Chapter 83 Keep a Low Profile
Liu Yongxin waved his hands, as if he was not surprised at all by this result.
"What are you doing? Do what you need to do. Since this is not the twelfth Red Dress Serial Murder Case, then we should follow our pace and do an autopsy. Zhou Xiaozhou, contact Dr. Lu to see if they need to go to the scene as well. We can try your software now!"
Hearing this, Zhou Ning paused for a moment, but quickly took out his cell phone and called Dr. Lu.
The phone was connected as soon as it rang. Zhou Ning was overwhelmed by the speed of the call. Was this old man doing nothing but waiting for his call?
"Hello, Zhou Ning, what's up?"
"Dr. Lu, we have a case here. The face of the deceased was severely damaged. I think now is a good time. How about using the deceased as a test subject for scanning and analysis?"
The other party agreed without even thinking about it.
"No problem. Is there an X-ray device over there? If so, I'll have our technician Xiao Qu go over there. We need twelve sets of X-ray images. These X-ray images at specific angles will be analyzed after being entered into the software system. However, manual debugging is required now. Don't wait for us. We'll have both the people and the equipment in place within half an hour!"
Zhou Ning hung up the phone. Dr. Lu's voice was loud, and Liu Yongxin could hear it clearly even without using the speakerphone. He smiled and patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder from behind.
"Alright, half an hour is enough for us to do the autopsy. Da Zhao, come in and take pictures. Disciple, let's go."
Several people hurried back to the autopsy room and saw the condition of the corpse on the autopsy bed. Da Zhao was the first to explode.
"Fuck, bandits? Were they just trying to determine if this was a Red Dress Serial Murder Case? Why did they change the posture of the corpse?"
Liu Yongxin waved his hand.
"Don't talk nonsense. You guys took pictures before. This is nothing. Check to see if the knife is still there."
Zhou Ning ran to the bottom of the dissecting table holding a disposable blue surgical gown without even putting it on. He glanced at the knife between the legs of the corpse and frowned slightly.
"The knife was still there, but it had been tampered with. We took photos at the scene and only the handle of the knife was exposed. The rest of the blade was inserted into the body of the deceased."
Liu Yongxin had already put it on, took a glance and nodded slightly.
"Okay, stop complaining. Let's try to understand. They were exhausted by the Red Dress Serial Murder Case. Whenever they heard about the Red Dress or the dead women, their adrenaline surged. They were tortured for several years. Do you think you can praise them for the past of the Provincial Department and the Ministry of Public Security?"
Zhou Ning nodded. According to what Liu Yongxin said, the deceased were all dumped in the urban-rural fringe areas. The bodies were severely decomposed and there was no evidence left. This was indeed a difficult problem. If it happened to him, it would definitely be uncomfortable.
As he touched the corpse, a task release prompt appeared on the transparent large screen in front of Zhou Ning.
Ding, the system has issued a task. Since the bound person's level is too low, the task has been downgraded and no difficulty selection is performed. The task content is:
1. Find out the cause of death of the deceased within 60 minutes;
2. Identify the deceased within 12 hours;
3. Optional task: Find the murderer and related evidence (not a must-complete item for this task, but you will receive additional skills if you complete it).
Ding, the task is completed once the person bound to the cause of death of the deceased is discovered, with extra rewards and an upgraded cumulative value of 5 points.
The content of this task made Zhou Ning's mind move. The system downgraded the case in this way, which meant that this case was not an isolated case. Perhaps it was really related to the Red Dress Serial Murder Case. Further speculation was that this might be the twelfth case.
Putting away his shock, Zhou Ning dressed neatly and stood to the left side of the corpse. He performed a thorough autopsy from the head and eyes to the toenails, and even palpated the back twice.
"What's the rectal temperature?"
Da Zhao was well prepared. He held up a rectal thermometer and a piece of paper and said quickly:
"The rectal temperature is 28 degrees Celsius. According to 37 degrees - the body's rectal temperature / 0.83 * winter factor 0.7, the number we get is 7.59 hours. The current time is 9:50, so the time of death is 2:15."
Da Zhao raised his eyebrows, obviously waiting for praise, but Zhou Ning stared at the deceased and shook his head slightly.
"This formula can only be used as a reference. The deceased was abused for a long time before his death. According to the order of skin damage , the abuse process lasted more than two hours. In addition, the deceased suffered from severe hypothermia during the abuse, so the time of death should be earlier."
Liu Yongxin nodded continuously, pinching the edge of the dead man's nails and watching them change color slightly.
"I agree with Zhou Xiaozhou's judgment. The deceased died earlier. Libido is obvious on the buttocks and heels, but not on the face. This is different from the state you found the deceased in. One reason is blood loss, and another reason is that the process of death was slow."
