Chapter 24

I froze for a few seconds after hearing what Huang Xiaotao said.

“Dr. Qin went to Deng Chao’s dorm this morning,” she added, “and he collected some hair and skin samples from his room and compared it with the DNA samples from the corpse. Guess what they found out?”

“They matched?” I asked.

“Yes!” said Huang Xiaotao. “All of our theories were wrong. Deng Chao really was dead, and the murderer we’re looking for is someone else… Hey, Song Yang! Are you listening?”

“Yes,” I said, “I’m listening.”

“Look, don’t feel bad about this. I do have confidence in you. We’ll just start investigating from zero again and see where it leads us. I’ll head to your college now.”

She immediately hung up after finishing her sentence. Dali heard the whole conversation and we were now in shock.

“Dude! How did it end up like this? Does that mean that all our efforts have gone to waste?”

To be honest, I faltered slightly after hearing this news, but I soon regained my calm.

“No,” I said, “I didn’t get it wrong.”

“Dude,” said Dali sympathetically, “you have to face the truth. You can’t deny the results of DNA analysis! You know that no two people have the same DNA! I know that you trust the knowledge passed on in your family, but I hope you don’t hate me for this, but how could Traditional Coroners compare to modern forensic science?”

“I don’t deny the validity of modern forensic science,” I said with a smile, “it’s Dr. Qin that I don’t trust! Not only am I unbothered about the news, but I’m actually even more confident now because Dr. Qin has fallen into the murderer’s traps!”

“Dude…”

“That’s enough. I need you to buy something for me.”

“Where are you going?” Dali asked.

“I’m going back to the dorm to take a short nap. It’s going to be a long and busy night tonight.”

So, I went back to my room and took a short nap. But not long after that, I was woken up by the sound of someone slamming their hands on my bed. I opened my eyes and saw Huang Xiaotao and Dali standing near my bed. It appeared that she had rushed into the male dorm, so I could see people gathering outside the room to see what was going on.

“Get up, Song Yang!” said Huang Xiaotao. “Neither of us have lost our confidence in you, so you must not give up on yourself at the most crucial moment!”

“What do you mean I gave up on myself?”

“Dali told me that you came back to your room to sleep,” said Huang Xiaotao. “How is that not giving up? We’re falling behind Dr. Qin right now, so we have to double our efforts! This is not the time to take naps!”

“Ah!” I sighed. “Okay, look away for a moment, I’m going to put on my clothes.”

Once I was dressed, the three of us walked out of the dorm. I saw how depressed the two looked, and thought that it would be best to explain what’s going on. Otherwise, they’d keep thinking that I was wrong.

“Did you say that we fell behind Dr. Qin?” I asked Huang Xiaotao. “The truth is, it’s Dr. Qin who’s fallen far behind us. In fact, he’s fallen into the murderer’s trap, and I don’t think he knows how to climb up.”

“Song Yang,” said Huang Xiaotao with a hint of impatience, “the DNA results clearly prove otherwise, so why are you still insisting on that? I know you believe in yourself, but you’re bordering on being delusional right now, do you understand?”

“That’s right, dude,” said Dali. “Just accept the facts. There’s nothing embarrassing about making mistakes. We’ll just start from square one again, it’s fine.”

“How do I make you guys understand this?” I said. “Yes, the DNA results were correct, I know that, but that doesn’t mean that my theories are all wrong. Huang Xiaotao, where did you say the DNA samples were taken from?”

“From Deng Chao’s personal possessions. Why?”

“Those skin and hair samples actually belong to Ma Baobao,” I explained. “Dr. Qin took the samples from Deng Chao’s dorm room, which are all actually Ma Baobao’s DNA, then he compared it to the DNA sample from the corpse, which is also Ma Baobao. Naturally, those samples would match, and that led him to the erroneous conclusion that the dead body belongs to Deng Chao.”

The two stared at me with blank expressions.

“But why would Ma Baobao’s skin and hair be in Deng Chao’s room?”

“There’s only one possibility,” I said, “Deng Chao must’ve obtained them from the dead body and put them on his personal belongings. That way, he’s set the perfect trap for the police. He’s a high IQ criminal, remember? It’s not so surprising to think that he’d come up with something like this.”

“No!” interrupted Huang Xiaotao. “You can explain it away like that, but they’re all your theories. You can’t deny that there’s a higher possibility that the DNA samples taken from that room belong to Deng Chao.”

“No, that’s absolutely not the case.”

