Chapter 126 - 125: First Glimpse of Clues, Scene Simulation

Hearing Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan’s successive remarks made Li Jing’s brow slightly crease.

Both of them heard faint sounds of something breaking the air at the scene, which was undoubtedly an important clue.

But to suggest that something had shot into the scene and hit Zhang Suya seemed a bit unscientific.

Zhang Suya had screamed when he was attacked, clearly detecting something.

Yet, sensitive individuals like Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan only heard slight noises, which didn’t make sense.

Zhang Suya was just an ordinary person.

If he could detect something, there was no reason they couldn’t.

The possibility of something flying into the scene could be completely ruled out.

After a quick consideration, Li Jing asked,

"Apart from the faint breaking-air sound, did you two notice any other details?"

"No, nothing else."

Xia Ming shook her head.

Zhou Xuan, too, shook her head.

Seeing that there were no more leads aside from this, Li Jing nodded and queried,

"The two of you were dressed as maids to complement Zhang Suya. You must have had some private dealings with her?"

"We did have some private dealings, but it was only before and after work."

Xia Ming replied.

"Zhang Suya is quite arrogant, thinking that she is better than everyone else, and is not easy to get along with privately. She doesn’t bully others with her power, but to be honest, most of the theatre staff are not happy with her."

"It’s true."

Zhou Xuan echoed.

"At work, we are just her supporting players and we barely manage to speak to Zhang Suya. She does not isolate herself, but she has an inflated sense of superiority. Even if others in the theatre try to get close to her or show good intentions, she always maintains an aloof demeanor, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she looks down on others."

In the middle of speaking, Zhou Xuan hesitated slightly before describing,

"Zhang Suya doesn’t rest in the break room, but goes to the management office of the theatre. Many women in the theatre say she used her sexuality to get ahead. Many men have voiced similar complaints. It’s true. After her breaks, you can often smell the scent of a man’s body fluids on her... sometimes, there are strange body fluid scents."

"Strange body fluid scent, you mean...?"

Li Jing furrowed his brows.

Zhang Suya’s private life was a mess, that was a well-known fact.

That she used her sexuality to succeed, he had anticipated.

There is no need for him to further investigate this aspect. He was not interested in it either.

Yet, he still had to ask.

"It’s not a human body fluid smell, it might be a monster, or some strange perfume."

Zhou Xuan whispered.

"There are many male monsters in the theatre, but I haven’t seen anyone get close to Zhang Suya. There aren’t any monsters in the theatre’s management, so I think the possibility of it being perfume is greater."

Before she finished speaking, Xia Ming cleared her throat and whispered,

"Speaking of this, I can confirm that the scent on Zhang Suya was from a monster."

?

Zhou Xuan immediately sent a question mark.

"Ming, how did you figure it out?"

"When I was young and naive, I loved to play and dated several cross-species monster boyfriends."

Xia Ming said somewhat shyly, then coughed and looked at Li Jing,

"The strange scent occasionally on Zhang Suya is probably from a monster similar to a baboon pig. I’m not sure which type of baboon pig, but the smell is very similar."

Hearing Xia Ming’s words, Zhou Xuan stared in disbelief. She obviously couldn’t believe that Xia Ming had once dated a baboon pig.

Li Jing didn’t think it was a big deal.

Love is free. Who Xia Ming chooses as her boyfriend was her freedom.

In the case of monsters, it’s quite challenging to find a boyfriend of the same species.

Moreover, Xia Ming also said that she was naive when she was young and got confused.

It’s nothing. Who hasn’t been confused before?

Zhang Suya having dealings with a baboon pig-like monster, and occasional scent of its body fluid on her, was worthy information.

Li Jing slightly squinted his eyes and inquired.

"Are there any baboon pig-like monsters among the theatre’s staff?"

"No."

Xia Ming shook her head.

"Yun Dian Paradise has recruitment standards. They don’t accept all types. The primary demand for female monsters is animal-eared girls like cat monsters, fox demons, dog demons, rabbit demons, etc., and the male monsters are required to look exceptionally handsome and resemble certain animal characters in the Yun Dian film and television industry."

She continued,

"There are characters like porcupines and hedgehogs in Yun Dian’s productions, but if they are hired, they can’t reveal their animalistic traits, they might reveal their original form during rare circus performances. Hiring monster staff is not cheap, and circuses usually use ordinary animals."

"Okay, I got it."

Li Jing nodded.

"Thank you both for your cooperation. That’s all I need. You both may leave."

Having spoken, he recalled his Flying Sword Blue Edge and left.

