The Story of the Seventh Suspect

In the incinerator of an abandoned factory, a charred corpse clutched half of a rusted police badge. It was the third “badge-and-burned-body case” in three months.

Shen Yan, a former forensic pathologist now suspended from duty and running a secondhand bookstore, always had the lingering smell of disinfectant on his fingertips. He recognized the half badge: it had belonged to his mentor, Old Zhou, who had “died in the line of duty” in an accident three years ago. The method of burning the body was exactly the same as in his mentor's case.

Lin Mo, a rookie fresh out of the police academy, carried the Forensic Pathology Handbook Old Zhou had given him before his death. He met Shen Yan at the crime scene for the first time. Crouching in the ashes, the man picked up a piece of charred cloth with a pair of tweezers. His gaze was colder than the embers in the incinerator. “The killer is imitating someone, and taunting us, too.”