Free Web NovelChapter 570: Chapter 540: The Airbag that Didn’t Deploy_1
Zhang Ping approached, and his expression grew several degrees more stern as he snatched the autopsy consent form from Zhang Qiangmin’s hands.
"Are you the uncles?"
The two old people nodded their heads.
"Yes, I am Li Li’s eldest uncle. We don’t have children, and when her parents were alive, Li Li spent most of her time being raised in our home. Everyone around knows this, you can ask around. Who would have thought her parents would die in a car accident? Li Li even said she would care for us in old age. Alas, who would have expected this!"
The old lady tugged at the old man’s sleeve, glaring at him.
"You just answer what they ask, why all the nonsense?"
The old man clammed up, and only after Zhang Ping made a call for confirmation did he hand back the consent form.
"I’ve confirmed it, Zhang Shigang really counts as Li Li’s closest kin. It’s up to you to decide whether to sign. The traffic police just checked, and the car was insured. However, a determination of the accident is needed before the insurance company can handle the claim. Of course, to do these things, the autopsy is the first step, to confirm the death wasn’t suicide. Suicides or homicides are not covered by insurance."
The two were somewhat surprised, forgetting even to cry. The old lady poked the old man.
"Hurry up and sign!"
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Zhao and showed him the characters displayed on his phone. Mr. Zhao caught on and walked over to the two. After they signed, he had them press their fingerprints.
"What did Li Li do for work?"
The old lady said:
"She opened a dance school, right next to the number three school in Gulou District called, I think, Golden Peacock Dance School."
"Is her boyfriend named Kong Wanshan?"
The two nodded eagerly.
"Yes, his name is Kong Wanshan. He’s almost a generation older than Li Li and looks a lot older. We couldn’t meddle in their affairs. If I remember correctly, we last saw her during the Spring Festival; we usually just phone each other and have someone send us food, drink, and supplies."
Mr. Zhao glanced at the signature with fingerprints, collected the autopsy consent form, and nodded at the couple with a smile.
"That’s settled, then. We have your contact number on file and will notify you as soon as the results are in. We also need to contact the car owner, your daughter’s boyfriend, Kong Wanshan. I think it’s best you don’t see him, after all, the car was completely totaled..."
Mr. Zhao didn’t finish his sentence when the old couple wiped their faces and nodded rapidly with an alert look on their faces.
"Right, right, we’ll be going now, but could you ask the young comrade who brought us here to give us a lift? We hardly ever come out, so we have no idea where we are."
Without saying much more, Zhang Ping gestured in the opposite direction of the corridor, and moments later, the noisy sounds dissipated. Zhou Ning let out a sigh of relief when Zhang Qiangmin returned.
"Director Zhou, may I assist you?"
Zhou Ning nodded and glanced at the three trainees observing the situation. Zhang Qiangmin quickly waved them off.
"I’ve been so preoccupied, you newcomers should follow some of the more routine autopsies. This one is too intense sensory-wise. Go wait in the office. You can watch the video later if you like, but if you vomit midway through, should we care for the deceased or for you?"
Zhou Ning knew Zhang Qiangmin was concerned the autopsy might be affected, but watching a video wasn’t the same as being there. To witness such an autopsy was a stroke of luck for them. Zhou Ning raised his hand, stopping Zhang Qiangmin’s motion.
"You can stay and watch, just try not to vomit. If you can’t handle the nausea, you don’t need to report it, just quickly leave. Don’t make any noise during the recording. If you can manage that, stay; if not, leave and wait to watch the video later."
All three lit up with excitement.
"Rest assured, Director Zhou, we won’t disturb the autopsy. We’ll just watch from here. The smell doesn’t bother us."
Zhou Ning didn’t pay them any more attention and quickly changed his clothes. By then, Zhang Qiangmin and his team had already partially disassembled the corpse that was secured to the chair. They hadn’t dared to touch the charred surface where it was fused together – that would crumble at a touch.
Zhou Ning looked around for Mr. Zhao and suddenly saw Mr. Qu waving his hands cheerfully at the side, pointing to the large screen. Turning his head, Zhou Ning could indeed see that the image of the deceased had appeared on the screen – beneath the brow bone, embedded in the skull, was a metal object resembling a long rod.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the rod-like object was flat with some curvature, resembling the wings of a dragonfly, thin, narrow, and elongated. The exposed area of the skull was not large, and it appeared to have a broken edge. For a moment, Zhou Ning wasn’t sure what it was. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Then Mr. Zhao stood up from where he was by Mr. Qu, holding his phone, and ran over to Zhou Ning, showing him something before adding:
"This thing kind of looks like a feather. I just did a search by various dimensions and found this object. Does it look similar to you?"
Zhou Ning looked puzzled but shifted his gaze to follow Mr. Zhao’s pointing finger. On the phone screen was a metal sculpture, with the caption reading: ’Car Aromatherapy Brass Sculpture of the Monkey King.’
Zhou Ning scrutinized the metallic Monkey King ornament for a long time, finally resting his gaze on the two feather-like projections on top of its head; their length, curvature, and thickness were almost identical to the metal strip stabbed into the victim’s skull.
Having a perfume bottle in the car or some cute little trinket was acceptable, but placing such a large metal object on the center console was another matter; to say nothing else, it was too big and obstructed the view.
