ATL | Chapter 6

Dawn District, Alpha Node.

A pitch-black hovercar drove in from the slide track into the spiral Hive complex building. It was embedded in the core area of the Alpha Node, stretching hundreds of meters up and down, running through the Three Districts.

This was Yujing's Central Police Bureau.

At the birth of the new world, society was chaotic and crime frequent, so before the Three City Districts took shape, the Central Police Bureau already existed. When Yujing expanded, it expanded with it, yet it always maintained its integrity, making it convenient to handle cases across districts, and it also formed a special lift, the Central Transit Tower, and with the "tower" as the center, developed important nodes for each of the three major city districts.

The node of Dawn District was called Alpha.

Correspondingly, Weave District's node was called Beta, and Lower Nest's was Omega.

Inside the uppermost Alpha Node, the area where the Central Police Bureau was located was bright and clean. Its main function was actually not case investigation, but regional regulation, which broadly controlled the entire city's crime rate and public security index, and only in very few cases would it directly take over cases.

For example, major cross-district smuggling involving huge sums of money, serial murders with extremely brutal methods, political crimes with a confidential nature, or certain cases involving Yujing's four major groups.

The Canus Case was one of the above situations.

The Central Police Bureau of the Farfa Node received this case and assigned it to the special enforcement department SEC for full handling. As SEC's second-in-command, Hetawaisi was appointed as the overall Person In Charge of this case.

At the moment, the Person In Charge was moving rapidly through the building with two deputies, and soon arrived at an office on the seventh floor. Xiao Xun was the first to push the door open and stand to the side. By the time Kane closed the door, all outside noise had been cut off.

And in the visitor area, a black-haired, black-eyed man stood up at the sound. He looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, had a refined face, and wore a pair of vintage, thin-rimmed gold monocle glasses.

He was none other than the SEC forensic examiner with raven gene companion, Kewosi Raven.

"Boss," he complained with a smile, "if you don't come back soon, I was going to fall asleep."

Heta took off his coat and said sharply, "Raven, you drank again?"

Xiao Xun wrinkled his nose. As soon as he caught a faint smell of alcohol, he sneezed.

"So cheap," he muttered to Kane in a low voice, "good thing he didn't call me."

"Don't sniff at everything." Kane said, "A black-hearted crow drinks black liquor, and after drinking he only knows how to talk nonsense. I just hope he won't say too much today."

"Just a little." Raven said boldly, "Yesterday was a rest day, so temporary overtime was fine, but after work, people can't even relax? I didn't slack off, Boss, the work is already done."

As he spoke, he clapped his hands, and the young assistant Oak behind and to the side used both hands to spread the light screen left and right. His third hand tapped on the screen, ready to scroll at any time according to Raven's explanation, displaying the report with text and images for everyone to see.

Oak was a cephalopod gene companion. Normally, the dominant animal traits of such residents were reflected in the sensory perspective, and the field of vision would be greatly expanded.

Oak's dominant trait, however, caused him to show an extremely rare bodily mutation, he had eight hands, and small suction cups grew on his fingertips, allowing him to precisely control whatever he held.

He was simply a natural-born surgical saint, and coming to be a forensic examiner was not really wasting his talent.

"The quick report was already sent to everyone yesterday." Kewosi Raven said, "The crime scene was preserved perfectly, biological traces were everywhere, even the murder weapon was left on site, there was even blood residue, it was practically like a beginner reward stage."

As he spoke, he turned to his assistant. "Oak, don't you think so?"

Oak's skin was fair, and his personality was shy. At the words, his hand trembled, and one of the suction cups accidentally stuck to a short, upward tail feather of Raven's. He hurriedly stuck it back.

"Huh? Teacher... um..."

"Don't make it hard for him," Heta said briefly, "the precise identification results."

"I did microscopic 3D imaging on the neck ligature marks." Raven said, "Combining fiber residue, biological traces, force angle, and pressure distribution, the murder weapon was confirmed to be the whip left at the scene. This kind of old-world relic is hard to buy, but there were many hanging in Canus's apartment. He was obviously fond of this."

Oak quickly flipped the light screen and enlarged several screenshots of refunded contribution points transfers for the three of them to see.