Seeing Li Jing depart so readily, without creating any trouble, Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan exchanged glances.

Watching as he disappeared from their sight, Zhou Xuan pulled Xia Ming to her side.

"Ming, did you notice, that even though he looks fierce, he is much easier to talk to than an ordinary person."

"Indeed, he’s different from other investigators, there’s something quite approachable about him."

Xia Ming agreed, looking in the direction Li Jing had left, she softly said,

"He seems to treat us as ordinary people, not monsters. It’s quite rare to find someone like him among the high-ranking cultivators. It’s a pity we didn’t ask for his contact information..."

Before she could finish, Zhou Xuan looked excited.

"Ming, do you like him?"

Xia Ming’s mouth twitched at the suggestion, she retorted,

"When can you stop thinking about love? He’s an investigator, would you dare to make a move? All I meant was to get his contact information, just in the case we run into trouble, we could ask him for help."

...

After bidding goodbye to Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan, Li Jing quickly returned to the crime scene.

Instead of landing on the ground, Li Jing chose to hover in the air.

By this time, it was almost nine in the evening.

The street parade floats were still on the scene and the Forensics Department of the Shangcheng Substation continued to look for clues.

Su Siliu, who was previously left behind by Li Jing, was waiting at the side of the scene. Seeing him return and hovering in the air, she instinctively took off.

Noticing her, Li Jing gestured for her to stop.

Seeing his gesture, Su Siliu reluctantly repressed her eagerness and didn’t come over.

Even though she didn’t know what Li Jing was about to do, at least he had returned.

Ignoring Su Siliu, Li Jing stood in mid-air overlooking the entire scene, focusing his gaze on the float where Zhang Suya had been during the incident.

The remains of flesh and blood from Zhang Suya’s death were still on the seats of the float.

As he stared at the remains, Li Jing sorted out his thoughts.

At the time of the incident, Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan both heard strange sounds.

But the possibility of a foreign object flying and hitting Zhang Suya did not exist.

Combining this with the fact that Zhang Suya screamed before death, clearly indicating that she had noticed something, it could be concluded that the danger was right beside her at that time.

After a moment’s thought, Li Jing took out a small gadget and gently called,

"Little Aid."

"I’m here."

The small gadget replied and peered out from the screen.

Upon seeing little Ai reveal himself, Li Jing spoke softly.

"Can you recreate the scene from the chunks of flesh on the float and calculate the angle at which they scattered?"

"Piece of cake, master. Just turn on your camera."

Little Ai nodded.

Getting the confirmed response, Li Jing turned the camera towards the chunks of flesh on the float as instructed.

A few seconds later, the camera automatically shut off. Little Ai, appearing at the edge of the screen, waved a hand and opened a video playback window, simulating the scene prior to the incident.

Zhang Suya, before the accident happened on the float, was replaced with a humanoid figure.

The simulated scene automatically started playing.

The humanoid figure exploded into countless fragments, with dotted lines and solid lines representing their trajectories. Just then, Little Ai began speaking.

"Master, the dotted lines in the scene simulation represent the possible trajectories of the scattered fragments, while the solid lines represent the confirmed trajectories calculated. Due to numerous factors after the incident, the calculated result may be inaccurate, but the trajectories on the solid lines are all accurate."

"Hmm."

Li Jing responded, directing.

"Remove all the parts that scattered outwards, only leave the part on the seat, and play it frame by frame."

"Understood."

Little Ai complied, and played the scene simulation frame by frame as instructed.

Upon removing the parts that scattered outward, the scene simulation became much clearer.

As it played frame by frame, Li Jing clearly noticed that Zhang Suya exploded starting from her waist.

The upper and lower halves of the body started at the same time. The initial blast did not scatter outwards, instead, it scattered backwards onto the float’s seat.

Most of the remains left on the float’s seat were from the initial blast, and almost all were on solid lines.

This situation suggested that Zhang Suya was initially attacked at the waist, then the effect spread to the entire body.

She was sitting on the float at the time, so there was no reason for her lower back to be attacked.

In other words, the object that killed her was either on her body or on the float’s seat.

The whooshing sound that Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan heard was the sound produced by this lethal object in action.

The object did not come from a distance but was fired from behind Zhang Suya.

Due to its light sound, combined with the noisy environment, Xia Ming and Zhou Xuan’s judgment was affected.

With this conclusion, Li Jing quickly deduced another theory.

At the time of the incident, Zhang Suya’s scream indicated danger, but most importantly, it was likely due to the pain she felt from the attack on her lower back.

