October 4, 2011, 15:47
Mr. Zhao put down his empty instant noodle bowl, feeling sorry for himself as he rubbed his stomach.
"Finally, a National Day holiday with no cases, and I could have rested for a few more days. Who would’ve thought that going out for so fun on the island would lead to stumbling upon a dead body? With this kind of luck, I’m truly in awe. Zhou Xiaozhou, if you can’t finish it, give it to , I’m not full."
Although he complained verbally, his body was honest; upon seeing Zhou Ning stop eating, Mr. Zhao imdiately poured the remaining noodles into his bowl and wolfed them down. Zhu Xingxing, seemingly afraid of having his food snatched away, moved closer to Xia Momo and focused on eating.
At that mont, the office door opened, and Xu Dayuan walked in with Bai Ruixin, both wearing expressions of surprise.
"I had soone take Mr. He and Xiaoyu back ho, but why are you guys still here? Haven’t you gone to the autopsy?"
"No rush, we’ve already sent it for rapid freezing. A high-decomposing body will sll less foul once frozen. However, I want to give a heads-up to the leadership: this body has no head or limbs, and the perpetrator is very aware of police procedures. Therefore, we won’t get much from the autopsy, so be prepared for that."
Xu Dayuan pulled up a chair and sat opposite Zhou Ning.
"In cases of dismbernt like this, ninety-nine percent of the ti it’s soone the victim knew. There’s nothing complex about the case details, the only difficulty is identifying the victim. Once we confirm the victim’s identity, the case is eighty percent solved. So, Zhou Xiaozhou, you need to conduct the autopsy quickly and provide with clues to investigate the victim’s identity."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Then let’s go together."
Xu Dayuan paused, taken aback by Zhou Ning’s response. Mr. Zhao laughed and grabbed Xu Dayuan’s arm.
"Co on, leader, you’ll get a better understanding if you see it in person. It’s a holiday, Mr. Yang and the others aren’t around. There’s only a few staff on duty in the lab, so co and take a look. You can also help Zhou Ning with the recording."
With that, he practically dragged Xu Dayuan into Autopsy Room No. 2. The ventilation system in the room had already been turned on, and soon the suitcase arrived, emitting a chilling and putrid coldness.
Xu Dayuan had seen many decomposed bodies before, but they were usually like the Li Delin murder case, where the scene was more fixed and the bodies were intact, with so parts already skeletonized and many insects present.
But this one felt different—it was as if rotten fat was covered by an intact layer of skin, and all the tissues of the body had decayed into a paste-like substance that seed ready to ooze out at any touch.
Xu Dayuan coughed twice and secured his mask tightly. Zhou Ning had already finished dressing up and waved at Zhu Xingxing.
"With the body this decomposed, Zhu Xingxing better do the recording. Mr. Zhao and Xu Da, give us a hand and lift the body out of the suitcase. We’ll all work together, try not to grip any particular part too hard, just slide it out is fine."
The person who had delivered the body was kept there by Mr. Zhao. Four strong n inserted their hands under the lump of remains in the suitcase and lifted it up in unison on a count, as Zhu Xingxing quickly moved the suitcase aside, and the body was finally placed on the dissecting table.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zhu Xingxing ripped off a layer of gloves and turned the ventilation system up to the highest setting, but still gagged.
After adjusting herself for so ti, she ca closer. Mr. Zhao checked on her.
"Would you prefer that I record and you step out for a breather?"
Zhu Xingxing shook her head.
"It’s okay, I just need to get used to it. I’ve had too little exposure to this."
Zhou Ning looked around and saw that everyone was ready, then nodded towards Mr. Zhao.
"Start the recording system, and you do the statent."
Mr. Zhao wasn’t shy about performing. He started the recording system and briefed on the ti the body was found and the general situation. By then, Zhou Ning had already begun the external examination of the body, which still lay folded on the dissecting table.
The incisions on the neck were very even; the skin edges weren’t curled, and as for the vertebrae’s cross-section, so rough fragnts could be seen. Zhou Ning picked up a magnifying glass, took a closer look, and gathered so particulate matter.
Then he flipped the body over so its back lay against the dissecting table, and together with the others, unfolded the bent portions of the body’s legs. As they did this, a tattoo appeared in the area below the groin on the right thigh.
Mr. Zhao hurriedly passed over a ruler, followed by taking photographs. The tattoo was sowhat unusual in its form, resembling a simplified drawing of deford letters, but it was cute and looked like a cat.
This discovery excited everyone present as the victim was missing its head and limbs, making the tattoo the best unique identifying feature.
As for the amputation surfaces of the limbs, Zhou Ning also examined these closely. The cut surfaces were very neat, but they also had leftover bone particles, clearly the result of sawing.
