False evidence

Chapter 29 Rat Cart
Gao stared at me for a moment, then pulled out his walkie-talkie: "Hey, Team Three, come down to basement level for support!"

"You trust me that much?" I was somewhat surprised. "I just guessed!"

"I hope you're not mistaken, otherwise you really will be held responsible."

Gao said in a deep voice, gesturing for us to step back. He then put his right hand on his lower back and stepped forward to examine the car I was pointing to.

This is an expensive commercial vehicle. The windshield is completely blocked by a silver sun visor, and the sides are also covered with film, making it impossible to see inside the vehicle from the outside.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" The monkey seemed to think that a funeral shouldn't be too extravagant.

"Wait a little longer, let my colleague come down." Gao Heju took a step back, his face looking inexplicably unpleasant.

Seeing his expression, I suddenly realized something, and several images flashed through my mind.

My immediate thought was, "We can't wait! Save them!"

The monkey was taken aback: "Save who? Aren't there corpses inside?"

"Take the preserved egg with you!"

I became inexplicably agitated, and while shouting, I took a few steps back, ran up, jumped onto the roof of the car, and kicked the sunroof hard.

Because of the excessive force, the sunroof shattered, and I slid down into the car.

The moment I fell into the driver's seat, I felt countless furry creatures leap onto my body.

I never expected this to happen. I was so terrified that I couldn't even scream. Fortunately, I hadn't forgotten what I had just seen. I gritted my teeth and reached out to the person in the driver's seat.

The man was bound tightly with yellow tape, fixed to the driver's seat like a mummy.

I struggled to pry open the tape around his mouth. As my fingers felt a surge of heat, I couldn't take the stimulation any longer, and everything went black. I lost consciousness.

……

I don't know how much time had passed, but I vaguely heard people talking around me.

The conversation appears to be between a man and a woman. The man is cursing: "Damn it, it's like a sick chicken, how can I keep it alive? Who do you expect me to sell it to?"

The woman said, "It's nothing serious, it's just been covered up. It'll be fine after some fresh air."

"Bullshit! Do you think I'm stupid!"

"Just give me a few, at least they're guys."

"Get lost! If you dawdle any longer, I'll beat you to death and throw you into the mountains!"

The footsteps faded into the distance, as if the man had already left.

The woman's voice, which had sounded weak at first, suddenly turned vicious: "You unlucky bastard, you've made me lose a fortune!"

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt myself suddenly suspended in mid-air, followed by a heavy slam to the ground.

"Cough cough cough..."

I coughed violently, feeling as if my internal organs had shifted. "He's awake! He's awake! Quick, call the doctor!"

I recognized the sound as a monkey's voice, and with a start, I opened my eyes and sat up abruptly.

I found myself lying in a hospital room, where, besides Monkey, Gao He and Lin Dan were also there.

The medical staff rushed over, examined me, asked me a few questions, and then told Gao He that the patient was awake and, apart from the wound on his mouth reopening, was otherwise fine.

After the doctor left, Gao asked me, "How did you know the body was in that car?"

The conversation I just heard in my dream left me feeling somewhat numb. Ignoring the pain in my mouth, I said, "That's not a corpse, it's a living person."

The monkey said, "Yes, it was a living person! I saw it clearly; it did have long hair, but it was a wig. The person was wrapped in a chair with duct tape and was barely alive when they were carried out!"

Gao He stepped forward and patted my shoulder: "I'm sorry, at this point I shouldn't have lied to you anymore. It was indeed a living person, wrapped up like a mummy, with only the nostrils showing."

Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that if a person's mouth is blocked and they are forced to breathe only through their nose, most people can only last a limited time. This is even more true in a closed car.

According to the doctor, the victim was already at his limit before he was found. If you hadn't torn off the tape from his mouth immediately, he might have died. You…you saved a life.”

"What were those furry things?" I asked, still shaken. The car was dimly lit, and I couldn't see what those things that jumped onto me were.

Gao He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Rats, lots of rats. The on-site investigation revealed that the rats were originally kept in a wicker basket. You studied veterinary medicine, so you know that you can't confine rodents for long. When you got into the car, the basket was probably chewed through, and hundreds of rats scurried out."

A chill ran through me.

The physiognomy left behind by Yang Wudao indeed had its drawbacks. I only saw the situation Gao He might encounter afterward, but that only applied to people. How could I have imagined that besides living people, there would be so many rats in the carriage?

Lin Dan hesitated before taking out his notebook, about to ask a question, but Gao He waved him off, saying, "What's the rush? Can't you wait until he's fully recovered before asking?"

He gestured for Lin Dan to put away the notebook, then went over and pulled back the curtain of the partition. Only then did I realize that it was a double ward. On one side of the partition, Pidan and her mother were sitting side by side on the bed, their eyes darting over to us.

Gao He turned his head, winked at me, picked up a stool and sat down next to me. "We can take the statement later. It's no problem for us to have a private chat. Tell me first, how did you manage to get Pei Xiaofan out right under our noses without us noticing, given that we had colleagues watching outside the whole time? Of course, I believe that Pei Xiaofan herself and her mother, Ms. Cai Yingchun, definitely cooperated, but I'm still very curious."

Seeing that Pidan was winking at me, I looked at Gao He and pointed to the corner of my mouth.

Gao He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I won't ask about that for now. I checked all the surveillance footage from last night, more than once. Let's start with you. You disappeared as soon as you entered the outpatient building. You only reappeared on the camera when you returned to the annex."

From the moment you stepped into the hallway, your actions were exactly the same as Bian Xiaomao's when he was on duty that night. This included lighting a cigarette, patrolling the inpatient building, taking the elevator to the basement... I thought you were imitating the events of the night of the incident, but how could Pei Xiaofan, 'playing' patient 000736, have never appeared on the surveillance footage?

"You guessed it all along, didn't you?" I said dejectedly.

Gao He frowned: "Using blind spots in surveillance? Where are there so many blind spots?"

I said, "I think you shouldn't ask me this question, but rather ask the person who knows best where the blind spot is."

Gao He's brows remained furrowed: "You mean the security guards? We've already questioned them more than once. According to what you said, including Bian Xiaomao from the night of the incident, everyone is a suspect. But everyone from that night has evidence proving that they couldn't have committed the crime."

Gao He's gaze sharpened: "The most crucial point is that there are no signs of forced entry on the morgue's door lock, and there is no possibility that the key was lost or copied."

(End of this chapter)