Zhao Xinli’s voice was not soft, and both Xu Dayuan and He Chunyang sent him sharp glances.
Like a quail, Zhao Xinli was so frightened that he dared not speak, hiding behind Zhou Ning.
However, Zhao Xinli was not wrong; a cold look at the scene did indeed reveal a resemblance to a turtle, with a rounded center and five protruding parts.
Upon closer inspection, the person’s hair was disheveled, covering their face; the length of the hair suggested that it was more likely to be that of a woman. The person was sprawled out with limbs stretched, seemingly tied to the outer surface of a tire.
This discovery also sowhat shocked Zhou Ning, who hurriedly approached the truck, but although he was closer, the glare from the ice surface prevented him from distinguishing the details more carefully.
He could only make out that the deceased was barefoot, with clothing made of thin, clinging material: lilac-colored clothes and black pants. Near the thighs, the pants had sothing resembling two fluttering skirt-like flaps. Was this yoga attire?
Xu Dayuan ca over, and Zhou Ning directly asked,
"How did the person who reported it discover the body?"
"The person who reported it is a resident of the nearby Tixiangjun, out for a night jog to help their child lose weight. They were passing by here when their hat blew off onto the ice. They ca down to look for it with the light from their phone, and that’s when they saw the body under the ice.
The road has only been open for about ten days, and it has been snowing continuously for several days, so not many people have passed by. Otherwise, it would have been discovered sooner. Doctor Zhou, can you tell when the body was dumped?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. Considering the scanty clothing, it seed likely that the body was thrown into the water when it wasn’t cold. However, judging by the hands and feet of the deceased, there were no signs of drowning, and the body did not appear to be swollen.
"It’s impossible to determine for now. We should take it to the autopsy room, remove the ice, and conduct a more detailed examination to gather information. You can identify the tire, can’t you, Zhao Xinli?"
At this, both n turned their heads, and without needing instructions from Xu Dayuan, Zhao Xinli had already moved closer, almost lying on the ice to examine the tire.
"The serial number is not clear, we’ll need to defrost it to asure and compare. However, both the tire and the hub look new; I suspect it’s a spare tire."
He Chunyang ca over and said, rubbing his hands,
"I found two deep footprints in the shallow water area that are about the size of a child’s, but it’s unclear if they are related to the case. On the slope of the embanknt, there were traces left by mud wiping, but no other tire tracks or anything. Probably the lting snow washed it all away."
Zhao Xinli went to take photos while Zhou Ning passed him evidence bags and bottles. Zhao Xinli collected samples of mud from the embanknt and beneath the ice blocks and then filled a bottle with water. Xu Dayuan gestured with his hand.
"That’s enough; let’s hurry and take the body back. We’d better wrap up the case quickly. Today is the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month. The Little New Year is ruined, and nobody wants to spend New Year’s Eve at the station, right? Let’s move faster!"
Zhao Xinli, still wearing his cotton coat, shouted in annoyance.
"It’s a waste taking the cotton coat!"
....
Three hours later, in the Eighth Hospital Autopsy Room.
The ice on the body of the deceased was gradually thawing. Zhao Xinli, fanning himself with a clipboard in one hand and wiping sweat with the other, nudged Doctor Zhou with his elbow.
"Doctor Zhou, can we lower the air conditioning temperature now? The ice is all lted."
Neatly dressed, Doctor Zhou nodded. There were quite a few people in the autopsy room at this ti. A lady’s cotton slipper was placed on the cart next to the autopsy table, soggy and ice-free. Zhou Ning walked over to inspect it.
The bottom of the slipper showed wear, and there were signs of stepping on the inner middle area. Flipping it, there was a size marking for 36-38, which seed to indicate the shoe size.
Zhou Ning returned to the autopsy table. As everyone gathered around, he felt a bit nervous being watched by so many during the autopsy. He raised his hand to break off the remaining ice around the tire, avoiding the knotted area, and cut the several ropes on the tire, then gestured to Zhao Xin.
"Help lift the tire onto this flat cart. After that, you take photos of the tire and asure its dinsions."
With the supervisor present, Zhao Xinli didn’t dare to complain and joined Mr. Liu in lifting the tire. As they lifted the tire, Zhou Ning held down the body below. The clothes of the deceased made a tearing noise as they were pulled apart, and then the tire was moved away.
