Xu Dayuan waved his hand with indifference and said,
"The technical team will arrive soon, let them handle the details. You just focus on the autopsy report. You can do it here or in the laboratory. Don’t worry, I’m not thinking of making you help with sorting all these things.
But once the sorting is done, we need to consolidate and go over the case in detail, including the tiline. Knowing these things, I believe, will aid in untangling the case."
Zhou Ning caught the key point in Xu Dayuan’s words. ’Once the sorting is done’—as if these things could be sorted out in a mont, it would already be pretty good if they could get a handle on it in a day.
However, Zhou Ning didn’t dare to object; he knew Xu Dayuan’s personality all too well.
"Then let’s go to the laboratory. We won’t disturb each other. Once we are finished, we’ll co down and discuss, how does that sound?"
Xu Dayuan gestured with his hand.
"Fine, go ahead. It’s a ss here, which might affect your analysis. Besides, many people will be arriving soon, and we can’t avoid the loud ones. Anyway, the laboratory is just diagonally across."
Mr. Zhao ca over and picked up the file. He was the most proactive in investigating the case because he had known Fatty the longest and was familiar with the events of those days. Xu Dayuan and the team taking on this case had already filled him with joy.
"Leader, we won’t bother you. See you later. As for the lunch box at noon, I’ve arranged for it to be left at the door. Just co out and pick it up at twelve o’clock sharp."
Xu Dayuan grunted twice in response.
Zhou Ning took the team back to the laboratory, which now had two glass whiteboards provided by Qin University. Everyone knew Zhou Ning’s working habits, and he liked using these boards a lot.
Upon opening the file, inside were the autopsy reports for three individuals. Zhou Ning scanned through and picked up the autopsy report for Fatty’s granddaughter Zhu Li and began to read it carefully. Then ca her father Zhu Guotai and her mother Fang Yue. As he found important information, he marked it on the glass whiteboard.
After an unknown amount of ti, once the sorting was finished, Zhou Ning looked at the glass whiteboard.
Zhu Li, died at the age of 2, autopsy done on April 23, 2004. The body was found and sent for examination on the sa day. The abdon had a network of decayed veins, and there were slight decay blisters in the groin area, indicating a death approximately 5 days prior;
The left index finger was missing, the wound was festering, bone was exposed, and there were lacerations in the genital area that reached the muscular layer. The injuries did not appear to be caused by forceful sexual activity. It was suspected that the wounds were made with a sharp, tallic object longer than thirty centiters, resulting in damage to the genitals and internal organs.
During the autopsy, it was discovered that Zhu Li had a ruptured spleen, internal bleeding, multiple perforations in the intestines, a puncture wound in the liver, gastrointestinal bleeding, multiple soft tissue contusions, a fracture on the left hurus, a fracture at the base of the skull and two five-centiter circular skin lesions on the back.
The cause of death was due to the circular skin lesions on the back, causing comminuted fractures of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th thoracic vertebrae.
Zhu Guotai, died at the age of 33, autopsy done on April 23, 2004. Both ears were missing, the first two segnts of the right middle finger were missing, and both hands had multiple defensive wounds, all reaching the tendons and muscle layers. The left hand had several fingers connected only by skin, there were puncture wounds in the abdon, and decay blisters could be seen in the groin area, indicating a death 5-7 days prior;
The autopsy revealed that Zhu Guotai had puncture wounds in the stomach, lungs, and spleen, multiple cuts and puncture wounds in the intestines, and clear signs of tearing in the sentery. About four ters of intestines were missing, and the liver had three perforations, with the largest triangular lesion being 1.8 centiters in diater. The cause of death was hemorrhagic shock.
Fang Yue, died at the age of 30, autopsy done on April 23, 2004. The body’s surface was relatively intact, with no puncture or internal organ injuries found. The left little finger was missing, with the area cauterized to stop the bleeding. The cause of death was asphyxiation.
The only injuries were to the front of the chest where the double "R" shaped features were missing, with no vital reactions at the wound sites. There were lacerations in the genital area and traces of sexual violation, with no detection of thylene blue or male DNA residues, only lubricant components found. Curly hairs were extracted from the victim’s mouth, which were identified as synthetic fibers through testing.
At that point, Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes slightly.
