A glance at the phone caller ID revealed that it was her best friend, Jiang Wenwen. Mu Yu quickly answered the phone and Jiang Wenwen bombarded her with questions. “Mu Yu, do you know that your Brother Yihan is getting married?”
Mu Yu had deliberately avoided thinking of this, and her heart sank at her best friend’s reminder. As a lump formed in her throat, she forced a smile and replied, “I know. I received an invitation today. Well, how do you know about this?”
“I just saw him deliver an invitation to our principal. His publishing firm has business ties with our school. By the way, he gave me an invitation card and invited me to his reception too. Yu, your precious man is getting married, but the bride isn’t you. Aren’t you sad about this?”
Jiang Wenwen was a Chinese language teacher at a middle school.
“Brother Yihan is getting married. As his sister, I should be giving him my blessings. Why will I be sad?”
“Come on, you don’t have to pretend for me. I won’t tell your mother. My schedule is free this afternoon. Do you want me to take the day off and see you?”
“There’s no need. I am at work now. This is my first day and the department has assigned me a lot to do. I’m almost drowning in all this work.”
“Oh, okay then. I’ll meet you tonight.”
After hanging up, Mu Yu felt a sudden surge of sadness. She hurriedly compartmentalized her emotions as her colleagues often entered her lab. She didn’t want them to see her in that state.
Her mind drifted to the case from the morning, and she distracted herself by switching on her computer to look through the victim’s details.
The victim’s name was Shun Meilan. She was a female, forty-eight years old, and a cleaner at Qing Tian Group. The victim was last seen leaving her house after finishing her dinner at 7:30 in the evening. She was found dead this morning in the Cheng Xi woods. The cause of her death was excessive blood loss from a severe blunt force trauma on the hindbrain. Before she died, her tongue was cruelly chopped off, cut into pieces, and discarded.
As she read through the details, she scanned pictures of the victim’s oral cavity and tongue in pieces.
She looked at the bloody scenes and felt her stomach churn. Clicking the cross on the upper right corner of the screen, she exited the document file to prevent vomiting. After all, she was only a novice forensic doctor.
After a few sips of hot tea, she finally calmed down and got to work, as she began to comprehend the psychology of a murderer who would cut off a victim’s tongue and chop it to pieces.
The injury to the hindbrain was fatal. If the motive was revenge, why was the tongue chopped to pieces? Was it because of the murderer’s own trauma? Or was it a grudge against the victim?
Why only the tongue? Why not her ears, nose or any other body part?
Was there meaning behind her tongue?
The tongue had the power of life and death. Did the victim spread rumours that angered the murderer? Was that why the murderer killed her?
She shook her head at this thought.
If that were the case, the intentions behind this wrath-filled crime were too obvious. The murderer could be easily identified. By the looks of it, the murderer left the scene spotless without a trace of evidence. This proved that the murderer was a calm and careful person with solid psychological qualities. It wasn’t a random Tom, Dick, or Harry.
“Mu, aren’t you going home?”
A gentle voice interrupted Mu Yu’s thoughts. She looked up and saw that it was Nie Yunkang, another forensic doctor. She immediately stood up to greet him, “Hello Teacher Nie, how is Xue doing?”
Nie Yunkang’s wife passed away two years ago from excessive blood loss at childbirth, leaving him alone with a sick daughter.
“She gets sick easily, as usual. I take leave once every few days to care for her.” Nie Yunkang sighed. However, he quickly added with a smile, “Fortunately, you’re here now. Rubing could use some help.”
There were four senior forensic investigators in the Forensic Lab. They were Nie Yunkang, Feng Rubing, Lu Xudong, and Shan Rui. Lu Xudong had retired a month ago, Shan Rui was on maternity leave, and Nie Yunkang needed frequent leaves. Therefore, much of the Forensic Lab work fell on Feng Rubing’s shoulders.
Mu Yu was a little embarrassed. She replied, “I am still a rookie. There’s not much help I can offer Teacher Feng.”
“It’s a process. Don’t worry, just come to me if you need any help. Alright, I’m only back to grab something. I’ll make a move now. The work day is over, and you should go home too.” Nie Yunkang gave Mu Yu a wave and left in a hurry before she could say anything.
It was almost seven in the evening. Mu Yu turned off her computer and checked if all the power sockets were switched off. Then, she went home.
At home, she told her parents about her first day at work, putting up a front so they wouldn’t know that something was wrong. She also volunteered to do the dishes. While she was scrubbing plates, her mother shouted, “Yu, there’s someone here for you!”