Chapter 73: Reverse Scale

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

The uncovering of the truth made Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong greatly shocked. Xu Xiaodong beamed with great admiration. "Brother Chen is getting faster and faster. The case has been broken in less than one day."

"Hey, why does your compliment sound so weird to me? The case has not been broken yet. We have a direction now, but how to investigate it is a difficult point. First, the brotherly conflict occurred three months ago. In three months, they had plenty of time to dispose of all the evidence. Furthermore, the body is also burned to a crisp. The fingerprints and DNA cannot be found. Second, Wu Hao’s motives are very tricky. In order not to be suspected, he is willing to let his sister-in-law sleep with others. No one can prove that he and Pan Xiuying have committed adultery."

"Wait, as long as Pan Xiuying gives birth to the child, the case can be solved." Xu Xiaodong articulated.

Lin Dongxue frowned. "The child is so pitiful. The birth is a testimony. After everything is over, both the parents would go to jail. What should they do with their life from then on?"

Xu Xiaodong smiled shyly while scratching his head. "Oh, your thinking is more considerate. You’re right, that’s pretty sad."

"Yeah, this child is really pitiful. They are destined to not be able to reach the human realm. Pan Xiuying is at least three months along in her pregnancy. She must be particularly flustered because the child must be disposed of, but treatment at this crucial time would be suspected and looked into. Therefore, there is a slow way to investigate this case. We wait for Pan Xiuying to either get the abortion after not being able to wait any longer, or we wait for her belly to show. Naturally, we can then prove that she and Wu Hao had an affair. Then, the lock on this case can be broken.”

"It’s a long night with a lot of dreams." Lin Dongxue expressed.[1]

"There is still a quick way to investigate it. The deceased has not been seen by anyone in the past three months. We can obtain a search warrant to focus on investigating Wu Hao and Pan Xiuying."

"But where is the key evidence?"

"I am afraid that this case does not really have any decisive pieces of evidence. There may be indirect evidence though. We must use the spirit of perseverance like your brother and keep an eye on Wu Hao at all times."

Lin Dongxue smiled and teased, "My brother sounds like a hunting dog based on your words."

"No, no, your brother is a roaring dog in my mind."[2]

"Get lost, I’ll beat you!"

"It's time to go back and quickly tell the task force of our findings, otherwise they will continue to waste time checking the accounts of Ximen."

Leaving the lab, Chen Shi handed a cigarette to Peng Sijue. Peng Sijue hesitated for a few seconds before he took it. He asked, "Have you been here before?"

"No... It’s a good place. As you look at the girls, they get prettier by the minute! Is this your alma mater?”

Peng Sijue looked at the students on the playground and recalled, "When I was in school, because I was introverted, I was bullied by my classmates. I had a friend who came out and stood up for me. On the basketball court, they beat four students at basketball."

Chen Shi avoided the question, "If I could play basketball, that would be great. All the girls like to watch boys play basketball."

Peng Sijue suddenly stood still, watching Chen Shi with a fixed gaze. Chen Shi also looked at him laughing, and then Peng Sijue removed his gaze, as if sighing in recollection of past events.

Half an hour later, in the conference room of the task force, the exclamations became louder and louder.

"What? Wu Hao and his sister-in-law actually..."

"The woman is pregnant? Is the child from the brother-in-law?"

“Ximen Qing’ has not killed anyone?”

Lin Dongxue, who temporarily acted as spokesperson, was embarrassed by everyone’s exclamations. After listening to their findings, Lin Qiupu asked, “Is there evidence?”

"No."

Lin Qiupu took a look at Chen Shi. "There is no evidence. Is this all your reasoning then?"

A police officer argued, "I think Chen Shi's reasoning is very logical."

Another police officer echoed, "Yes, we believe him!"

Yet another police officer acknowledged, "From the current clues, this is the most self-evident hypothesis."

Lin Qiupu squinted his eyes and looked at the subordinates who had all betrayed him. It was a bit of a lonely feeling. Just when he did not know how to step down from the spot he was put in, Chen Shi modestly diverted the attention away. "In fact, I am also standing on the shoulders of giants. If not for the path of knowledge that Captain Lin’s team paved first, I would not have come to such reasoning so quickly."

