Animal Detective

Chapter 131: Bite Mark

The three of them thoroughly searched the apartment again.

Especially Zhang Qingpeng’s room.

He must have left in a hurry. He’d left quite a few things in his nightstand drawer: a razor, a bank card, and some other small items.

His bedding, a cotton quilt on top of the wardrobe, also hadn’t been taken.

Shen Xin noticed the takeout packaging on the dining table and in the trash can.

Looking at the order slips, Zhang Qingpeng always ordered popular, inexpensive Chinese dishes like braised chicken with rice or braised pork over rice.

The average price per order was low, and he even used coupons, with most meals costing just over ten yuan.

Wang Lei, on the other hand, was different.

He ordered takeout too, but he mostly got stir-fried dishes. If he ordered a simple duck blood and vermicelli soup, he would also get a side of pan-fried beef dumplings and a large beef bone.

You could say he ate quite well.

In other words, Zhang Qingpeng’s income was lower than Wang Lei’s.

’So, could there have been a financial dispute?’

Shen Xin figured they should check both of their bank assets later.

As he was searching, Zhao Tianxing called.

"Don’t even ask. The kid went back to his hometown, Li River," Zhao Tianxing said, frustrated.

The call was on speakerphone.

Zhao Shouchuan froze, then said urgently, "But I told him not to leave Nanjiang for the time being! Did you call him?"

Zhao Tianxing said, "I did, and he picked up. Guess what he said? He claimed you told him not to leave unless it was necessary, and now, he says, it’s necessary for him to leave Nanjiang. His mother is sick and in the hospital, so he has to go back to his hometown to take care of her. He left yesterday morning and is already there."

Li River is in Yuxi Province, over a thousand kilometers away.

Zhao Shouchuan furrowed his brow. A mother being sick in the hospital was certainly a valid reason to leave.

Besides, Wang Lei’s death was only suspicious; there was no direct evidence pointing to Zhang Qingpeng, so they couldn’t restrict his freedom of movement.

"Brother Xing, did you ask about the cat?" Shen Xin asked.

Zhao Tianxing replied, "Of course I asked. He said he’s usually busy with work, with a lot on his plate. He also said Wang Lei’s cat was rather timid and usually just stayed in Wang Lei’s room. He never fed it, so he had no impression of what specific day it went missing. He couldn’t remember clearly, just that it had been a few days."

Shen Xin frowned slightly.

On the surface, there was nothing wrong with that story.

But if you really thought about it, it had only been a few days. For a living, breathing cat to go missing and for him to claim he hadn’t noticed was a bit unusual.

’Even Song Shifeng remembered a brief glimpse from six years ago.’

Zhao Tianxing continued, "I told him to come back as soon as possible to assist with the investigation, but he said he can’t get away for the time being and that it might take a while. Then, when I tried to question him over the phone, he was vague. We didn’t talk for long before he said he had something to do and hung up."

"Shen Xin, I’ve got a feeling there’s something wrong with this kid. He’s deliberately avoiding us."

Shen Xin didn’t say anything.

’There was definitely something going on. Or rather, Zhang Qingpeng was a person of interest, but before focusing on him, they needed to confirm if there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding Wang Lei’s death.’

Shen Xin asked Zhao Tianxing what his plan was.

Zhao Tianxing thought for a moment and said, "I’ll go to his company and run a background check. You guys go to the hospital and ask the doctor again if there’s any possibility of another cause of death. If you have time, go see Wang Lei’s parents."

"And that dog—didn’t you say you wanted to compare its bite to the wound?"

Shen Xin nodded. He was thinking the same thing. They should clear up the peripheral facts before getting into their suspicions about Zhang Qingpeng.

Zhao Tianxing took the squad car, so Shen Xin had no choice but to have Zhao Shouchuan take him.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much going on at his station.

Shen Xin got a set of keys from him, put the evidence seal back on the door, and then they headed to the infectious disease hospital.

Wang Lei’s body was still being stored there.

His attending physician was a Dr. Qian.

He didn’t have any clinic appointments that day, so after hearing why Shen Xin’s group was there, he personally led the three of them to the morgue.

"Dr. Qian, is it possible Wang Lei died from another cause?" Shen Xin asked on the way.

Dr. Qian immediately shook his head. "Impossible. The test results are right here. He was carrying the rabies virus, and all the symptoms line up: encephalitis from nervous system damage, respiratory suppression from autonomic dysfunction, and systemic multi-organ failure."

