Chapter 263 - 263 247 Thermal Effect

Words : 2351 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

263: Chapter 247: Thermal Effect 263: Chapter 247: Thermal Effect A gentle breeze blew softly. Pine trees swayed quietly. A-Piao danced on a motorcycle. The director, with an irregular heartbeat and pale eyes, leaned back as light as a swallow. “Director, director...” A subordinate quickly supported the director’s waist. Having been the director of a funeral parlor for several years, Meng Deyuan forced a smile: “I knew this day would come. Did any of you see it just now? There were several white objects moving rapidly.” “Director, that was the forensic doctors riding motorcycles.” The subordinate was young, with keen eyesight, unlike Meng Deyuan, who had presbyopia and heart disease and always liked to think about strange things. Meng Deyuan said, “You’re not even trying to make up a lie now. I just saw several white ones. And why would forensic doctors ride motorcycles?” The subordinate helplessly said, “Ghosts don’t need to ride motorcycles either.” “Use honorifics.” “What?” “Well... spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Let’s just call them that for now.” When Meng Deyuan was transferred to the funeral parlor, he had thoroughly studied this issue. He didn’t expect that after several years, he would finally encounter an opportunity to address them appropriately. The subordinate, watching the forensic doctors increasingly enjoying themselves, sighed and said, “Maybe you should change your glasses.” “What else did you see?” Meng Deyuan’s eyesight had been ruined in his earlier years from writing documents, and it was not something that could be fixed with a new pair of glasses. “It’s just... some spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation playing with smartphones.” The subordinate said, “Wait, I’ll say something. Riding a motorcycle while playing with a phone is definitely not okay. If something happens, it’s a direct trip to the funeral parlor.” He was too lazy to keep arguing with the director and stepped forward to stop several “riders.” Seeing this, Meng Deyuan stepped forward and recognized Chief Medical Examiner Niu. “Old Niu? Why are you... Why are you riding a motorcycle?” Meng Deyuan felt it was especially unreasonable. A group of forensic doctors riding motorcycles, and inside the funeral parlor at that, was just too bizarre. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, not understanding why, politely said, “Director Meng is here. Today, we’re conducting an experiment.” “What experiment?” “About motorcycles,” Chief Medical Examiner Niu smiled and said, “There’s a murder case that involves this.” “Hmm... next time you have this kind of situation, you should inform us in advance.” Meng Deyuan then glanced at the large flatbed truck, frowned, and said, “How many motorcycles did you bring over? Our funeral parlor is a quiet place. Riding one motorcycle after another like this can disturb others.” “Okay, okay, we’ll finish up as soon as possible,” Chief Medical Examiner Niu answered casually. Talking about motorcycles causing a disturbance, riding motorcycles in residential areas at 3 a.m. could indeed affect people’s sleep, but riding them early in the morning in the funeral parlor courtyard—could that shake the urns? “Alright then, you go ahead.” Meng Deyuan knew he couldn’t control Chief Medical Examiner Niu. Assured that they were not ghosts, his heart felt more at ease. He waved his hand, “You can drive over there. There’s an open space behind the hall.” “Okay, we’ll have a look,” Chief Medical Examiner Niu rode off cheerfully on his motorcycle. Riding motorcycles in the early morning felt more comfortable than boiling corpses in the basement. Meng Deyuan hesitated for a moment, then followed them. As the director of the funeral parlor, he cared about everything there, except for the spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The forensic doctors riding motorcycles didn’t care if someone was watching. Everyone rode motorcycles according to their own ideas, studying the temperature of the exhaust pipes. The temperature of exhaust pipes varied from motorcycle to motorcycle, and if there was some insulation in between, the situation became even more complex. In such cases, conducting a thorough and meticulous experiment was practically impossible. Fortunately, criminal science has never demanded such precision. The objective of criminal science is to solve cases, so most of the time, criminal technicians only aim to propose one or several possibilities. In other words, they need to list a few scenarios in which the evidence on the scene could occur. It’s not necessary to list all of them, nor to guarantee 100% of the possibilities. Practicality