Chen Shi asked, "Is he going to die?"

When everyone heard the word "die", everyone frowned nervously. This was a question they wanted to ask but dared not to.

The doctor said, "Before we figure out the poison in him, we can’t make a conclusion. However, his breathing is still stable, so it shouldn’t be too big a problem.”

A nurse came in and held a tray in their hand. The doctor said, "We need to first inject him with a detoxification serum and wait for the blood tests to come out before we discuss a detailed treatment."

The doctor loaded the syringe and rolled up Peng Sijue’s sleeves. As the doctor was about to inject him, Peng Sijue suddenly grabbed the doctor’s hand as if he was a fake corpse[1] and said with difficulty, "Don't… detoxify!"

"Captain, are you awake?" everyone excitedly exclaimed.

Peng Sijue’s eyeballs kept moving, as if he was struggling to get rid of a nightmare. Under the anxious gazes of everyone, he finally opened his eyes and continued with difficulty, “I did it myself.”

"What?" Chen Shi asked.

"Isoflurane... Wanted to test... Concentration..."

"What do you mean?" everyone queried.

Chen Shi straightened up and said, "I understand now. He inhaled isoflurane and used himself as a guinea pig to judge the concentration of the drug left in the blood the next day."

Lin Dongxue was so angry that she teared up, "Why didn’t you inform me first?"

Peng Sijue's tongue slowly recovered. He said slowly, "You wouldn’t have allowed it. Only this method can be used to find out whether the deceased inhaled additional anesthetic."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after knowing of the false alarm. The doctor said, “Since it’s isoflurane, then there shouldn’t be negative side-effects. That was just a normal reaction to the drug.”

Peng Sijue lay there for the night. Lin Dongxue left two police officers to guard him. On the way home, Lin Dongxue didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry. At the same time, she was also touched. In order to solve the case, Peng Sijue actually committed to his research to that extent.

In the case meeting the morning after, Lin Dongxue mentioned this incident and everyone was astounded. They cast surprised but admiring gazes at the recently recovered Peng Sijue. He looked indifferent even though he was the object of everyone’s attention.

Then, Lin Dongxue talked about the robbery at 9:00pm on December 10th over at Xinglian Road. The officers who visited the little gang’s members yesterday said, "The kids’ responses were all the same. The recollection of events and the route they took were exactly the same.”

"Yeah, it has been so long. I am afraid that there’s no evidence left."

"In fact, there is no need for evidence," Chen Shi said. "These kids all have poor character. We should isolate them from each other and interrogate them. I think we can incriminate them within a day.”

This was a sly idea that came close to crossing into the darkness. To interrogate without substantial evidence was easy to cross the line of illegal detention. Lin Dongxue was afraid to decide upon it immediately and asked, “What are everyone’s opinions on this?”

The police officers all expressed their own stances. “We can try it.”, "I think Brother Chen’s idea is feasible.", "The question is: are we 100% sure that they were the ones who did it? If we make a mistake, we might incur a lawsuit.”

Lin Dongxue took their opinions into consideration. "This group of people is practically nocturnal. Why don’t we collect clues in the morning? If we find out that they did it, then we can interrogate them.”

With that, everyone went out together to Xinglian Road to find clues. They went to the luxury store that was robbed and the boss welcomed them enthusiastically, "You guys came! Have you found the criminals behind the robbery?”

Lin Dongxue showed her badge to the boss. "We are the criminal police. We have taken over the case. So, can you tell me everything that you know?"

The boss said, "We installed an alarm system in the store. When the incident happened, I received a notification on my mobile phone and immediately rushed over. The local police had arrived as well. The scene was a mess and the glass door was broken to pieces. The shelves were all pulled down. I lost goods worth about 200,000 yuan. The clerk, Little Wang, stayed in the store that night and had his head broken. Blood flowed all over the ground. He’s still in a coma at the hospital right now!”

Lin Dongxue noticed that the amount of loss that the boss said was different from what the police said. Perhaps to get a higher insurance pay-out, they deliberately raised the value that they’d lost.