"These are the classic symptoms. In other words, his cause of death was rabies."

Shen Xin grunted in acknowledgment. ’So nothing’s changed. The official cause of death is still rabies,’ he thought.

"Well then, Dr. Qian," Shen Xin asked after a moment’s thought, "is it possible... for example, to collect the saliva or blood of a rabid dog and then rub it directly onto a victim’s wound, or inject it into their body? Could that have caused Wang Lei to contract rabies?"

Dr. Qian gave Shen Xin a strange look. "I can only say that the method you’re describing is theoretically possible, but it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to actually pull off."

"For example, mixing it into his food wouldn’t work; ingestion doesn’t lead to infection. It would have to be as you described: cutting a wound on his body and then rubbing the infectious material into it. But the question is, would a living, breathing person just stand there meekly and let someone cut them and rub saliva on the wound?"

Shen Xin gave a wry smile. ’Then again,’ he thought, ’the poor fool lying in there didn’t even have the sense to get a rabies vaccine.’

As they spoke, the four of them arrived at the morgue.

Dr. Qian silently put on a double layer of gloves and handed them a pack of masks.

The action made Shen Xin tense up involuntarily.

He suddenly remembered what Ding Yuwei had looked up on her phone earlier: the corpses of rabid animals remain infectious for one to two days after death as they decompose.

Wang Lei had died at noon on the 25th, and today was the 27th. It had been exactly two days. The body could still be infectious.

At that thought, Shen Xin quickly put on gloves and a mask.

’Even though I already got a rabies vaccine specifically because of Da Mei and Evil Bully...’

Dr. Qian added, "Actually, if you’d come tomorrow, you would have missed the body. Regulations require rabies patients to be cremated within 48 hours. This one just hasn’t been transferred for cremation yet."

Ding Yuwei immediately nudged Shen Xin and asked if they should call the team’s medical examiner to perform an autopsy before the body was cremated.

Or just halt the cremation altogether.

"We’ll have to ask Captain Chen," Shen Xin said. He didn’t dare make that call himself. He wanted to see the body first.

Wang Lei’s body was stored separately.

Zhao Shouchuan didn’t even come in, saying he hadn’t been vaccinated against rabies.

Understandable.

"Have you been vaccinated?" Shen Xin turned and asked Ding Yuwei.

Ding Yuwei shook her head slightly.

The color drained from Shen Xin’s face, and he quickly told her to get out. ’This girl... does she think this is a game?’

"It’s fine, I’ll go get the shot in a bit," Ding Yuwei said, even asking Dr. Qian if the hospital administered rabies vaccines.

Dr. Qian nodded and led the two of them to a refrigerated unit.

He slid out the body tray.

Wang Lei’s body was inside a double-layered, impermeable body bag.

Dr. Qian carefully unzipped it.

It wasn’t Shen Xin’s first time seeing a corpse, but he still frowned at the sight of Wang Lei’s pale, bloodless face.

’Just a month ago, I was dealing with him personally.’

’A living, breathing person, and so young... gone just like that.’

Of course, Shen Xin wasn’t there to perform an autopsy; he was mainly focused on the wound on the man’s chin.

Factoring in the incubation and symptomatic periods, he must have been bitten at least fifteen days ago. In that time, it was possible for the wound to have healed normally.

"It should be here." Dr. Qian pointed toward Wang Lei’s left jaw without touching it.

Shen Xin leaned in, keeping a safe distance, and looked closely.

Sure enough, on the left side of his jaw, there were two wounds, an upper and a lower one.

But they had already healed, leaving only marks.

They were clearer in death.

The upper one was a gash, one or two centimeters long, likely a tear from an upper tooth.

The lower one was shorter, but it corresponded to the upper mark.

Shen Xin tried to visualize the bite.

’Definitely not a cat bite.’

’And if it was a dog, it wasn’t a direct bite, either.’

’That would have left four or even more puncture wounds. This looked more like Wang Lei had been squatting down, very close to a dog’s mouth, when the dog suddenly snapped at him.’

’Wang Lei must have instinctively pulled back but didn’t dodge completely, getting grazed by the dog’s upper and lower left canines, which created the wounds.’

’If that’s what happened, there’d be no way to make an identification.’

’You can only compare dental impressions from a solid bite mark.’