Chapter 49: A Piece of Indwelling Needle Tape
Zhao Xinli's voice was quite loud, and Xu Dayuan and He Chunyang gave him a glare.
Zhao Xinli was like a quail, so scared that he dared not make a sound and hid behind Zhou Ning.
But what Zhao Xinli said was right. At a cold glance, it really looked like a turtle. The center of the mass was round with five protruding parts.
Looking closely, the man's disheveled hair covered his face. The length of his hair was more like a woman's. His limbs were spread out, as if he was tied to a tire.
This discovery shocked Zhou Ning a little, and he quickly moved in front of the truck. However, although the distance was closer, the reflection of the ice surface made it impossible for him to distinguish more carefully.
All we can see clearly is that the deceased has no shoes or socks on her feet, and her clothes are made of thin, tight-fitting materials. She has a lilac-colored top and black pants. There are two pieces of the pants that are floating up near her thighs, similar to a skirt. Is this a yoga outfit?
Xu Dayuan came over and Zhou Ning asked directly.
"How did the reporter find the body?"
"The person who reported the case was the owner of the Titian County next door. He was jogging with his child to lose weight at night. When he passed by here, his hat flew off and landed on the ice. He came down and used his phone to light up the search, and immediately saw the body in the ice.
This road has only been open for more than ten days, and it has been snowing for several days in a row, so not many people pass by. Otherwise, it would have been discovered long ago. Doctor Zhou, can you tell when the body was dumped?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. The man was wearing such thin clothes that it looked like he was thrown into the water when it was not cold. However, judging from the hands and feet of the deceased, there were no signs of drowning, and the body did not look swollen.
"It is impossible to determine for the time being. We should send it to the autopsy room, remove the ice and do a further autopsy to provide information. Can Zhao Xinli identify this tire?"
At this time, the two of them turned their heads. Without Xu Dayuan's instructions, Zhao Xinli had already moved closer and almost lay on the ice to look at the tire.
"I can't see the serial number clearly. I need to thaw it to measure and compare it. But the tire and wheel are new. I suspect it's a spare tire."
He Chunyang came over, rubbing his hands and said:
"Two footprints deep in the mud were found in the shallow water area, but they were about the size of a child. It is impossible to tell whether they are related to the case. There are traces of mud wiping on the stones on the slope of the embankment, but there are no other tire marks. It is estimated that the melting snow has washed them away."
Zhao Xinli went to take pictures. Zhou Ning handed him an evidence bag and a bottle. Zhao Xinli took samples of the soil from the dam and under the ice respectively, and then filled a bottle with water. Xu Dayuan waved his hand.
"Alright, hurry up and transport the body back. Finish the case as soon as possible. Today is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. Little New Year's Eve is a waste. You don't want to spend New Year's Eve in the team, right? Hurry up!"
Zhao Xinli, still holding his cotton coat, shouted in annoyance.
"The cotton coat was taken for nothing!"
…
Three hours later, in the autopsy room of the Eighth Hospital.
The ice on the deceased's body had gradually melted. Zhao Xinli fanned himself with a splint with one hand, wiped the sweat off his face with the other, and poked Zhou Ning with his elbow.
"Mr. Zhou, can you lower the temperature of the air conditioner? The ice has melted."
Zhou Ning, who was neatly dressed, nodded. There were many people in the autopsy room at this time. There was a pair of women's cotton slippers on the cart next to the autopsy table. They were wet and without ice. Zhou Ning walked over to look them up and down.
The bottom of the slippers is worn and there are traces of being stepped on in the middle of the inside. When I opened the inside, there was a 36-38 mark, which should be the shoe size.
Zhou Ning returned to the dissection table and everyone gathered around him. He was a little nervous with so many people watching the autopsy. He raised his hand to break off the remaining ice around the tire, avoiding the knotted parts, cut the ropes on the tire, and waved to Zhao Xinli.
"Help me lift the tire onto this flatbed, and you can take pictures of the tire and measure its size."
With the leader present, Zhao Xinli didn't dare to say anything else. He went over and helped Xiao Liu lift the tire. As the tire was lifted up, Zhou Ning held down the body underneath. The dead man's clothes were torn with a crackling sound, and then the tire was moved away.
Zhou Ning ignored the tire and looked at the deceased. The woman looked to be in her twenties, with long curly flaxen hair that fell over her shoulders. She looked like she was asleep, and there was no expression of pain on her face. She was very beautiful.
