Starting with dissecting ghost stories

"Okay, Uncle, I understand, thank you."

Lu Wenying didn't write down the phone number given to her over the phone. After briefly thanking the other party, she hung up the phone with her uncle, who was still rambling on about Shen Xing.

She put down her phone, leaned against the wall to straighten her clothes slightly, and then turned and stepped into the reception room.

Meanwhile, in the reception room, Shen Xing patiently waited for Shen Yuan to finish crying.

This experience will help her grow a little and learn from it, which is a good thing.

No matter how many times you educate your family and school, nothing is as unforgettable as a real-life experience.

Shen Yuan is currently 13 years old (14 in the traditional Chinese age reckoning). If you count on your fingers, it will be about five more years before she is legally considered an adult.

However, even if someone is an adult, they cannot be considered an independent person if they are not financially independent.

Perhaps when she's a little older, around the time she graduates from junior high, we should let her do some summer jobs.

While Shen Xing was still thinking about some things, he noticed footsteps coming in through the door. It was the young policewoman who had been making a phone call at the door earlier.

"You must be Shen Xing, right?"

The other person stopped in front of him, and their respectful tone surprised Shen Xing.

Do I know her?

"Yes, it's me. I'm Shen Yuan's brother. And you are...?" Shen Xing also stood up to ask, showing proper manners.

"My name is Lu Wenying. You can call me Xiao Lu, senior brother." Lu Wenying extended her right hand and introduced herself.

Senior brother?

Shen Xing smiled and gave the other person's hand a light squeeze. After releasing it, he asked, "From Zhongshan Medical University? Oh... no, it's merged into Sun Yat-sen University now, right?"

Shen Xing's previous medical university had a top-notch forensic medicine program, but the main reason he chose to apply was because it was close to home.

He doesn't like unfamiliar environments.

However, Shen Xing already knew that the other person was definitely not his junior from the same school.

It's very simple. It's because her surname is the same as that of her direct superior and mentor in the provincial department—Lu.

"No, I also worked under Lao Lu before," Lu Wenying said directly, seemingly not wanting to deliberately hide her relationship with Shen Xingqian's former boss. "Lao Lu told me that I could ask you for help if I needed anything."

"What is it? If I have time, I will definitely help if I can." Shen Xing left himself plenty of room for maneuver in his words.

"It's about some issues related to the Li Ya family massacre case..." Lu Wenying was so focused on the case that she seemed to have forgotten there was a third person present.

"Officer Lu, wait a minute," Shen Xing raised his hand slightly and pointed subtly at Shen Yuan behind him, saying with a hint of helplessness, "Can I take my sister home to rest first? She's not feeling well right now."

"Oh...oh, I was in a hurry. Did you walk over, senior brother? How about I take you back?"

"No, we can just walk back... Is there anything else you haven't asked?"

"It's alright, we've finished asking all the questions. We can come back to take the statement when Shen Yuan is feeling better."

"Thank you, Officer Lu."

"Just call me Xiao Lu..."

Shen Xing led his sister, who looked like a headless fly, away from the police station.

The police hadn't started taking a formal statement because I, as the guardian, hadn't arrived yet... But judging from Lu Wenying's words, she must have already extracted firsthand information from Shen Yuan.

Letting them go now is a small favor that Lu Wenying is doing for them.

and.......

Director Lu told her to contact me if she needed anything.

Lu Lingyun, the director of the Technical Division of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Provincial Public Security Department, was an old comrade-in-arms of his father, Shen Jingwei, the person who guided him into the provincial department, and also the person with whom he addressed as his master and apprentice.

With this connection, I can have a relatively stable job in the provincial department and only need to focus on improving my technical skills.

But now, the relationship that was originally one-sidedly beneficial to Shen Xing seems to have a bit of a backlash.

Whether it counts as a backlash is still hard to say.

Shen Xing deliberately took advantage of Shen Yuan leaving the police station and Lu Wenyin to buy himself more time to think.

Judging from Lu Wenying's expression and words, it was clear that she wanted her to assist in the investigation of Li Ya's family murder case.

Although Li Ya did indeed cause three deaths, Li Ya's own death was not a suicide, a fact that Shen Xing knew best.

Rationally speaking, Shen Xing should stay as far away from the case as possible now, because he has eliminated all evidence related to himself, making this an unsolved case.

However, Shen Xing's first instinct was not to distance himself.

He wanted to go back to the scene again, to witness the police investigation... He even had the chance to touch and cut open Li Ya's body again.

All of this can be achieved as long as you agree to assist in the investigation—after all, nothing will be found in the end anyway.

However, when Shen Xing is thinking, he cannot only think from his own rational perspective, but also from the perspective of the character "Shen Xing".

He was a good brother who resigned to take care of his sister, a former top forensic doctor in the brigade, with a personality obsessed with cases, and the fastest knife in Lu Lingyun's hand.

Would someone like that choose to avoid a bizarre case in which his younger sister is implicated?

If we have to avoid this, then that's a big problem.

"The perpetrator will always return to the crime scene"—this is a well-known misconception in criminal psychology and criminal investigation experiments, and it is a conclusion drawn from a single instance.

In fact, more than 90% of murderers will never return to the crime scene. Fear and the instinct to avoid harm make them think that the farther away they are, the better.

Some criminals are indeed highly likely to return, with arsonists being the group with the highest "return visit rate".

Of course, there are also psychopaths and serial killers.

From any perspective, agreeing to assist in the investigation is the most in line with Shen Xing's style of doing things.

I really want to live in the infirmary.

The thought that he might not be able to return to the garage for several days made Shen Xing feel somewhat helpless.

Such a "simple" case was reported to the provincial department so quickly; it's obvious that this was Lu Wenying's "achievement."

Let's agree first, and then figure out a way to help the police close the case quickly.

Shen Xing led his younger sister along the road. Shen Yuan did not break free from Shen Xing's hand. In this moment of confusion, Shen Xing had almost become her last lifeline.

...

It was an old-fashioned government compound with an iron gate, and a sign with white lettering on a black background that read "Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Public Security Bureau" stood at the entrance.

Several Santana cars with flashing police lights and old-fashioned Jeeps, as well as a few motorcycles, were parked in the yard.

This is the courtyard that Shen Xing had just stepped out of not long ago.

Lu Wenying, who had just seen Shen Xing off, was sitting on a stool in the duty room on the first floor.

The lights here are warm yellow, much gentler than the stark white fluorescent lights on the second floor.

At this moment, she was asking softly, and on the single bed in front of her sat Granny Zhang.

"Grandma, besides you, does anyone else know where your son lives?"

Lu Wenying asked, but Granny Zhang's eyes were vacant; she just stared at the ground, her face showing neither sorrow nor joy.

Without her husband, son, and granddaughter, she is now like an empty shell.

And then this happened... her gambling-addicted son killed her beloved granddaughter in the video store where she paid for the utilities...

She no longer felt any affection whatsoever for that so-called "son." He was no longer a piece of flesh and blood torn from her own body, but some unrelated thing, something she wished she could tear to pieces and grind to ashes.

Lu Wenying did not give up; she continued to ask questions cautiously.

"Have anyone called you these past few days to inquire about Li Ya? For example, asking for his address...?"

Lu Wenying's words made the old lady, who seemed to have lost her soul, slowly raise her head.

She looked at Lu Wenyin with her cloudy eyes, and after a long while, she lowered her head and shook her head.

"no."

This was the first thing she said after seeing the body.