Chapter 95: DNA Identification
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
“What did you find?”
Two hours later, after seeing X off after looking at the old photos, Chu Feng received a call from the DNA identification center:
“Chief Chu, we’re sorry, but we couldn’t extract anything from the utensils you sent us. There was no DNA, not even a single fingerprint.”
Chu Feng was silent for two seconds. X had bandages on his hands, so the absence of fingerprints could be explained, but it was strange that they couldn’t find any DNA. Spoons, chopsticks… all had been in his mouth.
“Are you sure it was the utensils I sent over?”
“Yes, Chief Chu. Let me immediately send you a video to confirm.”
“Okay. Thank you.” Chu Feng hung up and immediately contacted the restaurant staff.
“Yes, yes, Chief Chu, we followed your instructions throughout the process, and we didn’t touch those utensils at all. They were sent to the identification center with zero contact, absolutely no cleaning was done.”
After understanding the situation, Chu Feng opened WeChat, and the person from the DNA identification center had already sent a real-time video. Chu Feng looked at the remnants of food in the bowl, confirming that it was indeed the utensils they had used.
Chu Feng: “Are you sure you couldn’t find any traces at all?”
DNA identification center: “Yes, Chief Chu. We’re very sorry. We couldn’t find anything from those utensils. Not only DNA, but we couldn’t even find a single fingerprint.”
It was as clean as if no one had ever used them.
Chu Feng stared at the video, where the utensils X had used were neatly packaged on the experimental table. There was still some soup left in the bowl, less than half of a small bowl, not very clean, just like the utensils used by ordinary people in restaurants.
But it was strangely clean, without any crucial evidence.
At this moment, Chu Feng inexplicably thought of the time he investigated 13-year-old little Xie. At that time, the old detective held a dismemberment case from sixteen years ago and said:
“He’s definitely an old hand; the scene is too clean.”
At that time, Chu Feng remained silent. He was the only one in the world who knew that Xie Shiyu was only 13 years old at the time, committing his first crime.
***
Chu Feng reviewed the events of noon in his mind. He hadn’t left at any moment during the meal, and X had been under his watchful eye the whole time.
Just like two ordinary people eating a meal until the end, they sent the utensils to the DNA identification center. The center easily extracted his DNA and fingerprints, but X… had nothing.
Not having fingerprints could be explained by X’s hands being bandaged.
But why was his DNA missing?
After hanging up the phone, Chu Feng repeatedly played the real-time video sent by the DNA identification center.
There must have been something seemingly ordinary but actually wrong, allowing X to unwittingly erase potential DNA traces under his watchful eye…
***
Chu Feng compared the differences between the two sets of utensils.
The last thing he ate at noon was mushroom and egg stir-fry, with a bit of golden egg on the bottom of the bowl, along with some slight oil stains and sauce.
X had the last bowl of rose fish milk soup for lunch today. He had already had two bowls, and the last one was the third. He might have had trouble finishing it and left about a third in the bowl.
Soup…
Chu Feng stared at the small bowl of remaining soup, thinking about X’s food preferences. This guy’s likes were exactly like Xie Shiyu’s.
Xie Shiyu also somewhat liked the rose fish milk soup from this restaurant, and he would drink two or three bowls each time. Chu Feng remembered that every time Xie Shiyu came here for a meal, he would always finish with a bowl of rose fish milk soup.
—Chu Feng suddenly realized something. Memories of going out to eat with Xie Shiyu surged up, and almost every time, Xie Shiyu would drink a bowl of soup after the meal.
This wasn’t something worth noting; many people might have such dietary habits. But Chu Feng began to suspect today whether Xie Shiyu intentionally left some soup in the bowl every time, or if he always drank it all.
During meals, the utensils that could leave DNA in the mouth were the spoon and chopsticks. If the final drink was a bowl of soup deliberately left unfinished, then by simply stirring the spoon and chopsticks in the soup, all traces would disappear.
—When nearing the end of the meal, scooping a bowl of soup, drinking about a third, stirring the soup with the spoon, checking for any remaining food with the chopsticks, then putting the chopsticks back in the chopstick holder on the table. If the restaurant had a spoon holder, the spoon would be returned there, smiling at the dining companion and saying:
“I’m full. Let’s go.”
All actions were very natural. Leaving a bit of leftover soup in the bowl at the end of a meal was a very ordinary thing; no normal person would suspect it.
And the DNA left in the mouth, dissolved in that soup, disappeared without a trace.
So, Xie Shiyu would never leave DNA when eating out.
Chu Feng sat alone in the bedroom, suddenly laughing out loud. It was like discovering another unknown secret. After eating with Xie Shiyu for so many years, looking at thousands of meals…
Until today, he truly realized that Xie Shiyu had such a small habit, and thoroughly understood all the reasons behind this habit.
Xie Shiyu wasn’t a normal person. These seemingly ordinary habits, behind them, all the reasons were to eliminate traces to the greatest extent.
Chu Feng understood the judgment of the detective back then. The most common thing in this world was ordinary people; most people choose to be ordinary good people, and a few became ordinary bad people. Even if they turned to crime, they were still ordinary people.
Starting to do bad things, half-knowingly, panicked, through continuous interaction with the police, observing step by step, learning, understanding how the police investigated cases, gradually developing a strong counter-surveillance consciousness, and becoming an old hand.