"Call Mr. Xia and ask him to check if the rest of this ornament was found amongst the vehicle debris."
Mr. Zhao hastily made the call while Zhou Ning’s attention returned to the X-ray. The deceased’s tibia and fibula were shattered, and the sternum and ribs three to six on the left side were fractured. Judging by the pattern, these were likely caused by the steering wheel impact.
With such injuries, could it be that the safety airbags didn’t deploy?
Zhou Ning slightly frowned; at that moment, Mr. Zhao returned, waving his phone by Zhou Ning’s side.
"Mr. Qu asked Mr. Xia to assist; when it comes to vehicle mechanics, Mr. Xia is more proficient."
Zhou Ning raised his hand, halting Mr. Zhao and Xia Momo in their tracks.
"What year is this Mazda 6? What model? How many airbags does it have? Did the airbags deploy before the vehicle fell from the building? If they did, would the explosion cause them to ignite instantly? Find any remaining fragments and analyze them; after all, aside from the ornament puncturing the skull and extensive burns, the victim didn’t have any other injuries on the head or face."
Mr. Zhao paused, then quickly said while taking out his phone,
"This car is a 2013 Mazda 6 2.0L Automatic Deluxe model with the original factory color top configuration, eight airbags. When dealing with the accident, I checked the insurance records, and there were no major incidents. The vehicle had a high fall and landed on its front; not to mention, the airbags should have deployed when it impacted the wall, but it seems they didn’t in the video."
Xia Momo glanced at her notebook, where the video was paused at the moment the car hit the wall, indeed suggesting that the airbags hadn’t deployed.
"Indeed, the video doesn’t show any deployment. I understand what you mean. From the victim’s injuries, we can also infer that the safety airbags didn’t deploy. But this car is new and a top configuration model. Failing to deploy during both collisions suggests that someone might have tampered with the vehicle. Let Mr. Zhao and me go down to check the car; he’s more knowledgeable about this."
Zhou Ning didn’t refuse, handing off his camera to a trace evidence examiner from team four and looking meaningfully at Zhu Xingxing, who waved her hand.
"Don’t worry, I’ll assist."
Zhang Qiangmin showed no embarrassment, instead nodding in approval.
"Having Zhu as an assistant is best. I’ll assist from the side. Shall we start recording now?"
Mr. Zhao and Xia Momo left, and with the closing of the door, Zhou Ning looked around and gestured to the others.
"Come over and help, don’t use violent force, carefully separate the deceased from the seat. If it can’t be separated, then cut the surface of the seat. The body surface is already carbonized and brittle everywhere, so be gentle. Zhu Xingxing, adjust the shadowless lamp and begin the introduction recording."
Zhu Xingxing had been with Zhou Ning long enough to be accustomed to his work procedures: do as he says, never interrupt in the middle of the task to ask questions or challenge him, save any remarks for later.
However, the assistant brought by Zhang Qiang wasn’t the same. Barely about to speak, his foot was stepped on. The assistant looked down in surprise, following the foot to find Zhu Xingxing glaring at him; only then did he realize his mistake and quickly lowered his head.
Once the shadowless lamp was adjusted, Zhu Xingxing turned on the recording device, looked at the clock, and began a swift introduction of the incident’s time, process, and the deceased’s identity information, covering everything, even mentioning the metal object embedded in the victim’s brow.
Zhang Qiang was initially taken aback as he listened, his eyes widening by the end.
They had been present at the scene, and the survey was done by them. Zhu Xingxing didn’t approach, but listening to her briefing, the accuracy and meticulousness were spot on. Importantly, she didn’t even rely on notes, just her memory, impressing Zhang Qiangmin to the utmost.
After the introduction, Zhu Xingxing nodded towards Zhou Ning.
"Okay, now let’s start separating the deceased from the seat, be gentle."
With that said, everyone huddled closer, the three interns knowing their place and stretching on tiptoes to get a closer look, refraining from coming forward. After all, standing at the head of the body, they had an unobstructed view of the dissection table and were excited, never having observed from such a close distance before.
Furthermore, they felt that Director Zhou, although intimidating, was truly attentive to them. They covered their mouths, fearing their gasps might disrupt the procedure, and watched intently.
The detaching process was slow, the sizzling sound of separating carbonized muscle tissue from the knitted seat fabric challenging the senses. Moreover, the smell of roasting meat mingled with the stench of blood and bodily wastes, creating a robust mix.
Once the buttocks were detached, separating the back was much easier as the adherence wasn’t as tight. With the seat removed, Zhou Ning examined the areas where the body had been in contact with the chair, finding the carbonized surface uniformly affected, with no external injuries or missing carbonized areas.
Zhou Ning extended his hand towards Zhu Xingxing, who promptly passed a scalpel. Zhang Qiangmin watched closely, still not understanding what Zhou Ning was up to. Was the body to be dissected just like this, from its side?
Before he could ponder further, Zhou Ning, holding the scalpel, had already sliced through the carbonized muscle around the knees and elbows. Then he positioned the body face up, prompting Zhang Qiangmin to exhale deeply, realizing the preparatory phase was only then complete.
After inspecting the surface of the body, Zhou Ning signaled Zhu Xingxing.
"Look at the deceased’s external genitalia and extract the contents."
