September 6, 16:33
Zhou Ning had already arrived at the Criminal Technology Center of Yunan Provincial Public Security Departnt, where Zhu Xingxing, flying Zhou Ning’s flag, had borrowed the autopsy room from the director. Zhu’s ability to do so surprised even Zhou Ning.
The conditions here were quite good, with a transparent skylight above, clearly indicating it was an autopsy room suitable for teaching.
The body lay on the autopsy table, thawed. Beside it stood the freezer. Zhou Ning couldn’t help holding his forehead; he had not expected them to bring back the freezer as well—a detail he found inordinately excessive.
"Have the cri scene photos been taken?"
Zhu Xingxing nodded and personally found the pictures, enlarging them on the screen. Zhou Ning glanced at them. The spare goods storage area was large, with three freezers on each side upon entering. The one with the lid open was in the farthest corner, with shelves above and various plastic boxes labeled with their contents.
As for the freezer with bloodstains, it was on the left side as one entered.
Zhou Ning nodded and walked over to the body. By then, it had already been thawed, but the black dress had not been removed, and it stuck entirely to the corpse.
The cuts on the face appeared more brutal than in the video, especially after thawing, with blood flowing out and bones visible. However, the skin at the wounds was not curled up, which was also true for the injury above the pubic symphysis. The fingerprints on the neck were very clear.
Zhou Ning compared them with his hand and found they were smaller, shorter, and the fingers were more delicate.
"Have you collected DNA?"
Zhu Xingxing nodded, retrieving a list.
"From the body’s surface, oral cavity, vagina, fingernails, nasal cavity, inside and outside of the freezer, vehicles, both sides of the supply room door, as well as from the floor and the freezer with a positive Luminol reaction, I collected a large quantity of fingerprints and DNA.
Of course, I also collected fingerprints and DNA from all the kitchen staff, including the chief chef, the lobby manager, and other internal hotel employees, as we had to screen them. I sent the samples for testing in the morning and now we have the results.
Eleven individuals left fingerprints and DNA, but there are eight sared fingerprints that could not be distinguished. I feel that due to the ti elapsed, we can disregard them. However, on the victim’s neck strangulation marks and within the extracted material from the victim’s facial wounds, we found female DNA.
Hair was found in Liu iling’s car, as well as material extracted from the steering wheel. It matched the victim upon comparison—just now, Mrs. Cui sent the DNA of Liu iling’s parents. The comparison indicates that Liu iling’s parents are the biological parents of the deceased."
Zhou Ning paused, then gave Zhu Xingxing a thumbs up. Without such extensive sample collection beforehand, the chances of finding DNA would have been low.
"Very impressive. Having such findings on your second day proves your work is thorough."
Mr. Zhao grimaced, wanting to say sothing discouraging, but before he could, he found Zhou Ning stepping on his foot. Mr. Zhao quickly shut his mouth, while Zhu Xingxing shook his head smugly, sowhat embarrassed.
"Actually, Mr. Dui nearly finished canvassing the periphery already. When I arrived, I shared the boss’s view with him, and he found it very reasonable. Thus, we began the search through the night, mainly focusing on the interior of the hotel. It was then, in the early morning, that we discovered the issue with the supply room. The hotel staff was also quite shocked.
This chief chef said he ca to work here a year ago, and this supply room is only entered for inventory count. Normally, nobody goes in. Because of a design choice, there’s no surveillance connection to the basent, but there are caras hanging—many don’t know those caras aren’t connected to the network."
Mr. Zhao’s eyes widened as he glanced at Mr. Qu, who was staying far away. Mr. Qu had just completed the facial restoration and was quickly waving him off.
"Can you co a bit closer? There’s nothing to fear from the dead; it’s the living you should be wary of. Hurry up and get over here. Generally, in a hotel this size, which departnt would know if a part of the hotel’s caras are malfunctioning?"
Mr. Qu moved a bit closer but still shielded himself from the autopsy table with his hand. The state of the corpse was too horrifying; he had been deeply shaken just by performing the facial restoration.
"Network administrators, surveillance room staff, top managent, the chief chef, and those who have stolen without getting caught would definitely know that the surveillance in that area is faulty. But, upon inspection, it seems that the supply room mostly contains various types of dry goods, used mostly for replenishing in autumn and winter, indeed making it exceptionally rare for anyone to access it in the sumr and autumn seasons."
Zhou Ning nodded, clearly agreeing with Mr. Qu’s analysis.
"So it seems, quite a few people knew. Especially about the supply room key, which hangs right on the ssage board, glaringly obvious. It’s no secret at all; anyone who’s visited the surveillance room or inspected the supply room would know. But what was originally in that freezer? Was it empty?"
Zhu Xingxing shook his head.
"When we opened the freezer, there was an insulating film covering the body, like the silver type used for camping. On top, there were six or seven plastic containers with things like fritillaria bulbs and Ligusticum stored in jars—all looking like semi-prepared ingredients for dicinal dishes."
Zhou Ning had a realization.
"Soone was very thorough in searching. Even if the key wasn’t swapped out, no one would notice anything extra in there for a short ti."
Zhu Xingxing cleared his throat.
