Chapter 258: Cause of Death

On a rainy summer night, a thin figure wearing a black dress appeared alone in an empty, dilapidated old house. Outside, the wind and rain raged, and the incandescent bulb hanging from the old wooden beams of the house emitted a dim, yellow halo.

The woman in black had an eerie, peach-colored flush on her face. Looking at her chest, however, there were full, protruding mounds that were completely out of proportion to her frame. She suddenly rubbed her chest vigorously with both hands, her legs twisting strangely, and she gasped for air...

Just then, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a loud "Crack!" The woman seemed startled, her body trembling...

———

August 14, 2016, 10:07 AM.

Gu Changzheng, a member of the Municipal Bureau's Party Committee, Deputy Director, and Captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, who had just finished a meeting, received a call from Luo Fei, the Captain of the Qinghe District Administrative Brigade.

"Master! I've encountered some difficulties here. Do you... do you have some time?"

Gu Changzheng frowned slightly. Luo Fei was no longer the rookie he had been back then! If something could make him feel troubled, it clearly wasn't simple!

Gu Changzheng touched his chin; the short stubble he had kept back then was long gone. His current focus had shifted from the front lines to resource allocation and overall management. Receiving a distress call from Luo Fei now actually stirred a ripple in his heart!

"Hmm! I'll handle the matters at hand. Come pick me up in half an hour!"

Hearing that he was coming in person, Luo Fei was naturally overjoyed. He tidied up the documents on his desk and drove toward the Municipal Bureau.

———

Facing the documents Luo Fei had brought, Gu Changzheng looked at the stack of photos on the table, his right index finger rhythmically tapping the desk.

In the photos, it appeared to be a woman with long hair wearing a black dress, hanging from a house beam by a thumb-thick hemp rope around her neck!

Through the photos, one could see that the person who had hanged themselves was extremely young, seemingly not even an adult, yet their chest had a fullness inconsistent with their age.

Looking at the forensic autopsy report, the deceased was actually not a woman at all, but a genuine man! His seemingly full breasts were actually fake breasts! There were no signs of homicide.

Gu Changzheng asked, "What is the problem?" He knew that if there weren't a difficult aspect, Luo Fei wouldn't have rashly asked him for help.

"According to the forensic autopsy report and the scene investigation, this appears to be a simple locked-room suicide. But..." Luo Fei hesitated, "The child was found with semen stains on his underwear, and there was a laptop power cord at the scene, but the computer is missing!"

"So?" Gu Changzheng frowned slightly.

"I believe this is not a simple suicide, but a vicious case disguised as a suicide!" Luo Fei said firmly.

Gu Changzheng took off his reading glasses and pointed at one of the photos with the temple of his glasses: "The knotting technique of the rope on the deceased's neck is very professional; it's not something a half-grown 16-year-old child could master. If the laptop did indeed exist, it not only means there were others at the scene, but it's also possible that all of this was someone inciting or directing the deceased via the internet!"

Luo Fei's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that point. Someone directing and inciting? Could it be...

————

The smell of disinfectant in the forensic room stung the nose. When Lin Xiaoman lifted the white sheet, Gu Changzheng's pupils suddenly contracted.

The deceased's Adam's apple area was covered in thick foundation, but under side lighting, one could still see radially spreading subcutaneous petechiae.

"Mechanical asphyxiation." The female forensic doctor's tweezers gently parted the wig, revealing a sesame-sized needle hole behind the ear: "And this, Propofol (an intravenous anesthetic) residue. Moreover, the deceased should have been injecting estrogen for a long time." She lifted the corpse's left hand; four crescent-shaped nail marks on the palm were deep enough to reach the bone.

Forensic doctor Lin Xiaoman, the final disciple of the veteran forensic doctor Zheng Guogiang, was young but possessed rich practical experience and was extremely capable. Hearing her words, Gu Changzheng asked, "Propofol? He was injected with an anesthetic by someone else?"

"Judging by the angle of the needle entry, it could have been injected by the deceased himself. This drug is addictive and can cause mental abnormalities, such as sexual fantasies, leading to hypersexuality!"

"Oh?" Luo Fei said in surprise, "The deceased wasn't even an adult yet; how would he know about these things?"

"The internet is widely popularized now. I've heard there's something called the Dark Web, specifically for conducting illegal transactions," Lin Xiaoman said.

Gu Changzheng nodded: "The deceased's state of death and the computer at the scene could be a carnival on the internet, only this process went out of control. The deceased played too hard while trying to obtain pleasure through asphyxiation."

"Luo Fei, start from the deceased's social relationships, mainly those in the virtual world; there might be unexpected gains! Also, that laptop wouldn't disappear for no reason. Let's go to the scene and take a look!" ===== CHAPTER 259 =====