C20 Vanishing fragment
For the first time in my life, I felt a chill of fear. I sat in the reporting room all night, while my night colleague watched me shiver and poured me a cup of hot water, asking me what had happened.
It was hard for me to use words to describe it. I tried to remember what I had seen in those short seconds, especially the woman I had seen in the reflection of the screen, and finally I came to the conclusion that my hallucinations were probably too tired. It was only at dawn that I began to calm down.
When Yun Duruo saw me in the reporting room with a dull expression, she called out to me for a few times. Perhaps the pressure recently had made me dizzy, I comforted myself in my heart, but the woman in the video and the face that I was unwilling to recall right now were definitely not my hallucinations.
I brought Yun Duruo back to the dissecting room. Chu Tianqi was wearing gloves as he assembled the unknown female corpse, and there were some messy evidence on my desk. Just like last night when I left in a hurry, I took out the videotape and handed it over to Yun Duruo.
"You'd better take a look at what's inside!"
"Any new discoveries?" Yun Duruo asked anxiously.
"Has the case progressed?" The butcher's voice appeared in the doorway, looking at us without expression.
I nodded and shook my head doubtfully. The butcher saw my ambiguous reply and frowned. Yun Duruo, who was beside him, also looked at me anxiously.
I pointed at the tape and swallowed, organizing words in my head, but the effect wasn't too obvious.
Zhang Songlin committed suicide. The video could prove that, but there was a chair in the basement … The chair could move, and a woman in red with long hair appeared on the chair …
I paused, trying not to think about the face.
Then the woman turned her head.
When I finished speaking, Yun Duruo's expression was filled with confusion, the butcher's frown deepened, his eyes filled with confusion. In fact, I realised that it was difficult to describe what I saw last night in words, even the usually quiet Chu Tianqi, after hearing it, put down the work in his hands, and stared at me without blinking.
"You'll know when you see this tape. I can't explain it." I handed the tape over to Yun Duruo like a hot potato.
"Come to my office." "The butcher left behind a few words before leaving." The two of you together. "
The butcher sat on the chair while Yun Duruo put the videotape back into the equipment. On the screen, a video that I had already watched the night before appeared, which I had buried my head in, intending to remind Yun Duruo of this. However, the butcher's face was grim as he silently stared at the screen.
When Zhang Songlin kneeled on the ground and the iron spike pierced through his body, I started to slowly raise my head to look at the screen. Maybe it was because there were so many people in the day, I also wanted to look at that face.
The silent video stopped right at the corner of Zhang Songlin's mouth. I was stunned on the spot, and immediately played the last image again. I tried a few times, but the image all stopped at the same spot.
There were no moving chairs, no woman with long red hair, and no terrified face.
The butcher and Yun Duruo both looked at me strangely, as though they were waiting for my explanation.
"I really saw a chair in there last night. They were moving, as well as the red-haired woman sitting on the chair, and … "
It was as though I was making up a one-man show myself. I started to panic as I didn't know how to describe the scenes I saw last night. After pausing for a moment, I insisted on what I said. I really saw it. "
The butcher was silent for a long time, before calling Ling Guodong to come over. He told Ling Guodong to arrange for the technical department to examine this video immediately.
The results of the inspection that Ling Guodong brought back shocked me. The videotape was complete, the entire recording was only 32 minutes long, and the last image was of Zhang Songlin kneeling on the ground, the time just stopping at 32 minutes.
That is to say, what I have described happened thirty-two minutes later, but it is absolutely impossible.
Ling Guodong didn't know what had happened, but the butcher took off the glasses on his nose and looked at me seriously. Yun Duruo had a face full of concern.
"How long have you been awake?" the butcher asked gravely.
"I …" He could tell that the current me in the eyes of the butcher was like a patient, he had already started to doubt my judgement, and even my mental state was in doubt. Furthermore, there was more than one room with him as he thought so, Yun Duruo should be thinking the same thing.
I know my own state, but no one believes it now, as the butcher asks, as my earlier resolve slowly dissipates. I have not rested for many days, and I admit subtly that everything that happened last night was an illusion of stress and strain.
