National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 815 - 757: Collecting Evidence

Chapter 815: Chapter 757: Collecting Evidence

Zhan Kan assisted Jiang Yuan, carefully extracting the body from pit number one.

The young forensic doctor with them made a phone call, then whispered, "Captain Jiang, Zeng and the others will also be arriving soon, probably in another half an hour."

"Good, once they get here, start with number six." Jiang Yuan couldn’t unearth all six bodies alone; even if he had the stamina, maintaining focus and managing time would be extremely difficult. And with cases like this one, it was better not to stay overnight if possible. This wasn’t just because it was hard to set up defenses in the forest, but also because morning and evening were times when rain was likely to fall, creating a swift change in temperature that could be dangerous for exposed corpses.

Tao Lu was leading Huang Qiangmin and Qi Changye, with two half-alive faces in tow, quietly exchanging words.

Jiang Yuan’s attention was focused on the pit of bodies.

Jiang Yuan, Zhan Kan, and the others continued the bone-collecting work that the police officers hadn’t finished. Meanwhile, the officers carried on with their previous tasks of collecting insects and soil samples.

One by one, the bones were placed into the prepared boxes.

Zhan Kan picked up a segment of bone, looked it over carefully, and then asked Jiang Yuan in a low voice, "The bones seem very clean; does that mean the time of death could exceed four or five years?"

There wasn’t a shred of connective tissue on the stark white bones. The "connective tissue" referred to the sinew that’s usually the last muscular tissue to disconnect from the bones during the later stages of a corpse’s decomposition.

Jiang Yuan had already examined the bones before and now looked around, saying, "You can be bolder in your estimate."

"More than five years? Seven years?" Zhan Kan expressed his surprise.

"At least eight years, I’d say," Jiang Yuan replied. "What do you think could have slowed down the decomposition of the body?"

Indeed, for a body to decay to a completely clean state, it usually takes three to five years. Zhan Kan’s estimate of four or five years was based on the assumption that decomposition was slow. Clearly, Jiang Yuan believed the rate of decomposition was much slower than what Zhan Kan had estimated.

After some thought, Zhan Kan said, "Firstly, I think a colder climate would reduce the rate of decay. On the other hand, the environment inside a forest would actually increase the degree of decay... so I’ve considered a combination of factors."

"There’s another reason; the wind is too strong," Jiang Yuan muttered. "Beijing generally has strong winds. The slope they chose has some wind resistance capability, but it still isn’t enough. Why would strong winds slow down the decay of a body?"

"Uh... because it... blows away the fly eggs?" Zhan Kan, who had nearly forgotten the information he’d studied years ago, felt like his brain was straining to regrow its knowledge.

Jiang Yuan simply nodded and continued, "So, considering the environment here, it would probably take more than three or four years to form bones this clean; at least eight years would be necessary."

"But there’s water here, and the water paths seem quite good; that should accelerate the formation of decay, right?"

"This is a hillside; water doesn’t linger here, and the eggs would likely be washed away," Jiang Yuan explained in a way that Zhan Kan could understand.

Zhan Kan nodded repeatedly.

The group continued collecting bones.

Once the collection was mostly done, Jiang Yuan had a basic understanding of the situation inside the grave and then moved on to the second grave.

Then it was the third and fourth graves, checking each in turn.

Zeng Lianrong and others were about to arrive, so Jiang Yuan also needed to check the other bodies. If he had any thoughts, it was better to communicate them in advance.

Although all located on one hillside, the distribution of graves was quite widespread. There were hundreds of meters between one grave and another. A drone could quickly fly over them, but walking by foot was somewhat taxing; the outdoor forests were not as relaxed as city parks.

When Jiang Yuan was approaching the sixth burial site, Zeng Lianrong climbed up. He was older, carrying a box himself, and was breathing hard.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan quickly urged the older man to rest first, then updated the situation, saying, "I just checked the body at position one, and the time of death is around eight years ago. The timing of these burials is longer than we expected."

"When Team Captain Qi closed the case, it was two or three years ago, right? So there have been at least five years of buried bodies, five bodies in six years, which isn’t too many," Zeng Lianrong, though out of breath, still had a clear mind and added, "Actually, there were many homicides in the earlier years, especially during the nineties. When things first opened up, out of a billion people, nine hundred million were down, and the remaining hundred million were searching. Back then, businesspeople would always carry money with them when they went out..."

