Chapter 195 - 195 187 Corpse Source

Words : 1861 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

195: Chapter 187 Corpse Source 195: Chapter 187 Corpse Source Inferring the condition of a body from a bone relies largely on statistics. Judging height based on long bones is quite straightforward, which include the femur, tibia, and the humerus of the upper limb—easily understood as tubular bones, likened to those found at a pork stall. The common saying, “This child has long lower legs, they will definitely be tall when they grow up,” essentially follows the same pattern of judgment as forensic doctors. However, when it comes to accuracy, there are problems. If the goal is to estimate height, there will definitely be differences when judging from long bones, whether someone has long and thick or short and thick legs. For this reason, forensic doctors have begun to use various regression equations based on bones from different locations to estimate height. The same goes for the lumbar vertebrae. It’s just a bit more complex. For instance, it’s necessary to differentiate between males and females. Furthermore, the first lumbar vertebra differs from the fifth. Each lumbar vertebra has ten measurement points, including the anterior height of the vertebral body, the posterior height of the vertebral body, the upper sagittal diameter, the lower sagittal diameter... The resulting regression equations total nineteen varieties. Memorizing them all is enough to drive one mad. Normal people wouldn’t bother memorizing such regression equations, knowing where to look them up is sufficient. But Jiang Yuan is using an LV3 script in Forensic Anthropology, so looking them up isn’t an option; memorizing them adds a higher level of prestige. To laypeople, this is likely insignificant. But it’s different for insiders. Just as ordinary people might buy a toolbook like the “Human Measurement Manual,” possibly even choosing one published by Cihai Publishing House, then there’s Jiang Yuan, who appears to have memorized the “Human Measurement Manual.” In any workplace, who wouldn’t be confounded by a colleague like that? Jiang Yuan didn’t have much to say, merely took the ruler and measured a few more data points, silently verifying them several times. The margins of error weren’t significant. Regression equations are, after all, formulas distilled from experience; the formulas are there, the data is right here, and whatever result you get upon entering the data into the formula is what it is. A young doctor sneakily cleaned his gloves, took them off, washed his hands again, put on new gloves, then checked his phone, and came to the same conclusion. Then, he quietly went off to boil the bones. Deep in thought, Wang Lan said, “A 40-year-old female, 1.7 meters tall, there shouldn’t be many like that in Qinghe City.” “Just worried it’s not from Qinghe City. Far throw, near burial,” another Qinghe City Bureau forensic doctor said thoughtfully. It was a good thing Wang Lan was leading the case; he truly held no confidence in it. A murderer might leave many loose ends after killing one person, but after killing four, they were bound to gain some experience. Some of the forensic staff here hadn’t even participated in four dismemberment cases. Yet, these four bodies were dealt with quite adeptly; if not for the reservoir water reaching a historical low point, the bodies could have remained undiscovered for decades. Furrowing his brows, Wang Lan said, “Far throw, near burial is indeed a common pattern, but these corpses, compared to simply dumping the body, seemed closer to burial. Moreover, four consecutive times, in the same place, doesn’t seem like it’s from too far away.” Far throw, near burial refers to a pattern deduced by criminal investigators. Typically, if a murderer disposes of a body far away, they choose to dump it; if the spatial distance is closer, they choose to bury it. This is a very interesting psychology. In essence, disposing of a body far away with burial is naturally more difficult. But in practice, murderers are not willing to linger in unfamiliar places. Or rather, there’s a certain time interval murderers are willing to spend on disposing of a body... And this was the issue the two were discussing. Were the bodies in the reservoir dumped or buried? The core aspect of burial is the time spent on excavation. Due to the murderer’s insecurity in unknown places, they are not very willing to spend much time and effort digging far from their familiar grounds, away from the center of their life and work. But to say murderers don’t want their body dumping to be more hidden is impossible. Therefore, submerging in a reservoir leans more towards dumping. If that’s the case, the range from which the bodies originated greatly expands; the victims may not be from Qinghe City, and might not even have died in a nearby city. Just determining the source of the bodies makes the difficulty level skyrocket. Wang Lan slowly shook his head and continued, “I personally lean towards it being a dumping. As for the specific direction of the investigation, let’s trouble the leaders with that.” Jiang Yuan listened without a word. He too leaned toward the origin of the body being nearby. However, this wasn’t an exclusive answer, and the possibility of an accident occurring still existed. Even if Jiang Yuan were in charge, he would have reached the same conclusion as Wang Lan. Otherwise, this case would be too difficult to work on from a forensic doctor’s perspective. Using the techniques of forensic anthropology to look for the