SFTD -Chapter 208 Mystery in the Blood (Part 5)

Watching Zheng Min walk away, Chu Menghan narrowed her eyes.

She had no idea whether what Zheng Min had said was true or false. It seemed she would need to investigate further and speak to more people. Still, Dong Chengwen’s dismissive attitude did match Zheng Min’s description rather closely.

As she was thinking, Xiao Hu came out of the operating room carrying a bag. Seeing the deeply furrowed look on his face, a bad feeling suddenly rose within her.

“Why did it take so long? Don’t tell me you couldn’t find the surgery video?”

Xiao Hu nodded.

“Yang Ye’s operation didn’t have the recording function turned on. But I did find something in the surveillance footage. The button that controls recording had a small metal spacer jammed into it. None of the endoscopic surgeries from yesterday or today were recorded.”

The ominous feeling in Chu Menghan’s heart grew even stronger. This no longer felt like an ordinary medical accident. There couldn’t be so many coincidences at once—the victim’s artery was missing clips, and the surgery recording that should have documented the procedure just happened to be disabled.

Could this really be murder?

“Let’s go back to the center!”

The group immediately headed out. On the way, Chu Menghan sent Zhou Hai an audio recording of her conversation with the anesthesiologist.

At the same time, Zhou Hai and Xu Biao had already returned to the forensic center. After changing clothes, they walked from the locker room toward the autopsy room, Xu Biao trailing behind him and peppering him with questions.

“Haizi, do you think what that anesthesiologist said is true? This Dong Chengwen left gauze inside a patient before, yet he’s still working as an attending physician? Didn’t the patient sue him back then? And that nurse just endured it?”

Without slowing his pace, Zhou Hai glanced at him.

“I don’t know how severe the hierarchy is in domestic hospitals, but if a nurse points out an attending physician’s mistake, that’s probably considered the biggest taboo. I imagine Dong Chengwen is the type who finds it difficult to accept criticism from others.”

“But the hospital making that nurse take the blame is way too much.”

Zhou Hai said nothing further. He located Yang Ye’s artery, cut it out, and placed it beneath the magnifying lens.

The artery split into two branches. One clearly showed three stapler clips securing it, while the other was completely bare. However, upon closer inspection, faint wavy indentations could still be seen.

Xu Biao leaned closer.

“Isn’t Dong Chengwen lying then? There are only three clips on one artery! This other one doesn’t have a damn thing on it.”

Zhou Hai shook his head and pointed with a probe at the edge of the artery’s outer membrane.

“Maybe he wasn’t lying. He did apply clips—they just fell off. Look here. These three indentations should be the marks left behind by the clips.”

Xu Biao froze.

“Then where are the clips?”

Zhou Hai bit his lip thoughtfully.

“If they fell off, then there’s only one place they could be hiding.”

With that, he walked toward the refrigerated storage cabinet. The victim’s blood sample was still stored inside a large glass container. He took it out, found another clean jar, and grabbed a piece of dressing cloth.

Xu Biao looked confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Filtering.”

Zhou Hai unfolded the dressing cloth and loosely covered the mouth of the jar with a layer of gauze. Then he crooked a finger at Xu Biao.

“Come help me hold this.”

Mimicking Zhou Hai’s actions, Xu Biao pressed the gauze over the jar opening while Zhou Hai slowly poured the blood through it.

When the entire bottle had been filtered, the blood soaked through the gauze—and three folded clips appeared on top of it.

A sharp glint flashed through Zhou Hai’s eyes.

“Looks like I really wronged Dong Chengwen. He did clamp Yang Ye’s artery. However…”

Using tweezers, he picked up the three folded clips and placed them beneath the magnifier. Sure enough, each clip had a noticeable eye-shaped gap in the middle.

After Zhou Hai finished examining them without another word, Xu Biao leaned over to look.

“Huh? Why are there gaps in these?”

Zhou Hai nodded.

“It’s understandable if one clip wasn’t secured properly during surgery. But all three failing is a problem—especially when all three were used on the same artery.”

Xu Biao narrowed his eyes.

“You mean this wasn’t a medical accident, but actual murder?”

Zhou Hai sighed softly.

“Right now, we need to find the stapler. Since the surgery recording is missing, there’s no way to confirm whether Dong Chengwen performed the procedure according to standard protocol. We’ll have to wait for Fengzi and Xiao Liang’s search results.”

Thinking of this, Zhou Hai pulled out his phone and called Chu Menghan.

“You still at the hospital?”

“Yeah, I just came downstairs and haven’t left yet. Why?”

“I found the three detached clips in the victim’s blood. Looks like Doctor Dong wasn’t lying. He applied three clips, but all of them were defective. Each one has a large gap in the middle.

With clips like these sealing an artery, the patient would be fine as long as he stayed still—there’d only be minor seepage. But the moment he moved around, bent over, or sat up, the clips could fall off from the motion. Once that happened, the blocked blood vessel would hemorrhage heavily, his blood pressure would drop, and he’d gradually lose consciousness.”

Chu Menghan carefully processed his explanation.

“You mean this wasn’t a medical accident?”

“Mm.”

Beside him, Xu Biao kept poking at the three clips.

“Now we need to investigate the victim’s social connections. Also check whether he had any ties to Dong Chengwen.”

Chu Menghan suddenly stopped walking.

“I’m going to the victim’s house. A man who underwent surgery less than twenty-four hours ago had nobody taking care of him, yet he still rushed off on a business trip? What kind of family situation forces someone to work like that?”

“Wait. Ask Vice President Ye for the personnel files of everyone involved in the surgery. Investigate them one by one and see whether any of them had connections to the victim.”

“Got it. I’ll get the files first, then head to the victim’s house.”

“Don’t rush. Vice President Ye probably won’t hand them over willingly. Same old method—find Director Liu and have Secretary Zhao step in. Otherwise, if this case follows the normal judicial process, it could drag on for half a year.”

Only then did Chu Menghan hurriedly hang up.

Beside her, Wang Man nodded.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou is right. When there’s trouble, go find the leadership. After all, Vice President Ye was connected through Secretary Zhao in the first place.”

Checking the time, Chu Menghan immediately called Director Liu and explained the situation. After grumbling a few times, he still agreed to help make arrangements.

Chu Menghan and Wang Man got everyone into the cars while the two of them headed straight for the hospital administration offices.

It was already past noon. If they delayed any longer, Vice President Ye would leave, and retrieving the files in the afternoon would postpone the actual screening and comparison work even further.

When they arrived at Vice President Ye’s office, they saw the door standing open. Rarely for her, Chu Menghan didn’t charge straight in. Instead, she patiently knocked.

“Hello!”

Vice President Ye, who had been seated behind the desk drinking water, set down her cup.

“Come in. Secretary Zhao already called me. Wait a moment—the relevant files will be delivered shortly.”

Chu Menghan smiled politely and sat on the sofa with Wang Man. Looking around the office, she noticed that aside from the succulent plants—which felt strangely out of place in the room—the enormous anatomical organ chart hanging on the wall also made people feel vaguely uncomfortable.