Chapter 11

Chapter 11: 2. eden lake-02

“Rare to see you smoking.”

Although surprised, An Pingdong still tossed the cigarette pack and lighter to Liu Yi.

Liu Yi smiled, said nothing, shook a cigarette out, lit it neatly, held it between his lips, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly.

He rarely smoked; only when extremely tired did he use cigarettes to wake up.

Liu Yi looked very sexy while smoking—his phoenix eyes half-closed, lips slightly pursed, slowly exhaling wisps of white smoke. He flicked the ash into an empty evidence bag, and as his sleeve slipped down, it revealed his pale wrist and a clear dark red bruise.

Every move Liu Yi made was noted by Qi Shanyu and Li Jin.

One was guilty about the trouble he caused last night; the other couldn’t resist watching every move of forensic master Liu. Both noticed the obvious bruise on his wrist.

In the gay circle, anyone had heard of “special play.” Li Jin, though not an expert, had heard plenty from friends and, as a forensic student, could tell the red marks on Liu Yi’s wrist were from binding.

Li Jin’s face immediately turned pale. The next instant, he imagined a censored adult scene starring his crush.

—Could the “Michael” Liu Yi spoke to in the car yesterday evening really be his partner? And the type who played wildly?

While imagining this, Li Jin’s face was grim as he glanced at his ex-boyfriend.

He clearly remembered Qi Shanyu appeared with Liu Yi this morning. Although Liu Yi explained it was just a ride, both carried the scent of alcohol. To claim coincidence was unbelievable.

…Could it be…

Sensing Li Jin’s gaze, Qi Shanyu looked at him and met his intense stare, reading strong hostility.

Being glared at so fiercely, Qi Shanyu felt awkward but turned his head naturally, pretending not to notice.

Ten minutes later, the class teacher of Su Ruirui’s Senior 3 (1) class, Chen Yu, finally arrived.

“The college entrance exam is next year; students are under a lot of pressure. The girl had weaker psychological endurance—if she lost control, it’s not strange…”

Teacher Chen is a woman in her early forties, short and slim, hair tied with a net, wearing narrow rimless glasses and a black-and-white suit. Her voice was sharp and fast, her tone strict, fitting the stereotypical image of a high school homeroom teacher.

According to her, Su Ruirui was average-looking, introverted, shy, not very social, average in academics, without particularly close friends, and had not caused trouble. In short, ordinary to the extreme. Her death in the lake was likely due to being unable to bear exam pressure, choosing to commit suicide.

“Was she bullied by classmates?”

Hearing this, Chen Yu’s already sharp voice went even higher, almost piercing: “No! Absolutely not!”

She spoke rapidly: “We are a key class; all the students are excellent, they would never bully anyone!”

Qi Shanyu frowned. He wanted to say academic performance doesn’t directly determine whether bullying occurs, but Liu Yi, smoking beside him, scoffed first: “So all the girl’s injuries were from her falling over repeatedly?”

Liu Yi’s tone was mocking and skeptical. Chen Yu’s expression darkened. She glared at the forensic expert in the white coat, then quickly lowered her eyes to hide her displeasure.

“At their age, minor scrapes are normal…”

Her hands clenched behind her back, nails digging into her skin. “Also, they had a physical fitness test recently. I remember Su Ruirui wasn’t very athletic; maybe she fell during practice.”

Liu Yi lazily lifted his eyes to glance at the clearly lying teacher, a slight smile on his lips: “Do you think I can’t tell if she fell herself?”

Chen Yu shivered but still insisted, despite An Pingdong’s questioning: Su Ruirui chose suicide due to study pressure.

“Where was Su Ruirui last night? Can anyone confirm her whereabouts?”

An Pingdong stared at Chen Yu’s evasive eyes, exuding the aura of a senior detective: “We need to speak to her classmates.”

Chen Yu tightened her face, swallowed, then said weakly: “These are students about to take the college exam. You… you should not affect their study state…”

“Eight months left until the exam.”

An Pingdong chuckled, sarcasm in his tone: “As the saying goes, ‘If you do nothing wrong, fear no ghost knocking.’ Understand?”

In this exam-focused era, Su Ruirui’s class was the elite class under special attention.

Standing in the hallway, Qi Shanyu saw students quietly taking a mock exam. Even with a classmate recently dead, and uniformed officers outside, only a few glanced up briefly before returning to their work.

“It’s not convenient to question them here…”

Chen Yu frowned, pretending difficulty. “Wait until this exam ends, then I’ll call a few students for you.”

She gestured to the small conversation room at the hallway’s end: “Please wait inside a bit, okay?”

&&& &&& &&&

The students’ exam took two hours. During the wait, with Chen Yu absent, they gathered to organize clues.

“According to the janitor, he did his routine lake patrol around 10 PM last night. No abnormalities were noted in the lake.”

An Pingdong opened his notebook, reviewing statements.

“If he didn’t miss anything, does that mean Su Ruirui died between 10 PM last night and 6:30 AM today?”

He glanced at Liu Yi on the single sofa: “Director Liu, can you accurately determine the time of death for a body submerged in water?”

Liu Yi leaned back, eyes half-closed, seemingly ignoring the question.

“Director Liu?”

An Pingdong raised his voice again.

Liu Yi finally lifted his head: “What did you just ask?”

“I asked if you can determine the death time of a submerged body?”

An Pingdong repeated, raising an eyebrow, teasing: “Looks like Director Liu was quite ‘busy’ last night. No wonder you look tired.”

The hint was obvious; Jiang Xiaoyuan understood, grinning mischievously, blinking exaggeratedly at Liu Yi.

Qi Shanyu and Li Jin, however, couldn’t laugh.

Qi Shanyu felt uneasy, unsure where to look. Li Jin’s mind raced with earlier speculations, eyes fixed on Liu Yi’s wrist, wishing he could study the hidden marks.

Liu Yi ignored the teasing and answered An Pingdong:

“Water immersion affects the accuracy of time-of-death estimation. For drowning it’s okay, but if the body is dumped, unknown immersion duration can cause significant error.”

“So the key point is to confirm whether Su Ruirui really drowned?”

“Yes.”

Liu Yi replied: “Determining Su Ruirui’s cause of death is not difficult.”

He suddenly slapped Jiang Xiaoyuan’s back hard: “What are the forensic signs of a drowning victim?”

Startled, Jiang Xiaoyuan sat straight, responding reflexively: “Foamy discharge from mouth and nose, foreign matter in hands, water-induced pulmonary edema, differential heart blood composition, diatom examination!”

Liu Yi ruffled his hair approvingly: “Good, very good.”

“Foamy discharge was already seen on Su Ruirui’s body. Other signs must be confirmed via autopsy.”

He turned to Qi Shanyu and An Pingdong: “By the way, have Su Ruirui’s family been contacted?”

Author’s note: Starting next week, will be away for two weeks for study TUT.

Will try to update daily; if not, will update every other day.