body’s origin was essentially about finding intersections, like drawing circles on a blackboard and continuously finding the points where these circles intersect. Eventually, when the number of intersecting points was sufficiently small, it became easier to locate the body’s origin. Take the currently numbered body 1, for example. Being female was one circle, around 40 years old was another circle, having given birth another one, and having a height of about 1.7 meters yet another. The circles that met these conditions, plus one more circle of missing people from Qinghe City, could likely leave only one, or at most a few people, matching the criteria. That would essentially pinpoint the body’s origin. And pinpointing the body’s origin was the first step in such cases. It could even be said that only after identifying the body’s origin could the case truly start— this was also Wang Lan’s task. “That... Xiao Zhuang, take down a record,” Wang Lan called out the name of a young forensic doctor. With an “Oh,” Xiao Zhuang immediately went to remove his gloves and wash his hands. After the hustle and bustle, the record was taken, and another batch of bodies was cooked. Skimming off the scum, pouring out the broth, retrieving the bones with fascia still attached, then cleaning them again, the second dissection table was set up for the characteristic bones—the reason for skimming off the scum was based on the experience from the previous batch, as merely pouring out the broth would leave scum on the bones, necessitating a second, more strenuous cleaning. Consequently, there wasn’t enough space on the dissection tables. Four bodies were too many, and although Qinghe City’s morgue had been expanded to meet demand, it couldn’t allow one body to occupy two tables. However, placing the body bags directly on the floor wasn’t acceptable either. The floor was awash with dirty water, and the plastic bags were also part of the evidence... Thus, another round of moving around took place, with the two other unopened body bags being lifted onto one dissection table, and then focusing on processing the two bodies that had been unpacked. One body bag for one person, containing not only the remains but also stones, and possibly infiltrated water—lifting and hoisting such a bag required the effort of three or even four people. As a female forensic doctor, Wang Lan stood aside giving encouragement at this point... One hour later. The forensic doctors who had gone for a meal returned, and by that time, the second body had just been sorted out. “35 years old. Male. About 1.7 meters in height...” Jiang Yuan quickly made his assessment. Wang Lan agreed, muttering to herself, “Both a man and a woman, with the height coincidentally being the same.” “A serial killer who likes to kill people around 170 centimeters in height, regardless of sex or age,” one of the forensic doctors offered a personal summary. Xiao Zhuang, who was making the record, couldn’t help but look up and said, “You might want to listen to what you’re saying.” “What?” “In China, anyone who likes to kill people who are 170 centimeters tall would die of exhaustion.” “Oh, there must be other contributing factors then...” Xiao Zhuang couldn’t be bothered to continue the conversation and turned to say, “I think, the way the body was disposed of, it’s a bit like the two-faced forensic doctor in American TV shows. Also called the blood-thirsty forensic doctor.” “I only saw the beginning, how does he dispose of them?” Wang Lan immediately took it seriously. Copycat criminals, in the world of murderers, were a significant category. Xiao Zhuang organized his thoughts and said, “He usually does it in a place like a container, lined with plastic, also wrapped up in protective clothing, wearing a mask. Then he strips the people naked, ties them to a table, kills them with a single cut, then dismembers them, puts them into plastic bags, and finally transports them to the sea to dispose of the bodies.” Wang Lan pondered for a moment and said, “Then he would need to buy a large amount of plastic sheeting, require an independent house or space, and also purchase protective clothing, masks. Moreover, our murderer is definitely not a forensic doctor; he uses things like electric saws to dismember bodies, and the plastic is easily punctured...” “He’ll also need a vehicle. Plus, the body bags are too heavy; it’s very likely that one person couldn’t move them,” Jiang Yuan added. “So, it’s possible that there were multiple people involved?” Wang Lan’s eyes lit up. Jiang Yuan didn’t respond to her, instead sinking into thought. After a moment, Jiang Yuan slowly said, “I think, even if there were multiple people involved, since the body is already dismembered to this extent, why bother with such large body bags?” Wang Lan looked up alarmed. Jiang Yuan continued, “If he learned from experience, dividing the body into two, or even four bags, would be a lot easier and lighter. The sinking is due to the stones, not the weight of the body itself.” Not only Wang Lan, but everyone present swallowed hard. “There are only these 4 body bags at the scene, so if the crimes escalated...” Xiao Zhuang took a deep breath. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, “If the crimes escalated, the murderer would likely choose deeper waters, smaller body bags.” “That makes sense,” Wang Lan sighed deeply and said to Xiao Zhuang, “Call the squadron leader, tell him to get divers, to search underwater.” ...

Chapter 195 - 195 187 Corpse Source

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