Slightly narrowing his eyes, Li Jing ordered Little Ai.

"Pack up the two scene simulation videos separately, I’ll need them later."

"Oh!"

Little Ai obediently obeyed, and retracted his little head from the corner of the screen.

Consequently, the clips of the two simulated scenes appeared in the album.

Upon seeing this, Li Jing didn’t delay any further and used Sky Control to descend towards the float where the incident occurred.

His descent immediately drew the attention of the busy forensics team members on-site. Soon afterwards, someone called out near him.

"Detective Li, the on-site evidence collection has not yet been completed, please do not randomly touch vital evidence."

Seeing Li Jing approach the most critical piece of evidence, the float where the incident occurred, Su Siliu immediately became alarmed and swiftly flew over.

"Detective Li, you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Li Jing spoke up.

"Don’t be nervous. I’m just looking, I won’t disturb anything."

He then turned his gaze and requested.

"Give me your Immortal Message number."

?

Su Siliu typed out a number.

People have often asked for her Immortal Message number, she’s used to it.

Moreover, she is is a beautiful detective.

She has a good reputation both inside and outside the office.

But someone as straightforward as Li Jing was the first she had ever come across.

Couldn’t he at least come up with an excuse?

Plus, the timing was quite off!

Feeling puzzled, Su Siliu gave out her Immortal Message number.

Li Jing got the Immortal Message number and sent over the two simulated scenes completed by Little Ai as soon as the friend request was accepted.

"This is a scene simulation that I had a friend create, you can take a look."

Upon hearing this Su Siliu was baffled.

Wasn’t Li Jing supposed to have gone to the theater to talk to Yun Dian Paradise employees who were participating in the parade?

How come he suddenly sent two scene simulations, purportedly his friend’s creation?

Thinking about it further.

His "friend" must be extraordinarily competent, to have developed scene simulations in such a short time?

Scene simulations are also being done by the forensics department.

High-definition photos from the scene were taken and sent to the office early on.

However, the actual results may take days or even longer.

Even after the results are out, they can only provide a rough reference and cannot create a precision simulation.

The technical resources of the detective bureau are relatively limited.

Seeing that there were indeed two scene simulations in her Immortal Message, Su Siliu gave Li Jing a surprised look, then clicked to play the simulations.

Upon seeing this, she was immediately stunned.

Except that the victim, Zhang Suya was replaced with a humanoid figure, everything else in the scene simulation was lifelike.

What level of technical prowess would it take to create something like this in mere minutes?

It was clear what the dotted and solid lines in the video represented without Li Jing explaining.

This level of detail surely surpasses the scene simulations the forensics team could have completed in a few days, covering a vast majority of possibilities.

Did Li Jing find an expert in the Research Institute and used a supercomputer to help him with the scene simulations?

Struck with awe, Su Siliu did not question any further, but carefully inspected the two scene simulations.

As detectives, they often have their own ingenious methods.

These methods, however, are oftentimes private and not convenient to discuss.

More so, these ingenious methods themselves do not wish to be known by others.

After all, once word gets out, there will be more people asking them for favors in the future, including those that could potentially harm them, too many uncertainties are involved.

Su Siliu reached the same conclusion as Li Jing after some careful examination.

Couldn’t be helped.

Little Ai’s scene simulation was not only lifelike, but also exceedingly meticulous.

Any discerning person could see through the two scene simulations that Zhang Suya was first attacked from the back of her waist.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Su Siliu suddenly understood why Li Jing wanted to get close to the float where the incident occurred.

"Wait a moment, I’ll send the scene simulation to Captain Shen and instruct the forensics team."

After giving Li Jing a brief explanation, Su Siliu forwarded the two scene simulations, flew to one side, and contacted Shen Quan over her communication headset.

Li Jing was not in a hurry, he simply hovered in front of the blood-stained back seat of the float, inspecting it.

The possibility that the object was on Zhang Suya was slightly smaller.

She was dressed as a princess with no pockets, making it improbable for her to be carrying anything.

Assuming it was hidden in her gown, it would be difficult for her to remain clueless about an odd object at her lower back.

The lethal object was most likely hidden in the seat of the float.

Among the seats, he might find certain traces.

If there were traces, that would make things easier.

After some time, Su Siliu, who had finished communicating with Shen Quan, returned to Li Jing’s side.

"Captain Shen has issued orders to the forensics team. The forensics team needs time to process the physical evidence and the deceased’s remains. Let’s step back a little to avoid obstructing their work."