Chapter 571: Chapter 541 T-shaped Contraceptive Ring_1
Zhu Xingxing quickly got to work, while Zhang Qiangmin wanted to raise a hand to check what Zhou Ning’s actions really meant, as he had no idea, which made him even more nervous in a flash.
Zhou Ning didn’t notice these things, his attention was entirely on the body of the deceased. The victim’s face had suffered severe burns, leaving few epidermal remains. It seemed that due to the action of raising their hand to block, there was still some residue around the cheekbones and eyelids.
Holding the LED light close, he gently spread apart the creases of the deceased’s eyelid, clearly observing that there was no soot in the wrinkles of the outer corner of the eye, and they were not burnt, revealing web-like traces.
Finding this at least indicated that the deceased was conscious during the combustion, which meant that although the copper feather had pierced into the skull through the eye socket, it hadn’t killed Li Li instantly.
At this moment, Zhu Xingxing looked up and handed the sample to the trace examiner beside him, then looked at Zhou Ning and shook his head slightly.
"I suspect that the victim was in the early stages of her menstrual cycle. There’s no damage to the external genitalia, and an internally placed tampon was found with no signs of injuries from sexual activity. I found a thread at the opening of the cervix, which I removed with a dilator, it turned out to be a T-shaped intrauterine device.
In addition, the victim’s cervical opening is slit-shaped, with one side showing remnants of a tear. However, by analyzing the folds of the vaginal wall, it appears that the victim had undergone a curettage or an abortion within the last five months, not a normal vaginal delivery. A clear mucus was collected from the cervical opening, which I suspect to be mifepristone."
This analysis was quite thorough. Zhang Qiangmin listened in astonishment, with terms like slit-shaped, thread, folds, and tears—all of which he was familiar with and had seen before—but to have these details analyzed so exhaustively was a complete overturn of his previous understanding of Zhu Xingxing.
Zhou Ning, showing no surprise, quickly said:
"The external examination of the body is finished. Zhang Qiangmin, take note that the victim has an object resembling part of a car decoration, an 11-centimeter-long copper feather, stabbed under the left eyebrow bone on the superior orbital notch. The victim has comminuted fractures of the tibias and fibulae on both legs, suggesting high impact crushing injuries.
Both the nasal cavity and oral cavity contained black dust. Not a single airbag in the vehicle deployed. The victim was premenstrual, with a history of miscarriage, and had an internal intrauterine device. There was a strong garlic odor in the oral cavity. Collect blood from the heart for toxicological testing and extract the victim’s DNA. Also, check the victim’s blood sugar. Alright, let’s start the dissection now."
Zhu Xingxing had already changed into a new pair of gloves and walked over to face Zhou Ning, handing him a surgical scalpel.
Holding the scalpel, Zhou Ning looked up and Zhu Xingxing, realizing something, hastily said:
"The victim’s body is severely carbonized. We’re starting the dissection now. If anyone can’t handle the sound, hurry up and leave. If you’re not leaving, then don’t make any noise."
Looking around, the few people on the table showed no reaction. Those three youngsters watching the autopsy were each covering the edges of their masks with both hands, as if this would more effectively block out the smell. Zhu Xingxing paid them no further attention and nodded towards Zhou Ning.
As the crisp snapping sound echoed, the thoracoabdominal cavity was opened, removing the sternum and ribs, and the digestive tract was placed untouched in a tray. Zhu Xingxing quickly took a blood sample from the heart, which Zhang Qiangmin arranged for someone to send for testing, quietly reminding them of Zhou Ning’s earlier instructions. However, strangely enough, when the digestive tract was opened, there wasn’t the strong smell of garlic.
Upon cutting open the victim’s trachea and lungs, carbonized dust could be seen all over, with one bronchus blocked, and the larynx showing signs of edema. The liver and spleen were mildly enlarged, but none of these conditions were severe. In other words, after the car caught fire, although the victim was alive, they didn’t endure for long and quickly suffocated to death.
As for the lower abdomen, Zhou Ning carefully peeled away the carbonized outer layer of the victim, finding no surgical traces in the muscle fascia. After all the sampling and examination were done, Zhou Ning finally exhaled and said to summarize, Zhu Xingxing turned off the recording equipment.
Zhou Ning stepped back, and Zhang Qiangmin stepped forward.
"Director Zhou, shall I do the suturing?"
Zhu Xingxing shook his head.
"I’ll do it. Even though she’s burned like this, the victim is still a woman, and we need to try our best to keep her intact and looking as presentable as possible."
Zhang Qiangmin didn’t insist. Zhu Xingxing stepped forward, swiftly switched to a small needle, and sutured the base layer stitch by stitch with great care. After making careful adjustments, he even straightened the position of the body, and only then had someone prepare a gurney to bag and remove the body.
"Director Zhou, do you suspect that the victim showed symptoms of organophosphate poisoning before the accident?"
Zhou Ning glanced at him.
"The smell in the mouth does make me suspect that, but the smell in the stomach contents is faint. It’s noticeable that the victim had just finished a meal and that it was a hearty one, including spicy beef noodles, spicy shredded pig tripe in chili oil, spicy kelp, and pork liver.
Based on these dishes, she should have had lunch at Mr. Li’s Beef Noodles in Mailetian. Call Zhang Ping and tell him to notify the officers on duty to retrieve the surveillance footage from Mr. Li’s Beef Noodles and send it directly to Mr. Qu."
Zhang Qiangmin hurried off to make the call, while Zhu Xingxing had changed gloves and walked up beside Zhou Ning.
