The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 47

Mind Control – 03

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Gu Yanta arranged for the forensics department to transport the bodies of the three deceased for autopsy. Ma Qin's field team stayed behind to comfort the victims' families, while he also assigned several officers from the local police station to ensure Cheng Yu's personal safety.

Once these tasks were completed, the four of them finally stepped out of Ren'ai Hospital. Unable to hold back any longer, Chen Chen pulled Gu Yanta aside.

"Let's hit the toilet first!"

"What are you doing? Sneaking around..." Gu Yanta shook off Chen Chen's grip on his arm. "We, as officers of the people, conduct ourselves with integrity, stop whispering all the time!"

"Boss! What's wrong with you? Aren't you worried that Consultant Lu will find out about your relationship with Dr. Cheng?" Chen Chen spoke mysteriously. "Don't come crying to me when that happens. A new flame and an old love in the same place... hmph hmph..."

Gu Yanta raised his hand and flicked Chen Chen on the forehead. "What nonsense are you thinking? My relationship with Dr. Cheng was cleared up ages ago, and besides, Consultant Lu has known about this for a long time. Do you think your Consultant Lu is the petty type?"

To be honest, Gu Yanta still remembered vividly how Lu Zheng had acted all jealous last time, as if squeezing toothpaste. But considering the serious situation Cheng Yu was in, even just as an ordinary friend, he ought to offer some words of comfort, let alone to an ex-boyfriend with years of history. It made sense to show some care to Cheng Yu. If he treated Cheng Yu coldly, it would be ungracious of him, and even Lu Xiaozheng would look down on him!

Hearing this, Chen Chen thought back on his earlier concerns and realised how unnecessary they had been, it was almost laughable. Quickly shifting gears, he said, "I'm only worried about your lifelong happiness, Boss! With your emotional intelligence being so low and your niche tastes, you're practically impossible to match. Now that a pie has fallen from the sky, landing right in your mouth, how could I not worry for you?"

"Ai, you brat! Why are you always so invested in your leader's private life? If you've got that much time, maybe focus on yourself instead!" Gu Yanta sighed, then suddenly caught onto something in Chen Chen's words. "Wait, what do you mean by 'a pie falling from the sky, landing right in my mouth'? Are you saying that if it weren't for luck, I'd be single forever based on my own merit?"

"Isn't that obvious..." Chen Chen muttered.

"Chen Chen, your allowance for this month is confiscated!" Gu Yanta took a long stride and turned to leave.

"Boss! Listen to me..." Chen Chen, with his short legs, had to take three steps to catch up to his two.

Meanwhile, Lu Zheng and Yu Tiantian were already waiting in the car.

Watching the two of them walk out of the restroom together, Yu Tiantian was speechless. Gu Yanta's image in her mind plummeted to rock bottom, she had now firmly decided that her boss was the kind of "primary schooler" who couldn't go to the toilet alone.

After the bumpy ride back to the municipal bureau, Gu Yanta took a glance at the forensics department's entrance, but found nothing. Three bodies all at once! The forensics team was simply too busy. To make matters worse, Lin Feiyu had been away recently, leaving the forensics department leaderless. The place was in utter chaos, and the earliest the autopsy results would be available was the following morning.

Seeing the situation, Gu Yanta knew there was no point in pressing them. This case was rather unusual, without the autopsy results, they couldn't even determine the nature of the case, let alone hold a case analysis meeting. Left with no alternative, Gu Yanta could only return to his office in frustration.

Inside, Lu Zheng and Chen Chen were seated side by side in front of a computer, with information on the three deceased individuals displayed on the screen.

"Sun Chao, male, sixteen years old, a first-year student at Yuchuan No. 3 High School. His father is a teacher at Yuchuan No. 3 High School, and his mother teaches at Yuchuan No. 10 Primary School. Up until high school, his academic performance was consistently excellent, but after entering high school... well, it became rather disappointing. He had a history of being treated for depression and was on antidepressant medication. Based on the current information, it seems likely that his depression stemmed from academic pressure and family issues, leading to suicide."

"Wen Min, female, thirty-five years old, a project manager at a venture capital firm, unmarried. Possibly due to work-related stress and pressure from her family urging her to marry, she was diagnosed with mild depression earlier this year. However, after undergoing psychological treatment, she had mostly recovered and was able to lead a normal work and personal life."

"Chen Guiju, female, fifty-eight years old, a retired factory worker. Widowed, with a married son. After retirement, Chen Guiju lived with her son's family, helping to take care of her grandchild. However, she had a poor relationship with her daughter-in-law, and even after multiple interventions by the local community committee, their conflicts remained unresolved. Similarly, she had been diagnosed with depression earlier this year and had been on antidepressant medication since."

Chen Chen gave a brief summary of the three individuals. Their ages, identities, family backgrounds, and work experiences had no connections whatsoever. The only common factor was that all three had suffered from depression.

Depression typically manifests as low mood, slowed thinking, diminished motivation, and cognitive impairment, and even pessimism and world-weariness, leading to suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Modern medicine has yet to provide a definitive explanation for the causes of depression, though it is generally believed to be influenced by biological, psychological, and social environmental factors. The attitude of family members also plays a crucial role. Most people still lack a proper understanding of depression, and many patients, rather than receiving support and empathy from their families, are instead dismissed or even ridiculed. This is one of the most direct reasons why so many individuals with depression end up taking their own lives.

