Chapter 121: The bureau’s mascot.

As soon as they stepped out of the cars, Liwu’s bad luck struck. It started to drizzle and her umbrella snapped in half. Almost as if the clouds had eyes, the rain doubled, but only around her.

[+300 points: A sudden shower.]

The points did not please her. She was just wet and miserable. The moment another umbrella was placed in her hands, the rain went away.

She muttered under her breath, “Well, I have met my daily quota for the day.”

Weijun handed her another trench coat and quipped. “I can’t help with the bad luck, but if you need a bridge built, I am your man.”

“Okay,” Chief Abby loudly called for their attention. “Follow me to the crime scene.”

The academy had a total of twelve buildings. The chief, and local officer led them to Professor Ce’s office. The elderly man lay slumped over his desk, papers scattered, chalk dust on his sleeve. No forced entry. Nos signs of struggle. Just silence.

“Not the professor!” Linlin gasped. “This is going to break hearts.”

Liwu crouched beside the body, “No wounds. No blood. He collapsed here, there are no signs of the body being moved. How long has he been dead?”

“He was found three hours ago.” The local officer told them. “The principal called the SOB as soon as she was informed. We were told not to touch the body and wait for you.”

Liwu pursed her lips. Why wait for them? There were precincts in Beijing witch capable detectives. There were agents too, that could take on the case. Why bring their team all this way?

Linlin pulled her finger away from the Professor’s hand. “He is dead, there is not much I can predict. All I feel is lingering sorrow.”

Xuanji was already lifting the paperwork gently without disturbing the crime scene. “He died surrounded by equations. How poetic. They say we all die in the middle of our obsessions. That is why I will die at my desk, with a virtual murder board at the age of two hundred.”

Reaper barked twice. “I smell many scents.”

“He had many students.” The local officer shared.

“But we will need to talk to the ones that were in here today.” Chief Abby specified.

The local officer put his hands on his belt, tipped his toes and said, “It could be a natural death and all this fuss is for nothing. He was an old man, maybe it was a heart attack.”

“I smell fear on him, not natural.” Reaper declared.

Weijun tilted his head. “Not really. If I was having a heart attack I would still be scared.”

Su Jin raised a tab. “According to SOB records, the professor had a full body check last week and he was in good health. His heart was in great condition, he worked out four times a week, sugar cholesterol, all normal. I am with Reaper, this was not a natural death.”

There was a flash of light and the coroner and his team were delivered. It was Doctor Qin Yue, an ME Liwu was familiar with. He didn’t like small talk. Usually, he just took the body straight to the coroner’s office and sent a report with his findings. If there was anything that required an explanation, his assistant did that for him.

He took the body while a tech investigation team took charge of the office. This left Liwu and her team to start their investigation.

Right outside the office, students had gathered. Their whispers filled the halls as they hurdled, eyes wide. Parents were already gathering at the gates, demanding answers. Not just them but townsfolk.

Chief Abby addressed the crowd of students. “We urge you all to stay calm. We will investigate this case thoroughly. Right now, we want to ask for your help. If any of you saw the professor or went inside his office between yesterday and today morning, please come forward.”

Back in the office, He Xiao Yi examined the desk. “He died on the desk but it is neat. The absence of a struggle combined with the lack of forced entry means whoever came here was trusted. He wasn’t afraid before death because he knew the visitor.”

Linlin leaned against the wall. “My instincts say the killer was one of the students.”

Majesty stretched across the desk. “If you ask me, it was the janitor. If someone dies in a school, always start with a janitor the same way you start with a husband when a wife is killed. I have never met a janitor that didn’t look suspicious.”

“You are a cat at a crime scene, what could be more suspicious than you?” He Xiao Yi snapped.

“True,” Majesty purred, “But I’m usually right. If the janitor didn’t do it, he knows who did it.”

Reaper barked again. Sniffing the floor, He darted behind the door, pawing at it. Liwu followed, finding faint footprints–small. light. A student’s shoes. In the steel garbage can was a whiff of smoke. Something had been burned inside in the last seven hours or less.

She bent over, picked up the can and emptied the contents. The others came over and squatted down, forming a circle around the contents.

“Everything has been burned, we will not get a thing from here.” Xuanji complained. He used a pen to rifle through black ash, searching for the smallest piece of paper. Something that would provide an answer.

Meanwhile Weijun was rifling through an album he found in the professor’s desk. There were pictures of him and the prodigies he had nurtured. They were now leaders, scientists, strategists that worked high up in the government or government facilities. A few were in the private sector, but they were just as successful.

“I can see why you were called in Liwu,” he said, whistling loudly, “A lot of eyes will be on this case. Having the daughter of the President of the SOB handling it personally will show them how serious the Bureau is taking the investigation into the professor’s death.”

Liwu replied dryly, “I already knew that. I am the bureau mascot.”

“No, I am the bureau mascot.” Majesty countered.

Weijun flipped to an empty page in the album. There were so many spaces left, all places for potential talents the professor was hoping to nurture in future. On the very last page, just before he closed the album, he found one last picture of a familiar face. “Oh, He Xiao Yi, isn’t this you with the professor? Why didn’t you mention that you went to school here?”

Xuanji lunged for the picture while Liwu turned to her frenemy, a dozen questions in her eyes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep