Starting with dissecting ghost stories

The dinner ended in a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

Lu Lingyun asked Lu Wenying to take Shen Yuan home first, while he took Shen Xing for a walk.

"Ah Xing, do some psychological work with Xiao Yuan," Lu Lingyun said as they walked. "I'm afraid she'll become depressed."

"She's already depressed," Shen Xing shook his head and said, "My parents just passed away not long ago, and she won't eat any of my cooking lately. She's basically been eating at my grandma's. Now..."

"She's naturally sentimental; she still keeps the broken dolls from when she was little, and they're piled up all over the room. She's still young, and she needs some time to get used to these things."

"Sigh." Lu Lingyun shook his head, sighed, and said nothing more.

His apprentice and her sister were truly unfortunate. Although he really hoped Shen Xing would join, the current time was definitely not the right time.

"You've seen the scene report, the initial autopsy report, and the head before it was steamed, right?" Lu Lingyun abruptly changed the subject, asking, "Did you discover anything?"

"I've seen the scene before the fire, and I've only seen photos of the head before it was steamed," Shen Xing corrected two details, then said, "I think the initial autopsy report is accurate."

Shen Xing didn't say what he had discovered, as he didn't yet know what Lu Lingyun wanted to hear.

"That's accurate. Then why did you help him change it?" Lu Lingyun then asked.

"Because it's really... very illogical. Both the time of death and the way the body was dismembered are hard to explain..." Shen Xing shook his head. "The victims' contacts all said they saw the victims around the time of their deaths."

"Even I saw Li Xiaohua around the time of her death. My initial thought was that Li Ya might have used some means to accelerate the decomposition of the body, but in such a short time, it would have been impossible for him to dismember the body into three parts."

"and......"

Lu Lingyun pressed further, "And?"

"The cut in the corpse photo is very strange."

"Strange? How exactly is it strange?"

Shen Xing looked at Lu Lingyun and hesitated for a moment.

Lu Lingyun seemed completely unsurprised by Shen Xing's doubts and said directly, "It's alright, just say what you think, it doesn't matter if it's a little unconventional."

"It looks like it was bitten off by something... but there's no tear at the break, and the spine doesn't seem to have been compressed. The edges are irregular, but there's no tissue bridging. It's contradictory..."

The characteristics of bite wounds and slashing wounds from sharp objects are quite different. Bites are an extremely severe form of blunt force trauma, usually accompanied by compression and tearing.

Furthermore, the neck has a tough muscle group and a strong spine. If it were to be bitten through, there would be a large number of torn blood vessels and nerves between the subcutaneous fat and muscle layers, and these tissue bridges would hang down like rags.

The skull has two completely different wound features.

Furthermore, the cross-section of the severed head was dark red due to severe blood immersion, indicating that the deceased's heart was still pumping blood at that moment... which also does not conform to the dismemberment after death.

Shen Xing voiced these doubts, and then his voice was interrupted.

"If it were a creature that swallowed a person whole, starting from the feet, and then swiftly bit off their neck with its irregular, sharp teeth, leaving only the head," Lu Lingyun said calmly, "wouldn't this kind of wound appear?"

Shen Xing opened his eyes wide and looked at Lu Lingyun with some "shock," seemingly unable to believe that such a far-fetched conjecture would come from the mouth of his professional teacher.

"Want to keep listening? If you do, you'll have to sign a confidentiality agreement later. But once you sign it, you'll be considered an unofficial employee." Lu Lingyun didn't seem to have given up on trying to win Shen Xing over.

Shen Xing looked conflicted, but after a while, he let out a sigh and shook his head: "I... still have to take care of Xiao Yuan."

"Ah Xing, danger has already occurred, and it's right beside you, taking the life of someone you know! A little girl died! A minor!" Although Lu Lingyun lowered his voice, you could still hear the disappointment in his tone.

Having known Shen Xing for so long, Lu Lingyun believes that Shen Xing's biggest flaw is that he is too soft-hearted.

He was dull-witted as a child, and Shen Jingwei said he wanted to toughen him up. When he was young, he would often take him to wild places. Although he was no longer dull-witted, his personality was smoothed out.

He possesses a maturity far beyond his peers, and it is precisely this maturity that makes him bear heavier responsibilities, consider more, and feel constrained.

Aren't you afraid that one day...

Lu Lingyun was about to say, "Aren't you afraid that it might happen to Xiao Yuan one day?", but stopped halfway through his sentence.

Indeed, having joined the Ninth Detachment, it's hard to say whether Shen Yuan or Shen Xing would have their accident first.

Lu Lingyun lit a cigarette and walked on in a somewhat sullen mood.

He's under a lot of pressure right now, and he also wants a capable assistant to help him.

Wen Yin lacks experience, and as for the others... after much thought, there is still no better candidate than Shen Xing.

But given the current situation, he really can't force it.

If it were just ordinary forensic work, it would be fine; being in the rear, there's no way anything would go wrong.

However, the autopsy was performed in the Ninth Detachment.

That could really kill you.

Lu Lingyun would not use the concepts of righteousness and sacrifice to blackmail Shen Xing.

He strongly believed that everyone's psychology and personality are complex and unique, unlike a cold corpse.

The fact that someone is unwilling to sacrifice or make contributions does not define what kind of person they are, nor does it negate their character or past contributions. Everyone has something they want to protect, and no one is inherently more noble.

Protecting one's family and protecting the people are not fundamentally different.

Since that's the case, there's no need to force it.

This won't affect anything, including their relationship.

"Sorry, Ah Xing, never mind." Walking on the pedestrian walkway of the cross-river bridge, Lu Lingyun forced a smile and said, "I respect your decision to stay and take care of Xiao Yuan."

"If you take a picture with your phone and see any strange noise in the shot, just call Wen-Yin or me, and then get away from that area. You must get away. You don't need to ask why, understand?"

"Okay." Shen Xing nodded.

Is this a reminder to myself?

"Haha, let's not talk about that. By the way, Wen Yin said you went on a blind date yesterday? How was the other person? When are you going to bring them to meet me?" Lu Lingyun completely abandoned the previous topic and started chatting casually.

"It can't be that fast, it's only the first time we've met... But the other person seems to get along quite well with Xiao Yuan, she's very lively and cheerful..." Shen Xing said as he walked, and soon realized that after crossing the bridge, they were heading towards the old town.

Are we heading to the scene?

However, Lu Lingyun didn't seem to be heading towards the street where the video arcade was located. Instead, he turned onto another street as if he had just randomly chosen a path for a stroll.

Fruit Street, where Wang Xinran's parents' shop is located...

Shen Xing glanced discreetly at the camera hanging around Lu Lingyun's neck.

Is it not a good idea to go this way?

Do you need to find an excuse to forcibly change your walking route?

Just as Shen Xing was thinking of finding an excuse to change his route, Lu Lingyun's phone vibrated.

He took out his phone, answered the call, and loudly said "feed".

"Okay, no need, I'll just take a taxi."

Lu Lingyun reached out and flagged down a taxi at the intersection. Turning to Shen Xing, she said, "Sorry, Xing, let's talk next time. I have some things to take care of."

"fine."

"Remember to bring him over so I can see him after we're officially a couple."

"no problem."

As Lu Lingyun spoke, he got into a taxi, which headed towards the new urban area.

What happened?

Shen Xing watched the taxi drive away, a hint of confusion on his face.