Chapter 137: Death by Exposure
Chi Xia made a video call to Ning Yi and briefly told him about the situation on their side.
Without Captain Luo's urging, Forensic Doctor Ning finally got off the early shift, but he didn't expect to be forced to work overtime remotely at this time.
"Why don't you just hang me on you, Mr. Luo? Sometimes I suspect that I was a heartless man who betrayed you in my previous life, and that's why you torture me like this in this life."
Ning Yi put down his bag and sat down again. He picked up the sour plum bars left by his apprentice Xiao Zhao and stuffed them into his mouth, as if he was eating Luo Xun's head.
"Please help me, Doctor Ning. Can I betray you in my next life?"
Luo Xun appeared in front of the camera fully armed: "I am even worse off than you. I am here for my annual leave . Do you understand? Annual leave!"
Forensic Doctor Ning then remembered this matter and immediately became happy.
"You deserve it."
Ning Yi laughed loudly, and then said: "Chi Xia, let me see the general situation of the body first, and the camera should be closer. If that doesn't work, let Luo Xun do the autopsy. He has relevant experience, but I suggest that we don't do it if we can. I'm afraid he won't be able to close the body when the time comes."
Chi Xia immediately turned the camera to him.
"Oh my god, Chi Xia, where did you buy this phone? The high-definition camera is so impressive that it scares me."
Ning Yi's voice came from the phone: "Let me see the faces of these three brothers."
"It's a gift from a friend. I'll bring you one later."
Chi Xia said as he put the camera towards the face of the corpse.
Ning Yi accepted this friendly gift very readily, and then returned to seriousness in a second: "Hey, are they playing a game of slapping each other before death? Lao Luo, you are at the scene, tell me what you think."
"Judging from the degree of livor mortis and rigor mortis, the time of death was at least four days ago." Luo Xun didn't look up; his attention was entirely on the corpse.
Ning Yi leaned closer to the screen and said seriously, "Two days ago, or at least a week to be more precise, Xiao Xia just said that they should be professional explorers, which means they would pay more attention to safety than ordinary people."
Luo Xun responded, and Wei Guoliang immediately took out a pen and started writing in his notebook.
"What's the cause of death? Are you sure there are no fatal external injuries?" Ning Yi asked again.
"There were external injuries, but none of them were fatal." Luo Xun said: "It basically meets the characteristics of death by exposure."
Wei Guoliang raised his arms weakly: "What...what is death by exposure?"
Chi Xia explained: "The death from thirst and starvation you mentioned are both deaths from exposure, as are death from freezing and heat stroke. In short, if the victims who died in the wilderness did not die from trauma or sudden illness, then the cause of death must have been exposure."
Ning Yi laughed in appreciation in the video: "Xiao Xia is right. In this season, we can basically rule out death due to cold or heat. Moreover, the victims were found in a theater, which means they also had shelter. After ruling it out, the only possible cause is dehydration due to lack of food and water."
Wei Guoliang suddenly realized what was going on, and soon he said excitedly: "We found that the place where the victim's backpack was was not the same place where the body was found, and there was a bottle of water in the backpacks of all three people!"
Luo Xun looked up: "Is there anything to eat?"
Wei Guoliang shook his head: "Food...I don't think I found anything."
"Where in the theater were the three bodies found?" Ning Yi asked in the video.
Wei Guoliang recalled the situation at that time: "It was found in a dressing room in the theater. There seemed to be something wrong with the door. Our colleagues knocked on it several times before it opened."
"Lao Ning, he may not be suffering from hypothermia." Luo Xun's voice suddenly sounded.
Chi Xia turned the camera around again: "Captain Luo, do you mean artificial cooling?"
"Yes, artificially lowering the temperature causes hypothermia." Luo Xun nodded.
Ning Yi looked at the state of the body from the video again and asked Chi Xia: "After all, I was not at the scene, so I can't make the most accurate judgment. Although hypothermia does not necessarily occur in winter, the climate in Dongzhou is relatively cool, and it is still a bit difficult to achieve summer hypothermia. Chi Xia, considering the state of the body, do you think Luo Xun's statement is valid?"
Chi Xia handed the phone to Wei Guoliang and carefully examined the body before answering Ning Yi: "Forensic Doctor Ning, I still agree with Captain Luo's statement, but to prove this, we have to wait until we go to the crime scene."
"Tell me your basis." Ning Yi said.
Chi Xia took Wei Guoliang's notebook and said, "The police who went to the scene can basically confirm that there was sufficient air in the theater. The main threats to the victims' lives were dehydration and hypothermia. Hypothermia does not match the recent natural conditions, but the bodies were found folded up together. Is that right, Xiao Wei?"
Wei Guoliang was shocked: "Officer Chi, how did you know? I didn't write this down... I haven't had time to tell you yet."
Luo Xun pointed at the three bodies and said, "You didn't say it, but the bodies have already told us that your skills in separating the bodies were not very good, and you indirectly damaged the clues of the bodies. Didn't you realize this?"
Wei Guoliang blushed instantly, but didn't know how to explain.
He had discovered this a long time ago, but the director told him to shut up. It would be fine if the other party didn't discover it, but if he did, he would have to pretend that he didn't know or understand. In any case, he couldn't admit it.
Luo Xun understood as soon as he saw his expression.
He did not embarrass Wei Guoliang and continued to communicate with Ning Yi: "The bodies were stacked together. My first suspicion was hypothermia. Another possibility was fear, but it is not very convincing to think that they were hugged like this out of fear."
Wei Guoliang lowered his head and whispered, "Captain Luo, you may be right. When we found the bodies, they were not only hugging each other, but also wearing whatever they could in the dressing room..."
"It's just that because of the recent weather conditions, the number of people freezing to death is basically zero, so you didn't take this factor into consideration, right?" Chi Xia asked him.
"Yes..." Wei Guoliang's voice was as soft as a mosquito.
But he was too embarrassed to tell Luo Xun and Chi Xia the most important point.
At that time, some colleagues were worried that if someone froze to death in the theater in the middle of summer, the villagers would be scared to death if the news got out. And if they started to think of ghosts, the older generation of villagers who were very superstitious would no longer agree to develop this place into an adventure base.
Tu Guolin, an entrepreneur from Yulin, was also there at the time. He immediately turned cold and said that the matter needed to be discussed. They wanted to know how to best use the gimmick of people freezing to death this summer to develop an adventure base. He didn't want the police station to tell the matter so early.
Yu Ji’s development in the past two years has mainly relied on others. Even if the director doesn’t agree, they can just make a phone call.
The end result is the same.
Wei Guoliang sighed softly but didn't say this out loud.
Captain Luo seemed to know what he was thinking. He said to Officer Chi, "Chi Xia, don't forget why Tu Guolin bought this place."
Officer Chi understood what Captain Luo meant without much thought.
She smiled and looked at Wei Guoliang: "He wants to use this thing to advertise his exploration base, and your leader can't refute it, Xiao Wei, right?"
Xiao Wei raised his head and nodded with a complicated look: "Yes... our director... it's also... it's also very difficult..."
"Okay." Luo Xun said, "If you want to solve this case, don't hide it from us anymore."
Wei Guoliang's eyes welled up and he nodded heavily.
