Chapter 132: Chapter 131 So Miserable_1
Upon hearing this shout, Zhao Xinli hurried over. After all, Zhou Ning was an exceedingly stable person, and when he issued an order, it naturally meant he had discovered something.
"Do you smell a whiff of gasoline?"
Mr. Zhao nodded.
"With such a severe car accident, there’s a smell of gasoline everywhere!"
Zhou Ning shook his head and raised his hand to point at the deceased’s car seat.
"There’s a smell of gasoline on both the driver’s and passenger’s seats."
Mr. Zhao was taken aback, and just as he was about to say something, the firefighters kept waving their hands, shouting towards Zhou Ning and his team.
"Hey, unrelated personnel, step back, I’m talking to you guys!"
Zhou Ning raised his hand and waved to the person.
The firefighter ran over quickly, lifting his hat; the sweat on his head had already mixed with the black dust, leaving several streaks on his face. In such hot weather, firefighting work was indeed tough.
Mr. Pang also came over, looking at Zhou Ning with bewilderment.
"What’s up with Doctor Zhou?"
"Please wait a moment. I’m having someone take a photo. I found a laceration behind the deceased’s ear. I need to take a look at this spot before we move him, after all, this injury could only have been caused by glass, not by the impact."
Mr. Pang was also startled but then quickly coordinated with the firefighters. They all halted their work, and the scene became very quiet. Mr. Zhao quickly stepped forward to the location Zhou Ning had indicated, placed a scale next to it, and took a photo.
Zhou Ning had already put on his gloves, pushed aside the deceased’s hair, and searched gently with tweezers. He found pieces of glass on the shoulder but none around the wound.
The location of this injury was behind the mastoid process of the temporal bone, in an inverted C-shape, with the edges of the wound flaring out, deep enough to expose the bone, and approximately 30mm in diameter.
Mr. Pang naturally had no objections. Although he held the position of acting director, he was very clear about where his own expertise lay and was self-aware.
After dropping the tweezers, Zhou Ning’s fingers touched the area gently. He could feel a distinct grating of the bone. With such a sizeable wound directly causing a fracture and in such a unique shape, Zhou Ning’s mind was racing through possible objects that could have caused this injury.
After observing the surroundings, including the crevices inside the car that were visible, he found no scattered rod-shaped metal objects or stones. He frowned slightly, and Mr. Pang leaned in, pushing up his glasses.
"It doesn’t look like it was caused by a car accident. Doctor Zhou, do you suspect it’s a criminal case?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Yes, it’s difficult for such an injury to be caused by a car accident, and I haven’t found any scattered objects around that could inflict this wound. It seems we must be even more careful in transporting the body and conduct a thorough examination back at the lab."
He quickly jogged to find the firefighters and establish coordination. The firefighters directly cut off the bumper section of the white car that was hitched to the car behind, separating the two vehicles from the others.
Mr. Pang instructed Mr. Liu to accompany the tow truck escorting the body and then ran back, wiping his sweat and quickly said:
"Let’s go straight back to the city bureau. The autopsy room in Jingkou may have decent hardware but it’s not equipped to segment a vehicle. I’ve arranged with the firefighters to go together. We can’t just cut here, it would make the traffic even worse."
Zhou Ning understood that this move was to involve the lab personnel. If it was a criminal case disguised as a traffic accident, then meticulous investigation and careful analysis were essential.
"Alright, let’s go separately. I’ll contact the lab personnel right now to get the equipment ready. I remember Doctor Lu told Mr. Qu and his team to clear out a large garage, which has scanning equipment."
Mr. Pang nodded and let out a sigh of relief.
"Let’s hurry, on the way I’ll give Mr. Hu a heads-up. After all, the traffic police need to be informed, especially if it’s not a traffic accident, as we’ll need to check the vehicle information along the way, which requires coordination from multiple parties."
Zhou Ning had no objections. Everyone got into their cars. Sun Gaotie was already pale, apparently having vomited more than once by the side of the car.
Mr. Zhao wrapped an arm around his neck and whispered in a low voice:
"Buddy, I wouldn’t mind if you threw up in the car, but now, keep a straight back for me. There are so many people watching. Step into the car gracefully, don’t let your legs shake."
Mr. Zhao, with some pushing and pulling, managed to get Sun Gaotie into the passenger seat. Zhou Ning was already packing the investigation kit. As the car door closed, Mr. Zhao revved up the engine and sped off, thoughtfully adjusting the air conditioning to a comfortable temperature and handing a bottle of water to Sun Gaotie.
"Here, drink some water to settle your stomach. Traffic accidents are like this; they’re actually easier to handle in autopsies. Imagine if you came across a highly decomposed body, wouldn’t you be vomiting up your gallbladder?"
"Mr. Li, stop it, I’m starting to feel queasy again."
Zhou Ning remained silent, flipping through the photos on the camera. Seeing Mr. Zhao making a gesture, Sun Gaotie turned to Zhou Ning with an apologetic face.
"Doctor Zhou, I’ve embarrassed you today."
