Chapter 83: Chapter 83 Keeping a Low Profile_1
Liu Yongxin waved his hand dismissively, showing no surprise at such results.
"What are you spacing out for? Get on with what needs to be done. Since this isn’t the twelfth case of the Red Dress Serial Murders, let’s proceed at our own pace. If a dissection is necessary, we conduct one. Zhou Xiaozhou, contact Doctor Lu and see if they also need to come to the scene. We can give your software a try now!"
Hearing this, Zhou Ning paused for a moment, but quickly took out his mobile phone and dialed Doctor Lu’s number.
The call was answered after just one ring, catching Zhou Ning off guard. Was the old man doing nothing else but waiting for his call?
"Hello, Zhou Ning, what’s up?"
"Doctor Lu, we have a case here where the victim’s face has been severely disfigured. I think it’s a good opportunity—why don’t we use this victim for a trial scanning analysis? What do you think?"
The response from the other end was almost immediate, without a second thought.
"No problem. Do you have X-ray equipment there? If so, I’ll send technician Mr. Qu over right now. We need twelve sets of X-ray images at specific angles. After entering these images into the software system, analysis will be conducted, but manual adjustments are needed at the moment. Don’t be in a hurry waiting for us. We’ll be there with the equipment within half an hour!"
After hanging up, Zhou Ning noted that Doctor Lu’s voice was loud enough for Liu Yongxin to overhear, despite not using the speakerphone. Liu Yongxin, chuckling, patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder.
"Alright, half an hour is plenty of time for us to perform an external post-mortem examination. Mr. Zhao, come in and take photos. Apprentice, let’s go."
They hastened back to the autopsy room, but upon seeing the state of the body on the dissection table, Mr. Zhao blew his top.
"What the hell, are we dealing with bandits here? We’re just supposed to determine if this is a Red Dress Serial Murder case, so why change the position of the body?"
Liu Yongxin gestured for calm.
"Quit your yapping. Enough with the nonsense. Since photos have already been taken, it’s not a big deal. Check if the knife is still there."
Zhou Ning, holding a disposable blue surgical gown, hadn’t even put it on before he rushed to the bottom of the dissection table. On inspecting the knife between the corpse’s legs, his brows furrowed slightly.
"The knife is still there, but it’s been moved. When we were at the scene, we took photos, and only the handle was exposed. The rest of the blade was completely inserted into the body."
Liu Yongxin, now fully dressed, glanced at it and gave a slight nod.
"Stop complaining, and let’s try to understand. They’re exhausted from dealing with the Red Dress Serial Murders. Just hearing ’red dress’ and ’female victim’ sends their adrenaline soaring. They’ve been tormented by this for years. Do you think you could praise them for their work at the Province Department and the Ministry of Public Security?"
Zhou Ning nodded, understandingly. According to Liu Yongxin, the victims were always dumped in the urban-rural fringe, the bodies were highly decomposed, and there was little evidence left. This was indeed a difficult situation, and if it fell on him, he surely wouldn’t find it easy to cope with.
As Zhou Ning made contact with the body, a task release prompt appeared on the transparent screen in front of him.
Ding, the system releases a task. As the bound person’s level is too low, the task has been downgraded with no difficulty option provided. The task content is as follows:
1. Ascertain the cause of death of the victim within 60 minutes;
2. Confirm the victim’s identity within 12 hours;
3. Optional task: Find the killer and related evidence (not a mandatory completion for this release but, if completed, will grant extra skills).
Ding, cause of the victim’s death discovered by the bound person is complete, additional reward, 5 cumulative upgrade points.
The task details prompted Zhou Ning to ponder. The system’s downgrade meant that this case was not a random incident; it might indeed be related to the Red Dress Serial Murders. Going further, it could potentially be the twelfth case.
Composing himself and getting dressed, Zhou Ning stood to the left of the body and began an extremely thorough examination, from the top of the head and eyes down to the toenails. He even palpated the back twice.
"What’s the rectal temperature?"
Mr. Zhao, prepared as always, held up a thermometer and a piece of paper, quickly saying:
"The rectal temperature is 28 degrees Celsius. Using the formula 37 degrees - rectal temperature of the body / 0.83 * a winter coefficient of 0.7, we get 7.59 hours. The current time is 9:50, so the estimated time of death is around 2:15."
Mr. Zhao raised his eyebrows, clearly expecting praise, but Zhou Ning focused on the body and shook his head slightly.
"That formula can always only be used as a reference. The victim was tortured for a long time before death. Judging by the sequence of skin injuries, the torture lasted for more than two hours, and the victim lost a significant amount of heat during the torture process, so the time of death was even earlier."
Liu Yongxin nodded continuously, pinching the edge of the victim’s nails and observing their slight discoloration.
"I agree with Zhou Xiaozhou’s judgment. The death was earlier. The victim’s buttocks and heels show clear signs of livor mortis, but there are no such marks on the face, which doesn’t match with the state in which you found the victim. One reason is due to blood loss, and another is that the death process was slow."
