Chapter 261 - 261 245 Cold Burn

Words : 1896 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

261: Chapter 245: Cold Burn 261: Chapter 245: Cold Burn Medical Examiner Zhai arrived in Qinghe City and constantly heard the name Jiang Yuan. When it came to solving cases, Jiang Yuan had indeed cracked a considerable number in the recent period. Solving a succession of major cases is something that every criminal investigator dreams of but finds difficult to experience. The police commendation system’s third-class merits are relatively easy to obtain, but the second-class merits are much harder to achieve. Jiang Yuan’s consecutive awards of second-class merits prove that he has done what most police officers cannot. Medical Examiner Zhai had not achieved this either. His position in the provincial office was based on both his seniority and his educational background, as well as his comprehensive grasp of technology. 30 years ago, when he was transferred to the provincial office, Medical Examiner Zhai was one of the few professional forensic doctors in the province who had graduated from a proper medical university and had experience. On the other hand, during the era when Medical Examiner Zhai’s combat effectiveness was at its peak, not to mention surveillance video or DNA technology, even fingerprinting was done using fingerprint cards, which was extremely inefficient. Forensic identification was the true courtroom scientific force of the time. Medical Examiner Zhai cooperated with the criminal police to solve many cases and, on the other hand, also self-taught a vast array of skills. Unlike present-day forensic doctors who mostly revolve around Forensic Clinical Medicine, in Medical Examiner Zhai’s time, Forensic Anthropology was part of the daily routine, and it was necessary to dabble in forensic toxicology and even forensic entomology. Because there was nowhere to seek help. Nowadays, when forensic doctors encounter a technique they do not fully comprehend, they simply ask others for assistance. This was a model that Medical Examiner Zhai’s generation could neither do nor even envision. On the other hand, Medical Examiner Zhai’s technical learning was also very arduous. It was not like now when one wants to learn something and can easily find the resources to do so. In those days, even the high-level technical personnel within the system couldn’t just get their hands on whatever material they wanted. Despite this, Medical Examiner Zhai’s strength was still extremely formidable. In recent years, he still achieved results whenever he took action. Thirty years of senior experience was like a dimensionality reduction strike against the primarily inexperienced murderers. However, today’s autopsy was extremely challenging, and the authorities had indicated they wanted him to wait for Jiang Yuan. Now that he had met him, Medical Examiner Zhai started observing deliberately. Jiang Yuan didn’t think too much and proceeded with his work in an orderly fashion. The autopsy process didn’t show anything particularly noteworthy. Medical Examiner Zhai wasn’t surprised; after the body was delivered, he had already examined it thoroughly and had likewise failed to draw any definitive conclusions. One could only say that this was not the work of a rookie handling an ordinary corpse with superior skill. “Shall we start boiling the body?” asked Jiang Yuan, after he had finished examining the corpse, looking towards Medical Examiner Zhai. “Do you have any thoughts?” Medical Examiner Zhai was also concerned that Jiang Yuan, brimming with youthful vigor, might put himself in a difficult situation. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, “No direct thoughts. As for the perpetrator, the technique is very skilled.” “Yes, it’s not the first time they’ve killed,” Medical Examiner Zhai immediately affirmed. This thought was very close to his own. After all, it’s hard for people not to agree with opinions that are the same as their own. “How does this compare to the perpetrator of the reservoir case?” asked Chief Medical Examiner Niu, who was only assisting on the side, but immediately thought of Wangguoshan. The two cases weren’t linked, but due to Liu Jinghui’s involvement, everyone actually knew that there was a connection between the two cases. Jiang Yuan calmly stated, “Definitely not the same person. Both are very skilled.” Medical Examiner Zhai agreed with a confirming “Mm,” saying, “Killers don’t get many opportunities to train. Someone who has killed a few people doesn’t necessarily improve much in their method compared to someone who has killed a dozen, it mostly depends on their natural talent.” Chief Medical Examiner Niu was taken aback, then shook his head, “Only you could say that.” “In the past, there were actually a lot of people who killed many, especially bandits before the liberation, who continued to commit crimes later on,” Medical Examiner Zhai shook his head, indicating he did not intend to delve further on the topic, he then circled back to the matter at hand, “Well then, let’s start boiling.” “I’ll set up the pot for you. Afterward, when the bones are cooked, it’s up to you guys to examine them,” said Chief Medical Examiner Niu, not shy in admitting his shortcomings to Medical Examiner Zhai. His experience was far greater than that of Jiang Yuan. Back when he was still scrutinizing rice for signs of green patches in his jurisdiction, Jiang Yuan may not even have had that capability. Yet, when compared to Medical Examiner Zhai, he had nothing to boast about. Speaking of which, when Chief Medical Examiner Niu first joined the profession, he had attended training courses taught by Medical Examiner Zhai. This autopsy room was Chief Medical Examiner Niu’s territory. He called two others to his aid and