SFTD -Chapter 1 The Man in the Bathtub (Part 1)

Huge raindrops hammered against the car windows with sharp crackling sounds that grated on the nerves.

Zhou Hai lounged lazily against the back seat, the bangs over his forehead covering a third of his face. His features were utterly ordinary, yet his expression carried an inborn indifference and distance.

Wearing earphones, he stared out the window as the rain blurred every passing scene.

The dazzling neon lights gradually thinned out, and even the speeding car began to sway slightly.

He let out a long breath. They should already be on the coastal expressway leading toward the airport. Soon, he would once again leave the country and continue his studies for another year.

At the thought of it, a trace of excitement stirred within him.

The tightly pressed corners of his lips curved ever so slightly into an almost imperceptible smile. At last, he could escape their endless arguments.

“…Zhou Hai, don’t listen to your father. Focus on finishing your clinical courses at Stanford University. And now he wants you to switch majors and study forensic medicine! Has he lost his mind? How are you supposed to find a wife in that line of work? Spending every day around corpses—just thinking about it is disgusting!”

Zhou Hai said nothing. He shifted slightly toward the left car door, turned up the music in his headphones, and continued watching the raindrops splatter against the glass.

These kinds of arguments seemed to have existed for as long as he could remember.

His mother’s complaints endlessly filled the car while his father, keeping his temper as always, tried to soothe her while driving.

“Alright, alright, my fault. I was only making a suggestion! After all, specialists in that field are still pretty scarce in China—”

Before his father could finish speaking, a violent jolt came from beneath the wheels. The car suddenly skidded to the right.

Instinctively, Zhou Hai grabbed the handle above the window.

In the next instant, the entire car began flipping over.

His mother’s screams, screeching brakes, shattering glass, and crashing metal blended together into a chaotic roar.

Zhou Hai’s whole body trembled as though he were falling into a bottomless abyss.

At the same time, the phone beside him vibrated violently, yanking him out of the nightmare that had haunted him for years.

He exhaled deeply and, in the darkness, grabbed the phone and held it before his right eye.

The screen showed: June 10th, 2:20 AM.

The words “Command Center” flashed repeatedly.

The moment he saw those four words, most of the discomfort and palpitations vanished instantly. He quickly swiped to answer.

“Hello?”

“Dr. Zhou, sorry to disturb you so late. Tonight, Dr. Liu from Group One is on duty at a major traffic accident scene in Zhouguan Town. But another homicide just occurred…”

Zhou Hai sat up, switched the phone to speaker mode, and interrupted the woman while pulling on his clothes.

“Just tell me what kind of case.”

“Building 6, Phase Two of New City Garden. A male body was found in a bathtub. The case hasn’t been classified yet, so they want you to take a look. I’ve also notified Xu Biao from your team to handle trace examination.”

“Alright. I’m on my way.”

Already dressed, Zhou Hai glanced at the sedatives on his bedside table.

He shook two pills into his mouth, swallowed them dry, then grabbed his phone and called his assistant, Liang Honggang.

“Male corpse in a bathtub. I’ll send you the address on WeChat.”

A groggy voice came from the other end.

“Huh? Boss… it’s the middle of the night…”

Zhou Hai frowned slightly.

An intern who had only been here for two months—and after hearing there was a murder case, shouldn’t his normal reaction be excitement?

“Not going?”

“G-going! Going! Boss! Team Leader! No! Brother Hai—I was half asleep, don’t scare me. I’ll be there immediately. Right away!”

After hanging up, Zhou Hai drove to Phase Two of New City Garden.

The moment he entered the residential complex and pulled up beneath Building 6, he saw flashing police lights.

Carrying his investigation kit, he stepped out of the car.

A police officer noticed the case in Zhou Hai’s hand and immediately guessed his identity. He saluted him.

“Hello, the crime scene is on the twenty-second floor of Unit Three.”

“Thanks.”

Zhou Hai entered the building.

Ever since becoming a forensic doctor, he rarely shook hands with people.

Gradually, it had become a habit. After all, even fellow police officers were wary of the hands that touched corpses.

Perhaps the sedatives were beginning to work. The overexcited nerves in his body slowly calmed.

The constant twitching in his left eye eased, and the stabbing pain gradually subsided. He quietly let out a breath.

Blindness in his left eye wasn’t what frightened him.

What truly troubled him was the manic depression caused by the injury.

Zhou Hai had to maintain the appearance of composure. There were plenty of people at the center waiting to watch him fail, so he couldn’t afford even the slightest flaw.

With a ding, the elevator stopped on the twenty-second floor.

Zhou Hai carried the investigation kit out.

Although the residential complex occupied an excellent location, it had already been built for ten years, so the elevators did not open directly into the apartments.

The moment he stepped out, he saw officers guarding the scene behind yellow police tape.

A chubby figure emerged from the apartment.

“Zhou Hai, you’re here! The access route to the scene has already been prepared. You can go in now.”

