When I saw the tiny cat paw prints, I applied more soot and found more paw prints on the right arm of the deceased.

This discovery shocked people in the room. Luo Weiwei said, “I remember that the victims did not have a cat at home. Where did these paw prints come from?”

“I’m afraid that’s the key to solving this case!” I proclaimed.

“What? But they’re just cat paw prints!” Luo Weiwei interjected doubtfully. “What can these paw prints prove? That the murderer was a cat? Maybe these were made by a neighbor’s cat after all!”

I pointed to the paw prints and said, “Look carefully, these paw prints are very clean.”

“How is that strange?” asked Luo Weiwei. “Aren’t cats known to be very clean? My own cat at home likes to lick her paws clean all the time.”

“I got it!” exclaimed Huang Xiaotao. “The victims were all in a pool of blood when they were found, but these paw prints weren’t stained with blood at all!”

“Finally! Someone got my point!” I said with a smile.

But Luo Weiwei was still unconvinced. “Maybe it was left before?”

“The paw prints were on the bodies themselves,” I explained, “indicating that the victims had already fallen to the floor, so they must’ve been left after their deaths. Instinct tells me that these paw prints are very important to the case!”

Luo Weiwei was still skeptical.

“Why are you still standing there? Take pictures of the prints!” I ordered the police officers there. They nodded and rushed out to get their cameras immediately.

Now that the autopsy was over, I pulled out a stash of yellow joss paper and divided them into three smaller stacks. I found a copper pot and burned them there while chanting the reincarnation mantra.

“In the name of my ancestor the magistrate Song Ci, I, Song Yang, vow that I will clear your names and bring those who are responsible for your deaths to justice. So please pass on to your next lives in peace.”

Just as I finished saying that, the flame in the copper pot swayed strangely, as if something was responding to me. Luo Weiwei was stunned.

After a short time period, the police officers came back with their cameras and took photos of the paw prints on the bodies. After that, I told them to gather everyone here.

Once everyone arrived, I said to Huang Xiaotao, “Supervisor Huang, I’m overstepping my boundaries!”

Huang Xiaotao froze in puzzlement for a while before she reacted. She smiled and said, “Go ahead and give the commands. I’m not here as your superior. All three of us are here to help you.”

Thus, I asked them to print out the photo of the cat paw prints. One person was asked to visit the scene of the murder case to see if there were any cats in the vicinity, or if there were stray cats there, and if there were, to compare the paw prints.

To be honest, I didn’t have much hope that doing this would result in much. But anyway, there were so many police officers that could be dispatched this time, and crime investigation worked a lot like combing hair—it took a little bit of filtering to find clues.

After assigning the task, I asked a policeman, “Where is Bai Yidao?”

“He… He went home.”

“That’s outrageous!” I yelled. “Tell him to come back soon, or else he’ll be kicked out of this task force!”

After the incident in the morgue, the policemen were a little bit afraid of me. Hearing what I said, the policeman said that he would call Bai Yidao immediately, but I told him to do that later and just focus on the assigned tasks for now.

Huang Xiaotao smiled and said, “Not bad at all, Song Yang! You’re quite the authoritative figure!”

“Haha, well I’ve been interacting with a certain bossy officer a lot lately, and she’s rubbing off on me.”

“Bossy? Who are you calling bossy?” Huang Xiaotao threatened me with a clenched fist.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” I denied, waving my hands repeatedly.

I put the white sheets back on the dead bodies and turned to Luo Weiwei, “Can you take us to the evidence room?”

“Okay, follow me,” nodded Luo Weiwei.

When we got out of the morgue, it felt like walking from the North Pole to the tropics. Huang Xiaotao took off her coat and said, “Oh my god, it was freezing inside! It’s not easy being a coroner!”

“That’s right,” agreed Luo Weiwei, “Many coroners develop arthritis and rheumatism because we work in this type of environment all year round.”

But it was still a much better environment than what coroners in the past had to deal with, I thought to myself. There was no refrigeration technology in ancient times, so the dead bodies had to be kept in a cold room or the cellar, and even then, the dead bodies would still decay pretty quickly. Things got even worse when the weather was hot. Traditional Coroners had to wear a clean suit that wrapped their bodies tightly, which caused them to profusely sweat in hot weather, and couple that with having to examine dead bodies in a stinking room with flies flying around, it was no wonder that many coroners in the past contracted lung and skin diseases from the work that they did—now that was a truly hellish work environment!

Our group soon arrived at the evidence room. Luo Weiwei and the officer guarding the evidence room greeted each other briefly and we went straight in. Huang Xiaotao asked in confusion, “You’ve got pretty lax security here. How could we enter such an important place so casually? Shouldn’t our identities be checked first?”

“We’re all internal staff anyway,” answered Luo Weiwei. “No one here would steal the evidence.”

