Chapter 58: Time to Start the Investigation

【Last night I was watching Ou Yu’s live stream. Only he and Xiao Fen had gone to that well.】

【Can you all stop spreading rumors? The live stream recording is crystal clear. Ou Yu and the others had already carried the fake corpse somewhere else. He never touched the real body in the Substitute Life Well at all. How can you pin this on them?】

【So it was Xiao Fen who did it? Based on his previous performances, he definitely has the capability. And he went to the crime scene too. It’s hard not to suspect him.】

【I’m going to review last night’s live stream replay right now. Just wait until I catch some dirt.】

【I’ve long suspected that 18th-Tier Celeb is a real fugitive criminal. Time to report him.】

【Why are you all so malicious? Can’t stand to see someone doing well, huh? Everyone chatting in the live stream is an adult. Can’t you use your own judgment?】

【Ignore them. These people aren’t doing well in real life, so they vent their resentment online. They love stirring up trouble and then vanishing perfectly.】

While the live stream chat was in a total bloodbath, Xiao Fen was led by Bai Zhu to the front of the deceased.

Fang Si Ting put down his phone and said, “Last night’s heavy rain blocked the only road into town with a mudslide. The coroner from the city still has to wait for them to coordinate a helicopter, but with Y Country’s efficiency… So I had a coroner fly in from back home. Also, the local inspection office in town only has a few vice squad officers, none of whom have any case-handling experience. They won’t be directly involved in this case.”

“So?” Why was he telling him all this?

“I just coordinated with the program crew. Too many people handling the case would just be a hindrance. The variety show can proceed as usual, as long as we prioritize this case when necessary.”

Fang Si Ting paused. Seeing that Xiao Fen seemed to catch on, his face showing a “what the fuck” expression, he nodded. “This murder case will be handled by you and me.”

“Why?” Xiao Fen scowled and bristled. “I’m not a vice squad officer.”

“You’re a murderer with multiple successful crimes under your belt. Your methods are skilled and efficient. Whether it’s gauging the criminal’s psychology or setting up a murder scene, you’re extremely experienced and proficient.” Fang Si Ting stated it as a matter of course. “You can help me analyze the case from the criminal’s perspective. And at key moments, you can lend a hand in catching the perp.”

Xiao Fen: “…”

【First time I’ve seen that “what the actual fuck” look on Brother Fen’s face.】

【So they’re treating Brother Fen like three people in one, huh.】

【Didn’t expect Fang Yama to be such a sly dog too.】

【This is a real murder case. I’m switching over here.】

【Fake cases are still better. If this turns into a cold case, it’ll be a total letdown. At least with the guests, we have footage later showing the crime process.】

【Do you not trust Fang Yama’s skills or Brother Fen’s?】

【I trust Fang Yama’s abilities, but Xiao Fen’s previous crimes were all fake. That doesn’t mean he’ll crack a real case. He set up the murder scenes himself, so he controlled what clues to leave.】

【Exactly. Every time, he deduces the blood spatter trajectory and traces from the crime method, sets it up, then wipes away any clues that might expose him. It looks perfect, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. You’re all blindly worshipping him. Who knows if he’ll drag things down.】

【Doesn’t that just prove his skill? Not only can he deduce the traces a killer should leave during the crime, but he can also figure out how the killer would erase clues pointing to themselves afterward. And he does all this under the risk of being discovered at any moment. Real criminals in reality can’t even fully erase their traces properly, but he sets up and cleans the entire scene alone in such a short time—handling two jobs by himself. That’s impressive.】

【According to the Locard exchange principle of murder, in any murder, no matter how perfectly handled, if you’ve been there, you’ll exchange some material with the scene. The longer you stay at the scene and the more you interact with the body, the more likely you are to unconsciously leave identifying info. Even so, Brother Fen commits nearly flawless crimes. Doesn’t that say it all?】

Those who chose to stay in the pursuit team members’ live streams were mostly suspense and deduction enthusiasts. There was minimal celebrity fan catfighting, and the chat was usually the most harmonious. The most fans concentrated in Ou Yu’s stream, but thanks to the wild antics of the Ou Yu, his viewer count was slowly being overtaken by the other civilian guests.

Viewers might have come initially for the stars, but for this variety show to draw such a massive audience and influence, it ultimately relied on rock-solid plot strength.

Whoever was the strongest, the most impressive—that person’s stream had the most viewers.

So, out of the total viewership, seventy to eighty million were regulars in Xiao Fen’s stream. Peak times broke a hundred million, and it kept growing every moment. Another thirty to forty million were in Fang Si Ting’s, while the remaining thirty-plus streams combined only had ten to twenty million.

To keep the variety show live-streaming, Lu Jin had gathered opinions from all sides and, after consulting Fang Si Ting, adopted this compromise approach.

The relevant authorities had also issued directives: the show and the investigation could proceed simultaneously. As long as it didn’t affect investigation efficiency or results, they should showcase the vice squad officers’ case-handling prowess as much as possible, creating positive guidance and publicity both in Y Country and back home.

