SFTD -Chapter 207 Mystery in the Blood (Part 4)

Dong Chengwen’s face filled with shock. Only now did he realize the seriousness of the situation. He shot to his feet, and Vice President Ye immediately stood as well, directly blocking him protectively.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, I admire your judgment abilities. However, I hope you’ll mind your words. We are assisting in your investigation. If you believe this is a medical malpractice case, then I suggest you contact our legal department directly. Gentlemen, goodbye.”

Zhou Hai’s anger caught Xu Biao and the others off guard. He was not normally someone who lost his composure like this. If he was acting this way, there had to be a reason. Thinking back to the conversation he had just overheard, Xu Biao smiled and stepped in front of Zhou Hai.

“Vice President Ye, don’t get upset. We only want to determine the victim’s cause of death, and we hope to receive your cooperation. After all, proving that this wasn’t your responsibility also requires evidence, right? Could you provide Yang Ye’s surgical recording? And also the information of everyone who participated in the operation. We need to investigate whether any of them had a conflict of interest with the deceased. Don’t worry, we’ll conduct the investigation objectively.”

Those words eased the tense atmosphere slightly. Vice President Ye glanced at Dong Chengwen.

“Coordinate with the head nurse. Find the related videos and personnel information for them.”

Zhou Hai clasped his hands behind his back and waved subtly toward Xu Biao. Written on his palm were two words:

“Nail gun*”

Xu Biao instantly understood and continued smiling at Vice President Ye.

“Look at my pig brain, I almost forgot about the nail gun. That’s the key piece!”

Vice President Ye froze.

“The nail gun? Wasn’t that already destroyed as medical waste?”

Dong Chengwen narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhou Hai for several seconds. Zhou Hai didn’t even spare him a glance, merely flipping through the medical records. He knew this so-called forensic doctor was waiting for him to refuse. Refusal would imply guilt, but what did he have to feel guilty about?

“These disposable instruments are kept for twenty-four hours after surgery. If there are no complaints or obvious quality issues, they’re sent to the medical waste warehouse for unified disposal. At this hour, the twenty-four-hour period has just ended. I don’t know whether the operating room staff have already sent the nail gun to the medical waste warehouse.”

Zhou Hai glanced at the clock. It was already 10:40. Dong Chengwen was correct. Sometimes the operating room disposed of such items before the deadline anyway. The daily consumption of disposable materials was enormous.

Zhou Hai cast a glance at Vice President Ye, who stood nearby with folded arms.

“Then perhaps Vice President Ye could help us check. If it’s already been sent to the medical waste warehouse, we’ll send people to retrieve it.”

Zhou Hai’s intentions were obvious. Today, he was determined to find that nail gun.

Vice President Ye looked at Dong Chengwen, then took out her phone and stepped outside to make arrangements.

Taking advantage of the pause, Zhou Hai walked over to Dong Chengwen.

“You bear responsibility for Yang Ye’s death. A patient less than twenty-four hours post-operation already had blood pressure this low, yet you still discharged him. Do you dare say you bear no responsibility?”

Dong Chengwen spread his hands.

“He was a temporary outpatient case transferred over from the clinic. I didn’t even know he’d been moved into the ward. If we’re talking about responsibility, I’m the least accountable person here. I worked the night shift yesterday and performed surgeries all morning. By the time I got here today, the man was already gone. And you’re talking to me about responsibility?”

Looking at Dong Chengwen’s punchable expression, Zhou Hai suddenly smiled.

“Remember what you said today. Stay this confident no matter what happens. Captain Chu, have Xiao Hu retrieve the surgical recording. Xu Biao, call Fengzi and Xiao Liang. Have them bring professional protective suits and recover every discarded nail gun from yesterday and today according to the disposal box dates. Bring everything back to the center. Let’s go.”

With that, the group left the office.

Vice President Ye had already finished her call. Sure enough, the operating room had sent all nail guns to the medical waste warehouse at nine o’clock that morning.

After thanking Vice President Ye, everyone departed.

Half an hour later, Fengzi and Xiao Liang stood outside a warehouse behind Lu University Hospital, both dressed in heavy protective suits.

As the rolling shutter door rose, the two exchanged bitter looks.

Fengzi frowned deeply at the mountain-like warehouse piled high with waste. His handsome face was utterly blank with confusion.

Who am I?

Where am I?

What am I doing?

Xiao Liang tapped Fengzi’s shoulder with the long grabber in his hand.

“Stop complaining, Brother Luo. Let’s get to work. Didn’t Brother Xu say the hospital director and department doctors are all unhappy with us? There’s definitely no lunch coming our way. And it takes thirty minutes to drive back to the center. Finding that box in this pile is like searching for a needle in the ocean. If we keep wasting time, forget lunch—even dinner will be gone.”

Fengzi sighed and nodded. Fastening the transparent visor on his hood, the two stepped into the warehouse stacked to the brim.

Chu Menghan waited while Xiao Hu and the others searched for the relevant surgical footage. But after several hours, they still could not find any operation records for the deceased, Yang Ye.

Just as Chu Menghan grew increasingly anxious, a buck-toothed female doctor emerged from the operating room. Beneath her white coat she wore a dark green surgical outfit. Carrying two medical files and wearing black-framed glasses, she noticed Chu Menghan sitting on the bench. Though her steps hesitated slightly, she still walked over.

“You’re a police officer?”

Chu Menghan looked up at her. The woman’s hesitant footsteps had already drawn her attention. Using the stainless-steel reflection on the back of her phone like a mirror, she could feel the doctor’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Yes. I’m from the Changhe Criminal Investigation Unit.”

“That patient named Yang Ye… is he really dead?”

Chu Menghan patted the seat beside her.

“Sit. If you have something to say, just say it directly.”

“I’m anesthesiologist Zheng Min. Sorry, but earlier I overheard your conversation next door to the Hepatobiliary Surgery office.

This Doctor Dong Chengwen somehow gained the hospital director’s favor, so he and the department chief handle nearly eighty percent of all hepatobiliary surgeries.

But he’s an extremely careless person. What he values most in surgery is speed, not surgical outcome. Privately, we all joke that his surgeries are faster than tooth extractions.

Last year, during one operation, he carelessly left a piece of gauze inside a patient’s abdominal cavity. In the end, they had to perform a second surgery to remove it.

Later, during the hospital hearing, he pushed all responsibility onto the scrub nurse, claiming it was her counting error.

In the end, the scrub nurse was fired, and the matter was suppressed.

Even though the nurse kept insisting she had warned Dong Chengwen during the operation that the gauze count was wrong, not a single person present stood up to testify for her.”

Chu Menghan recorded everything Zheng Min had just told her and smiled.

“Thank you for providing this lead. If necessary, we’ll contact you immediately.”

Zheng Min stood and nodded toward Chu Menghan.

“No problem.”