CH 103

The person screaming in the lobby was a female employee who was tidying up the seats.

Since this case happened in public view, it was inevitable that it was watched by others. When Xing Conglian glanced at her, the other party quickly quieted and silently backed away.

However, it seemed she couldn’t hold back the horror in her heart as the female employee quickly grabbed another female colleague and whispered, “The bouquet of flowers moved just now. Did you see it? It moved! How scary!”

Xing Conglian retracted his gaze and said nothing.

He bent over, took out a pair of plastic gloves from the toolbox of the forensic pathologist, and put them on. He then walked to the stage and picked up the bouquet of green roses on the floor.

The wrapping paper was a special mercerized cotton. When Xing Conglian picked it up, he noticed that there was something off about its weight.

It was reasonable that any florist who wrapped a bouquet would put nutrient solution at the bottom in order to preserve the bouquet longer, but the bottom of this bouquet of roses didn’t seem to be wrapped with moist nutrient solution, so the weight was light.

Xing Conglian tightened the wrapping paper of the lower half of the bouquet, untied the string with one hand, and held the lower part of the bouquet packaging, trying to separate the packaging from the bouquet. The moment he touched the bottom, he froze.

At that moment, Lin Chen came around from the corner.

“What’s inside?” Probably because he felt that Xing Conglian’s eyes didn’t look right, Lin Chen asked keenly.

Xing Conglian felt something soft and warm to the touch at the bottom of the bouquet. He thought for a while and said to Lin Chen, “It’s a very suitable case for you.”

“That must mean it’s not a good case,” Lin Chen replied.

“Consultant Lin’s declaration is quite accurate.”

Xing Conglian shook his head helplessly. He squatted down and beckoned the personnel from the pathology department to come forward.

A piece of plastic paper was quickly spread on the stage. Xing Conglian gently put down the bouquet and slowly pulled it away from the bottom packaging.

Several police officers stepped forward and put up a human wall behind him to block the view of some onlookers.

At the moment the package was separated, it seemed that someone had cast a strange petrification spell, as everyone around them froze.

Lin Chen frowned and glanced at the faces of the police officers beside Xing Conglian. Some of them turned their heads while others closed their eyes, avoiding the bouquet on the ground. It didn’t matter if the faces of those officers were young or old—it was obvious that they couldn’t bear it, as if they had seen a rare, gruesome scene.

So, what was the scene that could make these criminal police officers, who were used to homicide cases, feel so unbearable?

The surrounding area, which had suddenly seemed quiet, became extremely noisy again. Time seemed to return when the girl was on stage. There were people applauding and screaming while Li Jingtian was singing.

Lin Chen stepped on the stage and walked slowly to Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian looked up at him, then lowered his head to look at the bouquet of roses.

However, when Lin Chen saw the thing wrapped in the floral paper, his first reaction was ridiculousness, and soon after, he felt the temperature around him drop a few degrees.

At the bottom of the bouquet of roses, where the nutrient solution should be, was a bird.

As ridiculous as it may seem, it was indeed a small bird.

The bird’s wings were grayish brown. It looked like a sparrow but didn’t seem like it. The beak was wrapped in scotch tape, and a black ribbon was tied to the bird’s body. A small bow was tied at the end, as if it were a beautiful gift.

It was just that this gift was too cruel.

On the body of the little bird, there were a few rose stems embedded in it. Anyone who had bought roses would know that the store would prune the stems sharply so that the flowers could absorb more nutrients. Now those delicate roses were like sharp sword tips as each one pierced into the little bird.

There wasn’t much blood on the bird’s body, so even if it was pierced all over, under the white light, the bird’s grayish brown fluff was only covered with a few bloodstains that weren’t deep or shallow.

It seemed to perceive many people looking at it. Suddenly, the little bird twitched again, but it was more like an autonomic nervous reaction after death. This reaction also proved that the poor little bird had just died not too long ago.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen once again looked at the black ribbon tied to the bird’s wings. The ribbon was tied skillfully. Not only was it beautiful, but it also happened to be able to restrain the poor bird and those sharp rose stems. Forty minutes had passed since the girl came on stage. Logically, this bird should have died a long time ago, but just now, it twitched…

In Lin Chen’s heart, he suddenly had a bad guess. It was very likely that this bird was still alive when it was stuffed into the bottom of the rose bouquet. Although its wings and beak were bound, it could still struggle. Based on how loose the black ribbon had become, it could be speculated that it had actually struggled for a long time inside the bouquet. In the process of its desperate struggle for survival, when someone raised the bouquet, and when the bouquet fell to the ground, the rhizomes of those green roses would pierce into its body—it was stabbed to death.

As if icy water had submerged his heart, Lin Chen felt his limbs become cold and numb.

He squatted down slowly beside Xing Conglian, wanting to say something for a while, but couldn’t utter a word.

“Are Consultant Lin’s thoughts the same as mine?”

Suddenly, Lin Chen heard Xing Conglian ask him this.

Although Xing Conglian only said “thoughts”, he didn’t need to ask further. He knew that Xing Conglian was asking him: “Do you think this little bird was killed in such a cruel way?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Xing Conglian sneered and said, “It looks like we encountered a homicide?”

With Li Jingtian’s condition uncertain, the murder mentioned by Xing Conglian naturally didn’t refer to his throat being slit, but the murder of the bird.

This sounded ridiculous, but behind this murder that wouldn’t be considered a murder, was an exquisite technique and extremely cruel intentions, perhaps from someone with an antisocial personality or abnormal psychology…

Lin Chen could use many words to describe the person who killed this bird, but all of them were just simple descriptions. Descriptions were sometimes meaningless, because everyone knew that it was someone with a messed up head; an extremely dangerous psychopath.

The meaningful question really was: Why did he or she do this?

“Although I know it’s inappropriate to ask now, can you tell me why?”

Sometimes, Xing Conglian telepathy was too good, and that wasn’t a good thing. Sure enough, Xing Conglian was asking him why.

Lin Chen looked at the blood-stained fluff of the little bird and slowly said, “Of course I can’t answer this question now, but the criminal left this special bouquet of flowers behind, obviously hoping we will inspect it…”

“So?”

“So, instead of saying that this bouquet is for Li Jingtian, it’s more like that this bouquet and bird are for us.”

When Xing Conglian heard this, he wasn’t surprised. He nodded calmly, then put down the flowers and birds together and stood up.

Lin Chen raised his head and saw Xing Conglian take off his gloves and stretch out his hand at him. He was taken aback before he put his hand on Xing Conglian’s and was pulled up.

They stood opposite each other. He, Xing Conglian, and even the surrounding forensic pathologists were speechless for a moment. It seemed that they had a lot to say and a lot of analysis to do, but because of something too sad and cruel, they lost the ability to speak for a short period of time.

Finally, it was Xing Conglian who spoke again. “Go for a walk?”

Lin Chen nodded.

When he followed Xing Conglian down the steps, Lin Chen realized that Wang Chao had been standing under the stage alone for a long time. He reached out and rubbed the teenager’s head before the other party turned around abruptly.

It was obvious he was affected by the dead bird, but at this moment, he returned to his senses. His eyes were flushed as he said to Lin Chen, “A’Chen, please, we must catch her!”