Chapter 44: Identifying a Person by Voice

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Identifying a Person by Voice

Dressed in a sterile gown, Zhiming walked into the operating room on the second floor of the county hospital’s emergency department.

He saw Director Liu from the First Surgical Department treating the fracture in the unconscious Qin Fang’s left arm.

This made Zhiming breathe a small sigh of relief.

At least it wasn’t a gruesome open-abdominal wound.

"Xiaoyu, you’re here. Good timing. Examine his internal organs. I’m worried the earlier ultrasound might have missed something!"

Hearing Director Liu’s instructions, Zhiming put on surgical gloves and stepped up to the operating table.

He began examining Qin Fang, starting from his chest...

"Fractured second left rib. Hairline fractures in the third left rib and the sternum."

"Thoracic cavity, no fluid accumulation found."

"Heart, normal!"

"Both lungs, stomach, no abnormalities found..."

Zhiming’s hands moved to Qin Fang’s soft abdomen.

"Abdominal cavity, there’s fluid..."

Director Liu immediately stopped his surgical movements, looked up, and asked nervously, "How much?"

"A hundred, two hundred, or five hundred?"

After carefully sensing for a moment, Zhiming said, "Not much fluid, about fifty or sixty milliliters."

Director Liu lowered his head and continued the operation.

"Xiaoyu, keep checking!"

Zhiming went straight for the most dangerous organ in the abdomen—the liver...

"Director Liu, the liver shows signs of blood seepage."

Without raising his head, Director Liu immediately ordered, "Open another IV line. Start a drip of tranexamic acid."

At his words, the circulating nurse standing by began to work quickly and efficiently.

Director Liu then made a point of explaining to Zhiming, "For minor internal bleeding like this, if it’s not an immediate major problem, we’ll start with conservative treatment and close observation!"

Zhiming murmured his understanding and then proceeded to check the other organs in Qin Fang’s abdominal cavity one by one.

Fortunately, aside from some swelling in the right kidney, no other obvious internal organ issues were found.

Next, Zhiming checked Qin Fang’s head and limbs. Seeing that his vital signs were relatively stable and he wasn’t needed for the surgery, he left the operating room...

"Qin Fang is not in any life-threatening danger right now."

Zhiming faced the crowd that had gathered around—Qin Fang’s parents, friends, relatives, as well as Xu Shuang, Zhu Yan, and the others—and first set their minds at ease.

He elaborated, "His main injuries are an open fracture of the left arm, a fracture of the second left rib, hairline fractures of the third left rib and the sternum, a hairline fracture of the left tibia, and a fractured left big toe."

"As for his internal organs, the liver and right kidney have sustained some minor damage."

"There are also some lacerations and abrasions on the surface of his body."

At this point, Zhiming noticed Qin Fang’s parents growing anxious again and quickly tried to reassure them.

"Overall, Qin Fang’s injuries are all within a controllable and treatable range. We haven’t found any life-threatening wounds."

Zhiming added, "The one in charge of treating Qin Fang’s injuries is Director Liu of our hospital’s First Surgical Department, who is the most skilled and experienced surgeon we have."

"You can trust him."

Just then, a man in his forties standing next to Father Qin said with a stern expression, "Your hospital must do everything in its power to treat him. You must ensure his complete recovery."

You could hear the strong tone of a superior giving an order from a mile away.

Zhiming blinked.

Father Qin quickly made the introduction, "Dr. Yu, this is the leader of Qin Fang’s unit, Chief Prosecutor Sun from the County Prosecutor’s Office."

Zhiming nodded at Chief Prosecutor Sun, then turned his gaze to Qin Fang’s father and asked, "Uncle Qin, are there any leads on how Qin Fang got injured?"

Father Qin said angrily, "All we know right now is that he was hit by a motorcycle."

"The perpetrator fled on the motorcycle and hasn’t been caught yet."

’Just as I thought,’ Zhiming said to himself, turning his gaze to Chief Prosecutor Sun.

