He broke his vows for her, and a tycoon descended to earth for love.

Chapter 311 Footprint Deduction

"Xia Ran." Ye Zhenghao spoke first. He had worked with her several times before his promotion, so they were quite familiar with each other. "I'm really sorry to have made you come all this way."

Xia Ran smiled slightly, carrying a box in her hand filled with her usual tools. "No need to apologize. I'm very happy to help Siyi. Besides, I haven't seen her for many years, and I miss her very much."

"Should we go up to the top floor and take a look?" Jiang Yanhui skipped the pleasantries. He was extremely anxious, and time had never been so precious to him.

The whole of B City is in an uproar right now. No one knows who leaked the news, but all the newspapers are reporting on it extensively. He wants to suppress it, but there is an even more powerful force controlling things behind the scenes. Coupled with the media's right to freedom of the press, he can't even get involved. He knows very well who that person is. He is currently overwhelmed and just wants to get some useful evidence from Xia Ran.

"Let's go." Xia Ran didn't like to waste time talking when she was doing things. She put on gloves and the three of them took the elevator to the top floor.

Because it was a murder scene, the police had already cordoned off the area. However, for someone of Ye Zhenghao's status, bringing a forensic doctor into the scene was no problem. Ye Zhenghao walked in front and said to Xia Ran behind him, "I've already had all the formalities taken care of here. You can take over the case directly. The body hasn't been touched yet."

Xia Ran nodded. As soon as she entered the scene, her dark eyes became exceptionally sharp. She carefully observed every corner. Finally, she pointed to a platform surrounded by ropes not far away and turned to ask Ye Zhenghao, "Did the deceased fall from here?"

"Because there are no surveillance cameras here, no one except Siyi and the eyewitness knows exactly what happened. However, the eyewitness insists that Siyi pushed the deceased down."

As Xia Ran listened to Ye Zhenghao's explanation, she nodded thoughtfully. She pursed her lips and slowly approached the area. Only when she got closer did she notice two people's footprints on it. She squatted down and examined it carefully before reaching behind her, "Could you please give me my camera?"

Jiang Yan casually picked up the camera and handed it to her. Xia Ran squatted down and carefully photographed the two pairs of footprints before slowly standing up and taking another step forward.

"Damn it, you stay right there and don't move!" A familiar male voice suddenly came from behind. Ye Zhenghao and Jiang Yan returned to their opposite side. Upon hearing this, both of them frowned in unison, but their gazes turned toward the elevator door. Who else could it be but Lu Fengcheng standing there?

"Why are you here too?" Jiang Yanhui's brows furrowed even more, her tone revealing her disdain without reservation. For her, Lu Fengcheng's presence here was absolutely detrimental! Just his opening remarks had already displeased Jiang Yanhui greatly.

—They're racing against time to find evidence, why is he meddling in?

Ye Zhenghao clenched his fist and covered his thin lips, coughing lightly. He didn't offer any opinion. Although he wasn't quite sure why Lu Fengcheng was here, judging from the way he looked at Xia Ran, he probably understood what was going on.

Among the people present, Xia Ran, the one who was specifically named, never turned to look at Lu Fengcheng even once. Her expression was exceptionally focused; she took two more steps closer to the perimeter and leaned down slightly to look down—

This is the top floor of a building, over twenty stories high. Is this woman really courting death?!

Seeing her slender figure swaying there, Lu Fengcheng's heart leaped into his throat. Without a word, he strode towards her, bypassing the two men, grabbed Xia Ran's wrist, and forcefully pulled her into his arms. His face was grim. "Are you out of your mind? This isn't how you investigate a case! That place is too dangerous. What if you fall?"

Jiang Yan raised her long, slender eyebrows slightly, watching the fascinating expression on Lu Fengcheng's face without making a sound.

It's no exaggeration to say it was amazing. Among the four of them, if you had to guess who was the most unpredictable, it would definitely be Lu Fengcheng. He was always a serious person. Leng Xiyu used to joke with him all the time. Even when he was plotting against you, he would only let you know his true feelings.

But was that Lu Fengcheng just now?

It's truly remarkable that he didn't hide the emotions in his eyes at all for the sake of a woman.

