Chapter Two: Possessed by Evil

Leaving the medical examiner’s office with the autopsy report in hand, Yan Xue listened as Kang Ge filled her in on additional details about the case. She learned that the deceased was named Xu Wenrui, only twenty-one years old—a university student who should have been entering his senior year at the prestigious K University in W City. Before the incident, Xu Wenrui had returned home from school to rest. According to his family, who first called the police, there had been nothing unusual about his behavior. It was only when he failed to get up in the morning that they went to check on him and found his body cold.

Because there were no obvious signs of foul play, the police initially presumed accidental death based on the scene and transported the body back to the station for autopsy to determine the cause. It was during this examination that suspicious circumstances came to light, transforming the nature of the case.

Most often, when a family is convinced that their loved one was murdered but the medical examiner rules it an accident or suicide, they refuse to accept it, overcome by grief and anger—a reaction not unfamiliar to the police. But this time, the situation was reversed. From the outset, Xu Wenrui’s death had all the hallmarks of a sudden illness, making it hard for anyone to suspect homicide. The family had already come to terms with the possibility of an accidental death. Now, being told their child was murdered, their pain would only double.

Under such circumstances, as Dr. Zhang had warned, the family’s emotions might become particularly volatile with the shock, and it would fall to Yan Xue and her colleagues to bear the brunt.

“Is anyone else still in the office? How many family members came for Xu Wenrui? Can just the two of us handle it?” Yan Xue asked Kang Ge with some concern.

Kang Ge, however, seemed unfazed, waving her worries away. “Don’t fret! We’ll deal with whatever comes. Besides, we should look on the bright side—maybe hearing it was murder will spur the family to recall suspicious details in their grief and anger.”

Yan Xue couldn’t help but laugh at that, giving him a thumbs up. “I really admire your optimism!”

“And I admire your attitude just as much,” Kang Ge grinned broadly in return.

Yan Xue took his response as mere politeness and waved it off with a wry smile. “Save your compliments. Let’s see if you still feel that way after we’ve worked together for a while.”

Kang Ge didn’t seem bothered. “Though I graduated earlier than you, I’ve worked less time in the detective unit. Just promise you won’t hold it against your ‘senior’ if I’m a rookie at this.”

Yan Xue chuckled too, the banter lightening the mood as they moved past the topic.

They already knew the family had arrived at the station. Both assumed it would be just Xu Wenrui’s parents and perhaps one or two relatives. But when they returned to the office and found no outsiders present, a colleague explained that the group was so large it had been moved to the meeting room for convenience.

Xu Wenrui’s family brought a whole entourage to the police station? Yan Xue glanced at Kang Ge in surprise, and he looked just as puzzled. The two of them hurried to the meeting room, opened the door, and were taken aback to see at least eight or nine people inside.

Among them were two elderly people who looked to be in their seventies, a young man around twenty, and the rest were middle-aged men and women in their forties or fifties. Of these, a couple appeared especially grief-stricken—they must be Xu Wenrui’s parents. Yan Xue immediately focused her attention on them.

“Hello, are you Xu Wenrui’s parents?” she approached, showing her credentials and greeting them. “I’m in charge of the case. My name is Yan Xue, and this is my colleague Kang Ge.”

Before the couple could reply, a long-faced woman of similar age looked Yan Xue up and down, clearly dissatisfied. “Why send two such young officers? Wenrui was a gifted student, a high achiever! Is this how little the police care?”

Yan Xue frowned slightly. She’d encountered such skepticism before—not that it pleased her—but she was about to respond as usual. Yet this time, her companion wasn’t the mild-mannered Chen Jiabao but Kang Ge, who beat her to it.

Kang Ge quickly sized up the woman, feigning surprise. “Young? Me? Mind if I ask how old you are?”

Yan Xue glanced at him, puzzled by this unexpected response. The long-faced woman was obviously thrown off too, as was Yan Xue herself, worried Kang Ge might escalate things.

“I’m forty-three. Why?” the woman answered.

Kang Ge smiled, full of helpless mirth. “Ah, so you’re only forty-three and you think I’m too young, question my qualifications? I can’t tell whether to be flattered or offended!”

His words were ambiguous, but the meaning was clear. The woman, surprised, looked him up and down again and chuckled awkwardly. “Well, you do look young! Is it natural or do you have a secret? You look barely thirty! How could I have known—you really do look like a youngster!”

“That’s fine. Better to be called young than old,” Kang Ge replied cheerfully. “Let’s leave it at that. Now, let’s talk about Xu Wenrui.”

The woman, embarrassed, quickly nodded and fell silent.

Yan Xue, impressed, gave Kang Ge a silent thumbs up and picked up the thread. She turned to Xu Wenrui’s parents. “Since the case has changed nature, we need to understand more about Xu Wenrui’s recent circumstances. Who are all the people present today?”

“We’re Xu Wenrui’s parents,” his father replied promptly, helping to introduce everyone. “These are Wenrui’s grandparents, his aunt, and his mother’s elder sister.”

He then indicated the long-faced woman and the two people beside her. “This is Wenrui’s mother’s good friend and her family. Wenrui always called them Aunt Yang and Uncle Gao. That’s their son, Gao Yang, who grew up with Wenrui.”

The long-faced woman smiled awkwardly, while the father and son beside her seemed much more reserved. Especially Gao Yang, who stood expressionless next to his father, clearly present only because of his parents.

“Do all of you know much about Xu Wenrui’s daily life?” Yan Xue asked.

His aunt looked uncomfortable. “Honestly, I don’t know much about my nephew’s affairs. I’m here mainly because my parents insisted on coming, and I was worried their age would make it hard for my brother and sister-in-law to manage if they got emotional, so I came to help.”

“Same here,” added his mother’s elder sister quickly, linking arms with Xu Wenrui’s mother as if she might faint at any moment. “I was worried about my sister’s health if she got upset, so I came to support her.”

Yan Xue pursed her lips. This was always the most troublesome situation—people with little knowledge about the case or the victim, offering little of value, yet able to stir the family’s emotions with a single careless remark.

“How about this: those not directly involved can rest here in the meeting room for a while. Xu Wenrui’s parents can come with us to the office to make a statement,” Yan Xue suggested, hoping to reduce the crowd.

But before anyone else could respond, Xu Wenrui’s mother objected. “I need them with me. I can’t face this loss alone.”

With that, Yan Xue could hardly argue, so she signaled everyone to sit and turned to the parents. “From what we know, Xu Wenrui’s accident happened at home. Did he usually live at home, or was he at school and only came back occasionally? Was there anything unusual about his return?”

“He normally lived at school, only coming home on weekends or for special reasons, and during holidays,” his father explained. “At school, Wenrui was active in the student council and various societies—he didn’t come home much. Now that he was moving from junior to senior year, his teacher wanted to recommend him for graduate school, but he was also considering working, so he was a bit torn. He didn’t spend much of the summer at home—was always out.”

“Was his return right before the incident routine, or prompted by something unusual? Did you notice anything odd?”

“My grandson came home because he was possessed by something evil,” his grandmother suddenly interjected.