Chapter 10 Hidden Bloodstains_1

Xu Dayuan went to adjust the surveillance to search for people, while Zhou Ning and the others hurried to inspect the two vehicles.

Touching the Volkswagen CC, Zhou Ning thought to himself and submitted a temporary mission: This is the hit-and-run vehicle.

After waiting quite a while, there was no response from the system at all.

It wasn't like the first time he submitted a mission, where it immediately popped up saying the mission submission was successful and proceeded to the reward draw. What on Earth was the reason? Had he answered incorrectly?

This thought was immediately dismissed by Zhou Ning. If he had been wrong, given the nature of this system, it would have downgraded his previous rewards long ago.

Thinking it over carefully, the temporary mission seemed to have two requirements.

That is to find both the vehicle and the perpetrator of the accident that injured the victim. It seems he had been too hasty. The first time he had not even thought about submitting the mission, it was just the thought that popped into his head, and the mission was considered complete.

Zhou Ning's eyes flashed, which meant that his current answer was not wrong, just not standard enough, or rather, his answer was correct, but it was not comprehensive enough and lacked evidence.

Beep beep, two sounds rang by his ear, and a transparent mission submission page popped up, displaying three conditions.

Evidence?

Driver?

Hit-and-run vehicle?

Zhou Ning gritted his teeth, thinking to himself it really was just like this, a trap within a trap. If he hadn't figured it out himself, there was no way to submit the mission, especially since the submission page hadn't even opened.

With a sigh, Zhou Ning looked at the detectives circling the car. Zhao Xinli had already taken down the crime scene kit, and the supplies were being distributed.

Collecting fingerprints didn't involve much skill, just meticulousness. Zhou Ning didn't rush to get in the car. He carefully brushed every surface that could be touched when opening and closing the car doors, such as door handles, windows, upper edges of the doors, and center console switches, with a special powder.

Several fingerprints appeared, which Zhou Ning carefully collected.

Doctor Zhou, I've found a few fingerprints here too."

Zhao Xinli was kneeling on the passenger side of the Nissan, with a barrier suit cushioning his knees, and sure enough, there were fingerprints and handprints on the gear stick.

Zhou Ning carefully extracted them, holding the collected items and looking toward the Volkswagen CC where three people were searching. How come there was no noise now?

Handing the items to Zhao Xinli, Zhou Ning walked towards the Volkswagen CC.

"Is there no discovery on this side?"

"We only found some fingerprints from nylon gloves, nothing else. It looks like this car has been carefully cleaned, even the interior smells cleaned."

Zhou Ning was somewhat dumbfounded. The car had been repaired, and the interior cleaned so thoroughly; how could he prove this car was the hit-and-run vehicle?

Stepping out of the car, Zhou Ning stood in front of it, studying the vehicle closely.

Mr. Zhao, making a car involved in an accident look brand-new like this within 24 hours, do you think that's possible?"

Zhao Xinli promptly shook his head.

"Impossible."

"Impossible?"

Zhou Ning was taken aback, and Zhao Xinli hurriedly opened the hood, pointing inside and explaining.

"Don't be in a rush. If it were panel beating and painting, of course, it couldn't be done. I've looked inside; the screws on the hood and other places don't show any signs of being turned, indicating they haven't been replaced. The victim's legs were broken, which means the car, going at high speed, hit the victim's legs and sent her flying.

If that's the case, the damage to the car wouldn't be severe; just replacing the bumper and headlights would be enough, and that wouldn't leave any noticeable traces. Of course, if replacement parts were taken from the same model car, we wouldn't be able to see the difference, and as for the tires, they've been changed too."

Zhou Ning pushed up his glasses, the image discovered at the first crime scene of the victim appearing on the transparent screen and rotating continuously. Zhou Ning stared at the glass shards on the victim's cheek and slowly shook his head.

"No, the victim didn't just suffer fractures to the left shin and fibula bones; there were also glass fragments on her left cheek, and there was bruising around the eye socket. This indicates that after her legs were hit, the side of her head collided with the glass."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xinli leaned over a corner of the windshield, scrutinizing with a magnifying glass for a long time, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

"Amazing, Doctor Zhou. This windshield has indeed been replaced. Although it's the original glass, the production date is wrong!"

This discovery left Zhou Ning silent.

With the windshield, bumper, and headlights replaced, if these removed parts were disposed of and the suspect continued to deny involvement, the car could not be identified as the hit-and-run vehicle. They could only prove that the two had participated in illegal racing. They surely overlooked something.

Zhou Ning stood in front of the car, silent for several minutes. The detectives seemed to want to say something but were stopped by Zhao Xinli. He had fully grasped Doctor Zhou's temperament by now; his contemplation wasn't a bad thing, perhaps he would come up with some good method soon.

