National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 607 - 552 Acquaintance

Chapter 607: Chapter 552 Acquaintance

Evening.

Captain Pang Jidong treated everyone to Haidilao Hot Pot privately.

Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Wang Zhong, and Huang Qiangmin, among others, had meat in the hot pot while chatting casually and feeling relaxed.

After a couple more beers, Mu Zhiyang grew sentimental, "I’ve followed Captain Jiang to so many places, but Captain Pang is the first leader to treat us to Haidilao."

With an expressionless face, Pang Jidong swished the pork belly in the broth and said, "There’s no fine food in Luo Jin."

"Is it even worse than Hangzhou?" Mu Zhiyang asked.

"At least Hangzhou has its famous dishes, whether they taste good or bad, there’s something to explain. In Luo Jin, our signature dishes aren’t really significant. Even Haidilao has been here for a while, and you see, it still requires waiting in a long line..."

Wang Zhong summed it up, "It’s a rescue mission." He was now mixing with Wu Jun, his speech even had a bit of style, and he was no longer looking like a newbie.

"Indeed, it has rescued us Luo Jin people," Pang Jidong nodded, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "So, although we have many deaths in Luo Jin, there really aren’t many chefs among the dead. People are even embarrassed to call themselves chefs; at most, they can only cook..."

He was explaining the source of the bodies to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan began to realize, "That Luoyang Beef Soup I had at the hotel the other day was delicious, so it was prepared by a chef from out of town, right?"

"Yeah, locals don’t like to be chefs, and there aren’t any local dishes to cook. Moreover, being a chef in Luo Jin for too long really deteriorates the skill level. In their words, the local environment of Luo Jin doesn’t nurture chefs," Pang Jidong explained earnestly.

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan began to understand and asked, "The case involving chefs as victims, is it not going well?"

"It’s not that it’s not going well, but the skill level of the chefs is definitely not going well; they are all just ordinary chefs," Pang Jidong sighed helplessly and asked, "I don’t know what technique you’ve mastered, but why are you looking for chefs? Is it because of the chefs’ years of experience, their skill level, or their working environment?"

Captain Pang asked seriously. He assumed Jiang Yuan had some special method of selection that was particularly beneficial for cases with chefs as victims.

This situation was quite normal; working in a certain profession for a long time could lead to occupational diseases. For example, chefs commonly suffer from occupational diseases such as bronchitis, rhinitis, and lung diseases.

As a forensic doctor, it wasn’t too strange for Jiang Yuan to use his profession to solve crimes and catch criminals.

Captain Pang wouldn’t ask Jiang Yuan for reasons; adults know they shouldn’t burden or trouble others. Even if Jiang Yuan explained his rationale in forensic terms, what would he understand?

Moreover, Jiang Yuan was still instilling knowledge of legal botany in him day after day. Pang Jidong was actually a bit scared that if Jiang Yuan knew he had developed an interest in forensic pathology, it would be even worse.

Jiang Yuan initially mentioned wanting a chef victim on a whim, but he felt it wasn’t a bad idea.

People should have goals in life. If he handled cases so haphazardly and carefree, what would differentiate him from those young people in Jiang Village who could only lie at home collecting rent and utility fees, dealing with real estate agents all day buying properties?

"Preferably a higher skill level, that’s the most important thing. Other than that, a longer working experience is also good, no other requirements," Jiang Yuan pondered a bit, then concluded that skill level was indeed the most crucial.

Pang Jidong nodded, picked up a piece of duck intestine, and said, "If that’s the case, this Haidilao had a middle-aged chef die. He used to be in charge of the kitchen at a hotel but then started working at Haidilao after the hotel switched to a central kitchen for supplies. He was responsible for slicing large pieces of kidneys and doing the hand-cut potato slices. Someone chopped open his throat... Oh right, talking about dead bodies while eating is fine, right..."

"It’s fine, go ahead." Huang Qiangmin and Mu Zhiyang didn’t have a problem, and Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn’t either.

So Pang Jidong continued, "This case is quite vicious. When the body was found, his head had been chopped several times, half of his face was hacked off, an eyeball was hanging out..."

Wang Zhong stopped his chopsticks.

