84 The Worm

 

Based on the prison records, Chen Lin could only start digging at night, and it had to be after the prison closed its main power. He wouldn’t be able to see anything and he had to make sure his digging was soft enough that no one would hear him. With such caution and bravery, no wonder Chen Lin was tasked with the kidnapping. Since we already found out about Chen Lin, we would use him as the opening. Hopefully he would lead us to the greater criminal gang. As a genderqueer person, it was logical for Chen Lin to test out Liu Fei’er’s lipstick but there was another point that was less logical, the dog’s blood. While he was inside Liu Fei’er’s bedroom, Chen Lin wouldn’t have brought food with him so the dog’s blood must have been there before his infiltration.

“We need to find a place where there are a lot of stray dogs, a secluded, abandoned place.” I said slowly. The moment I said that, I shared a look with Gu Chen. I knew that the same answer came to our mind and we breathed out at the same time, “The abandoned construction site!” Indeed, the very same construction site where Zhang Mingliang killed him and Ol’ Zhang guarded before he escaped. No one would pass by there even in the day and it had become a haven for the strays. The most dangerous place could be the safest place, if I had to find a place inside the city where not many people frequented, the abandoned construction site was a perfect choice.

“Let’s go!”

One hour later, we arrived in cars. This place looked the same as when we visited it half a year ago. Looks like no construction company had taken over the revival of this place. The site door was left hanging open and a lot more wild grass covered the ground. Unreadable graffiti covered the walls. Half a year ago, Zhang Mingliang’s head fell from this building. Returning to this place, even though it hadn’t been that long, it felt like a lifetime ago.

“This is the place, let’s start the search.” I told the officers who came with us. “Come with me.” I summoned a few of them. Half a year ago, when I came for Zhang Mingliang’s case, I remember Ol’ Zhang had erected a simple wooden shed for himself. Outside the shed, many dead stray dog bodies were strung and underneath them were pails of dog’s blood.

When I returned to this place, I knew that my prediction was right. There was a large pool of blood before the wooden shed and it had fully dried. Guan Zhenglin walked over and brushed the blood against her gloved finger. She placed it before her nose and frowned. “It’s not human blood, probably dog’s blood but we better bring it to the lab for testing to be sure.” Watching that, I couldn’t help but comment, “Why are you acting like Doggie Wang Er all of a sudden? Speaking of which, why aren’t we bringing Doggie Wang Er with us? The man, I mean, the dog has a better nose than most dogs.” With that in mind, I fired off a message to Captain Zhao to ask him to spring Doggie Wang Er out of the hospital.

Guan Zhenglin stood up and said, “It’ll take about 2 days for the blood to dry until this stage. In other words, someone has been here and knocked the pails over. Could that someone be Chen Lin?”

I pulled my hair and said, “From current evidence, that does appear to be the case. Chen Lin and now Ol’ Zhang are confirmed to be members of this criminal group but then who else?” Chen Lin and Ol’ Zhang had a similarity and that was they were both fugitives on the run. Since they were already fugitives, they would have no gumption to kill innocent people. Suddenly, a frightening thought struck me, what if Liu Fei’er was already dead? After all, these people would do anything.

But who was the mastermind behind this? Was it Ol’ Zhang who saw human lives as no different from dog’s lives, Chen Lin who still didn’t know the reason for his existence or someone else completely? How big was the group and what was their purpose? So many mysteries.

“Guys, we found another body!” One of the officers shouted.

Another body? We shared a look and hurried to the voice. We saw a dead body lying in the bush. From the shape, it looked like a woman. My heart winced, could it really be Liu Fei’er? As I got closer, I realized this was not Liu Fei’er but someone even more unexpected. The dead body was Chen Lin. From the appearance, this was definitely Chen Lin but he didn’t look as gorgeous as his picture did. Chen Lin’s face was blotchy and his skin was not as fair as I was led to believe, if anything, he looked waxy. For some reason, even though he was only 28, the descriptions, aged and elderly fitted him quite nicely.

