National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 659 - 603 Incense

Chapter 659: Chapter 603 Incense

Huhu...

Professor Chen lay on the autopsy table, sound asleep.

Next to him was Jiang Yuan, still diligently performing autopsies. He had to slice all the internal organs and also prepare samples for toxicological examination.

The damp, sticky workbench did not affect Professor Chen’s sleep, nor did it affect Wu Jun’s.

Wu Jun slept against the wall where two benches were joined together. Since Professor Chen was a guest and a professor from The Great Learning, with his advanced age, it was quite appropriate for him to sleep on the autopsy table.

Wu Jun, too, had been busy with Jiang Yuan all night. By the wee hours, his head was splitting, and he quickly found a place to grab some sleep fully clothed.

Mu Zhiyang had no choice but to sleep slumped over the table, which was rather uncomfortable.

Jiang Yuan neither had a place to sleep nor was he particularly inclined to sleep.

After finishing the tasks at hand, Jiang Yuan silently began to suture the skin of the corpse.

At 4 a.m. in the funeral home, other than taking care of the corpse, there was nothing else to do — the autopsy room was too cold and small, and sleeping when too tired was not worth it; it was better to continue working on the body.

LV4 forensic pathology allowed him to perform very meticulous autopsies on the bodies.

However, that was as far as it went; as far as the case was concerned, there was only so much information a body could provide.

Leaving aside the first assailant, the second assailant had simply grabbed the victim’s head and smashed it forcefully onto the ground, acting very decisively and directly.

This was one of the reasons why Jiang Yuan believed that the second assailant was someone closely related to the victim, Mijia.

Such a clean, efficient killing move requires a very strong motive.

In modern society, excluding the mentally ill, normal people would only choose to kill when they have a very strong motive.

At the time, Mijia was already lying on the ground, barely alive. In other words, she was almost incapable of doing anything, and it was even questionable whether she could speak or make a sound.

Moreover, Mijia should not have had any additional valuables on her person, at least not enough to warrant killing for profit.

Of course, political factors and such could also be a part of the motive for murder; one always has to leave a place for Kennedy.

But from what Jiang Yuan saw at the moment, the most likely reason for the murder of the waitress was a crime of passion.

The wealthy may die in countless ways, but the poor often meet their end in quite similar fashions.

At only 22 years of age, Mijia, who wasn’t bad looking and would be considered a pretty girl, worked in a restaurant in the tourist area. With a salary of over 4,000 yuan a month, no savings, and a mentally ill ex-boyfriend...

Jiang Yuan performed a very careful autopsy, also hoping to find any exclusionary factors.

Unfortunately, there were none.

Mijia’s muscle mass was below average, with no signs of specialized training; she didn’t seem like a special agent or anything of the sort.

Her body tissues were also normal, consistent with a 22-year-old, and there was nothing like documents or USB drives inside her.

Yet with this, the investigation of the case now relied on the criminal police’s scrutiny.

Early morning.

The sun rose.

Professor Chen stretched lazily, climbing off the autopsy table, and said with a smile, "I haven’t had such a good sleep in a long time."

Wu Jun also got up rubbing his shoulders, listening to Professor Chen’s words. He lit incense, and forced a wry smile.

Jiang Yuan was sitting at the table, drinking tea with the bleary-eyed Mu Zhiyang, and greeted, "Master, how did you sleep?"

Wu Jun shook his head and said, "I’ve had enough sleep in the funeral home, with Director Huang setting up the new criminal investigation building. Who knows when it’ll be erected, this place is really small and old."

"It’s these old-fashioned autopsy tables that are comfortable to sleep on." Professor Chen said with emotion, "Our school has replaced them with new models now. The sink beside them is quite uncomfortable, and the shadowless lamp above needs to be moved around, not as comfortable as this one."

"We need to pay attention to that when buying," Wu Jun couldn’t help nodding. As a professor of Anatomy who came out of the school, he indeed could provide some new information.

"Let’s go have breakfast."

