Chapter Eight: Who Is She?

The couple appeared to be around fifty years old, and their clothing style was quite different from what had been seen of Lin Zhen in the surveillance footage. They looked rather modest, without any obvious display of designer brands.

“What exactly is going on here? Could there be some kind of misunderstanding?” After getting into the car, Lin Zhen’s father asked cautiously, his voice sounding unnatural. His hand was tightly gripped by his wife.

Kang Ge, while driving, mentioned a room number. “This is your family’s apartment, isn’t it?”

“Yes, yes, that’s our place! It’s our apartment!” they confirmed.

“That apartment is the crime scene. The deceased found there matches your daughter Lin Zhen in appearance, and her personal identification was found in the home. That’s why we need the family to come and identify the body and handle the formalities.”

Although Kang Ge explained it this way, with the external features matching so closely and the victim found in her own home, the process of having the family identify the body was more a matter of routine than necessity.

“No, that can’t be!” Lin Zhen’s mother interjected anxiously. “Our Zhen Zhen might be a bit playful, but she’s always known her limits. She’s been extravagant since she was little, but she’s never caused trouble outside. She wouldn’t get herself into such a mess! There must be some mistake, you must have gotten it wrong!”

Neither Kang Ge nor Yan Xue said anything. They were well accustomed to family members’ inability to accept such a loss at first, and could understand their denial.

For the rest of the journey, Lin Zhen’s parents remained silent. Judging from their expressions, they didn’t seem to believe their own reassuring words, and their faces grew increasingly stiff and wooden with anxiety.

Understanding their taut nerves, Kang Ge and Yan Xue led them straight to the coroner for identification. This time, the fatal wound was at the back of the head, so the victim’s appearance was relatively peaceful, not visually overwhelming.

But for loved ones, the blow was unavoidable.

At the morgue, Lin Zhen’s parents, visibly tense, completed the necessary paperwork and then went to identify the body. Both Yan Xue and Kang Ge were prepared for an emotional breakdown, but events unfolded differently from what they’d anticipated.

Lin Zhen’s mother, pale and trembling, approached the cold body. At first, she hardly dared open her eyes, but gathering her courage, she began to study the features carefully. Instead of quickly looking away, she grew more intent, even leaning in to get a closer look.

Lin Zhen’s father assumed she was becoming hysterical and tried to stop her, but his wife shook off his hand. Her expression was strange as she glanced between the corpse, her husband, and the officers.

“May I… may I touch her?” she asked, pointing to the body on the mortuary bed, addressing Yan Xue and Kang Ge.

It was an unusual request. Both officers were momentarily taken aback.

Once granted permission, Lin Zhen’s mother cautiously approached, put on the gloves handed to her by the coroner, and with trembling hands, gently pinched the deceased’s chin, then carefully felt the tip of her nose and her ears.

It was clear she was forcing herself to be brave, tense to the point of shaking. But after touching several places on the victim’s face, she took a step back and exhaled deeply.

“This is not our Zhen Zhen,” she declared, her voice quivering but full of conviction. Her eyes shone with excitement as she looked at Kang Ge and Yan Xue.

“Not? How can you be so sure?” Yan Xue was surprised by her certainty.

“Our Zhen Zhen had work done on her nose and chin!” Lin Zhen’s mother couldn’t contain her relief. “She always complained her nose tip wasn’t pretty and her chin was too short. She kept pestering me to let her get them fixed. At first, I didn’t agree, but then I thought—since I’m so busy and rarely with her, if I refused, she might go off and do it herself at an unlicensed clinic and end up with complications, like on TV! So I found a reputable cosmetic surgeon and went with her. Her chin has an imported implant that’s supposed to last for years and feels completely natural unless you really check. Her nose was filled with cartilage taken from her own ear. You can’t tell just by looking, but if you feel carefully, you can sense the difference. That’s why I checked. This girl, despite looking so much like our daughter, can’t be Zhen Zhen!”

“What did Lin Zhen look like before?” Kang Ge asked, instructing the coroner to re-examine the deceased’s facial features.

“I have her old photos on my phone, let me show you!” Lin Zhen’s mother eagerly fished out her mobile, desperate to prove the victim was not her daughter. “Look! See? Doesn’t she look completely different?”

Kang Ge took the phone and compared the photo. The differences were clear. Even though Lin Zhen’s mother only mentioned minor procedures, the cumulative effect had altered her appearance significantly. After surgery, Lin Zhen looked almost identical to the woman on the mortuary slab.

“This girl truly does look exactly like Zhen Zhen after her procedures, but I’m certain she’s not our daughter!” Lin Zhen’s mother insisted, her eyes full of expectation as she turned to the coroner.