At the same time, some leaders from relevant H Country departments arrived to oversee things from the live stream backstage. Although the Lu Family kept a low profile in domestic politics and didn’t wield much influence, Lu Congxin commanded top-tier treatment in Y Country. They had to give him face.

++

At Capital Criminal Investigation University, class had finally ended. Lü Siming eagerly pulled out his phone and opened the live stream, entering Xiao Fen’s room.

Ever since he had stumbled upon the variety show his son was obsessed with, he had become hooked too.

“Professor, you’re keeping up with the times, chasing live streams now,” a student laughed.

“This stream is something else. Brother Fen’s crime methods from the first episode gave me a lot of inspiration, and they align perfectly with my current research topic.”

“How about we discuss it in the next class? I’ve edited together Brother Fen’s crime footage from the first episode and Fang Yama’s deduction process. We can analyze the killer’s psychology, investigation techniques, and reverse-engineer the crime process.”

“Great idea. Bring it next class,” Lü Siming said excitedly. “Also, bring clips of this episode’s real murder case. They solve cases on the show, and we’ll solve them off the show. Let’s see if you academy hotshots or the experienced vice squad officers are better.”

The class cheered.

Compared to the stale, solved cases in textbooks, this was live action—way more interesting.

“Let’s PK with Brother Fen and Fang Yama. If we figure it out first, we’ll call the program crew and reveal the killer’s identity!” Lü Siming said.

“Time for Capital Criminal Investigation to make a name for itself!” the students shouted excitedly.

++

Less than three hours later, the coroner arrived by helicopter.

Fang Si Ting greeted her. After a brief exchange, they headed straight to the makeshift autopsy room.

Peng Xiaoxiao called out to them from the doorway and quickly shared the basic info she had dug up on the deceased.

“Guo Dongying, male, 40 years old, native of Xu’an City. Former mayor of Tengcha Town. Five years ago, he was demoted here for tempering. He has a wife and a daughter at home. They live at Yanan Road No. 36. He went missing on August 18th a year ago.”

“Former mayor?” Xiao Fen was stunned for a moment before taking the clipboard with the documents.

He immediately thought of Tang Qin Xin.

Wasn’t that the hidden mission the program crew NPC had given him?

It was real!

Damn it. He had thought the program crew wouldn’t make it that coincidental—recording a show and stumbling into a real crime—so he hadn’t even asked Wang Ze about it.

Wang Ze’s group watched him 24/7 and probably figured it was some pursuit team arrangement, so they hadn’t mentioned it either.

“You know him?” Peng Xiaoxiao asked curiously. Combining it with the action team’s tracking of Xiao Fen’s movements over the past few days, she immediately made the connection. “You mean Tang Qin Xin?”

Xiao Fen nodded.

“So that’s why you were looking for her?” She suddenly understood. “Some folks in our group even thought she was a criminal guest.”

A ploy to sabotage the criminal team had been exposed out of nowhere like that. But these were small matters.

The priority now was solving the case.

“Let’s go in.” Fang Si Ting grabbed a clipboard and pushed open the door.

The town had no funeral home. The inspection office was small, with no morgue. Due to the town’s isolation, burials had been common until a few years ago. After roads were built, trips to the county shortened dramatically, and with plenty of ideological work, they had started accepting cremation.

For now, they had cleared out an office in the clinic to serve as a temporary morgue and autopsy room.

The coroner was ready. The silver autopsy kit sat open beside the gurney. She signaled Fang Si Ting, who had already suited up in protective gear, to take photos first.

The live stream feed went to a mosaic blur.

Viewer enthusiasm dipped.

No one felt good watching a fresh life slip away.

The room felt stuffy, even with the windows open—no breeze came in. Yet Xiao Fen felt a chill.

The overhead lights glared, making him dizzy. The person in front of him seemed to shiver.

Fang Si Ting, gloved up, finished photographing and pulled out his clipboard and pen.

The coroner gripped the deceased’s occiput and chin, meticulously rotating the head.

“Time of death between 10 p.m. on October 24th and midnight.”

“No blunt force trauma on the back of the head. Contusion on the forehead. Abrasions on the shoulders, arms, and back—all occurred pre-mortem. No obvious fatal wounds yet.”

“Skin shows gooseflesh consistent with cold water exposure. Epidermis is pruned, mild overall edema. No muscle putrefaction, consistent with death within 24 hours.”

“Fine, uniform white foam at the mouth, nose, and throat. Preliminary cause: drowning.”

“Yellow-green moss fragments under the nails.”

“…”

The coroner detailed her findings. Fang Si Ting recorded them and said, “From these wounds, it looks like the deceased slipped, hit his head, passed out, fell into the well, and drowned?”

“That’s one way to put it, but we need gastric contents for tox screening and internal injury analysis for a final cause-of-death determination,” the coroner replied.

“No skin flakes from another person? Or other DNA traces?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Continue.”

Fang Si Ting’s stern voice echoed in the autopsy room, as methodical and impersonal as the man himself. His eyes scanned the body relentlessly, pondering possible leads.

