Doctor Zhang’s face bore a look of embarrassnt, but Mr. Wang seed as if he hadn’t noticed, a naive smile on his face as he pointed in Zhou Ning’s direction and said,
"You’ve mistaken soone else, that is Mr. Zhou, the Deputy Director of the Technical Departnt from the Qindao City Bureau."
Doctor Zhang quickly turned his head and, upon seeing Zhou Ning’s appearance, seed to suddenly rember sothing, running over sowhat flusteredly, with an unmistakable look of admiration on his face as he firmly shook Zhou Ning’s hand.
"Look at my mory, I’ve rembered now. Director Zhou is the recipient of a first-class rit this ti from the province. I saw the news and thought that at last a forensic doctor could also receive a first-class rit. Hello, Director Zhou, I am Zhang Qiang, a forensic doctor from Xinghua City."
Zhou Ning smiled and nodded, taking a mont to size up this Doctor Zhang. He appeared to be nearly forty, quite thin, wearing glasses, and when shaking hands, one could feel the calluses on his palm from years of holding surgical scalpels, a true working man.
But how could such a working man have provided an autopsy report like that one? Could he have been threatened, or was there so sort of hidden situation?
Zhou Ning was reluctant to believe that a forensic doctor, a colleague, could forget their duty for the sake of interests.
"Just call Doctor Zhou, or Director Zhou, that’s fine. Did you conduct the autopsy on He Jiahong?"
Zhang Qiang’s expression stiffened for a mont, a forced smile appearing on his face as if he was about to explain sothing, then after struggling internally for a while, he ultimately let out a sigh.
"I guess you could say I did it. In a small place with no equipnt, no technology, no say, sotis, I have no choice but to follow orders. I’m not making excuses, many things are truly beyond my ability to do."
Zhou Ning understood what he ant by these words. Perhaps the autopsy report wasn’t what he intended, but having signed it ant that it represented his actions. This was sothing for which there were no excuses.
Zhang Qiang stopped Zhou Ning with his hand and continued to speak,
"That, um, Director Zhou, it’s not that I disagree with you coming in for the autopsy, but the situation here is a bit complicated. The body of the deceased, He Jiahong, has already been taken away by the family mbers. I just asked, and it seems they have rented a freezer at the crematorium."
"But I don’t have any contact information for the family, and when I was notified, they just sent here directly. I don’t have your contact number and didn’t know who to inform!"
Zhou Ning raised his hand, and Mr. Zhao had already co over.
"Doctor Zhang, no need to worry. Let’s go inside and take a look first. I think you must be quite familiar with the staff here. Even though they’ve rented a freezer here, they wouldn’t lock it up all by themselves, would they?"
Zhang Qiang waved his hand and said earnestly,
"The situation in Xinghua City is unique. I haven’t t Director Zhou because we rarely deal with criminal cases here, mostly traffic cases. Anything I can’t handle goes directly to Mr. Pang. Sotis we have to queue, and they usually co over once every one or two weeks."
"That’s why we have arranged a dozen freezers with bolts here that can be locked. The family mbers hold the keys, and the crematorium sells locks. The daily storage fee is not cheap, 180 yuan a day, almost as expensive as staying in a hotel."
This analogy caused Mr. Zhao’s face to twitch a few tis—if calculated by area, this was indeed costly. A hotel room for a day would be at least twenty square ters, whereas here, they were talking about maybe two cubic ters.
"Doctor Zhang, don’t rush. Let’s wait a mont, the family mbers of the deceased should arrive shortly," said Zhou Ning.
The group walked toward the body storage. Zhang Qiang, knowing his way around, found the administrator, checked the file, and headed straight for the storage room. Along the corridor, they saw He Hongjian in front of the door.
He Hongjian nodded at them, and after the admin checked his ID card, they opened the door. He Hongjian found a small key and tried to unlock the bolt, struggling for a while without success. The administrator looked puzzled.
"What’s wrong, is the number incorrect?"
