Chapter 43

Chapter 43 3. panic room-17

Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu took the elevator up to the twelfth floor, the floor where the Evidence Department was located.

This floor was overseen by Yuan Lan, head of the Evidence Department, including the Trace Inspection Center, the Testing Center, and several related small teams. On the side wing, there was a corridor with two glass doors leading to a large immunohistochemistry laboratory in cooperation with Deutsche Biotechnology Company.

Because nearly all the high-end instruments, valued close to eight figures, were concentrated on this floor, the twelfth floor became the most strictly monitored in terms of security and fire safety. Those multi-million instruments were codenamed after luxury cars—BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce—and whenever someone from other floors needed to handle something in the Evidence Department, they would jokingly say, “I’m going to the twelfth floor to visit the car show.”

However, because Liu Yi and Yuan Lan had a bad relationship, every time he entered this floor, his expression was always unpleasant—but none as black as today.

He first asked at the office about Yuan Lan’s whereabouts, then, face stern, pushed open the door to the Trace Inspection Center and, with a resolute, unstoppable aura, stormed in.

“Oh, our Liu, the big beauty—what happened to your face?”

Hearing the door, Yuan Lan looked up at Liu Yi, saw the obvious bruise on his cheek, and let out a teasing, somewhat malicious laugh: “I heard Liu Yang just punched you? Haha, with that one punch, you’ve basically debuted at center stage among netizens nationwide!”

Ever since news of Liu Lingxiao’s body was exposed, public opinion exploded. Netizens harshly criticized the investigative team’s “incompetence.” Not only was Captain Shen Zun, head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, under intense scrutiny, but Liu Yi, as the forensic officer, also couldn’t escape deep investigation.

Liu Yi, as the lead forensic officer for the kidnapper’s body and the first to discover Liu Lingxiao’s body—and having been punched by a nationally known tycoon—provided enough dramatic material for netizens to speculate endlessly. His photos and personal background spread everywhere along with the case notifications. Luckily, aside from his second brother in the capital, his immediate family had all moved to England, sparing him from media harassment.

“Stop talking!”

Liu Yi tore a mask from his bag, covering the bruise on his cheek, pulled out the chair opposite Yuan Lan, and sat down angrily.

Qi Shanyu also moved a chair and sat beside him.

Liu Yi brushed his messy bangs back: “What are you investigating now?”

Yuan Lan raised an eyebrow, pushing the photos on the desk toward Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu: “The secret room you discovered—we’re studying the scene.”

Liu Yi nodded, gathered the photos, and began examining them carefully, one by one.

“By the way.”

Yuan Lan flipped open the secret room scene report from Trace Inspection, looking through it while asking: “You’re really not doing the autopsy on Liu Lingxiao?”

Liu Yi shook his head.

“Liu Yang and Wang Lanting explicitly refused to sign the autopsy consent. The police are still holding the cremation permit. The body can only stay at the funeral home for now. Once the family calms down a bit, we’ll try to get consent for the autopsy.”

Yuan Lan frowned. “Even citing the need to clarify the cause of death in a criminal case of unnatural death, you can’t force the autopsy?”

“If only it were that simple,” Liu Yi said, headache evident. “After all, it’s a minor, a case of nationwide attention, with well-known parents. The police can’t just ignore the family’s emotions.”

Yuan Lan thought for a moment, then glanced at Qi Shanyu in his police uniform, a hint of pity in his tone.

“Right. Otherwise, if Liu Yang and the others made a scene, the public would blame the police for incompetence, for failing to catch the kidnappers, and still fuss over a child’s corpse.”

In fact, Yuan Lan had already seen similar interviews online.

A reporter vividly described Wang Lanting’s grief, then sharply criticized the police, ending with: “What everyone wants now is news that the culprit is caught, not to know how much suffering the poor child endured before death,” gaining countless likes and shares.

In truth, the Criminal Investigation Unit had already received a top-down order to solve the case within a time limit. No matter what, the kidnappers’ identities and whereabouts had to be uncovered.

“Oh, one more thing I need to ask you.”

Though incompatible with Liu Yi, Yuan Lan admitted that in some ways, his rival was extremely capable.

His finger tapped on the desk. “You and Officer Qi, how did you find this secret room?”

