National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 729 - 672: Six Bodies

Chapter 729: Chapter 672: Six Bodies

"A body."

A police officer shouted, drawing everyone’s attention to the scene.

With the water level of the largest sewage pond receding, a bamboo basket emerged, containing a pile of eerie white bones. Based on their experience and inferences grounded in reality, considering factors such as orientation and weather changes, the crowd surmised that these were very likely human remains.

Gurgle.

Tao Lu swallowed, "Is there really one?"

Huang Qiangmin was also somewhat surprised, "As expected of a major city with a population of tens of millions."

To put it in perspective, the daily influx of people into Beijing often surpasses the entire population of Ningtai County. It’s only natural for the Zhengguang Bureau to have such a substantial budget. It’s a place where a lot of money comes in, and equally a lot gets spent, like now, where the quota for ten bodies was rapidly filled.

Of course, solving two consecutive murder cases is already the workload of many criminal police teams for an entire year. As for the current case involving six bodies in an international murder investigation, cracking it would be enough for all the participating personnel to boast about for a lifetime.

Huang Qiangmin glanced at Tao Lu, his eyes conveying a time, a place, and an event, but he said nothing.

This time, Tao Lu didn’t dodge the gaze. Facing Huang Qiangmin, he said, "Doctor Jiang, the body is in your hands now. This case has become Zhengguang Bureau’s top priority. Whatever resources you need to solve it, we’ll provide them, without any limit or need to economize."

Before Cui Qishan’s left foot stepped on this piece of human bone, this was an international case involving four bodies. Frankly, in a city as big as Beijing, homicide cases involving four victims occasionally do happen. Especially those passion-driven cases where families are wiped out, which typically involve three or four people.

However, cases that intermittently involve victims from different groups are truly different.

The appearance of this body, with its chilling white bones, shattered Tao Lu’s last illusion and carved a hole into his train of thought.

Now, concerns about funding were irrelevant, and how the rest of the year would pan out was also unimportant. What mattered was solving this case. Tao Lu immediately took out his mobile phone to report to his superiors.

Jiang Yuan responded, then began unfolding a protective suit on the spot, slipping it on as he said, "I’ll go in first to take a look. Stop pumping the water here for now; we’ll continue after I take samples."

"Understood." Liu Cheng hurriedly picked up the walkie-talkie to notify the sludge removal truck on the other side.

As the water was pumped out of the sewage pond, a large quantity of mud remained at the bottom, and, of course, it was impossible to remove all the water completely. Jiang Yuan hurried into the pond to begin examining the body.

Liu Jinghui inhaled deeply the stench of the sewage, standing on the shore nearest to the body, musing aloud, "Jiang Yuan, can you determine how long the body has been immersed in the water and how long it has been exposed to the air?"

"What do you mean?"

"The first, second, and third bodies were buried in the soil, the fourth one as well, and they all had been exposed on the ground for a significant time. I want to know the specific sequence and duration."

"Given its current state, it’s difficult to determine that." Jiang Yuan shook his head as he looked at the bones below. If there were some flesh and insects, it would be somewhat easier to judge. Now, the only indicators were waterplants, and the specific situation in the sewage pond was still unknown.

Moreover, the decomposition rate of a body in water is quite slow. Water is more complex than air, and it constitutes a relatively isolated environment. The temperature also relates to the volume and depth of the water body, and temperature is closely associated with the time of death and the time to skeletonization...

Liu Jinghui could only nod, "At first, I thought the killer was very careful, but now, it seems they are quite capricious. There are bodies in the water, buried ones, and even those exposed in the wilderness. And, sewage ponds are eventually going to dry up. If the summer sun bakes it long enough without rain, the water will recede, and the bodies are bound to be revealed..."

"Dig it out just to bury it again?"

"Why bother doing that? Besides, how could one accurately determine the time like that, and it’s not too easy to get into the pool either," Liu Jinghui shook his head.

"Sounds like a lunatic," Cui Qishan was not the type who enjoyed listening to deductions and was growing a bit impatient now.

Liu Jinghui said, "It’s not surprising to be a lunatic, if a murderer goes to such lengths with his crimes, they might as well be insane. Antisocial personality disorder, things like that, could all be diagnosed."

But to not solve the case—this was what Liu Jinghui did not say.

Whoosh...

The other two forensic doctors entered the water to go towards the bamboo basket and start collecting the skeletal remains.

The bamboo basket was flat, made with wide and thick bamboo strips. It had not fallen apart even after soaking in the water for more than a year, which was truly not an easy feat. The skeletal remains, however, were scattered in a heap, some of the smaller bones had already slipped out of the encirclement of the bamboo basket.

Jiang Yuan proceeded step by step with the inspection and sampling, and after sending up the remains, some insect corpses and bodies, and parts of the mud and water all onto the hearse, he returned to the edge of the pool, stripping off his protective suit by the scene, all the while turning a blind eye to the crowd’s pinched noses and turned heads.

Standing at the edge of the sewage pond, there’s no need to disdain those who just walked out of it.

Jiang Yuan threw the protective suit into the trash bin and then said, "Number Six was also female, roughly 1.7 meters tall, and about 21 years old at the time of death. The estimated time of death is about 2 years and 6 months, to 2 years and 7 months..."

With an LV7 determination of the time of death, giving such a wide margin was also a form of respect for the murderer.

This murderer can be counted as one of the most laborious body handlers Jiang Yuan had ever encountered. He dumped bodies, buried bodies, and in between also moved the bodies from place to place, rearranging positions...

Jiang Yuan did not know the reason behind these actions, but the result of doing so made the estimation of the time of death extremely uncertain.

"The behavior of this murderer is still quite abnormal," Liu Jinghui’s tone was steady, his eyes shining as if he had seen an old classmate at a trade fair.

For Liu Jinghui, who was not in pursuit of fame or fortune, such a challenging case was truly a gift.

He often willingly participated in Jiang Yuan’s cases partly for this reason; Jiang Yuan would solve mundane cases in the blink of an eye, and only these interesting, difficult cases would seep into his hands.

As Liu Jinghui pondered, he said, "Just looking at the way the killer handled bodies one, two, and three, one could say it was ingeniously calculated. Of course, it would have been perfect if the graves were dug a bit deeper, but it doesn’t affect the outcome. It is already a very good method of disposal, and the grave digging was quite professional."

"Number Four was handled ordinarily. Numbers Five and Six were too casual, thrown into a stink pit, and even using a bamboo basket; the implements used for disposing of bodies Five and Six were different..."

"We should thoroughly investigate the origin of the bamboo basket."

While saying this, Liu Jinghui frowned and gradually fell silent.

The photographer hired by Mike’s parents, at this moment, tried to step forward silently, aimed the camera, and wanted to capture the slightly despondent expressions of everyone.

Mu Zhiyang stepped forward and used his body to block the camera’s view from the photographer.