"Those were truly golden years," Liu Jinghui joined in, having come over upon hearing Zeng Lianrong’s words and added sentimentally, "When I first started working, we would practice on robbery cases. Now, whenever we encounter a violent crime, we get as tense as anything."

"Indeed, there was one time, when I autopsied over a dozen bodies in one week, to the point where I could hardly move them toward the end. However, times were different back then, many family members were willing to help move the bodies, and I even conducted an autopsy in the yard of the victim’s family home, with neighborhood children peering over the wall..."

"To perform an autopsy at the victim’s home, could the victim’s family really stand it?" Zhan Kan had been working in the clean and bright autopsy center in Beijing since graduation, where the processes were strict and the procedures complicated. He couldn’t even imagine such a barbaric era.

Zeng Lianrong couldn’t help but chuckle, took a sip of water, stood up, and said, "Actually, that was only a little over twenty years ago."

"In fact, it hasn’t been that long. In our Qinghe City, there were still such cases a few years ago." Jiang Yuan recalled and smiled, "My master told me that in more remote villages, bodies were not necessarily moved back; the autopsy would be done right in the village."

Zhan Kan was astonished, "But it wouldn’t take more than a few hours to transport them by car."

"Putting them on a vehicle might take several hours of lifting alone." Jiang Yuan laughed, glancing around: "The traffic can’t compare to the convenience of Beijing."

"Indeed, once the bodies are on the vehicle, driving them here is just a matter of time. Once here, in the middle of nowhere, if there are two or three people to help, carrying it a few hundred meters is not a problem. Digging the hole is the exhausting part," Liu Jinghui had been pondering on the way.

Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, "This burial site is definitely not suitable for a single person to commit the crime."

This was his reason for suspecting organized crime.

If it were a lone serial killer, he would have to carry the bodies to the vehicle by himself, being careful not to dirty himself, then drive to this hillside, and carry the body up the slope, climbing hundreds of meters of difficult mountain paths, before digging a deep enough hole to bury a person, and that meant first clearing away any plant life on top—any 35-year-old who doesn’t exercise regularly wouldn’t choose this plan.

But if three or four people worked together, laughing and talking, they could probably finish the job in an afternoon.

It would be a struggle for two people as well, but anyone with experience carrying a drunkard knows that two people carrying a body is not much easier than one person carrying it on his back.

Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "So I keep thinking, how could a murder committed by several people co-operating, with multiple victims, occur without a whisper, not only with no one turning in the culprits for a reward but not even a report made to the authorities."

"Isn’t it because of the special circumstances at Team Captain Qi’s end?" Jiang Yuan had no such experience yet.

Liu Jinghui grimaced, "How special can it be? Spies are even less likely to die quietly; it’s just that there hasn’t been a high-profile investigation. Peripheral members indeed have a certain probability, but it can’t be that multiple people in a row are all solitary individuals, can it?"

Jiang Yuan could only nod. He hadn’t thought that far; consideration comes after the evidence—that was the forensic doctors’ way. He was thinking over Liu Jinghui’s words from beginning to end.

"I’ll go collect the bodies now." Zeng had rested enough and went off to work with several forensic doctors.

Jiang Yuan then went to dig out body number four.

Number four was a typical male body, dead for about six years as well.

Number three was a female body, also dead for around six years. In fact, according to Jiang Yuan’s judgment, her time of death was only two or three months different from that of number four.

Returning to pit number two, he unearthed another male body, dead for about five years, but even it was only a few months apart from the death time of body number three.

"It seems a lot happened six years ago." Jiang Yuan could only draw a few conclusions for now, and had Zhan Kan take notes specially.

In the time that followed, Jiang Yuan collected the dog’s body from pit number two as well, then turned his attention to pits five and six, by which time the forensic doctors led by Zeng were largely done.

By then, it was late, and everyone was too exhausted for socializing, heading home in their own cars.

Jiang Yuan followed back to the dissecting center, where the bodies from the non-mainstream religious case a few days ago had still not been fully processed yet.

"Zhan Kan, find a body and do a cranial reconstruction," Jiang Yuan had not forgotten about his task.

Zhan Kan was a bit uneasy, asking, "Will you be guiding me through it?"

"You do it yourself; I’m busy with other things," Jiang Yuan said.

"Then you pick first, and I’ll choose after you’re done."

"No need," Jiang Yuan said: "I’ll start with taking DNA from this dog."