At 1 AM, an alarm rang out from a luxury apartment in the city center. When the police arrived, they found the owner, Lin Han, dead in his study, his head severely injured. The crime scene showed signs of a struggle, the safe had been forced open, and the cash and jewelry inside were stolen. Forensic officers found several clear fingerprints on the door handle, desk, and safe's exterior, with one set standing out—the fingerprint clearly left in a hurry by the suspect as they left.
When the fingerprint comparison results were returned to the police station, all the detectives fell into brief silence.
The system showed that the fingerprint belonged to Lin Xiao—Lin Han's younger brother, who had died in a car accident five years ago.
"Dead man committing the crime?" The technician looked confused. "Is the system malfunctioning?"
Su Wanqing immediately pulled up the fingerprint image and analyzed it carefully, her brows furrowed. Her professional intuition told her this wasn't a database error, but rather someone had deliberately placed this fingerprint at the scene.
"This fingerprint looks intact, but there are subtle inconsistencies in the details," she enlarged the fingerprint image, "For example, the spiral direction of the third phalanx is slightly abnormal, and the oil distribution is unnaturally even. When a normal person touches an object, the pressure on different parts of the fingertip changes, causing uneven oil distribution. But this fingerprint looks like it was—printed on."
"Faked fingerprint?" Lu Chenzhou, standing beside her, asked in a serious tone.
"More accurately, it's a fake fingerprint made with some high-molecular material," Su Wanqing confirmed, nodding, "The creator not only mastered high-precision modeling and printing techniques but also obtained Lin Xiao's real fingerprint data."
"But Lin Xiao is dead," Lu Chenzhou muttered. "We need to find out who had access to his original fingerprint data."
According to the medical files, after Lin Xiao's death, his body had undergone routine autopsy and cremation, but his fingerprint data had been preserved. The records from the investigation five years ago showed that a family member had signed an authorization agreement to collect all items and archived documents related to Lin Xiao.
That family member was Lin Han himself.
"So," Su Wanqing began to piece things together, "If Lin Han kept his brother's biological data, and now these fingerprints are found at Lin Han's murder scene... It's possible Lin Xiao didn't commit the murder, but someone deliberately created the illusion that Lin Xiao 'came back from the dead' to commit the crime."
Following this lead, Lu Chenzhou delved deeper into the Lin family's relationships. He discovered that Lin Han's father had passed away two months ago, leaving behind an inheritance worth tens of millions. According to the late Lin's will, if both sons were dead, the estate would go to a charity fund; if one son was still alive, they would inherit the entire estate.
The timing of the will's amendment was crucial—it occurred during Lin Han's father's illness. At that time, Lin Han had begun frequent consultations with legal advisors, and there were rumors that he was planning to restart an investigation into Lin Xiao's supposed "resurrection."
"Lin Han wanted to prove that Lin Xiao wasn't dead?" Su Wanqing asked, slightly puzzled. "But the evidence from the car accident was clear, and even the bone and dental records confirmed it."
"Or," Lu Chenzhou speculated, "Maybe Lin Han didn't actually want to prove his brother was alive, but rather wanted to create a false appearance that 'Lin Xiao' had returned and killed him."
"If that were the case, the entire estate would have no heir and would go to the charity fund. The person who would benefit most from this is likely someone else."
Just as the investigation hit a standstill, a report from the forensic department provided a breakthrough.
Lin Han's fatal injury wasn't a single blow, but rather three precise strikes to the head, with clean, uniform depth—indicating a professional level of skill, likely someone with combat or military experience. Additionally, there was a faint strangulation mark around the neck, suggesting that Lin Han had been briefly choked unconscious before the blunt-force attack.
Meanwhile, a resident who lived below Lin Han provided a crucial lead. The night before the incident, they had seen a man who closely resembled Lin Han in the building's elevator. However, the man was dressed unusually, wearing a hat and sunglasses, creating a sort of "misperception" even on camera.
The police retrieved elevator footage and, after enhancing the image with AI, found that while the man's facial features were similar to Lin Han's, the contours of his earlobes and the brow shape were slightly different.
That difference matched perfectly with another person—Lin Xiao's twin brother, Lin Tao.
This illegitimate son of the Lin family had been taken by his mother after his parents divorced and had never publicly acknowledged his identity or been included in the family registry. He only returned to the country secretly when Lin Han's father fell ill and had tried to contact Lin Han multiple times without success.
"He is Lin Xiao's twin brother, and also Lin Han's half-brother," Lu Chenzhou reported, his voice colder than usual. "He had sufficient motive, a similar appearance, and the ability to replicate fingerprints. He could easily disguise himself as 'Lin Xiao returning from the dead.'"
"He killed Lin Han, not only to inherit the massive fortune but also to create a 'revenge from the deceased' mystery, successfully diverting the police's attention," Su Wanqing murmured. "Someone who is both smart and full of hatred could come up with such a misaligned design."
Finally, in a luxury villa, the police successfully arrested Lin Tao. He was wearing a black trench coat and showed no remorse on his face. When interrogated, he said only one thing:
"Years ago, my father kicked my mother and me out for the sake of reputation. Now, I'm just putting everything 'back in place.'"
The truth of the case was revealed, but Su Wanqing couldn't calm herself. This case not only exposed the human obsession with money and identity but was also a carefully planned family revenge drama. Those misplaced fingerprints ultimately not only unveiled the real murderer's face but also tore apart the most fragile trust between family members.