hastily brought out pressure cookers and reinforced pots—the former electric and the latter gas-powered. The men heaved them onto the stove and started boiling water with fire. An average person weighs over a hundred pounds, and although the corpse extracted this time was rotting and disfigured beyond recognition, its skeletal frame remained. A small pot definitely wouldn’t suffice for boiling it. The electric pressure cooker, at 16 liters commercial size, could barely boil the femur of an average person. However, if someone was over 1.85 meters tall, like Jiang Yuan, they would have to use the reinforced pot next to it. Although not large enough, one could boil one end first and then the other, ensuring that eventually, the bones would be separated from the flesh, albeit slowly. Boiling two people at once is a workload that can even surpass cooking two or even four sheep. Several forensic doctors started bustling about, and it took quite some time to sort everything out. Medical Examiner Zhai was also actively helping. That’s the way it is for forensic doctors, no matter how high the rank, work must be done as usual. After busily completing the preparation work and seeing both pots boiling, Medical Examiner Zhai turned back to see Jiang Yuan lifting a body bag onto another dissection table, closely studying it. Medical Examiner Zhai frowned and walked over to ask, “Did you find anything?” “It seems that these body bags have all discolored,” Jiang Yuan said while examining the outermost travel bag. “Were they punctured?” Chief Medical Examiner Niu put down the tongs and came over to look. “The outer layer shows a bit of puncture marks, but that’s not the main issue,” Jiang Yuan said, turning the inside of the two body bags towards them, “You see, to transport the bodies, the killer first dismembered them, packed the pieces into plastic bags, then put the plastic bags into red and blue checkered bags, and finally put the red and blue checkered bags into gray travel bags.” “Like when people package meat to put it in the freezer. That’s how it’s done,” Medical Examiner Zhai explained with experience. Jiang Yuan nodded and then added, “But the discoloration of this bag is more likely caused by burning.” “Eh?” Medical Examiner Zhai came over to look, surprised. Indeed, at one corner of the red and blue checkered woven bag, the bag had discolored. Even inside the outermost gray travel bag, there were red and blue marks. This definitely couldn’t have been caused by contamination. Medical Examiner Zhai thought carefully, and it indeed seemed like a trace caused by burning. “A plastic bag should just disappear once it burns,” Medical Examiner Zhai muttered to himself. “Indeed.” Jiang Yuan also murmured. Chief Medical Examiner Niu watched the two of them pondering and suddenly felt too lazy to think. Aside from the bodies, he was slightly more informed on things like tissue paper; plastic bags and rubber still repulsed him. At that moment, the image of Dazhuang hating to ride in vehicles flashed through Jiang Yuan’s mind, and then the scene he swept over in the parking lot, he couldn’t help saying, “It’s a motorcycle.” “What?” “These travel and red and blue checkered bags, they can’t withstand high temperatures, so it’s low-temperature burning. The motorcycle’s exhaust pipe!” Jiang Yuan said this for a very big reason, namely that near the mine’s parking lot, there were traces of motorcycles, but few of cars. In Zi Feng Town, although many locals owned cars, for going up the mountains, most still rode motorcycles. Motorcycles were also more popular than private cars as a means of transportation. Jiang Yuan used the dissection table as a stool, turning the red and blue checkered bag sideways with the heated end dangling down, saying, “Look, if a motorcycle was carrying the bodies up the mountain, this end of the bag could have come into contact with the exhaust pipe.” “The temperature of an exhaust pipe wouldn’t be that low, right?” Medical Examiner Zhai seemed uncertain. “Hmm... Some kind of motorcycle with a lower exhaust pipe temperature?” Jiang Yuan wasn’t too familiar with this area either. Medical Examiner Zhai looked at the two bags containing bodies, then adjusted their positions himself, and said with some uncertainty, “I don’t know much about motorcycles either, does anyone here know?” All the forensic doctors present shook their heads. Forensic doctors study things like clothing or tissue out of necessity for their work, but riding motorcycles? What’s that got to do with anything? “Then let’s find a few motorcycles for a test,” Jiang Yuan suggested. “You’re proposing an experiment?” Medical Examiner Zhai actually agreed. When forensic doctors perform analysis outside of the bodies, they often need to conduct experiments. Just as when they hypothesize a killer might have transported the body in a suitcase, finding a colleague somewhat larger in size and weight to sleep in a suitcase would be a necessary task. However, sourcing the motorcycles made Medical Examiner Zhai ponder for some time before saying, “It’s best to ask the local leaders, see if we can find a second-hand motorcycle dealer to coordinate with, to try multiple bikes.” Jiang Yuan was startled when he heard that, then agreed, “That would work too. Good idea.” Medical Examiner Zhai found it odd, “How were you thinking of testing it?” “Buy one?” Jiang Yuan said, “Motorcycles shouldn’t cost too much.” Medical Examiner Zhai chuckled for a moment, then seeing that Jiang Yuan wasn’t smiling, couldn’t help saying, “Does the county bureau really have that much funding now?” “Ask the bureau to buy one?” Jiang Yuan nodded unconsciously, “That would work too. Good idea.”

Chapter 261 - 261 245 Cold Burn

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