Jiang Yuan had also been up all night, but he did not want to sleep. He led the group out the door and found a breakfast shop next to the funeral home.

In the customs of Ningtai County, cremations are done in the morning. After collecting the ashes, people go home to continue the mourning rituals. Usually, guests are invited for a meal at noon, and the family continues to keep vigil for several days in the afternoon.

To save time, many people brought corpses early in the morning and only went out to eat after the ceremony had ended. Therefore, the breakfast shops near the funeral home were quite bustling, serving neither tofu pudding nor stuffed foods.

Having changed into a fresh set of clothes, Jiang Yuan chose a noodle shop where he ate until he was warm all over and finally managed to blow his nose several times.

The noodles in the restaurant were nothing to write home about, but the broth was good, made with a lot of ingredients; it felt very much like Ningtai.

After the meal, the group headed back to the police station, coinciding with the start of work hours.

Professor Chen had enjoyed his meal so much, he hadn’t even considered the fact that he could have gone home by now and ended up following them to the police station.

Liu Wenkai, the captain of the second squad, saw Jiang Yuan arrive and immediately came over with a notebook in hand.

"We combed through quite a bit of information last night," Liu Wenkai started as he entered the room. "Right now, I’m inclined to think it was a crime of passion."

This judgment coincided with Jiang Yuan’s guess, and he nodded in agreement, then added, "Based on the autopsy, I wouldn’t rule that out. If there’s anything noteworthy, the victim seems to have undergone some cosmetic procedures. Mostly a nose job and eyebrow tattooing, with no signs of liposuction."

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenkai immediately grasped Jiang Yuan’s implication. "Cosmetic procedures can easily lead to small loans. However, it wasn’t reflected in the credit report. I’ll check it again."

Mijia had no credit cards registered in her name. She worked at a restaurant, and her monthly bank statements didn’t show high cash flow. Lacking an education, it wouldn’t be easy for her to obtain standard bank loans, making it possible that she had dealings with non-credit-relevant small loans.

Jiang Yuan nodded. He was merely relaying the information obtained from the autopsy and did not believe Mijia’s death was related to small loans.

The rhythm of small loan debt collection was predictable, initially amounting to just some threatening phone calls, none of which were found on the victim’s mobile phone. Furthermore, the goal of debt collection is to retrieve money—killing cleanly and efficiently seemed senseless.

"Let me tell you what we’ve learned so far," Liu Wenkai said, seeing that there was no new information from Jiang Yuan’s end, and opened his folder.

Everyone nodded.

"According to our understanding, the victim Mijia was a rather popular woman. Apart from her ex-boyfriend who is suspected of having mental issues, Mijia had three other ex-boyfriends or boyfriends. They are of the same age group, characterized by being rather tall and handsome," Liu Wenkai said with a hint of emotion. "Young girls all go for looks."

Liu Wenkai laid out photos of the total four ex-boyfriends and continued, "Our current focus is on the victim’s present boyfriend. Guo Lushang, a fitness instructor with a good physique and handsome appearance, has participated in some bodybuilding competitions and may have used some banned drugs."

"Does he have a tendency for violence?" Jiang Yuan looked up.

"No records of that, but under the influence of drugs, it’s hard to say," Liu Wenkai closed the folder, adding, "We’ve sent someone with a subpoena to bring him in for interrogations."

"And the motive?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Jealousy?" Liu Wenkai was, of course, uncertain as well; he was merely narrowing down the list of people from the complex reports.

"I’ll look into the footprints later," Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, "And check his mobile phone again."

To commit the murder, the culprit had to be at the scene. Since Guo Lushang was a fitness instructor, if he had appeared at the restaurant, it would surely be to see Mijia.

However, if the two of them were in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, it wouldn’t be strange for his traces to be in the restaurant.

At this point, there was nothing to do but wait for further leads.

But in reality, they didn’t have to wait long. The officer responsible for the interrogation soon relayed a message:

"Guo Lushang claims to have an alibi."