"Mr. Zhao, take notes for me. The victim’s height is 162 centimeters, weight between 85 and 90 jin, judging from the wear on the teeth, age is between 18 and 25 years old, left ribs 3 to 6 are fractured with distinct crepitus, right clavicle is fractured, and there are shoeprint patterns among the contusions on the body."
All ten of the victim’s fingerprints were cut off, there is a scalp avulsion wound on the head, some hair is missing with subgaleal hematoma, which could have been caused by lifting the victim by the hair or by a forceful impact. However, no fracture was found on the corresponding part of the skull.
The victim’s back and limbs show 78 injuries caused by belt and metal object strikes, the face is repeatedly slashed with a sharp instrument, and there are burns likely caused by a lighter. The cheekbones, eyebrows arches, and the lower jaw all have varying degrees of fractures.
The fatal injury is in the perineal area, the weapon is a Western-style kitchen knife, with a blade length of 205mm, handle length 148mm, and width 28mm. This depth and angle of penetration is enough to sever the internal iliac artery or the common iliac artery, but of course, this conclusion needs to be confirmed by autopsy."
Mr. Zhao hastily finished writing, and Liu Yongxin glanced at it.
"Impressive, young man, not a single typo."
A twitch crossed Mr. Zhao’s face as if he wanted to smile, but his cheek muscles just quivered and stopped as he looked at the victim and sighed.
"This girl died a horrific death. What kind of grudge could justify such brutality? This seems like hours of torture, right?"
Zhou Ning remained silent, packing the weapon into an evidence bag. Then he started collecting samples from all around the victim’s groin, as this act was not just an insult to the dead, but also using blood to wash away his traces. Zhou Ning peeled off most of the dried pools of blood at the crime scene, an area that naturally could not be overlooked.
"It’s much colder by the sea than in a normal outdoor setting. Not wearing clothes, plus getting beaten, do you think you would still be conscious after a few hours?"
Liu Yongxin’s rhetorical question made Mr. Zhao shiver.
"You’d probably freeze into a blockhead within an hour."
Liu Yongxin laughed.
"Do you think being fat makes you more resistant to cold?"
While they were talking, the door to the autopsy room was pushed open from the outside, and Xu Dayuan walked straight in. Doctor Lu and a group of staff followed, each dressed very neatly. Zhou Ning covered the victim’s body with a white cloth—dead people deserve dignity, and Zhou Ning had his principles.
"How’s our speed doing?"
Liu Yongxin was the first to greet them, and Doctor Lu grabbed his hand enthusiastically. It seemed that Zhou Ning had mentioned Liu Yongxin would be involved in software development, so Doctor Lu was particularly interested in him. After all, he was Zhou Ning’s master, almost an ambassadorial presence, and his years of forensic experience were exactly what they were short of.
"Quite fast. We’ve just completed the external body examination. Do I need to call the person who takes X-rays?"
Doctor Lu gestured dismissively and instructed someone behind him:
"Mr. Qu, hurry up. It’s your turn next. Take the X-rays promptly, don’t disrupt Doctor Zhou’s next steps in the autopsy. Although we are here for practical tests, nothing is more important than the case itself."
This statement was said with such candor that not only Zhou Ning, but Xu Dayuan also couldn’t help but smile.
"Doctor Lu has a very high level of awareness!"
Doctor Lu tilted his head, moved closer to Xu Dayuan, and in a voice audible only to the two of them, said:
"Keep it under wraps, but because of the development of this software and the establishment of the new program, I was given a fast-track promotion to vice-chancellor, though the official document hasn’t been issued yet."
"Oh, then that really calls for congratulations!"
Xu Dayuan was somewhat taken aback, glancing at Zhou Ning, he hadn’t expected that Zhou Ning’s idea could actually land Doctor Lu in a higher position.
Doctor Lu blinked and pushed his hands down forcefully.
"Keep it low-key, I’ve realized now that I won’t be going back to Qindao for a while. I’ll just stick with Zhou Xiaozhou. Whatever ideas he has, I’ll just jot them down. Picking up after him will be enough to fill my plate for the year."
The two laughed heartily, and although it was a jest, Doctor Lu did indeed reap benefits from Zhou Ning. He looked around the autopsy room, shaking his head constantly.
"This autopsy room is too shabby. How about I submit a proposal to the college to give you a renovation and bring in some advanced equipment?"
Xu Dayuan hurriedly gestured for him to keep it low-key, understanding Doctor Lu’s good intention.
"We appreciate the thought. In May, we are moving into the new precinct building, which has a dedicated forensic autopsy room. We’ll also need a lot more staff like laboratory technicians. The district and precinct have allocated funds and will handle procurement."
Just then, a voice interrupted Doctor Lu’s enthusiasm.
"Doctor Lu, twelve radiographs have been collected. Shall we process them here?"