Lin Qiupu was very embarrassed by his subordinates’ gazes all returning to him. He instructed, "That should be checked, but be careful not to alert the snakes[3]. The current work needs to be divided into three. First, investigate the relationship between the brothers. Second, find evidence to prove that Wu Hao and his sister-in-law had an affair; and third, and the most difficult, find direct evidence of Wu Hao being the murderer."

"It's amazing! Captain Lin’s thinking is really clear. Being able to delegate everything immediately. I really admire it!” Chen Shi praised.

"The praise is a bit too much." Lin Dongxue whispered to him.

Lin Qiupu actually quite enjoyed the compliment and coughed. "This is the difference between professionals and amateurs... OK, that’s it for today. Come early tomorrow."

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Xu Xiaodong raised his hands and cheered. "Yay! We’re off work now!"

The whole room turned their heads and looked at him gravely. Xu Xiaodong lowered his hands quickly.

After the meeting, Xu Xiaodong had to ask Chen Shi and Peng Sijue to go to dinner. As he was talking, Lin Qiupu came over. "It’s still a little bit early to celebrate, so I will do it once the case is broken. This time Chen Shi should come."

Chen Shi smiled. "Captain Lin’s treat? I will be sure to come and appreciate the offer."

Lin Qiupu coughed and looked at Lin Dongxue, but said towards Chen Shi, "Good job!" and then left.

Xu Xiaodong snickered. "Captain Lin is so not honest even when he’s trying to compliment people.”

"Then you get honest." Chen Shi teased.

Xu Xiaodong took a deep breath, "I am going to let it all out like your biggest fan then!”

"Alright, alright, let’s wait until the case is broken."

Everyone was busy with their individual tasks. On the next morning, Lin Dongxue arrived at the bureau. The case had a breakthrough. Everyone was extraordinarily spirited and started work early in the morning.

She found that Chen Shi did not come so she sent a text message to ask him. Chen Shi replied, "Did you mistake me for a colleague? I still have to run driving orders. Let me know if you find any clues.”

Lin Dongxue responded. "Wouldn’t it be faster if you helped?"

"Why? Will I get money for it?"

"Yes!"

"Nah, I won’t come. I want to take a nap. Work hard, little flower of the police.”[4]

After hearing Chen Shi’s compliment, Lin Dongxue couldn’t stop smiling. A passing police officer told her that there was some progress on Captain Peng’s side and asked her to go.

When she arrived to the forensic department, she suddenly heard Peng Sijue loudly lecturing, "Who told you?!"

When she went in, the person standing opposite Peng Sijue was Xu Xiaodong. The rest of the room looked petrified as they had never seen their captain like this.

"What's wrong?" Lin Dongxue asked.

Xu Xiaodong agonized, "I just retold a joke to make everyone happy and lighten the mood. It’s the medical student story that Chen Shi told us yesterday about the medical student who touched someone’s breast at the photography studio. Who knew Captain Peng’s reaction would be like this?!”

Peng Sijue raised his eyebrows. "What? Chen Shi told you that? He told you the story personally? How did he know about this?"

Lin Dongxue consoled, "Captain Peng, don't scare us. It’s just a joke.”

"It’s not a joke. That medical student is..." Peng Sijue suddenly stopped talking and looked around at the room filled with stunned expressions. He sat back in his seat. "This joke is used to ridicule medical students. I am angry just hearing about it."

Peng Sijue really wasn’t the type of person to lie. Even Lin Dongxue could tell he was out of his element. She wondered why this joke touched his reverse scale.[5]

1. An expression that means the longer this drags on for, the more changes and variables there are.

2. The roaring dog is the pet and treasure of Er Lang Deity. This dog’s original form is a short haired puppy. It’s called a little dog in Journey of the West. One time in a story it was called something like the roaring dog. It can be transformed into a dog as big as an elephant. Although the power is not said to be amazing, but it was decent enough to take a piece of meat off other deities. It means that he’s not the protagonist but is a good support.

3. An expression that says not to hit the grass as it will alert the snakes. In this case, the snakes are referring to the suspect.

4. A school’s most beautiful girl is called school’s flower and the most handsome boy is called school’s grass. He’s saying she’s the flower of the station.

5. Weak point. Dragon scales should be smooth, one next to another. If there’s one that’s reversed, when it’s touched, it would hurt the dragon. This expression can be used to described contradictions, betrayals, weak points and such.