Chapter 80

Before he could finish his sentence, Lu Siyu put down his notebook and was the first to walk out. Song Wen was about to call him, but was stopped by Lin Xiuran.

Lu Siyu went straight to the police station’s restroom. He had felt cold sweat constantly trickling down his forehead, and the breakfast he had in the morning was churning in his stomach. It felt as if a pair of hands were twisting his soft organs into a knot. After entering the restroom, he vomited everything out shortly after. His vision was filled with twinkling stars.

Lu Siyu had long known that quitting medication wasn’t as simple as it seemed. He could control his willpower and strive not to take the pills, but his body completely disagreed. All his organs rebelled against him, clamoring to tear him apart.

Vomiting actually made him feel better. Lu Siyu rested for a while in the stall and felt much relieved. After coming out, he went to the sink and rinsed his mouth with water. From the corner of his eye, he seemed to see someone on the other side of the sink. Lu Siyu lifted his gaze and saw that it was Xu Changyin from the Provincial Bureau.

Lu Siyu instantly became half-awake, straightening up. He hoped Xu Changyin hadn’t noticed his disheveled appearance. Then he realized that when he entered, all the stall doors were open, and there was no one at that time. Xu Changyin must have come in recently.

Xu Changyin didn’t say anything. He pulled out a few tissues from the dispenser next to him and handed them to Lu Siyu without asking if he was feeling unwell.

Lu Siyu took them, covering his mouth, wiping away the water stains from the corner of his mouth, and coughed lightly. “Thank you, Captain Xu.”

The two walked to the corridor outside the restroom door. Xu Changyin asked, “How have you considered what I asked you last time?”

Lu Siyu paused for a few seconds, trying to calm himself. “The case here has just begun,” he said, implying that it wasn’t the right time for any changes, even if they were considering reorganizing the team.

Xu Changyin chuckled lightly. “What? Without your words, Song Wen can’t handle it?”

Hearing this, Lu Siyu suddenly felt a surge of energy. He could handle anything, but saying that Song Wen couldn’t wasn’t acceptable to him. He couldn’t help but want to defend Song Wen. “Does Captain Xu underestimate Captain Song too much? He has the highest case-solving rate in the Nancheng City Bureau.”

“Your relationship with your captain seems pretty good.”

Xu Changyin chuckled. “But as for Song Wen, I’ve taken over his cases before. When the bureau asked him to hand over, he delegated everything to his subordinates. I don’t see much dedication to the work from your captain.”

Lu Siyu wanted to say something, but stopped himself, realizing that Xu Changyin didn’t understand Song Wen. He opened his mouth to speak but changed his sentence. “Captain Song’s recent cases just started, and he’s a bit busy.”

“Oh, then I wish you an early breakthrough in your case.” Xu Changyin spoke as he moved his fingers slightly. He didn’t engage in further conversation with Lu Siyu but his tone carried a hint of disdain, as if Song Wen was an opponent not worth mentioning. “I have many people eager to join my team, so you better make a decision soon.”

Lu Siyu furrowed his brows, then he asked, “Captain Xu, why did you choose me?” All this talk about so-called excellence was just surface talk. Xu Changyin wasn’t an easy person to get along with, nor was he easily fooled. He had his own set of rules for doing things, and there must be reasons and thoughts behind his choice.

Xu Changyin didn’t avoid the question nor rush to answer. Instead, he countered with a question of his own, “Do you remember the first crime scene you saw?”

Scenes suddenly flashed in Lu Siyu’s mind. It was there that he felt as if he had died once. He forced himself to stand straight, suppressing any signs of abnormality. “I remember. I’ll never forget it in my life.”

“Treasure that feeling. I can see that case had an impact on you,” Xu Changyin explained. “I believe that every case has emotions, like it has a soul. This isn’t superstition; it’s just that every crime, every outcome, has its reasons. A good detective is like a good actor. When facing a case, you have to get into character, immerse yourself in it, let your heart fluctuate. Transfer the hatred for the culprit onto yourself, treat catching the culprit as your own affair.”

Xu Changyin paused and continued, “Many police officers, especially those who’ve been in the job for a long time, have lost this quality. Being a policeman is just a job for them to make a living. A burning hatred for evil? It doesn’t exist. They’ve become numb to it. I can see it in their eyes with just one glance. I’m not saying those people aren’t good cops, but I don’t respect them. In other words, I don’t need someone who clocks in and out of work, living their own life. I need someone who is tense 24/7, who can fight side by side with me and solve cases together.”

Listening to his words, Lu Siyu suddenly felt like he was being touched on a sore spot. He thought he had hidden his feelings well, but he didn’t know why Xu Changyin had figured it out, seeing through his facade. He tightened the hand holding the tissues, crumpling them in his palm.

Sensing something, Xu Changyin looked up and asked, “What? You don’t agree with what I said?”

“Captain Xu’s thoughts are too harsh. Even though we’re policemen, we’re still human beings, not crime-solving machines,” Lu Siyu blinked, avoiding Xu Changyin’s gaze. “And as for hating evil, many people in this department are much better than me…” Like Song Wen.

Lu Siyu was well aware that he wasn’t the type of person Xu Changyin described. His actions had a purpose. He was paying attention to the case, probing into the hearts of criminals, and also venting his own desires, numbing his nerves.

Xu Changyin sensitively detected his inner reluctance but misunderstood it as his sense of justice.

In this situation, Lu Siyu felt even more unsure about joining Xu Changyin’s team. But this was still a shortcut for him to understand the truth of the past. For a moment, he hesitated.

