National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 697 - 640

Chapter 697: 640

In the autopsy room of Changyang City, there were three bodies laid out, each on its own autopsy table.

Excluding the first body that had been put away, there were three more victims of hammer attacks, now lying here.

Among the three, one was uncovered from inside the Jianghua Kechuang Building, a project manager from Xin Xin Construction and Decoration Company, while the other two were foremen from another company, Day and Night Decoration Design Company.

Though their positions were slightly different, their job responsibilities all included communications with bricklayers.

Adding in the similar manner of killing and disposing of the bodies...

These three bodies, together with the body of the project manager from Shang Geyong’s home, were all attributed to the bricklayer’s doing and were treated as related cases.

Even though it was somewhat expected, upon seeing these three bodies, Jiang Yuan and others still felt a heavy silence weighing on them.

Even for a provincial capital like Changyang City, a case with four bodies still demanded significant attention.

"It’s a call from Qian," declared the autopsy room’s landline, as it rang. The forensic doctor nearby glanced over and handed the phone to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan took off his gloves and head covering and, taking the opportunity to rest for a moment, answered the phone. "Qian," he said.

Qian Tongyi let out a heavy sigh, seemingly exhausted. "How is it going? Any conclusions?" he asked.

"In terms of direct conclusions, first and foremost, it’s confirmed that all four bodies were victims of the same weapon, the hammer we previously identified. It should be considered the murderer’s weapon of choice, most likely carried with him at all times," Jiang Yuan explained after comparing the skulls of all four victims, certain about the murder weapon.

Qian Tongyi grunted in acknowledgment, "This conclusion is very important, though I wonder whether the murderer will carry the hammer with him while fleeing. If he does, he’d likely be unable to board high-speed trains or take flights."

Jiang Yuan curled his lip; now wasn’t the time to worry about these things. Besides, the murderer still had Shang Geyong with him...

At this thought, Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow and asked, "Are you assuming Shang Geyong is already dead?"

"It wouldn’t make sense for him to be alive," Qian Tongyi replied. "The murderer, taking him along, is purely a burden and very dangerous. After killing so many, one more, Shang Geyong, wouldn’t make a difference. Of course, there’s also the possibility that he’s using Shang Geyong as a driver, which would be better. We’re actively reaching out to Pingzhou now."

Shang Geyong’s car was never found, which to the police meant that either the vehicle was parked somewhere unmoving, dismantled, or it went to a place like Pingzhou, where no one would notice.

Otherwise, if it were driven south or east, given the increasing number of surveillance cameras on the roads, a complete lack of news would be impossible.

On the other end of the phone, Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. "Indeed."

In Jiang Yuan’s opinion, Qian Tongyi’s logic was sound. The only reason the murderer took Shang Geyong was likely because he witnessed what he shouldn’t have, and the murderer didn’t have time to deal with him then.

Now, several days later, the most probable scenario was that Shang Geyong was already buried somewhere. The best-case scenario of being alive was if he was being used as a driver. If neither of those options held true, the situation was complicated.

"Our current work is divided into two main areas: one is the pursuit of the murderer, and the other is finding additional bodies," updated Qian Tongyi on their work progress, then added, "There are likely more bodies out there, right?"

"Likely so," Jiang Yuan sighed. "The four bodies we’ve found so far all follow a similar pattern. Except for number 3, who was embedded in a bay window, the rest were concealed within walls, and all underwent preservation treatments, pointing to a rather experienced pattern, not the work of a novice."

Qian Tongyi made a curious sound. "Embedded in a bay window, that’s a clever idea. If a few holes were opened on the outer wall, would the inside not smell?" he asked.

"Creating openings would certainly accelerate the decay of the body; the initial smell, I estimate, would be even stronger, particularly during rainy days or overcast weather, as the body would easily become damp again," Jiang Yuan paused, then remembered, "Insects too can easily get in, and the abundance of insects or their excrements could leave traces on the exterior wall, although there’s no saying for sure without experimentation. But I think, the killer might not have considered all of this."