“That’s not necessarily true, though,” said Huang Xiaotao. “Missing evidence is a very troublesome thing to deal with! You should take more precaution against it. I’d suggest that you discuss this matter with your director.”

“Whatever,” Luo Weiwei replied coldly.

The evidence room was very spacious. It contained rows of iron shelves, and was well ventilated and airy. Luo Weiwei found several items related to the case by number, all of which were packaged in transparent plastic bags with labels on them.

We picked them up and examined them. They consisted of the victims’ belongings, like mobile phones, wallets, clothes, as well as some broken dishes.

I noticed that a few pieces of evidence were missing. When asked, Luo Weiwei replied, “The missing ones are the weapons. They’re being tested by the forensics team. If you want to see them, I can take you there.”

“Not for the time being,” I said. I turned on the phone to check it out. The husband turned out to be a distributor of some sort. Even three days after his death, the victim was still receiving a mountain of missed calls and text messages. I told Huang Xiaotao, “We should take this phone. There could be some notable clues in here.”

Huang Xiaotao took it and put it in her pocket.

Nothing else was found. I asked Luo Weiwei, “Is the evidence for the case three months ago here as well?”

“Yes.” Luo Weiwei nodded.

We went to the corresponding shelf and checked the evidence one by one. The time limit for the police to keep the evidence was thirty days, but because the whole family in this case was dead, no one came to claim the evidence, so they were all still there.

The police of Wuqu City really were very thorough. They took almost everything in the victims’ house. There was even a cute figurine of the beckoning cat[1]. Could this also be considered evidence?

I counted the number of evidence and found that nothing was missing. Then I said to Luo Weiwei, “Let’s go check the crime scene!”

“Which crime scene are you talking about?” Luo Weiwei asked.

“The latest one,” I answered.

“The police have sealed the scene, so if you want to go there...” Luo Weiwei suddenly turned red. She probably just remembered the bet she lost where she was supposed to be our driver for free. “I’ll take you there!”

Huang Xiaotao looked at her watch and said, “It’s 10 o'clock in the morning right now. It should be about lunchtime when we’re done. I’ll treat everyone to the best roast duck in town for lunch then!”

“So you’re making good on your promise!” I said.

“Of course I am!” Huang Xiaotao smiled. She suddenly noticed that Dali had been very quiet lately. “What’s wrong, Dali? I thought you’d be jumping with joy at the mention of roasted duck! You don’t look excited at all.”

When Dali opened his mouth to speak, I noticed straight away that his voice had become hoarse. “Dude, I think I might have caught a cold.”

“Must’ve been the freezing air in the morgue,” I said. “You should go take a rest.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll go find a hotel room and lie down for the rest of the day,” said Dali. “I guess I won’t be following you today.”

Huang Xiaotao asked Luo Weiwei, “We’ve come this far, didn’t you guys arrange a place for us to stay?”

“I’ll ask Officer Liao,” answered Luo Weiwei.

We then left the evidence room. Because we took a piece of evidence with us, we had to fill out a form with the guarding officer, and since we were going to the crime scene later, Luo Weiwei took a bunch of keys for the evidence room with her.

Luo Weiwei then made a phone call. After a while, the Officer Liao rushed over and said, “I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting! The Director-General gave me the order, so I’ll find a nice hotel for all of you. Shall we go now?”

“No,” Huang Xiaotao waved her hand, “we’re going to the crime scene right now. Please just take Wang Dali here to the hotel with you.”

I told Huang Xiaotao to go ahead and get the car while I accompanied Dali and Officer Liao to the hotel. On the way, I bought some cold medicine for Dali. Officer Liao took us to a nice hotel and asked us how many rooms we needed.

Since Dali caught a cold and might have a fever later, he would need someone to take care of him. Huang Xiaotao and Wang Yuanchao should each have their own room, of course, so I told Officer Liao three rooms would be fine.

Once the check-in was done, I went up to our room with Dali to help him settle in, boiled him some hot water and told him to rest. Dali sighed and lamented, “Not only am I slowing you guys down, but you even have to take care of me now. Sorry for being a burden this time, dude.”

“Why are you talking to me like we’re not friends, dude? By the way, is your nose stuffy?”

Dali nodded.

I handed the sweetgum candy to him and told him to suck it slowly in his mouth. Dali did so and was immediately sat up on the bed in amazement.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “What is this medicine? It’s so cool and refreshing! I feel like I can breathe freely now!”

I explained it to him. Dali then said, “Dude, this pill is a miracle! Why don’t we start a business selling this after our graduation? You can apply for a patent for this pill, and I can guarantee you it’ll make us rich!”

I gave Dali’s suggestion a serious thought and realized that it sounded like a pretty good idea!

1. A lucky charm or talisman to bring in good luck.