Zhou Ning poked Mr. Zhao and gave Zhang Ping a aningful glance, obviously hoping that Mr. Zhao would ask a couple of questions. Zhang Ping happily took a step back, allowing Mr. Zhao to step forward.
"We just saw from the surveillance footage that you were watching this red car smash into the south wall of the parking lot. I don’t know when you ca up, or if you heard the content of the phone call she made while parked here. The car window was open, as I could see."
Zhong Xiaoyan thought for a mont before responding:
"When I walked over from the elevator, I indeed heard so shouting. At first, I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but as I approached the car, I saw the red car slowing down almost to a stop. I heard a woman’s agonizing scream from inside, sowhat muffled and unclear.
It was intermittent, and she seed to be saying sothing like, ’You just don’t want to marry ,’ and other things like, ’Do you have soone else? Who is that seductress that ensnared you?’ I didn’t catch much else. After that, the car started spinning and then accelerated and crashed into the wall before falling down."
Upon reaching this point in her story, Zhong Xiaoyan beca extrely upset and started crying again. Zhu Xingxing tried to soften his voice to comfort her.
"There, getting it out has made you feel a bit better, hasn’t it? Sign here, then you can get in your car."
Zhang Ping handed Zhong Xiaoyan a pen. After signing, she got in her car and under the guide of a policeman, she drove away.
Zhang Ping sidled up to Zhou Ning, lowering his voice as he said:
"It looks like it was an accident."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"We’re about done with the investigation here. We’ll mark the accident location and then head down."
After saying goodbye to Zhang Ping, they took the police car downstairs. The accident area below had already been cleared up surprisingly quickly. The wreckage and the body had been taken away. A man was sitting on the ground, whom Zhou Ning recognized at a glance as the person who had been involved in the accident handling earlier.
Fang Mu cast a glance at the man before moving closer to Zhou Ning.
"This man was the deceased’s boyfriend," he said.
Mr. Zhao blinked in confusion.
"During the accident handling, Li Li called him ’hubby,’ but they weren’t married?"
Fang Mu handed over the police terminal, which displayed the searched information of the man. His na was Kong Wanshan, a 39-year-old married man with two children at ho, and worked for Xinhua Real Estate. Zhou Ning furrowed his brows slightly—it seed like he might be an affair partner.
"The deceased’s body and the accident vehicle have been sent to the technology departnt. I will take this man in shortly. The deceased’s family has been notified and they should be at the technology departnt by now. Did you all find anything?"
Mr. Zhao looked at Zhou Ning, clearly asking whether they should get involved or not. After all, no suspicious behavior had been found, and Traffic Unit Four was enough to handle the traffic accident.
"We found the surveillance footage of the incident. It was quite clear. The deceased answered a phone call, then lost control emotionally, made a loop around the top floor parking lot, and then sped towards the south wall. As for the nature of the incident..."
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Zhao, signaling him not to rush, then continued:
"It’s too early to classify it. We’ll go to the station and give you a conclusion after the autopsy."
Fang Mu smiled and nodded. He was very familiar with Zhou Ning’s thoroughness; he actually also hoped Zhou Ning would take a look himself.
"Good. The traffic police also hope for a professional judgnt from us, as no problems were found in the parking lot and this area. As for the surveillance across the street, I’ve located two caras and have extracted the footage, which I have already sent to the tech departnt. I’ll also have Mr. Qu take a look."
Zhou Ning nodded; there were quite a few matters to deal with here, but they didn’t delay any longer and directly drove back to the technology departnt.
Just as they arrived downstairs, they saw Zhang Qiangmin and others, as a tow truck had placed the accident vehicle down. The team was fretting over how to get the car into the custom garage. To scan it, they had to get it inside, but the pile of twisted tal would fall to pieces with the slightest touch.
Mr. Zhao was the first to rush over, imdiately gesturing to the others to stop their rough handling, and then he called a few trace examiners over. They brought two non-powered forklifts and pulled the wreckage side by side, managing to drag this heap of tal onto the operation table.
Xia Momo pointed and smiled at Zhou Ning:
"Alright, I’ll go scan it now. The animation analysis will take about an hour, by which ti your autopsy should also be finished."
Zhou Ning patted Xia Momo on the back, smiling apologetically:
"Sorry to pull you into extra work on the weekend just to look at furniture. I’ll go check the body in the autopsy room. No rush; take your ti."
Hearing the conversation, Zhang Qiangmin promptly ca over, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Zhou Ning then realized that his T-shirt was soaked through, as were those of the others.
"No hurry, did you find anything at the vehicle wreckage site?"
Zhang Qiangmin was slightly nervous, as it was his first ti reporting to Zhou Ning. This leader never usually asked questions but was always ready to help solve difficult problems and would straightforwardly point out mistakes. The more this was the case, the more nervous he beca, like seeing the principal at school.
"There were a lot of scattered items at the scene, all of which we’ve collected and packed into four boxes. The area was covered with dry powder, water, and mud. The vehicle had burned down to its fra, all its glass shattered. We removed the body with the seat, and the lower limbs’ bones were fractured. I haven’t discovered anything else."
"Well... Director Zhou, I’ve handled quite a few car accident cases, but this is the first ti I’ve seen a body that has fallen from a great height and has been burned like this. Could you help us take a look? I’m really at a loss."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"This victim is a bit special, so I’ll do it. But have the relatives arrived yet?"
