Chapter 94 Scoring Officer Liu Qingwu

Liu Qingwu, standing next to Chen Mo, also wore a thoughtful expression.

In his mind, he kept pulling up an answer, then shattering it. After cycling through this a few times, an idea surfaced in his mind.

If the patient, Huang Guofa, did not contract the prion disease from food at the market or restaurants, then the answer was likely that he had eaten an animal carrying prions.

He had once handled a case involving a "borrowed knife" murder.

The killer was very clever; to kill his enemy without being suspected himself, he made the enemy eat the meat of an animal infected with rabies, thereby committing murder by proxy.

The specific method was certainly not this crude, but in any case, the killer did eventually succeed in committing murder, yet he was also caught by him.

Immediately, he turned his gaze toward Chen Mo, who was still deep in thought.

He could only think of this because he had handled similar cases before and knew such tactics existed. But Chen Mo surely wouldn't be able to figure it out anytime soon.

"Ahem."

He coughed softly twice, just about to open his mouth to give Chen Mo a hint, when to his surprise, Chen Mo spoke up.

"What would be the purpose of mixing human flesh into pork or other foods? Stupidity, or revenge against society? Until a second patient with the same symptoms appears, this can only be considered a guess."

"On the contrary, I believe the patient very likely accidentally consumed an animal carrying prions!"

This conclusion was derived from the killer's motive.

There was absolutely no need for the killer to use this method to dispose of a body. And the patient himself wouldn't have actively chosen to eat human flesh. Therefore, it must have been consumed by accident.

And for a normal person, besides eating food they cooked themselves or food from restaurants, what other sources of food could there be?

Two words surfaced in Chen Mo's mind: prey, or rather, game meat.

In his past life, when scrolling through videos, he would often be captivated for over ten minutes by a vlogger who rode a dirt bike and kept two rabbit-hunting dogs. Whenever he scrolled past one, he couldn't help but keep watching.

And Huang Guofa likely contracted it by eating some kind of game animal. This also fit the actual situation.

The body had been dumped in a place rarely visited by people, and then eaten by starving animals.

"That makes sense!"

Liu Fengxia couldn't help but nod in agreement as she listened to Chen Mo. With that, the situation regarding how exactly Huang Guofa was infected was basically sorted out.

"Grandpa, I feel like Chen Mo's skills are quite strong."

"No wonder Uncle Yang asked him to come find you."

As she said this, she looked at her grandfather.

Liu Qingwu, upon hearing this, showed no expression on his face; he stroked his beard, fully displaying the demeanor of a master.

Although he appeared calm and indifferent on the surface, he was incredibly astonished deep down.

This... this kid! He's really something! He actually analyzed the most likely answer. It was exactly what he had thought.

With this level of skill at this age, never mind the future, he was already quite extraordinary right now. Ordinary murder cases probably couldn't stump him anymore.

Sweat broke out on his palms once again.

"It's just a hypothesis. The results still need to be verified."

With these words, he set the tone: whether Chen Mo was truly capable or not would be decided once the results were out. It was clear there was more to his words than what was said.

"Grandpa, do you think this hypothesis is hard to prove?"

Since it was her own grandfather, she asked directly without any hesitation.

"Indeed. If Huang Guofa really did eat some kind of game, then investigating the channels through which he purchased it would be a troublesome matter, after all, such transactions are illegal."

"Furthermore, if he went to catch wild animals secretly, he wouldn't have done it in a grand, public manner, nor would there be many people who knew about it. Besides, according to the investigation, this Huang Guofa didn't even have any hunting tools."

Liu Qingwu explained his perspective. He agreed with the point that the patient had eaten some animal he shouldn't have, but investigating it would be quite complex. It was very likely to yield no results.

"Elder Liu makes a valid point, but we have to try."

...

A moment later.

Huang Guofa's parents were brought separately into a meeting room reserved for hospital use.

The elderly couple looked at Chen Mo nervously, their complexions appearing somewhat haggard.

Their son was in the ICU, costing a lot of money every day, and the two of them had been outside trying to scrape together funds when they were suddenly called back. They thought something had gone wrong with their son.

After hearing Chen Mo's questions, the elderly couple breathed a sigh of relief. They then fell into a long period of contemplation.

During this time, Chen Mo kept throwing keywords at the two of them. For example, whether he had eaten any special meat, gone to places rarely visited by people, or had game meat.

When he said "game meat," Huang Guofa's father's eyes suddenly reacted; he slightly raised his head and then quickly lowered it again.

This subtle emotional fluctuation was naturally and keenly captured by Chen Mo.

He tapped on the table, his gaze fixed on Huang Guofa's father.

Meeting Chen Mo's serious eyes, he immediately gave up his resistance: "Does a pheasant count?"

"Last month, I took my son out on business, and passing by Mingshan Road, we picked up a pheasant that had been hit and killed by a car."

A pheasant. Mingshan Road.

Chen Mo nodded, then indicated that his words were very helpful to the case, and then allowed the two to leave.

"Not bad, Chen Mo, you found the answer on the first try!"

Liu Fengxia's face showed some disbelief, and she couldn't help but clap her hands in praise.

*Clap, clap.* The sound of applause rang out in the meeting room.

"Just luck."

He didn't become arrogant because of this; the case had only just begun, and the body hadn't even been found yet.

Meanwhile, Liu Qingwu, who was sitting to the side, had a calm expression, but sweat had already soaked his back. He was panicking like crazy inside!

He had just clearly stated that he thought this lead would be difficult to investigate and unlikely to yield any results. But! The surprise had come so unexpectedly!

Chen Mo had actually obtained the result on the first try. What kind of luck did this kid have! It was clearly a matter that would be very troublesome to investigate!

How could it be so simple in his hands? Was this normal!? Was this reasonable!? Was there no justice!?

No, he had to think of a way quickly. A remedy! He had to find a way to remedy this. Otherwise, his persona as a veteran of criminal investigation would collapse.

"Hmm, the luck was indeed quite good."

The calm voice came from his mouth and entered the ears of the two young people. Both Chen Mo and Liu Fengxia looked toward him.

"It is true that you got the answer from the family members on the first try, but I have a question for you."

"If Huang Guofa's father hadn't been in the car at the time, and only the patient himself knew that he had been infected with the virus because he picked up a pheasant, what would you do?"

Chen Mo shook his head immediately upon hearing this. Under normal circumstances, unless they waited for Huang Guofa to wake up himself, it would be impossible for anyone to know that he had once picked up a pheasant by the roadside and eaten it.

What if a passerby had seen it? Even if someone had seen it, where would they find that person? Therefore, this was an unsolvable problem. At least, that was the case for him.

"If you cannot answer, then this time I can only give you a score of zero."