Chapter 1

Tonight the moon is unusually bright, a layer of blood-red mist shrouding it, making the originally elegant moonlight appear eerie and terrifying, as if the very air is permeated with the scent of blood. The night at 2:00 AM is exceptionally quiet, with only the rustling of leaves outside the window to be heard; no one pays any mind to the strange night sky.

In the brightly lit room, all kinds of surgical instruments are readily available, though unfortunately, this is not an operating room in the traditional sense.

The woman's face is mostly covered by a mask, making it impossible to discern her features, but a pair of bright, sharp eyes are focused intently on the corpse atop the white platform. Putting away the measuring tape in her hand, the woman says in a cold voice: "The deceased is female, 168 centimeters tall, between twenty and thirty years of age. The body has already begun to decompose; preliminary deduction suggests she has been dead for at least a month."

Standing behind her is a young girl, diligently taking notes, not daring to show the slightest negligence.

Carefully examining every trace on the corpse, Zhuo Qing knits her brows when she sees the body's fingers, her voice remaining cool and calm: "All ten fingernails of the deceased have been removed."

"Ten fingernails removed again?" Xing Lan pauses, quickly looking up to ask: "Dr. Zhuo, could this be a serial murder case?!" Including this one, this is already the fourth female corpse with its fingernails removed!

Zhuo Qing, focused on the dissection in her hands, does not answer. A moment later, she replies in a cold voice: "Whether it is a serial murder case should be determined by the investigative department. As a forensic pathologist, my responsibility is to record in detail every characteristic on the corpse and the cause of death, providing evidence and clues for solving the case. Attributing it to a serial case prematurely makes one prone to bias, causing other details to be overlooked."

"I understand." Xing Lan sticks out her tongue secretly. Dr. Zhuo is the youngest and most outstanding chief forensic pathologist in recent years; learning by her side has truly helped her improve quickly, but that perpetually cold face and icy gaze of hers while working are still quite intimidating!

"The deceased has obvious bruised fingerprints on her neck, black in color; there are no other obvious external injuries, and the cause of death is asphyxiation. The lower body is intact, ruling out the possibility of sexual assault before death." Zhuo Qing says while taking off her medical gloves: "Xiao Xing, have the report organized and ready for me to sign before dawn, then hand it over to the criminal investigation team. Also, send the samples extracted just now to the testing department tomorrow morning, and then you can rest."

Xing Lan wails internally, but she does not dare to show a moment's hesitation, immediately replying: "Understood." No sleep again tonight!

Xing Lan is packing up the clothing and skin samples cut from the deceased when she suddenly sees a circular metal object the size of a palm and asks: "Dr. Zhuo, this is something found in the deceased's coat; should it be handed over to the criminal investigation team?"

Zhuo Qing glances at it casually and replies: "Send it to the testing department first; they will handle it." Having said that, she nimbly exits the autopsy room.

"Yes." After packing up the samples and notes, Xing Lan quickly follows Zhuo Qing, walking briskly out of the autopsy room. Although she has worked in the forensic department for over half a year, she still does not dare to stay alone with a corpse in the middle of the night.

"How is it? Is the autopsy report out yet?" Just as they approach the office, the two are immediately blocked by someone!

The slender woman leaning against the door frame has short, fine hair that looks crisp and neat; she is exceptionally energetic, with a persistent and determined gaze.

Xing Lan wails: "Captain Gu, you are being too exaggerated! It's 3:00 AM right now!"

Gu Yun raises her eyebrows slightly and smiles: "So?"

Drooping her shoulders in defeat, Xing Lan replies helplessly: "So please wait a moment, I'll go organize it right away; there will definitely be results before dawn!" No wonder Captain Gu and Dr. Zhuo can be good friends; both of them are workaholics!

Watching Xing Lan walk into the office with her head hanging low, Gu Yun laughs aloud: "Thanks!"

Zhuo Qing has already opened her exclusive office across the hall. Gu Yun follows her in, and before she can even open her mouth, Zhuo Qing's uniquely cool, low voice slowly sounds: "What, a long night with no intention of sleeping?"

"Go to hell!" Rolling her eyes at her, Gu Yun scolds: "There have been frequent cases of women being murdered this past month; Director Li's eyes are almost spitting fire. Now, the people in the Second Criminal Investigation Team don't even distinguish between day and night anymore!"

Zhuo Qing casually pulls out the fountain pen fixing her hair, and her waist-length hair immediately falls down. Leaning tiredly against the sofa, she asks lazily with half-closed eyes: "Was there any suspense in the results of the provincial Sanda competition yesterday?"

