Zhou Ning looked at the whiteboard, his mind compiling all the information, the known conditions one by one flashing before his eyes.
The near-term pregnant woman with fair skin had no signs of sun exposure on her chest, no binding wounds, no defensive wounds, no signs of sexual assault, and her hands, feet, and head were not discarded with the body.
There was only one explanation for this: the murderer knew the victim, a very familiar person, and all this was done rely to conceal the victim’s identity, making the case unsolvable.
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes and looked at the several bridges along the route from Liu River to the moat; actually, just ten kiloters westward was beyond the bounds of the ancient city, and Dayao City developed towards the east side. This ancient city area was not the city center but an old city district.
Looking again at the electronic map Mr. Zhao had searched, this one was marked much more in detail. As Zhou Ning zood in for a closer look, an industrial park caught his attention—he looked twice at the several factories on the edge, all of which were producing glass chandeliers, and next to them were several villages.
Mr. Zhao coughed, interrupting Zhou Ning’s train of thought. As Zhou Ning took a sip of water from the thermos cup Mr. Zhao handed to him, he finally said,
"Sa as before, not many conditions are known, and I won’t repeat them one by one. I think the murderer is male, taller and heavier than the victim but thinner or shorter than the average male, very close to the victim, suggesting an acquaintance committed the cri, able to let the victim be off her guard.
As for the undiscovered primary murder scene, it’s large enough for dismbering a body, understands human anatomy, or at least has butchering skills, has greater arm strength than the average person, located in a hidden place not easily found, with access to transportation to move the body parts.
This type of thick red plastic bag is more expensive than ordinary bags, used for selling at and seafood, which leads to suspect that the murderer might work in a related industry.
After all, very few people would buy such bags for personal use—they are expensive and not practical. Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that the murderer deliberately bought these specialized bags to mislead us.
Additionally, look here, on the electronic map I just found from Mr. Zhao. I saw this area—a potential industrial park with several glass shade factories, alongside a few villages.
This location is not far from Liu River in terms of direct distance and falls within the edge of the calculated radius of 23.4 kiloters. The victim had mild silicosis without symptoms, but with changes in the lungs. I believe this place can be a key area to investigate for the victim’s place of residence."
Cao Pingzhang kept nodding. Then, he started taking photos and jotting down notes in his notebook. After checking his notes, he took out his phone and made a call while walking.
Zhou Ning stretched his stiff neck, feeling that everything that needed to be done was nearly complete. Now, it was all down to waiting for the test results and their investigation. As Xu Dayuan often said, "Once we identify the victim’s identity, eighty percent of the case is solved."
Holding the thermos cup, Zhou Ning took another sip of water and looked at the cartoon figure on the cup. Suddenly, the image of Xia Momo flashed before his eyes—he wondered what Momo was busy with and whether Mrs. Xia’s condition was stable.
...
15:22
Zhou Ning’s phone coughed twice. His eyes opened, and Mr. Zhao had already dashed to the laptop, opening the email. Indeed, a forensic report had arrived.
Mr. Zhao hurriedly printed it out and handed the results to Zhou Ning. Glancing through the content, Zhou Ning nodded in satisfaction before passing the report to Liu Yongxin.
"The location of the victim’s lung nodules, after staining analysis, this is an inflammatory lesion."
Zou Jialong and Pang Tianhang looked clueless, and Mr. Wang kept his distance. Mr. Zhao kicked the two of them.
"Do you understand anything at all? If you don’t understand, ask. There are no outsiders here. We’re all family. If there’s sothing you don’t understand, just ask, either Zhou Xiaozhou or Mr. Liu. The more questions you ask, the more you rember, and the less you’ll need to ask others later on. This is how you accumulate knowledge."
Zhou Ning coughed, signaling Mr. Zhao to tone it down. Zou Jialong quickly approached Zhou Ning.
"Boss, I don’t understand why we are doing this biopsy on the nodules. Is it to prove that this is an inflammatory lesion?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Exactly, only by proving this is it an inflammatory lesion, can we determine that the victim must have had a lung infection prior to death. And since the victim was pregnant, she likely didn’t receive any specific treatnt, which prolonged the illness.
With chanical asphyxiation at the ti of death, pulmonary edema occurs only when there is an infection in the lungs—an extrely rare special case. Today, having encountered such an example, I hope you all take note because this situation can be easily confused with dry drowning."
Zou Jialong had an epiphany and hurriedly wrote down what Zhou Ning said in his notebook. A forensic doctor’s skill is shown by the number of dead bodies they have seen: the more they see, the more they learn.
Pang Tianhang was biting his pen, not in a hurry to act, seemingly lost in thought. Liu Yongxin kicked him.
"Mr. Pang, what are you thinking about? Don’t hold back; speak up."
Pang Tianhang chuckled and approached Zhou Ning.
"Boss, since the victim was dismbered and the body parts were discarded in the river, where do you think the head and limbs might be?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"I can’t provide an answer. The murderer showed no excess movent in the dismbernt; each cut, every severance of body parts was decisive, without a hint of hesitation or panic, similar to slaughtering chickens or pigs."