Pang Jidong went on, "The victim was facing away from the scene, apparently didn’t struggle, his neck was slashed with one blow, and the perpetrator even cut off his genitalia."

Mu Zhiyang stopped eating.

Pang Jidong took out his phone, "Take a look at the photos."

Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan looked over together and fished out the simmered pig brains to share and eat.

"It does look like there’s some emotion involved. Was it committed by an acquaintance?" Huang Qiangmin finished the pig brains and asked as he picked up his beer glass.

"Our initial investigation considered acquaintances, but after two rounds of screening, we didn’t find a suitable suspect."

"Is the body still there?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"It is," Pang Jidong replied, "but it has been there for about a year."

"I’ll take a look later. Are there other photos?" Jiang Yuan said.

Pang Jidong must have organized them, as he swiftly opened the photo album on his phone and handed it to Jiang Yuan to look for himself.

Jiang Yuan clicked and read through one photo after another.

There weren’t many photos saved by Pang Jidong, roughly several dozen in total.

Jiang Yuan quickly finished browsing, then went back and looked at a few more photos before handing the phone back to Pang Jidong, saying, "From bloodstain analysis, I also agree it was committed by an acquaintance."

"Bloodstain analysis... Oh, right, you’re skilled in that too," Pang Jidong said as if he just remembered. His mind was so filled with Jiang Yuan’s Legal Botany that he had forgotten Jiang Yuan had also solved cases with Bloodstain Analysis.

Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgement, picked up a piece of pork intestine from the pot to eat, and said, "In simple terms, the killer swung the axe from behind. The victim was sitting on a low chair, facing away from the killer with practically no guard up when struck the first time."

Jiang Yuan continued, "Second, you can see blood splatter behind the door. This suggests that after the killer entered, there was an action of closing the door, and since the door’s hinges are all rusted out, closing it would definitely make a noise."

With Level 6 Tool Trace Identification skills, Jiang Yuan could roughly figure out the situation just by looking at the photos. He went on, "Only if the victim was distracted by conversation with an acquaintance would they possibly not turn around. Otherwise, anyone would normally glance back. The killer was wielding an axe, and if the victim saw, they’d be on alert."

Pang Jidong pondered and said, "The victim lived in a shared rental house, and the main door is usually open. If the room’s door was open too, the killer might have snuck in, struck the victim with the axe, then returned to close the door, and splattered blood on it while chopping the victim several more times after that. It could be possible, right?"

"The splatter from chopping afterwards wasn’t like that," Jiang Yuan’s response was quite unexpected for Pang Jidong.

Pang Jidong lost his appetite for the hotpot and pushed his bowl aside, asking, "Are you sure? It’s completely impossible?"

Jiang Yuan swallowed the food in his mouth before wiping his lips and said, "Have you watched the old version of ’Three Kingdoms’? Generals clashing in battle, one rides up and chops off the enemy general’s head, and blood spurts out."

Pang Jidong nodded with a look of partial understanding.

"The bloodstains on the walls of the room were formed by splattering, which also happened with the first strike of the axe. But from the second strike, the patterns of the bloodstains were from being flung off the weapon, completely different in shape," Jiang Yuan gave Pang Jidong a rough overview of bloodstain analysis, but didn’t go into much detail.

He felt it was better to save Pang Jidong’s brainpower, having used it too much already, and if he continued at this rate, his rest days would be wasted.

Pang Jidong’s expression finally turned serious.

He picked out the photos Jiang Yuan had spoken about and looked at them one by one again, saying, "So, it was still committed by an acquaintance. Did we not check thoroughly enough? Did we miss someone?"

"Perhaps, we could try expanding the list of names," Jiang Yuan said nonchalantly as he blanched the meat.

Of course, this was now with his skills piled up: Level 6 Tool Trace Identification paired with Level 5 Bloodstain Analysis, plus half-used Forensic Pathology and Clinical Sciences, it was already a top-tier forensic configuration. Under normal circumstances, unless someone critically important died, it would be very difficult to assemble such a team.

"Let’s expand the list of names," Huang Qiangmin chimed in, his mood delightful, feeling that if this case was solved, his tasting tour in Luo Jin City would be complete.