This was the universal learning pattern of humanity. The difference was that some people learned positive things, while others learned crooked ways. But regardless of what they learned, these were skills developed through postnatal learning and cultivation. Maintaining a state of counter-surveillance at all times would exhaust most people mentally.
But not Xie Shiyu. It was like a kind of innate instinct, a natural reaction engraved in his bones, born with this talent.
God once gave him a dark invisibility cloak, allowing him to move freely.
But he took it off and put on a casual vacation shirt, holding someone’s hand, and spending his honeymoon on the sunniest tropical beach.
***
“Hey, good day, Chief Chu.”
“Hello, sorry, the DNA test this time is temporarily canceled,” Chu Feng said.
“…Are you sure you want to cancel it?”
“Yes.” Chu Feng: “Temporarily.”
Because of this small habit of drinking soup, this plan failed. Unable to extract X’s DNA from the utensils, the identification couldn’t be done. Scientifically, it still couldn’t be determined who X was.
But in reverse, a person who could have such a habit, who could, like Xie Shiyu, carry this instinct even if they had amnesia… In a sense, it was more telling than DNA identification, indicating that X was…
Chu Feng pinched the bridge of his nose, restraining his indulgent thoughts.
His current psychological state couldn’t afford another false hope; he would collapse if it happened again. He could only try to lower his expectations. Until the scientific results came out, if X wasn’t Xie Shiyu, then it wouldn’t be too painful.
“Chief Chu, then we’ll help you cancel it. We’ll also dispose of the utensils, and your fingerprints and DNA data collected from them will be merged and eliminated. Please rest assured.”
“Okay.” Chu Feng: “Thank you.”
“Chief Chu, about the clothes you just sent over, do you still need to continue extracting DNA from them? Or do you also want to cancel it?”
Chu Feng paused for a moment. “This one isn’t canceled. Do you have any results now?”
The personnel from the identification center said, “Because there’s too much stuff, we’re still extracting samples one by one. We’ve only screened about half of the clothes so far, and we haven’t found any DNA for now.”
Verifying DNA required collecting DNA from X and Xie Shiyu, then comparing the two to determine if they were the same person.
Although collecting X’s DNA was a bit difficult, X was still a living person, and this failed utensil plan still left room for another chance. But Xie Shiyu…
Chu Feng had already sorted out various old items belonging to Xie Shiyu and sent them to the DNA identification center, asking them to search for any possible DNA of Xie Shiyu.
Now it seemed very hopeless. If Xie Shiyu could eliminate his own DNA like this every time he ate, he would be very cautious in his daily life as well.
The key was that Xie Shiyu had been gone for two years, and Chu Feng would regularly clean his old clothes. Even if Xie Shiyu was relaxed at home and didn’t deliberately erase traces, the items that had been wiped for two years would be very difficult to leave any residue.
The identification center said, “Chief Chu, please rest assured, we will do our best to find it. If there’s even a tiny bit of residue left, we will extract it.”
“Okay.” Chu Feng: “Thank you.”
He had chosen a very trustworthy identification center; as long as the money was there, everything was negotiable. The best part was that this center had a closed computer system, so even if DNA fingerprint information was extracted, it couldn’t be transmitted elsewhere. Once deleted locally, it was completely destroyed, protecting the privacy of the identification personnel.
This was a point that Chu Feng valued greatly. He would never allow such important DNA information of Xie Shiyu to fall into someone else’s hands. Just in case, he also placed someone in the identification center. If Xie Shiyu’s DNA was extracted, after the comparison was completed, it must be ensured that it was destroyed as soon as possible.
“How long will it take to extract the DNA?”
“Chief Chu, it will take at least 24 hours because the clothes you brought are really… there are several large boxes, and we need to examine each one…”
Chu Feng nodded, “Hmm. Please do it as quickly as possible.”
“Understood.”
***
The 108th floor of the hotel.
Returning from Chu Feng’s home, X sat in the bedroom holding a whole package of old photos brought back from Chu Feng’s place.
He scrolled through them, overlooking the city below from the floor-to-ceiling window, where people looked like ants and cars moved like beetles, incessantly flowing day and night.
X went through one photo after another, mostly childhood photos of Chu Feng alone, wearing branded sports shirts and shoes.
Sometimes there would be a photo with another little boy, slightly taller than young Chu Feng, wearing clothes that didn’t seem branded, but also not cheap.
X carefully observed the shoes. The little boy’s shoes were a bit worn-out, with some glue peeling off the soles. It was evident that this kid came from a less affluent family.
One living in luxury, the other struggling, with a vast difference in their family backgrounds. But because they were in the same class in primary school, their relationship gradually improved. Then this little boy invited Chu Feng to his home to watch the swallows.
Sitting in a wheelchair, X outlined the outline of the situation. He began searching for Chu Feng’s solo photos, finally pulling out one of young Chu Feng…
It seemed to be from a second-grade sports event. Chu Feng and his childhood friend were participating in a three-legged race.
The race required them to fill their backpacks with all the textbooks for the semester and then run together with their legs tied.
The race began—
The photos were taken in succession… X held the photos, examining them with a magnifying glass:
Young Chu Feng carried a heavy blue backpack with letters embroidered on it:
adidas.
***
“Hello, this is the DNA Identification Center. How can I help you?”
X held the phone in one hand and a sealed bag containing a few strands of his own hair in the other.
“I have a sample to send. I need a DNA test.”
Want to show your support? Come donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