"Hmm, that’s a possibility indeed," Qian Tongyi sighed, "We’ve been inquiring with some decoration companies and workers in the market. The killer claims to be Chen, from Jian County, not too far from our Changyang City. Everyone just calls him Chen or Master Chen; some have heard his name, but no one remembers it. They say he’s a reserved and taciturn person, who barely speaks a word. The workers think such a person is a bit foolish and prefer not to interact with him. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t gamble, and isn’t interested in women either. Could it be he has some mental issues?"

"Just works all the time, no entertainment, no leisure, does he send the money back home?"

"It’s said he doesn’t have a wife or children, and his parents are no more," Qian Tongyi blurted out with frustration, "A doomed lone star indeed, he’s really tough to deal with."

Jiang Yuan grunted silently for a few seconds, then said, "In that case, he must have quite a bit of money in hand, why does he still take odd jobs in the market? It’s not an easy job, right?"

"Isn’t that typical of serial killers? They prefer steady jobs, don’t they?"

"It’s not described that way, but that’s the idea," Jiang Yuan agreed.

"So, we’re dealing with a typical serial killer without a formal arrangement but likes steady work?" Qian Tongyi thought aloud, then decisively said, "I’ll spread out some more people to check the construction material markets near Pingzhou."

After working with Xu Taining, Jiang Yuan now felt that Qian Tongyi’s way of investigating sounded like playing a game, just guessing a place and going for it. How could the success rate be guaranteed?

Yet the reality was, while Xu Taining’s methods yielded high success rates, they came at an even higher cost.

If Xu Taining were to follow this line of inquiry, it would mean having to visit and inspect markets in multiple cities, even covering cities across two provinces. Even for Xu Taining, that wouldn’t be feasible. It was necessary to narrow down the target.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the several bodies on the autopsy table, then offhandedly said, "Think about it, this bricklayer doesn’t seem to understand high-tech, but he knows to change his phone number, to change phones. If he knows about these, why doesn’t he have a WeChat or QQ account? Does he pay for everything in cash?"

"Right, this guy has no Alipay, no WeChat; he can only spend in cash!" With a sense of helplessness, Qian Tongyi added, "I’ve set up a facial recognition alert, we’ll see if we can catch him that way. Once we confirm a city, it will be easier to find him."

"If we’re just trying to confirm the city, I do have an idea," Jiang Yuan had been pondering it all this while.

Each of the bodies was in a mummified state, but with the comparison of identities of the missing persons, tracing the origin of the corpse was easy. Moreover, because the cause of death was already determined, there was actually very little scope for a forensic doctor to contribute.

However, the lime smeared on the mummified bodies, something Jiang Yuan had seen a lot of lately, sparked an idea in him.

At this moment, considering Qian Tongyi’s request was only aimed at city-level information, Jiang Yuan deliberated and then said, "I’ve noticed the lime on the corpses, especially the lime smeared inside the body cavities, which is all powdered lime. This is likely purchased by the killer himself or at his instruction."

"What’s powdered lime?"

"I only found out after looking it up myself, but lime is classified by its fineness into lump lime, fine lime, and powdered lime. Some decoration sites may not necessarily use powdered lime, but the lime used after the murder to smear inside the body cavities is powdered lime..."

Qian Tongyi suddenly became animated, "So you think the powdered lime is something the killer brings with him?"

"It’s possible. Because at two of the crime scenes, there were two types of lime present, and the lime used inside the body cavities was consistently the same type, indicating the killer has specific requirements for the lime. Moreover, lime is also categorized into high-calcium lime and low-calcium lime, including underburned lime, properly burnt lime, and overburned lime... In any case, the killer is particular about the lime he uses. I’ll send you the details later. You guys can check the markets to see if anyone has been buying this type of lime with cash."

"This is a solid lead," Qian Tongyi said, then hesitated before adding, "The purpose of buying lime was probably for covering the bodies, right? He... might not commit a crime immediately if he’s on the run."

Jiang Yuan sighed, "Shang Geyong hasn’t been found yet."