Chapter 274: Chapter 271 Request for Help_1
Zhou Ning shook his head; he couldn’t make sense of it either.
According to the information provided by Zhang Sannian, regarding the two children of the Xu Family, taking into account the time of the incident seven years ago, that would be the year 2005.
The eldest son, Xu Qing, was 25 at the time and was working at Rudong No.1 Middle School. Although he didn’t own a house, he lived in the dormitory and was seldom at home.
The younger daughter, Xu Dan, was 21 and studying at Shandong Province Finance and Economics University. She was a junior in college, and the school was in the provincial capital, so she only returned home once every half semester.
As for Mr. Xu, Xu Xiangnian, he was a doctor in the village clinic, diligently serving for over thirty years, and Mrs. Xu, Zhang Shan, had a good reputation as a high school teacher. Could such a family harbor grudges against others or even dismember and hide a corpse in the attic of their house?
Zhou Ning couldn’t figure it out and couldn’t provide Zhu Xingxing with an answer.
"Speculation at this point is pointless, let’s proceed with the autopsy of the skeleton."
Zhu Xingxing closed his mouth, while Sun Gaotie took the initiative to register all the skeletal remains. Zhao Xinli and Yang Xuetong continuously took photographs, and Zhou Ning, using a magnifying glass with an LED light, observed meticulously from all angles.
After examining the skeleton, he went over to the adjacent table to inspect the pieces of rotten fabric.
The garment appeared to be a suit. Zhou Ning immediately searched for the label inside the collar, fumbling for a long time before finding that the label on the interior of the collar had fallen off. Xu Guanhai approached and used tweezers to find the label inside a pocket.
"Director Zhou, are you looking for this? I found it inside the pocket; it was stuffed in there."
Zhou Ning examined it and saw that the label originally had a silver backing with a black logo embroidered on top that looked like a horse with a flowing mane, accompanied by a row of letters YOUNGOR, with no Chinese identification.
"Youngor?"
"Yes, it seems like Youngor. However, this brand doesn’t seem as famous these past two years."
Xu Guanhai nodded continuously.
Zhou Ning pinched the fabric, rubbing it slightly. The material was very dense, seemingly dark grey, with a grainy texture inside.
"When sending it for analysis, did you check the fabric material of the clothing?"
"Yes, they said it’s 90% wool. The material is quite good quality woolen fabric. However, nowadays suits are rarely made with such material; I feel this fabric is not cheap."
Zhou Ning hummed in acknowledgment, then stepped back a bit. The clothing, despite being severely tattered and missing pieces, was indeed expensive as Xu Guanhai mentioned.
"Mr. Yang, measure the waist of the trousers, as well as the lengths of the legs, shoulders, sleeves, the size of the shirt collar, and the size of the shoes. We need to compare these with the estimated weight of the deceased to see if there are any discrepancies. Be careful not to tear it; the fabric, already weakened by age and stained with blood, is damaged."
Yang Xuetong hurried to take the measurements, and Xu Guanhai stepped in to help. The two of them finished measuring after a short time.
Meanwhile, Zhou Ning also examined the torn areas of the clothing. These matched precisely with the chop wounds on the skeleton, indicating that the victim was attacked while fully clothed.
The victim, based on previous analyses, was aged between 18 and 20, between 176 and 178 centimeters tall, with a slightly lower weight, a slim build. At that age, one’s explosive power and reflex speeds are at their peak, yet none of the victim’s phalangeal, ulnar, radial, or humeral bones showed defensive wounds.
This shouldn’t be the case!
Zhou Ning closed his eyes slightly, visualizing the black figures of the murderer and the victim. Based on the chop wounds on the victim’s body, an animated sequence played out in his mind.
The victim was chopped three times in the neck, with two of the blows being non-fatal. He could have dodged, defended, or reacted, but he did not. It was as if he was lying there calmly, waiting for the attacker’s blows.
Moreover, the critical point was that the murderer wasn’t very strong. The tibia and fibula showed signs of being hit multiple times, as did the bones of the ankle and face. The arms were severed only at the shoulder joints.
Zhou Ning opened his eyes and turned suddenly toward Xu Guanhai beside him, startling him and causing the older man’s glasses to drop.
"What’s the matter, Director Zhou?"
"Doctor Xu, when you sent the clothing pieces for analysis, you were looking for DNA, right? Since DNA was extractable, were any toxicological tests conducted?"
Xu Guanhai shook his head.
"The DNA was indeed troublesome. It took the police department’s forensic science team three or four attempts to extract it."
Zhou Ning nodded slightly. At this moment, Yang Xuetong approached, handing Zhou Ning the results of the measurements. After a glance at the data, Zhou Ning squinted his eyes.
"It seems the deceased’s weight was a little higher than my calculations; he was of the very lean type, weighing between 130 and 140 pounds."
Zhou Ning paused, then took out his phone to call Cui Lili.
"Director Zhou, do you have another task for me?"
Zhou Ning felt somewhat embarrassed since it was already 5:10 p.m., which was technically after working hours.