“Just by chance,” Liu Yi’s muffled voice through the mask said. “A little girl living near the factory saw a trapezoid-shaped light reflection in the warehouse window, with a person’s upside-down shadow inside.”

He paused, emphasizing: “An upside-down ‘shadow.’”

Then Liu Yi looked at Yuan Lan. “You get it, right?”

Yuan Lan froze, then muttered a couple of unclear sounds and shook his head slightly.

“It’s really just basic pinhole imaging principle,” Liu Yi said, picking up pen and paper to sketch a simple diagram.

“The kidnappers left a ‘door’ in the wooden panel separating the secret room. Tiny holes at the hinge area let light through. Outside, a shelf with glass carvings covered it. By coincidence, it formed a pinhole projection pathway…”

He pointed to the window in his sketch.

“The factory’s been abandoned over a year. Dust naturally coated the glass, creating a frosted effect. The light reflected on it, and the girl happened to see the upside-down shadow of the person inside.”

“Wow, that’s some coincidence!” Yuan Lan exclaimed. “Otherwise, even after the body started to smell, no one might have discovered that place!”

He grimaced, gagging at the thought.

Yuan Lan, who prided himself on charm and womanizing, never told women he was a forensic officer, calling himself a “testing expert.”

In fact, he hadn’t directly handled autopsies in a long time. Spending so long in the lab reduced his tolerance; just imagining a child’s corpse in a secret room made his throat sour, nearly vomiting from the thought.

“Enough of that,” Liu Yi waved his hand, cutting off Yuan Lan’s overactive imagination. “What about you? Any clues at the scene?”

Yuan Lan lifted his eyelids to glance at him.

“The secret room is narrow, not much in there, but…” He dragged the word, “I did find a bit of a clue.”

Liu Yi’s eyes, visible above the mask, brightened, and he silently watched the man, not speaking.

Yuan Lan cleared his throat, unable to continue teasing, and got to the point.

“We found some complete footprints. After initial analysis, besides the deceased Liu Lingxiao, there should be three kidnappers in the secret room. This matches the number in the recordings.”

He laid out photos of footprints from different individuals for Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu.

“One pair matches the shoes worn by the deceased kidnapper Chang Yuxing almost perfectly—99% certainty it’s his.”

Picking up the middle photo, Yuan Lan continued: “This pair matches prints found in the guard room, very recent, probably from the missing security guard.”

Qi Shanyu compared the photo with the guard room print: “Does this mean the guard likely participated in the kidnapping?”

Yuan Lan shrugged. “I’ve already reported this to your boss. Captain Shen won’t let this lead go.”

Qi Shanyu wanted to call his partner An Pingdong to check, but Yuan Lan pointed at a third footprint photo: “As for this last one, Kidnapper Mr. X, all we know is size 43 shoes and estimated height between 1.78m and 1.83m.”

“And the rest?” Liu Yi pushed the photos back, asking.

“Several bloodstains, DNA, and fingerprint samples have been sent for matching. If any kidnapper has a record, it’s only a matter of time before we find them.”

He smirked at Liu Yi: “See, our department’s pretty awesome, right?”

Liu Yi had no energy to argue. He flipped through the photos, recalling the scene he had witnessed firsthand.

Under good lighting, details hidden in darkness were preserved perfectly in the photos.

Suddenly, his finger stopped on one photo.

It showed a hemp rope, one end hanging to the floor, the other tied to an iron frame on the wall. Judging by the scale in the photo, the rope was about one centimeter thick.

Having conducted Chang Yuxing’s autopsy, Liu Yi remembered the ligature mark on his neck, matching this width.

“This rope—did you just leave it on the ground during the scene investigation?” Liu Yi asked Yuan Lan, pointing to the photo.

“This rope was originally used to tie Liu Lingxiao’s hands. Here’s how it looked when we photographed the body.”

Yuan Lan flipped through another stack and placed a photo in front of Liu Yi.

“One end was tied to the iron frame. To transport the child’s body, we had to untie it…”

“Wait!”

Qi Shanyu suddenly interrupted, grabbing the photo in front of Liu Yi for closer inspection.

The photo showed a close-up of small, pale hands, twisted behind the back in an awkward pose, wrists bound by several loops of hemp rope, knotted tightly at the intersection.

“This is a ‘binding knot!’”

He quickly grabbed the previous photo, checked the rope tied