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墨書 Inktalez
Captain Li was not stunned, but after getting a clear look at the corpse, he felt a wave of nausea wash over him.
At that moment, the three members of the project team were seriously observing the body.
The sight of the corpse was unsettling. The clothing it wore was tattered beyond recognition, making it difficult to discern what it had once been. The body, swollen from decay, had caused the fabric to tear apart, and numerous wriggling maggots fell to the ground as they escaped the confines of the cabinet.
Many maggots crawled up and down the corpse, writhing in a grotesque dance; some had even twisted into a mass that was utterly repulsive.
The body had swollen significantly, resembling a thin person who suddenly gained weight. Due to this swelling, it was firmly wedged inside the cabinet, leaving everyone only able to see its front. Much of the corpse appeared brown, with several areas displaying a deep green hue.
The face of the corpse was horrifying; its features were nearly unrecognizable. The swelling was severe, compressing its facial features together. The eyeballs bulged outward, with eyelids unable to conceal them, giving the unsettling impression that it was staring intently at someone. Its lips were everted, hanging like two sausages.
On its face, bodily fluids and murky blood trickled down slowly. Maggots crawled in and out of its ears, nose, and mouth, their round bodies seemingly well-fed on decaying flesh.
A noticeable dent could be seen on the forehead of the skull.
It was clear that the murderer had struck the victim's head with some kind of blunt instrument.
The arms and thighs of the corpse were severely swollen and wedged against the sides of the cabinet. Upon closer inspection of its hands, patches of skin had peeled away in large chunks, resembling gloves that lay among a mass of maggots. Xu Yiman gently lifted this glove-like skin with a piece of cloth and used tweezers to remove each maggot from its surface.
Despite the swelling, there were no signs of fractures in the arms.
"Pack it up," Xu Yiman said with an expressionless face.
Nearby, a police officer twisted his face in disgust as he retrieved an evidence bag to place it inside. Even he showed signs of gagging at the sight, highlighting just how disturbing it was.
Xu Yiman glanced at this officer and said, "Be careful not to tear this skin apart; it's the last piece of information this corpse has left for us. There's nothing to be afraid of or disgusted by. Just like every one of us will eventually die, you wouldn’t want others to hesitate in handling your body after you’re gone..."
Jiang He listened to Xu Yiman while continuing to observe the corpse.
However, Jiang He was not a professional; he could only draw a few conclusions. He focused on the corpse's abdomen, which was swollen, causing the clothing to appear shrunken and revealing much of the belly.
Jiang He noticed the veins on the corpse's abdomen were now clearly visible, resembling a web drawn across the body.
Not understanding this, Jiang He asked Xu Yiman, "What’s with the web-like veins on the belly?"
Xu Yiman had already conducted a thorough examination of the corpse. Looking at the inquisitive Jiang He, he explained, "This is called putrefactive venous network. As we know, there are many bacteria in the human body, some good and some bad, coexisting with us. One type of bacteria is called putrefactive bacteria. After death, without the control of the immune system, these bacteria grow wildly and produce gas."
"And what you see as the putrefactive venous network is due to a significant amount of gas increasing internal pressure. The blood flows toward the surface because of this pressure, accumulating in the veins just beneath the skin. Since there’s no oxygen supply for the blood after death, it appears dark."
Xu Yiman provided a detailed explanation of this knowledge.
Jiang He nodded.
Xu Yiman looked at Jiang He with satisfaction. "These bacteria produce a large amount of putrefactive gas in the human body. This gas appears greenish-black in our terminology, similar to the green color on this corpse's arm."
He pointed to the areas on the corpse that showed a greenish hue. "As decomposition time increases, this green color deepens into dark brown or even black. And if you look at the mouth and nose of the corpse, there’s a lot of bloody fluid present; this is partly due to skull fractures and partly due to organ hemorrhaging."
Everyone followed Xu Yiman's finger to see the sunken area of the skull. "As for whether this blow was fatal, I can't conclude yet since I can't see the back of the corpse and there's no way to test for poisoning or asphyxiation right now. We can only take the body out and perform an autopsy at the morgue."
At this point, everyone felt troubled; the corpse was firmly stuck in the cabinet, making it difficult to extract. Moreover, it was emitting a strong odor and was covered in white maggots, making the task both challenging and disgusting.
