Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 580 Prelude
"Why would someone kneel and kowtow before a corpse after committing murder?"

"Huh? Why are you kowtowing?"

"real or fake?"

"How could something so outrageous happen? Did the second victim do the same? She not only helped move the body, but also kowtowed to the victim along with the murderer, and then was hit from behind with an axe and pushed off the cliff?"

"You might as well say that the murderer kowtowed twice to the corpses because he killed two people! He convinced himself after the murders that kowtowing and admitting his mistake would make him feel no more remorse..."

"Is it possible that the second victim kowtowed twice? Was she forced to do so by the murderer, unaware that she was sending herself to her death?"

"Or was it just a coincidence that the killer grabbed the victim and slammed him to the ground?"

The surrounding police officers discussed the matter animatedly, some accepting Nie Guoqiang's reasoning, others disbelieving. The undeniable fact was the clear traces of kowtowing at the site; the only recourse was to deduce the killer's motives and whether kowtowing, an act with specific significance in China, was the cause. Until DNA was successfully extracted from the sweat on the ground, no one knew whether it belonged to the killer or the victim. Even if it was extracted, if it was the killer's bodily fluids, that would be fine; but if it belonged to both, it seemed to offer no other meaning than inferring the killer's motives.

Then soon, they received disappointing news.

"What did you say? It can't be extracted?"

Ma Shun stared wide-eyed at the veteran investigator in the bureau. Seeing that this man had already backed down before even making a move, he waved his hand, indicating that sampling was too difficult. With current domestic technology, it was impossible to obtain even that tiny bit of DNA data with 100% success. Moreover, if the sample was damaged during a rash extraction, even if the King of Heaven himself came, there would be no second chance. Therefore, whether to gamble or not was a decision for these officials to make.

"Don't you always claim to be the top forensic investigator in Chu Province? How come you can't even handle such a small matter?"

Ma Shun glared at the person who was trying to find a scapegoat before even doing anything. "Gambling, huh?! If the police solve cases by gambling, what are they supposed to rely on to fight criminals? Luck?"
"How much bodily fluid could be left by just touching the ground like that? Of course, that's not the point. The point is that we discovered it too late, my horse team! This place is open, well-ventilated, and has strong sunlight, which is devastating for the preservation of any kind of biological data. You want me to extract DNA from evidence that has just been dried by the sun? I'm confident! But you want me to extract traces from something that has been exposed to the sun for several days and constantly blown by natural winds? Who can guarantee that I will succeed?"

The on-site police officer surnamed Wang spoke matter-of-factly, leaving Ma Shun with no room for rebuttal.

Just as the police can't find any clues because they discovered the case too late, even the most professional investigators can't be sure of success when faced with such subtle physical evidence that has been there for so long and has been damaged in various ways.

"Why don't you take a portion of the traces from each of the two evidence points and process them? Look at this big circle, can't you just process half of it? Anyway, go ahead and do it, even if the extraction fails, it's not your fault."

Liu Yuan made the suggestion and decided not to hold anyone accountable.

With his superior vouching for him, the middle-aged forensic investigator felt much more at ease. He instructed his subordinates to cover the two evidence sites with something to shield them from the wind before he lay down on the ground and slowly began to work with cotton swabs.

He had gotten some kind of liquid on his skin, and then he used a moistened cotton swab to gently wipe the spot of bodily fluid, wiping it repeatedly, trying to transfer the fluid stains from the ground onto the swab. He did it very carefully and patiently, but his method was simple and unpretentious.

Each trace requires more than a dozen cotton swabs, and each swab is placed separately into a small test tube. After about twenty minutes of wiping, the extraction attempt is complete, and the sample can be sent to the laboratory to await the results.

To be honest, Lin Ge wasn't sure if his prior warning was just modesty or if he genuinely lacked confidence. In any case, the man's work ethic was very focused, and perhaps the current domestic technology in this area simply didn't meet those stringent requirements.

Moreover, who knows what might be extracted from these open-air samples? What if a policeman accidentally tripped and fell while changing his gloves? All the excitement would turn into a joke.

Looking up at the sky, it was already getting dark.

The group had no choice but to pack up and head to the rest areas near the venue on both sides to eat and drink.

In addition to the police officers on duty, a police dog was also left on one side of the scene. The poor little dog didn't expect to have to be separated from Lin Ge as soon as it saw him, and it whimpered sadly at Lin Ge's back.

"Mimi, you're using your looks to attract the police dogs again!"

Li Siyu was in a good mood and even joked with Lin Ge. As for why the police dog wagged its tail at a cat, haha, is that strange to Mimi? It's just its innate succubus cat instinct!
Lin Ge gave Li Siyu a disgruntled look, not wanting to talk to her.

"Mimi, you've already done something amazing today! Come on, say hello!"

Li Siyu picked up Lin Ge and then gently waved Lin Ge's front paws towards Li Yiduo, who was not far away.

Li Yiduo was standing in an open space launching a drone.

