Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 572: Chapter 542 Are you sure?_1

Xia Momo pointed at Mr. Qu, who scratched his head somewhat embarrassingly.

"I checked the city planning bureau’s blueprints. According to the records, the entire building of the Mailetian Mall was cast in concrete, especially the exterior walls, which were designed from the start as a parking lot. Originally it was open air, but it later got converted to semi-enclosed, with a ring of ventilation and lighting holes left open."

Zhou Ning frowned. He hadn’t expected a vehicular crash to lead to issues with building standards.

"Send this to Fang Mu, right, has Mrs. Fei also come to the station?"

Mr. Zhao had already finished making a phone call and came over.

"Mrs. Fei is here, she’s talking with Kong Wanshan. As for the wall issue, I’ve already sent it to them. We’re lucky there were no vehicles or pedestrians below, otherwise such a large chunk of wall falling down would flatten anyone like a pancake. Right, have you found anything from the autopsy?"

Zhou Ning shook his head slightly.

"The autopsy revealed very little, we must wait for the lab report. The victim was on a call with Kong Wanshan for more than seven minutes before the accident, very agitated, but there seemed to be no disagreement when the accident was initially handled. We don’t know if the loss of control was related to this call. Have you found anything on your end? Was there a problem with the brake system?"

Mr. Zhao shook his head.

"It doesn’t seem so. I called in a specialist to check it out later. Personally, I sense that the victim Li Li might have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake, because there was a definite acceleration when she was about fifty meters from the wall."

Xia Momo also nodded in agreement.

"Yes, the earlier speed measurement was around 65, from the surveillance area here, to fifty meters away from the damaged wall on the south side, she accelerated to 108. The acceleration happened very quickly, with no sign of slowing down, simply crashing straight into it. It feels like that phone call made her lose emotional control, leading to the operational mistake."

Mr. Zhao shook his head.

"She was already so aggressive and impulsive; a few minutes on the phone stirred up such agitation. I think it was just a mistake in operation. When the lab report comes out, it’ll be more clear. Didn’t you find any other clues?"

Zhu Xingxing looked at Zhou Ning and spoke promptly:

"There was a garlic smell in the victim’s mouth, not sure if it could be organophosphate poisoning. We have to wait for the test results for that."

Zhou Ning fell silent. Regardless of whether she was a mistress or somewhat despised morally, she was a victim, and he had to investigate thoroughly; it was his professional integrity.

Although the lab results were not out, from experience, it seemed to be an accident. But Zhou Ning felt something was off; he could call it a sixth sense. Yet, the current evidence did not support his hunch, leaving him somewhat at a loss for words.

Seeing Zhou Ning’s expression, Xia Momo tugged at his sleeve.

"What’s wrong, do you think there is a problem?"

Zhou Ning shook his head.

"We should wait for the results. I can’t exactly pinpoint what’s wrong. After all, the various inspections haven’t found much. Let’s leave the vehicle remains here for now."

As Zhou Ning turned to go upstairs, the others exchanged glances. Mr. Zhao spoke first:

"Let’s just wait for the lab report. I trust Zhou Xiaozhou’s instincts; they’ve always been accurate, and this car accident is too peculiar."

Zhu Xingxing nodded.

"I’ll go to the lab and check on things. You guys can wait upstairs for the results. As for Director Liu, I don’t think he will be coming over to ask questions anytime soon."

Just then, a voice came from behind them.

"Ahem, why do you think I won’t come over to ask?"

The group quickly turned around to find Liu Yufei standing there with a smile. Mr. Zhao blinked and moved closer.

"That’s not right, Director Liu. Shouldn’t you be interrogating Kong Wanshan? Why are you here with us?"

"Fang Mu is continuing the interrogation. That man scares easily; just a little pressure and he spills issues by the dozen, leaving me quite surprised. There’s everything from injury accidents, tax evasion, to salary embezzlement, a whole array of issues, none directly linked to the victim."

Everyone was stunned; Mr. Zhao was the first to respond.

"So he’s confessing proactively. Could he be deflecting from something more serious?"

Liu Yufei laughed and slapped Mr. Zhao’s arm.

"That’s exactly what I suspect, so I asked Fang Mu to keep an eye on him. I came here to see the results of your autopsy. It’s tricky to ascertain things from a carbonized body, isn’t it?"

Zhu Xingxing sighed.

"There’s not much useful information on the victim’s body. The boss says to wait for the lab results. Although it doesn’t look like a criminal case on the surface, his sixth sense tells him there might be an issue, but we don’t have any evidence right now."

Liu Yufei nodded.

"It’s not just him; I also find this case odd. A phone call disrupting one’s state of mind, speeding toward a wall from such a high location—it definitely requires thorough investigation. Just now, Director Xu also called to ask about the case. Let’s go up together and wait for the lab results."

With that, they all went upstairs and saw Zhou Ning talking with Cui Lili, holding several lab results in his hands. Everyone followed over, and Cui Lili pushed her glasses up.

"Spare me a moment, Director Liu, are you here to expedite things? DNA testing is slow, especially for a carbonized body. The probability of extracting usable samples is very low."

Liu Yufei waved off the concern.

"Sister, don’t get agitated, I’m not looking for you, I just wanted to ask Director Zhou about the autopsy results."

Cui Lili breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her tasks, while Zhou Ning looked at Liu Yufei with a smile, noticing that Mrs. Cui was treated very well by everyone, far better than how they treated him—a classic case of being judged by one’s appearance.

