We just received a case report. It's assigned to our team."

"Now? I still have a class," Xu Chengyue tried to refuse seriously but was interrupted.

"Skip the class, take a leave." Gu Yunfeng gave him an apologetic pat on the back, "Accept your fate. On our first meeting, you encounter a murder case and have to go on field duty."

Hearing this exaggerated news, Xu Chengyue showed no particular reaction. He checked the time: exactly four o'clock. He seemed innately indifferent, his expressionless face lowering the surrounding temperature by a few degrees.

Gu Yunfeng observed his expressions closely, from the mechanical boredom during the lecture to the sudden field assignment. Xu Chengyue's face never had more than three expressions.

Looks like he has facial paralysis. Gu Yunfeng felt oddly disappointed.

Having given the car keys to Shu Pan and the others, he had to ride in Xu Chengyue's car to the crime scene at Huanan Road. The car played a few songs repeatedly, sung by a particularly sweet female voice, evidently from the same singer.

"This song is quite nice, who's the singer?" Gu Yunfeng asked out of boredom while stuck in traffic on the central ring road, sitting in the passenger seat and staring at the endless line of cars in the rearview mirror. Nanpu University was about twenty kilometres from Huanan Road, and after ten minutes of driving, they were stuck in traffic for half an hour.

"It's a girl group called AIR, they've been quite popular lately. This is their new album released last month."

"Oh..." He watched the estimated travel time on the GPS change from thirty to forty minutes, then to fifty minutes, tilting his head and asking, "What's this song called?"

"This is the title track, Love Is Infinite."

The music market had been sluggish in recent years, and Gu Yunfeng rarely paid attention to entertainment gossip. He hadn't heard of AIR, so he used Shu Pan's phone to search. He found out they were a group of seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls who appeared in the public eye last year, known for their cute looks and sweet voices, and somehow shot up to stardom.

A few days ago, a girl from the group took the college entrance exam, sparking discussions about which university she could get into, dominating the entertainment headlines for two days.

By the time they arrived at Huanan Road, it was already five in the afternoon. Several police cars were parked in front of the deserted residential area. A few watchful onlookers, standing in front of the cordon looking left and right, were directly asked to leave before long.

On such a hot day, they were also quite idle.

"Professor Xu, have you been to a murder scene before?" Gu Yunfeng asked, putting on gloves and beckoning him to follow.

Xu Chengyue shook his head. This was his first contact with a criminal investigation project and his first time at a real murder scene.

He followed Gu Yunfeng, crossing the cordon. As he stepped over, a few raindrops fell from the sky, and a dark cloud floating above was quickly blown away by the wind. For some reason, as he took the police ID and faced the death scene for the first time, Xu Chengyue felt he was stepping towards a future where death needed to be redefined.

"Never been, huh... Then you might want to stay back." Gu Yunfeng instinctively said but quickly corrected himself, pulling Xu Chengyue forward. "Or get closer. Get your heart racing and quickly adapt to the environment."

Xu Chengyue waved his hand, "It's fine. I'm naturally immune to such scenes."

He was genuinely immune. Despite the stench from the corpse stuffed in the trash can and the maggots that had already started to appear on the surface, he remained unfazed, wearing gloves and carefully examining the wounds. He had been reading criminal investigation books these days, he lacked experience and wanted to avoid being a burden.

"Captain Gu, you're finally here." Shu Pan was excited to see them arriving, reaching for his phone that had been stolen.

Gu Yunfeng put on gloves, inspecting the damaged face of the deceased. The victim was a male, aged between 40-45. The body was 171 centimetres long, estimated actual height of about 175 centimetres. He checked the limbs, finding clear wounds on the palms of both hands, inflicted by a sharp weapon, with two stab wounds on the abdomen and shoulder, the abdominal wound about 4-5 centimetres deep.

"What's the situation at the scene?" Gu Yunfeng asked while examining the wounds.

"The body was stuffed head down, feet up, into a trash can. After forensic processing, the body was pulled out."

"Where's Old Qin?" He asked, not seeing the person who called him.

"He went home, said he had to pick up his kid."

"Isn't that Professor Xu!" Shu Pan recognised Xu Chengyue squatting by the body, "I was in your class a few hours ago, but it was too advanced, and we ran away."

"What's your take on this situation?"

Hearing someone call him, Xu Chengyue paused, not having much of an impression of this reckless young man. He shook his head apologetically, "I'm just a teacher, an outsider in criminal investigation. Otherwise, why would I come to the team to learn?"

"However... I see many wounds on his hands. The victim must have had a fierce struggle with the assailant, right?"

The victim now lay on the ground, which was covered with an insulating sheet, with visible wounds, six on the hands alone.

"Moreover, these stab wounds aren't deep, the amount of bleeding was not fatal."

"Am I correct, Captain Gu?" Xu Chengyue asked, looking up.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I don't know what my upload schedule for this novel will be yet, so enjoy the early burst of chapters while I figure that out.

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 21, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 22, 2024 by Angel