Free Web NovelChapter 68: Chapter 68: Crimes of Passion [Thanks to Overlord Pan Shao 520 for the generous reward!]_1
He Shancun nodded.
"The patient is still in a coma, but the condition is very stable; we just don’t know why he hasn’t woken up yet. There are many wounds, but none of them are fatal. When I received the call, I told them not to sew up the wounds. Do you want to have a look now?"
"Yes, let’s take a look now. After taking photographs, you can handle it normally," Zhou Ning replied.
Without another word, He Shancun led the way. Zhou Ning smiled at Chen Xiaohong and nodded, and she patted Zhou Ning’s arm.
"Go ahead, call me if there’s anything. I’m going to get busy," she said.
After bidding farewell to Chen Xiaohong and following He Shancun, they came to an observation room. There was just one bed in the ward with a patient on it, and a monitor beside it displaying various data.
Zhou Ning glanced at the monitor: heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, blood oxygen—all within the normal range, but shock was not easy to wake up from.
Approaching the bedside, He Shancun signaled the doctor to uncover the patient and then unwrapped each of the bandaged wounds.
Mr. Zhao inhaled sharply; these wounds were not fewer than those on the body of the deceased Wen Haicheng, not to mention the abrasions and swellings. There were seven or eight cuts and puncture wounds on the arms and legs.
Following where He Shancun was pointing, Zhou Ning saw that the most serious injury was on the posterior of Zhang Xin’s left calf—damage to the posterior tibial artery; it had been sutured in depth to stop the bleeding.
Recalling the location of the blood pool on the restroom floor, it seemed that this was where the most blood was lost. Zhou Ning nodded slightly and signaled Mr. Zhao to take pictures, carefully enlarging each wound, including scaled photographs. Zhou Ning also carefully swabbed for samples.
He Shancun lifted Zhang Xin’s clothes, revealing a bruise on the left abdomen.
"You are the professionals, but this bruise seems two days old. I don’t think it was caused at the same time as the other injuries," he suggested.
Zhou Ning looked carefully, nodding continuously.
"Could you check Zhang Xin’s platelets for me? This injury feels like it was caused two or three days ago, and the bruising has started to turn purple and spread," Zhou Ning requested.
"No problem," He Shancun responded.
After thanking him, Zhou Ning left his mobile number. The two men appreciated each other’s company and exchanged a few more words before Zhou Ning departed, with Mr. Zhao following closely behind in quick, small steps.
"Slow down, will you? Just because you’ve got long legs, you think you can tease those of us with shorter ones, eh? But why are you in such a hurry to see Zhang Xin’s injuries? Do you think the killer treated the deceased and Zhang Xin differently?" Mr. Zhao asked.
Zhou Ning shook his head; he had many doubts at this moment. Of course, it would be best if Zhang Xin could just speak up. ƒrēewebnovel.com
"There’s no lead on the case; let’s go back and do the autopsy. Afterwards, I’ll discuss it with my master. I just feel like I might have missed something, but I can’t find anything on closer inspection," Zhou Ning said.
Mr. Zhao said no more, knowing that Zhou Ning was always insightful. Even Xu Dayuan had mentioned it before: if he felt something was off and couldn’t find the thread, it meant that while the case seemed simple, there might be something more complicated beneath the surface.
Back in the autopsy room, Liu Yongping was already dressed and ready, and the deceased’s only remaining garment, the boxer briefs, had been removed. Liu Yongping stood with gloved hands raised, beckoning Zhou Ning with his fingers.
"Where have you been? What’s the hurry with the autopsy?"
As Zhou Ning was gearing up, he recounted the findings from the crime scene and some details from the emergency room. Fully equipped, he finished his summary, and Liu Yongxin furrowed his brows in thought.
"Interesting, one of a couple is dead, and the other hid in the restroom to narrowly escape—was the killer startled into a hasty retreat, or was the deceased the sole target?" Liu Yongxin mused.
Zhou Ning sighed; this was the dilemma that troubled him.
"Master, I can’t figure it out either. Let’s do the autopsy now. Should I start with the X-rays?" Zhou Ning asked.
"No need. Since you took so long to get here, I couldn’t exactly just wait around. I’ve already taken the X-rays. Let’s go by the old rules: you do the autopsy, and I’ll record. Start from the body surface," Liu Yongxin instructed.
Without wasting words, Zhou Ning began the examination, starting from the pupils, moving to the head, torso, limbs, detailing the depth of each wound, the length, the nature of the damage, weapon characteristics, and the analysis of the assailant. After Zhou Ning reported all this, Liu Yongxin looked up from his notes at him.
"Kid, I’ve only been resting for less than two months, and you’ve improved quite a bit. I can barely keep up with your pace in recording," Liu Yongxin commented.
