National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 831 - 772: Look at This Pit I’m In

Chapter 831: Chapter 772: Look at This Pit I’m In

Jiang Yuan clacked away at his keyboard in the group chat:

[To find a body through plant changes, the core of it actually involves studying the relationship between plant growth and human decomposition...]

[There is a theory that refers to a corpse as Decomposition Island. Taking the island as a unit, the surrounding plants show different effects. Suppose the forest is the ocean and the body is the island; naturally, the surrounding waters will change. Moreover, these changes vary with the time of death...]

[Looking at the live broadcast location, I think there are no bodies here because although the plant changes match the concept of the Seed Bank, they lack the effect of Decomposition Island. First of all, the nearby plant growth is uneven, while a Decomposition Island actually releases substances evenly around it...]

For a short time, only Jiang Yuan was typing in the chat.

Cui Qishan stood across from Jiang Yuan, watching him type and monitoring the chat. Seeing nobody else was talking, he felt a bit concerned, so he opened a private chat to message Xiao Si,[Say something, lighten the mood in the chat], concurrently advising Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, aren’t your words a bit too pointed? It might be too much for the guys to handle."

"Teaching them the techniques. If they’re not happy, just kick them out and that’s the end of it." Jiang Yuan’s emotional intelligence hadn’t dwindled; he just spoke with an air of superiority: "They are botanists, and if they don’t participate or like Legal Botany, the next time we meet might most likely be on the dissection table."

After thinking it over, Cui Qishan understood Jiang Yuan’s words and couldn’t help but laugh, saying, "You better not talk like this outside; it might cause people to misunderstand that you’re the killer. Well, let’s just not give others a reason to call us high-handed..."

While they were talking, a message popped up in the group chat.

Wang Bin from Agricultural University: [Thanks for the guidance, Doctor Jiang. Indeed, I had some understanding of Decomposition Island before but hadn’t studied it in detail. It truly shows how specialized each field is. I think some of my subsequent markers might also be problematic]

Wang Bin from Agricultural University:[Maybe I should correct the next few markers of mine to avoid wasting the police’s time. Today has really been tough on all the police comrades...]

Xiao Si:[Okay, our excavation team has already dug down to 50 centimeters. Next, we have to dig deeper. Everyone, guess if there might be a body inside...]

Wang Bin from Agricultural University:[The police comrades seem quite excited.]

Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University:[Are they more excited because they’re on site?]

The face of Cui Qishan turned ashen. Inside the office, he couldn’t hold back, "Xiao Si always messes things up."

"I see you quite like using him." Jiang Yuan didn’t care about the mood in the chat; his level 4 Legal Botany skills alone were enough to have a firm grip on those scholars who were fond of Legal Botany.

As for those who weren’t... Fishing targets the fish that like the bait; those who don’t bite, just let them swim freely.

Cui Qishan felt somewhat helpless, "Xiao Si, this guy, sometimes he can really surprise you, it’s just his mouth that’s annoying. Now, even watching him chat is frustrating."

"It’s probably because he’s slow in responding," Jiang Yuan said and laughed, then continued typing in the group chat: [Professor Zhao, sorting out the markers could help, indeed a few of them might not need digging.]

Sulei from the Agricultural Research Institute: [If that’s the case, I need to adjust a few of my markers too.]

Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University: [Same here.]

Jiang Yuan: [Then everyone, please send me a private message.]

Meanwhile, the excavation at location 1 was nearing its end.

Xiao Si had hired a construction team to help with the excavation. Typically, a normal construction team would be reluctant to dig up bodies, but they had regular dealings with the police unit—initially, they were reluctant to dig up bodies and only took on some regular tasks from the police unit, but as the occurrence of finding bodies grew more frequent, they grew accustomed to it and even started charging extra money, which made them happier.

"Should we continue digging?" asked a construction worker standing in a pit about a person deep, looking at Xiao Si.

"Stop digging, switch to the second point," Xiao Si waved his hand and directly uploaded a short video to the group chat.

Inside the office.

Jiang Yuan clicked open the video on his computer, and Xiao Si’s voice came through.

Xiao Si: "Dear botanists and leaders, the excavation at point 1 ends here. Unfortunately, we didn’t succeed in unearthing a body. Moving on to... ah, point 2 is useless now too. Let’s see, point 3... point 4... alright, next we head to point 5!"

The chat began to liven up.

Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University:[Can we start guessing again?]

Sulei from the Agricultural Research Institute:[Who marked this one? It doesn’t look right.]

Wang Yongchao from Agriculture & Forestry:[It was me who marked it. My analysis is that there is a clear fault in plant growth in this area. If there are no large animals living nearby, then I think, almost only humans could cause such an effect...]

Cui Qishan had already found a place to sit down, looking at the chat and Wang Yongchao’s authoritative analysis and couldn’t help but ask curiously, "What do you think about this?"

