The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

After hanging up the phone, Qin Feng stood at the door of the interrogation room for a while, struggling to calm his heart.

From what initially seemed like a regular disease-related death, to the victim being found hanged, and now being classified as a homicide case—the nature of this case has drastically changed within a few days, almost evolving with every step.

This all happened too quickly, like a book skipping straight to the ending just as you open the cover, leaving you no time to digest its twists and turns.

He instinctively rubbed his brow, attempting to reorganize the chaotic clues in his mind, but his thoughts scattered like pieces of paper blown by the wind, difficult to piece together.

However, now is not the time to be lost in thought.

Qin Feng took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing his chaotic thoughts, and pushed open the door to the interrogation room.

His gaze fell on the young officer beside him, Wan, and he reached out to pat Wan’s shoulder, ”Let’s go, time to head out.”

Wan was understandably surprised, quickly glancing at Wang Can, who was still sitting in the interrogation chair, and asked in a low voice, ”What about him? Just leave him like this?”

”Let him stay here for now,” Qin Feng’s tone was calm yet carried indisputable decisiveness, ”We will deal with it when we return.”

Wan understood, didn’t ask further, and as he stood up he seriously told Wang Can opposite him, ”Stay here and try to recall any details related to the case.”

”If you remember anything new, report to us at any time.”

Wang Can nodded repeatedly, his motions as eager as a chick pecking at rice, continuously saying, ”Officer, I’ve told you everything I know, I’m really unaware of other things...”

Before he finished speaking, Qin Feng and Wan had already left the interrogation room one after another, the door gently closing behind them.

Just a few steps out, Wan couldn’t contain his confusion and asked in a low voice, ”Mr. Qin, why did this case suddenly turn into a homicide?”

”Weren’t we discussing the possibility of suicide before?”

Qin Feng took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, drew out two, handed one to Wan, and lit the other for himself.

In the swirling smoke, his tone remained steady as usual, ”The conclusion from the provincial office is based on the collective judgment from analyzing scene traces and autopsy reports—more precisely, it’s the judgment led by Mr. Jiang.”

”Mr. Jiang? The expert who looks very young?”

Wan accepted the cigarette but didn’t light it, just held it between his fingers, ”He is so young, can his conclusions really be more reliable than Director Hou’s and our Mr. Chen’s judgments?”

”Mr. Chen is a veteran in criminal investigation, he always highly values your judgment, how come...”

Qin Feng took a drag, exhaled slowly, and gazed into the distance through the smoke, ”In criminal investigation, there is no ’should’ or ’should not’, only evidence and logic.”

”Whose reasoning stands more firmly, whose conclusion withstands scrutiny, that’s whom we’ll listen to.”

He paused, his voice revealing professional calmness, ”Just now Mr. Chen was clear on the phone, based on all existing traces and clues, it is highly likely there is the activity trajectory of a third person at the scene—this isn’t speculation, it’s the result of cross-verification across multiple technical aspects.”

Wan nodded thoughtfully, though he still had many questions in his mind, Qin Feng’s tone made him understand the direction of the investigation had substantially changed.

The two walked side-by-side toward the office building’s exit, Wan pressed further, ”Where should we go to find this third person then? Could it really be Li Xu?”

”Currently, whether it’s Li Xu or not cannot be determined, but the owner or driver of the excavator at the time is indeed the direction we should focus on.”

”Besides, hasn’t there always been conflict between Li Xu and the victim?”

Then, Qin Feng continued, ”Thus, you quickly head to the big data center and pull up all of Li Xu’s recent movements.”

”We need to figure out his exact location and activity trajectory now.”

”Okay.” Wan immediately set out for the data intelligence center.

The process of retrieving identity information was very smooth, with today’s efficient networked big data systems, information integration was rapid; soon, Li Xu’s current activities were clearly displayed on the screen—he was in Guangling City, currently surfing the internet in an internet cafe.

Upon receiving the information, Qin Feng immediately ordered, ”There’s no time to lose, let’s head straight to that internet cafe and carry out the capture.”

Soon, a black commercial vehicle quietly stopped at the entrance of the Tianya Internet Cafe.

Several officers entered the premises, showed their credentials at the front desk, and quickly locked onto the workstation Li Xu was using—number 84.

They approached discreetly, and the entire capture process was calm yet prompt.

As they restrained Li Xu from both sides, he was still engrossed in the world of online gaming, struggling and shouting, ”Let me go! Let go of me! I’m just about to win this round... win!”

”Think about ’winning’ in the interrogation room.”

Qin Feng’s words settled as the handcuffs were swiftly locked onto Li Xu’s wrists.

Only then did Li Xu truly realize what was happening, his face suddenly filled with fear, ”Why, why are you arresting me? I... I haven’t done anything!”

”Say whatever you have to back in the interrogation room.”

From departing for the capture to bringing him back to the interrogation room, less than an hour had passed.

Li Xu sat in the interrogation chair, still appearing bewildered, ”I really don’t know why you brought me here...”

”Why?” The interrogator stared at him, ”You should be clear in your heart what you’ve done.”

”I was just operating an excavator at the construction site, today was a holiday so I went to the internet cafe to play some games,” Li Xu’s tone was urgent, mixed with grievance, ”I had just started playing when you brought me here... what exactly did I do wrong?”