Yan Qi was stunned into silence by Yan Qing’s single command — “Get out of the way” — and instinctively took a step back.

Yan Qing paid him no further attention. She knelt before little Nuo’er, swiftly loosened the child’s clothing, tilted her chin upward, and bent down to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation against her small lips.

She breathed in, breathed out, repeating the cycle several times — yet little Nuo’er remained completely still.

“How could anyone be saved at this point? She’s already stopped breathing.”

“Sixth Miss is just wasting her effort.”

Ignoring the murmurs around her, Yan Qing placed both hands over little Nuo’er’s chest and began compressions. It was an extraordinarily taxing effort, made all the more difficult by the fact that she had to support her own body on two legs that could barely hold her. Before long, large beads of sweat were rolling down from her temples.

Yan Qing continued the compressions without pause, counting the intervals to alternate with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Very quickly, her clothing was soaked through with sweat.

Jiang Shi knelt to one side as if in a daze, while Yan Qi stood with his brow deeply furrowed, his fists clenched tight at his sides.

“Sixth Miss, keep going.” Someone said softly — it wasn’t clear who.

Yan Qing was fighting with everything she had to save little Nuo’er, and the sheer determination she showed gradually moved the crowd of onlookers. One by one, they began calling out their encouragement.

“Sixth Miss, you can do it!”

Though no one could offer any practical help, the chorus of encouragement gave Yan Qing an invisible source of strength.

After some time — it was impossible to say how long — little Nuo’er, who had not drawn a single breath, suddenly moved her head. Her mouth fell open, and Yan Qing quickly turned it to the side; a large mouthful of dirty water came pouring out.

Little Nuo’er’s breathing had returned.

Jiang Shi and Yan Qi were overwhelmed with joy. Jiang Shi moved to rush forward, but Yan Qing stopped her. “Take her to the hospital right now. She was underwater for too long — we can’t risk any lasting complications.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Yan Qi, with no thought for anything else at this moment, hurriedly scooped little Nuo’er into his arms, spun around, and shouted, “Driver — quickly, to the hospital!”

Murong and Jing Zhi rushed forward to help Yan Qing back into her wheelchair.

“Miss, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Yan Qing waved her hand and let out a long breath. “Fortunately we found her in time. Otherwise, the child really couldn’t have been saved.”

“After this, the eldest young master truly owes Miss a great debt of gratitude.” Jing Zhi gave a soft huff.

“I’m not expecting his gratitude. No matter how he treats me, little Nuo’er is a sweet and lovable child — and she is my niece. This was simply what I had to do.”

“Miss, what were you doing when you were pressing on the young miss’s chest like that?” Jing Zhi asked curiously.

Yan Qing said, “That’s called chest compressions — it’s a method of resuscitation……”

At those words, Yan Qing’s eyes suddenly lit up. The fog that had been swirling in her mind all this time seemed to be blown away by a gust of wind, revealing the tip of an iceberg beneath.

“I understand it now.” Yan Qing could not conceal her excitement. “Quickly — call the Military Police Division.”

~

Shi Ting and Zheng Yun sat in the car. Zheng Yun asked, “Seventh Brother, which hospital should we start with?”

White bed sheets were not only widely used in school dormitories — hospitals used them too.

“The First Hospital,” Shi Ting said. “No need to go anywhere else.”

“Seventh Brother is that certain the sheet came from the First Hospital?”

Shi Ting nodded. “Let’s go.”

The two of them arrived at the hospital and went directly to the inpatient ward at the back.

After presenting their credentials to the head nurse, she proved very cooperative, producing a freshly laundered bed sheet and handing it over. “Sir, this is the bed sheet used in our inpatient ward. We’ve been using the same style since the hospital was established — it has never changed.”

Zheng Yun took the sheet and unfolded it. Its dimensions were remarkably similar to those of the sheet used to wrap the body. In the lower corner, printed in red in a semicircular arrangement, were the clearly legible words: Shun Cheng First Hospital — Inpatient Ward.

Zheng Yun said, “The three characters remaining on the body’s sheet were ‘Cheng,’ ‘Yi,’ and ‘Bu’ — and all three of them appear right here.”

Shi Ting said, “The positioning matches exactly. The sheet used to wrap the body was from the same type.”

“Seventh Brother, didn’t you also find a white sheet in the dormitory at Shun Cheng University? That one also had the three characters ‘Cheng,’ ‘Yi,’ and ‘Bu’ on it.”

“Think carefully about the sheet that wrapped the body — the positions where the characters were missing — then match the characters from each of these two sheets to fill in the gaps.”

Shun Cheng University — First Year Female Student Ward

Shun Cheng First Hospital — Inpatient Ward

“You’ll find that if you fill in the characters from the school’s sheet, there is one extra character left over with nowhere to place it. Therefore, the sheet the killer used to wrap the body was from the hospital.”

“So the killer is someone connected to the hospital? I recall that Nannan’s father, Old Liu, works at the hospital — and his behavior today was quite strange. Nannan is Cailing’s close friend, so Old Liu may well have been driven by desire. He has a motive.”

Shi Ting asked the head nurse, “Who here has access to the bed sheets?”

“The nurses and doctors on duty, and the logistics staff responsible for laundering.”

“Is management strict?”

The head nurse said, “Although all items are logged and recorded, no one truly pays attention to whether a sheet is missing here or there. Worn-out sheets, or ones that are damaged — anyone who needs one can take it home. No one would ever question it.”