"Look, he had the housekeeper buy them twenty-three times in total, more than one hundred and sixty in all. He could already open a private curiosity museum, I really can't..."

"Raven," Heta quickly scanned the purchase records, "continue."

Raven bit the tip of his tongue and was forced back to the main point. "Thus I also successfully analyzed the killer's build, strength range, and the scene conditions at the time of the crime."

"Canus's neck ligature marks were uneven, and because of multiple slips there was cross-overlapping. The overall pressure band was also not continuous. His hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage showed multiple stress fracture characteristics, indicating that the killer only finally achieved a fatal result through multiple attempts."

"The act of killing was very clumsy, lacking experience, and more like something done on a whim." Raven's tail feather kept lifting as he spoke. "If Canus had not fallen into brief shock from a brain hemorrhage, it would have been hard for the killer to succeed. In order to use all his strength, he even braced his foot against Canus's shoulder."

"The trauma analysis results show that the killer's height was between 175 and 185 cm, weight between 55 and 65 kg, and strength level average to below average, perfectly matching the general image of a sheep gene companion."

"What's more, a large amount of biological traces remained at the scene."

After Raven finished, Oak hurriedly took over from his Teacher, mustering his courage to tell the three of them the contents and results he had identified.

"Deputy Chief Heta, and the two seniors." Oak swallowed. "After committing the crime, the killer directly discarded the weapon and fled the scene in a hurry. A large amount of fingerprints could be directly extracted from the whip, and the suspect's bloodstains were also left on the carpet."

"All indications show that this was an impulsive, sloppy murder." Raven wagged a finger. "The biological traces are so many it's like he turned his own DNA into a resume and came to apply for a job with us."

"How about it, Officer, tempted yet?"

Under a glance from silver-gray snake eyes, he finally shut his mouth unwillingly.

"The test results show that on the night of the crime, Canus took an arousal drug." Hetawaisi raised a hand, signaling Oak to flip the light screen forward a few pages. "The dose was not small."

Xiao Xun immediately reacted and raised his voice to ask.

"Raven, when Canus was in shock from the injury to the back of his head, did the drug take effect?"

"Drug metabolism is a continuous process, it can't be pinpointed to the millisecond." Raven said, "Kitty, all the forensic department can tell you is that by the time Canus died, the arousal drug had already been fully absorbed, entered the body circulation system, and the concentration of the drug in his blood had already reached its peak."

"But, as for whether it was 'before the shock or after the shock'..."

Raven paused.

"Under the current technology, it can't be accurately identified."

"Then that provides two possibilities for the case." Kane said coldly, "If it was after the shock, Canus most likely had a physical struggle with Ganlin, and thus hit the back of his head, which ultimately led to the coma."

"From the scene traces, that is indeed the case." Raven yawned. "There is Ganlin's skin tissue residue under Canus's fingernails, and there are also slight bruises on his chest and forehead. It proves that someone forcefully shoved him before he died, wanting to push him away, or rather, wanting to break free."

"But this very much fits the series of subsequent actions he carried out, doesn't it?"

Hetawaisi did not deny it, and asked, "If it was before the shock, then Canus would have fallen into unconsciousness from an overdose of drugs, right?"

Assistant Oak listened intently and subconsciously nodded.

"Boss, if that's how you put it," Raven said, "then the killer's act was not passion murder. It means that after Canus fell unconscious, the killer quickly made up his mind, and used the collision to cover it up, trying to forge the scene traces."

Raven said this and blinked.

"What good would that do for Ganlin?"

"Maybe he couldn't bear it." Xiao Xun said, "Canus was a sexual sadist, and Ganlin was going out to receive clients for the first time. If he got through this one, he would still have to keep suffering for more than ten days."

"The correlation investigation results also show that Canus's previous several partners all disappeared." Kane added, "Nanke would not be ignorant of this, but would probably not inform Ganlin in advance."

"Then there's even less point in arguing." Raven said, "According to the kitty, whether it was before or after, Ganlin's motive for the crime makes no difference, and both his and Canus's DNA are on the whip. For a soft, tender little sheep like him, he couldn't endure a perverted passion murder. That's the smoothest logic."

"He really is lucky," Heta said, "the scene is full of traces, and the escape path leaves nothing to find."

Raven instantly went silent.