Perhaps in his mind, disposing of the body in the river seed very safe, especially since there were no other identifiable marks on the victim. We couldn’t find even a mole or a scar. He apparently was not worried about the body being discovered after it decomposed.
As for the head and limbs, we had a case before where the victim was a figure skater. The victim’s feet were severely deford and had undergone surgery. It was imdiately possible to identify the profession and even find the victim’s identity from the records, so the murderer had buried the victim’s head and limbs in a different location.
This case, however, is different. The killer was calr, not using an angle grinder or chainsaw to dismber the body, but rather an ax and a machete, cutting up the body composedly and calmly. As for the thod he used to dispose of the rest of the victim’s limbs, I cannot guess."
Mr. Zhao crossed his arms, shaking his head.
"We’re not fortune tellers, we can’t predict this sort of thing unless we know the victim’s identity, locate the victim’s ho, and the initial cri scene. I think it would all be easy to judge then. Right, Mr. Qu went to help him check, didn’t he? It’s been half a day already; is there really no result yet?"
Cao Pingzhang glanced at the ti and shook his head slightly.
"Nowadays, with good living conditions, unless it’s a very rare case, everyone gives birth in hospitals, what with the New Rural Cooperative dical Sche and dical insurance reimbursents, personal expenses aren’t much.
I roughly estimated, just in the month of October, there were over a thousand births. According to Director Zhou’s screening criteria, I think there must be around 1,500 people who went through the screening in August."
Zhou Ning dialed Mr. He’s phone, and it connected after two rings this ti.
"What is it now, are you using as Wikipedia, or is it free online consultation?"
Mr. Zhao couldn’t help it and imdiately burst out laughing on the side. Hearing soone else’s voice, Mr. He beca a bit more restrained.
"Alright, quit joking. What is it?"
"You sure talk a lot. I want to ask about the prevalence of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia among pregnant won nowadays. Are there any related statistics?"
Mr. He cleared his throat and seed to find a quiet place, as the noise around him decreased significantly.
"Tell , did Mr. Qu check our hospital’s surveillance for you? The eting we just finished ntioned this very topic. Dealing with the police sure gives the creeps."
"You..."
"Enough of your complaints. According to our hospital’s statistics, the incidence of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia has risen sharply in the last two years, from 1%-2% previously to 5% this year. After all, conditions are better now and pregnant won eat well, so these two problems are quite common."
Zhou Ning was sowhat surprised; the rate was relatively high. He had thought it might be around 1%, aning for over a thousand individuals, a few visits could cover all of them. But as it turned out, with 1,500 screened pregnant won, nearly a hundred of them could be affected.
"I got it. Xiaoyu, you need to monitor her blood pressure and blood sugar well. She’s eating too much; she can’t gain weight too fast. These two issues aren’t sothing to ss around with."
Hearing this, Mr. He’s voice softened a great deal.
"Don’t worry, I’ve been monitoring all of Xiaoyu’s indicators early on, they’re all within a reasonable range. As for her diet, my mom has put together several books; even if we eat through them all, we wouldn’t repeat a al in a month. I wondered why you were interested in these conditions; is there a case involving a pregnant woman?"
"Yes, a dismbernt case, the victim was a pregnant woman. The fetus’s head circumference was only 30 centiters, but it weighed almost two kilograms. I suppose it was gestational diabetes that caused the small size of the fetus, I just don’t know much about the condition, so I wanted to ask you."
He Shancun was clearly taken aback, and then heaved a sigh.
"All right, I’ll get back to work after I answer this. I shouldn’t listen too much to your work; it’s not good for the baby’s nightti education. My girl doesn’t need to know the dark side of society. She should just be happy and joyful. Hanging up now!"
Zhou Ning felt at a loss for words, but the ntion of ’my girl’ surprised him a bit.
"How co you had another ultrasound by yourself?"
"Co on, I’m not that idle. The conditions to do so might be convenient, but my girl does not cooperate with the movents. If you try to use the ultrasound on one side, she’ll just tuck her legs and spin around, totally avoiding being seen. Her little antics are just like Xiaoyu’s, so I believe it’s a girl. Don’t be envious; you and Momo should hurry up and you’ll have one soon."
Zhou Ning coughed awkwardly and hurriedly turned off the speakerphone.
"I need to get busy here; let’s stop chatting."
After hanging up the call, Cao Pingzhang, who was behind, had already stood up and approached Liu Yongxin and Zhou Ning.
"I think our analysis is taking shape now, and the test reports are out too. It’s almost five o’clock; how about we go down and see how they are progressing?"
Liu Yongxin stood up; coming here had one purpose, to solve the case quickly, or else they couldn’t leave. The pressure from the city was not small, with a deadline of half a month to close the case. This task could not be completed by rely increasing personal efficiency; it required interdepartntal cooperation to spot the issues.
So, there was no reason to refuse; Zhou Ning motioned for Mr. Zhao to take the notebook and photograph all the various issues listed on the whiteboard before they went downstairs.
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