National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 759 - 702: Dissecting the Corpse

Chapter 759: Chapter 702: Dissecting the Corpse

"The body was burned, the skin mostly carbonized..."

"Below the lower eyelids, down to the margin of the jaw, the facial area is severely collapsed and deformed..."

"No obvious trauma was seen on the neck, torso, or limbs, and there were no defensive wounds on the hands."

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he completed the external examination of the body.

For a Level 1 forensic pathology player, conducting an external examination requires very careful and repeated confirmation.

Especially when it comes to taking photos—if you record something incorrectly, it’s not only embarrassing, but it can also affect later work.

But for someone like Jiang Yuan who started at Level 3 in forensic pathology, external examinations have never been an obstacle.

Medical Examiner Gong, assisting at the side, nodded slightly, thinking: Just by looking at the external examination, Jiang Yuan’s skills are indeed solid, meticulous from top to bottom; it’s hard to find any fault. Today wasn’t a waste of time after all...

"Let’s start the dissection. Hand me the scalpel... We need to loosen this area..." Jiang Yuan said and reached for the scalpel, making an incision on the body.

Dissecting a body after it has been burned is much more difficult than with an ordinary corpse.

Here, not only is the work of determining the cause of death more complicated, but the dissection itself becomes somewhat difficult. The charred body, due to dehydration, has muscles that have contracted, causing the body to become quite firm.

In a standard autopsy, the most commonly used tools are a scalpel and scissors, while bone saws and chisels are typically used only briefly.

However, in the case of a body that has been burned, the latter heavy equipment becomes standard tools. Some forensic doctors with less strength may go directly for the electric bone saw or craniotome.

Medical Examiner Gong, also experienced, saw that Jiang Yuan had begun the dissection and started looking for the electric bone saw.

He lowered his head to rummage through the tools, casually changed the blade on the bone saw, and when he looked up again, he saw that Jiang Yuan had already laid the body flat.

The body was originally in a curled position and could not be laid out completely flat, but now it was fully stretched out.

Medical Examiner Gong couldn’t help exclaiming "Eh," somewhat uncertain how Jiang Yuan managed to do it, and why so quickly.

Jiang Yuan, of course, had no time to pay attention to Medical Examiner Gong’s thoughts. He went straight to opening and exposing the trachea and esophagus, first taking samples of the black mucus found inside for testing, then methodically opening the chest to reveal the lungs.

The lungs, seemingly unharmed on the outside, were now a rotten mess, with bloodstains between the lobes and visible pulmonary bullae at the edges of both lungs. When touching the lungs, there was also a gritty feeling.

"What’s going on here?" Qi Changye wasn’t there to assist; seeing something abnormal, he was the first to ask.

"It should be due to the explosive detonating in the mouth, with the energy conducting downward, causing the lung lobes to expand rapidly, resulting in this damage. When we open the cranial cavity, we should also see contusions on the brain tissue..." Jiang Yuan casually explained as he continued with the dissection.

Medical Examiner Gong worked and nodded at the same time. Jiang Yuan’s explanation was very clear. He understood it immediately and agreed. While theories are easy to construct, actual evidence gathering is not so simple. Procedures like loosening tissues, taking photos, and collecting evidence must be done step by step.

And because the body had been burned, there was also internal twisting and deformation, making standard dissection knowledge somewhat inadequate. If forced, not only would the difficulty increase, but it would also require more effort and time. It’s like the inverse of masterfully carving up an ox.

But Medical Examiner Gong’s difficulties didn’t affect Jiang Yuan’s work.

With Level 5 expertise in forensic pathology, it was virtually impossible for Jiang Yuan to encounter problems during such a fundamental process of body dissection. He worked through it effortlessly, applying mature and classic solutions.

At the same time, Jiang Yuan’s focus was more on interpreting phenomena and analyzing problems.

He made every effort to find as much of the explosive residues in the lungs, trachea, esophagus, and mouth as possible.

Some residues were exposed, but most of the explosive fragments were actually embedded in tissue. Since the mouth and trachea had many wounds, it was nearly impossible to accurately locate the explosive fragments by the rupture points. This task would ordinarily take a considerable amount of time.

