Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 208: Chapter 207 Appeared_1

Zhou Ning glanced at the photo, and indeed, after enlarging it, he could examine it more carefully.

Overall, the wound resembled the shape of a wrench head, Zhou Ning looked again at the position of the victim’s temple. If it were a wrench, then the linear damage at this position was clearly the arc-shaped trace of the wrench’s side.

As for the injuries on the arms and legs, they were typical of a fall, and there were no external trauma marks. The nails were clean too, lacking the signs of struggle like eversion and abrasions. These injuries occurred post-mortem from the fall.

"The murder weapon is a wrench, have you noticed, all the victims are female?"

Yang Xuetong was startled, crouched down to take a closer look, and seemed to feel that the face mask was obstructive. He also pulled down his mask, as indeed the thing really hindered breathing and movement. He flipped through several bodies and they were indeed all female.

"They really are all female victims. Were they knocked unconscious with a wrench before the bodies were thrown down?"

Zhou Ning didn’t speak. From above, it was impossible to count, but standing here and counting carefully, he could see nine complete bodies. As for those below, they were already reduced to skeletons.

In such weather, the temperature at the bottom of the well was much warmer than outside, probably between 2-4 degrees Celsius. The nine bodies had not severely decayed, obviously having been thrown in recently. As for the skeletons below, they had been there much longer.

But according to what He Chunyang said, there were no missing person reports in Qidong. Did these people have no family?

Zhou Ning sighed deeply and waved his hand dismissively, as lingering here was meaningless. After all, the bodies were thrown in from the well’s mouth, and there was no useful information at the bottom.

"Don’t waste time, hurry and transport the bodies up, one by one."

Yang Xuetong nodded.

"Team leader, you go up first. This place is small, and three people can’t move around well here. Just Mr. Zhao and I are enough for below. As for the skeletons at the bottom, do they need to be sorted in detail?"

Zhou Ning waved his hand.

"In a moment, have them send down sorting boxes, put the skeletons in the boxes, and after returning, categorize and identify them. However, make sure to inspect carefully, leaving nothing behind."

The two agreed with a shout, and Mr. Zhao called out:

"Come, pull Dr. Zhou up!"

Zhou Ning adjusted his face mask as his body was suddenly yanked up, arching backward, and his old back nearly broke. The pulling was quite uncomfortable, and he heard a burst of yelling from above.

"I said quickly, not recklessly! Be careful not to bump into the well walls. Zhou Xiaozhou, stretch out your hands and help stabilize."

The concern from Xu Dayuan warmed Zhou Ning’s heart, and within a few seconds, he had been hauled up.

While unfastening the safety harness from his body, Zhou Ning said:

"Lower one body bag and one soft stretcher at a time, just drop them down vertically. Bring the vehicle for transporting bodies closer. Is Xu Da still doing autopsies at the Eighth Hospital?"

"They moved to the new department building a while ago. The hardware is quite up to par, but the testing capabilities are limited. There’s only one lab assistant, and the new arrival isn’t ready for too complex tests."

Zhou Ning nodded. In just half a year, the changes in Qidong were already significant.

He Chunyang, following Zhou Ning’s instructions, had people lower the firefighter’s specialized soft stretchers and body bags. Soon, the first body was brought up, everything was going smoothly.

The body bag was loaded into the vehicle, Xu Dayuan pulled He Chunyang to move back a bit with Zhou Ning.

"How’s the situation down there?"

Zhou Ning spoke in a hushed tone, eager to explain:

"There’s no water in the well, and I couldn’t tell what kind of well it is. There’s a stone platform in the middle, with no decay on the nine complete bodies on top. The bodies are quite fresh, the death of those at the very bottom seems to be about ten days old.

There are strikes on the occipital and temporal regions from a wrench, and there are fractures in the limbs caused by a fall. The fingers and nails show no signs of injury, indicating the damage was caused by being thrown into the well. The victims are all young females."

"Young females?"

Zhou Ning nodded.

"Below, the conditions are limited; I only turned over three bodies. But from the side, it’s visible that all the female victims have very proportionate figures, with almost no sagging breasts, flat bellies without excess fat, and no stretch marks from pregnancy or cesarean section scars.

I suspect these women were not old and were unmarried and childless. Of course, this is just a preliminary judgment, a detailed autopsy is necessary to conclude. I’m only giving you a direction based on what’s available."

Xu Dayuan patted Zhou Ning’s shoulder.

He naturally understood Zhou Ning’s intention; they needed such direction even more.

"So, there are more than ten victims, likely all young females, some completely skeletonized, others very fresh as if murdered not long ago.

The killer has been using this place as a dumping ground for a long time and feels very safe, hence no change of location. The young females, with no record of missing persons, this inevitably makes one think of a profession."

He Chunyang realized.

"Bar hostesses?"

Xu Dayuan and Zhou Ning both nodded.

After all, this line of work has high turnover, and normally you wouldn’t be in your hometown. If someone were not seen or suddenly disappeared, it wouldn’t be surprising, as arrests or city changes happen all the time.

Xu Dayuan thought for a moment and looked at Zhou Ning.

"The forensic examination room at the police station is quite well equipped in terms of hardware, but with so many bodies, can you handle it?" frёeωebɳovel.com

Zhou Ning was taken aback, not sure whether this was just polite talk or genuine concern about him being tired.

"Is Xu Da asking for help from other teams?"

Xu Dayuan waved his hand.

"I’m just being polite. I don’t trust outsiders. Okay, He Chunyang, you hurry up and contact Squadron Three in charge of the anti-pornography operation. We’re due for a big raid soon anyway, and it being close to the new year, it’s not out of the question. I’ll speak to Mr. Liang in a bit to ask for his cooperation.

