A Psych Case Just Joined the Team Chapter 003

Bloodshed – 03

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Inside the autopsy room, Mu Sen had just finished dissecting a corpse when he saw Xing Zui walk in...

Mu Sen and Xing Zui graduated from the same university, although they hadn't known each other during their time there. They both reported for duty at the Dang City Police Station on the same day, one a detective, the other a forensic pathologist. Despite the difference in their roles, the nature of their work was similar, and they often crossed paths. Mu Sen was naturally sociable and never missed a chance to strike up a conversation with Xing Zui whenever they met. Everyone in the station knew that Mu Sen's silver tongue ranked second in the station, and no one dared claim first. Thanks to his relentless attempts at small talk, he eventually succeeded in forging a deep revolutionary friendship with Xing Zui.

Xing Zui said, "Where's the male corpse that was brought in at nine-thirty on the morning of the 10th?"

Mu Sen had long grown used to Xing Zui's blunt way of speaking and was unfazed by it. He teased, "Funny how you never drop by unless you need something." As he spoke, he pointed towards the corpse storage unit. "Third row, second one on the right."

Xing Zui walked over to the refrigerated storage unit and pulled open the drawer. "The day you end up in here, I'll come visit you every day with a fruit basket."

The assistant laughed aloud at that. Mu Sen said, "Life's just about eating, examining corpses, and chatting up girls, don't jinx me. With my luck, I could very well end up lying here one day, eyes shut and all."

The assistant asked, "Brother Sen, don't you ever sleep?"

Xing Zui chimed in at just the right moment, "He's got no girl, who's he supposed to sleep with?"

Mu Sen was a year younger than Xing Zui and had striking looks, and his long, narrow almond-shaped eyes had no shortage of admirers. He owned an apartment and a car, had no bad habits, and was in excellent shape, but even so, he still suffered the fate of being single. He had been on a few blind dates, but the moment the women found out about his profession, they backed off. Girls these days were delicate, who would accept a boyfriend who dealt with corpses all day? Let alone the unavoidable intimacy that came with a relationship.

As for looking closer to home, you could count the number of women in the station, including the cleaning lady, on one hand.

Still, it echoed something Xing Zui had once said: "The Dang City Police Station is short of everything, except bachelors!"

Lin Datong's body was placed on the autopsy table. Mu Sen instructed the assistants to leave, and only he and Xing Zui remained in the autopsy room...

Xing Zui noticed a wound on the corpse's abdomen and frowned in thought. Mu Sen glanced at him. "Your frown looks like it could crush a mosquito. What is it? Bit of a tricky case?"

Xing Zui asked, "Is this the wound mentioned in the autopsy report?"

Mu Sen folded his arms across his chest and leaned slightly forward to take another look. "This wound was inflicted post-mortem. There are a total of twelve knife wounds on the deceased, four to the chest, six to the abdomen, one on the pelvic bone, and one on the right forearm. The wounds range from three to four centimetres in length, the deepest reaching nine centimetres, and the shallowest around two. The murder weapon was likely a fruit knife with a blade tip angle of less than sixty degrees and a blade length exceeding 120 millimetres. The cause of death was a stab to the left side of the chest, the tip of the blade pierced the aorta, leading to fatal blood loss. From my experience, this..."

Xing Zui finished the sentence for him, "The stab to the abdomen wasn't made by the same person who inflicted the other wounds."

"I already wrote all that clearly in the autopsy report, you didn't come all this way just to repeat what I said, did you?"

"The fatal stab that killed the deceased was done by a left-hander?"

"Judging by the angle of the wound on the inner wall, it's not hard to determine."

Xing Zui looked up and asked, "Just that one?"

Mu Sen shrugged, and Xing Zui snapped his fingers "I'll leave the rest to you." With that, he turned and walked towards the door of the autopsy room.

"How is it that your salary as captain of the criminal investigation team is higher than mine as the chief forensic pathologist, yet you got me running around all day and still won't even treat me to a light dinner?"

Xing Zui turned back at the door, hands in his pockets, only to see the corners of his mouth curled into a slightly wicked smile as he said, "Don't give me that pleading look. You stare at corpses all day, trying to get horny with the only living person in the room?"

With that, he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and strode off without waiting for Mu Sen's response.

Behind him came Mu Sen's voice, faint but clearly annoyed, "Rather get horny with Fang Xiaolai than with you!"

The "Fang Xiaolai" Mu Sen mentioned was none other than Fang Lai. Within their team, Xing Zui was infamous for his sharp tongue, Cui Jingfeng was far too proper, and Xie Xun never opened his mouth without making some crude comment about women. Compared to them, the introverted Fang Lai was the perfect target for his playful jabs. So whenever he saw Fang Lai, Mu Sen loved tossing a few flirtatious remarks his way, only stopping when Fang Lai turned red with embarrassment.

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Cui Jingfeng parked by the kerb and raised his wrist to check the time, then glanced through the car window at the residential building across the street.

At this hour, Li Li would already have left for work. These communal residential buildings had no security guards, just two walls forming a simple barrier, drawing a line between two worlds. What had once been freshly whitewashed walls were now mottled with mildew, the damp patches mingling with dust from the ground to give off a musty smell of age and decay. Just past the entrance was a narrow street, barely wide enough for two small cars to squeeze past one another. Cui Jingfeng spotted a street vendor by the roadside selling tofu pudding and, seeing that the vendor was a middle-aged woman, walked over.

"Sister, one bowl of tofu pudding."

