Gene Fusion System: Crime Hunter

"I didn't want to just let him leave after throwing down the money, so later I asked Da Ming to transfer it back to him via mobile phone, but he wouldn't accept it... My nephew is truly one of a kind, even in our village."

Zhou Guo'an said with a hint of pride and satisfaction.

"Alright, Uncle Zhou, we've got the good news. You should get some rest, we'll be leaving now."

Luo Fei said, refusing Zhou Guo'an's offer to stay, and turned to leave the Zhou family home.

As soon as they got in the car, the trio of Zhang Wei immediately began to make inferences.

"There's something fishy, this Zhou Guohua looks like he has something to hide!"

"Exactly, considering there's been such a big issue at his younger brother's home, he should at least visit. His behavior is abnormal."

"People in the countryside value blood relations the most. There's something off about this whole family!"

"Also, about those twenty thousand yuan that Zhou Guo'an mentioned, I feel like it was more of a form of compensation than a younger generation's respect to an elder, meant to ease a guilty conscience."

...

They were so engrossed in their heated discussion that they finally noticed Luo Fei hadn't said a word.

On the contrary, he was furrowing his brows as if troubled by something.

Zhang Wei quickly asked, "Leader, why aren't you saying anything? Do you think our guesses are wrong?"

"No, I think your speculations make a lot of sense."

"Then why..."

"I'm pondering a question. If the murderer really is the Zhou Guohua family, then how did they take away Zhou Kaieri, and where did they kill him to take his heart?"

Luo Fei sighed as he spoke, "This case is already three years old, and by now all the evidence is probably long gone. So how do we convict them?"

The excitement on their faces waned substantially.

Under the current judicial system, determining a person's guilt still primarily depends on whether the relevant facts and evidence are clear and conclusive. The suspect's confession only plays a minor role.

Which means even if they found the Zhou Guohua family and got them to confess to murder, without correlating evidence to support their crime, they couldn't be convicted.

After a brief silence, Luo Fei's phone rang. It was a call from Liao Xingyu.

"Luo Fei, have you guys found any leads on your end?"

"We visited the town's police station... According to Zhou Guo'an, Zhou Guohua has never seen him since the incident. However, Zhou Guohua's son, Zhou Dahua, was very generous to him, even forcing two thousand yuan on him before the New Year."

After hearing what they'd found, Liao Xingyu, having many years of investigative experience, also sensed something amiss.

But instead of jumping to a conclusion, he asked, "Luo Fei, what do you think?"

"We all agree there's something wrong with this family, but the problem now is that if we can't find any evidence, identifying their issues won't help us at all."

"... That's indeed a challenge. We just left the county hospital. Let's head back to the city immediately and check out the city hospital."

"I want to make a trip too. How about you wait a bit in the county, and we'll go back together."

"That works."

At midnight, in the cardiac surgery nurse station of the city hospital.

"Hello comrades, may I ask who is in charge of your department? We are from the city's criminal investigation team and would like to speak with the person in charge to know more."

Luo Fei showed his credentials and asked a young nurse.

"Our department head is Director Wang Honggang, but he's off duty now."

"Then who is responsible here at the moment?"

"It's our head nurse, but she and Dr. Lin are rescuing a patient in the next room right now, so you might need to wait a bit..."

"That's fine, no problem."

"Why don't you both have a seat over there? I'll call you when she comes out."

Thanking the young nurse, Luo Fei and Liao Xingyu sat on the bench in the corridor.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a few medical staff finally emerged from a room at the end of the hallway.

Catching sight of this, the young nurse was the first to approach them.

"Dr. Lin, Sister Wang, is the patient in bed 23 okay?"

"Yes, they've been temporarily out of life-threatening condition, but you still need to keep an eye on them. Check every half an hour."

"Got it. Oh, Sister Wang, there are two police officers looking for you..."

Nurse Wang, following the direction pointed by the young nurse, also saw Luo Fei and the others nearby.

"Okay, I understand. You go ahead with your work."

Wang Yan said, walking over to Luo Fei and his colleagues.

"Hello officers, I'm Wang Yan, head nurse of the cardiac surgery department. How can I help you?"

"Hello, Nurse Wang. Could we take a few minutes of your time for a chat? We want to know more about a certain situation."

"Sure, please follow me."

Wang Yan led both Luo Fei and Liao Xingyu to a nearby doctor's office.

"You may ask your questions, officers."

"Here's the situation: Nurse Wang, do you remember a four-year-old patient named Zhou Yucheng who was admitted here three years ago?"

"He should have had surgery here in May three years ago and then passed away in September due to a worsened condition... Here is a photo of the child's parents. See if they look familiar to you."

Luo Fei couldn't find a picture of Zhou Yucheng, so he handed over the photos of Zhou Dafu and his wife, copied from the police station.

"This couple, they seem a bit familiar to me..."

Wang Yan repeatedly scrutinized the photos, pondering, but hesitant to reach a conclusion. Suddenly, she called out towards the door, "Xiaofang, come have a look, will you?"

Soon, a nurse hurried in, "Sister Wang, you called me?"

"Xiaofang, take a look at these two. Are they the ones who disregarded pre-surgery warnings and fed their child improperly, almost causing a medical accident? Our entire hospital even had a special meeting to discuss it."

Looking at the photos handed to her, Xiaofang quickly nodded, "Yes, that's them!"

"That's right." Wang Yan returned the phone to Luo Fei, "Officers, I do have some memories of that child, but they didn't undergo surgery in our hospital."

"They didn't?" Luo Fei and Liao Xingyu looked puzzled.

"But according to the information we have, he supposedly had surgery here."

"Initially, they were supposed to. But later, some circumstances arose, and it didn't happen."

"What happened, Nurse Wang? Can you tell us?"

"Here's what happened: the child had a typical case of congenital heart disease with pulmonary hypertension."

"With today's advanced medicine, this condition isn't entirely unmanageable. Surgery holds great hope for recovery. Our doctors originally advised them to have surgery as soon as possible."

"However, the family was afraid of surgical risks, so they kept delaying, focusing instead on giving the child some alternative remedies and supplements... When the child was four, he had a severe episode."

"By the time they got to the hospital, the situation was already very dangerous. Fortunately, Director Wang and the team were experienced enough to save the child. To prevent a repeat, Director Wang and several attending physicians urged them to proceed with surgery quickly."

"But the family hesitated in making a decision, and after much effort, they finally convinced the child's mother, who reluctantly agreed. Yet later that day, the child's father suddenly disappeared."

"In the end, only the child's mother signed the surgical consent form, scheduling the surgery for the next day. The father only returned at midnight, and that wasn't even the most infuriating part."

"We had specifically instructed the family beforehand that the child must fast for twelve hours before surgery. Surprisingly, the couple secretly fed the child anyway and didn't inform us."

"If it weren't for Xiaofang discovering the thermal container during her morning rounds and asking about it, who knows what might have happened."

Xiaofang, still present, couldn't help but nod and agree, "I was pretty mad then, as this could have led to a fatal outcome."

"So I scolded them a bit, and their father ended up yelling back at us in the ward... Dealing with unreasonable family members sometimes renders one speechless."