Chapter 159

Zhang Tianxiong pointed at the camera; the cameraman sighed and waved his hand.

"It's fine, what's the big deal? I watched it, I watched it myself—so what? Is it illegal?"

"Yeah, it's illegal now—posting it online is illegal."

Chen Fan instantly snapped awake, put down the book, and said: "I study the Spring and Autumn Annals—don't try that on me."

Here, Chen Fan read chapter by chapter, then looked at the torn pages and said: "I truly give up on this old bastard—he's not even decent—he tore out the key parts! Damn it."

Zhang Tianxiong said: "Maybe it wasn't the old man who tore them—it was someone else."

? 》？？？？

Chen Fan stared at Zhang Tianxiong.

You little brat, something's off—you definitely know something, or rather, you must be hiding something.

"By the way, I'm curious—why are you always interested in Old Song's daughter?"

Zhang Tianxiong found a seat and sat down.

Chen Fan said: "Because she's pretty."

"You don't even know who Old Song's daughter is, and you say she's pretty?"

"One rule of thumb: when the father is ugly as hell, the daughter is almost always beautiful."

"Hmm, that does sound targeted—but you're right, Old Song's daughter really is beautiful. You really don't know who she is?"

Chen Fan glanced at the book and said: "No idea. Why? Is it important?"

"Nothing. Not important."

"By the way, who's Old Song's wife? We've never heard anyone mention her."

"There's nothing to say about this—better not talk about it."

Old Song stood at the door and said: "What's there to hide? My wife disappeared—been searching for thirteen years."

? ？？？？

Fuck.

Chen Fan stared at Old Song and said: "You're serious?"

"What's serious or not? She vanished. I've been looking, and I haven't found her."

Over all these years, there are only two possibilities: first, this woman ran off with someone else—after all, cops don't earn much, so her running away is normal.

Just a gold-digger.

But the second possibility—the one least acceptable—is that she was murdered.

"Old Song, sorry—I'll be gentler with your daughter from now on."

"Get lost, don't even start—my wife wouldn't run off with anyone. I'm certain of that."

"Come on, what if your wife just likes money?"

"You know nothing, I'm not wasting words with you—you know jack. By the way, you didn't flirt too much with my daughter, did you?"

Chen Fan said: "Sorry, I'm just too charming—I dare not chat with her, I'm afraid your daughter might fall for me."

"Fall for you? Get real—my daughter's as beautiful as a celestial fairy—fall for you? Get lost, get lost."

Chen Fan pulled out his phone and sent a message to the girl: "I think I've fallen for you."

"I love you too."

Chen Fan handed the phone to Old Song, who stared blankly and said: "You little brat—I'm going to kill you. Wait here—I need my knife, where's my knife?"

"Just kidding. But when my daughter took a photo with me, she really did seem to like me."

Zhang Tianxiong and Old Song exchanged glances.

Chen Fan sensed something was wrong.

Wait—did something go wrong? Why are you two looking at me like that?

At that moment, an officer walked in, carrying a tube, and said: "Is this it?"

Old Song nodded: "Yeah, that's it—no doubt."

Chen Fan stared at the steel pipe and said: "Found it? I thought we wouldn't. Looks like we overthought it."

Old Liu coughed; Chen Fan didn't speak, so he said: "Alright, take it back for autopsy—see what's going on."

The scene was sealed, the body was taken away, and on the operating table, Chen Fan handled the head, while Old Liu handled the body.

Meanwhile, several students learned about army ants.

These ants are an invasive species—rare in China; only a few niche breeders keep them.

"Calling it an invasive species is a very serious matter."

Old Song fully understood the danger of this thing.

"All confirmed?"

The five newcomers exchanged opinions and confirmed they had each questioned different people.

Qu Yiling said: "Also, when army ants bite, the pain is extremely intense."

Qu Yiling had intended to say the victim was injured before death—but she held back. Forensics must not jump to conclusions before the autopsy is complete.

Here, Chen Fan finished writing his report, then picked up the book and began reading again.

Old Song came over, glanced at the report, and said: "Head injury—so the man was already dead?"

Chen Fan said: "Yes, he's dead—go arrest someone already. As for the army ants, they only attacked after he died. I don't get this guy's sick taste. Honestly, this so-called hero is going to make a mistake."

Old Liu coughed and said: "Yeah, the fatal wound was to the head—the blood loss doesn't match. We calculated: the old man was beaten to death first. Why the army ants bit him afterward? That's your problem."

The word "hero" is very appealing.

But when a forensic doctor says it, it carries a hint of irony.

Qin Ming chuckled and said: "I think I know what happened."

Teacher He said, "Hero — is that a derogatory term?"

"Hero is naturally a complimentary term, but this person's 'hero' is a derogatory one. In other words, what this person does is something everyone has seen before — it's what's called personal law."

"Personal law?"

Qin Ming continued, "When I was writing before, I wrote about serial murder cases. Among this kind of person, there's a type who believes their own three views are the world's three views, and then uses their own three views to threaten others. The simplest example — if I slander someone, should I pay with my life for it?"

After these words were spoken, everyone in the observation room fell silent.

Sister Jing Tian said, "I get it. This is like some of those foreign movies, where everyone likes and yearns for the villain, worships the villain even more, right?"

Qin Ming nodded.

Zhang Xinyu said, "But in this case, didn't this person do something wrong?"

"Not sure. If the cause of death is this, then I'm very sorry — this person is probably going to have a hard time. Someone who insisted on punishing others in his own way, only to discover in the end that the person has actually already died, and he was just whipping a corpse — that would actually have a huge impact."

"What if he was only whipping a corpse?"

Qin Ming fell silent. Right — what if he was only whipping a corpse?

That's not right.

"No, the previous causes of death have all been found."

"That's not right either. It might even be imitation, or it might be something else. My head is starting to hurt."

Liu Yan, who was questioning from this side, said, "I'm just being argumentative, no need to go that far."

Qin Ming said, "I know. I just feel this case is rather strange, there's no reason for it. If this person had ants gnawing his tongue, it would actually mean this old man was speaking ill of others — that would be the normal inference."

Meanwhile, at the scene, Chen Fan ignored Old Song's inference and kept reading his book.

A smile spread across his face.

Xiang Qinqin said, "Let me have a peek."

"What are you kids looking at, it's not for minors. What are you looking at, go away."

"Just let me look, you're studying it so seriously, it must be pretty good."

"No."

"Teacher."

Old Liu said, "Alright, Chen Fan, stop messing around. Tell us — what's the purpose of this thing?"

Chen Fan said, "Looking at this thing — is it illegal?"

Old Liu instinctively froze, looked at Chen Fan, and said, "Are you trying to stir up trouble?"

Chen Fan said, "I only know one thing: lecherous people are timid, murderers aren't lecherous. A purely lecherous person is just lecherous, they won't do anything illegal. How old is this old man? Do you think this old man could commit a crime against a girl?"

"Or could he threaten her? Yes, we found a lot of underwear, but all of it was torn and tattered — didn't you notice?"

Qu Yiling said, "Who would pay attention to that?"