"Hand over the work you have on hand, and I'll let you off." The butcher lowered his head to process his papers, his voice full of concern, but it was clear that he was concealing it, and when I turned around, he spoke harshly behind me. "Remember your identity, I don't want to hear anything from you that I shouldn't have heard."
Leaving the butcher's office, I understood what he meant. If what I said were to spread out, it would cause chaos in the public and would affect the investigation of the case. Furthermore, I am a medical examiner, and I might even mislead the investigation of the case.
When I came out, I saw Yun Duruo waiting for me on a bench in the corridor. When I stood up and walked over, I was so upset that I went to the roof.
I lit a cigarette and took a deep breath, rubbing my forehead. I was really tired.
"Let's go back and rest. Director Jiang did this for your own good. At least, we found out from the video that there were other people in the room on the night of Zhang Songlin's death." Yun Duruo softly said by my side.
I leaned my hands on the railing, took a deep drag on my cigarette, and looked into the distance for a long time.
"I really saw it."
"The video only lasted 32 minutes." Yun Duruo paused for a while after speaking, and said consolingly. It's normal for me to be dazzled. dissecting room didn't have any lights last night, so you have to look at the screen for a long time by yourself.
"I saw more than that." I turned my head and looked at Yun Duruo.
"What else did you see?" Yun Duruo asked curiously.
"I saw a bloodied woman's face in the video and then the screen turned off." "I took a deep breath and replied with fresh memories." Then I saw myself in the reflection of the screen. "Also, there is a woman standing behind me!"
"Woman?!" Yun Duruo was at a loss as to what to do. "What woman?"
I shook my head and told her that there was only a third autopsy table behind me that hadn't assembled a complete female corpse. The more serious I was, the more problems I would feel in Yun Duruo's eyes.
"I'm fine. I might really be tired." "I smiled faintly and flicked the cigarette in my hand to the ground." The butcher has already let me take a leave of absence, it's been a few days since I've been here. If there's anything that needs an inspection, contact Chu Tianqi directly.
I turned the tables around to comfort Yun Duruo. At least, this way she would think that I was normal, so Yun Duruo's expression didn't ease up from my pretense. I advised her many times before she left.
I've been standing alone on the roof for a long time. I've never cared about anything other than my duty, but I've been caught up in this case before I knew it.
The butcher told me to find out the reason why Zhang Songlin committed suicide. The butcher wanting to train me, or the butcher was just curious about it, it's just like whether I saw those strange images last night, it doesn't matter to me right now.
I couldn't wait to know the truth of this case. I arranged the work I had in hand and handed it over to Chu Tianqi.
When I got off work, I specially went to Criminal Police to look for Yun Duruo, to retrieve all the information I could regarding her case. The colleague on duty told me that Yun Duruo had left early because she had something on her mind.
After receiving the case file of Zhang Songlin, I went to the corner of the street to take the bus. At the red light, I casually looked out the window, and not far away, I saw Yun Duruo happily chatting with the people beside her in a luxurious black Mercedes-Benz. I noticed that the person had used her hand to help her lower her hair behind her ears, and it was a very intimate action, so I was able to tell that the relationship between the two of them was not ordinary.
When Yun Duruo looked out of the window, she just so happened to meet my gaze, her expression was very calm, and she even slightly nodded at me. I awkwardly wanted to avoid her gaze, but the person beside her was probably attracted by her actions, revealing a face as calm as water, her bright head still made me feel disgusted.
I remember that night, he told me that his name was Liu Dao, Han Yu said that the crown prince was a true buddhist disciple that went through Mu Ren Lane, so the newly-opened bar should also be his.
I still could not understand how Yun Duruo could be together with the crown prince. However, from the looks of the contact between the two of them, their relationship is deeper than I had imagined, at least Yun Duruo was smiling very casually in front of the crown prince.
When the green light shone, the bus separated from Yun Duruo's car at the fork in the road ahead. I turned my head to look at the bus that was quickly disappearing from my sight, and my heart was in a complete mess.