In 2019, a friend of mine said to me, 'You've been a forensic expert for so many years, can you write some case stories?' In her opinion, solving cases must be thrilling and interesting, especially forensic cases, which are very professional and admirable.
At first, I refused. As a forensic expert, I have always known only a small part of a case, and I have always felt that I am not good at telling stories. From childhood to adulthood, I have never received high scores in my essays. Writing a good case story is really a huge challenge for me.
But soon, I encountered some difficulties in my life and wanted to do something to divert my attention. I began to rethink whether I should write something, write some memorable cases, record things about life and death, and about human nature.
At that time, the Public Security Bureau where I worked was promoting the crackdown on the accumulation of murder cases. Many archives bags that had been sealed for many years were moved out of the archives room, and some physical evidence that had begun to mold was once again exposed to sunlight. If we don't clean up these unsolved cases, they will never be solved, and the victims will never receive justice.
In the process of clearing the backlog of murder cases, I finally made up my mind to record the cases I experienced myself, so I wrote two short and crude case stories and posted them online.
It was these two seemingly rough case stories that caught the attention of the editors of the "Genius Catcher Project". They told me that since I wanted to write them, it was better to join them and tell the case stories better together, so that more people could see the cases I wrote.
So, in early 2019, I published my first case story on the "Genius Catcher Project" platform, which was about a girl who was killed, dismembered, put in a box, and thrown away.
That was the deepest case in my heart, where the body of a girl without a head or limbs was stuffed into a suitcase and discarded by the river.
And I only saw her head a year after she was killed.
The editor has asked me more than once why she was the first one to talk about this case. At first, I thought it was just because the case sank too quickly, making me too unwilling, and later it happened too coincidentally that her head was still in place waiting for us to find the murderer for her.
But when I asked myself again and again, I realized that the most heart wrenching aspect of this case was actually the girl's living conditions. Her parents and brothers are still alive, but she lives like a transparent person, and no one tries to find her except us.
I am just an ordinary forensic expert. Perhaps when I started writing, I just didn't want to become that transparent person myself. I want to tell more exciting cases, share more about the hardships of solving cases and the sorrows of the world.
So, over the past few years, I have recorded one real case after another.
The murder case of a little girl that has been bothering me for a long time, and the intersection that made Wang Ma and I stop countless times, is actually the intersection of the residential area where I currently live.
There were also cases where I was once cornered and almost caught up in the investigation of the knife and knife case. Until now, some people still believe that we have caught the wrong killer and wrongly accused the good person.
The discovery of some cases is so coincidental that it is hard to believe, as if they were just a coincidence when they occurred.
I am working very hard to tell every case well, hoping to make more people like the cases I am telling, so that they can understand the whole story from a forensic perspective.
But just like we eat more home cooked meals than seafood feasts, the vast majority of cases are not as exciting, and some cases are not convenient to record for everyone to see.
At the end of 2019, my friend who initially encouraged me to write a case story committed suicide by jumping off a building due to depression. I haven't seen her in real life. Before she passed away, she kept saying that she would have a chance to come and have dinner with me, "pat" my cat, and give her an exclusive customized signed version when I published the book.
As a forensic expert with 18 years of experience, I have gone through hundreds of high fall cases, including suicide and accidents, but never before has it made me feel uneasy and depressed like this one.
In 2020, White Cat Caitou, who had accompanied me for over a decade, also passed away due to old age.
Perhaps the passing of my grandmother a few years ago made me realize that I am only accustomed to seeing corpses, not life and death.
We have witnessed the deaths of others countless times, and ultimately we will also walk towards death, but I just want to share with more people the scenery and fragments I have seen on the road.
From 2019 to 2023, five years have passed. Looking back, some of the friends who chatted with me and encouraged me to write stories have disappeared into the sea of people, but more people are still supporting me and accompanying me.
In recent years, I have also made more friends online and helped some netizens solve their problems. I have also struggled to get up from the low point of my life.
I am still the unremarkable forensic expert. I am as sensitive and suspicious as before, and I am still the same as when I was young. I always want to do my job better, work hard to get more cases solved, and discover more truths.
The longer I have been a forensic expert and the more cases I have experienced, the more case stories I have to share with everyone, so that everyone can have a better understanding and recognition of forensic experts and detectives,
18 years ago, when I first started working, forensic medicine was not a glamorous profession. At that time, society had little understanding of forensic medicine and a lower sense of identification. In the Pearl River Delta region, some family members may even feel that we are unlucky and refuse to shake hands with us. Even some colleagues may refuse to have dinner with us because we have just seen the body scene.
At that time, our dissection room was just a small room located in the corner of the funeral home, less than 10 square meters. In the middle of the room, a "T" shaped platform made of cement served as our dissection table.
Under such anatomical conditions, we have experienced hundreds of murders in a year and witnessed the improvement of social security.
We are just a microcosm of the whole country here. In more places, over the years, countless forensic experts have repeatedly stood up to advocate for the deceased, protect the rights of the living, and assist in solving cases, which has led to increasing awareness and recognition of the profession of forensic medicine among the police and society.
More and more students are actively applying for the forensic science major, and even the profession of forensic science has specialized variety shows, to the point where I feel like I should pour some cold water on those who are preparing to study this major. Because forensic work is just a small part of criminal investigation, we are important, but not as important as we imagine. The work is not always about exciting case solving stories, and more of the time, forensic work is tedious and busy.
I have been working for 18 years, and in these years, I have painstakingly pieced together the truth. The only case story I can tell is this book.
I have always felt that my writing is terrible, so I am particularly grateful to the editor of the "Genius Catcher Program" - Guokui, who has always encouraged and supported me. She is so talented and lovely, and every piece of my writing cannot be separated from her hard work.
I have always dreamed of having a book with my own signature. In order to make up for the volume of a book, I have been writing it intermittently for nearly 4 years. Now, my wish has finally been fulfilled. I am particularly grateful to my readers who do not disdain me. I hope you are all happy and far away from sorrow.
As a forensic expert, besides endorsing the deceased and advocating for the rights of the living, what I hope for more is peace in the world.