At the crime scene where the body was discovered.
Fang Zhenyue leaped out of the jeep, pinned his badge to his chest, put on gloves, and lifted the police tape to step into the cordon.
Under the night sky, the double-decker bus was illuminated by various large lights around it, making every detail starkly visible.
Everyone approaching saw the body sitting crookedly on the second floor, its pale face ‘staring’ out the window at the people below.
Da Guangming got off the bus, removing his gloves as he spoke:
“There aren’t many traces to investigate at the scene; the primary crime scene isn’t here. The victim likely boarded the bus and then died here.”
“I’ll take a look,” Xu Junhao nodded, passing by Da Guangming and walking up to the second floor of the bus.
“Let’s get the body back to the station quickly, it looks like something out of a horror film, who can stand seeing this?” Uncle Jiu, holding a cigarette and thinking of his family urging him to quit smoking daily, hesitated for a few seconds then tucked the cigarette behind his ear.
As the detectives turned around, they saw numerous reporters gathered outside the cordon.
Fang Zhenyue frowned, wishing he could erect a massive tent to cover the double-decker bus. He could already imagine how the newspapers would look the next morning; such a photo would have a powerful impact—
Shifting his gaze from the reporters to the double-decker bus, Fang Zhenyue paused slightly.
The bus, as bright as daylight within, stood at the dim bus station, like a giant light bulb lit on a dark field.
And outside this ‘light bulb,’ a slender, tall figure stood.
This figure, graceful and upright in front of the bus, was looking up at the body ‘gazing’ out from within.
From a distance, this scene looked as if Yi Jiayi was talking to the body inside the bus.
Fang Zhenyue turned to look at the reporters again; surely, those masters of capturing moments would not miss such a scene, each one raising their cameras, clicking away at the bus and the silhouette of the female officer standing outside.
Stepping behind Yi Jiayi, Fang Zhenyue patted her shoulder, “Found anything?”
Jiayi, just finishing her repeated viewing of the mental images and jotting down key points in her notebook, was startled by the touch. Realizing she had been standing facing the gruesome body for so long, she hurriedly turned away, then felt uncomfortable again as she realized her back was to the body’s staring eyes. Stepping closer to Fang Zhenyue, she felt a bit more at ease.
Indeed, Brother Yue’s yang energy was enough to suppress the eerie, ghostly atmosphere.
“Nothing much, just imagining how he got on this bus, suffered such severe injuries, and why he didn’t call the police or go to the hospital,” Jiayi put away her notebook, following Fang Zhenyue step by step.
A few detectives, allowed on the bus, began to look around and observe; indeed, such a moving ‘scene’ was difficult to manage.
The bus, constantly circulating through the city, was always full of people, and the bus was covered with footprints and fingerprints, all of which were useless.
The forensic technicians staying behind to work with the medical examiners, like Davis, saw Fang Zhenyue and his team approach and stepped back to speak:
“Sir Xu inspected the pockets of the corpse’s clothes and found no wallet. I have already collected fingerprints from the pockets of the clothes and trousers with Sir Xu’s permission. If a thief stole the victim’s wallet, there’s a chance they left fingerprints. I will conduct a thorough comparison after returning to the police station.”
“Okay,” Fang Zhenyue nodded and then asked, “Can we confirm when the victim boarded the bus?”
“No ticket was found, nor an Octopus card; they were probably stolen along with the wallet. Now we can only try to collect witness statements from the public through newspaper ads,” sighed Davis.
Sanfu hurriedly walked up to the second floor of the bus, reporting to Fang Zhenyue upon seeing him:
“I asked the bus driver, and he has no recollection of when the deceased boarded. However, he did stop for lunch at noon, and the person was not on the bus at that time. After that, he drove continuously until he finished work just now, having a quick dinner of some bread on the bus. We can only deduce that the deceased boarded the bus sometime between 13:00 and 23:30, but we cannot determine at which stop he got on.”
“Please speak to Sir Guo from the Public Relations Department to have the case advertised in tomorrow’s newspapers to help gather witness statements,” Fang Zhenyue instructed Sanfu.
“Yes, sir,” responded Sanfu, taking the command before turning to exit the bus.
If there are eyewitnesses who saw the deceased board the bus, we might be able to determine the exact point and time of boarding, potentially leading to more clues.
Even if we can’t pinpoint the boarding point and time, if someone saw the deceased at a certain station, at least we can narrow down the time frame during which the victim boarded…
Fang Zhenyue frowned and exhaled, turning to ask Yi Jiayi, “Have you found anything?”
Jiayi was still staring blankly at the body, as if lost in thought, occasionally jotting notes in her notebook, seeming to have some insights.
However, upon being asked, she shook her head, indicating she had found nothing yet.
Fang Zhenyue slightly tilted his head, feeling that there might be something Eleven was hiding.