"The head chef peed his pants when he heard a body was found here, then ran to the kitchen and threw up all over. I bet he hadn’t resisted snacking on the stuff in here before. Mr. Dui is handling the interrogation. Are we starting the autopsy now?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Qu, who was shielding his face with one hand, shook his head, and gestured as he said:
"Are you done comparing? Is this person confird to be Liu iling?"
Mr. Qu quickly nodded.
"After comparing, the deceased is indeed Liu iling."
Zhou Ning changed into a new pair of gloves and gestured towards Zhu Xingxing and the others.
"Then let’s start the autopsy. Zhu Xingxing will narrate, Mr. Zhao, turn on the recording device, Sun Gaotie, and the rest of you, watch from the position of the deceased’s head."
Mr. Zhao turned on the recording device, then followed beside Zhou Ning, cara in hand, as Zhu Xingxing began to give the overview, her mory incomparable to the others, who looked on with envy
Once the introduction was completed, Zhou Ning didn’t rush to cut, but instead took a probe, asuring the depth of all the wounds on the deceased’s face, with Zhu Xingxing helping to asure the probe’s length.
All wounds on the face, apart from the starting points, were deep enough to reach bone, and the cuts were jagged, as if done in a hacking motion.
Of course the area above the pubic symphysis was checked in the sa way. After examining these two places, Zhou Ning put away the probe and once again indicated the location of the strangulation marks to the others.
"Soone, roll the body over to the prone position for display. Sun Gaotie, shave the deceased’s hair."
Upon hearing he had a task, Sun Gaotie quickly stepped up, tied the deceased’s hair at the end after arranging it, then began to move the razor swiftly. It wasn’t an electric clipper, but a simple razor, and he quickly finished the job. Then he used the clipper to tidy up the remaining stubble.
Zhou Ning crouched slightly, a lamp illuminating the injury at the back of the deceased’s head, which was triangular in shape with unclear boundaries, clearly caused by being pushed over and hitting a freezer corner. Poking around with a probe, he could feel the broken bones.
Only then did Zhou Ning glance at the x-ray next to him. With limited resources here, they couldn’t scan the whole skull, but the x-ray showed a depressed skull fracture at the occipital bone, though this injury wasn’t fatal.
Zhu Xingxing ca over, taking a peek at the body.
"Boss, do we need to adjust the body’s position?"
Zhou Ning raised his hand to stop Zhu Xingxing.
"Liu iling ca to the basent with the murderer, who, catching her off guard, choked her and pushed her, causing Liu iling to fall backwards with no defense, directly hitting the back of her head, resulting in the depressed skull fracture of the occipital bone. While the impact caused a concussion, it was not fatal. It was the brief unconsciousness that made her lose consciousness.
"As for what happened next... the murderer threw the victim into this emptied freezer to vent through torture, which caused the victim to wake from the pain. Perhaps the murderer ntioned past events. Of course, all of these speculations are based on our assumption that the perpetrator is Shi Yun."
Zhu Xingxing was sowhat confused, but Mr. Zhao understood. Indeed, after fifteen years, when taking revenge, one would naturally want the other party to know everything, otherwise the vengeance would be utterly lonely.
Mr. Zhao signaled to pause the recording device before saying:
"You suspect the murderer is Shi Yun; I have no objections here. But looking at the ti of Liu iling’s disappearance, it was 7:14, right at the ti of the buffet breakfast. With people coming and going in the kitchen, how co no one heard anything?"
"Good question. We need to verify with the hotel first, to see if the kitchen for the buffet breakfast is also in the basent—I believe the previous photos showed that this place is a pure Chinese cuisine kitchen. Generally, breakfasts are made separately in the dining room since it’s usually just simple porridge and the like.
"Second, on the morning of August 20th, we need to check if the Blue Sea Hotel’s kitchen was operating normally. I always feel that the murderer calculated everything perfectly: the ti of check-in, the location to strike, the place to hide the body, even the ti when the body would be discovered. Discuss with Mr. Dui about verifying the details about the breakfast with the hotel."
Mr. Zhao glanced at Sun Gaotie, who promptly nodded, tore off his gloves, and ran out with his phone to make contact. Just as Mr. Zhao was about to restart the recording device, Zhou Ning’s gaze suddenly fixed on an area at the waist of the deceased.
Zhu Xingxing ca closer, and Mr. Zhao gave her a nudge, lifting the sa portable light source to illuminate the spot Zhou Ning was staring at, unveiling a faint needle hole in the area of the deceased’s waist.
Observing the location closely, it was right between the second and third lumbar vertebrae, a common spot for epidural anesthesia, which laypersons would not be able to discern. However, rembering that Shi Yun’s mother and maternal grandfather were doctors, Zhou Ning suddenly felt that there might indeed be a family factor involved.
"No wonder the marks left in the freezer seed odd before, and the deceased’s nails were scraped off. Thinking about it now, the murderer must have administered an epidural to Liu iling, so she had no sensation in her lower body.
"Liu iling woke up from the pain of the facial cuts, hearing everything the murderer had to say, and tried to crawl out, but the freezer had been closed. Clawing, struggling, cold, blood loss—each of these could be lethal."
Zhou Ning stood up and gestured, and the others positioned the body in a supine position. He then continued.
"Okay, turn the recording device back on; let’s proceed with the formal autopsy."
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