Chapter 26

An hour later, Ruan Mingxi and Ying Shi came out of the room, both looking displeased.

Jiang Xuzhou was sitting at Ruan Mingxi’s desk. When he saw him come out, he put down his pen. “Not going well?”

Ruan Mingxi set down what he was holding and sighed, “He answered everything with ‘I don’t know.’ No matter what we asked, he claimed ignorance.”

“We investigated his whereabouts and communications during this period. He hasn’t contacted Gao Hai for more than half a year.”

Ruan Mingxi was both angry and speechless. No wonder there had been no response to the coordination notice after so long.

Although the DNA laboratory results had not yet come out, with the heart stent as evidence, the victim’s identity could basically be confirmed as Gao Hai.

From the moment they learned about the stent in the morning, they had been busy until now.

Ruan Mingxi gathered the members of the special investigation team for a meeting in the conference room, and Lin Peixin was also called over.

“Based on the heart stent found in the forensic autopsy room, we identified its owner as Gao Hai. From the current evidence, Gao Hai is very likely one of the victims in the 12·18 dismemberment case.”

Ruan Mingxi projected Gao Hai’s personal information onto the big screen. “According to our investigation, Gao Hai’s social connections were simple. Because of his heart condition, he had long dealings with hospitals. His personality was withdrawn, he had few friends, and after his parents divorced, they continued to neglect him.”

“If Gao Hai is confirmed as one of the victims, then his common trait with Yan Zhan is that both were withdrawn in personality,” Zhang Shuang immediately pointed out.

“But the difference is that although Yan Zhan’s relationship with Director Yan was somewhat delicate, his family cared about him. That’s why they were the first to report his disappearance.”

Ruan Mingxi wrote down a piece of information on the whiteboard. “That’s one common point. Any others?”

Zhang Shuang added, “Given Gao Hai and Yan Zhan’s circumstances, the possibility of their deaths being due to personal vendetta is much lower.”

Considering their ages and the fact that they had no connection, it was clear that the likelihood of their deaths being caused by emotional disputes was also very low.

Jiang Xuzhou looked down, and his expression suddenly changed.

When Ruan Mingxi turned his head, he caught sight of Jiang Xuzhou’s subtle change in expression. “Consultant Jiang, did you discover something?”

Jiang Xuzhou hadn’t expected to be called out directly. It felt like being in class and suddenly being picked by the teacher to answer a question.

“If I’m not mistaken, Yan Zhan’s blood type is also AB Rh negative.”

After a brief moment of surprise, Jiang Xuzhou quickly adjusted his emotions.

Lin Peixin gave him a confirming answer. “Yes, Yan Zhan’s blood type is AB Rh negative.”

Seeing the two exchange glances with such tacit understanding, Ruan Mingxi frowned slightly.

He thought to himself: he had only gone to the hospital once, so when did these two become so close?

Jiang Xuzhou looked at Lin Peixin, silently asking with his eyes whether he should be the one to speak.

“You go ahead.”

Jiang Xuzhou immediately said, “This morning when I was discussing the case with Division Chief Lin, he mentioned one point: the atria and ventricles of the four victims contained no blood. Moreover, from the body parts retrieved by the field investigators, no traces of blood were found on the surface of the remains.”

“When a body is dismembered, whether done before death or after death to facilitate disposal, it is unavoidable that bloodstains will be present. Yet in the recovered body parts and bones, none were found. Aside from possible external factors during disposal, could it be that the killer deliberately cleaned away the bloodstains?”

Ruan Mingxi’s heart tightened. To dismember and then wash the body parts and bones was indeed a very strange act.

“The disappearance of blood is certainly odd, but at present we cannot conclude that their deaths were caused by having the same blood type.”

Jiang Xuzhou nodded. “Understood.”

Ruan Mingxi added, “Still, this is a point worth paying attention to.”

Rh negative blood is already rare, and they happened to be the even rarer AB Rh negative type.

Just then, Ruan Mingxi suddenly received a phone call.

It was Ren Xian, who had gone to check Gao Hai’s home. “Captain, Gao Hai’s house has a lot of medicine. I searched through them, and these don’t seem to be for treating heart disease. I’ve already sent you photos, please check them.”

Hearing this, Ruan Mingxi immediately switched the phone to speaker mode and transferred the photos Ren Xian sent into the computer as files.

“We found instructions for taking the medicine in his home, as well as a purchase list. The date shows they were bought on the 12th of last month. The packages are already opened, and the quantities clearly reduced, so they must have been taken recently.”

On the projected screen, a pile of drug names appeared. Jiang Xuzhou’s eyes were immediately drawn to Metiamide (甲氰咪胍).

“Wow, so many medicines. Are they all for treating his heart condition?” Lin Cheng was shocked. “Medicine is three parts poison*. With his weak heart, taking so many drugs daily—can his body even handle it?”

(*三分毒 means “medicine is three parts poison,” a proverb meaning all medicine has side effects.)

Ruan Mingxi asked, “Do we know what these medicines are used to treat?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Peixin replied, “Porphyria.”

“What kind of disease is that?”

Everyone was completely confused, none of them had ever heard of this illness.

Lin Peixin explained. “Porphyria is a blood disease, also called vampire disease. It is caused by an enzyme deficiency during the process of hemoglobin synthesis. The main symptoms appear after exposure to light, such as erythema, blisters, and ulcerations, accompanied by abdominal pain and nausea.”

The people in the conference room were all stunned. Just a few minutes earlier, Jiang Xuzhou had raised the possibility that the same blood type might be an issue, and now it was immediately confirmed.

Jiang Xuzhou’s eyes flickered slightly, his breathing grew heavier, and he lowered his gaze in thought, unsure of what was running through his mind.

Ying Shi’s throat moved as he swallowed, finally recovering from the shock. He suddenly turned to look at Ruan Mingxi.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. This morning we asked Liang Sheng, Gao Hai’s attending doctor. He said that when Gao Hai was discharged, apart from being weaker than normal, his condition was very good. He never mentioned porphyria at all.”

Ruan Mingxi’s face darkened. “Is porphyria a disease that can be contracted later in life?”

Lin Peixin replied, “The cause is unclear, but this illness is hereditary. If Gao Hai had porphyria, then either Gao Xiang or someone in Gao Hai’s mother’s family must also have it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ruan Mingxi immediately walked out the door.

Gao Xiang had been noisily insisting on leaving, but Ruan Mingxi’s sudden appearance silenced him at once. Clearly, the lingering intimidation from the feather duster was still present.

“Do you or anyone in Gao Hai’s mother’s family have porphyria?” Ruan Mingxi asked bluntly.

Gao Xiang was stunned, “What illness?”

At that moment, the people coming out of the conference room happened to hear this question.

Gao Xiang looked completely confused about porphyria, and after learning what the illness was, he repeatedly denied it.

He also insisted that on Gao Hai’s mother’s side, he could guarantee there was no such hereditary disease.

Gao Xiang and Gao Hai’s mother’s family were well‑known to him. Since they all came from the same village, any family issue would be widely known by everyone there.

“If I had known her family had this hereditary disease, how could I possibly have married her?” Gao Xiang swore firmly.

If that was the case, then why were there so many medicines for treating porphyria in Gao Hai’s home?

Or was it that Liang Sheng, during the questioning earlier that morning, had lied?