Chapter 265 - 265 249 Origin of the Corpse

Words : 1823 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

265: Chapter 249: Origin of the Corpse 265: Chapter 249: Origin of the Corpse The day was windy. The wind blew along the tree-lined road of the funeral parlor, creating a “whoosh whoosh” sound that lasted all night. Jiang Yuan and several other forensic doctors remained in the autopsy room boiling bones, but when the wind became strong, they exchanged wordless glances. Everyone was tired, yet there was no time to sleep. By this hour, even the energy for chit-chat was gone. The fourth body was currently being boiled, having been discovered and brought over in the evening. Similar to the second and third bodies, the fourth was also packed inside a gray travel bag, which contained a red and blue checked snakeskin bag. Moreover, both the gray travel bag and the red and blue checked snakeskin bag bore traces of having been scalded. Technicians conducting the crime scene investigation had therefore obtained more evidence, prompting Xu Taining to allocate a massive number of personnel from Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, dispatching them to several townships to the north. Finding Liu Jinghui was still the top priority, and it was urgent; however, solving the serial homicides to find Liu Jinghui became more feasible and likely without any leads. Xu Taining could not concern himself with the comments or the aftermath that might ensue; he gritted his teeth and redirected the search teams to conduct sweep checks. Jiang Yuan sat next to the third body source, scrolling through his phone and waiting for the pressure cooker to finish its cycle. Boiling a body required a higher level of tenderness than boiling meat for home cooking. In kitchen terms, it meant the meat had to be completely off the bone. However, most of the bodies needing boiling were already somewhat decayed and deteriorated, so the total boiling time might not be so long. It was only the parts with too much flesh that needed extra time. Jiang Yuan’s phone now had a dozen more work groups added to it. Most were related to Zifeng Mountain, including some new groups he had just been added to. In the Zifeng Mountain groups, people were everywhere assembling teams, looking for vehicles, and storing items. Mobilizing over a thousand people in one breath, and to different locations, made both dispatch and support extremely difficult. Even the local gas station ran out of fuel. But this was what Xu Taining excelled at; even though he wasn’t familiar with the personnel below him, and even though the various branches were hastily cobbled together, he organized everything orderly. By five or six o’clock in the morning, all teams were in place. [It’s been eight days since Comrade Liu Jinghui went missing. We have no more time to delay. Once the teams are in place, please commence work immediately and be thorough and diligent.] Xu Taining issued an order to the leaders of the teams, then @everyone in the large group. Jiang Yuan absentmindedly watched. He could imagine the teams going door to door being scolded while they explained, mixing in quarrels and reports. In fact, if they were only inquiring of the missing person’s relatives, the situation would be much different. But whether junior detectives or senior police chiefs, they were all well aware that the victims’ families might not necessarily speak the truth. Inquiring of neighbors and taking statements from missing persons’ friends, relatives, and colleagues provided not only more accurate information from an indirect approach but also served to deter potential perjurers to some extent. “Number Four is almost ready,” announced the young forensic doctor, tending to the stove as his alarm went off. “Then let’s sum up Number Three. Does anyone have any further thoughts?” Medical Examiner Zhai called out responsibly. Unlike previous autopsies, Medical Examiner Zhai demanded the collective effort of the team, with everyone fully expressing their opinions. For this reason, he required each person to write up their own autopsy report. The first and second body sources had been processed, and the third was dealt with in this manner. Jiang Yuan quietly handed in his autopsy findings. “Body source three, age 30. Female... height 163 cm, cervical spine disease, lumbar disc herniation, an old fracture in the ankle (appears to have been treated)... eyelids had embedded lines... time of death, more than three years ago.” Medical Examiner Zhai collected the autopsy conclusions from everyone, looking at them one by one. When he got to Jiang Yuan’s, Medical Examiner Zhai took an extra moment to examine it. “There’s a slight discrepancy in everyone’s judgment of time of death and age, but otherwise, they are largely consistent, of course with some minor differences,” summarized Medical Examiner Zhai. The crowd was silent, glancing quietly at Jiang Yuan. Not only was Medical Examiner Zhai a forensic doctor from the provincial department, but his track record over the years was quite commendable. He belonged to a practical group of forensic doctors known for their effectiveness. Among the present forensic doctors, the quite competent Wang Lan was merely a diluted version of Medical Examiner Zhai, and Chief Medical Examiner Niu wasn’t particularly strong either. Most were just average-level grassroots forensic doctors who occasionally made mistakes, occasionally performed exceptionally well, but mostly worked diligently and conscientiously. Whether determining the time of death