Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
"Let the Forensic team handle the autopsy; there's nothing to see with the corpse," Chen Boda said.
I shook my head and replied, "An autopsy can only provide us with conclusions, but when you face a corpse directly, it can actually speak to you. You can intuitively find your answers from the tiniest details of a naked body. Although the dead can't say anything, their testimony is often more important than that of the living!"
Seeing my conviction, Chen Bo nodded seriously and slapped his thigh. "Our comrade has a high level of awareness. I'm a bit behind on this. Let's head to the funeral home with Wang Fa-Yi right away."
I turned to Sun Qingqing and said, "Teacher Sun, the autopsy won't take too long. It's almost noon now, and the kids will be getting out of school soon. After they finish, we want to ask some classmates about Hu Ningning and Li Jun. Could you please notify their parents in advance?"
Sun Qingqing didn't respond verbally but simply nodded.
As we were about to leave, she spoke up again, "Officers, given the situation, shouldn't we avoid involving the students? They're only eight or nine years old; facing death at such a young age might be too cruel for them."
I helplessly shook my head and rubbed my temple. "I won't tell these kids anything too horrific. I just want to understand what Hu Ningning and Li Jun—who come from different homes—were doing together. That direction isn't towards Li Jun's house, nor is it towards Hu Ningning's."
Chen Bo added, "So you're still suspecting that these two kids might be in a romantic relationship?"
"Perhaps," I replied. "Kids might understand each other better."
As we stepped outside, the School Leader was arranging for a vehicle to transport the body to the funeral home. Wang Fa-Yi was already seated in the car. Chen Bo greeted him, and we followed behind.
The funeral home in town had facilities for autopsies, but it was outdated compared to those in larger cities.
In major cities today, they use more advanced autopsy tables that can cost around three hundred thousand yuan. On such tables, you hardly smell any foul or bloody odors. The surface is made of steel with circular holes for blood drainage.
Above the autopsy table is an air circulation system that refreshes the air. Below it are vents that suck away any odors and gases. The faucet on the table can be turned ninety degrees to release water for cleaning or turned another ninety degrees to create suction to remove coagulated blood from the body.
Below the sink, there was a Crusher that could crush bone fragments and hair, preventing clogs in the drainage system.
In this situation, the autopsy environment was quite favorable, but the facilities in this town were still outdated. This meant that during the autopsy, the smell of blood and decay would be quite strong.
We stripped the boy of his clothes, leaving the corpse exposed before us. When we saw the body, everyone was stunned. I hadn't noticed any tears or cuts on the boy's school uniform, and there were only a few bruises on his face. I had thought he bore no significant injuries.
However, once the boy's clothes were removed, I realized how wrong my initial assessment had been.
For a long time, we were silent, just staring blankly at the corpse.
The body was far from unscathed; it was covered in wounds that had been hidden beneath the school uniform. It seemed that after committing such a heinous act against the child, the murderer had dressed him again. But why would the murderer do such a thing?
To a perverse murderer, every action might seem meaningless to us, yet in their eyes, these actions held deep significance.
I looked again at the body, unsure how to describe what I saw. From Li Jun's body, it was evident that he was covered in scars of various shapes and sizes. Some wounds were caused by blunt objects, others by sharp instruments, and some were burn marks.
In short, on this eight-year-old child's small frame, his back and abdomen were almost entirely covered in scars, densely packed together to the point of making one’s scalp tingle. Such brutality inflicted upon an adult would be hard to bear; let alone an eight-year-old child.
In the Autopsy Room of the morgue, silence reigned. No one knew what to say; it felt as if time had frozen at that moment. I had seen many strange deaths and many gruesome corpses before, but none had ever appeared like this one.
It seemed as though the murderer had inflicted every possible torture upon this child, instilling genuine fear.
Wang Fa-Yi finally spoke up: "If I didn't know for certain that this is a corpse, I would think this was a model used to test our knowledge of various types of injuries in forensic science. On this child’s body, you could almost find every classic injury known in forensic studies."