"From the autopsy, it is evident that the son Zhu Guotai and the granddaughter Zhu Li sustained the most severe injuries, particularly Zhu Guotai with many defensive wounds. The state of decay indicates that these defensive wounds and cutting punctures were inflicted at different tis.
Fang Yue seems to have been spared the more brutal injuries. As for the missing part at the front of the chest, that too was a post-mortem injury. Mr. Zhao, based on the wound morphology, could you search for a tallic weapon longer than thirty centiters in length and with a diater of 1.8 centiters, triangular in shape, and not sharp at one end? Is there such a thing?"
Mr. Zhao raised the tablet in his hand and showed it to Zhou Ning.
"As you were speaking earlier, I began searching and indeed found a type of weapon called the Type 56 military bayonet. It is 38 centiters long and 1.8 centiters in diater, but the only thing that doesn’t match what you ntioned is that this one has a sharp tip. Are you sure it has a blunt round head?"
Zhou Ning looked at the inspection photo of Zhu Li and then nodded his head.
"I’m certain. Although her body has stab wounds, you can see that when it pierces through the organs, there’s a laceration present. This indicates that the tip is not only not sharp, but it could also be blunt or unsharpened, thus delaying the death process and increasing the victim’s pain."
Mr. Zhao thought for a mont, then covered the tip of the object in the photo with his hand.
"Based on what you said, did the murderer repolish this Type 56 military bayonet?"
Zhou Ning turned his head and looked at the partially covered picture. The object was slightly thinner at the tip and thicker at the bottom, with a catch for mounting at the very base.
"The depth of the bayonet that entered Zhu Li’s body reached 30 centiters, which ans soone used a similar triangular bayonet to modify it by grinding off eight centiters of the length, or was it already shortened when the murderer obtained it?"
Liu Yongxin leaned over, wearing patterned glasses to inspect the autopsy photo for himself, and then looked at the image Mr. Zhao had found.
"I think it’s possible. You see, the cross-section of the victim’s finger bones has an angled cut, and there’s a shallow slice on the lower side. I think the tool used to sever the fingers was not a dagger but this triangular knife."
"Not a triangular knife, a triangular bayonet!"
Liu Yongxin gave a sideways glance.
"Stop calling it a military bayonet! Just call it a triangular knife. Besides, this thing wasn’t rare even decades ago. However, the defensive wounds on Zhu Guotai do surprise ."
Zhou Ning looked at Liu Yongxin, awaiting what he had to say next, knowing his ntor had seen a lot due to his age and would always bring him new insights—sothing not just anyone could do.
After thinking for a bit, Liu Yongxin slowly said:
"Many years ago, before I started working and was still in high school, there was a blacksmith in our village who would sneak out at midnight. At that ti, any unusual activity would result in close surveillance or conversations.
As expected, a few days later, he was caught by the won’s director of the village. A large group from the village committee and the police station went to question him thoroughly, as everyone thought he went out to fool around with so widow, especially since his wife had caused a scene before.
But upon questioning, we learned that behind our village was a deep ravine, where cattle and sheep often fell and died. He said the bottom of the ravine was full of bones, along with so firearms and even iron artifacts.
One ti, he accidentally slipped down and discovered an exit on the western side, so he went there every night in search of items. He collected quite a few iron artifacts, lting most of them down—of course, those that were probably steel and not rusty he kept, burying them in his backyard.
After hearing his confession, those questioning him were skeptical but still took the blacksmith to the ravine, as the elders had said it was very deep, so for generations, no one approached—nor was there any known battle there.
But upon inspection, they found that the blacksmith hadn’t lied—the ravine indeed contained hundreds of skeletons wearing Sapporo Country military uniforms and well-equipped. It was unclear why they had all died there, and many experts visited later.
They found out that the small path the blacksmith discovered was ford by the great flood in ’52, and before then, the ravine was even deeper and more dangerous. It was likely obscured by the heavy fog, unseen, and one by one, they fell in.
With a nearly ten-ter drop and rocky vertical sides, falling would at least result in broken limbs, or death upon impact, and survival with the hope of escape was impossible. Thus, there were no records, and after cleaning up and reporting, the blacksmith faced no punishnt, and all the items he dug up were turned in.
So, artifacts from that era aren’t strange, and according to Mr. Zhao, it’s even more likely if broken. But the abductor’s thod and the way of threatening Zhu Yantao give a sowhat familiar feeling."
"A familiar feeling?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers