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墨書 Inktalez
The body of Young Master Zhang was charred beyond recognition, prompting me to silently chant "Amitabha" a few times and draw two crosses on my forehead and chest.
If it was indeed Zhang Erlang who did this, it was truly insane.
I steadied my mind and began to seriously recall the steps of the autopsy. Next to me, Night Phantom wore a mask over his face mask and curiously poked at it with his hands, looking somewhat like an alien. The atmosphere in the morgue lightened considerably.
Typically, a corpse examination starts with the clothing, height, nutritional status, and other surface characteristics. However, none of that was necessary now. There were no clothes left, and the skin was mostly gone; the body had shrunk from the heat. In fact, there was no need to examine surface injuries because nothing could be discerned anymore. This was why I reluctantly had to perform an autopsy on him.
"Are you going to open him up?" Night Phantom asked in surprise.
I nodded. "The burns are too severe; nothing can be seen from the outside. As for how he died, there are many possibilities. So we can only hope that the insides weren't completely cooked."
If the body had been burned for too long, even the internal organs would undergo changes due to heat, causing all signs of hemorrhage and other reactions to disappear.
"But why does your face look so pale?" Night Phantom looked at me. "You... haven't done this before, have you?"
I glared at him; my trembling hands betrayed me.
Night Phantom stepped forward and gently pried my tightly clenched right hand open, extracting the knife from my palm. "Alright, let me handle this."
"You?" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Is your world also about cutting open corpses during detective work?" he squinted at me.
What did "also" mean? According to historical records, there shouldn't be any autopsy examinations in this era.
"I've performed a few autopsies before. The first time was when I needed to retrieve something someone had swallowed from their abdomen. It was then that I realized opening up a body could help determine the cause of death. So later on, when investigating cases, I tried using this method as well. After all, I've been trained on how to kill; opening up a corpse is nothing out of the ordinary," Night Phantom's gaze drifted far away as if recalling old scenes.
In that moment, I felt as if Luo Dachun had possessed me; I suddenly understood why Luo Dachun's thoughts always seemed to stray off course—under such circumstances, it was impossible for me not to deviate.
"You?! Investigating cases?!" I completely failed to pay attention to why he was performing an autopsy.
Night Phantom's face, wrapped up like a mummy, turned dark as he awkwardly said, "That's not what I meant; I just skipped over some details. The cases belong to Qiu; I'm just accompanying him and opening up dead bodies—this part is what I'm doing."
So that's how it is. You really skipped over too much!
Without delay, Night began to peel back the scalp of the corpse under my command.
The first cause of death I considered was cranial injury, specifically death by blunt force trauma. If a person is struck on the back of the head with something like a wooden stick, it may not be visible on the surface but could still result in fatal cranial damage.
"Tsk tsk, peeling back the scalp? I've never done that before." Despite his words, Night's tone and actions were filled with excitement as he deftly cut open the scalp.
"Wow!" Night exclaimed in excitement, "The skull is fractured! But this..."
The victim's cranium had exploded outward, indeed showing signs of fracture, blooming outwards like a flower. It seemed that Night's "but" referred to his confusion over how the skull could have been shattered in such a manner.
"Let's not dwell on that; keep going," I instructed him to dissect the neck of the deceased.
Another new feature emerged: a fractured hyoid bone.
The hyoid bone, located at the back and below the jawbone, is horseshoe-shaped and plays a role in swallowing and speech. Fractures of the hyoid bone most commonly occur in cases of strangulation.
From the current dissection, I found one fortunate aspect: Luo Dachun and his team had effectively organized firefighting measures, quickly containing the blaze. Therefore, this body still retained conditions suitable for examination and judgment.
From the moment I saw the fractured hyoid bone, I consciously directed Night to dissect and examine some key areas, and the results aligned with my expectations. The remaining blood in the corpse was a very dark red, the lungs were edematous, the spleen was shrunken, and there were obvious hemorrhagic spots on the meninges, pleura, and pericardium—almost all signs of mechanical asphyxiation were present.
Thus, it was highly likely that this Young Master Zhang had been strangled to death.
"Tsk tsk, I never knew you could investigate like this; it's truly incredible!" Master Thief became excited again. "However, there are still two things I don't understand."
"What are those two things?"
"His skull is fractured; why isn't that a fatal injury?" Night pondered thoughtfully. "Also, look closely—he has many knife wounds on him."
Indeed, in areas of the body that hadn't been charred too badly, there were visible cuts on the skin that looked like knife slashes. However, I had overlooked them during my examination for a reason.
"You really have a keen eye," I praised the amateur detective. "Those two things you mentioned were actually caused by burns."
"Burns?" The second-hand detective entered a state of shock once more.
The power of High Temperature is immense, and when it acts on a corpse, it can create some terrifying phenomena. For instance, under the influence of High Temperature, the skin tissue may rupture along the lines of the skin, forming elongated wounds that resemble cuts. We refer to these as "Ruptured Wounds," and if one is not careful, they could easily be mistaken for stab wounds inflicted before death. If the burning intensifies, bone fractures may occur, with cranial fractures being the most typical manifestation. This happens due to the extreme expansion of gases within the skull, causing pieces of the Cranium to bulge outward in a radial pattern, which is quite frightening.
"Then, the cause of death was strangulation; he died first and was then cremated. That much can be determined," said Night Phantom.
I believe that conclusion is valid. Moreover, the prime suspect is none other than the unfortunate Victim's brother, that deceitful liar.
However, we have no evidence. Even in Modern Investigation activities, arson and explosion cases are among the most challenging types to investigate. Fire not only claims lives but also reduces all traces and evidence at the scene to ashes.
"Don't worry; there are other channels. We'll wait until Ming Dachun returns," Night Phantom said, surprisingly exhibiting a calmness reminiscent of Nie Qiuyuan.
I instantly understood his meaning. The mission of Night was to ascertain the cause of death. Currently, not just Night Phantom's team is active; everyone seems to be on the move. Luo Dachun's task is likely what he does best: gathering information and uncovering the Motive.
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