Chapter 68 - 68 67 Unreassured

Words : 1193 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

68: Chapter 67 Unreassured 68: Chapter 67 Unreassured The whirring speedboat struggled along the Tai River. Two criminal police officers, with safety ropes fastened around their waists and grasping tightly onto the speedboat, did their utmost to search the river surface visually. The thunderstorm reduced visibility significantly, at most to a mere twenty meters, which was not only dangerous but also inefficient. However, because a body—or rather half a body—was spotted, no matter how difficult or tough, they had to search the Tai River thoroughly. The worse the weather, the more the criminal police team dared not relax; come tomorrow, when the weather calmed, if the body was damaged or even lost, what then? And as long as this recent murder case remained unsolved, the entire criminal police team could pretty much forget about discussing work performance or political achievements for the year. Huang Qiangmin stood by the shore, his neck adorned with a pair of binoculars, glaringly of little use, as he strained his eyes on the river surface. He knew the chances of a successful search were slim, but solving a case was such that many actions with low chances of success, when persistently accumulated, ultimately led to success. Regarding murder cases, the only thing Huang Qiangmin could do, the only thing he could do, was to seize every opportunity and invest further. Snap! A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the tumultuous river waters, and in an instant, everything around became even darker. ... The mortuary. Jiang Yuan donned a gas mask before entering the autopsy room. The seasoned forensic doctor, Comrade Wu Jun, didn’t have such high standards; he simply wore a surgical mask and started busying himself. On the stainless steel autopsy table laid half a corpse, pale white in color, like milk diluted with water. The skin of the body was wrinkled, and the severed part at the waist was ghastly white, with the flayed skin reflecting a unique sheen. Seeing Jiang Yuan come in, Wu Jun looked up and said, “Weren’t you studying Forensic Anthropology recently? Now it’s time to apply what you’ve learned.” Jiang Yuan previously acquired Forensic Anthropology Skills (Level 3) and had yet to apply them, but indeed it spurred him to read extensively. Compared to his capabilities in forensic pathology, Jiang Yuan was already gaining confidence in forensic anthropology; standing opposite Wu Jun, he asked, “Shall I conduct the autopsy?” “I’ll go first. The difficulty of this... this half a corpse, is somewhat high,” said Wu Jun, who was somewhat worried even for himself facing the half-body, naturally he was even more uncertain about letting Jiang Yuan take direct action. Unlike with typical autopsies, where forensic pathology knowledge is applied to address the question of “how did they die.” Forensic Anthropology, first and foremost, seeks to answer “who is this.” To be honest, the problems that Forensic Anthropology aims to solve are inherently more challenging than those in forensic pathology. To make a comparison, forensic pathology is like a multiple-choice question, whereas forensic anthropology is akin to an essay question, requiring elaborative answers. The forensic doctor must meticulously dissect information from the body, then answer the following basic questions: Is this a human? Male or female? What race or ethnicity? How old? What were their height and weight, and what did they look like? What were their distinguishing features? Who are they? Many of these questions are not issues when dealing with a living person, with numerous ways to find answers. But it’s not so simple when faced with a corpse. Wu Jun methodically cleaned the body’s surface, making meticulous records, and then wheeled over a portable X-ray machine to take scans of the lower half of the body. “It seems to be a relatively young male,” Wu Jun inserted the X-ray film into a light box in front of him, tapped the pelvic area, and with a sigh, casually asked Jiang Yuan, “If I only gave you this X-ray of the pelvis, how would you determine the gender?” “With the pelvis, a male’s pelvic shape is more narrow and slightly taller. Females have a broader and shorter pelvis. A male’s pelvic inlet is heart-shaped, while a female’s is round or oval. Also, the angle of the pubic arch, males have a smaller angle, possibly 70 degrees, while females range from 90 to 100 degrees...” Jiang Yuan spoke swiftly and confidently. The pelvis is the easiest to use for sex determination, with numerous identifying features. To put it simply, it’s easier and more accurate than using the head—or more professionally, the skull—especially for forensic doctors. Wu Jun was quite satisfied with Jiang Yuan’s answer and continued, “Next, let’s use skeletal age to determine the age. Do you know how to do this?” “We only have the lower half of the body, so we should use the pelvic bones to determine age, supplemented by long bones,” replied Jiang Yuan, who possessed Level 3 Forensic Anthropology skills. However, to be in charge of this autopsy and to determine information such as the age of the corpse, he would have to rely on taking X-ray images, or stripping the flesh from the body to observe the bones directly. Considering the current situation, the former is obviously less destructive and more practical. The only tricky part was that only the lower half of the body remained, and the best bones for age determination are carpal and metacarpal bones, followed by the clavicle and sternum, then the pelvis, and finally the long bones of the limbs. With just the available pelvis and lower limbs at their disposal, they had to use the difference in the medullary cavity to fit formulas. “23 to 25?” Jiang Yuan pressed the calculator and provided a result. “Hmm...” Wu Jun paused, his expression blank, as he silently calculated for himself. After a while, Wu Jun lifted his head, not revealing the outcome, then said, “Calculate the height too.” Jiang Yuan operated the calculator, “The full length of the femur is 43, multiply it by a coefficient of 2.36, that’s 1015, plus 680, exactly 169 centimeters, a height of 1.7 meters.” Calculating height based on long bones is quite accurate and simple. Having reached this point, along with the weight of the upper half of the body, the direct deductions that could be inferred were nearly complete—male, 23 to 25 years old, height 170 cm, weight 130 pounds... All of these details were insufficient to solve the ultimate question: Who are they? However, it was enough for Wu Jun to look at Jiang Yuan with newfound respect. “You young people learn fast,” Wu Jun sighed longingly. Jiang Yuan replied modestly, “I also made use of... various resources.” “Ah, back when I was young and wanted to learn, finding a book was a challenge, I could only follow my master around dissecting bodies, what we called learning from practice...” Amid Wu Jun’s reminiscing, he handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan, saying, “Your turn to dissect.” The initial apprehension had clearly dissipated.

Chapter 68 - 68 67 Unreassured

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