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墨書 Inktalez
It was a right arm, and aside from the severed end, there were no other wounds on the limb. From the cut, it was evident that the tool used was consistent; it was still that same hand saw. After Xu Yiman had conducted a DNA test, it became even more certain that the two parts of the body belonged to the same person.
Jiang He carefully examined the palm and noticed a thick callus at the first joint of the middle finger. Calluses tend to fade or even disappear over time, but this callus on the middle finger was still quite prominent. It was a type typical of students, primarily due to excessive writing with a pen.
Seeing this, Jiang He said, "I have a seventy percent chance of believing that this deceased person should be a high school student. Compared to college students, high school students typically use up one pen core for every five pens. Moreover, aside from this callus, there are no others on the fingers, so we can confirm that he is not someone who draws or designs."
Shao the Elder remarked, "So we are looking at a high school student around eighteen years old. That means this student is close to graduating."
An eighteen-year-old high school student had been dismembered into pieces that were currently unidentifiable and disposed of in various objects. These body parts could be scattered across Shangxi City, making the search quite troublesome.
On that rainy night, the murderer discarded the victim's limbs piece by piece, and no one knew.
Stuffed toys also appeared before them.
The group closely examined the stuffed toy, which still bore traces of dirt, likely picked up in a garden in Happiness District. The stitching on the belly of the stuffed bear had been pulled apart. Jiang He observed that this thread was also used for sewing soccer balls, and the craftsmanship was similarly poor with messy stitches.
"Soccer ball, stuffed toy," Old Shao spoke up. "The murderer must be quite young!"
Jiang He shook his head, indicating he did not understand.
Old Shao continued, "I still maintain my point: everyone thinks their choices are random, but subconsciously they have already made a choice. If your subconscious cannot make a choice for you, then you are likely suffering from decision-making difficulties..."
"Walking down the street and seeing a faint red piece of paper, most adults would think it might be money found on the ground. But if it were a child, their answer would be much broader." Old Shao's words were profound: "A person's perception cannot exceed their experiences; just like a child who has never seen a train—if you take them on a ride, their first reaction will definitely be to think it's a car and not a train."
Seeing that both Jiang He and Xu Yiman looked somewhat confused, Old Shao had no choice but to say, "I won't explain the principle to you; just know that his age must be under twenty-five. Since the victim is a student, then the murderer..."
Though this statement remained unspoken, the implication was clear.
"Such deep-seated hatred?" Xu Yiman couldn't help but exclaim. "To kill someone and then calmly dismember and dispose of them—such composure is not something an ordinary person can achieve."
"Revenge killing?" Old Shao murmured to himself.
"Someone has come to identify the body!" came the voice of Captain Li from outside.
"Bring them in!" Old Shao responded.
A moment later, seven or eight people walked in, a mix of men and women of all ages. Their clothing suggested they came from various professions. At the forefront was a dark-skinned man in his forties, who looked somewhat timid as he asked, "Is this the place for identifying bodies?"
Xu Yiman nodded and glanced at the middle-aged man before turning to retrieve the head. Halfway there, she turned back and said, "I really hope this isn't your child, but I also hope you can prepare yourselves mentally."
With that, Xu Yiman brought over the severed head. The moment it was revealed, a wailing sound erupted from the crowd. A middle-aged woman gasped sharply and collapsed to the ground, causing chaos among those present. People rushed to help her, only to find that she was struggling to breathe, her condition rapidly deteriorating.
"Xu Yiman, weren't you a surgeon? Go see what's wrong with her," Jiang He urged.
However, upon hearing Jiang He's words, Xu Yiman subtly stepped back, showing no intention of offering assistance.
Old Shao noticed this and was taken aback.
At that moment, Xu Yiman's eyes were fixed on the middle-aged woman on the ground. Sweat had formed on the woman's forehead, her chest rising and falling rapidly. The veins on her face stood out due to her exertion; her breathing had quickened significantly, and her hands were clenched tightly into fists.
Jiang He couldn't equate the woman's fainting with Xu Yiman's behavior because the two pieces of information simply didn't connect. He didn't understand what was happening with Xu Yiman: "Xu Yiman..."
Old Shao grabbed Jiang He. From Xu Yiman's subtle movements, he discerned her current emotional state—fear. These were actions and expressions that only appeared when someone was truly frightened.
Xu Yiman held a severed head without any sign of fear, yet seeing the middle-aged woman collapse before her made her so terrified. Old Shao knew there must be a story behind this.
