Published at 22nd of January 2022 7:53 am

Chapter 919: The Missing Liver

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Instructor Li frowned silently in embarrassment, and Chen Shi continued to question, "You entered from this end of the alley. What were you doing in the alley?"

"Officer Chen, there are students here, it won’t be a good influence on them. Can I talk about it in another place?"

"Then let’s go to the car!"

Chen Shi beckoned with his finger, called Lin Dongxue, and took Instructor Li into a car. Only then, did Instructor Li say, "Actually, we... ah no, he had come to meet someone, and I was merely accompanying him."

"Meet who?"

"Sun Lei had chatted up a girl who lived nearby on WeChat. He wasn’t thinking of doing anything shameful. He sincerely planned to find a girlfriend. After all, Brother Sun is in his 30s and still a bachelor..."

"Okay, you don't have to explain. I understand it’s human nature, but it's not good for you to lie to me." Chen Shi said.

Instructor Li lowered his head in shame. "I came to join in the fun when that girl wanted to meet up with Brother Sun. When we walked to this street, he called her, but the other party didn’t answer. He sent a WeChat message to say that he was in the alley. Brother Sun was even smiling at me. He was probably feeling shy. When we walked into the alley, we did see a woman standing with her back to us, about 1.6 meters tall, with long hair and wearing a blue dress. Brother Sun went forward and asked, ‘Are you so and so?’ Suddenly, a person jumped down from above and stabbed Brother Sun’s neck with a knife. The woman turned her head around. She and the person who had suddenly appeared were both wearing weird masks. I was terrified, so I ran out and called for help... That’s how it all happened."

"You’re not concealing anything this time?"

Instructor Li thought for a while and took out his mobile phone. "Oh yes, this is the picture that the woman sent to Brother Sun. He had forwarded it to me so I could take a look."

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue took a look. It was a young and beautiful girl with long hair.

"By the way, we found a piece of paper with a phone number written on it in Sun Lei's wallet. Do you know this number?"

Instructor Li checked his phone and said, "I don't know it."

After the questioning, the three of them came out. Instructor Li wanted to go back to the dormitory. He was originally supposed to go back to the bureau to record a detailed statement, but Chen Shi saw that the guy was badly frightened, so he let him go and told him to keep in touch, as the police will be back in the next two days to question him further.

"The photo is fake, isn't it?" Lin Dongxue queried.

"It’s definitely fake. These little soldiers usually have no contact with the opposite sex in the military, so they easily lose their heads. The other party utilized this to set up a trap... But why did they target the older Sun Lei? Were the murderers casting a wide net or was this a targeted murder? You can ask around among the instructors."

"I reckon that these young and inexperienced guys are unlikely to admit to these kinds of private matters... I will investigate though. I just hope this isn’t a murder targeting the army or the problem will be serious."

The body was bagged and taken away by the forensics team. Chen Shi stopped a forensic officer, walked into the alley, and looked up. There was a footprint high up on the wall. It turned out that one of the murderers was supporting himself against the wall with his feet and lying in ambush above. Such agility wasn’t common in an average person.

"There may be fingerprints there. Go check it out!" Chen Shi said, pointing upwards.

"Uh, I’ll need a ladder."

"You do as you see fit."

At 8:00 in the evening, the police found the deceased’s cell phone in the shrubs next to a certain road, and it had been completely smashed. As for the number in the deceased’s wallet, an investigation revealed that it belonged to someone from out of town. Chen Shi guessed that it was a number that had been fraudulently registered using someone else’s ID. The number had already been shut off.

The techniques, skills, counter-reconnaissance awareness, cooperative abilities, and the various characteristics displayed by the killers gave one the feeling that they may be trained professional killers.

As the investigation unfolded, information about the murderers was presented to everyone. One was about 1.6 meters tall and weighed 40 kilograms, possibly a woman, and the other was a man who was about 1.8 meters tall and weighed 120 kilograms.

From traffic surveillance footage, it was discovered that the vehicle they were driving when they made their escape was a black MPV with a fake licence plate. They seemed to have used a predetermined route passing by few security cameras. In the end, they disappeared without a trace on Haihe Road.

Their fingerprints were found at the crime scene, but no match was found in the fingerprint database, indicating that they had no previous convictions.

In addition, several long hairs were found. At first, the police believed that they had been left behind by one of the murderers. After careful identification by the forensic department, they found some dyes and preservatives, which indicated that they should have fallen from a wig.

The next afternoon, Peng Sijue called Chen Shi over to the autopsy room. The deceased had already been dissected and the wound had yet to be sutured. The internal organs had been placed in numbered bags. This scene made Chen Shi frown.

"Is there any progress?"

"Look at these." Peng Sijue showed him a tray with a lot of knives on it, all of which had been bought for simulation tests. "There were two murder weapons: A slender dagger, very similar to this..." He picked up a dagger. "There are two blood grooves on Weapon A. It’s 20cm long. The surface is silver-plated. The handle may have been wrapped with some cloth to prevent slippage. This knife was thrust into the shoulder of the deceased from above. The force of impact was huge. The blade of the first knife almost totally sunk into the body and stabbed through to the lung. Then the murderer withdrew the knife and stabbed the deceased’s neck twice. The second stab was the most destructive and cut through the trachea. The cause of death was the influx of blood into the trachea, causing asphyxiation."

Then he picked up a claw knife, which curved forward, and there was a ring at the back for the thumb to grip. The knife blade was short and could be hidden in the palm of a hand.

"Murder Weapon B was a short-handled claw knife, which was used to open up the abdominal cavity of the deceased. It took only one cut from top to bottom, but the murderer subsequently destroyed part of the deceased’s organs."

Chen Shi said, "I thought that the short knife was used to prevent damage to the organs. Did the murderer take anything from the deceased?"

"During the inspection, it was discovered that though the internal organs were severely damaged, they were all in the abdominal cavity. However, when they were weighed later, the weight of the liver was found to be abnormal. I tested it with a blood protein test paper..." Peng Sijue placed a piece of bagged liver in front of Chen Shi. "Is this a piece of human liver?"

"What is it?"

"It should be pig liver."

"Is this some kind of humiliation? No, the murderers were ruthless, calculated and swift – They were very focused on their goal. They just didn't want it to be discovered that the liver had been taken away, so they exchanged it... But what is the use of a piece of liver? Medical transplantation?"

"If you move fast enough, place the excised liver in an ice box and transplant it to the recipient within a few hours, it will stay viable."

"Did the deceased smoke?"

"You want to ask if the deceased's liver is considered healthy? According to various indicators, his body wasn’t very healthy, and the age of his bones was already thirty-five years old."

"Thirty-five years old? He is listed as thirty-two years old on his documents. It seems that he had lied about his age when he joined the military..." Chen Shi pondered. "If it was for stealing organs, the deceased isn’t considered the best candidate, unless he is completely compatible as a donor with someone. We should check whether a liver transplantation has been carried out recently. Old Peng, please print out a few more copies of these reports."

"The autopsy is over. His family members have come to ask for the body. I will suture up the body now."

Chen Shi glanced at the corpse one last time. As he was a soldier, the deceased had a tanned, well-trained body with strong muscles as well as a very well-proportioned figure. He felt a wave of pity for him. Rest in peace. I will find out the truth.

He said, "Okay, you can sew him up first. I'll go meet his family."

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