“And how can you prove that?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“Don’t you have any ideas?” I asked.

I pulled out Deng Chao’s phone and showed that purchase order to them. The last item on that list was a razor blade.

“Why else would he buy a razor blade if it wasn’t to obtain Ma Baobao’s skin and hair samples?”

“But why did he need to buy a new razor blade?” asked Dali, still not quite understanding. “He’s a man, so wouldn’t he have his own razor blade anyway? What’s the point of buying a new one?”

“Because it contains his own DNA, of course!” I said. “He must’ve discarded it.”

Huang Xiaotao’s countenance gradually improved.

“Your analysis is correct, Song Yang,” she said. “Perhaps it really is as you said. If that’s true, I can’t think of how old Dr. Qin is going to react. I just met him at the police station just now and his face was full of conceit! If only he knew that he’s now deep inside the trap hole that the murderer has set!”

“Didn’t I tell you?” I said with a smirk. “We’re the ones who are far ahead of him!”

“Geez,” said Dali, “in that case, how impressive is this Deng Chao guy? He even thought of such a small detail…”

“No, it’s not a small detail at all,” I said. “This is the most important part of his plan. It’s no use just tricking the two girls — the key is to trick the police as well. Deng Chao had anticipated the police to investigate according to the standard protocol, and Dr. Qin completely fell right into his trap.”

“You know, Song Yang,” said Huang Xiaotao, “I suddenly realized that you’re a pretty dangerous individual. You followed the murderer’s thought process perfectly; you could even understand his psychology. If one day you decide to use this big brain of yours to commit a crime, I’m afraid no police officers in this world could ever catch you!”

“Don’t worry,” I said, smiling, “I’ll never do anything like that.”

“Oh, I’m not worried anyway,” she said. “Because I’ll always be keeping an eye on you and I’ll use your intelligence to solve as many cases as you can. You’ll get your share of the bonus, too, of course.”

“Great!” I said. “Then I’ll just be your consultant then. Oh, and speaking of the razor blade, I suggested you to order some people to comb through the lake, did anyone find anything?”

“I don’t have the power or authority to do that right now,” said Huang Xiaotao. “I might even get punished for acting on my own if Captain Lin finds out.”

“Nevermind,” I said with a sigh. “We could do that later.”

“Do you think that Deng Chao might have thrown the murder weapon into the lake?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“Yes, there’s a high possibility for that,” I said. “Besides, it will be the key evidence to convict him of murder in court.”

“Oh, and what about your plan to lure Deng Chao out of hiding?” asked Huang Xiaotao. “Any progress?”

“Yes, of course!”

I related every detail of the exchange between me and ‘Little Bear’ on Weibo to her, then told her what my plan was. Tonight, I would go to the music room alone, or at least seemingly alone. And when Deng Chao appeared, Huang Xiaotao and Dali would ambush him from the darkness and capture him!

The minute the music room was brought up, Dali began to act up again. He insisted that he didn’t want to go, but Huang Xiaotao said if he didn’t join us tonight, then he would be forever barred from participating in any other investigation after this. Hearing that, Dali had no choice but to reluctantly agree to go.

“Oh, what about the case of the dismembered body in the piano? What did you find out about that?”

“Yes, the murderer’s name was Cao Bufan, and the girl was Xia Mo.”

“Okay, thank you,” I said, then memorized the names.

“What do you want this information for, anyway?” asked Huang Xiaotao. “It’s not connected to this case, is it?”

“Technically, no,” I said, “but in case we meet them tonight, I’d like to at least know their names. It would be impolite not to.”

“W-W-What?!” cried Dali, his face as white as a sheet. “You even plan to go meet that ghost? I’m not going with you! No way! Not even if you held me at gunpoint!”

“Oh, is that so?” asked Huang Xiaotao. She then pulled out her gun and pointed it at Dali’s head. “Then don’t mind me if I shoot!”

Although it was obvious that she would never actually shoot, Dali had never seen a real gun before, so that scared him even more than the distant threat of seeing a ghost.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go, Xiaotao-jiejie! Just please put the gun down, it might misfire.”

Huang Xiaotao put her gun down.

“You didn’t have to worry about that, the safety was on.” Then she pretended to check the gun and feigned surprise and said, “Oh my, it wasn’t on! I must’ve forgotten about it! Sorry!”

Dali was so scared that his knees buckled. If I wasn’t there to hold him, he would’ve definitely collapsed.