This time, the drone is equipped with an infrared sensor, which can roughly detect whether there are any hidden human figures in the area the camera flies over. Whether the murderer will return to the scene is unknown. However, the nature of this case dictates that the murderer is audacious and disregards the law, so no possibility can be overlooked.

With so many police officers present at the scene, the murderer is probably eager to know if the police have uncovered anything. Under these circumstances, the possibility of him finding an excuse to return to the scene is not low, and Li Yiduo is happy to wait and see. If the murderer actually breaks in, the difficulty of solving this case will drop from level seven to level one.

Why is it level seven difficulty?

Li Siyu stood to the side with Lin Ge in her arms, not disturbing her boyfriend's work, but only asking questions out of curiosity.

"The biggest problem with this case is that the victim's body was discovered too late, which caused many clues and evidence to be damaged by nature. Apart from that, the only other issue is that the motive of the murderer has not yet been clarified. Compared to those truly aimless and random crimes, this case still has a certain logic and scope, so the actual difficulty is only about level seven."

Li Yiduo was happy to be able to chat with his girlfriend, even though the topics of conversation were strange and a cat was in the way. In fact, the two of them didn't have much time to spend together at the police station.

One of them is a field police officer, and the other is an auxiliary police officer in charge of clerical work. During their working hours, they only have time to get together and chat when no one is reporting a crime or dealing with household registration issues.

As for after get off work, when people are exhausted, how can they have the energy to squeeze out time for frequent dates every day?

So, despite the unpleasant topic, Li Yiduo continued, "Let's talk about serial murders. Although it sounds terrifying and dangerous to the general public, the underlying logic of these crimes is itself a form of evidence. Even if a crime is committed only once every five years, this kind of correlation investigation can eliminate many suspects. The more times a murderer commits a crime, the more clues and traces they leave behind. There's a saying that may sound harsh and cold, but it's true that if a murderer commits enough crimes, it's only a matter of time before they're found. Even if each crime scene only leaves a little evidence, it adds up to enough."

"This is too cruel! I still hope the murderer will be caught soon."

Li Siyu shook her head, finding it hard to accept this method of investigation that relied on accumulating clues through human lives to arrest the murderer.

"Of course, I also hope to find this bastard as soon as possible. This kind of murderer, who has a certain ritualistic or religious nature and completely disregards human life, has no bottom line and is capable of doing anything."

Li Yiduo looked down at the monitoring screen on the remote control, then sighed.

The case is undoubtedly given a special aura by Wudong Mountain, a sacred site of Taoism, a murder pattern with clear behavioral regularity, and the short video content favored by the victims.

Superstition is harmful!
The next morning, the city bureau's technical center called to say that the DNA extraction had failed.

Although sufficient human bodily fluid data were extracted from the physical evidence at the scene, for the same reasons as always, the data was severely damaged, making it impossible to extract DNA sufficient for identification.

Everyone was immediately disheartened; the clue they had finally found had been dashed again. "However, Officer Liu, among the evidence we unexpectedly collected, we found some unusual pollen samples. It belongs to hydrangea pollen, which shouldn't be found in the wild; this kind of thing is usually grown in pots in residential areas."

"Hydrangea?"

Liu Yuan was stunned for a moment. Was there really an unexpected surprise?
"Yes! If we seek detailed analysis from professionals, we might be able to identify the specific type of hydrangea and its biological characteristics. However, Officer Liu, the most important thing now is to conduct a second examination of the victim's body as soon as possible to see whether the pollen was on the victim's head or carried by the murderer. If it was brought by the victim, then there's nothing to say; but if it was the murderer... then the range of suspects can be narrowed down to a very small area. After all... hydrangeas are not a common flower, at least not many people in the surrounding rural areas grow them. Even in Baiyan City and the surrounding towns... there probably aren't many people who grow them!"

The man on the other end of the phone spoke eloquently, which greatly pleased Liu Yuan.

“I’ll immediately tell Professor Wang to return to your side and cooperate with him to investigate the pollen situation thoroughly! Oh no! I’ll call the relevant professors at Chu City University as soon as possible and request their assistance in Baiyan City. As for Professor Wang, he can stay with me for now! We might be able to find other pollen evidence at the crime scene, and we need his help here as well. If we can find clues from this, the case will be much easier to solve.”

Without hesitation, Liu Yuan decided to request support from outside. After hanging up the phone, he rubbed his hands together, came to Lin Ge's side, squatted down, and cupped Lin Ge's face in his hands.

"Good cat! What a good cat! I can't believe you've found such an important clue so soon after you arrived! Haha~ Haha~ You found sweat and pollen that are invisible to the naked eye, you're amazing! Mimi, thank you so much!"

As Liu Yuan spoke, he vigorously rubbed Lin Ge's face.

This bastard doesn't know his own strength. Lin Ge felt a sharp pain in his cheek, and his lips were almost turned inside out. So without hesitation, he raised his knife and slashed down, his sharpened claws landing hard on Liu Yuan's hand.

"hiss……"

Liu Yuan winced in pain and quickly let go.

Looking down, I saw long cat scratches on the backs of both hands. Luckily, there was no bleeding, otherwise it would have been terrifying.

