Chapter Fifty-Seven: Police Surveillance Deployment

Chen Tianyu requested police reinforcements from Guan Shaoxing to conduct comprehensive surveillance on Hu Wenyi and his close associates. He specifically instructed that special attention be paid to a woman named “Xiaoli” who might be around Hu Wenyi, noting that “Xiaoli” was likely just an alias.

In truth, Chen Tianyu had his own strategy. He entrusted the police with the direct monitoring of Hu Wenyi, while concentrating Beiting’s manpower and resources on peripheral investigations. There were two main reasons for this approach.

Firstly, Beiting’s personnel were limited and could only play a supporting role in the investigation. The bulk of the door-to-door inquiries and screenings had to be handled by the police—after all, it was best to deploy resources judiciously.

Secondly, his greatest worry was that the investigation might head in the wrong direction.

Fortunately, Guan Shaoxing offered unwavering support without hesitation, a trust forged through long-term collaboration. After consulting his superiors, he publicly announced that the police had reached a preliminary conclusion regarding Xiao Su’s death: it was ruled a suicide, with the specific cause still under further investigation.

Rumors continued to circulate, but most people accepted the police’s findings. After all, Xiao Su was a minor figure, and such a suicide was not particularly shocking. As a result, the bar district quickly returned to its former bustling state, with almost all establishments reopening as usual.

Chen Tianyu, however, held a different view—less a theory than a gut feeling. Based on his interactions with Xiao Su, the young man’s sudden death was far from simple; there were likely deeper secrets hidden beneath the surface.

This was also why Xiao Su’s body remained in the morgue’s refrigerated storage even after the autopsy.

Could it be that Xiao Su’s death was a message to Beiting or the police, much like the memory card he had entrusted to Zichen? (Chen Tianyu had already re-examined the card’s contents but found no new clues.)

Though this notion seemed far-fetched, it was not impossible. Motivated by this possibility, Chen Tianyu secretly arranged for Xu Jingnan to re-examine all the forensic materials. The young Xu Jingnan had by now earned a solid reputation as a forensic expert in South China, and the local police tacitly approved his involvement.

Xu Jingnan found no suspicious evidence in the autopsy report but was well aware of what Chen Tianyu truly wanted to uncover, as they were trusted partners.

Thus, Xu Jingnan offered several additional observations:

First, drugs have hallucinogenic effects and can be ingested actively or passively, but the outcomes are similar, making it almost impossible to determine from the effects alone which method Xiao Su had used.

Second, the cherry blossom petal left at the scene must have been picked within the last 10 to 15 days. Although preserved as a specimen, its cell nuclei had not completely dried, indicating it was freshly collected.

Third, Xiao Su’s body showed no signs of massive bleeding, but there was an abnormal embolism in the arteries of his chest and neck—rare for someone in their twenties or thirties. This could be a hereditary condition or caused by other factors, including possible side effects of drugs.

Fourth, subcutaneous bruising was found on his elbows and knees, but the amount of bleeding was abnormal. Notably, the elbow bruising was significantly more extensive than that on the knees. Unless Xiao Su had suffered a fall before death, or as the local forensic expert concluded, had crawled somewhere—causing the elbow and knee injuries at different times—the short interval made it difficult to determine the cause.

Fifth, according to local weather forecasts, temperatures hovered around zero degrees Celsius in the early morning, creating mild icing conditions. This might have caused the knee injuries, but the elbow bruising was inconsistent with injury on ice. The most plausible cause for the elbow bleeding was a rough surface, suggesting the elbow wounds happened off the snow.

Sixth, Xiao Su’s death should be classified as sudden death, with a significant amount of blood pooled around the heart, differing from most cases of cerebral sudden death; the exact cause remained unknown.

Seventh, the “Golden Cudgel” staff held by Xiao Su showed signs of new manufacture, with paint and wear indicating it hadn’t been used frequently. Fingerprints revealed he consistently gripped the middle-upper part of the wooden stick.

Eighth, the tight headband Xiao Su wore sat 2.5 centimeters above the brow bone and 3 centimeters from the occipital bone. Compared to typical headband placement, this accessory was somewhat small—wearable but not fitting perfectly.

Ninth, due to the environmental temperature at the time, the estimated time of death might have a slight margin of error, though not enough to prevent an approximate determination.

“Since I arrived late and didn’t personally inspect the scene, this is all the data I can provide,” Xu Jingnan said apologetically.

Chen Tianyu nodded. “You’ve basically covered everything I wanted to know.”

Suddenly, Xu Jingnan added, “Actually, my description of the vascular embolism isn’t exactly precise. A more professional term would be localized vascular deformation. This falls within pathological analysis, so forensic experts usually don’t focus on it much and leave it to specialized hospitals.”

“Is there a difference between the two terms?” Chen Tianyu asked curiously.

Xu Jingnan nodded. “One is the Western medical term; the other is from traditional Chinese medicine.”

“Traditional Chinese medicine?!” Chen Tianyu couldn’t help but laugh. “How did you suddenly start studying such strange and obscure stuff?”

Xu Jingnan smiled. “Purely out of interest.”

Chen Tianyu was struck by a sudden thought and joked, “In TCM terms, this condition might be called a localized blockage of the meridians… or perhaps the Ren and Du meridians haven’t been opened yet.”

Unexpectedly, Xu Jingnan took the remark seriously. “That’s actually a fair analogy since the principles are similar.”

Chen Tianyu felt a bit speechless. His friend was becoming increasingly rigid, taking everything too seriously—he had only been trying to lighten the mood.

So he gently patted Xu Jingnan’s shoulder. “Thanks for your hard work.”

“No need to be so formal,” Xu Jingnan replied with some hesitation. “The city bureau still has many cases demanding my attention. I probably won’t be able to stay here to assist much longer.”

Chen Tianyu chuckled. “I’ll call you again if needed. Don’t worry—the plane ticket’s on me!”

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The police’s surveillance caused some disruption to Hu Wenyi, as Chen Tianyu had anticipated. A large police presence was inevitably less discreet than Beiting’s elite operatives.

But there was no other choice; some compromises had to be made.

Hu Wenyi reduced his contact with other women, not because the police investigations had exposed his movements but because he seemed unusually cautious, almost as if forewarned. He settled into a rigid routine: home, outdoor shooting locations, and office.

He made a conscious effort to maintain the appearance of a law-abiding citizen.

The person happiest about this change was Xiaoli. She had harbored some unease about Hu Wenyi, but now he left early and returned late every day, never eating out, neither smoking nor drinking—an ideal “three-good man.”

Moreover, since Xiaoli had been involved with Hu Wenyi, Wan Yongkun and another operative lost their target and grew bored, scratching their heads in frustration.

Whether to continue the surveillance became a major dilemma, and the investigation soon reached an impasse.

Meanwhile, one noteworthy development was that our beautiful and charming Yiruo, after a makeover, had successfully been selected by a production team. Rumor had it she might star in an international blockbuster.

And the one who recommended her? None other than Xiaoli herself!