Chapter 291 Reminder from Girlfriend
"It seems that the murderer is a bear!"
Director Tsunoda was the first to support this conjecture.
For him, the police officers present, and even Lin Xinyi, this was also the best guess.
After all, if the killer was a bear, then it was a simple accident, not homicide.
With this conclusion, there is no need to continue the investigation.
You don't have to dig around in the woods and eat dust, you can go back and lie down comfortably.
"The conclusion cannot be drawn so early."
Of course Lin Xinyi would not agree to this trouble-free approach.
He frowned slightly, and the look he looked at Director Tsunoda quietly changed:
The junior colleague initially just complained.
Now, he has shown his willingness to muddle along, deal with it half-heartedly, and want to rush through the investigation.
If such police officers are allowed to handle cases, shouldn't every case be treated as an accident?
Thinking of this, Lin Xinyi was not only relieved because of these latest important discoveries, but also became more cautious and suspicious:
"Well, Director Tsunoda, you should help me urge the police station, right?"
"I still want to see the files on death cases in scenic spots in recent years as soon as possible."
"Um" Director Tsunoda was slightly startled.
He seemed to think that Lin Xinyi was too busy, so his expression was a little unhappy:
"Haven't the murderers been found? Why do we still need to spend so much effort?"
"I said, we can't draw conclusions so early." Lin Xinyi said in a slightly more serious tone: "Now we just confirm that there have been bears here recently. As for whether the murderer is a bear, that has to be discussed separately."
With that said, Lin Xinyi no longer paid attention to Director Kakuda's silent complaints.
He began to focus on the tree that had been ravaged by the bear:
"There seems to be something wrong with these claw marks."
"Why did that bear only focus on this tree and even tore off most of the bark of this tree?"
"Is there something on this tree that attracts it?"
Lin Xinyi murmured to himself, but Director Tsunoda felt that such suspicion was unreasonable:
"Bears sometimes sharpen their claws on trees."
"If you wander around the mountains more, you can probably find many similar trees."
"That's right"
Lin Xinyi did not refute Director Tsunoda's doubts.
But he pointed out a new doubt:
"However, there are not only many claw marks on this tree, but they also extend from bottom to top to very high places."
"The highest claw mark is almost over 3 meters long."
"Judging from the size of the claw marks, the bear must have been an adult."
"But even based on the exaggerated figure of an adult brown bear being up to 2.8 meters long, it still has to stand up and tiptoe to reach it."
"And more importantly, the lowest claw mark is actually at the bottom of the tree trunk, close to the ground."
"This distribution of claw marks."
Lin Xinyi simulated the scene in his mind.
He is used to using this kind of character substitution method to restore the specific actions of the murderer when committing crimes, but this is the first time he has simulated a bear.
"I'm afraid the bear wasn't sharpening its claws at the time."
"It should be climbing a tree!"
Lin Xinyi pictured a big brown bear in his mind, climbing a tree using both hands and feet.
Yes, all bears except polar bears can climb trees.
Polar bears don't, just because there are no trees in the Arctic.
Never believe that if you encounter a brown bear in the wild, you can escape by climbing a tree. This is a widely circulated and long-standing saying.
The best way to face a brown bear is to charge forward and give it a headbutt.
This allows the bear to bite his own head off in one bite, die cleanly, and avoid further pain.
"There must be something on the tree that attracts it."
"This thing may be its 'prey'."
"Otherwise, adult bears are so large that they shouldn't be climbing trees for no reason."
"And it seemed to give up after climbing up a little. Otherwise, the claw marks at the highest point would not just stay at a height of more than 3 meters."
"The trunk of this tree is big enough, it's not like it couldn't bear the weight of the bear."
"Then why did it give up climbing?"
"Could it be that the 'prey' on the tree launched some attack on it and drove it away?"
This reasoning is actually not very rigorous.
Because he had only investigated the murderer before, not the bear hand.
Lin Xinyi, who lacks relevant experience, is now relying entirely on the limited knowledge he learned from "Animal World" to make random guesses about the bears' actions.
However, this imprecise speculation can easily verify whether the result is right or wrong.
"I'll go up to the tree and have a look."
Without saying a word, Lin Xinyi climbed up the big tree using his hands and feet together.
The bark of the tree is very rough. Even if someone climbed up before, there would be no obvious traces such as handprints and footprints.
But what he was looking for was another kind of trace:
"Textile fibers."
"If someone had climbed this tree before and scratched the rough bark with their clothes, there would have been textile fibers stuck in the gaps in the bark."
Lin Xinyi thought so, and his eyes became more and more careful.
Soon, he really discovered something:
They were a few strands of white textile fibers stuck in the gaps in the bark of the tall tree trunk.
"Sure enough, this tree has been climbed before."
"The bear was chasing a person, and I'm afraid this person is not the deceased!"
Lin Xinyi confirmed during the autopsy that there was no white clothing on the deceased at all.
Therefore, the guy who was chased by the bear and pushed into the tree was probably not Miss Yamaguchi Yoshiko who lost her footing and fell off the cliff.
But this still doesn't seem to explain anything.
It can only mean that someone here was chased by a bear recently.
As for whether that person was related to the deceased, and whether the bear had any encounter with the deceased, nothing was known.
Even Lin Xinyi couldn't tell whether the two people and the bear appeared here at the same time.
With his mind full of questions, he climbed down from the tree with a solemn expression.