"Boss, Mr. Zhao and the others haven’t arrived yet. Shall we take a look?"
Zhou Ning nodded, tore off his gear, and glanced at the three interns, offering them a smile.
"You did well. Seeing more can only help your internship. If there’s anything you didn’t understand from the dissection or if it contradicts what you’ve learned so far, go ask the head of your group. Don’t let questions linger overnight."
The three interns nodded vigorously, and one of them, more courageous, quickly raised his hand and said:
"Director Zhou, can we apply to be transferred to Doctor Zhu’s team?"
Zhu Xingxing was taken aback and quickly gestured with his hands.
"There’s no need to change groups. The boss has already said that you will rotate later, similar to interns rotating through different departments at hospitals. You won’t be fixed to a single team. We’ll keep the best, and some might be assigned to district or county forensic offices. It’s also possible to be selected by other city-level forensic offices that come to discuss the software, just focus on your studies."
The group was beside themselves with joy. Zhou Ning didn’t delay; together with Zhu Xingxing, he quickly left the autopsy room. Zhu Xingxing, holding the autopsy report, handed it to Zhou Ning for a glance.
"Boss, can you help me look this over to see if anything’s been missed?"
Zhou Ning scanned it and nodded slightly.
"Looks good. For a body that’s been burnt, the amount of useful information obtained is already limited. Everything depends on whether any other discoveries were made in the car."
While talking, they arrived at the garage. Mr. Wang, the driver, for some reason had come over earlier and was operating a forklift to lift the car wreckage fifty centimeters off the ground, causing numerous items below to fall. Mr. Zhao was lying on the ground taking pictures, occasionally picking something up and stating what it was.
Hearing footsteps, Mr. Zhao looked up and saw that it was Zhou Ning and the others approaching. He got a bit excited, was about to roll over when the back of his head hit the car wreckage with a bang, causing Mr. Zhao a painful grimace.
Zhou Ning hurried over and dragged him out.
"This is too dangerous. Move the wreck away, and then we’ll see what’s beneath it."
Mr. Wang hastily moved some parts away, while Mr. Zhao gestured urgently from the side.
"It’s done. I just asked Mr. Wang to shake the debris from the wreckage to see if anything was trapped that we didn’t discover. We’ve already found this thing when scanning, and there it fell."
As he said this, Mr. Zhao raised the object in his hand, which was black and dirty. But upon closer observation, one could make out that it was a figurine of Sun Wukong, sitting cross-legged with his arms resting on his knees, holding the golden cudgel in his hands. It was exactly the same as the one Mr. Zhao had found earlier. Of course, another feather also fell off and was in Mr. Zhao’s hand, with traces of blood still visible on it.
"You found it lodged in the front part where it was crushed together?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
Xia Momo opened an image, which was a scan taken just a moment ago, and pointing towards the roof of the car, she said:
"Do you see this mark here? I speculate that after the car was hit, the figurine bounced up, and as the victim’s head was lurching forward, one of the metal feathers penetrated the victim’s eye socket. The object then rebounded, hitting the driver’s side door frame, and then fell at the victim’s feet."
At this spot, Xia Momo zoomed in, and Zhou Ning leaned in for a closer look. Sure enough, as Xia Momo had mentioned, the impact marks were clear, and the feather could have snapped off right there.
Mr. Zhao held the figurine, turned it over, and noticed a phrase carved on the side:
Wishing Mr. Kong abundant riches and great success in your new venture!
"Kong Wanshan?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Didn’t you check the insurance policy and the vehicle registration? The owner’s name is Li Li, right?"
"Yes, the owner is indeed Li Li. Kong Wanshan even made a point of mentioning that although the car had been bought for his wife seven or eight months ago, she hardly drove it as her driving skills were average. Clearly, he was the one who paid for it. But regarding this ornament, usually, it’s the men who like Sun Wukong. This looks like something given for a business opening or relocation, and it’s not cheap. We saw smaller ones on Taobao for seven or eight hundred, so this size would start at two thousand at least."
"Mr. Zhao, ask Zhang Ping if they’ve questioned Kong Wanshan, if they have, ask who gave him this ornament, why it was in the car, and also if the victim’s phone has been found," Zhou Ning said.
Mr. Qu raised an object looking like a piece of charcoal, and Zhou Ning paused, as it no longer resembled a phone at all.
"It’s been carbonized and we can’t retrieve the call logs, but I’ve checked the call records. Li Li’s last call was with Kong Wanshan, and it was Li Li who called him. The call lasted 2 minutes and 33 seconds."
After taking a photo, Mr. Zhao sent the image to Zhang Ping, following Zhou Ning’s instructions, and composed a message to send as well.
Zhou Ning, at this time, walked to Xia Momo’s side and glanced at the operating interface. It seemed that Xia Momo had already finished preparing the mechanical animation simulation.
"If it’s ready, play it through. Do you think there are any issues?"
Xia Momo raised an eyebrow and let out a sigh.
"Using the car’s speed from the surveillance and various vehicle weight data, I made an animation simulation. Take a look at this, there’s something wrong with this wall. When Li Li drove around and headed towards the fourth floor parking lot wall, the speed was 88 kilometers per hour.
At that speed hitting the wall, according to the official crash test data from Mazda, the force could cause the wall surface to crack. However, a properly poured wall should have rebar within to hold the structure, meaning the bricks might break, but the steel should catch the car. But this wall didn’t have any rebar."
With that statement, Zhou Ning was also stunned. Indeed, the wall had collapsed under the impact.
"Wait, did you check the construction blueprints from Mailetian?"