"What about the other forensic doctors in the bureau?" Old Shao asked.
Hearing the commotion, the detectives outside hurried in, followed by several forensic doctors from the bureau. A few of them immediately began examining the middle-aged woman’s condition and soon carried her out.
The others assisted in escorting her away, leaving only three people in the Autopsy Room.
Old Shao gently patted Xu Yiman on the shoulder.
"Jiang He" spoke up, "I don't understand what you're doing. You're the doctor closest to her, and I have a percentage of..."
"Old Shao" gently covered "Jiang He's" mouth. "When I was young, I was just like you, always wanting to understand everything in the world, not caring at all if it would hurt someone. But later, I gradually understood that sometimes the truth only brings pain, and that trivial truth isn't necessary to know at all."
"Jiang He" couldn't comprehend what "Old Shao" was saying, but he still closed his mouth.
"Xu Yiman" also slowly calmed down. "Old Shao" didn't ask "Xu Yiman" anything but instead looked outside.
A few minutes later, the woman slowly regained consciousness, and "Old Shao" knew he had found the right person.
To prevent the corpse from causing further harm to the woman, there were only a few men in the Autopsy Room at that moment.
"Do you recognize this head?" "Jiang He" asked.
The middle-aged man replied, "What do you mean, just a head?"
"Jiang He" shrugged. "So far, we've only found a human head and a right arm."
The man's hands trembled as he tried to speak several times but couldn't find the words. Finally, a young man in his twenties beside him revealed the identity of the deceased:
The deceased was named "Song You," a senior student from "Shangxi City Anxiang District Fourth Middle School." To be precise, "Song You" had already graduated and was set to attend university in another city after the summer break. Who would have thought that just two-thirds into the summer vacation, "Song You" would be brutally murdered?
"Song You's" parents were honest farmers who worked in the countryside. They had lived their lives kindly towards others and had never made enemies.
On the afternoon of August 8th, "Song You" left home to visit friends in the city. His parents didn't think much of it since summer was a busy farming season. They had always been lenient with him as he grew older; he was a good kid who hadn’t gotten into any trouble. Although he hadn’t been accepted into any prestigious universities, at least he wouldn’t have to toil in the fields like them.
After four hours without any news of "Song You," his family began to worry. Previously, he would visit friends in the city and return home within two days at most, but this time there was no word from him. Three days later, "Song You's" family called him, but his phone was turned off. They even tried reaching out through QQ and WeChat without any response.
Worried, "Song You's" family reported him missing to the police.
Meanwhile, the Forensic Science Division had been comparing body information and received a report about a missing person that matched closely enough for them to request identification. It turned out to be indeed "Song You."
According to the information provided by several people, Song You's parents definitely had no enemies, and Song You was a quiet child at home, just like his parents. He usually didn't bully others, and his academic performance was average. Who could he possibly have a grudge against?
However, Jiang He had always been skeptical of what people said; he only believed what he saw with his own eyes. Since Jiang He himself never showed any expression when lying, he considered eyewitness testimony to be the least credible.
Jiang He had once summarized all the cases he knew and developed a set of criteria through probability analysis.
In the murder and dismemberment cases that Jiang He had learned about, fifty percent of the dismemberments were due to fear of police discovering the body, making dismemberment a means to facilitate disposal. Thirty percent were motivated by the killer's grudge against the victim; mere death could not express their hatred. Eighteen percent were driven by fear; after dismembering the body, it was no longer a whole but merely pieces of flesh, which could lessen their internal terror.
Additionally, two percent of killers viewed murder and dismemberment as an art form. They would skin victims to make furniture or use human bodies as materials for sculptures, cutting them into thousands of pieces. In the eyes of these individuals, killing was no different from painting or music; it was another form of beauty.
At this moment, Jiang He could not determine the motive of the murderer in this case because among so many probabilities, any one could potentially explain the situation. The current information was still too limited; Jiang He needed more details to deduce some clues.
After understanding the situation, Old Shao said, "We need to find the last person who saw Song You. Since he went out to find a classmate, we must locate this classmate. It's summer vacation now, and school hasn't started yet. Captain Li, contact Anxiang District Fourth Middle School immediately to find Song You's classmates and investigate who he was looking for before."
Old Shao then comforted them, saying, "There's nothing that can ease your sorrow right now, but I assure you that this case will be thoroughly investigated."
At that moment, Song You's father suddenly knelt before Old Shao, tears streaming down his face as he spoke with a heavy rural accent: "Please, you must catch the murderer. My son died so tragically..."
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