Chapter 442: Thirteen Dead

The shared-kitchen incident had come up before; the Miss who had been killing people at random earlier had started looking here, in the shared-kitchen area, for people she needed to deal with.

But once this matter drew attention, the local government gave this side a certain amount of support and encouragement, and people with crooked intentions started to multiply.

Under the name of a shared cafeteria, the prices they charged were utterly outrageous.

The processing fee alone went straight up to ten yuan — a frightening number.

This was already suspected of being illegal; it's just that the departments handling it would be many.

Because the boss was also very clever, blurring the concept.

Meanwhile, on this side, Chen Fan returned to the forensic office. Old Liu changed into his clothes and said, "Go back, shave, tidy yourself up, get dressed up."

"It's not another meeting, is it?"

"Not a meeting — we're going to handle a case, just that there are a lot of people. The province is holding a meeting and plans to launch some things."

Launch some things?

Chen Fan froze and said, "What? That serious?"

"First, they're issuing you an advanced forensic certificate — this matter is settled. Second, we need to handle some old cases."

"I haven't written my speech yet."

"I wrote it for you, take it."

Chen Fan was speechless and said, "Are they going too?"

"They're going. They need to pick up their junior certificates too — kill two birds with one stone, let them see the world."

The group began heading back to tidy up and dress.

Not long after, everyone changed into white clothes, got straight into the car, and set off.

Heavy snow had fallen for several days in a row; during this period it had already started to let up.

When they showed up at the high-speed rail station, Chen Fan had a sudden moment of enlightenment — so driving the whole way was just a show-off opening move; you still had to take the high-speed rail.

The four of them crowded into one spot, dozing off.

The cameraman was filming on one side; someone sharp-eyed spotted Chen Fan directly, came over on their own initiative and asked for a photo. Chen Fan laughed sheepishly, asked the other person for a piece of fruit, and started gnawing on it.

In the observation room, Sister Yuanyuan said, "Chen Fan this guy really doesn't take a single loss."

Teacher He said, "That's for sure, and his sense of revenge is strong. That shared restaurant is pretty unlucky too — it had to provoke Chen Fan, had to show off in front of him."

Qin Ming said, "Actually it's a good thing. Once this place is removed, better people will take over. After it's taken down, making money simply isn't realistic. This was public-spirited by nature — making money, we allow it; making too much money, nobody allows it."

Sister Yuanyuan said, "Right, that self-media outfit is shameless too — they report on this kind of thing?"

Qin Ming said, "They picked a similar name. Although they never explicitly said they were some official body, a name like that easily leads people to misunderstand."

Teacher Luo said, "This is illegal — it just depends on who's filing the suit. For cases like this, we generally hand them to intern lawyers to handle, to earn reputation and credentials. Don't worry, on our side plenty of lawyers still like taking on this kind of case."

The high-speed rail arrived at the destination.

After the four of them got off, they came to the provincial Public Security Department. The moment they stepped inside, they were welcomed by the leaders.

Li Tian changed into his clothes on this side, his face deadly serious.

Chen Fan went up and slapped him right away, knocking his cap off.

Li Tian was speechless and said, "You bastard, are you sick? Damn it, why'd you knock my cap off?"

"All dressed up like a proper gentleman, I almost didn't recognize you. Hm, seeing this shine, I recognize you now."

Tch.

Li Tian put his cap back on and said, "Look at my rank — I'm higher than you. Call me 'leader.'"

Old Liu said, "That's in the past. Now Chen Fan's title has been promoted — he's a professional-level talent. Hm, barring accidents, from now on when you see Chen Fan, you'll have to greet him first."

Damn.

You really deserve to die — what gives you the right?

Li Tian was utterly speechless.

The department director on this side said, "I won't waste words with you. Go straight to the meeting, go look at the records, prepare the case. I've given you the certificate; the ceremony can wait. If you break the case, I'll book you a hotel banquet. If you don't break it, get out."

Old Liu was speechless and simply said nothing.

Chen Fan said, "Teacher, who is that? What a temper."

"The one who's been calling you non-stop, telling you to write a self-criticism."

?????

"Also the one who specifically sent people to protect you."

Chen Fan was helpless — damn, so it was that person.

The group headed to the meeting room; the lights on this side dimmed down.

Li Tian took up a pen and began explaining the case.

"The department has decided to launch some old cases — some very big ones — and we're going to fight for progress this time, to break the cases."

Break cases?

"This is a very old case. Back then a coal mine collapsed, causing quite a bit of damage. But when we went to investigate, and investigated several coal mines in a row, we found a very strange thing — every year, the safety work at these mines had been done very well."

Li Tian pointed at the photos and said, "Afterwards, at the scene we found signs of gasoline burning. At the time we already suspected it might be a man-made collapse. These are the remains left at the scene — because the burning was quite severe, only ashes remain; the bone fragments we recovered aren't many."

"According to the data here, thirteen people died."

Thirteen people — this case is no small matter.

With that number of casualties, it definitely counts as a major case.

At this point, Li Tian said, "The data we currently have is this much… do any of you have anything to add?"

Only this much?

Old Liu looked and said, "Are there remains? If there are remains, we'll examine them when we get back."

Li Tian said, "Yes, the remains are still preserved — including the ashes, we collected everything. The technology back then was poor; the technology now is better. Hopefully we can make some progress."

The officers here each offered their own opinion in turn.

The bureau chief looked toward Chen Fan.

Chen Fan stared at the patterns on the ground and asked, "What are these patterns?"

"Signs left by the deceased's ashes during excavation... is there a problem?"

Chen Fan said, "Pull up several photos together, let me compare them."

Once all the photos were out, Chen Fan stared for a long while, then said, "One person is missing..."

That single sentence instantly set the mood of the scene ablaze—one person was missing.

"How can you be sure?"

"The weight and distribution of the ashes don't add up. I ran through every possibility, and the margin of error is far too large, so I'm certain."

One person was missing.

Then this case had a very big problem.

Teacher He asked, "Teacher Qin Ming, is this true?"

Qin Ming said, "Mm, the powder left behind from an ordinary person's skeleton does indeed fall within a certain range—it's just that this thing really depends on the individual, everyone is different. However, if Chen Fan is reasoning from the mean value, there is a reasonable basis for it..."

"Does it really exist?"

Teacher He had learned his lesson this time and took the initiative to ask.

Qin Ming said, "Fine, I don't want to voice my own opinion anymore. I'm just helping Chen Fan cover for him here. Mainly, I've never studied this stuff either—who studies this kind of ghost thing in their spare time?"

Over here, Li Tian said, "Give me an explanation."

"It's simple. Twelve people, each taking a share, would be enough to distribute evenly, because these people's average numbers are too close together. That's why I concluded one person is missing."

????

Holy crap, he concluded it BECAUSE they were too close?!

Seems to make some sense.

Li Tian said, "You're absolutely sure?"