Zhou Ning stretched his neck and then said to Zhu Xingxing, who was responsible for recording:
"Record this: the deceased’s estimated height is between 160-165 cm, with a slight build, and the estimated age is between 20-30 years old. We’ll revise the specific age later through the analysis of the pubic symphysis."
"There are bone fragnts remaining on the severed sections of the head, hands, and feet, which are caused by sawing. We’ll take samples later to make ground bone slides to determine whether the cutting occurred while the deceased was alive or after death. Okay, let’s start the autopsy."
The autopsy began, and Xu Dayuan wrote a note and held it up for Zhou Ning to see, which read that Mrs. Cui had already been notified and would co over later. For the tests that needed to be done, just proceed with normal sampling.
Zhou Ning gave a slight nod and then asked Mr. Zhao to co over and perform an X-ray scan. When he saw the X-ray image on the big screen, Zhou Ning was stunned, because in front of the deceased’s chest,
on the surface of the ribs, there were two spherical luminous bodies. Their size, position, and shape made it unnecessary for anyone to tell Zhou Ning what they were— he’d already guessed.
Mr. Zhao cocked his head and stared at the screen for a while before asking in a low voice,
"What’s this thing?"
Zhu Xingxing turned to look at him and then pointed at the video recorder. Mr. Zhao quickly closed his mouth, while Xu Dayuan glanced at him, wishing he could kill him with his eyelids.
"The deceased had breast augntation surgery."
Xu Dayuan nodded in agreent, but his attention had already returned to the body of the deceased.
"But how can you tell?"
Zhou Ning didn’t respond, nor did he explain; after decomposition, it was naturally impossible to see its original appearance. He raised the scalpel and began incising the chest and abdon of the deceased.
He skillfully removed the two spherical objects from the chest of the deceased and threw them into a glass basin prepared by Zhu Xingxing.
The autopsy proceeded unusually smoothly. The neck of the deceased was severed at the sixth cervical vertebra, a position that had lost the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage, making it impossible to determine whether the cause of death was chanical asphyxiation.
The lungs and trachea of the deceased showed no drowning fluids or exudate indicative of drowning. The heart, spleen, liver, and intestines were all very normal. The female reproductive system had no pathological changes; the cervical os was round, indicating no childbirth or induced abortion had occurred, and there were old lacerations on the external genitalia.
Having taken the pubic symphysis and the hurus, Zhou Ning then gestured with his hand.
The body was so badly decomposed that there was no need for suturing to preserve it. Instead, keeping the skeleton would be more beneficial for solving the case, as so injuries are more apparent on bone.
At Zhou Ning’s signal, Mr. Zhao turned off the recording equipnt.
"Xu Da, extracting the skeleton will take so ti. I’ll be able to give a more accurate analysis of the deceased’s age after the bones are extracted. However, these samples can be sent for testing."
Xu Da glanced at the autopsy table, understanding what Zhou Ning intended. After all, there were no birthmarks on the deceased, just a tattoo and two spheres. The murderer was very clever, which indicated strong anti-investigation capabilities, leaving the police a seemingly insoluble problem.
"I won’t rush you. When the results co out tomorrow, let know. I’m going to investigate the suitcase and places around Shazikou where one could dispose of a suitcase into the sea without it quickly sinking into the sand."
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"And the tattoo. I haven’t seen this pattern before. I don’t know if it’s designed by soone specifically. I think we could ask around in specialty tattoo shops; they might understand the symbolism better. I rember once, soone had tattooed a flower, and we didn’t think much of it, but a tattoo master said, it was Hell’s Flower."
Xu Dayuan nodded vigorously, raising his phone. The image of the tattoo had already been sent to him. He stood up once more, gazing intently at Zhou Ning.
"Okay, I won’t press you guys or put pressure on you about this case. I’ll start with the investigation. But rember, the murderer went through so much trouble to hide the identity of the deceased which proves that as soon as the woman’s identity is revealed, he won’t be able to escape. Let’s all do our best!"
After Xu Dayuan left, Mr. Zhao moved closer, looking at the autopsy table, full of confusion, because Zhou Ning said he wanted to remove the bones from the decayed flesh—a process he had not seen anyone perform before.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, how are you going to extract the skeleton?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Zhao and Zhu Xingxing, who had co over holding the glass basin.
"There are two thods. The first thod, if my master were here, he would definitely say to find the lovely maggots and let them help us clean the decomposed tissue from the body. With our assistance, we could be done in 48 hours;
The second thod is simpler, but it depends on your puzzle-solving skills. And right now, we need to borrow a pressure cooker from another dissection room. Throw in the manually separated bones, and given the amount, we could be done in four hours. Now, you two choose which thod we’ll use?"
Mr. Zhao looked at Zhou Ning with horror, then turned and vomited, rushing out of the dissection room. Zhu Xingxing raised his hand and waved it back and forth, his insides churning with retches just like Mr. Zhao’s.
Seeing their reactions, Zhou Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
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