There was no jewelry on her ears, neck or fingers. Her nails were trimmed very neatly , the kind that were bald without any long nails. The tight yoga clothes outlined her beautiful figure.
Zhou Ning grabbed the woman's hand. At the same time, a line of words appeared on the transparent large screen. A beeping sound came from his ears. Zhou Ning almost hummed with comfort. The system finally came alive again.
Ding, the system has released a task. Please bind the person to choose the difficulty of the task.
A. Primary tasks; B. Intermediate tasks; C. Advanced tasks.
Zhou Ning didn't even think about it and directly clicked on the intermediate task. He was not greedy. The rewards for the primary tasks were very low and he didn't want to waste time. There were many items that needed to be proved in the advanced tasks, and he needed strong criminal investigation skills. Only the intermediate tasks were neither too high nor too low and were most suitable for the current situation.
The bound person has selected the intermediate task and is now releasing the task.
Intermediate task content:
1. Determine the identity of the deceased based on the body surface information, within 60 minutes.
2. Find out the cause of death, the murderer, and all the evidence within 96 hours.
mission rewards:
After completing the task, you can select the reward required by the bound person in the system list, or upgrade the existing task. Please note that the countdown has started.
With another beep, two countdowns began to tick.
Zhou Ning pushed his glasses with his shoulder, and the transparent large screen moved directly to the upper right corner of the glasses. This thoughtful service made Zhou Ning a little flattered.
But I don't have time to sigh now. I have to carefully observe the corpse, from the cornea, mouth, skull, back to the toes, leaving no corner untouched, measuring the height and estimating the weight.
Of course, I turned the yoga suit upside down carefully. It only had a slanted pocket at the waist, with a piece of plastic film-like thing in it. After opening the two folds, I found that it was a curved piece of tape with a white background.
Zhou Ning held the tape piece and raised the magnifying glass to observe it carefully. It looked familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was for a moment. He tore off the white piece in the middle, and a rectangular transparent part appeared in the middle. It was slightly elastic when stretched, and it was also very sticky.
Zhou Ning looked up with sudden realization and looked at Xu Dayuan beside him. At this time, Xu Dayuan hurried over. He knew that Zhou Ning must have discovered something.
"What did you find, Xiao Zhou, the forensic doctor?"
Zhou Ning held up the piece of tape and showed it to Xu Dayuan.
"This is the tape for the indwelling needle. It is folded like this and placed in the pocket. It looks like it has been there for some time. I suspect the deceased worked in a hospital, and was more likely a nurse. The most common places to use indwelling needles are pediatrics, operating rooms, and internal medicine. These people need to hang water for a long time, give large doses of fluids, or are not convenient for daily injections."
"You mean, the deceased could be a nurse, and a nurse in the pediatrics, operating room, or internal medicine department?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Well, the possibility is very high. In addition, the deceased had a blunt force injury on his head, with a bone friction sound [1] and local swelling, which means that the deceased was hit on the head by a blunt force injury, causing coma, and then was tied with a tire and sunk into the water. As to whether he drowned, further autopsy is needed.
The pupils of the deceased were opaque, and the corpse spots were all on the back. The body was thrown into the water after death and had been lying on its back without being moved. Moreover, after falling into the water, the temperature suddenly dropped and it froze, which stopped the body from decaying and also preserved the state of the deceased at the time of death to the greatest extent possible.
Xu Da could have asked someone to check the weather and throw the body into the water, so at least it was not frozen. The reason why the body remained so fresh was that it was frozen after a rapid drop in temperature, and even snowed, covering the ice surface. It was not discovered until the snow melted yesterday.
In addition, the deceased was wearing yoga clothes, so it was not early in the morning but evening. She couldn't have worn such a thin outfit to exercise in the daytime, unless she didn't have to go to work. But this doesn't match the tape found on her body."
Zhou Ning frowned slightly, just focusing on describing what he was thinking. His tone was not very good when he spoke this. However, he glanced at Xu Dayuan and saw that he directly dialed a number and started asking questions.
"I'm Xu Dayuan. Can you help me check which day the temperature was very high in the morning or evening, when the river was thawing, and then suddenly dropped in temperature?"
…
[1] Bone friction sound: The friction feeling when touching the broken bone ends caused by external force, muscle tension or bone disease.