“This is Chen Lin?” Xiao Liu gasped in disbelief, “He doesn’t look at all like his picture! Are we offering touch up services to warrant pictures now?”

Guan Zhenglin leaned forward and said, “I believe that’s because he hasn’t been given access to oestrogen for a prolonged period of time. After all, where would he find those in prison? Therefore, the oestrogen level in his body slowly decreased and his beauty faded. He should be 28 but he looked 48.” As she examined the body, she continued, “If you must know such is the life of Thai Kathoeys. They share life arcs similar to Chen Lin. Before puberty, they started to take oestrogen injection and practice various talents. Age 18 to 25 is the prime age for Thai Kathoeys, that is the period when they rake in the money, and are at their prettiest. Their career and life start to go downhill after 25 and the average lifespan of a Thai Kathoey is around 35 to 40 years.”

Xiao Liu shook his head and sighed with lamentation. “That is such a short life.”

Guan Zhenglin shook her head. “For them, that is already long enough. Especially at the last stage of their life, most Thai Kathoeys choose to commit suicide. They are like moths, they know that fire awaits them, but they cannot help but fly right into it.” That saddened me for some reason. I added, “Perhaps but some might have an empty life even if they live until over 100 years old. The biggest regrets in life are often what we have not done and not what we have done.”

“The injury pattern is similar to the patrol guard.” Guan Zhenglin inspected the wound. “I can only see this wound around the neck. The wound goes deep so it’s probably the same killer. But it’s better to be careful, I’ll know further when I cut him open. We might find something else.” Chen Lin’s body was soon moved to the morgue, the trace analysts stayed to inspect the crime scene. Gu Chen and Xiao Lin stayed as well. I followed Guan Zhenglin back to the morgue.

I had seen autopsy of a male and a female but I had not seen the autopsy of a genderqueer person. For some reason, there was anticipation within me. This was perhaps how Chen Lin’s circus managed to earn money, it took advantage of people’s innate attraction to the grotesque.

The guard was dead, Chen Lin was dead, everyone we had investigated was dead. This group of criminals was ruthless. To stop our investigation, they would stoop to the lowest level. A chill gripped my heart, if we continued this investigation, would we end up getting Liu Fei’er killed? This was only the first day and so many things had already happened. However, 2 people who worked for the gang had been murdered, wouldn’t that shake the surviving members’ confidence and loyalty? Or this meant that there were less people to share the spoils?

Guan Zhenglin was ready to start. I sat to the side and watched. Chen Lin still had a good body proportion but the same couldn’t be said for his face. If he had dog’s blood on his lips, would we find more canine remains inside his stomach?

Guan Zhenglin that held the scalpel was steady like every cadaver that laid on her autopsy table was the same. “As a forensic doctor, does that mean you’ve accustomed yourself to death?”

Guan Zhenglin answered without stopping her work. “Yes, humans are like all the organisms in this world, we’re all going to die and leave behind a body, and my job is to help them speak, to find their cause of death so that they can depart without any more regret.”

“If one day, it’s me or Gu Chen lying on that autopsy table, will you be so calm as well?” I joked.

Guan Zhenglin paused before saying, “I hope that day will never come.” But her tone suddenly changed, “But if it’s you, I’ll cut off your penis after I’m done with the autopsy.”

“The fuck!” I closed my legs inadvertently. “You perv!”

Guan Zhenglin was moving towards the stomach but at that moment, she screamed and frightened me as well. I jumped up and hurried over. “What’s wrong?’

“Look!” Guan Zhenglin pointed at the cut open body. I turned and lowered my head to look. The sight almost made me vomit on the body. Inside the large intestine, there was a white worm moving about. The worm was curved and flat. Only a small segment of it was poking out, the rest of its body was still hidden inside the intestines. Based on the segment that I saw, this worm was at least 1 metres long. It was disgusting and unexpected.

“Why is this thing inside his stomach? And how long is it actually?” I resisted the nausea and asked.

By then Guan Zhenglin had calmed down. She said, “If I have to guess, it’s about 4 metres long. So what do you think?”