"Da Zhao helped me record that the deceased was 162 cm tall and weighed between 85 and 90 catties. Judging from the degree of wear on the teeth, he was between 18 and 25 years old. The left 3-6 ribs were fractured, with obvious bone friction sounds, and the right clavicle was fractured. The bruises on the body surface looked like shoe prints.
The fingerprints of the deceased's ten fingers were cut off, there was scalp avulsion on the head, and the hair was missing and there was a subgaleal hematoma. This was caused by lifting the deceased by the hair, or by a strong impact, but no fracture signs were found in the corresponding part of the skull.
The deceased had 78 injuries on his back and limbs caused by belts and metal objects, his face was repeatedly cut by sharp objects, and there were scars caused by being smoked by a lighter. His cheekbones, brow arches, and mandibles all had fractures of varying degrees.
The fatal wound was in the perineum. The murder weapon was a Western-style kitchen knife with a blade length of 205mm, a handle length of 148mm, and a width of 28mm. The depth and direction of penetration were enough to sever the internal iliac artery or the common iliac artery. Of course, this conclusion needs to be confirmed by autopsy.”
Da Zhao finished writing in a hurry and Liu Yongxin took a look at it.
"You are great, young man. There are no typos."
Da Zhao's face twitched, as if he wanted to smile, but the flesh on his cheekbones moved and then stopped. He looked at the dead man and sighed.
"This girl died tragically. What kind of hatred or grudge did she have to kill her like this? She must have been tortured for hours, right?"
Zhou Ning didn't say anything. He put the murder weapon into the evidence bag and then began to collect blood from the deceased's private parts. After all, this action was an insult to the deceased and also used blood to wash away the traces he left behind. Most of the dried blood at the scene was torn off by Zhou Ning, so he naturally couldn't let it go.
"The beach is much colder than the outdoors. Without clothes on and being beaten, how many hours do you think you'll still be conscious?"
Liu Yongxin's counter-question made Da Zhao shudder.
"I'd probably freeze to death in an hour."
Liu Yongxin smiled.
"Do you think fat people are resistant to cold because they have thick flesh?"
As he was talking, the door of the autopsy room was pushed open from the outside, and Xu Dayuan walked in directly, followed by Dr. Lu and a group of staff, all of whom were dressed neatly. Zhou Ning covered the body of the deceased with a white cloth. Even the dead should have dignity, and Zhou Ning had his own persistence.
"Are we going at that speed?"
Liu Yongxin went over first, and Dr. Lu enthusiastically shook hands with Liu Yongxin. It seemed that because Zhou Ning had told Dr. Lu that Liu Yongxin was going to participate in the development of the software, he valued Liu Yongxin even more. After all, he was Zhou Ning's master, and he was like a spokesperson. He also had many years of forensic experience, which was exactly what they lacked the most.
"It's pretty fast. We just finished the surface autopsy. Do I need someone to take X-rays?"
Dr. Lu waved his hand and said to the back:
"Xiao Qu, hurry up and take the X-rays. Don't affect the autopsy by Forensic Doctor Zhou. Although we are conducting a practical experiment, nothing is more important than the case."
This sentence was said in such a bright and open way that not only Zhou Ning but even Xu Dayuan couldn't help laughing.
"Dr. Lu is very conscious!"
Dr. Lu raised his head, moved closer to Xu Dayuan, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"Please keep it confidential. Because of the development of this software and the establishment of a new major, I have been promoted to vice president, but the official document has not been issued yet."
"Oh, congratulations!"
Xu Dayuan was a little surprised and glanced at Zhou Ning. He didn't expect that this kid's idea could push Dr. Lu to the top.
Dr. Lu blinked and pressed down hard with both hands.
"Keep a low profile. I've finally figured it out. I won't be going back to Qindao in the short term. I'll just follow Zhou Xiaozhou. I'll help record whatever ideas he has. If I just follow him and pick up the pieces, I'll be able to reap a lot this year."
The two of them laughed out loud. Even though it was just a joke, Dr. Lu really benefited from Zhou Ning. He looked up and down the dissection room and kept shaking his head.
"This dissection room is too shabby. How about I ask the hospital to help you renovate it and invest in some advanced equipment?"
Xu Dayuan quickly pressed down, he understood Dr. Lu's good intentions.
"I appreciate your kindness. We will move into the new branch building in May. It will have a dedicated forensic autopsy room. We will also need to add a lot of people, such as examiners. The district and the branch will allocate funds and purchase them together."
Just then, a voice interrupted Dr. Lu's enthusiasm.
"Dr. Lu, the twelve light sheets have been collected. Shall we synthesize them here?"