Zhang Qiangmin shook his head.
"Soone who ca back with us said that the victim’s boyfriend has arrived, but her family hasn’t got here yet. They say he’s the fiancé. Is his signature not enough?"
Mr. Zhao gave a disdainful glance.
"Whatever he says goes? When I checked the household registration information, I saw that this guy, Kong Wanshan, is 39 years old, married with two kids, and you’re calling him a fiancé, huh!"
Zhang Qiangmin didn’t seem embarrassed, just sowhat surprised.
"I was busy dealing with the wreckage of the vehicles and transporting the body. I didn’t pay attention to what you were saying. Let ask now, when will the victim’s family arrive."
As he spoke, he went to make a phone call. Zhou Ning gestured to Mr. Zhao and the two of them entered autopsy room number one. Seeing the body lying sideways on the autopsy table and the chair, Mr. Zhao sighed.
"Everyone seems to jump the gun; the body’s already been taken to autopsy room number one, so what’s there to ask?"
Zhou Ning laughed and approached the autopsy table. Three youngsters stood by, each more dumbfounded than the last. It was obvious they were new interns. Seeing Zhou Ning look over, all three quickly nodded their heads.
"Hello, Director Zhou!"
Zhou Ning grunted an acknowledgnt without saying anything else. Thinking back to his own state during his first ti at a cri scene, Zhou Ning felt quite emotional. He probably wasn’t too different from these interns back in the day.
However, encountering such a victim on their first autopsy was hard to say whether it was luck or misfortune. Shifting his focus, Zhou Ning looked at the chair.
At this point, the victim was indistinguishable from the chair, the high temperatures causing the body to carbonize, and the contact surface to fuse very tightly. Only the victim’s arms were curled up, seemingly protecting the head.
The victim’s mouth was open, the lips already gone, revealing only teeth and the skull. Below the eyebrow bone, near the upper orbital edge, there was a rice grain-sized tallic luster. Zhou Ning touched it with a scalpel, and the tal was embedded firmly into the skull. Looking at this object, Zhou Ning was slightly puzzled.
"Mr. Zhao, co take a look at what this is, and then prepare to scan the body. After that, separate the body from the chair, gently, trying to maintain its current state as much as possible."
Mr. Zhao quickly got closer, took the scalpel, and poked the tal. Then he flipped open his phone, starting to search. The three interns didn’t dare co closer, but they were extrely curious, all leaning in at a 45-degree angle to look at Mr. Zhao’s hand.
At that mont, the door to the autopsy room was pushed open, with Zhang Qiangmin bringing people in, giving Zhou Ning a slight nod, glancing behind him. Zhou Ning understood imdiately— it seed the victim’s family had arrived.
Indeed, the sound of wailing grew louder as it approached, and two elderly people around sixty years old were helped inside, with Zhang Qiangmin explaining beside them.
"Please control your emotions. The vehicle fell from a great height and caused an explosion followed by a fire, turning the car into scrap tal. The condition of the body is also very poor. If you wish to..."
Before he could finish, the two broke free from the hands supporting them, seemingly wanting to get a closer look. But the body on the autopsy table was just a charred mass fused with the chair, with only a set of white teeth visible. Moreover, the autopsy room was filled with a strong scent of roasted at.
The couple only glanced for a mont before they all started to retch. The old man imdiately squatted down, as if he would vomit any second. Zhou Ning frowned, glanced at Zhang Qiangmin and Zhang Ping behind him, then raised his voice octaves higher as he turned to address everyone.
"If you’re going to throw up, do it outside. Wasn’t it made clear before entering the autopsy room? Only one family mber is allowed in."
Zhang Qiangmin looked embarrassed and didn’t dare to argue since it was indeed Zhang Ping who hadn’t explained clearly. But Zhou Ning’s words did stop the couple from retching. They retreated to the doorway, with Zhou Ning following them out. When he got to the door, he turned the ventilation system up to full blast.
The elderly couple took a glance at Zhou Ning and, noticing that the police officers held him in respect, lost their crying and wailing deanor. The corridor was cool and free of the sll of at, so the elderly woman, with a sorrowful face, stepped beside Zhou Ning.
"Officer, we don’t want an autopsy. Cutting her up would leave her mutilated in death!"
The old man tugged at his wife’s sleeve, looking reproachful, licked his lips, and after seeming to search his mind for words for a while, finally spoke up.
"Well, we wanted to ask, about this accident, will the insurance company pay? Also, the car she was driving, it wasn’t registered in her na, do we need to compensate for the damage to the car?"
Upon hearing this, the old woman stopped crying altogether and quickly leaned to listen.
Caught off guard by this turn of events, Zhou Ning and the others were stunned. Their daughter had died; they had sobbed and cried on entering. Nearly vomiting upon seeing the body, the first thing they asked when they ca out and spoke to the police was whether they would have to pay for the car and if the insurance company would pay out.
"Are you Li Li’s parents?"
The couple hurriedly waved their hands, and Zhang Qiangmin also looked over, his gaze clearly suggesting, do you even have to ask?
But the couple’s faces showed so embarrassnt. The old man coughed and quickly said:
"I’m Li Li’s uncle, and this is her aunt. Her parents have been dead for seven or eight years, and we don’t have any children of our own. This girl was an only child, she was just like our own daughter. We can inherit her property, right?"
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