Chapter 23: Tracking Scent
Every individual has their unique scent, which became clearer to Xiang Kun after his sense of smell had been profoundly enhanced.
However, it was only a few hours since he regained consciousness that evening. His discernment of various smells was still novice. At the crime scene, he had once considered whether he could sniff out the scent of the murderer and track them down.
But Xiang Kun lacked the scent source. The murderer at that time should have just left. There should be some residual scent at the scene, but he couldn't discern it amongst the various scents, or rather there were too many options that he was unable to confirm.
After the police arrived, the number of people at the scene increased, and tracking naturally became more difficult.
However, using his enhanced hearing, Xiang Kun heard the police conversation and learned that the murder weapon hadn't been found yet.
There must be fresh blood from the victim on the murder weapon. According to the crime scene, there was no evidence of cleaning up blood traces on the blade. Hence, there should be residues on the weapon that hadn't been dealt with yet, or the cleaning cloth or paper was still with the murderer.
This gave Xiang Kun an idea. He wanted to see if he could find the murderer or the murder weapon by tracking the scent of the blood.
The location with the strongest scent of the victim's blood was naturally the previous crime scene.
But Xiang Kun chose not to return there and headed in another direction instead.
According to his judgement, when he saw the victim, the murderer must have left no more than three minutes ago.
Before Xiang Kun smelled the fresh blood, he didn't see any suspicious figures or hear anxious footsteps, so the murderer didn't escape in his direction.
After eliminating one direction, the murderer would have two remaining options for escape. But one lane leads directly to a busy main road where there were many pedestrians even at this time, and there were many surveillance cameras, making it easy to be identified.
Given the style of the murderer, who didn't strike directly at an ATM but followed the victim to a secluded place, he wouldn't head in that direction.
So, Xiang Kun chose the remaining path and wandered along.
However, he basically couldn't track by the scent of the victim's blood, because by doing so, he would definitely head towards the crime scene.
Xiang Kun was not discouraged. He wasn't taking it as his duty or responsibility to catch the murderer, but only an attempt to practice his tracking ability with his sense of smell.
Xiang Kun imagined himself as the murderer. He instinctively chose a direction and keep moving forward when he reached a crossing.
After walking a long way, the smell of the blood left at the crime scene was very faint. Just when Xiang Kun was about to give up, a faint, "familiar" smell was detected amongst the strong mixed scents.
Xiang Kun perked up immediately. This smell was that of the victim's blood. It was almost dissipating, but its direction was different from that of the crime scene. In other words, he might find the target.
Following the scent, Xiang Kun walked back and forth for about ten minutes, finally locating the source of the blood's smell in an open trash bin.
The trash bin was evidently for nearby residents to throw away their household garbage. Some of the bags containing food waste are torn open, with soup, water, and food residues everywhere. As soon as Xiang Kun approached, all kinds of pungent smells hit him, which was even more tormenting with his enhanced sense of smell.
He must stay focused to keep track of the faint smell of the victim's blood.
Looking at the garbage bin swarmed with flies, Xiang Kun hesitated. He had no obligation to track down the suspect. Why should he delve into a garbage bin?
After hesitating for a moment, he chose to look into it; he wanted to confirm his tracking target, to see if it's something with the victim's blood, or if it could turn out to be the murder weapon?
Xiang Kun sighed, drove away the flies on the bin, and began to search.
Soon, Xiang Kun found something with blood from the victim — not the murder weapon, but a pair of cotton gloves smeared with blood.
Xiang Kun didn't directly hold them with his hand, he grabbed a plastic bag nearby to pick the gloves up and sniffed them. The mixed, foul smell made him sneeze three times.
However, he keenly caught a trace of human scent from the foul smell.
That's the secretion of various skin glands such as sweat glands and sebaceous glands on one's hand. Trapped inside the gloves, this smell wouldn't easily dissipate.
As for the smell of the victim's blood, it is needless to say, traces of blood on the gloves could be seen with naked eyes as well without smelling.
Xiang Kun hesitated whether to inform Officer Chen about the location of the gloves. After some thought, he threw the gloves back into the bin without calling Officer Chen. He just couldn't come up with a good excuse.
Moreover, he believed that given the police's searching efforts, they would soon reach here.
Of course, he hoped the sanitation workers wouldn't clean up the bin by then.
Although he captured the scent of the murderer, after wandering around the vicinity, Xiang Kun was empty-handed. In the city, there are too many distractions, both in terms of sound and smell.
The next day, Xiang Kun added Officer Chen's WeChat using the number he had given, and asked about the progress of the case.
He didn't hope for much since he knew the police usually wouldn't disclose ongoing case investigations to the public. But to his surprise, Officer Chen sent him a photo directly.
The police's investigation efficiency was much faster than what Xiang Kun imagined. Just overnight, they had identified the suspect!
According to Officer Chen, the suspect was released from prison in March and came to the city in April. Unbelievably, a few months later, the suspect committed a major crime again — the victim who was stabbed last night died in the early morning despite rescue efforts.
The suspect's photo and information have been sent to the train stations, airports and various hotels and hostels. Local television stations would soon broadcast the wanted report. His arrest now seems inevitable.
Officer Chen warned Xiang Kun that if he came across the suspect, he should coat his courage, call the police, or directly call him.
From Xiang Kun's perspective, it was as if the suspect had pre-occupied a jail bed. In this era where cameras are ubiquitous and real-name authentication is required everywhere, it was especially challenging for the suspect — who had committed murder — to hide from the vast number of police searching for him.
Since that was the case, Xiang Kun didn't intend to track the suspect based on the scent he had obtained. After all, this was a big city with over ten million people. Trying to find someone by their scent without a confirmed range was like finding a needle in a haystack.
But to Xiang Kun's surprise, he encountered the suspect before the arrest.