Sang Tong rubbed the sweat from her face with her shoulder and fixed her gaze about three meters ahead.

A large patch of corn stalks in the middle of the field had already been broken, and a glaring patch of white appeared in the center of her view.

The hot wind blew through, and a rustling sound surrounded them, it was the sound of other colleagues collecting trace evidence.

Ye Jinchen took a few steps forward and lifted the white cloth. The already pungent smell instantly dispersed even more strongly. Without the cover, the stench—mixed with the scorched odor, rushed madly into their noses, choking and suffocating.

The scene beneath the white cloth was now completely exposed. It was a rotting corpse, burned to the point that the entire body had taken on a bizarre appearance.

August was a scorching month, and the charred corpse was already in an advanced state of decomposition. It seemed to have been gnawed by wild animals, making it look nearly unrecognizable. In some areas, maggots had begun to appear, making one’s scalp tingle.

Xu Ran had already examined the scene earlier, so he didn’t move forward again. He simply stood beside Sang Tong. He had originally assumed the young woman would be frightened to the point of vomiting upon seeing such a sight, but to his surprise, her calmness made him see her in a new light.

“You’ve been to a scene before?” he asked.

“Mm.” Sang Tong nodded.

Ye Jinchen observed the scene for a moment, then let go. The corner of the white cloth he’d lifted fell back down, covering the overwhelming stench once again. Although it didn’t help much, it was still better than leaving it uncovered.

“What do you think?” Ye Jinchen stood up and asked the question behind him.

“I think…” Xu Ran began seriously.

“Not asking you,” Ye Jinchen glanced at him.

Xu Ran paused, then saw that Ye Jinchen’s gaze had shifted to fall on Sang Tong.

Xu Ran: …

“Ah?” Sang Tong realized just then that Ye Jinchen was asking her. For a brief moment, she felt nervous, but quickly adjusted her composure.

She walked forward and gave the scene a quick scan. Ye Jinchen’s gaze remained on her, but it didn’t shake her too much.

“Reporting. Based on my observations, this likely isn’t the primary crime scene. There are no signs of burning in the surrounding area, and the corpse has bite marks from animals. It's highly probable that a wild animal dragged it here,” Sang Tong replied seriously.

She had already observed earlier that the marks on the corpse seemed to be from bites that occurred after the body had been burned. Also, there were drag marks in the soft cornfield soil, along with faint paw prints—likely from a stray dog or something similar.

“Indeed, we discovered a patch of scorched ash at another location, about thirty meters from here,” Xu Ran added.

The young woman’s observational skills weren’t bad. She’d held up well under this spot-check, and it gave Xu Ran a slightly better impression of Sang Tong. But… to stay in Team 8, sharp observation alone wasn’t enough.

“Let’s go take a look,” Ye Jinchen gave Sang Tong a glance, then quickly withdrew his gaze.

Sang Tong stole a glance at Ye Jinchen and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed her first little assessment had passed.

As expected of the provincial special task force cases team, they assigned her such a difficult case right away. The corpse’s face was already unrecognizable, trying to identify it by facial features was nearly impossible.

Burned to this extent, forget fingerprints—not even footprints would be found. The clothes on the body were completely scorched away. It would be very difficult to confirm the identity, they could only hope new evidence would emerge later.

This area was relatively remote, still quite a distance from the nearest path, and even farther from the more developed outskirts of the city.

The person who reported the case was the owner of the cornfield, a man in his fifties or sixties.

It wasn’t the harvest season, so normally he wouldn’t be coming to the field these days. Today, he had only come because he wanted to pick a few ears of corn while they were still tender, to cook and eat. But as soon as he arrived, he was hit with a strong stench. When he approached and saw the source, he was nearly scared unconscious, only then did he report the case.

Finding a corpse wasn’t an uncommon event for the bureau, but when the Special Investigation Unit was dispatched, especially Team 8—it meant the situation was serious.

Team 8

Within the Special Investigation Unit, Team 8 had always been a particularly unique presence. They usually handled only major or difficult cases.

Ordinary cases wouldn’t be assigned to Team 8. And any case that reached Team 8’s hands… was anything but ordinary.

This was already the third charred corpse case this year. The higher-ups were taking it very seriously. It had only been handed over to the Unit Team 8 after the second burned body was discovered, and now, just a few days later, the third case had arrived—so the pressure was squarely on the team 8.

On the other side of the cornfield, near the edge, a large patch of burned ash was visible—grayish-white and strikingly obvious. The air still carried a faint scent of gasoline.

“A bit further ahead, there’s a water puddle. There are also burn marks over there,” Xu Ran pointed.

“What about the gasoline container?” Ye Jinchen asked. They could smell gasoline at the scene, but there was no container in sight.

“Still haven’t found it. We can’t rule out the possibility that it fell into the water and floated away. The others have already started checking downstream,” Xu Ran replied.

The degree of burning on the victim wasn’t caused by a simple fire. It was more likely that gasoline was poured over and then ignited.

“Search the area again. See if there are any other clues, preferably something to help identify the victim,” Ye Jinchen said, glancing at the ashy spot.