“One more thing, I heard that your mentor at the police academy was Wu Qing,” Xu Changyin looked at him. Song Cheng had always been concerned about this old partner, and Wu Qing indeed had his own special qualities. Xu Changyin had never heard Song Cheng speak so highly of anyone before mentioning Wu Qing, so he was curious about him, and incidentally, he also paid attention to Lu Siyu.

Just as they were discussing this, someone happened to walk over from the other end of the corridor. Lu Siyu didn’t want to linger with Xu Changyin any longer. He lowered his head and whispered, “I understand. I’ll get back to you after considering it. Thank you, Captain Xu.”

When Lu Siyu returned to the forensic room, everyone was there except Lin Xiuran, who had been called away. Song Wen glanced at him through the crowd, seeming to want to ask why he had been gone for so long. Lu Siyu picked up his notebook, lowered his head deliberately, and avoided his gaze. His hand was still trembling slightly, his throat burning, and he felt a bit weak. His stomach was empty, but the discomfort was bearable. He drank some hot water and then habitually bit his nails.

At that moment, there was a light ding from Zhu Xiao’s notebook, indicating that the system’s results had just been calculated. Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to it. The progress bar was at 100%, but the list of matching names was empty. Zhu Xiao felt a bit disappointed and looked up to report to Song Wen honestly, “Captain Song, we didn’t find any relevant individuals.”

Lao Jia sighed with relief, wearing a pained expression as he clutched his chest and said, “We did our best, but it seems that the gentleman isn’t from our Nancheng after all…”

“Why do I hear a sense of liberation in your tone?” Fu Linjiang mercilessly pierced through him. “Or should we change our approach? Should we ask the provincial authorities?”

“Let’s wait a bit and modify the screening criteria,” Song Wen frowned, pondering for a moment. He adjusted a few key words and then pressed the enter key.

The criteria set by Zhu Xiao earlier were a bit too specific. If there were any errors, it could result in the screening failing to produce results. This time, the criteria became broader, and the system’s calculation speed increased significantly. Before long, a name popped up.

“We have a relevant one!” But then, Fu Linjiang looked at the information and sighed, “Ah, this person is deceased. The time of death was seven months ago. Song Wen, did you forget to select the ‘alive’ option?”

Zhu Xiao added, “I told you so. Look at this big data system; it’s really unreliable…”

Lao Jia, upon seeing the result, became serious. “Ah, that’s possible. Have you ever heard of the term ‘borrowing a corpse to revive a soul’?”

Zhu Xiao thought he was going to say something and couldn’t help but show a disdainful expression. “Feudal superstition. What era are we living in?”

Lao Jia said, “I’m not making this up. Have you ever heard the stories told by the elderly? Borrowing a corpse to revive a soul means that a person still has unfinished business in their heart. They borrow someone else’s body to return to the mortal world, either to repay kindness or seek revenge. When their worldly ties are resolved, they will depart.”

Zhu Xiao couldn’t help but remind him, “Brother Jia, you’re a policeman! A criminal police at that!”

Ignoring them, Song Wen opened the record. “Chen Yanqiu, male, 26 years old, height 181 cm, blood type A, frequently used mobile number… frequently used email address… ID number… educational background… school… bank cards under his name… real estate ownership… permanent address… diagnosed with cancer two years ago, underwent gallbladder removal surgery a year ago… cause of death: illness, date of death… date of cremation…” As he moved his mouse pointer downward, a photo appeared.

Although the search process of this big data system was a bit slow, the information collected was quite comprehensive. Almost all the information that the police could gather was presented. Various files, experiences, even the dates of purchasing train tickets, expenditures on bank cards, all data were available. This saved a lot of investigation time. These living individuals were compressed into concise records on the internet, consisting of numbers and texts.

The core development concept of police big data was to bundle and link various complex data so that related information could be presented more comprehensively.

In daily life, people would never think they would leave behind so many clues and traces.

Fortunately, such a system was used by the police. Each search required a password. If it fell into the wrong hands, it could access all relevant information, which was somewhat frightening.

Lu Siyu walked up behind them, glanced at the detailed information listed, and whispered softly, “It should be this person.”

Fu Linjiang still couldn’t believe it. “Ah, Xiao Lu, this person has been dead for a long time.”

“The one who died earlier shouldn’t be him. It’s this corpse.” Lu Siyu analyzed from the side. “From the data, all the information about this person is completely consistent with what we currently know. Gender, age, height, blood type, even the illness and surgical history are very consistent. The probability of this coincidence is extremely low.” He spoke a lot, and his throat was a bit sore, so he coughed lightly.

Song Wen also said, “From the avatar, it looks very similar. You can see from his ID photo that he has a single-sided canine tooth.” At this point, he looked towards the corpse lying on the side, and the arrangement of the teeth was completely consistent with the ID photo.

A person’s teeth can affect the entire facial features, and forensic experts often determine the identity of the deceased through the characteristics of the teeth and dental models. Song Wen, who often draws portraits, was particularly sensitive to this point.

“But this person is someone who died seven months ago. He was even issued a certificate for cremation at the crematorium. Could it really be like Lao Jia said, someone ‘borrowing a corpse to revive a soul’?” Fu Linjiang pointed at the screen.

“So, it’s really possible,” Song Wen stood up, looking serious. “If all possibilities are blocked, then we have to consider whether the so-called ‘impossible’ has gone wrong.” His gaze turned to the corpse displayed on the side. “That means, the person who died seven months ago isn’t him. He borrowed someone else’s ‘corpse’ and returned his own ‘soul’.”