"No!" She gets angry just thinking about it. With so many cases, the bureau leaders still insisted she participate in the provincial competition. She wins first place in the women's group every year, so what is there to compete for! Watching Zhuo Qing looking like she is about to fall asleep comfortably, Gu Yun pats her shoulder and laughs in a low voice: "I'm telling you, Miss, I'm talking to you about a case!"

With her eyes slightly narrowed, Zhuo Qing's voice is still lazy, but her train of thought is very clear: "This deceased indeed shares commonalities with the victims in the previous three murder cases; all were strangled by the trachea, dying of asphyxiation, and all ten fingernails were removed. Judging from the modus operandi, it belongs to the same technique. If it really is a serial murder case, judging by the degree of decomposition of the body, this female victim is the first victim."

Listening to Zhuo Qing's analysis, Gu Yun also paces back and forth in the office, thinking about the case, when she suddenly discovers something faintly reflecting light at the office door. She walks over to pick it up and takes a look; it is a small golden disk inlaid with a Bagua pattern. Since it was in the evidence bag, it should be evidence.

Walking to Zhuo Qing, Gu Yun asks: "What is this?"

Slowly opening her eyes and seeing what is in Gu Yun's hand, Zhuo Qing curses inwardly. That girl Xing Lan is always so careless; she could even lose such important evidence! Sitting up straight, Zhuo Qing replies: "Found in the deceased's clothing pocket. After the colleagues in the testing department examine it, it should end up in your hands."

Upon hearing that it is evidence for this case, Gu Yun immediately perks up. Only a small desk lamp is on in the office, so Gu Yun simply lifts the blinds and studies it carefully by the light of the unusually bright moon tonight.

With her eyes focused intently on the object in her hand, Gu Yun does not notice at all that the dark night sky is gradually being covered by scarlet flowing clouds as she holds the Bagua disk up to the moon.

Strange, it clearly looked golden just a moment ago, so why does it look red now?! Could the back be golden? Flipping it over to look closely, the other side is the same blood-red Bagua pattern, and the entire small disk seems to faintly emit a red glow. How can this be?!

"Hiss—" Feeling puzzled, she suddenly feels a pain in her hand.

Zhuo Qing gets up and walks behind her, asking: "What's wrong?"

Looking down at her finger, she sees a deep bloodstain on her index finger, and a few drops of bright red blood fall onto the evidence bag. Gu Yun smiles indifferently: "It's nothing, I don't know what scratched me."

The wound on her finger is very deep, and blood is still dripping. Gu Yun's nonchalant attitude makes Zhuo Qing frown. Taking medical cotton from the bookshelf nearby and pressing it onto the wound, Zhuo Qing snorts coldly: "Hold the wound!"

Gu Yun rolls her eyes; it's just a small scratch!

The cotton pressing on the wound is quickly soaked with blood again. Zhuo Qing's sharp eyes flash; what kind of thing is so sharp that even stopping the bleeding is difficult?! Taking the object from Gu Yun's hand to look at it, Zhuo Qing is shocked: "How can this be?!"

What could make the usually cold and arrogant Forensic Pathologist Zhuo lose her composure? Gu Yun also curiously stretches her head over, and upon seeing it, Gu Yun also cries out in surprise: "Blood... has seeped in!"

The blood drops that were originally dripping outside the transparent evidence bag are gone; the blood has actually appeared on top of the blood-red Bagua pattern! How could such a thing happen? Did the blood penetrate the evidence bag?!

"Oh no!" After a moment of shock, the two cry out in unison: "This report is going to be hard to write!"

The two look at each other and smile bitterly, having a headache over how to explain why Gu Yun's blood appeared on the evidence. Neither of them notices that the drop of blood that seeped into the Bagua disk is flowing along the curved groove into the center where yin and yang intersect.

The moment the blood falls into the center, the Bagua disk suddenly emits an extremely strong red light. Zhuo Qing and Gu Yun do not have time to react; they only feel darkness before their eyes and faint to the ground.

The light flashes and passes. In the chief forensic pathologist's room, there is still that small desk lamp, and two figures lie fainted on the ground.

The bleeding wound on Gu Yun's hand has recovered as if it were new, without a trace of a scar.

The golden silk Bagua disk lies steadily by their side, without any abnormalities.

In the sky outside the window, the moonlight is clear and bright; everything is so peaceful.

(End of chapter)