Chapter 46: Chapter 46 Case Update_1
Zhao Xinli opened his eyes.
Looking in the direction of Zhou Ning’s finger, although it was bloody, it was still more bearable than the charcoal-like areas he had seen before. He let go and quickly reached for his camera.
Zhou Ning did not speak. That’s how people are, once they’ve seen the most unbearable scenes, they could accept what they previously thought was horrific. After seeing it, he still had to pull him to help.
With the click-click sound of the shutter, Zhao Xinli took many photos. Zhou Ning removed the stomach of the deceased and took samples of other tissues before simply stitching up.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sew carefully or because the deceased was a suspect that he ended things hastily; he simply couldn’t stitch properly. The epidermis was carbonized, and the skin would shatter at the touch of a needle, so he could only pick through the muscle layer to close up the chest and abdomen.
There were no fractures on the deceased’s head, and no other injuries were felt, so Zhou Ning gave up on performing a craniotomy.
Zhao Xinli retched for a while at the side, only returning to the autopsy table after he recovered.
"Is this also done? Did you find anything? Just now, Xu Da was texting me, asking if you’ve identified the suspect’s identity."
Zhou Ning shook his head; the body was so burned that there wasn’t much valuable information.
"Not much information. The first collision with the bus caused fractures to his ribs and sternum, with a rib piercing his heart, leading to cardiac tamponade. So when the EMS checked, he was in a state of apparent death; even if they had done anything, his awareness would still have been vague.
The deceased was male, between 170-175 cm tall, aged 40-50 years. The remaining fingers were carbonized, making it impossible to extract fingerprints. If you want to know his specific age, the pubic symphysis needs to be examined, but that takes more time; the results won’t be available until tomorrow.
However, I noticed that the deceased had very little fat. His limbs’ muscles were particularly well-developed, the abdominal wall was thin, and the joints and ligaments of the wrists and shoulders were developed. His teeth had tobacco and tea stains, indicative of someone who had performed heavy physical labor for a long time.
Also, the deceased lost half of his upper left incisor, and the roots of the teeth were somewhat loose. I believe the fracture happened not long ago, within the last month. This is a rather distinctive feature."
Zhao Xinli seemed to forget his previous discomfort at this, immediately dialing Xu Dayuan’s phone. Zhou Ning shook his head without joining the conversation, as consecutive autopsies had left him exhausted both physically and mentally.
After hanging up the phone, Zhao Xinli looked at Zhou Ning.
"The boss said that the bodies from the bus don’t need autopsies. The deceased’s colleagues, along with the family members, are coming over later to identify the bodies. As for the forklift driver, they have a lead now; with our description, they should be able to make a match soon."
Zhou Ning nodded and glanced at the time. He suddenly felt dizzy and his body swayed. It was already 18:20. He quickly took off his clothes and the mask, and sat down.
"Have them send back the forklift driver’s body. I need to rest for a bit; I’m feeling a little hypoglycemic."
Zhao Xinli supported Zhou Ning as they walked out of the autopsy room. Outside, there was a bench where he helped Zhou Ning sit down, as the autopsy room reeked of a charred smell. Then he handed Zhou Ning a box of milk.
"You sit here and drink the milk; I’ll get Mr. Liu and the others to come over."
After speaking, Zhao Xinli went to make arrangements. Soon, three people came over with a gurney and the body, covered with a cloth, was pushed out. Before the door could close, He Chunyang walked in with several others. Among them, a middle-aged woman, seemingly lacking strength in her legs, cried out loudly as she walked in.
Without asking, one could tell these were the family members of the deceased from the bus and their company leaders.
Seeing this, Zhou Ning suddenly thought of a joke.
In the last class a medical teacher gave, they asked the students how they would handle a medical dispute if someone rushed into the consulting room threatening to cause harm. The teacher dismissed all the students’ answers and said with deep emphasis:
Run, and run towards the most expensive equipment. Once there’s damage, the hospital will definitely step in to resolve the situation.
The current situation seemed to prove this point.