The case seems to be making progress, but instead there are more mysteries.
"Let's continue the investigation."
"We must search this forest thoroughly."
Lin Xinyi asked everyone in a serious tone to continue working:
"Also, Director Tsunoda, please help me with the information I want."
"Yes" Director Tsunoda responded reluctantly.
But Hattori Headquarters' son was watching from the side. No matter what complaints he and the other police officers had, they could only suppress them and immerse themselves in their work.
Lin Xinyi did not participate in this round of survey work.
There were too many doubts in his mind that could not be answered.
"Why did the bear climb up a little and then give up?"
"There are no claw marks like 'continuous sliding' on the tree trunk. From this point of view, it didn't give up climbing the tree because it couldn't climb the tree and slipped down from the tree."
"Then why did it suddenly give up chasing its prey in the tree?"
"Can human attacks scare away such an adult brown bear?"
"And...that string of footprints from before."
"Why do I have that weird feeling?"
Lin Xinyi frowned and paced slowly in the forest.
There was a thick mat of fallen leaves in the woods, making it difficult to leave human and bear tracks, which had a huge impact on his investigation and judgment.
So he unknowingly walked out of the woods and returned to the slope next to the cliff.
The dirt slope contained the only clear footprints they could find from the site.
Lin Xinyi looked at the long series of footprints, his eyes getting deeper and deeper.
"Are you confused?"
Miss Haiyuan's voice sounded quietly.
She didn't know when she escaped from Belmode's warm cage and quietly came to Lin Xinyi's side:
"I've never seen you so anxious about a case before."
"This is the first time."
Saying that, Haiyuan Ai took the initiative to put his little hand into Lin Xinyi's palm, as if he wanted to encourage him with the warmth of his palm.
Lin Xin held the soft little hand and finally put down the manager's airs, showing his fragile and helpless side:
"Oh yes."
"Even I have cases that I can't solve."
Nowadays it is very difficult to even restore the facts of the case, let alone find evidence.
It's not easy to check anything in this wilderness.
"Don't be too anxious."
Hui Yuan Ai comforted her softly.
She would never say such personal words.
But now seeing Lin Xinyi's unprecedented troubled expression, she couldn't help but want to do something.
It was not her turn as a child to help with the on-site investigation. As for the analysis of the case, she could not make any progress.
Miss Haiyuan could only give Lin Xin some comfort as her girlfriend:
"You said before that you have to be as patient as you are doing research on a case."
"It is normal for a case to take five days, ten days, or even several months."
"So there's no need to rush, just take your time."
"Um"
Lin Xinyi smiled and nodded:
"Thank you, Xiao Ai."
"I will adjust my mentality, slow down the pace, etc."
His expression froze slightly:
"Slow down?"
"That's right. I thought of it!"
At this moment, Lin Xinyi finally thought about why he had always had a strange feeling when he was observing the series of footprints.
Because he didn't notice one thing:
"That is, the deceased never slowed down during his escape."
"Especially after she stopped and looked back after the 'one-foot strike' occurred."
"Seeing the situation behind him, the deceased not only did not slow down, but actually ran away faster."
These can be seen from the changes in footprints, especially the "step length".
"And the most important thing is that the trail is very long!"
A long footprint naturally means that you can escape far.
"At that time, the deceased had already escaped from the forest a distance of 30 to 40 meters."
Coming out of the woods, there was first a piece of mud, and then a slope.
There are fallen leaves in the forest that cannot leave footprints, but when you walk on the muddy ground and slopes, you will definitely leave footprints.
But there were only footprints of the deceased at the scene.
In other words, the guy chasing her at least stopped at the edge of the forest and did not continue to pursue her.
"If this is the case, then when the deceased looked back, she and her pursuer would have maintained a distance of at least 30 to 40 meters."
"It doesn't matter if it's a man or a bear chasing her.\
,""No, the possibility of it being a bear is very slim. The prey is right in front of us. The bear will not just stay in the woods and not come out."
"Even if a bear is really chasing you, this distance seems to be 'safe' enough."
Lin Xinyi analyzed excitedly:
"According to normal circumstances, seeing the pursuer being thrown so far away by him, the deceased should subconsciously relax and slow down his pace."
"But why did she run away faster, more urgently, and even more messily?"
"Why does the pursuer who was thrown so far away still have such a strong deterrent effect?"
"What is it that can frighten the dead so much from a distance that they run away in embarrassment?"
He gradually had an answer in his mind.
Such an unexpected breakthrough made him feel excited.
Lin Xinyi was so happy that he couldn't help but stretched out his hand and touched Hui Yuan Ai's little head excitedly:
"Xiao Ai, thank you!"
"You really helped me a lot this time!"
Miss Haiyuan's face was a little cold. For some reason, she looked a little unhappy.
And Lin Xinyi didn't bother to observe his girlfriend's expression.
He excitedly stroked Hui Yuan Ai's soft brown hair, then turned around in a hurry, busy doing the next step of the investigation.
Haibara Ai:"."
She silently smoothed her hair that was messed up by her boyfriend, and her expression became colder:
"I can only touch people's heads."
"Do you really think of me as a brat?"
Little Miss Haiyuan couldn't help but think of the various soap operas she and her sister had been watching at home recently.
According to the routine on TV, this is when the male protagonist is unexpectedly inspired by the female protagonist.
The reaction should not be to touch the head.
Hui Yuan Ai was very depressed.