As for here, we need to transport the corpse as quickly as possible, as well as gather the skeletal remains. Afterwards, we need to restore this place to its original state. I’ve checked, and there’s only that little hut near the water gate. Have someone stay inside and keep watch. I think the killer feels safe here and if there are new victims, he will come back."

He Chunyang nodded vigorously, looking at Xu Dayuan with gratitude.

"With you in charge here, I’m not worried. Please hurry up and call Liang Da, I’ll head to Squadron Three right now. We need to get this arranged quickly. As for this place, please take command."

Xu Dayuan waved his hand and took out his phone directly, dialing Liang Da’s number. He Chunyang left, satisfied.

Zhou Ning didn’t listen to Xu Dayuan’s phone call, instead going straight to the well.

By this time, five corpses had already been brought up, and the speed was still quite fast. Zhou Ning glanced at the corpses; indeed, there was another with a severely beaten face. This kind of mutilation was clearly meant to destroy the bodies. But why did only the first corpse have injuries from being hit on the temple?

Zhou Ning was puzzled, but he would be dissecting them soon, so he needn’t worry about it for now. He took off his investigation suit and wrapped himself in a police coat, feeling the warmth at last.

Below in the well, the two men were already sweating.

The sixth corpse had been hoisted up. Mr. Zhao and Yang Xuetong both leaned against the well wall, knowing that once the body was lifted, there could be liquid dripping down, so they needed to dodge. After all, it wasn’t convenient to change their equipment down in the well.

At that moment, two corpses on the platform became visible—one was lying on its side with an arm twisted in a strange shape, and the face was smashed beyond recognition, possibly due to the pressure from the bodies above. The victim’s mouth was slightly open, as if crying for help.

Mr. Zhao glanced overhead, saw the stretcher had been taken away, and hurried over. When he shone his bright flashlight, he discovered something inside the victim’s mouth, but one of the incisors was missing.

Yang Xuetong came over, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What did you find?"

"There’s something in the mouth, but I can’t see what it is."

"The light here isn’t enough, and we don’t have the tools with us. Let’s wait and see during the detailed autopsy later."

Mr. Zhao gently pried open the victim’s lower jaw, and with the mouth open, a broken tooth was revealed. Inside it appeared to be a glove, the kind with threads, but from this angle only the edge of the glove with a red line could be seen, and it seemed fairly new.

"There’s a threaded glove in the victim’s mouth. I don’t know if it was shoved there, or if the victim was trying to pull it off. One of her teeth is broken, too."

Yang Xuetong looked over in the light, excitement hardly concealed on his face.

After all, they’d been working hard for half the day, and the victims were all bare, without a scrap of fabric in sight, making it difficult to find identity information. Even with a facial reconstruction system, it’s tough to search without updated identity records.

"Having the glove is great, and if we’re lucky, it was worn by the killer—we might be able to find his DNA."

Mr. Zhao smiled contentedly. The stretcher came down again, and with it, two large storage boxes. Yang Xuetong picked up the bones on the ground while Mr. Zhao bagged the corpses. The two men’s division of labor was clear.

Half an hour later, they were both pulled up. Zhou Ning patted their shoulders and seeing them soaked with sweat, waved his hands:

"Don’t rush to say anything; take off your investigation suits and head to the car to change clothes. We’ll talk about the findings on the way."

The two had no objections. Mr. Zhao, curious as a child, looked around at the people still busy near the well—some were dismantling things, and they seemed to be cleaning up various items on the ground in a puzzling manner.

"What are Zhou Xiaozhou and the others doing?"

"They’re cleaning the scene, erasing all traces of the people and vehicles that have been here, trying to restore it as much as possible to its original state and then closing up the well, leaving someone to watch. We don’t know if the killer will come back."

Mr. Zhao shook his head, already in clean clothes. The pile on the ground, bagged by Yang Xuetong, was thrown into the trunk.

"While cleaning up the bones, we found ten skulls, but only nine bodies. Unless the killer has OCD and needs to even out the numbers, I don’t think he will come back here anytime soon."

Zhou Ning furrowed his brows, as he had considered this point as well. But for now, this was the only lead they had. It wouldn’t do just to wait for the autopsy results without doing anything.

"Let’s go back."

Just about to get into the Iveco, Xu Dayuan ran over from not too far away, stomping the snow off his feet and tightening his coat as the temperature had dropped, his breath visible as he spoke.

"I was wondering, Zhou Xiaozhou, do you have any suggestions? Everything else can be restored, but how about the snow on the ground? There are too many traces left by all our cars and people. I can’t seriously be expected to ask the meteorological bureau for artificial snowfall, can I?"

Mr. Zhao couldn’t help laughing, stretched his neck towards Xu Dayuan, and pulled Zhou Ning onto the car.

"Boss, you’re not asking for help; you’re treating Zhou Xiaozhou like a thunder deity, what are you implying, having him take on multiple roles? Wasn’t he your lucky charm before?"

"Get out of here! Can we stay on topic?"

Zhou Ning raised his phone, where the weather forecast showed light to moderate snow for today. Looking up indeed, the sky was overcast, but the wind was strong.

"Boss, I don’t have a trick either. How about I just try asking, ’Oh spirits of heaven and earth, any passing deities, please show your might and let it snow, preferably a heavy snowfall!’"

After speaking, Zhou Ning dove into the car.

Xu Dayuan didn’t reach out and hit him as expected but raised his palm and looked up at the sky.

Seeing Xu Dayuan’s gesture, Mr. Zhao also looked up, exclaiming:

"Damn, it worked, it worked, look at those big snowflakes! Zhou Xiaozhou, quick, say that Zhao Xinli will strike it rich in 2012!"

"Get lost!"