Chapter 112: Chapter 111 Bird VS Monkey [Third Update]_1
Staring at the enlarged X-ray, under the guidance of Zhou Ning’s laser pointer, Xu Dayuan saw the bright circles in the middle of the bone and the slightly damaged areas around them. He didn’t know what this meant and pushed away Mr. Zhao, who was asking questions by his side.
"Comrade Zhou Xiaozhou, I’m just a layman. Don’t bother with the technical terms, just tell me straight, what does this actually mean?"
Zhou Ning didn’t keep them guessing any longer. The radiograph was very clear and corroborated the judgment he had just made.
"These ’soap bubble’ like changes, along with the surrounding infiltration, indicate that the deceased had bone cancer," he was gravely ill, and it might even be a case of bone metastasis from another cancer. After all, we’ve only found the skeleton without any soft tissue. I just mentioned that the deceased had difficulties moving his lower limbs, this could serve as a direction for the investigation.
However, we now have a test to perform. I need to select a piece of bone to make a bone smear. By observing the bone smear, we can verify the count of blood cells inside the bone channels, which can determine whether the dismemberment occurred postmortem or if the victim was alive when dismembered."
Mr. Zhao looked directly at Mr. Sun—after all, he was the most familiar with the various departments here, even if he was just an intern and running errands was no problem.
"Mr. Sun, you go and submit it for inspection. Remember what Zhou Xiaozhou just said, right?"
Mr. Sun took over the bag, which contained the distal femur that Zhou Ning had found. Seeing him hesitate for a moment, Xu Dayuan said directly,
"You take it to the Inspection Department. I’m contacting Mr. Pang right now, and they’ll take over directly there."
Mr. Sun nodded and quickly ran off; he still knew his way around the building.
Xu Dayuan dialed the phone and made arrangements. Mr. Pang was rather straightforward, full-mouthed promises that all inspections related to case 2.21 would be given priority.
Mr. Zhao came over, rubbing his chin.
"Based on your analysis, the deceased was a patient, and one in dire condition. After being killed, the body was dismembered. The perpetrator dumped the body pieces on this mountainside, without burying or disposing of them elsewhere. Do you think that the deceased’s skull is still at the scene?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I reviewed the crime scene investigation report and also tried to piece together the skeleton earlier. Except for some of the smallest finger bones and the skull, the other bones are mostly intact, so I believe the skull is still at the scene.
Xu Da mentioned earlier that the archaeological team withdrew at the end of last May, and since then, only the perimeter has been guarded. From February 21st to now, the crime scene has been searched many times, carpet-style, but no skull has been found.
I think the previous investigations overlooked a factor. In such dismemberment cases, in addition to human and natural factors, some small animals could be involved. Especially the skull, many animals like to hide it in trees as a food reserve. We just don’t know if there are trees at the scene?"
Mr. Zhao’s fleshy face shuddered, and he put his hands together, shaking them towards Zhou Ning.
"Let’s not talk about this so soon after eating, shall we? If you want to go back to the scene for a second inspection, let’s go. It’s Xu Da’s first day here too. I reckon there aren’t many people we can use."
Zhou Ning naturally had no objections. After all, the countdown was ticking, and he would be most reassured to check it out himself. Xu Dayuan, having heard these analyses, was already eager to try.
He took out his phone and started dialing, seemingly mobilizing personnel.
Although they had taken over this case, none of the few people at the body-dumping scene had been there before. They still needed to find someone who had.
Mr. Zhao, feigning courage, looked at the X-ray on the enlarged screen. The cuts on this distal femur were quite obvious.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, these cuts on the bone, varying in depth— are you sure they were caused by a saw?"
Zhou Ning nodded. Mr. Zhao asking such a question meant that he had observed carefully, so Zhou Ning was naturally willing to answer.
"Yes, it looks more like a tentative injury, indicative of unskilled handling, so the saw juddered back and forth. Moreover, it also suggests that the killer lacked strength and was not familiar with using a saw."
Mr. Sun burst in through the door, somewhat out of breath.
"Doctor Zhou, Mrs. Cui from the Inspection Department says that the bone smear will take time, at least three hours to get the results."
Zhou Ning nodded, and Mr. Zhao patted Mr. Sun on the shoulder.
"Is Mrs. Cui the head of the Inspection Department?"
Mr. Sun looked a bit puzzled but nodded nonetheless.
"Yeah, Mrs. Cui has quite a temper, but she’s very efficient. After all, there aren’t many people in the lab, and they’re swamped with work. They even handle inspections for other districts and cities below us, so it’s understandable."
Mr. Zhao bumped Mr. Sun’s shoulder and said with a smile,
"Of course, it’s understandable. We’re all hard workers. With a heavy workload, it’s natural not to have a good temper."