"Chief Prosecutor Sun, regarding Qin Fang’s injury, I might have a small lead. I need to speak with you privately."

The County Chief Prosecutor, Sun Di, stared at Zhiming for a moment, then turned and led him to an empty spot in the corridor.

"Dr. Yu, what specific lead do you have?"

"Chief Prosecutor Sun, around nine o’clock tonight, after Qin Fang and a few of our classmates finished our gathering at the Good Taste Restaurant..."

Zhiming recounted in full detail everything about the two men by the lamppost and the sentence he had overheard.

After he finished, he keenly noticed that the Chief Prosecutor’s expression had become exceptionally grave.

"Dr. Yu, based on the lead you’ve provided, what happened to Qin Fang tonight likely wasn’t a hit-and-run, but a deliberate act of retaliation, or even attempted murder."

"That changes the nature of this case completely."

Sun Di asked in a low voice, "Dr. Yu, can you describe their appearances in detail?"

"Or, could you identify them if you saw them again?"

Zhiming recalled, "One of them was wearing motorcycle riding gear and a helmet. The other guy’s head and body were blocked by the lamppost."

"The lighting wasn’t great either..."

He shook his head. "I didn’t see their faces, so I can’t identify them."

"However..."

Zhiming said slowly, "I can recognize that man’s voice. As soon as he speaks, I’ll know it’s him."

He added, "Based on the quality of his voice, I’d guess the man is in his forties or fifties."

"Can you really identify someone by their voice?"

Sun Di made no effort to hide his skepticism. "Dr. Yu, you need to understand..."

"To be convincing, you’d need to be able to pick one voice out of a dozen or more, multiple times. Are you sure you can do that?"

"Chief Prosecutor Sun, I can."

Zhiming was confident in his ability. He explained, "Chief Prosecutor Sun, once you look into my background, you’ll understand..."

"I was blind until the age of thirteen."

"As a result, my hearing is very sharp, and my ability to recognize sounds is extremely high."

Sun Di slowly nodded. "If you have this ability to identify people by voice, that makes things much easier."

"Qin Fang has only been working for a few years, so he hasn’t handled many cases. I’ll have someone collect voice samples from the relevant suspects as soon as possible for you to identify."

He then asked, "Will they need to repeat that exact phrase, ’Got a good look? It’s him’?"

Zhiming said with a confident expression, "I don’t need them to."

"Every person’s vocal timbre and intonation has its own unique characteristics, just like a fingerprint."

"As long as it’s the same person speaking, I can identify them no matter what they say..."

An hour and a half later, the treatment for Qin Fang’s injuries was complete, and he was moved to an observation ward.

Zhiming was worried about his condition, especially that his internal injuries might take a turn for the worse, so he stayed by his side.

Fortunately, the night passed without incident...

Around eight in the morning, Qin Fang awoke from his coma.

Having regained consciousness, Qin Fang couldn’t provide any more clues.

He said that on his way home last night, he heard a motorcycle approaching rapidly from behind and moved toward the side of the road.

The next moment, he was violently struck and sent flying, and then he knew nothing more.

However, Qin Fang did tell Zhiming one thing.

If this wasn’t an accident but a deliberate act of retaliation, then those guys had just stirred up a hornet’s nest.

This kind of thing is a huge taboo within the system; the entire law enforcement and judicial system would not tolerate it.

Qin Fang optimistically stated that the hit-and-run driver and the mysterious mastermind behind it would soon be caught...

A little after nine in the morning, Zhiming, who was still at the county hospital, received an email from Su Tong.

The email had an enormous attachment: the medical records for her neighbor who was suffering from a complex and rare disease, along with scans of numerous physical examination reports and lab results from a major hospital.

Zhiming had just opened it and hadn’t finished looking through it when he received a call from Fu Xiaoxue.

"Uncle, help me!"

Fu Xiaoxue cried out over the phone, "Uncle, your beautiful, brilliant, clever, adorable, and promising niece is about to be beaten to death!"

"Uncle, hurry up and come home..."

PS.

First day of the month, asking for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!