Seeing Lin Ge staring at him fiercely, Liu Yuan dared not continue his antics. Moreover, although there had been a major breakthrough and new information discovered today, whether this clue could lead to the murderer remained uncertain. Therefore, despite being in a good mood, Liu Yuan quickly regained his composure.

While waiting for Professor Wang to arrive, he pondered the details of the entire case, trying to find other breakthroughs using the same method.

For Lin Ge, however, being able to discover a clue by such coincidence was already incredibly fortunate.

So many police officers had thoroughly searched both sides of the scene, and used all kinds of instruments and equipment. It was only because the sweat stains were light in color and small in area that they were easily overlooked; otherwise, they would not have escaped the eyes of the on-site investigators.

Lin Ge still has a feeling that the key to this case is to find clues in the inexplicable kowtowing behavior of the murderer and the victim.

This highly obvious and unusual action must have its own meaning and underlying reason, perhaps even related to the pattern of murders occurring every five years over the past twenty years. All five murders involved ambush and falls off cliffs; no one would believe it's just a coincidence. If we can find the meaning behind this behavior, we might be able to instantly uncover the truth and find the killer and the motives behind such cruel crimes.

"Could it be a sacrifice? In request of something?"

Xie Changjun hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy throughout the day, and of course, there was no need for him to stand out while working normally on site. Only now, as evening approached and he needed to rest, did he have time to slowly clear his mind and review any areas he might have overlooked.

"Five crimes in twenty years, and each time the place where the body fell off the cliff was thoroughly searched by the police, leaving no room for negligence. In this situation, if the murderer really kowtowed, then who was he kowtowing to? And why did he choose this place to kill? Why go through the trouble of moving the body here only to throw it off that cliff? Is there something special about this place? Li Yiduo, show me the photos from the previous four cases... Li Yiduo?"

Nie Guoqiang was also thinking and was about to call Li Yiduo for help when he turned around and found that Li Yiduo was no longer in the tent.

Suddenly remembering that the other person had a girlfriend, Nie Guoqiang shook his head helplessly. He could only put this thought aside, first going to the logistics department to get a thermos of hot water to soak his feet, before slowly continuing to think about the related issues.

"So beautiful!"

Li Siyu linked arms with Li Yiduo, resting her head on his shoulder, watching him intently operate the drones, arranging more than a dozen drones in the sky into various shapes and Chinese characters.

Whether you arrange them in the shape of a heart, the character "李" (Li), or the character "爱" (Ai), it's actually quite romantic.

However, Li Yiduo was only focused on operating the drone to pose the drone, and even after he finished posing, he forgot to turn around and give feedback to Li Siyu, as if he was just playing a fun game on his own.

In this way, the romantic scene he painstakingly designed... only had two parts romance left for Li Siyu. Although the police officers around them were all exclaiming in amazement at the drone show, Li Siyu was now speechless.

She gently nudged Li Yiduo's arm, but he replied, "Wait a moment, Siyu, let me finish this first."

Why do you want to do that?
Who will I show it to once it's done?

I'm right next to you, and you don't even interact with me or ask if I like you?
Li Siyu's head ached more and more as she thought about it, and then she began to reflect on why she had chosen to be with Li Yiduo in the first place.

It definitely wasn't because she was after his money, nor because she needed protection after just arriving at Zhanghe Police Station! So what was it? Thinking carefully, Li Siyu realized she couldn't quite remember. It seemed she'd inexplicably grown closer to this playful rascal, and then, after Zhu Jun pushed her into confessing his feelings, she'd agreed?
"Did I agree too hastily?"

Li Siyu let out another deep sigh.

But when Li Siyu looked up and saw Li Yiduo playing with great enthusiasm, his eyes shining like a big boy looking at the sky, her heart softened again.

Ok!

Who can blame him for having this hobby?
Playing with drones, playing games, and building model airplanes is actually quite nice. Although it costs money, it's still much better than men who never come home or even go off to wild places.

Moreover, such a straight-laced man is not likely to attract women. Thinking about it, apart from being less romantic, it seems that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

The more Li Siyu thought about it, the more she realized she must have lost her mind.

While wryly remarking that romance was now a thing of the past, she was also quite pleased with Li Yiduo's focused expression. It seemed likely that this would be their future way of spending time together, quietly keeping each other company during their already limited free time.

It might be boring, or it might be good.

Li Siyu thought about Jiang Yiyi's upcoming wedding. Several female police officers from the station had already been confirmed as her bridesmaids, and she would have to deal with attacks from those scoundrels and stinky men in the station during the wedding procession. The thought of the wedding procession turning into a war between police officers, and then remembering how Yan Ziming had even designed several difficult and humiliating games for Zhang Ke and Li Yiduo, filled Li Siyu with both anticipation and amusement. Her gaze towards Li Yiduo gradually became playful.

That day...you're going to have a really tough time!

But I will absolutely not feel sorry for you!

Who told you to be so busy playing with your drone and leave me hanging!
(End of this chapter)