“I’d like to trouble you to provide a list of all hospital staff in the inpatient ward who have had access to the bed sheets — ideally from the founding of the hospital to the present day.”

The sheet used by the killer showed heavy wear, suggesting it was at least several years old. Over those years, staff turnover would have occurred, meaning the killer might no longer be at the hospital at all.

“That might be……” The head nurse looked somewhat uncertain, but considering the handsome face before her, she relented reluctantly. “Alright, I’ll speak with the personnel department. The person in charge there is my husband.”

“One more thing I need to ask you.” Shi Ting called her back. “Do you have a boiler worker here by the surname Liu?”

“You mean Old Liu?” The head nurse said. “He works right here in our hospital’s boiler room.”

“Does anyone at your hospital know about the murder case involving the female student from Shun Cheng University?”

“They do — the entire hospital knows.” The head nurse explained helpfully. “Our deputy director’s wife is a teacher at Shun Cheng University — she happens to teach the victim’s class.”

In a place like this, whenever something significant occurred, word traveled fast — one telling ten, ten telling a hundred — until every corner knew about it, boiler room included.

Shi Ting and Zheng Yun exchanged a glance.

It was no longer surprising that Nannan’s father, Old Liu, knew about Cailing’s case.

Even so, this did nothing to eliminate Old Liu as a suspect.

While the head nurse went to retrieve the records, Zheng Yun asked curiously, “Seventh Brother, how did you know Old Liu worked as a boiler man?”

“All ten of his fingers were darkened, with coal dust under his nails and coal residue on the soles of his shoes. Within a hospital, the only place where one would come into contact with those things is the boiler room.”

The head nurse proved remarkably efficient. Half an hour later, she returned with a list.

“This is the list of all personnel who have worked in the inpatient ward and had access to the bed sheets since the hospital was founded.” She explained: “Many of these people have already left the hospital. Please don’t ask me for their home addresses or personal information — I truly have no way to obtain those.”

Zheng Yun took the list and looked at the page covered in densely packed names. He immediately felt a headache coming on.

“Seventh Brother, do we have to go through every single one of these people?”

Shi Ting said, “For now, it appears so.”

“Understood.” Zheng Yun showed not the slightest reluctance. “The bed sheet is the most direct piece of evidence linking us to the killer. Going through every name on this list will definitely help us flush them out.”

“Hold on.” Shi Ting’s gaze locked onto a particular spot on the list. “Why is this person’s name on here?”

Zheng Yun followed the direction of his finger and frowned slightly. “That is unexpected.”

Shi Ting pointed to the name and asked the head nurse, “Do you remember this person?”

The head nurse wasn’t entirely certain. “I’ve worked here since the hospital first opened, but with so many people coming and going over the years, I can’t say I remember everyone.”

She glanced at the name — and recalled it immediately. “Oh, him. I remember. He left the hospital two years ago.”

“Did he resign on his own?”

“No.” The memory was still fresh in the head nurse’s mind. “A patient had developed a growth on his leg. The patient thought the hospital’s fees were too high and didn’t want to have the surgery done here, so he sought this man out. He took the money and performed the operation himself — but the patient’s condition only grew worse afterward. In the end, the patient came to the hospital demanding compensation, and the hospital dismissed the man who had performed the surgery.”

“He was a doctor?”

“No. He was in charge of dispensing medication in the inpatient ward.”

Zheng Yun was taken aback. “A medication dispenser daring to perform surgery — that takes some audacity.”

“Everyone who works here has a medical background — they’ve simply ended up in different departments.” The head nurse looked entirely unsurprised. “He was just unlucky. The growth happened to be in an unfortunate location.”

Zheng Yun was speechless.

At that moment, an officer came running over, breathless and drenched in sweat. He gave a salute. “Report, Director — Miss Yan has called.”

The officer had rushed the entire way; his clothing was soaked through.

Communication in this era was slow and backward. The exchange of information sometimes required a roundabout journey of great distances.

Yan Qing had telephoned the Military Police Division, and the Division’s personnel had then driven to the hospital to find Shi Ting and relay the message in person.

“What did Yan Qing say?” Shi Ting knew that for Yan Qing to call at this moment, she must have thought of a lead connected to the case.

The young officer was still catching his breath, making an effort to compose himself.

“Miss Yan said — she said she now knows why the killer used scissors to cut the ties on the victim’s undergarment.”

Shi Ting and Zheng Yun’s eyes brightened at once.

“Miss Yan said the killer was performing cardiac compressions on the victim.”

“Cardiac compressions — isn’t that a form of emergency resuscitation? Why would the killer be trying to revive the victim?”

By now the young officer had finally steadied his breathing, and he spoke in full sentences again. “Miss Yan said the victim was having difficulty breathing at the time. The killer, in order to save her, used scissors to cut the ties on her undergarment. The skin beneath the ties was completely uninjured — which proves the killer’s movements were careful and deliberate, for fear of hurting the victim. This means the killer had medical knowledge, and was able to lay hands on a pair of scissors at a moment’s notice. Cutting the victim’s undergarment ties was done to allow her to breathe freely — it is the most basic preliminary step before performing cardiac compressions.”

Zheng Yun grew even more confused. “According to Miss Yan, the killer was trying to save the victim — not kill her? Then why did he dump her body in the reservoir? Wasn’t it to conceal his crime?”

“I understand it now.” The overcast look in Shi Ting’s eyes cleared in an instant, replaced by a sudden brightness. “Let’s go. We’re making an arrest.”