Engrossed in thought, Zhou Ning suddenly had a flash of inspiration as he remembered the wounds between the victim's ribs and last night's lesson on crime scene sampling.

Zhou Ning sprang into action, found a bottle of Luminol reagent, and quickly sprayed it evenly on the hood. At the center of the hood, two columnar shapes and a large area of blue-green fluorescence appeared.

This discovery greatly boosted Zhou Ning's confidence. He leaned over from the side of the car's front, spraying the Luminol reagent into the crevice where the windshield met the hood, and sure enough, there was also a fluorescent reaction there.

On the wiper cover, Zhou Ning found two purple-black blood drops and waved to Zhao Xinli.

"Pass me the camera and get me the swab,"

Zhao Xinli hurriedly handed over the camera, then found the test tubes and swabs and approached Zhou Ning closely to watch him take pictures, asking eagerly.

"What did Doctor Zhou find?"

"Blood traces. I suspect this is the victim's blood, which fell on the wiper cover. It seems it wasn't discovered during cleaning, as they only wiped off the blood from the hood.

Although it's not possible to sample here, the shape of these two columns is exactly the same as the blood traces under the right ribs of the victim. I've sampled the blood drops. Hurry and send this to the county hospital's lab for a blood type comparison with the victim; this can be done at the county hospital."

Zhou Ning was speaking very fast, and his hands were moving even faster. He dipped the swab in distilled water, collected the blood sample, broke one end off, and put it in a test tube, which he handed to Zhao Xinli.

Zhao Xinli didn't waste any time and ran off with the tube while Zhou Ning climbed down from the car, holding the freshly collected fingerprints and palm prints, and went straight to the office on the second floor.

He turned on the computer with the bulky screen. Though the computer looked shabby, its performance was still decent, and it had fingerprint comparison software installed.

Zhou Ning entered the fingerprints and palm prints he had just collected, as well as those marked with the names Yang Feiyu and Wang Fuhao from his desk, and then he started the comparison process.

Excluding a few too damaged for comparison, several fingerprints showed a successful match. He directly clicked to print out the comparison results.

Zhou Ning clenched his fist and swung it, feeling relieved. Although the VW CC had no fingerprints, fingerprints of Wang Fuhao were found on the door and gear stick of the Nissan. This indirectly proved Wang Fuhao wasn't lying, and they really had switched cars.

As for who hit the victim, the answer was self-evident, but why would Wang Fuhao be so eager to get the car fixed in a hurry, helping Chen Yufei cover up these pieces of evidence?

As these thoughts bubbled up in Zhou Ning's mind, he heard that familiar notification sound in his ear.

Ding, congratulations, binding person, temporary mission submission successful!

Evidence: Fingerprint collection complete, blood trace extraction comparison successful;

Driver: Yang Yufei;

Vehicle involved in the accident: Volkswagen 2010 CC

Countdown remaining time: 33:30

Rewards are being distributed, loading time ten minutes.

Zhou Ning subconsciously sat down, remembering the discomfort of the previous loading process, he braced himself. This time it was not as bad as the first, though the feeling of something bursting in his head came again, just not as intensely painful.

This sensation lasted for quite a while, Zhou Ning even felt as if time had slowed down. As two dings sounded, all the discomfort dissipated.

Zhou Ning slumped in his chair, gasping for air, and curiously sifted through the forensic field knowledge in his mind. When other comparisons showed no results, he directly flipped to the end of the section on rubber mark examination and found the paper listed there.

Indeed, the last paper was from 2019, [Year (Volume) Issue]2019(036)008, Zhou Ning excitedly rubbed his hands together.

Awesome, he had gained another three years of new knowledge.

Taking the comparison results in hand, he had not even risen when the door to the office was pushed open and Xu Dayuan strode in. Seeing the expression on Zhou Ning's face, he asked hopefully.

"How'd it go? Did you find any evidence?"

........

PS:

[1]Luminol: (Luminol) also known as luminescence ammonia. Its chemical name is 3-aminophthalhydrazide. It is a yellowish powder at room temperature, a relatively stable synthetic organic compound.

For blood traces that are not visible to the naked eye at crime scenes, Luminol reagent can reveal extremely small blood trace patterns (latent blood reactions), and Luminol is a relatively strong weak acid, which can cause irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract.

Since hemoglobin contains iron, which can catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, turning hydrogen peroxide into water and singlet oxygen, the singlet oxygen then oxidizes Luminol to make it glow. Therefore, Luminol is widely used in criminal investigation, bioengineering, chemical tracing, and other fields.

In forensic science, Luminol reaction can identify blood stains that have been wiped and dated back a long time. In biology, Luminol is used to detect the presence of copper, iron, and cyanides in cells.

[2]Swab: Can be understood as an extended version of a cotton swab, with a head that can be broken off, generally used as a medical examination tool for collecting microorganisms, shed cells, or secretions.