Chapter 1

Late summer, the evening shadows lengthened. Several police cars were parked at the foot of Building Seven in the Wanhe Residential Complex. Blue and white police tape formed a circular perimeter around the entrance. Two criminal investigators stood inside the cordon, blocking the gazes that strained to peer inside.

On the second floor, in Apartment 20, the forensic team had arrived. A crime scene photographer documented the overall scene. The trace evidence unit examined the apartment for fingerprints, footprints, and other trace evidence. The physical and biological evidence unit was responsible for collecting samples of blood, tissue fragments, and other biological evidence.

To avoid contaminating potential evidence, officers used dozens of palm-sized stepping plates to create temporary walkways over areas where footprints were absent. These pathways led to the body in the living room.

Two forensic doctors, clad in protective suits, crouched beside the corpse. One examined the body's exterior, while the other recorded observations on a human anatomical chart and made an audio recording of their findings.

"Zhang Cuilian, female, 67 years old, body length 162 cm, normal development, moderate nutrition, skin tone dull yellow. Lividity is purplish-red, located on the occipital region of the head, neck, back, sacrum, and underside of the limbs in areas not subjected to pressure. Does not blanch to the touch. Greenish discoloration present on the abdomen..."

"Meow, meow, meow..."

"Woof, woof..."

The alternating sounds of cats and dogs were also captured in the forensic doctor's audio recording.

Zhang Cuilian had kept three cats and four dogs. In the two days since her death, these animals had caused significant disruption to the crime scene. It took considerable effort from the young officers in the physical and biological evidence unit to confine the cats and dogs to cages—these animals were also considered "biological evidence."

Officer Wang, a veteran with over twenty years on the force, automatically tuned out the surrounding chaos. He stood in front of a shelf in the living room and gently picked up a framed photograph.

In the picture, Zhang Cuilian stood with her husband and son, smiling serenely. She had carefully permed, half-gray short hair and wore a glazed blue shirt with a floral and bird pattern, paired with straight, ankle-length trousers. Earrings, a necklace, and a ring completed her look.

A very elegant old lady. Unfortunately, fate had not been kind. Her husband had died of a myocardial infarction a few years prior, her son had also died in an accident, and now she herself...

Officer Wang placed the photo back on the shelf and turned to face the living room.

The body once known as "Zhang Cuilian" lay sprawled on the floor in a "大" shape. The blood, long since dried, radiated outward from the corpse, covering most of the living room floor in a dark red hue, like a clumsy, ugly ink painting.

A significant amount of muscle tissue was missing from the limbs. Only the bare white bones remained of the hands and feet, and all the fingers and toes were gone.

Even more bizarrely, the entire face, including the eyeballs, had vanished. Only fragments of the frontal bone, cheekbones, and mandible remained, connected by a thin layer of muscle, leaving behind empty, black eye sockets staring at the ceiling.

No face, no skin.

Officer Wang exhaled a breath of stale air. The mutilated corpse reminded him of something...

Unfinished pickled pepper chicken feet.

The association made his stomach churn. He stepped onto the temporary walkway and left Apartment 20, going downstairs to smoke.

The residents of the Wanhe Residential Complex were mostly elderly men and women who had been relocated due to urban redevelopment. They stood outside the police tape, the drizzle doing little to dampen their curiosity.

"I heard it was old Zhang from the second floor who had the accident, right?"

"Yeah, it's a pity about her. She lived alone. If the neighbor across the hall hadn't complained to the property management about the stench, I doubt anyone would have known she was gone..."

"Sigh, that's life. Here one day, gone the next. I was just shopping for groceries with her the other day. She seemed fine then. Who knows why she suddenly passed away..."

Inside the police line, Officer Wang listened to the idle chatter, a hint of disappointment creeping in.

The deceased had not participated much in the neighborhood's elderly activities, her social circle was small, and her social interactions were infrequent. Those around her didn't know much about her.

"Maybe it was diabetes."

From the crowd, a young man carrying a bag and holding a chive pancake said softly, "More precisely, complications caused by type 2 diabetes."

Huh?

Officer Wang abruptly raised his head. "Who are you?"

The ordinary high school student named Li Ang smiled. "I am the successor to gong chan zhuyi (communism), a delicate flower of the motherland, a red scarf doing good deeds without seeking recognition."

Who asked you that?

Slightly annoyed, Officer Wang glanced at Li Ang. "Did you know her?"

Li Ang replied, "No, I just saw her walking her dogs when I was playing badminton downstairs before."

"How do you know she had diabetes?"

"Just a guess."

Li Ang said casually, "I saw that she was overweight, had a ruddy complexion, dry skin, slow and weak gait, swollen lower limbs and feet, red and swollen fingers, ulcerated wounds on her arms, drooping eyelids, and recurring styes.

So, I guessed she had diabetes, and I even suggested that she pay attention to her diet, take her medication on time, exercise regularly, and get hospitalized for treatment as soon as possible. It's a pity..."

With that, Li Ang shook his head.

The surrounding crowd cast strange glances at Li Ang, and Officer Wang couldn't help but take a puff of his cigarette. "Young man, are you studying medicine?"

"When I was little, I had constipation. The doctor said a little glycerin enema would do the trick, but I put the whole bottle on my stool, and it still didn't work."

Li Ang said calmly, "After that, I read some medical books and became self-taught."

Young man, you really have remarkable bones. Could you be an idiot?

Li Ang looked at the police uniform Officer Wang was wearing and said with some envy, "Officer, I've always wanted to be a glorious people's police officer. That's why I often go to comic stores to read Detective Conan to improve my criminal investigation skills, and I even use a pencil to mark the murderer in the comics.

Last time, I bravely caught a thief in an amusement park and spent more than two hours negotiating with the suspect before the amusement park manager finally kicked me off the carousel."

Officer Wang's eyes twitched. Although there were many things wrong with what he said, he didn't know where to start. He could only extinguish his cigarette and turn to walk towards Building Seven.

"The windows on the second floor of Apartment 20 don't seem to be open." Li Ang raised his head and said casually, "I wonder what Zhang Da Ma's (Aunt Zhang) cats and dogs have been eating for the past two days."

Huh?

Officer Wang paused in his steps.

Li Ang continued, as if talking to himself, "If Zhang Da Ma fainted due to an acute complication of diabetes, her cats and dogs would have noticed that something was wrong with their owner and would have tried to wake her up by licking the skin on her body."

"Unfortunately, the attempt to wake their owner failed. Instead, the cats and dogs became agitated after licking broken skin and tasting blood. Coupled with the lack of food from their owner, the pets spontaneously began to look for something to eat."

"For example... their owner."

"Generally speaking, the face, which is uncovered by clothing and soft and boneless, would be eaten first, and the fingers, toes, forearms, and calves, which are easy to bite, would also be targets."

Li Ang didn't care about the strange looks from others, and just said with a smile,

"When a whale dies in the ocean, its body continues to sink to the seabed, eventually providing food for marine organisms such as hagfish, clams, and blind shrimp. Biologists call this process 'whale fall.' It is the whale's last tenderness to the ocean."

"The cycle of nature, life and death are commonplace..."