Chapter 395: Why not... ask Xu Mo?

Okay, sir, there are two copies of the contract; this one is yours—please keep it.

After leaving these words and a copy of the contract, the man who had come to the door departed from the police station.

Xu Mo put the contract away and then returned to his workstation.

As soon as he sat down, police officers gathered around him.

"Team Leader, what was that guy up to? I heard you talking about a contract, equity—what does that mean?"

"He transferred equity to me—a one percent dry share of a company," Xu Mo answered truthfully.

Upon hearing it was only one percent, the officer let out an "oh".

Just now, while listening to their conversation, he had thought it was some major matter, after all it involved equity transfer.

He hadn't expected it to be only one percent… then it's nothing.

It's just one percent—probably not worth much money!

As for why Xu Mo was suddenly awarded the First Level Hero Model medal and appointed Deputy Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, he didn't ask much about it.

Because the officers had already discussed this matter earlier, all the police in the station agreed that Xu Mo deserved it—after all, he had cracked a number of major cases; it was only natural to reward merit.

Han Fei walked out of the office and went straight to Team Seven's workspace.

Han Fei first glanced at Xu Mo.

"There's an empty office next to mine; tidy it up and move in."

Then he looked toward Chen Ke.

"Xu Mo is now our Deputy Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, and the position of Team Seven Leader happens to be vacant—you can act as the leader for now."

As Deputy Captain, Xu Mo should have his own office, with the same benefits as Han Fei, the Captain.

The position of Squad Leader of Team Seven also happened to be vacant; after consideration, Chen Ke was the most suitable.

He too is a veteran of the police station, with seniority more than enough to serve as Squad Leader of Team Seven.

"Also… Li Chen, you'll be Deputy Leader of Team Seven." He paused, then added, "Any questions, everyone?"

"No!" they all said in unison.

Chen Ke as Squad Leader, Li Chen as Deputy—no one objected.

The only thing they felt uneasy about was Xu Mo's promotion.

Of course, it wasn't jealousy over how fast Xu Mo was promoted, but because he could no longer act as leader of Team Seven, and the team members felt the loss of an excellent leader.

……

Xu Mo had just finished setting up his office and moving his belongings in when the police station received a report.

The reporter was a middle-aged woman who said her son had committed suicide.

Such a suicide case didn't warrant the captain and deputy captain personally going; it was enough to send a squad to investigate and see whether the victim really had killed himself.

So after receiving the report, Han Fei assigned Team Seven, who happened to be free, to follow up.

Upon receiving the assignment, Chen Ke immediately led the team to the residential complex where the reporter lived.

Ta Ying Xiao Qu.

Building 3, Room 202.

A man about twenty years old slumped on a single sofa, both hands hanging at the sides; one hand held a fruit knife stained with blood, the other hand was covered in blood, which kept dripping from his palm onto the floor.

By then, a pool of blood had gathered on the floor beside the sofa.

This man was the deceased; the middle-aged woman crying uncontrollably beside him was the reporter—his mother.

Li Chen glanced at the scene, then turned to the reporter: "When did you discover the body?"

"I saw it just as I came back… I went to my mother's place last night, and when I returned the next day I saw…" She broke off, bursting into tears again.

Seeing this, Li Chen softly comforted the middle-aged woman: "My condolences."

"May I ask you a few questions?"

The middle-aged woman wiped her tears: "Sure, officer, go ahead."

"Do you and your son usually live here alone?"

"Yes, his father left long ago; it's just the two of us depending on each other."

"You two live here… you weren't home last night, and then as soon as you came back today you found the body, right?"

"Yes."

"Besides you, does anyone else have a key to this apartment?"

"Just me and my son have the keys."

Although suicides like this don't happen all the time, they're certainly not rare; our country sees about two hundred thousand deaths by suicide each year.

As a veteran officer, Li Chen had long grown accustomed to such matters.

Thus, after merely checking the scene and asking a few questions, he judged it to be an undisputed suicide, with nothing to quibble over.

However, Wang Dachuan and Chen Ke beside him frowned at this.

It was obvious they did not think it was a suicide.

Chen Ke greeted the other officers, then walked first to a corner of the room.

"What do you think?"

"What else could it be? It's obviously a suicide," Li Chen shrugged.

Xiao Zhang and Lao Zhou also spoke up shortly after: "I also think it's a suicide." Their view matched Li Chen's.

Seeing all three say that, Chen Ke's frown deepened.

"You all think it's a suicide? But I always feel something's off…"

"Anything wrong? I don't feel anything—are you overthinking? To me, this is clearly a suicide," Li Chen said, patting Chen Ke on the shoulder.

Just then, Wang Dachuan, who had been silent, joined the discussion.

"Actually I also feel something is fishy."

Chen Ke's eyes lit up instantly upon hearing this, as if he had found a kindred spirit, and he immediately looked toward Wang Dachuan.

"You also think there's a problem? Tell me your thoughts!"

Although Chen Ke felt something was fishy about this, when asked to speak he really couldn't explain it; he couldn't point out where the fishiness lay, so naturally he couldn't convince Li Chen, Xiao Zhang, and Lao Zhou either.

Now we can only rely on Wang Dachuan.

Everyone's gaze gathered on Wang Dachuan.

Wang Dachuan, feeling these gazes, scratched his head. He spoke somewhat lacking confidence.

"But I also don't know if my idea is right..."

"Never mind that, you speak first.", Chen Ke urged.

"Alright!", Wang Dachuan nodded: "I've been reading books about forensic autopsy lately; I think the victim's blood color is a bit off, not like that of a normal young person... I feel the cause of death might not be as simple as wrist cutting."

Although he had read those forensic books, he hadn't read much, his knowledge was superficial, and he couldn't really explain anything.

However, just this point he noticed was enough to overturn the theory that the victim died from wrist-cutting suicide.

"Not just that simple... you mean the victim didn't die from wrist-cutting suicide? Wrist-cutting is just a cover-up?", Li Chen couldn't help but glance at the pool of blood on the ground: "Are you sure?"

Wang Dachuan shook his head, his tone weak: "Not very sure..."

He recalled the time he embarrassed himself in public with an autopsy result; he was just a half-baked amateur, and he didn't dare say his opinion was definitely accurate.

After a pause, Wang Dachuan added.

"How about... we ask Team Leader Xu?"