Xu Dayuan had already finished his phone call and approached Zhou Ning.
"Let’s go, I’ve called for people, and we’ll head to the body-dumping scene together."
Mr. Zhao ran to get the investigation box. Of course, he had checked these items carefully in the morning.
After all, it was a working tool; Zhou Ning had prepared his commonly used items thoroughly, and as for his camera, the second team had two, each carried by him and Mr. Sun.
An hour and a half later, the car arrived at Xiaolong Mountain in Xinghua City. Only upon arriving at the scene did they realize that this was a hill, not very tall, but the roads were extremely difficult to navigate. On the way in, they saw surveillance cameras set up at the entrance.
It seemed that the so-called perimeter management was just monitoring control of the roads leading into the mountain; not far from where they stood, there were paths about two meters wide.
The accompanying personnel, seeing Zhou Ning looking over, hurriedly explained:
"There is a village on Xiaolong Mountain. Although there are not many households left in the village now, they still use these paths. The archaeological team visited too, saying that this village might be related to tomb guarding."
Xu Dayuan exchanged a knowing glance with Zhou Ning; everyone was aware that anyone who wanted to enter the mountain, just by knowing these paths, could do so without being detected by the surveillance, with no obstacles at all—the perimeter control was merely for show.
Following the winding mountain road to the top of the fan-shaped area on the aerial photo where the body was dumped, Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao held up the photo for comparison and nodded to each other.
Although they were halfway up the mountain, the view here was open, and from this position, they could go in three different directions.
Zhou Ning looked up slightly; large swaths of Kongtong flowers occupied his view, the light and dark pink hues nestled among the greenery, looking quite beautiful. However, although the trees were green, the canopy was not dense.
From this position at their feet, near the gully in the valley, there were many tall trees. Although the land was lower here, there was ample sunlight, and the ridges blocked the wind, making the leaves of these trees seem a bit thicker.
Zhou Ning raised his hand to block the sunlight and looked sideways. In his line of sight, he saw nothing unusual.
Xu Dayuan had already begun directing the people he brought with him to spread out towards the mountaintop and the valley, searching in the bushes and treetops. With more than twenty people dispersing instantly, they disappeared from view.
Zhou Ning looked up, seeing few bird nests in the treetops and tree crowns. Could his judgment have been wrong?
Thinking this, he shook his head. They had just begun searching; he couldn’t be discouraged.
Moreover, there shouldn’t be any mistake in this analysis direction. In such a place, especially if there was a lot of rain and the forest was dense with grass, throwing body parts into this area would make them very difficult to find. It was only because there were no leaves in February, that the archaeological team discovered them.
After an unknown amount of time, as Zhou Ning was catching his breath with his hands on his hips, he suddenly heard a commotion from above. Looking up, he only saw the leaves shaking.
However, there were no other criminal policemen around him. Just as he was about to call for Mr. Zhao, a skull appeared through the gaps in the leaves above him. Zhou Ning was so excited he almost shouted out loud, but seeing the monkey standing next to the skull, he quickly jumped up and down, making shooing noises.
"Get away! Shoo!"
The two monkeys immediately scurried off, and Zhou Ning hurriedly called out towards the area at his feet:
"Get a ladder, I’ve found a skull!"
As if to cooperate with Zhou Ning, the two macaques also cried out twice, their calls echoing through the entire valley. Zhou Ning picked up a stone, knowing that it was best to be cautious at this time.
After a short wait, the sound of running and panting grew closer.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, where are you?"
Zhou Ning climbed onto a rock and that’s when he saw Mr. Zhao and the others below the steep slope.
"I’m here, come around from the side."
Under Zhou Ning’s direction, three people climbed up to where he was.
"Where is it?"
Zhou Ning pointed to the skull in the tree branch, and then sat down on the ground with a thump; he truly had no strength left.
"Mr. Zhao, go up, and be careful to take the skull along with the bird’s nest below it and put them in the evidence bag," he instructed.
Mr. Zhao’s voice trembled with surprise as he asked:
"Did the bird do it?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"The human head weighs between 4.5 and 5.5 kilograms. There are no birds in the Qindao Area capable of moving this weight. I guess it was monkeys that moved the skull to the tree. Although monkeys are mostly vegetarian, they do eat meat when they encounter it."
Mr. Zhao looked at Zhou Ning with a beleaguered expression, complaining:
"You said we should not talk about this, but you keep going on and on. How am I going to face monkeys in the future?"
Zhou Ning laughed. Finding the skull was a step closer to uncovering the identity of the deceased, and he too breathed a sigh of relief.
"You’re the one who asked. Why are you blaming me?"