"It’s wildly incorrect, but from another perspective," replied Jiang Yuan breezily, then continued, "It’s actually a very good example, easy for everyone to understand."

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he started typing on the keyboard again.

So, Cui Qishan watched as Jiang Yuan began to reclaim dominance in the group chat.

Cui Qishan couldn’t help shaking his head, thinking to himself that only intellectuals could bear such abuse. If it were his own team’s chat, it would probably have turned into a shouting match by now.

The digging group quickly quieted down.

Instead, it was Jiang Yuan, whose keyboard tapping noises grew louder.

With the former Cui Qishan, he might have thought that everyone was being silent, but now, he knew that some people simply didn’t care about being refuted.

Perhaps they were even happy to be contradicted.

Jiang Yuan was quite pleased as well. After all, sometimes you just need to express yourself.

"In short, Number 5 was a bust, but since we’ve dug this far, let’s just keep at it," Jiang Yuan joyfully typed out these words, rubbed his fingers, then glanced at his watch and said, "Looks like it’s time to knock off."

"Ah, yes. Time to leave!" Cui Qishan, who was still looking at the group chat, couldn’t help feeling a bit melancholic. "It’s been a long time since we had normal office hours; we’re all Stockholm-syndromed from overtime."

"Want to come to my place for dinner?" Jiang Yuan invited proactively. "My dad cooked a new batch of pork knuckle today—it’s super tender, the kind that falls apart, you don’t even need to chew, just suck it off with your lips..."

He had recently been staying in Beijing, with Jiang Fuzhen also accompanying him in the city. Life was generally joyful, except he wasn’t quite used to having so few people come over for meals, missing the liveliness of Jiang Village.

Licking his lips, Cui Qishan laughed, "I’d feel bad, there’s already dinner waiting for me at home."

"Just call a few more people, today was just a WeChat investigation anyway." Jiang Yuan got up to pack his things. In reality, he didn’t even have to come to the office; he was just giving face today.

Seeing this, Cui Qi Shan hesitated, but finally, something convinced him, and he nodded in agreement.

As Jiang Yuan walked home, he invited more people along the way, and by the time he arrived, he had nearly 20 people with him.

Jiang Fuzhen greeted them with a smile and praised his son, "Not bad, rounding up so many people for a meal at home, very good..."

Cui Qishan, being over forty, still felt somewhat awkward going to someone else’s house for a meal, and said, "We should have brought something..."

"No need, coming for the meal is the best gift!" Jiang Fuzhen expertly waved his hand and asked, "Married?"

"Ah... yes."

Jiang Fuzhen nodded and said, "That’s perfect. I also cooked oysters in the pressure cooker today; those of you with wives should definitely try them."

Cui Qishan hesitated, "Then nevermind, I don’t need it."

"Even if you’re in good health, a little boost won’t hurt!"

"No, I mean I don’t need a wife." Cui Qishan’s expression was indiscernible, whether serious, joking, or half-joking.

Jiang Fuzhen thought it over and laughed heartily, "You big city folk are quite amusing. No worries, as long as you find your own way to be happy, that’s enough."

With that, Jiang Fuzhen returned to the kitchen to tend to the pressure cooker.

The hiss of steam surged towards the exhaust hood.

Jiang Yuan invited everyone to sit down, choosing a solitary sofa for himself and pulled out his phone.

"Did you dig up any bodies yet?" Cui Qishan asked curiously from across him.

"No," Jiang Yuan shook his head, "It’s not likely."

"How far did you dig?"

"To Number 45."

"Halfway there?"

"We’ve actually only dug up six spots," Jiang Yuan chuckled, "Many people revised their choices."

Cui Qishan laughed as he listened, "That’s true, a lot of people changed their minds."

"Yep, but we had to open a few to test it out, otherwise, there’s no way to verify, like this one... um..." Jiang Yuan paused mid-sentence.

Not just Cui Qishan—many people present were familiar with Jiang Yuan’s style.

Mu Zhiyang stood up immediately, "Found a body?"

"It doesn’t look like a body, but we did dig something up." Jiang Yuan paused again and rechecked the location, which was the only spot Zhao Tian had kept.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Jiang Yuan’s phone started ringing.

Then, Cui Qishan’s phone also began to ring.

The two exchanged looks and their budding smiles froze.

"Hello."

"Hello, hello."

Their phones echoed responses.

Soon after, Xiao Si’s voice rang from both handsets: "Hello, hello, hello... Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you, no need to call both phones." An irritated Cui Qishan hung up his own phone and said, "I don’t know what’s with this guy’s brain."

Xiao Si’s cheerful voice came through Jiang Yuan’s phone, "There’s also something else you don’t know. Guess what we found in the pit we just dug?"

"What?" Cui Qishan was still intrigued.

"Two suitcases, inside them two porcelain jars wrapped in courier bubble wrap, and two bronze Buddhas," Xiao Si announced, then laughed, "If you guys come to the site, bring me a large pork knuckle, with some rice to go with it would be best."