But very quickly, the raven rolled his eyes and thought of something else.

"I'm just a forensic examiner," he leaned close to Hetawaisi and said with a smile, "what's wrong, boss, a full day has passed, and the bunch from the Criminal Investigation Department still haven't found anything?"

"It's not that they found nothing." Xiao Xun said, "It's that all possible escape routes were ultimately ruled out. But Ganlin can't just disappear into thin air. The initial screening couldn't finish directional narrowing, so the follow-up investigation can only cast a wide net, and the workload is too big. Hopper took dozens of meerkat agents and stayed up all night, and this morning every one of them had dark circles under their eyes."

"Because the Rain Drops system near Qianfeng Apartments didn't record any trace of Ganlin." Kane explained, "So there are two possibilities. The first is that he was especially familiar with all the blind spots in Thousand Maples, had already scouted them in advance, and did so very thoroughly, then killing Canus was premeditated."

"This possibility is very small." Xiao Xun took over. "Because in these past few months in Nanke, he never left the club. So Boss proposed another idea, thinking Ganlin had a hovercar to pick him up, and that way he only needed to make use of one blind spot to successfully get on the car and escape."

Kane added, "For this reason, Boss instructed Hopper to check all hovercars that passed by Canus's apartment in the twenty-four hours before and after the crime, and from this he noticed a traffic accident that happened in the Southwestern Suburbs yesterday at dawn."

"The two cars collided, causing a violent explosion." Xiao Xun brought his index fingers together. "When the wind blew, ashes flew everywhere. There were too many people who didn't mind the excitement, and the biological traces at the scene were destroyed very thoroughly."

Raven thought for a moment. "But if that's the case, aren't both possibilities premeditated crimes? Then what does my passion murder identification result count as?"

Kane said mercilessly, "It counts as you didn't get the beginner stage reward."

Raven was in great pain.

"Bos, Teacher." Oak said quietly, "then I think the Deputy Chief asking us for a detailed report actually also wants to know whether there was a third person at the scene."

Heta looked at the young man, approval showing in his gaze.

"Bias from assumptions can easily interfere with a forensic examiner's objective judgment and make you interpret ambiguous evidence in a way that is favorable to my speculation." Heta said, "Therefore, I did not inform you in advance. Raven, can you now confirm that there was absolutely no third person at the crime scene?"

Raven was silent for a while, then said through gritted teeth, "Oak, back to the scene."

The raven was furious beyond measure, and did not make up the missed leave. He also did not drink alcohol anymore, and when he went out he nearly collided with someone.

The Criminal Investigation Department team leader Hopper immediately dodged aside. His gray wolf tail stuck close to the wall, and he slipped sideways into the office, saying gleefully, "Who made this bird suffer?"

One cat and one dog pretended to be deaf and mute.

"Sure enough, it still has to be the Deputy Chief." Hopper said, "Little Boss, the traffic accident clue is a mess. The other vehicles are not easy to check either, some of them belong to groups and more or less have access to private domains."

"You also know that once you enter a private domain, we must have definite evidence before we can apply for a search warrant and enter for investigation."

Private domains, property that belonged exclusively to Yujing's privileged class, were scattered in every corner of Dawn District. They were like the estates of old-world nobles, possessing an extremely high degree of secrecy and private ownership within their regions.

Hetawaisi asked, "Hopper, did you trace the apartment airflow system as well?"

"Just finished checking it," Hopper said, "property records show it was operating normally that day, and there were no problems at all. I also sent people to walk through it once. Although there really is the possibility of escaping through the airflow system, you would need to scout it in advance and be very familiar with the internal structure to do it, otherwise you'd be easily ground into pieces.""

"Living people can't just disappear into thin air." Xiao Xun swung his long tail. "Either there was collusion inside and outside, and he ran out from the building, or he took the risk and ran out through the airflow passage. Only the window route can be ruled out, because the family surveillance on the upper and lower routes didn't capture the suspect, and it was impossible to bribe every neighbor."

By this point in the investigation, the invisible resistance was gradually becoming clear. The case left traces everywhere, yet also cut off everywhere. At this moment, a thought slowly formed in Hetawaisi's mind, for the Canus Case, Ganlin might only be the tip of the iceberg.

But no matter what, this floating ice had to be found first.