"This should be obvious, right? They all attempted suicide due to depression, failed, and then ended up dying because of this incident at the hospital." Yu Tiantian interjected. "What's there to question? The hospital has already admitted to the medical accident and agreed to compensate the families. This should be handled as a civil matter, right..."

"Not necessarily, this Wen Min, hasn't she already recovered?" Gu Yanta asked doubtfully.

"Depression is a mental illness, and the chance of a relapse after recovery is over seventy-five percent. Most likely, Wen Min encountered something distressing again, triggering a relapse." Chen Chen replied.

"Can the medical records of these three be checked? Where were they treated?" Lu Zheng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

"Let me check..." Chen Chen's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Ah... here it is, Ren'ai Hospital's department of psychiatry and psychology."

"Chen Chen, call Cheng Yu right now and ask him to send over their medical records," Gu Yanta instructed.

Chen Chen hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should be the one making the call. But as soon as he looked up, he caught his boss giving him a pointed glance. He instantly understood, Ai, men's hearts are as unpredictable as the sea! It seems Boss is still afraid of Consultant Lu's jealousy.

Before long, the Ren'ai Hospital sent over the medical records of the three patients. At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, each case was mild to moderate depression caused by either psychological stress or family conflicts. The treatment methods mainly consisted of medication and counselling. No matter how they examined it, the deaths of these three individuals all pointed to suicide due to depression, with nothing particularly unusual.

Lu Zheng stared at the records, momentarily lost in thought. The attending physician for all three patients was the same person, which was normal. After all, Ren'ai Hospital wasn't a specialised psychiatric facility, it only had two attending psychiatrists. Given that, the likelihood of these three encountering the same doctor was quite high.

"Why don't we visit Ren'ai Hospital again? Consult about the severity of their conditions? See just how bad things had to get for them to choose suicide." Gu Yanta suggested.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible..." Chen Chen interjected. "Dr. Cheng just told me that the attending doctor resigned after the New Year. He wasn't entirely sure about the reason, but it looks like the doctor is already abroad."

"Then who was responsible for their follow-up treatment?" Gu Yanta frowned.

"There was no follow-up. There's no record of Wen Min seeing a doctor after she recovered, and both Sun Chao and Chen Guiju's conditions stabilised after a period of medication, neither of them has seen a doctor since," Chen Chen explained.

"So in other words, we have nothing to go on!" Gu Yanta slammed his knuckles onto Chen Chen's desk in frustration. "I had you digging for ages, and you came up with nothing!"

"Hey... you can't say that, Boss! Even if I didn't achieve much, I at least put in the effort!" Chen Chen protested.

"Enough, you can't blame Chen Chen. On the surface, this is all we have, it's useless to force him!" Lu Zheng tried to smooth things over. "The priority right now is investigating the hospital's so-called medical accident, don't you think it's a bit strange? It's a bit far-fetched to call this malpractice..."

"I find it strange too," Yu Tiantian nodded in agreement. "Ren'ai Hospital is huge, whatever kind of power failure or accident it was, why were only these three affected while all the other patients remained fine? They are not the only people in the hospital who are relying on ventilators to maintain their lives, could it be that someone deliberately wanted them dead?"

"Then we're back to square one!" Gu Yanta said. "If we analyse this as murder, we first need to establish a motive. No matter how we investigate, these three people appear completely unrelated. Are we supposed to believe that the killer just happened to know all three, despite their vast differences in age and background? And even more coincidentally, they all attempted suicide at the same time, survived, ended up in the same hospital, and were placed in the same ward, how many coincidences like that can possibly exist in this world?"

Gu Yanta glanced at Lu Zheng, who was frowning deeply, his eyes fixed on the faxed medical records. After a long pause, Lu Zheng finally spoke. "This attending doctor's handwriting looks familiar to me. Chen Chen, do you have his information?"

"I do," Chen Chen quickly operated the computer, and the doctor's profile appeared on the screen. The man in the photo had a reserved expression, with a straight nose and thin lips.

"Isn't he one of the psychologists who came to Yuchuan University's psychology department for further studies two years ago? I think his name was... Zheng Yandong..."

Lu Zheng stared at the photo, and suddenly, it clicked. Three years ago, the five major hospitals in Yuchuan had jointly organised a psychology training programme at Professor Chen's institute, bringing in over thirty psychologists. Since Professor Chen wasn't in the best of health and couldn't manage everything alone, he had assigned the task to several postgraduate supervisors in the department. Zheng Yandong had been assigned to Professor Zhang Weiling, Lu Zheng's former mentor, and Lu Zheng had even helped review one of Zheng Yandong's coursework papers! No wonder this man's handwriting looked so familiar!

"Yes, his name is Zheng Yandong," Chen Chen nodded. "He resigned after the New Year and moved to Canada. I just heard from Dr. Cheng that Dr. Zheng was quite withdrawn and didn't have much interaction with his colleagues. After moving abroad, he seems to have cut ties with everyone."

"I'd like to meet with my postgraduate mentor, Professor Zhang Weiling. When Zheng Yandong was studying at Yuchuan University, he and Professor Zhang got along really well, they clicked immediately. They might still be in contact." Lu Zheng said, "Right now, the only connection between the three deceased is their depression, and Dr. Zheng is the only one who knows their full medical history, he might be able to shed some light on any other links between them."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

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

Translated: February 3, 2025 by Angel

Edited: February 25, 2025 by Angel