is most important. And the detectives will use their legs and sweat to check each possibility one by one. In the flatbed truck, they had brought over thirty motorcycles: there were cool-looking racing replicas, impressive off-road bikes, and beefed-up motorcycles used by taxi drivers, among others. The motorcycles were mostly old and second-hand; who knows where Xu Taining had borrowed them from. At first, everyone rode randomly, then they tested the exhaust pipes with snake-skin bags made of the same material as the evidence. In the end, they still had to experiment with the actual evidence, but in the early stage, using similar materials was sufficient. Again, the principle is the same—criminal science does not require absolute precision, and whatever conclusions are reached will need to be verified again anyway. Among the six forensic doctors, Medical Examiner Wang Lan was left in the autopsy room to continue boiling bones. She couldn’t ride a motorcycle, had no desire to ride, and only stepped out to get some fresh air before going back. The other five forensic doctors were quite happy, each following their own thoughts, ostensibly conducting tests. Seeing several people choosing the racing replicas first, one could tell that such bikes were unlikely to be purchased by the locals of Zi Feng Town; even if bought, they couldn’t be ridden up the mountain. Moreover, these bikes designed after racing motorcycles had uncomfortable rear seats, not to mention carrying a corpse. Besides, the bikes were too heavy. If one were to fall, the bike could pin down a leg, making it almost impossible to lift, ending in a complete disaster. After Chief Medical Examiner Niu and others had their fun, the racing replica motorcycles were all eliminated. Everyone then turned to try the other types. There were also impractical attempts, such as Chief Medical Examiner Niu himself taking the only cruiser in the field—the kind similar to a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Just like the racing replicas, as soon as this beast left the paved roads, with its hundreds of kilograms, climbing mountains was out of the question. The others began to try the more likely candidates: standard street bikes and off-road bikes, and some even tried scooters. After a series of attempts, not only Jiang Yuan, but several others gradually began to find their approach. “It’s not much related to the model of the bike, but mainly the speed,” Jiang Yuan had been serious about the testing from the beginning. He had his fill of playing with bikes during the second demolition of his house, and his interest in motorcycles had long surpassed the shallow understanding of just models. In the simple tests, Jiang Yuan discovered that the speed had the most significant effect on the exhaust pipe temperature, followed by the duration. Jiang Yuan quickly concluded, “As long as the speed picks up, reaching around fifty kilometers per hour, the snake-skin bag next to the exhaust pipe could potentially be baked and burst. Even if the speed is a bit lower, say around forty kilometers per hour, but driven for a longer period, like ten minutes, the temperature of the exhaust pipe also gets very high.” After several such tests, Jiang Yuan no longer needed to try with the packaging bags; he could directly measure the temperature. If we were to say there were differences between models, it mainly concerns the heat dissipation and insulation during operation. Summing up, it’s about the thermal effect of the motorcycle. Jiang Yuan had already drawn conclusions when Chief Medical Examiner Niu was just finishing playing around and thus repeated several tests. “So, the speed needs to be around thirty kilometers per hour for the packaging bag not to break?” Chief Medical Examiner Niu was somewhat surprised. “Climbing hills could cause the exhaust pipe temperature to rise. Ultimately, the temperature of the exhaust pipe is determined by the engine’s operating condition,” Medical Examiner Zhai said, looking to be the oldest but actually the most knowledgeable about motorcycles on the scene. In his younger days, he often traveled long distances on a motorcycle for business trips and had experience, and as he rode, he began to notice clues. “Climbing would increase the temperature, and so would carrying a load,” Chief Medical Examiner Niu realized, drawing further implications. Medical Examiner Zhai nodded and added, “Thirty kilometers per hour is indeed a bit slow, isn’t it bad for the motorcycle?” “Pulling a corpse, wouldn’t it be difficult to maintain balance?” Jiang Yuan guessed. Guess as they might, but with an overall direction now in mind, everyone’s spirits were lifted. So Jiang Yuan proposed experimenting once more. Chief Medical Examiner Niu was the first to be chosen to ride the motorcycle. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, cursing under his breath, leaned on the back seat of a street bike, visibly tense. Jiang Yuan, slightly nervous, got on his bike, starting it awkwardly... Meng Deyuan, the director of the mortuary, stood outside, watching this scene, then went back inside the autopsy room, retrieved the evidence again, and after a closer examination of the travel bag and the red and blue plaid bag, the judgments of several people were confirmed once more. “With this, the murderer should have a motorcycle. Although we can’t talk about a breakthrough, it is a direction,” Medical Examiner Zhai said, sounding a bit more relaxed. Compared to the other young medical examiners, his responsibility was slightly greater. Jiang Yuan also relaxed a little and, while looking at the red and blue plaid bag again, fell into deeper thought. Merely knowing the motorcycle’s speed or that the killer owned a motorcycle was still too far from cracking the case. With such good evidence at hand, Jiang Yuan thought about digging deeper. Knowing about the vehicle and its speed, what else is needed to find the killer? Direction and time. Zi Feng Town only has one road passing through it, so the murderer either lives in the town or passes through on the way to the coal mine from the mountain road. So did he go south, or did he go north? Jiang Yuan didn’t want to ponder too much, and went straight to the torn part of the travel bag, turned it inside out, took a swab, moistened it, and began to wipe carefully. “I remember you’ve collected the evidence from there,” Medical Examiner Wang Lan immediately noticed Jiang Yuan’s actions. The way Jiang Yuan processed evidence was different from others, not just because of his proficient movements, but mainly because of his meticulous steps, indicative of high standards and confidence. Jiang Yuan made a sound of agreement, saying, “I suddenly thought that we could determine the killer’s direction by comparing the trace evidence inside the travel bag. Although I’ve wiped it before, best to preserve it once more.” Wang Lan didn’t immediately understand and asked, “How do you compare it?” “The outermost side of the travel bag holding the body was not only heated but also somewhat worn. If you look closely, there are pinholes. Since it was heated close to the exhaust pipe, it must have been very close to the ground. Therefore, the dirt and dust on the inside, on the exterior of the red and blue plaid bag, likely come from the surface the motorcycle traveled on,” Jiang Yuan, now in the state of scene investigation, said clearly and operated very standardly. Seeing his actions alone, several people subconsciously trusted him. Medical Examiner Zhai leaned in to look and asked seriously, “How will you use this dirt and dust?” “Analyze the composition, compare the trace evidence,” Jiang Yuan replied. “Once the composition is determined, who will you compare it with?” “The soil composition of the roads south and north of Zi Feng Town is definitely different,” Jiang Yuan had observed upon his arrival and now said, “Most of the coal from Zi Feng Town is sent south, and although the coal mines have basically ceased operations, there are still small coal kilns secretly producing, so the composition of the coal to the south will be greater. To the north, there are pottery fields still in production, along with fertilizer and pesticide factories. I don’t know the specific components of the ground, but I think if we take samples from both the south and north and compare them in the laboratory, we would definitely find differences.” Medical Examiner Zhai slowly nodded, understanding the logic as it became clear. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan added, “You will have to rush the trace evidence laboratory to process these pieces of evidence first. Otherwise, if we wait normally, it will take a very long time.” Trace evidence needed to be analyzed in the provincial lab, where the queue was long and the process slow, and it took someone’s help to jump in the queue. Realizing this, Medical Examiner Zhai immediately said, “Let’s go take samples from the south and north roads now, and I’ll find someone to deliver them specially.” Jiang Yuan didn’t leave the task to others and went to take the samples himself. Turning back, the group studied the wear on the exterior of the travel bag again, decisively gave up on it, and once more relied on Medical Examiner Zhai to call on people. The wear problem on the plastic bag was too complicated and could not be experimented with in a short time, but there are always specialized laboratories to do that.

Chapter 263 - 263 247 Thermal Effect

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