Zhou Ning waved his hand dismissively. He wasn’t concerned about this. The boy had been tossed around in the second team for so long, clearly being the type to whom nobody paid much attention. It wasn’t just autopsies; he hadn’t even been on a real crime scene before. The last case at Xiaolong Mountain was just skeletons and did not provide such a visceral experience. This time, it surely was a direct introduction.
"Just take a look a couple more times; it’ll be fine. Then, you can buy some of that ginger candy to carry with you, and when doing an autopsy or taking notes, just suck on a few pieces, and you won’t have such a strong reaction."
Mr. Zhao looked dissatisfied, glancing at Zhou Ning through the rearview mirror, his mouth full of protest.
"Doctor Zhou, you’ve always favored others over me. How come you never told me about this trick?"
Zhou Ning rolled her eyes.
"You started work before me, how would I know? You’re not supposed to know these little tricks, besides, for a highly decomposed body, you can rub some mint oil under your nose. It can’t increase your tolerance to the smell, but it can distract you."
Mr. Zhao’s head shook like a bobblehead, but the speed of the car didn’t slow down.
"Forget it, that stuff’s too harsh. I think I’ll just endure the stench. But Doctor Zhou, do you suspect that the person was made to look like they were in a car accident?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Not certain, but it’s difficult for a car accident to cause a wound in that location. I’ll get in touch with Mr. Qu and the others to get ready."
As he spoke, Zhou Ning dialed Liu Yongxin’s number, briefly explained the situation, and seemed to feel a little more assured once he’d spoken to his mentor. Liu Yongxin told him not to worry, the garage below was already prepared, and they would wait there for him.
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning closed his eyes, feeling somewhat apprehensive.
Because when he touched the body, there was no system prompt, nor was there a task assigned. He remembered the last time this happened, it was because the system was upgrading, but according to his current accumulation of upgrade points, he was far from qualifying.
Could it be because this case belonged to Mr. Pang?
This thought was immediately dismissed by Zhou Ning; after all, the red-dressed serial killer case was a city bureau case. They were only involved with a part of it, but touching the body still resulted in a task being issued.
Could it be that he’d made a wrong judgment, and this wasn’t a criminal case?
Shaking his head, Zhou Ning decided not to think about it anymore. Whether or not the system issued a task, the case had to be handled. Soon after, Zhou Ning indeed fell asleep, and it was the kind of sleep without dreams, and without being dragged into a black room for torture.
"Doctor Zhou, wake up, we’ve arrived!"
Zhou Ning opened his eyes and, sure enough, the car had stopped in the technical department’s backyard. As he jumped out of the car, he saw Liu Yongxin standing on the roadside, shading his eyes, looking over. Liu Yongxin started jogging toward him when he saw Zhou Ning.
Seeing the old man’s swift actions, Zhou Ning almost laughed out loud because those few movements seemed somehow filled with excitement.
"Master, you don’t have to wait down there; isn’t it too hot?"
Liu Yongxin waved his hand.
"The old man doesn’t mind the heat. I told Mr. Xia and Mr. Qu to wait in the garage. We haven’t used this spiral X-ray machine yet; I’m not sure how good it is. You’re back now, where’s the car?"
"The tow truck won’t be fast. We came back first. The two vehicles collided very tightly. Forcing them apart would damage the existing state of the body. I’m not sure what to do yet."
"Stop chatting, show me the photos."
Mr. Zhao hurried over, and Sun Gaotie also ran over. Knowing that he was Zhou Ning’s mentor, his warm and friendly manner was very endearing. He used a fan to cool Liu Yongxin as he looked at the scene photos.
"You didn’t find any sort of heavy, solid object like an iron rod on the scene, right?"
Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao both shook their heads.
"There are a lot of scattered fragments on the ground, but no iron rod. The vehicles have been so compacted into a mass that we need to cut open the cars to check them."
Liu Yongxin nodded.
"If there’s no heavy iron rod, it looks to me like one of those hammers mentioned in old sayings, a round-headed hammer on one end and a flat, pry bar-like head on the other, also called a goat horn hammer. This would be the round head that caused the wound.
The fire department came along, right? We’ll need their professional equipment. Once we’ve finished scanning, they can cut it open, and as long as we protect the body properly, there shouldn’t be any major damage."
While they were discussing, Mr. Pang and his team drove in, followed by the tow truck, crane, and fire engine. Everyone got out, and Liu Yongxin went over to take a look. Mr. Pang was courteous, constantly introducing him to others. Right now, Liu Yongxin represented the lab, a completely different identity than before.
The crane lifted the wreckage off, and then the conveyor belt moved the pile of scrap metal to the garage, with everyone following behind.
Xia Momo and Mr. Qu, both wearing goggles, adjusted the position and began to scan the pile.
Soon, 3D X-ray images appeared on the computer. Zhou Ning leaned in closer, zoomed in on the image, and saw that the Wrangler’s occupant had fractures in the chest vertebrae, ribs, and leg bones, making the cause of death easy to ascertain.
But when he enlarged the X-ray images of the Sonata’s skeletal remains, Zhou Ning’s movements froze for a moment, and Mr. Pang couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.
"Is it that bad?"