The middle-aged woman selling the tofu pudding broke into a beaming smile when she saw a handsome young man. "Sure thing!"

Cui Jingfeng glanced casually around, then asked in a tone of feigned curiosity, "Looks like you're the only one selling tofu pudding around here. Business must be good, right?"

"Ah, just from that I can tell you're not from around here. I've been selling tofu pudding on this spot for six or seven years now, I pretty much know everyone who buys from me."

"Do you know a couple who live round here, I think the husband's surname was... Lin or something. He was in the news a few days ago, apparently murdered..."

Feigning a vague, curious look, Cui Jingfeng easily stirred up that innate gossiping instinct common among middle-aged women.

The woman eagerly jumped in, "You mean the couple on the fifth floor of block two, right? Her husband's name is Lin Datong, they live just one unit away from us. He comes here every day to buy tofu pudding for his son and wife. Like us, he's not educated, working from dawn till dusk at the construction site, and still has to cook when he comes back from work. I mean, such an honest person, how could he be killed like this?"

"Sister, I heard Lin Datong used to get drunk and hit his wife and kid, have you seen the two of them arguing recently?"

"Who told you that? You're just a young lad, why get involved in their family's business? The man's dead now, and you're going on about things you shouldn't... Anyway, your tofu pudding's ready. Here, eat it while it's hot."

The woman handed him the bowl of tofu pudding. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything more, Cui Jingfeng had no choice but to change his approach. "Sister, I'm a reporter from a newspaper, and I've been following this case for the past few days. My editor sent me to learn more about the situation. If you know anything about Lin Datong's family, could you share it with me? It would help improve the accuracy of our reports, and might also help the police solve the case sooner."

"Oh, you're a reporter? Aiya, well, as for the specifics of that family, I really don't know much. Lin Datong usually treats his wife and kid quite well... Oh, right, just a few days ago, I heard from my next-door neighbour that she heard the man yelling and swearing at night, I don't know if it was the couple having an argument. Then again, couples arguing is normal, I argue with my husband all the time."

"Can you remember exactly how many days ago that was?"

The woman thought for a moment. "It should have been... last week, but I can't remember the exact day."

"Other than the couple and their child, do you know if any friends usually came and went from their home?"

"That I'm not sure about."

Just then, a customer arrived at the stall, and the woman quickly said, "I've got business to take care of now, I don't really know anything else, why don't you try asking someone else?"

With that, the woman opened the insulated container, picked up a metal ladle, and began stirring the tofu pudding... Cui Jingfeng looked at the steaming bowl of tofu pudding in his hands and thought of one last question. "Let me ask you one last thing, since you said Lin Datong used to come here every day to buy tofu pudding, can you remember the last time he came? Sister, could you try to recall it clearly?"

The woman paused mid-action... Seeing how serious Cui Jingfeng looked, she found herself drawn into the memory... "It seems like it was last Sunday, yes! It was Sunday, and that day Lin Datong's wife came to buy it."

Not long after leaving the tofu pudding stall, Cui Jingfeng received a call from Xie Xun. They exchanged a few brief words before ending the call. Just as he was about to take a step, he caught a whiff of Chinese herbal medicine in the air. Following the scent, he glanced ahead and noticed a small clinic a short distance away to his right. He suddenly remembered Xing Zui mentioning that Li Li had a chronic cough and had been taking traditional Chinese medicine for it.

Cui Jingfeng casually tossed the untouched bowl of tofu pudding into a nearby garbage bin and began walking towards the entrance of the clinic...

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At that moment, the South Bus Station in Dang City was teeming with people, a constant flow of individuals moving to their own rhythms, creating an ever-changing tide of travellers.

Xing Zui found an empty spot, turned off the engine, and pulled out a piece of Swiss fruit candy from inside the car. He tore open the wrapper and popped it into his mouth, and his slender fingers crumpled the light-coloured wrapper into a small ball, which he then tossed into a nearby garbage bin through the open window. Next, he retrieved his phone from his pocket and opened his contacts. There were many numbers saved, but he sent a message to one marked with a question mark:

– "Black SUV, plate ending 5A817."

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Xing Zui casually glanced towards the bus station exit and caught sight of a young man wearing sunglasses and dressed fashionably, pulling along two flashy suitcases, one white and one yellow. He stood out easily. However, due to the distance, Xing Zui couldn't make out his features clearly.

The way the man walked was unlike anyone else around him, he moved with a kind of non-mainstream flair, as though he came with his own background music. His steps carried a breeze, flamboyant but not forced, with an air of bright, youthful confidence...

But in Xing Zui's mind, two words inexplicably surfaced – frivolous youth.

From where the young man exited the station, he could easily spot Xing Zui's car. Sure enough, Xing Zui saw him glance in his direction, then begin walking towards the vehicle. The passenger-side window slowly rolled down, and only then did Xing Zui deliberately take a closer look at the frivolous youth.

The young man's skin was very fair. When he removed his sunglasses, his features were striking, bold yet refined. His outfit made it easy to associate him with some currently popular male celebrity.

Xing Zui's gaze briefly lingered on a beauty mark at the corner of his eye, just long enough to leave no room for misunderstanding, before returning to its usual cool indifference.

"Hello, Senior. I'm Qing Ming."

As he spoke, two shallow dimples appeared on his cheeks, and his smile carried a warmth to it. For the briefest moment, perhaps just 0.1 of a second, Xing Zui felt that there was something strangely familiar about him...

‿︵‿︵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: June 29, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 22, 2026 by Angel