Striving for Science C69

The car was deathly silent. Shen Tu turned his head to look at Dao Nian, whose face was expressionless, then looked at Shen Chang'an. "Chang'an, I don't think I understand what you're saying."

Shen Chang'an really wanted to say, "You're reacting so strongly, pretending not to understand. I don't know whose intelligence you're insulting." He glanced at Dao Nian sitting beside him and decided to talk to Shen Tu about this after reporting it to the police.

"Oh, maybe I was overthinking it." Shen Chang'an replied dryly.

Shen Tu: "..."

No, I think you're thinking a lot, maybe you've thought of everything.

"Focus on driving." Dao Nian spoke, ending this conversation of "I know you're lying, but I'll pretend I don't understand."

***

Lu Ding was a young policeman who had only been on the job for less than a year. Before joining the force, he thought he would be like the detectives in novels, solving countless mysteries, upholding justice for the wronged, and fighting evil forces. But after arriving here, he realized that being a detective was only suitable for dreams. Most of his time was spent catching thieves, beating up hooligans, and sometimes even helping people catch cats and dogs.

He was on duty tonight, and his two colleagues were older, so he let them go to the rest room to take a nap while he stayed outside.

Young people might not be good at other things, but they're pretty good at staying up late.

Around twelve o'clock, he heard footsteps outside and expertly pulled out his notebook, waiting for the person outside to come in.

It was most likely someone who had lost their wallet or phone, or maybe they had a fight and came here to continue arguing.

Half a minute later, two men pushed a man sitting in a wheelchair inside. He stood up and said, "Gentlemen, do you need any help?"

"Hello, I'd like to report a case."

"Okay, please tell me what happened."

"Six years ago, a stepfather r*ped his underage daughter, causing her to collapse and commit suicide." Shen Chang'an handed the letter to the police. "This letter contains the victim's account. I hope the police can give her justice."

The pen in Lu Ding's hand stabbed into the notebook. He suddenly looked up and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"

"You'll know after reading the letter."

Lu Ding opened the letter and read it. Most of the letter was about a girl's gratitude towards another boy. Only at the end of the letter did the writer mention the reason for her suicide.

She was bullied at school, harassed by her stepfather, and scolded by her mother for being shameless and seducing her stepfather. Finally, she was…

In this letter, he seemed to see the painful life of a young girl. The only warmth in her life was this boy named "Shen Chang'an." So she wanted to study hard, get good grades, and go to the same university as him.

However, this beautiful dream was shattered by her stepfather and mother.

"What's your relationship with the victim?" Lu Ding took a deep breath. If the contents of this letter were true, then this stepfather was no different from a beast.

"I was her high school classmate. Unfortunately, this letter only reached me now." Shen Chang'an lowered his eyelids, looking a little dejected. "Otherwise, I would have reported it long ago."

"You're the Shen Chang'an mentioned in the letter?" Lu Ding stood up with the envelope and said to Shen Chang'an, "Please wait here. I'll call my colleagues to come and handle this case."

Shen Chang'an nodded.

After the young policeman left, Shen Chang'an turned to Dao Nian and asked, "Dao Nian, are you sleepy?"

"No." Shen Chang'an couldn't see, but Dao Nian could see clearly that the young policeman who had just spoken to Shen Chang'an had a strong sense of justice and was blessed with good fortune. Therefore, this case would definitely be investigated thoroughly.

Shen Chang'an was about to say something else when he heard hurried footsteps approaching. He paused, turning his head to look at the police officers walking towards him.

"You're the one who reported it?" The police officer asking the question looked to be in his forties or fifties, appearing very composed. His tone sounded like he was simply doing his job, unlike the younger police officer earlier, who had spoken with a personal bias.

Shen Chang'an nodded.

The middle-aged police officer gestured for Shen Chang'an and the others to sit down. Other officers poured them hot water in paper cups.

"Thank you very much for your courage in reporting this matter to us when you discovered it." The middle-aged police officer said, "We will investigate this case thoroughly. To help us handle this case more accurately and effectively, we hope Mr. Shen can provide us with more relevant information. Of course, if you don't have any, don't worry. Little Lu has already told us about the incident."

"I do."

The few police officers on duty were all startled. They had only asked as a matter of routine, not expecting a classmate who had only seen the letter six years later to be able to provide much evidence. Who knew the other party actually had other clues.

"On the balcony of the victim's house, there's a hole. Before she died, she hid a diary and a USB drive there." Shen Chang'an wasn't afraid of the police asking him why he knew this. He just wanted justice for Lin Cui.

"Okay, thank you for providing this clue." The middle-aged police officer whispered a few words to his colleagues. Shen Chang'an couldn't hear them clearly, but he vaguely heard words like "report," "evidence," and "as soon as possible.