"Brother Ye, how can you let outsiders into a murder scene like this?" Xia Ran didn't even want to look at Lu Fengcheng, who was so rare to see, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed, her face full of disgust.

Idle people waiting?

What did she say? That damned woman, is she saying she's just some nobody?!

Lu Fengcheng's face was as ugly as could be, and the strength in his grip on her wrist increased uncontrollably. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Am I just some nobody?"

“Young Master Lu, you may be a very important person to many people, but as far as I am concerned, you are just an irrelevant person, and an irrelevant person who is obstructing my official duties. So, please let go, okay? I am collecting evidence and don’t have time to waste on irrelevant people like you.”

"You!" Lu Fengcheng was truly enraged. The pupils in his sharp black eyes beneath his glasses contracted rapidly. Those who knew him well knew this was the expression of someone extremely angry. Jiang Yanhui was also aware of it, but Xia Ran remained calm and fearless. She even pushed him away and said coldly, "If you want to throw a tantrum, at least choose a different place. Don't you even know where you are?"

She completely ignored Lu Fengcheng's handsome face, which was almost green with anger. Her gaze met that of Ye Zhenghao, who was standing awkwardly to the side, and Jiang Yanhui, who was still expressionless. She suppressed her other emotions and said seriously, "Come and take a look here. There are two footprints here."

The two hurried forward, leaving Lu Fengcheng completely ignored. His thin lips pursed and relaxed repeatedly, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, his sharp, piercing gaze fixed on the woman squatting on the ground. But she didn't even glance at him, only speaking slowly and deliberately—

“I’m guessing these two footprints belong to two women. Based on the size of the footprints, we can roughly determine that they are between 168 and 165 cm tall. So I think they belong to Siyi and the female victim. Judging from the condition of the footprints, the situation was very chaotic. When the female victim fell, she was facing Siyi. Look here.” She pointed her slender finger to the very end of the footprints. “...This footprint isn’t a complete footprint. It’s from when the female victim lost her balance and fell backward.”

As Jiang Yan listened to her remarkably calm and clear analysis, he couldn't help but admire this woman. Five years ago, he himself was also involved in a murder case, and he knew, of course, that it was this woman who helped him get away with it. Regardless of whether Lin Zhenbiao had orchestrated that case, he was pretty sure that this woman was indeed very capable.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "What can footprints prove?"

Xia Ran's eyes dimmed slightly, and she shook her head. "Actually, it doesn't prove anything. It only shows that many things are unfavorable to Siyi right now. Because the way the female victim fell from the building does make it easy to assume she was pushed. I'll ask Siyi about the specifics when I see her." She stood up, then, as if remembering something, asked Ye Zhenghao, "By the way, there was another eyewitness, right?"

"Correct."

Was he also present at the scene?

"The eyewitness said he heard arguing on the top floor before rushing up. He insisted that he saw Siyi push someone down."

Xia Ran glanced around and casually replied, while carefully observing her surroundings. She casually remarked, "So, he's the only eyewitness, and he witnessed the entire incident." Her eyes paused slightly before she noticed a row of incomplete footprints not far away. "Look over there, there are indeed footprints." She picked up her camera, walked over, and took pictures of the footprints. Finally, she stopped at the corner of the wall, staring at the deepest footprint for a long time.

Seeing that she still didn't react, Jiang Yan stepped forward and followed her gaze, asking, "Is there a problem?"

Xia Ran's lips slowly curved into a smile. He knelt on one knee, pointed at the footprint, and said, "Young Master Yan, have you noticed anything special about this footprint?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan observed carefully, but since he was neither a policeman nor a reasoning expert, he wouldn't know anything about such things. In the end, he could only shake his head and say uncertainly, "It seems that the other footprints are very shallow, while this footprint is a bit deeper. But it has been a day and a night, so it should be normal for the depth to vary, right?"

Xia Ran stood up and smiled confidently. "This footprint is particularly deep, while the other footprints I've observed are all very shallow. This can only mean one thing: someone stood in this spot for a long time, which is why the footprint is so deep."

Although she is a forensic pathologist, not a forensic investigator, this case is related to Siyi, so she came to the crime scene to take a look before touching the body.