“Initial estimates put the time of death at over six hours, but we’ll need to measure liver temperature and other indicators back at the autopsy room,” Xu Junhao said, inspecting the body and briefing Fang Zhenyue and Jiayi:
“The deceased walked here and chose this position. He deliberately covered his wounds, not wanting others to see them. He also wore a hood, likely with the same intention.”
“The cause of death might be complex,” Fang Zhenyue added.
“Yes,” Sir Xu nodded, and as he stroked his bangs, one suddenly fell from his sanitary cap, occasionally tickling his eyebrow and eye, greatly hindering his work. Xu Junhao, with both hands busy and gloved from handling the corpse, certainly couldn’t touch his face, so he turned to look beside him.
Davis had just completed a crime scene investigation and had also touched the corpse. Only Eleven’s gloves were still clean, so he asked for help:
“Could you please clip my bangs for me? The hair clip is in my left pocket.”
Jiayi raised an eyebrow and hesitated for a second before she bent down to reach for the hair clip in Sir Xu’s pocket, but someone else beat her to it.
“I’ll do it.” Fang Zhenyue stepped slightly in front of Jiayi, reaching first into Xu Junhao’s pocket to retrieve the hair clip, frowning and with a stern face. He stared at Xu Junhao’s face as he secured the hair under the sanitary cap.
The clip snapped shut right beside Xu Junhao’s ear, strangely resonating as if someone was grinding their teeth right next to his ear.
“…” Xu Junhao’s mouth twitched.
Fang Zhenyue, a character as formidable as the King of Hell himself, was unexpectedly willing to help him manage his hair… When he asked for help, he had directly skipped over Sergeant Fang.
It was truly surprising.
However… the scene was really…
After thanking him, he turned his head back to concentrate on his work, only to think during a brief pause: perhaps it was time to get a haircut.
Jiayi turned her head to glance at Fang Zhenyue, meeting his gaze and instinctively curling the corner of her lip.
Fang Zhenyue nodded, though it was unclear whether he meant “You’re welcome” or something else.
After a brief examination of the body, Xu Junhao straightened up and stretched his muscles before gesturing to his team.
Since the body was in a severe state of rigor mortis, it could not be placed in a coffin and had to be carried away in a bag.
Back at the police station, Xu Junhao led his team in overtime autopsy work. The forensic department was also not doing well, as Brother Da Guangming began processing the first round of evidence, including the victim’s clothes and substances from under the nails.
The detectives returned to their office to organize information, and Fang Zhenyue wrote down several key terms on the whiteboard:
- The circulating bus: a mobile ‘body dumping site’;
- Boarding the bus, concealing wounds, hood covering the face: fleeing, hiding?
- Who is the victim?
- Where are they from?
- Where were they going?
- What caused the injury?
- Who is the murderer?
- Motive for the crime? Did the victim also have faults?
…..
Liu Jiaming watched as Fang Zhenyue finished writing and couldn’t help but speak first:
“Could the victim have run away after getting into a fight? Otherwise, why didn’t he call the police or go to the hospital? Maybe he was the one who started it.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll check the missing persons at the police stations to see if we can find the victim,” Gary volunteered.
“Okay,” Fang Zhenyue nodded, then turned to Liu Jiaming and said:
“Tomorrow, Jiaming, based on the fingerprints, also check the fingerprint databases at the police stations to see if we can identify the deceased.”
“Alright, Brother Yue,” Liu Jiaming quickly responded.
“Eleven, follow up with the forensic department’s report tomorrow, and Uncle Jiu, keep an eye on the forensic science department’s report,” Fang Zhenyue continued.
“Yes, sir.”
“No problem, Brother Yue.”
Jiayi and Uncle Jiu responded in turn.
Fang Zhenyue then checked the time; it was almost 3 AM:
“Let’s call it a day for now. The lab results won’t be out that quickly. Everyone, try to be at the police station by 10 AM tomorrow morning.”
Hearing the end-of-day notice, everyone’s shoulders slumped, exhausted from the day’s work.
Between moving and disturbances, plus having to work overtime at night, it had indeed been a tough day.
“Uncle Jiu can go home on his own as usual; I’ll drop off everyone else,” Fang Zhenyue clapped his hands, gathered everyone around like herding ducks out of the police station, and loaded them into the jeep.
Then he dropped everyone off, one location at a time.
Jiayi, sitting in the vehicle, kept staring out at the road signs through the window, seemingly searching for something.
And on the notebook where she had been intermittently taking notes for the past few hours, there conspicuously lay a sketch of a double-decker bus stop sign, several street names, and various directional records.
To others, this might seem like a treasure map from “One Piece,” baffling to comprehend.
But if the deceased could come back to life and see these words, he would know that Jiayi had recorded his complete route before boarding the bus.
Footnotes:
An Octopus card is a reusable contactless stored value smart card used for electronic payment in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Introduced in 1997 to manage fare collection for the transportation system, the Octopus card’s applications have grown extensively over the years to include a variety of retail and service payments.