"There's one question we'd like to ask." The middle-aged police officer glanced at Shen Chang'an. "Since you only saw this letter six years later, how did you know the victim hid these things on her balcony before she died?"

After asking this question, the middle-aged police officer saw the young man silently lower his head. As a police officer with years of experience, his first thought was that this young man might have known something all along, but he was afraid of getting into trouble when he was younger, so he didn't dare to speak up...

"She told me."

Hearing this, the middle-aged police officer wasn't surprised at all. As expected.

"Thank you, Mr. Shen. We will investigate this case as soon as possible. Also, please keep your phone accessible. If necessary, you may be needed to help with this case."

"Okay, thank you." Shen Chang'an nodded, filling out a personal information form. "I hope you can find out the truth soon and get justice for Lin Cui."

The middle-aged police officer nodded silently. Every time they saw such victims, they felt sad too.

***

After Shen Chang'an and the others left, the police worked overnight. After reporting to their superiors, they went to the victim's house early the next morning. Without much effort, they found the notebook and USB drive left by the victim on the balcony.

After comparing the handwriting with the victim's previous writings, they could confirm that the letter written to Shen Chang'an and the contents of the notebook were written by the victim herself.

But the contents of the notebook left the police officers gasping for breath.

To find more evidence, they not only recovered the audio and photos from the USB drive, but also visited the victim's former teachers, classmates, relatives, and former neighbors. In the end, all signs pointed to the victim being abused by her stepfather.

What disgusted them the most was that after the stepfather was arrested, he refused to admit his crime and claimed that the victim had seduced him. The victim's mother kept saying that for the sake of their husband and children, they hoped he could be given a lighter sentence.

"You love the child you had with him like a treasure, but what about the little girl you forced to die?" Lu Ding was still young and couldn't stand this kind of behavior. "Isn't she your child too?"

Lin Cui's mother mumbled, "If she had been more self-respecting and not seduced her stepfather, how could this have happened?"

Hearing this, Lu Ding wanted to slap this woman, but he was pulled back to the office by his colleagues.

"Even her daughter's classmate could stand up bravely to get justice for her daughter, why did she say such things?" Lu Ding's face was flushed with anger. "And Lin Cui's biological father, he claims he knows nothing. Why did such parents have children?"

"Don't get upset, don't get upset." His coworker tried to comfort Lu Ding. "There are all kinds of people in this world. At least this girl has someone willing to stand up for her, to speak up for her. Maybe in corners we don't know about, there are people silently enduring pain, but no one stands up for them, no one says a word for them."

"But we did find something strange when we were investigating this case." Seeing Lu Ding's emotions gradually calm down, a colleague continued, "When the reporter came in, we thought he already knew the truth, but had been afraid to speak up all these years. However, during the investigation, we found that he had almost no interaction with the victim when they were classmates, and after the victim dropped out of school, he didn't show any particular signs of distress. All signs pointed to the fact that he might not even know about the victim's suicide. When we visited the victim's former high school homeroom teacher, he also confirmed our suspicions."

"More importantly, the reporter was an excellent and enthusiastic student in high school, and he even made the newspaper for his act of bravery."

"So, do you think someone like that would choose to remain silent, knowing that their classmate had gone through this?"

A chill ran down Lu Ding's spine: "So, how did he know the victim put the diary and the USB drive on the balcony?"

"Maybe... it's the victim's dream?" One colleague said, half-joking, half-serious.

This kind of case isn't unheard of. Many years ago, a victim's body was missing a part, and no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find it. Later, the victim's sister, who lived thousands of li away, suddenly dreamed that her sister told her how uncomfortable she was lying in a certain place. Finally, the police went to the place the sister dreamed of and actually found the missing part of her sister's body.

"But..." Lu Ding whispered, "From the time the reporter received the letter from the head teacher to the time he came here to report the case, it was less than two hours. He also found an injured person at the school and called an ambulance. Do you think... he had time to dream?"

The police officers fell silent.

***

The morning after filing the report, Shen Chang'an woke up early. He put on his thick pajamas, stood on the balcony, and watched Shen Tu, who was wearing a thin jacket and looking up at the sky in the courtyard, for a while. Then he went downstairs, opened the door, and walked in front of Shen Tu.

"Shen Tu, I want to talk to you."

Shen Tu, who was staring at the sky, almost twisted his neck. He took two steps back. "What's up?"

No, no, no, you absolutely must not mention last night. I don't want to chat at all.

Old Zhao, is your breakfast ready? Why haven't you called Shen Chang'an to eat yet?!

"I want to talk to you about what happened last night." Shen Chang'an saw that Shen Tu's expression was a bit stiff. "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you."

Shen Tu: But he's afraid that the master will do something to him.

Isn't it better for us to believe in science peacefully? Why do we need to discuss such profound topics as gods and ghosts?