Swallowing hard, Wang Fa-Yi looked at us, who were frozen in shock, and said, "Moreover, judging from these wounds, they all reflect life experiences, meaning these scars were inflicted while the child was alive."
"Child abuse?" Chen Boda exclaimed. "Comrade Wu, you must be right; isn't this child abuse?"
I nodded, gazing at the corpse. "The murderer has a seriously twisted mind!"
Wang Fa-Yi examined the body and remarked, "This corpse has been dead for a while. To thoroughly examine all these wounds during the autopsy will likely take several hours. If you have any urgent matters to attend to, you should investigate quickly and wait for the autopsy results later."
I shook my head. "Let's proceed with the autopsy. Gu Chen, inform Teacher Sun to schedule it for after school. This body should provide us with many clues. With so many wounds of various types, I believe the murderer must have left something that belongs to him."
Wang Fa-Yi's experience proved correct. By midday, after the autopsy was completed around four in the afternoon, he had not taken a break at all, relying on Chen Bo to continuously wipe the sweat from his brow; otherwise, it would have taken even longer. Each time Wang Fa-Yi examined a wound, he would verbally describe its cause, length, depth, and so on, while several police officers from the town recorded his observations.
When all the results were in, we were all taken aback. In total, there were fifty-two wounds on this corpse. These wounds varied in depth and length, resembling an experiment conducted on this child.
Finally putting down the autopsy knife and wiping the sweat from his forehead with a cloth, Wang Fa-Yi asked, "How did it go?"
One of the recorders replied, "There are fifty-two wounds on the deceased Li Jun. Twenty-two of them are blunt force injuries caused by punches and kicks—bruises and mechanical injuries. Five are sharp force injuries that can be traced back to the same weapon; based on their length, they appear to be from a dagger approximately ten centimeters long. There are also four blunt force injuries with varying sizes that definitely weren't caused by a single blunt object."
"That's twenty-six wounds accounted for," he paused before continuing. "Additionally, there are six burn marks that appear to be cigarette burns. Eight more are contusions likely caused while dragging the child. Nine blunt force injuries resulted in linear fractures in areas such as the ankles and wrists as well as on the left ribcage."
"There should be three more," I quickly interjected as I noticed the recorder had stopped speaking.
The Recorder glanced at everyone, then at his notes, before addressing us. "Yes, there are three more bite marks, all located on the right side of the torso. The bites are severe, with two forming an arc-shaped bruise in an upper and lower arrangement. One area has even had the epidermis and fat stripped away, as if the flesh was bitten off directly."
After hearing the Recorder's report, my heart sank. I realized we were dealing with a true monster. To commit such an act is beyond what one could express with mere words; it evokes a rage that surpasses that of any beast.
Wang Fa-Yi sighed. "Based on the time of death, Li Jun was likely murdered around midnight last night."
"What time was the last recorded sighting?" I asked Chen Bo.
Chen Bo pondered for a moment before responding. "The surveillance captured the last sighting of the two children around 6:15 PM. Considering how long it would take for them to disappear from view to where their backpacks were found, they would have needed about half an hour to walk that distance."
I nodded. "Adding in the time it took for the murderer to abduct the child, we estimate a timeframe of one to two hours. In just three or four hours, the murderer inflicted so many injuries on one child before they died."
"Right," Wang Fa-Yi agreed with a nod.
I pressed further, "So what was the cause of death?"
Wang Fa-Yi examined the body closely. "There are many wounds on the body, but the cause of death was a linear fracture of the ribs. This is an incomplete fracture that compressed and lacerated the child's lung, leading to internal bleeding and ultimately death due to blood loss. From most of the injuries on him, it seems that the murderer did not intend to kill him quickly."
Wang Fa-Yi removed his gloves. "It appears that during the process of torturing him, the murderer inadvertently caused his death. I can't say for certain that my guess is completely accurate, but it's highly likely."
"And," Wang Fa-Yi continued, "the murderer made a move afterward that leaves me puzzled about its meaning..."
Comment 0 Comment Count