If it was just the driver who died, and the vehicle was not seriously damaged, the insurance and transport company personnel wouldn’t handle it so promptly. Considering they accompanied the family to identify the deceased was relatively fortunate amidst the misfortune.
Putting these thoughts aside, Zhou Ning stood up. His hair was soaked with sweat. He Chunyang nodded at him slightly.
"Doctor Zhou, the leaders from Sunshine Passenger Transport Company and Master Gao’s wife are here to identify the deceased."
Zhou Ning nodded. The leaders’ faces showed some distrust, probably because of his youth.
"The bodies of the victims from the bus accident are being kept in the morgue. As for whether to conduct an autopsy, we will listen to the opinions of the family. After all, the cause of death is quite clear, death resulted from a head injury causing brain death."
The woman shook her head vehemently, pulling away from the two people supporting her.
"We won’t conduct an autopsy, no autopsy!"
Zhou Ning extended his hand toward Zhao Xinli, the external examination report for the bus driver had already been completed, and he handed it to He Chunyang.
"You can go identify the body now. There is a waiver form for the autopsy attached to the back of the external examination report. Please have the deceased’s relative sign it."
He Chunyang took the clipboard, looking toward the two leaders of the passenger transport company.
"Do you agree to waive the autopsy?"
The two exchanged glances, then nodded and said:
"Just give us a copy of the external examination report; the insurance company needs it. Other than that, our company has no objections and respects the decision of the deceased’s family."
Liu Yong returned, and He Chunyang waved him off, letting Liu Yong take them to the morgue for identification.
The group left, and Zhou Ning once again sat down heavily on the bench. He Chunyang’s hand patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder.
"You must be exhausted. I heard from Xu Da that you completed the autopsies by yourself. Do you want some of the boxed meals I have in my car?"
Zhou Ning waved his hand. Although he was hungry, he really couldn’t eat at this moment. What he needed most was to take a shower and change out of the clothes that smelled of charring. Eating with that smell would be uncomfortable, even after finishing the meal.
"No need. Didn’t Zhao Xinli mention that there’s a lead on the identity of the forklift driver?"
He Chunyang smiled and handed Zhou Ning a photo.
"We investigated at Tailifu Company and identified four suspects, all of whom are unreachable and fit within the height and weight range you described. You mentioned a missing tooth, which confirmed it’s Wang Zhihua."
Zhou Ning looked at the photo, which was internal identification information. This person was not from Ludong Province. By his appearance, he looked like an honest and simple person. How could such a person chase after Cui Gongyi in a frenzy? Could there be some hidden circumstances?
"Did they have any grievances?"
He Chunyang shook his head.
"We don’t know yet; everything is under investigation. Wang Zhihua worked here alone, with his wife and children back in his hometown. Xu Da had already sent someone to contact his family before I arrived. As for what exactly happened between him and Cui Gongyi, we can only investigate their company tomorrow."
Zhou Ning exhaled.
"Okay, then my work here is done, I guess. By the way, Xu Da mentioned informing the public about the case, right?"
"The Qidong Sub-bureau has already issued a notice. We just need to give a general statement; the sooner it’s dealt with, the better it is for the city’s image."
As he spoke, He Chunyang opened his phone and found a public announcement image with a large police emblem at the top. In blue on a white background, it read:
Public case report
On December 31st at 12:21 PM, Qindao City Public Security Bureau 110 received a call reporting, "Near the intersection of Hong Kong Road in Qidong District, someone is driving a forklift and crashing into vehicles and pedestrians wildly." Police arrived at the scene and quickly evacuated the injured. The criminal suspect recovered from a feigned death state and subsequently ignited gasoline and died.
Upon investigation, the suspect, Wang Zhihua, male, 45 years old, from Qinghe City, Luxi Province. Besides the criminal suspect, 2 people were killed in the collision, more than 10 were injured, and several vehicles were damaged.
Currently, the case is under further investigation.
Qindao City Public Security Bureau Qidong Sub-division
December 31, 2010
Zhou Ning returned the phone to He Chunyang. His work, for the most part, was finished. Although the system hadn’t responded today, which was a bit concerning, he was still very content having successfully completed the autopsies.
