Chapter 399 - The Second Murderer

“Not at all,” Zhong Lishi said, his heart softening at the sight of his adopted daughter kneeling on the floor, her face streaked with tears. “Wouldn’t it be worse if the murderer got away? Do you want to avenge Westerly and catch the real mastermind?”

Zhong Xiaoying nodded, “I do.”

“Are you afraid of seeing dead people?”

Zhong Xiaoying hesitated for a moment, then said, “I am, but I will make myself not afraid.”

“Good. Then help me pack my things and bring me box number 14.”

Zhong Lishi packed his things and left the customs house with Zhong Xiaoying. Because Westerly’s murder had been classified as a “political assassination by hostile forces,” the alert level in all of Kaohsiung had been raised, and public security army sentries had been posted at the gates. A carriage was already waiting at the entrance to pick up Dr. Zhong and his daughter.

The Kaohsiung Health Center, responsible for the autopsy, was a third-level facility by the standards of the Ministry of Health—meaning it had a Yuanlao doctor in residence. However, this Yuanlao doctor was not very skilled: Lei En’s specialty was epidemic prevention. But it was an indisputable fact that places with a Yuanlao doctor had a better allocation of medicines and equipment.

The Kaohsiung Health Center was also a prefabricated wooden building, of a considerable size. What was more elaborate was that its foundation was built of stone, and it had a basement.

A nurse opened the door to the basement. A deep, dark ramp leading to an unknown destination appeared before Zhong Lishi. He carefully carried a leather bag and followed the nurse forward. Zhong Xiaoying followed behind him, carrying a large wooden box and a wooden frame.

At the end of the passage, the nurse opened the door. Inside was a large, vaulted brick cellar. Strictly speaking, it was a semi-basement. There were windows near the vault, allowing light to shine down from above. To prevent anyone from peeping into the basement, the windows were covered with louvered shutters with iron mesh, and unauthorized personnel were strictly forbidden to approach.

The cellar was lit by electric lights—the health center was one of the very few places in Kaohsiung with its own wind turbine. It was very cold and damp inside, with a pungent smell of disinfectant. Dr. Zhong shivered as he walked in.

In the middle of the cellar was an autopsy table with a naked body on it. Along the walls were rows of cabinets for storing miscellaneous items, as well as glass jars of various sizes containing specimens. Lei En and Xu Ke were already waiting inside. Seeing Zhong Lishi arrive, they hurried forward to greet him, “Dr. Zhong, did you bring the things?”

Zhong Lishi pointed to Zhong Xiaoying, who was sweating profusely from the exertion, and said, “I brought it, that’s the thing… Xiaoying, set it up!”

Zhong Xiaoying flinched when she saw the body, but she tried her best to compose herself. She set up the wooden frame on the ground and then mounted the wooden box on it. From one end of the box, she pulled out an accordion-like bellows full of folds. A lens was mounted on the copper frame at one end of the bellows. Zhong Xiaoying then covered the back of the box with a black velvet cloth and said to Zhong Lishi, “It’s set up…”

Zhong Lishi pointed to the man-high object and said to them, “This is the camera I’ve been studying recently. This is an engineering prototype.”

Then, the few of them busied themselves adjusting the frame so that the camera could take a top-down shot of the body on the autopsy table.

The body’s face was peaceful, as if smiling, which looked very strange under the lights. Zhong Xiaoying gathered her courage and went forward to have a look. She said to Zhong Lishi, “This is the assassin I killed.”

Lei En smiled at Zhong Xiaoying and pointed at the body, “You didn’t hit him at all.”

“What?”

“You said you fired a shot and the murderer sank, so Uncle thought it was really you who shot him dead,” Lei En said, shaking his head. “But there’s no gunshot wound on his body at all, not even a graze—”

“So it wasn’t me who killed him?” Zhong Xiaoying pressed.

Dr. Zhong smiled and said, “Now you don’t have to feel guilty.” Seeing the look of relief on his adopted daughter’s face, he also felt much comforted. He then directed Zhong Xiaoying to get busy.

Zhong Lishi set up a white cloth screen behind the camera and tested the angle of the light, trying to illuminate the body’s face as much as possible.

Zhong Xiaoying shook her head, “The light is still not strong enough…”

“The shutter speed needs to be set to one second…”

Zhong Lishi ducked under the black cloth hood behind the camera, adjusted the focus, and made the image clearly reflect on a piece of white paper in front of the plate holder. Then, he closed the shutter and said to Zhong Xiaoying, “Bring me the plate…”

Zhong Xiaoying quickly took out a glass plate wrapped in black paper from the black cloth bag inside the leather bag. Zhong Lishi, under the black cloth hood, fumbled in the dark to remove the black paper from the glass plate, installed the plate in the plate holder, and then pressed the shutter. Zhong Lishi carefully placed the glass plate in the black cloth bag and then emerged from under the black cloth hood.

“Alright, I’ll go back and develop it.”

“Can we start now?” Lei En asked.

“Yes. I’ll take another picture after you’re done with your examination.”