“Yes!” Sang Tong and Xu Ran responded in unison, already demonstrating good teamwork.

Ye Jinchen withdrew his gaze and looked at Sang Tong. “You’re with me.”

Sang Tong blinked. With him? Uh... sure, fine… as long as she didn’t overthink it, nothing could shake her.

“Yes,” she responded obediently, then followed Ye Jinchen closely.

At a crime scene, thoroughness was everything. Some clues weren’t easily noticeable, it took both courage and attention to detail to find them.

Ye Jinchen led Sang Tong along the riverbank. The shallow area was littered with small stones—luckily, she’d worn flat shoes. With the boss nearby, she didn’t dare slack off. She meticulously searched the surroundings, hoping to find some useful clue.

Ye Jinchen suddenly stopped and glanced back at the person following him. She was quite obedient, at least.

Meeting Ye Jinchen’s eyes, Sang Tong felt a little nervous. It wasn’t just that this man was attractive or that he had the halo of being her “life-saving benefactor”. His aura was overwhelmingly intense, and Sang Tong found it hard to handle. His cold, sharp gaze alone was enough to make her feel immense pressure after a few seconds of eye contact.

“What’s your take on this case?” he asked.

There it was! That damned feeling again…

Facing Ye Jinchen’s second test, Sang Tong felt a little anxious, but since she’d already formed an idea while examining the scene earlier, it wasn’t too hard for her to respond.

“I think the site near the edge of the field isn’t the primary burn site, but the secondary one,” Sang Tong said.

Xu Ran had just mentioned that only one set of chaotic footprints was found at the scene, and no second set had been located yet. There were ashes around the victim’s nose and mouth, so it was likely the fire had already started when the victim tried to run toward the water but collapsed before reaching the river, creating a more visible secondary burn site.

However… Sang Tong had another theory.

“Evidence?” Ye Jinchen raised an eyebrow.

Sang Tong: ???

Wasn’t he just asking for her opinion…?

“None yet,” Sang Tong replied, her face scrunching up. Ugh… this new boss is hard to deal with!

Ye Jinchen didn’t reply. His gaze lingered on her face. The sun had already set, but the redness on her cheeks hadn’t faded yet—clearly, she was someone who couldn’t handle heat. But since most of the Team 8's work was out in the field, she’d have to tough it out.

She looked delicate and dainty, he really didn’t know what the higher-ups were thinking, assigning her to Team 8.

Being stared at like that, Sang Tong had expected Ye Jinchen to criticize her, but instead, he simply said blandly, “Having ideas is good.”

And that was it. No follow-up. Sang Tong couldn’t quite figure it out, was that praise or not?

By around 7 PM, the sky had darkened. After two hours of continuous searching, they had even peeled back leaves in nearby fields to avoid missing any useful clues.

Sang Tong’s lower back had started to ache from bending over so much. She’d just straightened up to stretch a little when something nearby caught her attention.

A patch of white appeared in the water, wedged between some rocks. It wasn’t particularly noticeable, Sang Tong just happened to see it from her current angle.

She walked over and looked down. A roughly 30-centimeter stone sat beneath the shallow water, with a small piece of white fabric barely visible.

Sang Tong reached out and tugged at it. Once fully retrieved, she saw what it was—a woman’s sock, surprisingly clean. One end was wet from the water, the other still dry from being stuck between the rocks.

Pollution was still a serious problem, even in shallow puddles like this, there were floating plastic bottles and bags. A bit of trash wasn’t unusual.

Sang Tong unfolded it to inspect it. It was a woman’s sock, but the heel was badly worn—reddened, as if stained with blood. She rubbed it gently.

Time seemed to pause. Her vision blurred as though shrouded in a white mist. The once pale walls darkened, even the fog turned gray, then black.

Dim moonlight bathed the silent fields. Thick clouds blocked most of the light. A figure moved, but it was hard to see clearly.

A silhouette slowly approached. She, having fallen to the ground, scrambled backward in fear. Her heels scraped against the earth, sending waves of pain shooting up her legs, but she couldn’t care—what terrified her more was the person in front of her. Because he wanted to kill her.

Suddenly, a familiar scent hit her nose. Her body felt soaked and sticky. She screamed uncontrollably. He had poured an entire bucket of gasoline over her. She tried to flee, but he gave her no chance.

A faint spark lit the night sky. A nearly extinguished match fell on her, and in the next moment, searing pain engulfed her entire body. Flames consumed her, and her throat seemed ready to release a scream—

“Put it in. We'll send it to forensics later,” Ye Jinchen’s voice rang in her ears.

The black mist in front of her gradually dispersed. Sang Tong looked up and saw him standing right there, when had he gotten so close?

“Oh.” She quickly responded, her voice a bit hoarse, then placed the item in the evidence bag.

Ye Jinchen looked down at her cautious movements, quietly thinking: this girl has sharp eyes. By the time he spotted it, she was already on her way over…

Ye Jinchen sealed the transparent bag tightly, pinched the seal, and just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by a clear rumbling noise.

Sang Tong: !!!

Is it still too late for her to say she can do ventriloquism[[kojawt]]now?!