"Mrs. Cui, I have a question for you. On February 29, a bloodstained piece of cloth was sent from Rudong City for DNA extraction. Doctor Xu mentioned that it took you three or four attempts to extract DNA. I’m wondering, is it possible to test these old bloodstains for toxic substances?"
From the other end, the sound of a computer keyboard tapping could be heard as Cui Lili searched for the record. It wasn’t long before she replied:
"Found it. The sample sent was a single piece of cloth measuring 5 by 5 centimeters. There was too little blood collected to perform an analysis. If there were a larger quantity, we might attempt a toxicological analysis, but do you have any leads? If you have a specific direction, the process might be quicker!"
"I’m looking for a poison or drug that can cause rapid loss of consciousness in a short time, something easy to purchase and obtain in society."
"Your range is too broad!"
Zhou Ning smiled. In fact, he could think of several leads, but that could easily influence the direction of the analysis.
"Mrs. Cui, I’ll have someone send over more bloodstained fabrics soon; please arrange for someone to work overtime and process them."
"Alright."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning looked at the pieces of clothing on the table.
"Mr. Zhao, pack up the two pant legs, and have Director Xu send people to hurry the items to the technical department’s examination lab; we need to be quick."
Mr. Zhao hurriedly packed the items, labeling the bag with the relevant contents while walking; Xu Guanhai seemed a bit excited.
"These clothes are already so tattered and seem quite old; can we still extract any poison from inside them?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"The examination lab has some new equipment, but this is based on having a sufficient sample volume. Trying multiple times might lead us to some trace residues; it’s a matter of luck now."
Everyone fell silent, indeed that was the case. The deceased had been reduced to bones, and the only things that might remain were these tiny bloodstains on the clothes. Moreover, none of the personal belongings contained any information about the deceased. With no identity to follow, any other discussions were fruitless.
Zhou Ning returned to the table holding the victim’s skeletal remains and bent down slightly in front of the damaged skull. The facial area of this skull had suffered severe damage.
The damage started from the left eye socket to the left lower jaw, with missing teeth as well. Zhou Ning rotated the skull to observe it carefully, then looked up to find Mr. Qu but didn’t see him after looking around.
"Where’s Mr. Qu?"
Sun Gaotie pointed outside.
"Mr. Qu has been on the phone outside; he hasn’t come in yet. Should I go call him?"
Zhou Ning didn’t respond but walked out himself, and Mr. Qu, seeing Zhou Ning, quickly ended the call and hurried over.
"Were you looking for me?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"The victim’s skull is incomplete; can the software analyze the remaining parts?"
Mr. Qu shook his head.
"I was just discussing this issue with Doctor Lu. Previously, the software’s analysis and scanning were based on the skull’s integrity being around 90%, which allowed it to carry out a fuzzy search. With insufficient data points, the restoration results wouldn’t be ideal, so we abandoned the fuzzy search feature.
I negotiated with Doctor Lu to adjust the software tomorrow to attempt partial restoration and enable the fuzzy search feature. However, this will take time; it’s not something that can be finished in a day or two."
Zhou Ning nodded his understanding. Mr. Qu and his team were researchers who liked to speak with data and experimental results. However, Zhou Ning’s work wasn’t experimental; he needed to extract useful information from the many clues left behind.
"I understand, I’ll call Mr. Xia."
Zhou Ning walked to a corner of the corridor and dialed Xia Momo’s cell phone. Just before the ring ended, Xia Momo answered, with faint panting sounds coming from the other end. Zhou Ning paused.
"Hello, Mr. Xia?"
"What is it, Director Zhou?"
"If it’s inconvenient for you... I can call you back a bit later."
"Go ahead, I was moving things, but I’ve put them down now."
Zhou Ning realized that Xia Momo had not been around during the Xia Family’s move to Huining Province and might have returned to tidy up their old home before moving to the new one.
With this in mind, Zhou Ning didn’t dwell on it and quickly said:
"Here’s the situation: the two students you’re supervising, can you have Doctor Lu or his team find someone else to take over for now? I have a severely damaged victim’s skull here, with the entire left side of the face missing. We can’t find the fragments, so I intend to manually reconstruct it using the previous method. If possible, I can have someone pick you up."
Xia Momo thought for a moment.
"Have someone come to get me from Qin University’s residential area in half an hour. I need to prepare some things and make a trip to the lab, as I don’t have materials at home. Is the skull you mentioned a replica or the actual bone?"
Zhou Ning slapped his forehead, just remembering this detail.
"Only the real skull. I haven’t found a place here that can do 3D printing. Can your lab at Qin University handle it? I’ll have Mr. Qu collect the data later and send it to you."
Xia Momo chuckled.
"It seems that Director Xu has influenced you, and you’re becoming just as impatient. Don’t send someone for me just yet; let Mr. Qu send over the data later. I’ll arrange for someone to prepare and then do the printing; it might take some time. Once it’s done, I’ll come over immediately."
After hanging up the phone, Mr. Qu had already dashed in to prepare the scanning of various data. After all, 3D printing technology was still experimental, and the data had to be extremely accurate; otherwise, errors were inevitable.
Previously, Zhou Ning had used cast replicas of skulls, but this method was unsuitable for the current victim whose skull was very fragile and could fall apart with any excessive handling.
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