The administrator glanced at the notebook, and the recorded number was correct, which only added to his confusion.
"It’s correct!"
Mr. Zhao stepped forward, stopping He Hongjian’s efforts, and took over the key. He then began to sprinkle carbon powder on the lock. What he was doing wasn’t clear to the others, but Doctor Zhang could see and pointed to the surveillance cara above the door,
"There’s surveillance here. No one would have changed the locks. Are you sure you have the right key, family mber?"
He Hongjian shook his head, and seeing Zhou Ning standing calmly to the side, he felt more assured.
"I haven’t been parted from the key since leaving the crematorium, and there is absolutely no mistaking it. I even marked it with a red pen."
As he spoke, he lifted the key to show the red ink mark by the keyhole. Doctor Zhang quickly closed his mouth, realizing sothing too, although it was best left unsaid.
Mr. Zhao conducted a quick scan and shook his head at Zhou Ning,
"There are only glove marks and the fingerprints left by He Hongjian when he touched the lock earlier."
The result was not surprising. Mr. Zhao looked at the administrator, who beca flustered,
"Don’t look at like that. I’ve worked at the crematorium for over a decade, and this is the first ti anything like this has happened. Yes, the room is locked, but the keys just hang in the office, and anyone who wants to use them can simply take them from the key board. Plus, we work in three-day shifts—each person for twenty-four hours. Maybe ask the other two people?"
Zhou Ning didn’t want to waste ti, knowing already that He Hongjian had moved the body. He waved at Mr. Zhao,
"Unlock it, we need to hurry."
Mr. Wang found a compact hydraulic cutter, which he had requested from the fire departnt; it was quite portable. He removed the lock in just a few monts, opened the freezer, and slid out the gurney inside. A tightly bound blanket ca into view. Zhou Ning lifted a corner to peek inside, then waved his hand.
"That’s enough, put it back. No need to lock it; soone from the special case team will co to deal with this later. I suggest none of you touch it," he suggested.
Doctor Zhang looked baffled—after all, he was here for an autopsy, but how could he perform one without the body being taken out?
The custodian didn’t dare to make a peep and just kept nodding. As long as he was not troubled, he would strictly follow whatever Zhou Ning said. After all, this formidable Doctor Zhang in ordinary tis was kowtowing to these people, so the custodian naturally knew that their identities were no ordinary matter.
Mr. Wang received a call, and after hanging up, he whispered to Zhou Ning:
"It’s arrived; I’ll go receive it. Is the autopsy room that room right at the end?"
Zhou Ning glanced in that direction. It seed Mr. Wang really was of military origin; he had already taken control of the layout upon entering. Indeed, there was an inconspicuous sign on the door that read ’Autopsy Room’.
Zhou Ning nodded and glanced at Sun Gaotie. Mr. Sun followed Mr. Wang out, and soon a gurney was wheeled in, covered by a white cloth. Doctor Zhang stood at the entrance of the autopsy room, his expression changing constantly. Mr. Zhao had already assembled the equipnt and devices he brought.
The once empty autopsy room now looked quite professional, if one could overlook the porcelain-tiled dissecting table. With the gurney placed next to it, Mr. Sun and Mr. Wang were already transferring the body from the gurney to the dissecting table, still covered by the white cloth.
As the white cloth was drawn back, Doctor Zhang, who followed, was stunned—lying on the dissecting table was the body of Jiahong. He pointed at the body, seemingly wanting to say sothing to Zhou Ning and the others, but upon seeing everyone efficiently prepared, including the door being locked and the cara adjusted to the correct position, he swallowed his words.
"Director Zhou, can I help with anything?"
Zhou Ning knew that perhaps Doctor Zhang had no choice at the ti, forced by the pressure of his superiors or the instigation of so people, to produce that autopsy report. But the mont his na was written on that report, everything had been decided.
"Just watch, please. Could you verify if this is indeed the body of Jiahong who was autopsied at the ti?"
Zhang Qiang walked over to the dissecting table, staring intently at the face of the body and observing carefully.