Dr. Zhang double-checked the areas she had examined, paying particular attention to the chin. Afterward, she nodded to Kang Ge and Yan Xue. “There are indeed no signs of facial surgery on the victim. If cartilage had been taken from her ear, there would be a faint scar on the front of the ear—not easy to spot, but unmistakable on close inspection. An implant in the chin would certainly not escape our notice. If the family’s description is accurate, the victim’s identity needs to be further confirmed. To be thorough, I recommend a DNA comparison.”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine! I have no objections! This is definitely not our Zhen Zhen, I’m one hundred percent sure! The more you check, the more at ease I’ll be! Please, do whatever you need!” Lin Zhen’s mother responded eagerly, her demeanor now completely changed from when she’d arrived.

Lin Zhen’s father also quickly agreed to cooperate—as long as their daughter was safe, anything was acceptable.

So, under Dr. Zhang’s direction, Kang Ge and Yan Xue took DNA samples from the parents, and after processing, brought them back to the Criminal Investigation Division. For even if the victim was not Lin Zhen, the fact that a young woman so similar to her—of the same age group—had died in Lin Zhen’s home was deeply troubling.

“When did you last see Lin Zhen?” Yan Xue asked. Seeing Lin Zhen’s father about to answer while holding his phone, she added, “I mean, when did you last see her face-to-face—not over a video call.”

Given how similar the victim appeared to Lin Zhen, even her parents hadn’t noticed anything amiss at first glance. If not for Lin Zhen’s mother’s refusal to believe her daughter was dead, coupled with the cosmetic surgery, they might have misidentified the body. Close contact makes it easier to spot subtle differences, while video calls can be misleading due to camera quality, makeup, and other factors.

Her clarification was timely. Lin Zhen’s father paused, then said, “Ah… face-to-face? That’s been a while! The last time we saw her was during the Spring Festival, when we went abroad as a family. Otherwise, the two of us are busy all year and rarely have time for leisure together with our daughter. After the New Year, we really haven’t met her in person. If Zhen Zhen needed anything, she’d ask me for money—or if she didn’t, I’d send it anyway. She and her mother would video chat now and then.”

“How often do you video chat?” Kang Ge asked Lin Zhen’s mother.

“It’s hard to say. When she’s in a clingy mood, maybe twice a day. Sometimes she’s busy having fun, or we’re tied up with business, and we might not video chat for a week or two,” she replied. She had begun to relax, but Kang Ge’s question made her anxious again. “Do you have her phone number? Have you tried calling her? Should I try now?”

“No need. Is this Lin Zhen’s phone?” Kang Ge handed over the phone retrieved from the scene.

Lin Zhen’s mother took it, glanced at it, and quickly confirmed it was her daughter’s.

“How many phones does Lin Zhen have?” Kang Ge continued.

“Just this one. She only has one SIM card. She switches phones often, but only ever uses this number. That’s all! What’s going on? That girl definitely isn’t Zhen Zhen, but how did she end up in our home? And where is Zhen Zhen? Oh, I’m getting anxious again!”

Suddenly realizing her daughter was still missing, Lin Zhen’s mother’s brief relief faded into new worry.

At this point, Lin Zhen’s father managed to keep calm. He thought for a moment and said, “Don’t panic. You have the numbers of Zhen Zhen’s close friends, don’t you? Call them and ask! Whenever we couldn’t find Zhen Zhen, her friends always knew where she was.”

“You’re right! Let me call them now!” Lin Zhen’s mother hurried off to make phone calls.

“Do you know much about Lin Zhen’s friends?” Yan Xue asked Lin Zhen’s father.

Now that the case had taken a new turn with the victim’s uncertain identity, it was clear that someone so similar to Lin Zhen dying in her home could not be sheer coincidence. The priority was to find Lin Zhen herself, but in the meantime, learning more about her from her parents was necessary.

“We know a bit,” Lin Zhen’s father replied, sounding somewhat unsure. “She’s always been outgoing and makes friends easily. We know a few of her close friends, but she’s constantly meeting new people. The two of us are busy with business, not like some wealthy families who have staff handling everything and can travel or enjoy leisure. We have to oversee everything ourselves and rarely get free days. As long as she’s happy, we don’t usually interfere with her social life. She’s never done anything outrageous, so we trust her. She’s twenty-four now and doesn’t like us watching her every move. We understand.”

“So you run your business out of town, and Lin Zhen lives here alone?”

“That’s right. Our business used to be here, but later there were favorable policies elsewhere, so we moved. Zhen Zhen was still in high school then, and she refused to leave her friends, so we let her stay. We figured she’d be lonely if she moved with us, so we hired a housekeeper to look after her. She didn’t do well on her college entrance exams, so she went to a local school just to get by. We knew she wasn’t academically inclined and didn’t push her. As long as she was happy and didn’t break the law, she could do as she pleased.”