She did not care about this minor detail and said, "I noticed that this store has a rolling-gate installed. How did they get in?"

"The lock was broken by them. The police said that they might have used a screwdriver or a hammer to force it open it. Ah yes, these brats even peed on the bags making the whole place stink of urine.”

"Was the urine sampled?"

"Huh? No."

"We’ll take a look around."

"Okay."

The store had been restored to how it was before. Lin Dongxue walked towards the middle of the shelves and found that it displayed many LV bags. She couldn’t understand luxury goods like this. The logo was printed all over the item as if to let the whole world know what the brand was. It wasn’t elegant at all but they were so expensive.

Lin Dongxue asked for Chen Shi’s opinion, “Should we try to find the missing items on second-hand markets?”

Chen Shi asked the boss through one of the shelves. "What kinds of bags were lost?"

The boss came over and pointed out a few items. Chen Shi questioned, "Were they all women’s satchels?"

Lin Dongxue said, "The designs are pretty old-fashioned or tacky. The robbers’ aesthetics weren’t that great.”

The boss agreed, "Fortunately, they don’t know what the good products are. My most expensive Speedy and Artsy have not been taken."

Chen Shi glanced and said, "Wow, it’s pretty. It’s a lot more beautiful than the typical LV bags.”

"The Speedy style is simpler and is suited for young girls. A lot of popular celebrities use this one. Artsy is a classic bohemian style. Luxurious but still down to earth. Sir, do you want to consider buying one for your girlfriend?” The boss took the opportunity to try and sell some goods.

The things in the store were not marked with the price. This was a trick that these merchants used to prevent customers from turning away after looking at the price tag. Chen Shi asked, “How much is it?”

The boss said a price that made Chen Shi pull a face[2]. Chen Shi’s coughed in embarrassment. “I don’t think it looks that good.” Lin Dongxue laughed behind her hand.

The boss said, "The goods are as good as your money’s worth. We import genuine products here. This is the main store in Long'An City. There are more than a dozen branches around. It is absolutely genuine! Paying this price, you can use the same bags as a Hollywood star.”

"Okay, okay, but I really can't afford it!"

The police officers who went to investigate down the street came back one after another and reported to Lin Dongxue. The people they questioned indeed reported that they were informed of the police inspections on the day, so the nightclubs and dance halls of this street closed early and their surveillance cameras were not turned on.

Upon hearing the news, the boss glanced downwards. "Can you catch the criminals?"

Chen Shi said with suspicion, "Do the police do regular inspections?"

Lin Dongxue said, "Definitely not. The police can’t check them all at once either. Generally, the shops that were first investigated would inform the others in the same industry. What I’m wondering about is who informed them of this information.”

"Since the police were likely to come here for inspection, then why would they rob here? Wouldn’t that be going against a storm? Ah yes, you should ask the local police if they organized for an inspection that day.”

Lin Dongxue made a few phone calls and said, "No!"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "I understand now. The news of the so-called police inspection was released by those brats!”

1. An expression that the author has used to talk about movement after death.

Even after death, the bacteria in the stomach and intestines are still active until they use up all potential food in the gut. As a byproduct of their metabolism they still produce gas just as they did when the body they were in was alive. But without the body’s movement and peristalsis, the gas doesn’t migrate down to the anus and released as farts as easily as in life, it can just build up and bloat the abdomen.

If that happens, eventually there might be enough gas pressure to cause the body to move. It’s unlikely that it “sat up” all the way like a live person but in some circumstances there could be enough pressure to cause the body to appear as if it’s trying to sit up. The movement then causes the esophagus to straighten out, thus releasing the gas and the body falls back down.

As the gas is released it may cause a moaning sound in the same way that an inflated balloon can make a sound if the air inside is suddenly released. It’s really just a sort of huge, mega-burp.

2. https://emojis.wiki/emoji-pics/messenger/grimacing-face-messenger.png