or age, they tended to offer as broad a conclusion as possible— The strength of a forensic doctor could be judged by the certainty of the conclusions they provided. For the same time of death, Jiang Yuan gave a direct age of 30, while some forensic doctors, to avoid mistakes, might suggest 25-30. Of course, under normal circumstances, Jiang Yuan could also give a conclusion like 28-32 years, depending on the state of the body, but giving a narrower range for the same body was an obvious display of confidence. “Is the gap large? I mean, regarding the time of death and age,” Jiang Yuan asked straightforwardly. “Hmm, not really. Everyone has some different opinions,” replied Medical Examiner Zhai, who was not quite accustomed to Jiang Yuan’s self-assurance at work. As an older person, he always prioritized caution in his work, giving a wider range whenever possible rather than a narrower one. In his younger days, everyone was usually confident in their daily lives but cautious in their work. Opposite of Jiang Yuan’s generation. However, Jiang Yuan’s conclusions were also within the scope of Medical Examiner Zhai’s own conclusions. Medical Examiner Zhai’s gaze lingered on the time of death for a moment. He had given a time of death of three to five years ago, personally leaning toward four years. Jiang Yuan had given three years... not much of a deviation. In the end, Medical Examiner Zhai didn’t say much else, just nodded and said, “Then let’s tidy up and start reconstructing the fourth body.” Beep beep beep. The pressure cooker began to release steam. Everyone silently waited for the steam to escape completely, then began to remove bones, peel off flesh, and arrange the corpse. Jiang Yuan still inspected each bone closely and quickly came to a conclusion, writing it down for himself: Body source four, age 32-34 years old. Female... height 160 cm, cause of death, mechanical asphyxiation... time of death, more than four years ago. He confirmed what was certain first, and then slowly analyzed the remaining bone fragments. The other forensic doctors operated in a similar fashion. Anthropology is a meticulous discipline; a human body of that size, with over two hundred bones, could be assessed fairly quickly if one only glanced over them. But extracting information from them is much more difficult. It must be done bit by bit, piece by piece. When Jiang Yuan worked on the Wangguoshan Reservoir body-dumping case, he’d spent nights and days searching for details. But this case was different; there was no shortage of information provided by various pieces of evidence. Going over the case again, store by store as he did last time, would be extremely inefficient. Comrade Liu Jinghui would probably not be able to endure it. As Jiang Yuan was thinking, his phone started buzzing. He clumsily glanced at it with his elbow, saw it was Huang Qiangmin, immediately went to remove his gloves, roughly rinsed his hands with water, then put on a new glove and picked up the phone. “Captain Huang, is there any news?” Jiang Yuan redialed. “Yeah, the owner of the jewelry has been found,” said Huang Qiangmin, his mood somber. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin was standing in the victim’s home. It was a three-bedroom apartment located in the core area of Fangjin Township, with Fangjin Township’s only vegetable market visible through the window. The apartment, an early welfare housing unit, was renovated quite cheaply, with many places patched up with newspaper. The female homeowner lay in a sickbed, staring eagerly at the policemen in the room. The male homeowner sat against the wall smoking, and in the swirling smoke hung photos of their missing daughter. “Do all the pieces of jewelry match? Do you have photos?” Jiang Yuan asked worriedly over the phone. Because the jewelry was cheap, it might have high duplication rates, so having additional corroborative evidence would be best. Huang Qiangmin simply responded with a “Yeah,” and said, “Look at the photo on WeChat, there’s a photo.” “Hold on, I’ll turn on the speaker.” Jiang Yuan set down the phone, opened the private chat in WeChat, and saw a series of photos sent by Huang Qiangmin. Most of the photos were rephotographed; the girl in the photos had a sweet smile, long black hair cascading down, and you could see the necklace and rings. The final photo was a selfie showing her earrings. Although further detailed comparison might still be needed, the investigative procedure was very comprehensive at this point. Jiang Yuan turned to look at the remains of body source three; he had just been sitting there for quite some time. However, the grim white bones and the sweet smile in the photos didn’t match at all. “How long has this girl been missing?” Medical Examiner Zhai walked over and asked through the speakerphone. “Who is this?” Huang Qiangmin asked first. “It’s me, Old Zhai, Forensic Doctor Zhai.” “Yeah, Medical Examiner Zhai. The victim has been missing for three years and four months,” Huang Qiangmin finally responded. Medical Examiner Zhai said “Oh” in surprise and couldn’t help but comment, “That seems a little short.” “The temperature issue inside the mine.” Jiang Yuan casually replied, then picked up the phone to ask, “Captain Huang, have other teams made any finds?” “Not yet, it wasn’t our team that found this, it was the people from the city criminal police team,” Huang Qiangmin explained to Jiang Yuan first, then added, “We have already started searching the local motorcycles.”

Chapter 265 - 265 249 Origin of the Corpse

Comments (0)