After a long period of low-temperature freezing, even though it had been thawed, there would still be significant changes in the appearance of the deceased, especially with multiple bone fractures from the high fall, particularly the skull fractures that greatly affected the facial features. Superimposed reactions could even make it difficult for family mbers to recognize the body.
Zhang Qiang carefully examined the face of the deceased and nodded toward Zhou Ning.
"I can confirm, this is the body of Jiahong I examined last ti. There is a red mole near the left corner of her nose bridge, and a black mole on her right little finger, which made a deep impression on ," he confird.
Zhou Ning nodded, interlocked his fingers to push the air out of his gloves, and then waved to Zhang Qiang.
"All right, just watch from the side. Mr. Yang, start the scanning. Gao Tie, turn on the recording equipnt. Mr. Zhao, start the briefing," he directed.
As everyone took their positions, with the cara recording, Zhang Qiang subconsciously turned his back to the cara, hiding his face in an inconspicuous corner while still keeping an eye on the dissecting table.
The team worked together seamlessly, especially Mr. Zhao’s explanation—detailing the course of the incident, the school of the deceased, her address, age, parents’ nas, coach’s na—as if he knew it all by heart. Zhang Qiang listened with so astonishnt.
After Mr. Zhao finished his briefing, Mr. Yang’s scanning was also done.
"Boss, take a look, the scanning is complete," he announced.
Zhou Ning looked at the monitor. Though the laptop’s screen was much smaller, the bone structure and the fractures were clearly visible. After manipulating the image a bit, Zhou Ning began to explain briefly.
"Mr. Sun, make a note, the deceased shows a cranial fissure at the right forehead and right eye corner, comminuted fracture of the left temporal bone, multiple fractures of the right teeth, chest cavity deformation, fractures of the right ribs, right upper arm, right femur, and bilateral malleolus.
No fractures were found in both hands and feet, but there is a broken and torn nail on the left index finger, a loss due to breaking by external force, scratches on the neck affecting only the epidermis, leaving three marks in the sa place; these appear to be intimidation wounds," he noted.
Zhou Ning spoke at a steady pace but checked Sun Gaotie’s notes as he presented.
Seeing no omissions, he reached out to Sun Gaotie who placed a scalpel in his hand. The dissection proceeded rapidly; what usually took two hours had been drawn out for teaching purposes, deliberately slowed down for the interns.
Zhou Ning, however, was in a foul mood this ti, noticing the marks on the body it was easy to deduce that the victim had been nearly dead when she was thrown off the building.
After concluding the autopsy, Sun Gaotie organized the collected samples, and Zhou Ning indicated for him to start stitching and continue with the autopsy results.
"Continue taking notes, no damage is seen on the hands and feet of the deceased, abrasions are found on the left shoulder, upper left arm, elbow, and left knee. It’s visible from the autopsy that there are partly intact vegetables and at product shapes in the stomach contents of the deceased, the chy status indicates within three hours after a al.
The scalp at the vertex shows slight avulsion, the deltoid muscle and the large pectoral muscle at the clavicular head are partially torn. These are muscle injuries caused by excessive stretching of the arms being forced back.
The deceased had scratch wounds on the outer sides of both arms, inner sides of the thighs, and binding wounds on the wrists and ankles. There’s an old tear in the hyn, minor tearing injuries to the external genitalia, abrasions in the vagina, and a viscous substance collected from the cervical canal, suspected to be seminal fluid, which has been collected for further laboratory comparison.
Upon craniotomy, it’s observed that the deceased has bleeding points on the right temporal area, causing contre-coup injuries to the cingulate gyrus and the corpus callosum. The autopsy deduces that the fatal injury to the deceased was caused by the blow to the temporal area. The multiple fractures from the fall require further laboratory testing for confirmation," he summarized.
After articulating the final word, Zhou Ning removed his gloves, staring at Zhang Qiang and signaling Mr. Zhao to turn off the video cara.
"Doctor Zhang, don’t you want to tell sothing?"
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