SFTD -Chapter 257 Rabies Virus (Part 12)

Zhou Hai sighed helplessly before finally opening the Special Investigation Team app on his phone. He discovered that there were more than a dozen messages left for him. After a quick glance, he saw that most of them were questions from fellow forensic professionals. He simply didn’t have the time to reply one by one right now.

He tapped on Hu Nan’s profile picture, found her phone number, and dialed it. The phone rang seven or eight times without anyone answering.

Is she busy?

Thinking about how irritated he himself felt whenever he was interrupted by calls during work, Zhou Hai raised the phone, preparing to hang up. At that moment, the call connected.

“Hello, is this Zhou Hai?”

Zhou Hai froze for a second. She actually recognized his number. It seemed everyone had already saved the contact numbers from the app. When he had time, he should probably do the same to avoid awkward situations.

“Yes, this is Zhou Hai. Hello, Forensic Doctor Hu.”

“What do you need me for? A case?”

Zhou Hai almost laughed out loud. Her speaking habits were surprisingly similar to his—always jumping straight to whether there was a case involved. Instantly, all the awkwardness disappeared.

“The rabies virus case we shared on the app earlier has become rather complicated. Yantai Lan and I performed DNA comparisons on the donor corneas and discovered that both corneas came from the same person. After tracing the surgery hospitals, we found that both belonged to the Nanyang-affiliated Lin Family Hospitals.

According to the director of the Lin Hospital here in Dongnan, there’s a Xilin Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Hospital in the provincial capital. The person in charge is named Lin Xiuying, known as Third Sister. She handles transplant organs for all the cities in western Ludong Province and is responsible for transfer and allocation.

They started performing transplant surgeries earlier than Dongnan did, and they’ve buried themselves much deeper.”

On the other end of the phone, Hu Nan sucked in a sharp breath, her voice unconsciously rising several degrees.

“Organ transplants? You mean the Lin Family has been conducting illegal organ trafficking in secret? Then where are the organs coming from?”

Hu Nan’s three consecutive questions surprised Zhou Hai slightly. From his brief explanation alone, she had immediately thought about the issue of organ sources. Clearly, Hu Nan had a sharp mind. Working with intelligent people like this was genuinely comfortable.

“We traced the donor carrying the rabies virus. The donation documents all point to the Xuzhou Red Cross, but in reality, it’s just a privately operated cemetery that provides burials and full funeral services. Only by locating it and thoroughly checking all transportation records can we identify the sales routes for these organs. Otherwise, who knows how many more people will die from this mutated rabies virus.”

Hu Nan pondered briefly.

“Organize all the materials you currently have and send me a copy. I’ll report directly to the provincial department leadership. This matter isn’t just about coordinating with Xuzhou to investigate the cemetery. We also need to uncover the Lin Family’s illegal organ transplant network and all related channels. The scope of this case is far too broad for us to control on our own.”

Of course Zhou Hai understood the severity of the situation.

“Give me an hour. I’ll organize everything and send it to you before three this afternoon.”

After hanging up, Old Wang the driver had already parked the car inside the center’s courtyard. Xu Biao patted him on the shoulder.

“Brother Wang, go fill up the tank and find somewhere to get some sleep. If I’m guessing right, we might be heading out on a business trip!”

Old Wang was a man of few words. Wearing an honest smile, he nodded at Xu Biao.

“It’s fine. Soldiers like having assignments. Watching you guys solve cases keeps me energized. I’ll wait downstairs. I’ll buy some water and food in a bit so we can leave anytime.”

Xu Biao patted his shoulder again, his tiny eyes widening dramatically.

“Brother Wang, you’re amazing. This is practically executive-level treatment. I’m flattered! You can head to the third-floor lounge in Room 312 and rest for a while. Hai Zi isn’t very good at taking care of people, so we can only take care of ourselves.”

Old Wang continued smiling foolishly without the slightest complaint. Xu Biao waved at him and sprinted upstairs three steps at a time.

By then, Zhou Hai had already turned on the computer and begun organizing all the related materials: the DNA comparison reports, information from Yantai, and the evidence gathered from the cosmetic surgery hospital.

Hearing footsteps, Zhou Hai didn’t even look up before ordering:

“Xu Biao, transfer the photos from your camera to me.”

Xu Biao hurried over immediately. When Zhou Hai was working, slacking off was basically asking to be chewed out, and he wasn’t stupid enough for that. He quickly cooperated, uploading everything together with Zhou Hai.

Zhou Hai also wrote a case summary. Though it was only a few hundred words long, it explained the entire situation with remarkable clarity. After checking everything one final time, he directly sent the files to Hu Nan.

Almost immediately after sending them, Hu Nan replied with a message.

Jinan Hu: Currently discussing this with leadership. Keep your phone available, and report any updates from Xuzhou immediately.

Xu Biao curled his lips beside him.

“Oh wow! She talks like someone owes her a hundred bucks. Are provincial department forensic doctors always this arrogant?”

Zhou Hai didn’t respond. His mind wasn’t focused on that at all. He quickly typed back.

Fahai: Understood. They’ve already been on the road for three hours. They should arrive in a little over an hour. Director Liu has already contacted the Xuzhou authorities, and we’ll coordinate operations together there. I’ll notify you immediately if there’s any news. How are you planning to handle their headquarters? Our network personnel can’t keep interrupting the video transmission forever. If nobody enters or exits the refrigerated warehouse for too long, it’ll arouse suspicion.

Provincial Hu: Wait half an hour for my reply. I think the evidence is already sufficient. If the Xilin Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Hospital in the provincial capital is also involved, then we can directly establish a special task force to clean up the Lin Family’s illegal organ trafficking operation.

This was exactly what Zhou Hai wanted to hear. But thinking about the remote monitoring system, he quickly typed another reminder.

Fahai: Secure their upper management immediately, then conduct urgent interrogations. Also have the provincial department’s network personnel cut off their remote transmission systems directly. Otherwise, every move here is being transmitted to Lin headquarters in real time. If that happens, by the time we investigate further, all evidence and operational paths will already be destroyed. The entire Lin organization will retreat, abandoning only Ludong. Severing the entire chain afterward will become extremely difficult.

Provincial Hu: How do you know such details so clearly?

The question caught Zhou Hai off guard. Thinking carefully, when had they discovered all this? Probably from the moment Xu Biao realized something was wrong.

Fahai: My trace examiner sensed something suspicious and had our network personnel remotely infiltrate their system. That’s how we discovered it. Oh right, you can also try this: all of their storage warehouses are connected to the local police station alarm systems. That might be another lead.

Provincial Hu: Alright. Wait for my update.

She was decisive. Her profile picture immediately went dark, likely because she had gone to brief the leadership.

Xu Biao leaned over beside him, staring at the screen. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his tiny eyes were filled with grievance, as though silently accusing Zhou Hai of something.

Only then did Zhou Hai glance at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Next time you chat with a beautiful woman, at least mention my name too. Calling me ‘Xu Biao’ is fine. There are tons of trace examiners in Dongnan—there’s nothing distinctive about that!”

Zhou Hai thought for a moment before tapping the screen.

“Look carefully. My trace examiner. There’s only one. Got it?”