However, Jiang Yuan only gestured a bit, and after having Medical Examiner Gong take a few more photos, he was able to excavate a fragment in merely two cuts.

Medical Examiner Gong’s brows furrowed deeply. Why was this so?

Watching Jiang Yuan swiftly dissect over a dozen fragments, Medical Examiner Gong finally couldn’t help but ask, "Jiang, how did you know where the explosive residue was?"

"I actually played a trick..." Jiang Yuan smiled while continuing his work. "Generally speaking, we first find the fragments of explosives, then identify the explosive, right? But since there were actually several pieces of explosive residue exposed in the oral cavity, I first determined what they were, their power, and thus I could deduce which wounds were caused by the blast wave, which were burn injuries from energy, and which were caused by shrapnel penetration..."

"Huh?" Medical Examiner Gong’s eyes widened, and his mind instantly generated seven or eight questions.

Before he could ask more, Qi Changye by his side had already become intrigued, "What do you think the explosive was?"

"A battery, I guess. We’ll need to run some physical and chemical tests. If we can detect components of a battery in this viscous substance, that should be conclusive," Jiang Yuan responded confidently with his level 5 protection.

Qi Changye was surprised, "Using a battery to commit suicide? Could it be that only the battery exploded, while the real explosive didn’t detonate?"

"We can’t conclude it was suicide," Jiang Yuan turned his head and glanced at Qi Changye, saying, "The current evidence doesn’t support the suicide theory either."

"Didn’t you say that no injuries were found on his limbs, and there were no defensive wounds on his hands? If it’s not suicide, who could have stuffed the explosives into his mouth?" Qi Changye paused, then added, "I forgot to tell you earlier, this person is the suspect who used that Z-shaped tool to pry open roller shutters and has a record of violent crime, doesn’t seem like the type to surrender without a fight."

Jiang Yuan was taken aback, then slowly shook his head, "Without finding other explosives, just speaking of a battery used for suicide, detonation is also a challenge. Even though the victim had the ability to make homemade tools... using a detonator or even a percussion cap would be easier and more reliable than a battery, right?"

"That seems reasonable..." Qi Changye hesitated a bit.

"The method of stuffing explosives in the mouth to commit suicide is quite uncommon. If the victim was familiar with tools, there would be more choices, so, I believe it’s premature to determine it as suicide."

Qi Changye nodded slightly, "No defensive wounds and it’s not suicide; it also couldn’t have been an accident, that would be too coincidental... Remote controlled?"

Jiang Yuan blinked, "Not ruled out."

"Can that be proven? He couldn’t have just put a battery in his mouth and it exploded; there must have been some kind of casing, right?"

"No clues were found at the scene?"

Qi Changye shook his head, "The fire-affected area at the scene is quite extensive."

"Then I’ll have to search some more," Jiang Yuan said before burying himself in his work again.

The fragments left in the victim’s oral cavity were very tiny, and retrieving them one by one was indeed quite difficult.

Besides, Jiang Yuan also didn’t want to completely destroy the victim’s oral cavity, in case further inspection was needed.

Medical Examiner Gong followed Jiang Yuan’s lead, but quickly felt disheartened. For him, this was a multiple drain on his intellect, physical strength, and confidence, the higher the difficulty, the harder it was to persevere.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan was somehow managing to find dozens of tiny fragments, and after using tweezers to tentatively piece them together, he formed several small piles that were shapeless.

Just when others thought the attempt had failed, Jiang Yuan tossed aside the tweezers and let out a breath, "It might have been an electronic cigarette."

"Ah?" Qi Changye immediately perked up, "He was an e-cigarette user!"

Jiang Yuan nodded, "The battery in the electronic cigarette exploded, some of it even sprayed onto his face, and most of the fragments probably fell to the ground, most likely burned up in the fire."

Qi Changye furrowed his brows in concentration, "So, the arson wasn’t necessarily to destroy the body to conceal evidence; it could be more about covering up the method of murder? But how did they know when the victim would be smoking an e-cigarette? What did they use to observe him?"

That being said, he wasn’t expecting Jiang Yuan to answer all his questions; instead, the questions he raised excited him even more.