Zhou Hai glanced at his phone. The time displayed 2:55 AM.

“That fast?”

The masked fat man was Xu Biao, the trace examiner from Group Two.

Removing his gloves, Xu Biao wiped away sweat and exaggeratedly raised his brows. Unfortunately, his narrow slit-like eyes still couldn’t widen much.

“Fast, right? The command center called me first, so I got here before you. But the scene was thoroughly cleaned, and the floor’s covered in water. The perimeter was also ruined by the dog, so there are no usable footprints. We marked all the traces in the bathroom, but not a single viable fingerprint was found. There’s only a smeared bloody mark on the doorknob, probably left by someone wearing latex gloves. Looks like we can classify this as homicide.”

As he spoke, a middle-aged police officer stepped out of the room.

He wasn’t tall, but he had a sturdy build. In his hand was the leash of a golden retriever that looked exhausted and clearly hadn’t eaten for quite some time.

The officer noticed Zhou Hai, his gaze pausing briefly on the scar above Zhou Hai’s left brow before warmly extending his right hand.

“Hello, Dr. Zhou. I’m Huang Zhongsheng, newly transferred deputy captain of the East District Criminal Investigation Division.”

Zhou Hai’s fingers paused for a moment before he shook the warm, powerful hand.

“Captain Huang, can you explain the situation?”

Huang Zhongsheng nodded and handed the leash to another officer.

“At 1:20 AM, a resident in the ocean-view apartments of Phase Two, New City Garden called the police.

They complained that the dog upstairs had been barking nonstop, making it impossible to sleep. They tried knocking, but no one answered.

The local patrol officers were dispatched to check things out.

When they arrived, they found the dog in the west apartment on the twenty-second floor of Unit Three barking continuously.

Officers downstairs radioed up that the apartment lights were still on.

They knocked for quite a while with no response, so they contacted property management.

A staff member provided the homeowner’s phone number.

The patrol officer called it and discovered the phone ringing inside the apartment. The dog barked even more fiercely when it heard the ringtone.

That’s when the officers realized something was wrong and called a locksmith.

After opening the apartment door, they found the entire floor flooded with water.

A golden retriever stood on the living room sofa barking wildly and occasionally whining toward the bathroom.

The patrol officer walked down the hallway on the west side of the living room and found the bathroom door wide open.

A man was lying face-up in the bathtub, completely submerged underwater.

The bathtub had overflowed continuously. Even though the water flow was very small, it had already flooded the living room floor.

After that, they notified the command center, and our East District team took over the case.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found much at the scene.”

Zhou Hai nodded.

While listening to Captain Huang’s explanation, he had already changed into protective clothing.

Seeing that the room was flooded ankle-deep, he pulled shoe covers over his feet before stepping onto the investigation pads. At least this way, his shoes wouldn’t get soaked.

The dog must have realized something had happened to its owner.

Its nonstop barking had been a cry for help.

The fact that the scene had been cleaned indicated the killer was meticulous, methodical, and highly cautious.

But why hadn’t they dealt with the dog as well?

Carrying his kit, Zhou Hai stepped into the apartment.

He had barely taken two steps when the elevator outside dinged again.

A young man in rimless glasses rushed out hurriedly. A police officer moved to stop him, but Xu Biao waved his hand dismissively.

“He’s one of ours. Zhou’s intern, Liang Honggang.

Get in there quick.

If your Brother Hai starts glaring again later, you’ll be in trouble.”

Liang Honggang shrank his neck back nervously, hurriedly put on shoe covers and protective gear, then followed Zhou Hai while holding a DSLR camera and stepping carefully across the investigation pads.

Zhou Hai raised one hand.

“Move gently.

Otherwise the water will ripple.

This water soaked a corpse.”

Liang Honggang shuddered in fright, nearly dropping the camera in his hands.

“O-okay, Brother Hai…”

Zhou Hai entered the bathroom.

The door stood wide open, and there were indeed several faint smeared bloody handprints on the handle, so faint they were nearly impossible to notice.

Standing on the largest investigation pad, he placed the heavy case onto the sink counter.

Leaning closer to the bathtub, he saw the male victim completely submerged underwater.

The faucet had already been turned off, but the bathtub continued overflowing.

A scene like this truly had little remaining value for trace examination.

The man lay peacefully in the water, seeming to wear the faintest trace of a smile at the corners of his lips.

The victim’s upper body was naked, while his lower half wore a pair of black silk pajama pants.

Both arms were spread outward and raised slightly, several fingertips barely protruding above the water’s surface.

Aside from a tiny wound on the chest, there wasn’t a single injury on the body.

Liang Honggang leaned closer, tilting his head slightly to look at the tall, thin Zhou Hai. Although the new team leader was strict, compared to a corpse, he still felt far easier to approach.

Following Zhou Hai’s gaze into the bathtub, Liang Honggang suddenly cried out in shock.

“Oh my god!

Brother Hai—

Th-this guy…

he’s actually…

smiling?!”