Chapter 57: Amethyst!

Curiosity!
Surprise!
Doubt...

Along Anyan Road, the gazes cast by the police officers toward Shen Ting were filled with a multitude of emotions.

Previously, every time they found a scrap of paper, they would exclaim once more at how impeccably accurate Shen Ting's investigative train of thought truly was!

Almost 100% of the locations and investigative directions he designated yielded discoveries.

The accuracy was simply astonishing!

It felt as though following Shen Ting on an investigation required neither independent thought nor asking why.

Just shut down the brain and strike wherever pointed!

After all, even if one asked, it would be impossible to figure out, let alone comprehend.

Ever since becoming criminal police officers, this was the first time they felt investigating a case could be this effortless.

Zheng Yuanqiao and Qin Shan both walked up to Shen Ting with smiles:

"Shen Ting, we really owe this all to you!

Although we haven't found Yin Tingxue and Gao Ya yet, the progress on this end is much faster than we anticipated."

"Indeed!

If we can find more paper scraps, we might be able to pinpoint their exact location directly.

By the way, did you make any discoveries on your end?"

Shen Ting shook his head: "This perpetrator is somewhat peculiar!"

Both of them were quite surprised:

"Even you didn't manage to find a suspicious location?"

"It doesn't matter!

After those paper scraps were sent back to the forensic identification room, Director Ma did a preliminary study and just informed us that they've confirmed the presence of numerous foreign substances on the paper.

They are currently stepping up the identification process.

If we can determine what those foreign substances are, it might help us lock down the murderer or identify the suspicious location."

Foreign substances?

This new clue was something Shen Ting was unaware of.

Moreover, since Yin Tingxue had sent out new cards the night before, theoretically, they shouldn't have had too many foreign substances attached to them.

"Perhaps the foreign substances came from the killer?"

Shen Ting's eyes lit up.

Right now, the evidence directly linked to the perpetrator was far too scarce.

Consequently, it was impossible to determine the perpetrator's "fetishes"!

If the foreign substances truly originated from the killer, it might reveal some information about them.

This would be immensely important for locating the body-dumping or captivity site, determining the killer's modus operandi, and even confirming the killer's identity.

Filled with anticipation, Shen Ting's peripheral vision suddenly caught a flash of purple.

He froze for a moment and looked in that direction.

Xiong Beibei, resembling a wild bear, was at the front of the path, holding a snow shovel and clearing the snow from the roadside.

The police officers following closely behind him were meticulously searching through the shoveled snow.

The flash of purple had come from a shovelful of snow he had just cleared.

The midday sunlight shining upon it made that patch of purple particularly conspicuous.

Xiong Beibei himself remained entirely oblivious, plunging his shovel down once more, lifting a massive stack of snow, and slamming it directly over the purple object.

"Brother Xiong, wait..."

"Wait? Wait for what?

Are we going to eat? I'm starving to death!"

Xiong Beibei straightened up by the roadside and patted his belly.

Zheng Yuanqiao and Qin Shan, standing before Shen Ting, also looked at him in confusion.

Xu Xinyi quickly chimed in: "Shen Ting, did you find something?"

"Follow me!"

Shen Ting led the group over to the pile of snow Xiong Beibei had just shoveled.

Donning his white gloves, he scooped up the entire patch of snow containing the "purple" object beneath it and placed it into an evidence bag.

During evidence collection, whenever possible, one should endeavor to retrieve the object to which the physical evidence adhered, or the objects in direct contact with it, together.

Clues might also linger on those objects.

Everyone crowded closer to peer into the evidence bag, their eyes filled with curiosity:

"A bead?"

"A glass bead?"

"What kind of sensible person grinds glass into a bead and drills a hole through it?

It must be agate!"

"Could it be jade?!"

Shen Ting shook his head, his expression complex: "It's crystal, amethyst.

It probably belongs to Gao Ya!"

Last Friday night, when Shen Ting went to pick up Shen Manman, he had returned the bracelet Gao Ya had lent him.

At that time, she had proudly shown him a new amethyst bracelet!

The crucial point was:

Common amethysts were all ground into spherical beads.

Yet Gaoya's bracelet consisted of 8x9 barrel-shaped beads.

This amethyst bead found in the snow was also a barrel-shaped bead, and its dimensions were likewise 8x9.

Shen Ting explained the reasoning to everyone, prompting Xu Xinyi to gasp in astonishment:

"Doesn't that mean this amethyst very likely came from Gao Ya?

And Gao Ya's and Yin Tingxue's movement trajectories overlap as well.

So, can we now confirm that both of them were attacked by the same person and then went missing together?"

"It should be!"

Shen Ting nodded.

The crucial point was that the amethyst, much like the solicitation cards, was clearly discarded as a plea for help.

That bracelet was something Gao Ya had specifically highlighted to him; she was very likely signaling him for help.

In other words, Shen Ting's previous hypothesis was most likely wrong.

Gao Ya was not a perpetrator, nor was she a serial killer.

Just like Yin Tingxue, she had been attacked.

Furthermore, she had not died on the spot!

The incident had not occurred long ago, and she still had a significant chance of survival.

"Then what about that WeChat reply?"

If Gao Ya was in danger and yet able to use a mobile phone, shouldn't she have immediately called for help?

Shen Ting pondered for a moment, but failed to figure it out.

He opened the detective chat group:

"I have a question!

A person might be killed at any moment, yet they are able to use a mobile phone.

Under what circumstances would this person not call for help, but instead send a message confessing their love to someone they fancy?"

Tang Ren: "Isn't that simple? A brain-dead romantic~~"

[Reminder: Tang Ren has been muted by the group owner for three days!]

Goro Shinozaki: "Indeed simple, I've experienced it.

Being in danger yet delaying a call for help indicates she could not use her phone at all times.

Perhaps she temporarily obtained an opportunity to use a phone.

Survival is humanity's greatest instinct, far surpassing romance.

Yet she didn't use the phone to call for help, but instead confessed, likely because she knew she was beyond saving, knowing that calling for help was futile, hence the confession."

Beyond saving?

Shen Ting's just-relaxed mood tightened once more.

kikO: "That doesn't sound right ⚆_⚆?

One can confess over a phone call too!

If she's beyond saving and might die at any moment, isn't typing much more time-consuming, more troublesome, and prone to leaving regrets if she doesn't finish typing?

Wouldn't it be better to make a call and listen to the other person's voice?"

Hannibal: "This is also simple.

Not calling, but typing instead, could be because she was unable to speak.

For instance, her tongue was cut out.

As everyone knows, tongues are quite delicious and can be prepared in numerous ways; it's completely normal for a killer to prioritize cutting out the tongue!"