Zhou Ning didn’t concern himself with the tire but rather turned his attention to the deceased: a woman who looked to be in her twenties, with curly flaxen hair draping over her shoulders, seemingly asleep, without any trace of pain on her face, and very beautiful.
There were no jewelry on her ears, neck, or fingers; her nails were neatly trimd, the kind that was so short there wasn’t a trace of white tip. The tight yoga outfit outlined her attractive figure.
Zhou Ning grabbed the woman’s hand, and at the sa ti, a sentence appeared on the transparent large screen, and a beeping sound reached his ears; Zhou Ning nearly humd in comfort—the system was finally alive again.
Beep, a system task is issued, please choose the difficulty for the bound person.
A, beginner task; B, interdiate task; C, advanced task.
Without a second thought, Zhou Ning directly clicked on the interdiate task. He wasn’t greedy, the reward for the beginner task was too low, and he didn’t want to waste ti; the advanced tasks required proving many items and needed strong support from criminal investigation. Only the interdiate task, neither too hard nor too easy, was perfect for the current situation.
Bound person has selected the interdiate task, now proceeding with task release.
Interdiate task content:
1. Identify the deceased’s identity based on the information from the corpse’s surface, ti limit 60 minutes.
2. Determine the cause of death, find the murderer, and all evidence, ti limit 96 hours.
Task reward:
Upon completion, you may choose a reward from the system list needed by the bound person, or upgrade an existing task, please watch the countdown starting now.
With another beep, two countdown tirs started ticking.
Zhou Ning pushed his glasses up with his shoulder, and the transparent large screen moved directly to the upper right corner of his glasses, such thoughtful service made Zhou Ning a bit flattered.
But now was not the ti to be sentintal; he needed to closely examine the body, from the cornea, the oral cavity, the skull, the back, to the toes, not overlooking any corner, asuring height, and estimating weight.
Of course, he turned the yoga outfit inside out thoroughly; there was only a slanting pocket at the waist, inside of which was sothing resembling a piece of plastic film. Upon unfolding two folds, he found an adhesive tape with a white base and an arc shape.
Zhou Ning picked up the tape and raised the magnifying glass to take a close look. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it for the mont. Tearing the white part in the middle revealed a rectangular transparent section that was slightly stretchable with a good deal of stickiness.
Zhou Ning looked up, realizing sothing, and turned to Xu Dayuan, who hurried over at this mont, knowing Zhou Ning must have found sothing.
"What did you find, Doctor Zhou?"
Zhou Ning held up the piece of tape and showed it to Xu Dayuan.
"This is adhesive tape for an IV needle. Folded and placed in the pocket like this, it feels like it’s been here for so days. I suspect the deceased worked at a hospital, and more likely a nurse, as the ones who use IV needles the most are in pediatrics, surgery, internal dicine—departnts where patients require long-term IV drips, large-volu fluid replenishnt, or have trouble getting pricked daily."
"You an, the deceased could be a nurse, specifically from pediatrics, surgery, or internal dicine?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Yes, it’s very possible. Additionally, there is a blunt force injury on the victim’s head with bone crepitus[1], and local swelling, indicating that the victim was struck on the head with a blunt object, causing unconsciousness, and then was tied to a tire and sunk into the water. As for whether she drowned, further autopsy is needed.
The victim’s pupils were not light-perable, livor mortis was all on the back, and the body has been lying face-up in the water after death without being moved. Moreover, it was only after falling into water that the temperature dropped sharply, freezing the body and preserving the state of the body at the ti of death as much as possible.
Xu Da could arrange for soone to check the weather. To throw a body into water, it shouldn’t be frozen to begin with, so as to keep the corpse this fresh it would be due to a rapid cooling followed by freezing. There might even have been snow, covering the ice until yesterday when the snow lted, leading to its discovery.
Also, the victim wore a yoga outfit, which rules out an early morning or evening ti; it’s unlikely she was out in such light attire in broad daylight, unless it was a ti when she didn’t have to work. But this conflicts with the IV needle tape found on her."
Zhou Ning frowned slightly, caught up in articulating his thoughts, his tone was not very good, but glancing at Xu Dayuan, he saw him making a call and starting to inquire.
"This is Xu Dayuan, can you look up the days when the temperature was high early in the morning or in the evening, like when the river was thawing, and then suddenly dropped?"
...
[1] Bone crepitus: A rubbing sensation felt when touching the ends of a broken bone, caused by external force, muscle tension, or bone disease.
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