Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

Zhang Kai carefully avoided the bloated intestines with his scissors. The liver was dark green with blunt, rounded edges, and a dark green liquid flowed out when he cut it open. "There are several superficial lacerations in the liver, but they are not fatal," he said, examining the stomach contents, which contained only a small amount of pasty residue. "We'll take a sample for toxicology analysis to see if there are any drugs or alcohol components." Xiao Lin noticed bleeding points on the gastric mucosa: "Is it due to putrefaction, or poisoning?" Zhang Kai shook his head: "We need to do tests to determine, but the bleeding points are evenly distributed, making it more likely to be caused by putrefaction."

There was a clear ligature groove around the deceased's right wrist, horizontal in shape, with leathery edges. "This isn't a strangulation groove," Zhang Kai measured the groove's width with a ruler. "It's 2.5cm wide and 0.3cm deep, with no signs of being pulled up, more like something left when someone was bound." Samples taken from the skin tissue within the groove revealed dark blue fiber residue—perfectly matching the composition of the nylon thread found at the scene. "The perpetrator may have tied his wrist with a climbing rope, which matches the drag marks at the scene."

Regarding the final confirmation of the time of death, Zhang Kai considered all the indicators: "The greenish tinge covering 40% of the body surface area, mainly concentrated on the abdomen and flexor surfaces of the limbs, is a characteristic of death more than 72 hours ago; the cornea is completely opaque, and the pupils are unrecognizable, which is classified as grade three opacity, corresponding to about 96 hours of death; combined with corrections for rectal temperature and environmental humidity, the final time of death should be between 8 pm on July 18 and 2 am on July 19, with an error of no more than 4 hours." Xiao Lin took notes, emphasizing the words "high humidity environment delays the decomposition process by 15%" on the side.

The most critical fatal injury appeared in the left chest cavity. When Zhang Kai opened the pericardium, he found a 1.5cm rupture in the left ventricular wall, with contusions in the surrounding myocardial tissue. "This is the fatal wound," he said, gently opening the rupture with hemostatic forceps. "The broken rib fragments pierced the left ventricle, causing acute cardiac tamponade. The death process was extremely rapid, taking no more than 10 minutes from injury to death." The shape of the rupture perfectly matched the fractured ends of the fifth and sixth ribs. "The murder weapon was a blunt instrument that caused the rib fractures, a single, fatal blow."

“The fiber sample from under the deceased’s fingernails is in,” Xiao Lin suddenly said, looking at the newly received test report. “It’s fluorescent green nylon 66, consistent with the material of his jacket, and there’s also a small amount of dark blue fiber, the same as the nylon thread found at the scene.” Zhang Kai nodded: “This indicates that he struggled violently before his death, grabbing at his own clothes or the ropes binding him.” He asked Xiao Lin to collect samples from the deceased’s teeth, “to do DNA typing and enamel analysis, hoping to identify him through the missing persons database.”

The autopsy continued late into the night, and by the time the last suture pierced the skin, Zhang Kai's forehead was covered in sweat. "The cause of death was acute cardiac tamponade due to a ruptured left ventricle," he wrote in the autopsy report. "The weapon used was a blunt instrument, presumably a wrench or steel pipe; the time of death was between 8 p.m. on July 18 and 2 a.m. on July 19; the deceased had been restrained before death, and there were signs of struggle, which perfectly matched the drag marks and bloodstains found at the scene."

While sorting through the evidence, Xiaolin suddenly pulled a metal piece deep into the victim's pocket, with a blurry "W" engraved on it. "This matches the letter on the half-pencil at the scene!" She held the metal piece up to the light to examine it. "It looks like an abbreviation for an outdoor brand; maybe we can find the purchase record." Zhang Kai took the metal piece and suddenly remembered the Zippo lighter casing at the scene: "The murderer probably burned something that could identify the victim. It's lucky this metal piece wasn't found."

The clock in the autopsy room struck two in the morning. Zhang Kai looked at the body covered with a white sheet on the autopsy table and suddenly said to Xiao Lin, "Judging from the extent of the injuries and the manner of death, the murderer had some understanding of human anatomy and knew that a blow to the left side of the chest could be fatal. This contradicts the profile that he might work in the construction industry—unless he had similar experience." Xiao Lin nodded, "Or is this just a coincidence?" Zhang Kai shook his head, "The angle and force of the fractures are too precise; it doesn't seem like a coincidence. Perhaps he had been in a fight before and knew where the most vulnerable spot was."

As the two men emerged from the autopsy room, the corridor lights cast long shadows on the floor. "The toxicology results are in," Xiaolin's phone suddenly vibrated. "No drugs or alcohol were found in the stomach contents, ruling out poisoning." Zhang Kai stopped, gazing at the moonlight outside the window. "That's simple violent death. The killer's motive was clear: to kill him." He suddenly recalled the machine oil and work boot prints at the scene. "Combined with the restraint marks and drag marks, the deceased may have known the killer; the two had an argument, he was murdered, and then his body was dumped in the woods."

On the last page of the autopsy report, Zhang Kai wrote a summary opinion: "The deceased was struck in the left chest cavity with a blunt object, resulting in rib fractures and a ruptured left ventricle, ultimately leading to death from acute cardiac tamponade; there were signs of restraint and struggle before death; the time of death was between 8 pm on July 18 and 2 am on July 19; it is recommended to focus on screening construction workers who appeared in the southern suburban scenic area around July 18, especially men with an outward-pointing gait and wearing size 44 work boots."

As Xiaolin was filing the report, he suddenly noticed that Zhang Kai had drawn a simple crime scene reconstruction diagram in the margin: the murderer struck the victim's left chest with a blunt object, and after the victim fell to the ground, he was dragged deep into the woods. The rope binding his wrists came loose during the struggle, and he ultimately died from blood loss and cardiac tamponade. The caption next to the diagram read: "The murder weapon may have contained oil, which matches the machine oil residue at the scene." This image was a key that tightly linked the autopsy findings with the clues from the crime scene investigation.

The operating lights in the autopsy room finally went out, leaving only the faint glow of the emergency lights flickering on the ground. Although the highly decomposed body had not yet been identified, Zhang Kai's autopsy had already left clear marks on the time of death, cause of death, and modus operandi, waiting for investigators to follow these marks to find the murderer hiding in the shadows of the woods.

Meanwhile, Zhang Hui and a group were also checking the missing persons database, hoping to find something to help identify the deceased. The fluorescent lights cast long shadows of Zhang Hui and his team. The wall clock pointed to 7 a.m., and the instant coffee can on the table was mostly empty, the brown powder hardened at the bottom. "Entry 783," said young officer Zhao, rubbing his red eyes, as he moved the mouse across the missing persons database interface. "Wang Jianjun, male, 42 years old, 175cm tall, construction worker, missing July 15th, distinguishing feature: a scar on his left eyebrow." His fingers typed "Exclude" on the keyboard. "The deceased has no scar, does not match." (End of Chapter)