Xu Yiman spoke again, "However, we can roughly estimate a time of death from this corpse."
"Really?" Jiang He asked. "When?"
Xu Yiman wrote something in his notebook while addressing Jiang He. "It’s summer now; temperatures are high and there has been quite a bit of rain recently, making the air humid. In such conditions, decomposition accelerates. In summer, greenish spots appear around twelve hours after death; however, you can see that this corpse has greenish spots that have even turned brownish-black. This indicates that the deceased has likely been dead for about three to four days."
"Exactly," Xu Yiman continued. "The color of the decomposition venous network starts off lighter, but over time it gradually darkens. The decomposition venous network first forms in the upper chest area and then expands outward. As you can see, it has clearly manifested in the lower abdomen, indicating a time frame of three to four."
The crowd listened intently to Xu Yiman's expertise, even ignoring the occasional rumble of thunder.
Xu Yiman went on, "We refer to this overall phenomenon as the Decomposition Giant Observation. As the name suggests, the face has swollen to a point where even the biological parents might not recognize it."
"But most importantly," Xu Yiman said, picking up a maggot with tweezers, "look at this."
Several detectives hurriedly stepped back, but Jiang He leaned in closer.
Jiang He saw that it was a white maggot about five millimeters long, currently being held by Xu Yiman with tweezers, wriggling desperately to escape. At that moment, Jiang He suddenly had a question stemming from his own experiences: "Why do some maggots have tails while others do not…"
Xu Yiman shot him an exasperated glance. "Can you focus on the main point? Just like there are many types of tigers—Northeast tigers, South China tigers, etc.—there are also many types of flies. Therefore, the maggots they produce can vary as well. What I'm showing you is the length of the maggot, which can accurately tell us when the deceased died."
To ordinary people, seeing a maggot once is enough to make them feel nauseous; however, for forensic doctors, they are close companions.
"In summer, determining the time of death through maggots is an important method. Flies are very sensitive to the smell of decay. Within a few minutes after death, flies can detect the scent of a dead animal. Within about ten minutes, various species of flies will arrive at the corpse."
"Why do some flies lay eggs in feces instead of on decaying flesh?" Jiang He tilted his head and asked again.
Xu Yiman felt somewhat helpless and gritted her teeth. "Isn't that beside the point? It's like you love eating meat; why would you eat vegetables? Because you can't afford it? Or because you can't find any?"
Xu Yiman huffed in frustration. "About an hour after death, these flies will lay their eggs. In suitable temperatures on a corpse, these eggs will hatch into larvae within about an hour."
"These maggots mature in about five days," Xu Yiman continued while still holding onto the maggot with tweezers. "That means they have grown to this size now; these maggots are already mature. But if you observe closely, you won't find any pupal shells in the cabinet. This indicates that these are first-generation maggots, so the time of death must be within four to five days."
Old Shao blurted out, "So that means it could have been between August 8th and August 9th."
"That's right," Xu Yiman nodded. "However, based on the maturity of the maggots, it's highly likely that the date of death was around August 9th."
"Which is about the same time as Song You's death," Jiang He said seriously as he looked at the corpse. He wanted to discern the features of the body, but unfortunately, the face was so swollen that it was unrecognizable. In Xu Yiman's words, even his biological parents would probably not be able to identify him.
"Is there any surveillance?" Old Shao looked up.
The principal replied, "There is surveillance, but since it's a holiday, who would have thought someone would come here..."
"So there isn't any?" Shao the Elder asked.
The principal nodded.
Shao the Elder continued, "Then it will be difficult for us to know who the murderer is. However, we tracked Zhuang Ziming's phone to this location. Could this corpse be Zhuang Ziming?"
The principal leaned forward to take a closer look. "Given its condition, it's really hard to tell."
"Never mind," Xu Yiman said. "Let's go back and check if Zhuang Ziming's fingerprints match those online. That's why I picked up that piece of skin; it has clear fingerprints on it. Comparing them should clarify things. For now, we need to get this body out of here and to the morgue for a more thorough autopsy."
However, while Xu Yiman's suggestion sounded easy, executing it was quite challenging.
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