Lei En took out a mask, “Let’s all put on masks first.” He took out the autopsy form, “Xiao Xu, you’re from a public security background, you should know this…”

“Okay, you dictate, I’ll fill it out,” Xu Ke took it.

Lei En bent down to look at the body. Although his specialty was epidemic prevention, he had graduated from a medical school and was not unfamiliar with anatomy.

“The deceased is a male, between thirty and thirty-five years of age. Normal development, good nutrition, sturdy build,” Lei En said as he observed the body’s exterior. “The muscles are flaccid.” He then opened the eyelids and said, “The pupils are equal and round, 0.3 cm in diameter.” He then pried open the already stiff jaw and examined the teeth.

The deceased had dark skin, rough hands and feet, clearly a working man who had been exposed to the elements.

“He’s a sailor or a boatman,” Lei En said, looking at his hands and feet. “He has calluses on his palms from pulling ropes for a long time, thick calluses on the soles of his feet, and his big toes are bent—these are signs of gripping the deck with his toes while barefoot for a long time.”

The deceased had many scars on his body, mostly from sharp weapons. He was clearly a desperate man.

Lei En carefully observed the body and suddenly cried out, “I’ve found the cause of death!”

He picked up a pair of tweezers and pulled out a thin wooden sliver from under the deceased’s elbow, only the length of a toothpick.

Xu Ke and Dr. Zhong immediately leaned in.

“A blow dart,” Lei En said triumphantly. “The cause of death is arrow poison.” He carefully examined the blow dart. “I thought the deceased’s expression was very strange just now. No wonder!”

Dr. Zhong knew there were many types of arrow poison, but the basic cause of death was a muscle relaxant, which took effect very quickly.

Although the cause of death had been found, out of caution, Lei En still dissected the body. Dr. Zhong and his daughter barely managed to watch the opening of the chest before they excused themselves. Only Xu Ke and Lei En remained to complete the whole process.

The autopsy revealed no new findings. Lei En sutured the incision. The two of them walked out of the basement. Lei En took everyone to his office on the second floor of the health center, took out a box of cigars, and the men each lit one up.

“This person is a Tanka,” Xu Ke said. “The unique shape of his big toe and the thick skin on the soles of his feet are all characteristics of a boatman.”

There were many sailors of Tanka origin in the navy, and Xu Ke was very familiar with their physical characteristics.

Lei En, however, shook his head, “If he was of Tanka origin, his physical condition is a bit too good.” He pointed to the autopsy report. “The wear on this person’s teeth is not severe, which means he usually ate good quality food. And he is obviously not malnourished.”

“If he was a key member of a pirate gang—like a minor leader or a confidant of the ‘boss’—it wouldn’t be surprising,” Xu Ke had studied the organization of pirate gangs extensively. “And the scars on his body, he must have been a desperate man.”

“So the murderer was a pirate,” Dr. Zhong interjected.

“Nine times out of ten,” Xu Ke nodded. “He was most likely hired or bribed to do this, but was silenced!”

“Then isn’t the other murderer still in Kaohsiung!” Zhong Lishi stood up and said excitedly.

As soon as the incident occurred, the docks and all the city gates were closed. No one was allowed in or out. No matter who the murderer was, they should still be in Kaohsiung.

“Of course. Otherwise, why would they need a second uniform? It means there were at least two murderers,” Xu Ke said. “The other party may still have a backup plan.”

Xu Ke returned to his office. He held the autopsy report and began to reconstruct the scene of the murderer being shot by the blow dart on a piece of white paper.

The blow dart was found behind the left elbow. The arrowhead entered his body diagonally towards the 1 o’clock direction, with a downward angle of incidence. This indicated that the person who shot the arrow was on the murderer’s upper left rear side.

As for the distance, the effective range of a blowgun was at most ten meters. So the person who shot the arrow was probably sitting in a small boat not far from the murderer.

Due to the timely closure of the port, all the boats at that time were still in the port. So the second murderer was still in the port!

At this moment, someone brought in an evidence box containing all the items found on the deceased. Xu Ke put on his gloves and carefully examined each item with a magnifying glass.

As he was examining them, Dr. Zhong suddenly came in.

“Well, any clues?”

“A little,” Xu Ke noticed that Zhong Lishi was particularly enthusiastic about this case and understood after a moment’s thought: Zhong Xiaoying was deeply involved in this case—Dr. Zhong had a deep affection for his adopted daughter and was anxious to clear her name.

There were not many things in the box: a few circulation coupons, some loose silver and copper coins, and Zhang Qianniu’s military ID card. The circulation coupons and military ID card should have been taken from Zhang Qianniu. Just like the dagger used to stab Westerly was also taken from Zhang Qianniu.

The only thing of some value was a domino.

The domino was very ordinary. Xu Ke knew it was a Pai Gow tile: made of bamboo and ox bone, very exquisite. Xu Ke knew that gambling was strictly forbidden in the navy, and Zhang Qianniu’s disciplinary record had never involved gambling. So this tile must have been the personal property of the murdered murderer.