As he followed the coroner’s movements to inspect the body’s interior, he suddenly lifted an eyelid and looked up at the person across from him.

“What?” Xiao Fen blinked back to awareness, somewhat dazed.

“Are you listening?”

“What else would I be doing?” Xiao Fen said. “I heard an interesting legend about the Substitute Life Well from the townsfolk.”

He recounted the legend he had heard from Tang Qin Xin earlier, then described what he had seen inside the Substitute Life Well last night—but omitted anything related to Ou Yu.

“What were you doing there?”

“Bad mood. Went for a walk. Got a problem with that?”

“You took part in the program tasks today?” A flicker of thought crossed Fang Si Ting’s eyes. “No, the methods in today’s two task cases didn’t match you.”

“It’s a real murder waiting for you to solve. Why bother with the fakes?” Xiao Fen said.

Only then did he remember: he had felt off last night and gone to bed before midnight. Now he checked his phone—no tasks sent.

The criminals’ group chat was dead silent too.

That was unusual.

While he scrolled his phone, the coroner had laid the body flat, incision knife out, sliced open the abdomen, checked internal damage, and extracted gastric fluid.

“I’ll take the gastric fluid to Deputy Team Leader Tang for testing. Coming along?” Fang Si Ting asked.

Xiao Fen shook his head.

“Fine then. I’ll go. You keep an eye on the body,” he said, stripping off his gloves.

Xiao Fen grabbed the hem of his lab coat and used it to stand. “It’s boring alone here. I’m out.”

Fang Si Ting pried his hand away. “Dirty.”

Xiao Fen bristled instantly. Disgusted by his hand? As if it wasn’t clean!

Before he could retort, a commotion erupted outside. A woman’s voice stood out, shrill and piercing.

“He was absolutely murdered by someone in this town! Don’t give me any crap about ghosts or fate! I don’t buy that nonsense. You people in this town are the crazy ones! I’m not afraid of Guiwu Forest—let alone some puny well. I want to see the pursuit team! I want justice!”

Xiao Fen poked his head out and saw a furious woman shrieking in heart-wrenching anguish being blocked by several vice squad officers, who wouldn’t let her in.

“Brother Fen!” Tang Qin Xin spotted him with her sharp eyes.

This shout was so piercing that it made one’s heart tremble.

Xiao Fen instinctively grabbed Fang Si Ting’s arm behind him but immediately realized he didn’t like being touched and withdrew his hand.

Fang Si Ting said nothing. He had already taken off his protective suit, washed his hands, and his body carried the scent of disinfectant.

As soon as the woman saw the two of them, she broke down sobbing loudly. “Was my husband murdered?”

“It still requires further autopsy to confirm,” Fang Si Ting said cautiously.

The physical evidence at the edge of the well and the gastric juices hadn’t yielded any results yet. Whether it was murder or an accident or something else, it was hard to say.

The station chief blocked Tang Qin Xin. “Inspector Fang, you don’t understand our situation here. That substitute life well has already caused five or six people…”

“Yeah, several people have already died. Station chief, why don’t you bring us the files on those previous victims found in the well?” Xiao Fen said to the station chief.

The station chief’s face turned a bit unsightly. “Those were events from several decades ago. We can’t find them anymore.”

“What about the one from a year ago?” Xiao Fen said. “According to the substitute life well’s principle, there was a rumor a year ago that Mayor Guo was killed by the substitute life well, and his body couldn’t be found. So, the previously ‘deceased’ person would appear in the well.”

“That person, huh.” The station chief let out a long sigh of relief. “We have it. Back then, we called in experts from the city to examine the body. They confirmed it was an accidental death, and it was taken to the city as an unidentified corpse.”

Then he added, “But someone testified that it was a town resident from eighty or ninety years ago.”

The woman sneered. “You know it was eighty or ninety years ago too. That old lady is 104 years old and long gone senile. How could she recognize anyone?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. What if it’s cursed…”

“Alright, you go back and rest to calm down first,” Fang Si Ting said to the station chief. “You’re a bit agitated.”

The station chief took several deep breaths, his eyes still showing undisguisable panic and unease.

“Let’s talk inside.” Fang Si Ting invited Tang Qin Xin into the adjacent office.

Xiao Fen pulled him back. “Where did you find this coroner? She looks so young, yet so professional.”

“A student I sponsored back when handling a case in M Country. Her name is Qin Wensu. We ran into each other by chance after she returned to the country, and we’ve kept occasional contact since.”

“You have quite the network, huh. Why don’t you suggest to the program crew that they do a real murder event? You can pair up with this real coroner—it’s perfect and ready-made. No need to look for anyone else.” After all, the fake ones were just fake, and pretty boring at that.

Fang Si Ting looked at him. “What have you been doing for the past 23 years of your life?”

“Inspector Fang has been slacking off, huh? You didn’t even investigate me thoroughly.” Xiao Fen winked at him.

The necessary checks had already been done during the warm-up activity. Except for his physique and appearance, everything else didn’t match the real person at all.

No profiling value whatsoever.