Zhou Ning laughed awkwardly; he certainly couldn’t mention that he had been forced to perform ten autopsies every night since the end of the last case. Each corpse had a comprehensive array of injuries, covering all types of wound patterns, even including various bullet wounds from different angles, and the time constraints made his work feel as rushed as if he were being chased by a dog.
"I also need to keep improving, Master. Shall I make the incisions?" Zhou Ning asked.
Liu Yongxin nodded.
"There’s no need for two masters to attend to one matter; you go ahead and let’s see what kind of progress you’ve made."
Zhou Ning took a deep breath, grabbed a scalpel, and began the autopsy. The deceased had three cuts on his chest and abdomen, the deepest no more than two centimeters. This Wen Haicheng was very robust; none of the three cuts reached his internal organs, so the dissection process went quickly.
After completing the routine examination, Zhou Ning looked up.
"The deceased Wen Haicheng had a lung infection, with mucous secretions and mucus plugs in the bronchi and the lower lobe of the right lung. He had been suffering from bronchitis for some time; the gallbladder contained sludge-like gallstones, the liver exhibited mild fibrosis and fatty degeneration, and there were polyps on the intestinal wall. The deceased had numerous health issues that weren’t timely addressed."
"Hmm, the condition of the bronchopneumonia must have lasted a while. Did this person have a busy workload?"
Mr. Zhao came closer. Since the last time, he seemed to have grown less averse to autopsies, even finding them somewhat interesting.
"They called him Engineer Wen; he was a designer at the Huadong Design Institute, in charge of a very important design project. At ten o’clock this morning, he was supposed to have a final design meeting with the client, which essentially meant submitting the design for the last time before signing the contract."
Liu Yongxin nodded in agreement.
"No wonder then. High-stress work, decreased bodily functions, and all sorts of health issues surface. This man was only twenty-nine, yet his body is in worse shape than that of an average elderly person who exercises regularly. The X-rays show problems with his cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine; cervical spondylosis is very pronounced."
Mr. Zhao grimaced beside them.
"How can you even compare that? These days, young people often can’t match the health of retired folks; his case isn’t unusual."
Liu Yongxin glanced at Mr. Zhao.
"Less nonsense from you—you ought to lose weight. Over the New Year’s period, you seem to have gained quite a lot, what, nearly thirty pounds?"
Mr. Zhao’s face instantly fell, and he wore a bitter expression.
"That hurts, man. That’s verbal violence. I didn’t eat much over the New Year, and I don’t know why I gained so much. But do forensic doctors all have eyes like rulers? Haven’t you noticed quite accurately?"
Liu Yongxin snorted twice.
"Off you go, don’t disturb Zhou Ning."
Although Mr. Zhao was dissatisfied, he obediently shut his mouth. Zhou Ning then focused on the area between the deceased’s legs; the genitalia had been cut from below. Using tweezers to lift the area of damaged skin, Zhou Ning carefully examined it.
"Parts of the foreskin, spongiosum, and the veins and arteries of the urethra were all severed. If this cut had been made from top to bottom, the bleeding would have been much more profuse. The assailant struck with extreme severity; the area is highly sensitive, and the deceased would have screamed incessantly."
Liu Yongxin nodded, holding tiny fibers in the tweezers and speaking through a magnifying glass:
"It appears the deceased was screaming, so the killer suffocated the deceased’s mouth and nose with a pillow, causing death by mechanical asphyxiation."
Zhou Ning released the tweezers and slightly raised his head, mimicking the motion of pulling up the deceased’s pants.
"The sequence seems incorrect. After the genitalia were cut, the assailant swiftly pulled up the boxer shorts, which would prevent blood from splattering. There’s a bloodstain on the pillow that matches the wound on the deceased’s head.
That means the act of suffocating the deceased’s mouth and nose occurred after the head injury. The cries from the genital injury didn’t alarm the people nearby."
Mr. Zhao once again moved closer, seemingly eager to assert his presence.
"The person who reported the crime said that when he went upstairs and knocked on the door, he seemed to hear sounds from the room."
Zhou Ning acknowledged with a grunt.
"Right, I’ve asked Xu Da about this; he said the deceased’s mother also went upstairs but heard nothing. It’s uncertain whether the noise was actually heard, but the time of death is very close to when the reporting party went upstairs."
Liu Yongxin stroked his chin.
"The reporting party? Was he in competition with the deceased?"
Zhou Ning didn’t know that; after all, he had only glanced at the reporting party when going upstairs. The man seemed well-dressed, with an earnest look of anxiety. But whether there was an element of acting involved, Zhou Ning couldn’t tell as he didn’t have a more detailed observation.
"I don’t know; Xu Da will have to check on that. The suspects I’ve suggested are acquaintances, as there were no signs of forced entry at the deceased’s home, and the community is not fully occupied yet. If they were not familiar, how would they know the residents had moved in and were at home?"
"So it seems you don’t believe this is an ordinary case of larceny leading to a crime of passion, do you?"
