funbook-pk Chapter 1106 begins the autopsy.
Chapter 1106 begins the autopsy.
“The pattern flows clockwise, which is consistent with right-hand operation. The central pattern is bucket-shaped, but the details are insufficient and cannot be directly compared.” He checked the lock status of the switch machine. “It is in the unlocked position, which means that someone moved here last night. The rail displacement is about 5 centimeters, which is just enough to allow the vehicle to be diverted into the waste disposal area.”
“There’s a set of parallel tire tracks on the ground in the waste disposal area,” Xiao Yang pointed his laser pointer at the compacted soil. “The tire tread width is 20 centimeters, and the spacing is 180 centimeters, which matches the parameters of a medium-sized truck. The tread pattern is a horizontal serrated pattern, which matches the truck characteristics described by the person who reported the incident.” He used a plaster cast to make a mold. “The wear on the tires indicates that the mileage is about 8 kilometers. There is a 2-centimeter cut on the tread of the right front tire, which corresponds to the scratch pattern at the rail joint. It should have been left by the same vehicle.”
Suddenly, Xiao Sun shouted from a corner of the oil drum storage area, "Brother Lin, there's an abnormal soil moisture level here!" He inserted a probe into the ground. "The moisture content at a depth of 15 centimeters is 25%, 10% higher than the surrounding area. Also, the soil particles are disturbed, as if someone dug it up and then filled it back in." He asked the technicians to conduct a soil profile analysis. "No buried material was found, but the organic matter content in the soil is abnormal, possibly caused by some kind of liquid seepage. We need to take it back to the lab for component analysis."
“There’s a metallic sheen in the drainage ditch beside the railway,” Xiao Yang said, walking over with his investigation lamp. The beam of light reflected a silvery-white light in the puddles at the bottom of the ditch. “It looks like a watch. The strap is stainless steel, and the case has impact marks.” He carefully retrieved the watch with an evidence bag. “The hands are stopped at 11:07. There’s fog on the inside of the crystal, which means the water damage wasn’t long ago, matching the time the person who reported the incident heard the truck start.” The wear marks on the strap indicate it’s been used for over two years, and there are blurry letters engraved on the inside of the clasp that are currently unrecognizable.
Xiao Sun's walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life; technicians had made a discovery behind the collapsed brick wall. "This shoe print is size 42," he said, crouching down to measure. "The forefoot pattern is round and granular, completely different from a size 43 shoe print. The stride length is 65 centimeters, the stride width 8 centimeters, estimating a height of about 165 centimeters. It must have been left by someone else." He shone a multi-band light source on the print. "There's sweat residue around the edges, requiring DNA sampling, but no features directly related to the case were found."
As the investigation progressed into the afternoon, the sun began to set, and the light in the workshop gradually dimmed. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun summarized their newly discovered clues: rail scratches, diesel residue, unfamiliar size 42 shoe prints, a watch stopped at 11:07, disturbed soil… These clues were like scattered beads, not yet strung together into a complete chain. “The strangest thing is this watch,” Xiao Yang wiped the sweat from his brow, “the time the hands stopped matches the truck’s start time, but who owns the watch? Why did it end up here?”
Xiao Sun frowned at the plaster model of the tire tracks: "A medium-sized truck should have a load capacity of over 5 tons, but the depth of these tire tracks indicates that the load is no more than 3 tons. Subtracting the vehicle's own weight, it means that the truck was carrying less than 1 ton of cargo, which is unlikely to be used to transport a corpse, unless..." He suddenly stopped, "unless the corpse was transported to the workshop entrance by another means of transportation and then transferred to the rolling mill by a truck."
Xiao Yang's gaze fell on the disturbed soil: "If it's just some trivial stuff buried, there's no need to go to so much trouble." He inserted the probe into the ground again. "The depth is just enough to bury a toolbox, maybe the one that was lost from the workshop. The wrench and hacksaw inside might be hidden here." But after digging for half an hour, they only found some gravel and rusty nails, with no trace of any tools.
As the last rays of sunlight disappeared at the end of the workshop, Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun's investigation notebooks were filled with 47 new clues. They sorted and packed all the samples: dark blue fiber, plaster models of tire tracks, watches, soil samples... Each item was meticulously labeled. "Although we found quite a few traces, we lack physical evidence that directly points to the murderer," Xiao Yang said, closing his notebook, his voice tinged with fatigue. "The appearance of the unfamiliar size 42 shoe print is a new variable; it could be an accomplice, or it could be someone unrelated. Further investigation is needed."
As Xiao Sun packed up his investigation equipment, the beam of his investigation lamp flickered in the empty workshop: "The scratches on the rails and the abnormality of the switch machine indicate that the murderer is very familiar with the steel plant's railway system and may have worked here before." He looked up at the starry sky outside the window. "Next, we need to check the list of former employees of the steel plant, especially men with old injuries on their right feet who wear size 43 shoes. That might be the breakthrough."
A cool night breeze blew in through the broken windows of the workshop. Xiao Yang glanced one last time at the pile of discarded oil drums; drum number 3 gleamed coldly in the moonlight, as if concealing some secret. He knew that although this expanded investigation hadn't yielded any major clues, these subtle traces—railway scratches, unfamiliar shoe prints, the stopped watch—would eventually reveal the truth through analysis in the laboratory. But for now, they needed more patience and time.
While Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun were conducting a detailed on-site investigation, the body was transported back to the Criminal Investigation Detachment for autopsy.
On the stainless steel workbench of the detachment's autopsy room, putrefactive gases were gushing from the corpse's mouth and nose. A pale greenish-brown hue had spread to the chest and abdomen, creating a stark contrast with the steel-gray powder clinging to the crevices of the rolling mill. Zhang Lin, wearing a double-layered gas mask, held a scalpel suspended over the corpse's sternum, the blade reflecting the pale face of his assistant, Xiao Lin. "Late stage of decomposition," his voice grew muffled through the gas canister, "The cornea is completely cloudy, the sclera shows a network of putrefactive veins, and the epidermis has separated from the dermis, peeling off in a glove-like manner—these characteristics are consistent with death 48-72 hours prior."
Xiaolin inserted a thermometer into the corpse's rectum, and the reading fluctuated around 24°C. "Ambient temperature 32°C, corpse temperature 24°C," she noted on the logbook. "But the heat generated by putrefaction can interfere with the estimation of corpse temperature. Shouldn't we combine other indicators?" Zhang Lin used tweezers to lift the abdominal skin, and the putrefactive bubbles in the subcutaneous tissue burst, making a soft crackling sound. "Look at the distribution of this putrefactive venous network; it radiates outwards from the umbilicus, with a mesh diameter of about 0.5 cm. This morphology appears about 60 hours after death in summer." He instructed the technicians to collect subcutaneous tissue samples, "to perform histochemical analysis and measure the degree of fatty acid rancidity, which will allow for a more accurate estimation of time."
The physical examination was conducted under multi-wavelength light, and Zhang Lin's scalpel gently sliced across the corpse's neck.