Liu Yufei rubbed her nose and gave Zhou Ning an embarrassed punch.

"You’re laughing? Hurry up and go to your office; I get nervous every time I see Mrs. Cui."

Back in the office, Zhu Xingxing went to write the autopsy report. The whiteboard listed several points they had summarized. Seeing ’Mr. Li’s Beef Noodles,’ Liu Yufei quickly took out her phone and dialed Zhang Ping’s number. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"The one at Mailetianian Mall, Mr. Li’s Beef Noodles, have you guys copied the surveillance footage?"

"Got it, and saw the deceased Li Li and Kong Wanshan too. At 12:20, they went to eat there. They ordered four dishes and two bowls of beef noodles. I even brought back the receipt. After eating, at 12:51, Kong Wanshan received a call and left first. Before he left, he handed Li Li a card.

Li Li seemed to be very angry, grabbed Kong Wanshan’s hand, and refused to let him leave. Many people in the restaurant looked over. Kong Wanshan coaxed Li Li for a while before leaving. He took the elevator downstairs, started his car by the roadside, and drove to a small road behind the Mailetian. There are no cameras here, and he didn’t leave this spot.

Li Li left shortly after, wandered around the mall for more than half an hour, and bought quite a few things. We checked the surveillance of these shops and copied them down. No one was following Li Li, the shop assistants said she was alone. After that, at 13:34, Li Li went to the parking lot on the fourth floor."

Liu Yufei hummed. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"Alright, then come back, and come straight to the technical department in the back when you do."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yufei turned to Zhou Ning, noticing that he was still fixated on the test report, she quickly moved closer.

"What did you find exactly?"

Zhou Ning raised his head, his brows still furrowed.

"The deceased’s body had traces of male DNA, no toxins detected, and no sign of the organophosphate poisoning I initially suspected. Mrs. Cui even did blood routine and blood glucose tests, everything else is negotiable, after all, a post-meal blood glucose level of 9.1 is normal.

It’s just that the serum alkaline phosphatase is elevated, which is a part of liver function, the normal value is 45-135U/L, but the deceased’s serum alkaline phosphatase was as high as 672U/L. Although this figure can’t explain anything by itself, it’s not normal."

Everyone was stunned, and Zhu Xingxing also came over and reviewed the report, looking puzzled.

"Did Mrs. Cui explain what this means? I haven’t seen such a high isolated elevation of serum alkaline phosphatase before. Could it be caused by diseases like liver cancer or tumors? During the autopsy, you mentioned that the deceased had mild hepatosplenomegaly. Did we overlook something then?"

Zhou Ning paused, and quickly gestured to Mr. Qu.

"Bring me the images of the deceased Li Li that were just taken in the autopsy room; I need the 3D ones."

Mr. Qu quickly connected to the network, and the deceased’s imaging data appeared on the large screen. After adjusting the angle, Zhou Ning looked at the liver and spleen of the deceased—there was no problem found in the images, then he watched the autopsy video.

After a thorough examination, Zhou Ning’s gaze fell back on the imaging data of the deceased. He checked from top to bottom, and truly, the most clear thing in the images were the bones. As his gaze unintentionally swept over the spine, Zhou Ning found a problem.

There was obvious ligament calcification around the deceased’s spine, but the sacroiliac joint was not affected—ligaments around the joint capsule also showed calcification and partial ossification.

At the age of 28, this condition indeed caused Zhou Ning some confusion.

He took out his phone and dialed He Shancun’s number; after two rings, it was picked up. Before hearing He Shancun’s voice, the sound of a child’s crying could be heard. Zhou Ning knew he might have caused trouble by waking the child with the ringing.

"Did I wake the kid? I’ll call back later."

"Don’t make it a big deal. He’s already awake anyway. Tell Uncle, ’Xiaobao woke up. I’m not afraid of being disturbed. I’ll play with Mommy for a while, and Daddy will go handle Uncle.’ Sounds good, eh!"

He Shancun dragged out his words, and Zhou Ning felt a twinge of acidity at his back teeth.

After waiting a moment, He Shancun resumed his normal tone.

"Alright, spit it out, what’s up? You either look for me to work or to be your search engine, I’m used to it."

That remark rendered Zhou Ning speechless, he glanced at Liu Yufei and the others who were purposely looking away towards the window, and with a sigh, Zhou Ning quickly said:

"I’ve got a question for you. I have a victim here, suffered a car accident that led to a scorch on the surface layer and not severe dehydration of the internal organs. I had someone do a serum alkaline phosphatase on her heart blood, and the value was as high as 672U/L.

Moreover, this person had mild hepatosplenomegaly, significant calcification of the ligaments around the spine, the sacroiliac joint was not affected, and ligaments around the joint capsule showed calcification and partial ossification.

I examined the liver and spleen of the deceased and found no tumors or nodules. All these combined, I’m not sure about my judgment. Can you analyze for me what disease might have caused this?"

He Shancun laughed.

"Tell me, you’ve come to a conclusion but just aren’t sure, right?"

"It’s just a suspicion, after all, you’re the expert."

He Shancun hummed twice but didn’t retort Zhou Ning this time.

"Although I haven’t seen the reports or images, I think your analysis is correct. Your patient probably had a vitamin A toxicity reaction. If there are sufficient samples, you can conduct a specific test for it."

"Are you sure?"

"Not sure. Don’t call me next time for this, hanging up now!"