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

The setting sun cast long shadows across the South Suburb Logistics Park. Although Li Wei and Lao Chen had been cleared of suspicion, the investigation had taken a new turn. Wang Shuai, Yang Lin, and Yang Sen stood at the entrance of warehouse number 13, looking at the scene within the police cordon. They knew that as long as they followed the clues of "blue overalls, baseball cap, and hoarse voice," they would eventually find the real suspect and uncover the truth behind this murder.

“We’ll head to the urban village near the abandoned fertilizer plant now and check for people who match the description,” Wang Shuai put away his phone. “We’ll try to find more clues tonight, solve the case as soon as possible, and give the deceased and his family some answers!”

The three drove to the urban village, speeding through the night. They knew that the race against time was still ongoing, and that justice would ultimately prevail through relentless pursuit.

At 10 p.m. that night, the male corpse from warehouse number 13 in the South Suburb Logistics Park was slowly carried into the forensic autopsy room of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. The lights in the autopsy room were glaringly white, the stainless steel autopsy table gleamed coldly, and the ventilation system hummed, trying to dispel the stench of decay from the body. Forensic pathologist Zhang Kai, dressed in a dark blue autopsy gown, wearing double gloves and a protective mask, stood beside the autopsy table, his gaze solemn as he looked at the corpse covered by a white sheet—this was his fifteenth year working as a forensic pathologist, and he had seen countless gruesome corpses, but such a highly decomposed body still made the oppressive atmosphere in the air particularly heavy.

"Assistant Li, first perform an external examination of the body, recording its basic characteristics, degree of decomposition, and surface injuries, especially whether there are any obvious mechanical injuries or signs of poisoning." Zhang Kai's voice came through the protective mask, calm and steady. His assistant, Li Ran, nodded, picked up the autopsy record book and camera, and carefully lifted the white sheet.

The moment the body was exposed to the light, a strong stench of decay filled the air, clearly perceptible even with a protective mask on. The deceased was male, preliminarily estimated to be between 45 and 50 years old, approximately 175 cm tall, and of medium build. The body's skin was dark green, with some areas already ulcerated and peeling away, exposing the underlying muscle tissue. The abdomen was swollen from the putrefactive gases, the eyeballs were protruding, and the tongue was partially protruding from the mouth—typical characteristics of "gigantism"—a hallmark of advanced decomposition, typically appearing 3-7 days after death.

“Teacher Zhang, the body’s skin is extensively decomposed. The skin on the right shoulder and left calf is ulcerated, exposing the subcutaneous tissue. The network of putrefied veins is particularly prominent in the chest and abdomen. The abdomen is severely distended, and pressing it produces a ‘popping’ sound as gas escapes.” Li Ran took notes while photographing the body’s appearance from different angles. “No obvious sharp or blunt force trauma was found on the body surface, but the skin on the neck is too decomposed to distinguish whether there are strangulation marks or ligature marks. Further autopsy is needed to confirm this.”

Zhang Kai approached the autopsy table and gently parted the rotting flesh on the deceased's neck with tweezers, carefully observing: "The skin on the neck is severely decomposed, and the subcutaneous tissue is dark red with a few bleeding points, but it's impossible to determine whether it was caused by injury before death or by decomposition after death. First, take a sample of the putrefactive fluid from the body and send it to the toxicology department for testing to rule out the possibility of death by poisoning; in addition, take samples of the deceased's hair and nails for subsequent DNA testing to prepare for confirming the deceased's identity."

As instructed, Li Ran used sterile test tubes to extract putrefactive fluid from the abdomen and tissue samples from the neck of the deceased. He then cut off a few strands of hair and fingernails from the body and placed them into evidence bags. "Teacher Zhang, do we still need to examine the body's clothing? The clothes are soaked through with putrefactive fluid, and most of the fabric is stuck to the skin," Li Ran asked, his gaze falling on the deceased's dark long-sleeved shirt and blue work pants—the clothing was old-fashioned, with obvious wear and tear on the collar and cuffs, and the pockets were empty, with no items found to identify the body.

“Of course we need to investigate,” Zhang Kai nodded. “Carefully separate the clothing from the skin and check for any tears, bloodstains, or fiber residue, especially on the collar and cuffs, as these may contain traces of the suspect. Also, record the brand and size of the clothing, as this information may provide clues for further investigation into the victim’s identity and analysis of their occupation.”

It took the two men more than half an hour to carefully peel the clothing stuck to the body. There was a tiny tear at the collar of the shirt, and the cuffs had a small amount of brown dirt on them, the same color as the dirt found earlier at the gap in the western wall of the logistics park. The work pants were worn at the cuffs, and the belt buckle was rusted, but the belt itself was intact and showed no signs of being violently pulled. "No obvious bloodstains were found on the clothing, but the tear at the collar may have been caused by pulling before or after the deceased's death. The brown dirt needs to be sent to be compared with soil samples from the logistics park to confirm if it came from the same location," Zhang Kai said, pointing to the tear at the shirt collar. "Judging from the style and wear of the clothing, the deceased may have been engaged in manual labor, such as factory work or logistics handling, but the specific occupation needs to be determined based on more clues."

After the external examination, Zhang Kai picked up a scalpel, preparing to perform an autopsy. "Next, we'll conduct the autopsy, focusing on the chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and neck to determine the cause of death; at the same time, we'll extract samples from organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys to estimate the time of death based on the degree of organ decomposition." His blade gently sliced ​​across the skin of the corpse's abdomen, and putrefactive gases instantly gushed out from the incision, carrying an even stronger stench.

The scalpel sliced ​​through the abdominal muscles layer by layer. The organs inside the abdominal cavity were blurred due to putrefaction; the stomach, intestines, and other organs were swollen and deformed, and their contents had partially decomposed and liquefied. Zhang Kai used tweezers to pick up the stomach tissue and examined it carefully: "There are a small amount of undigested food residue in the stomach. Judging from the food's form, it looks like rice, vegetables, and a small amount of meat. The food has entered the upper part of the small intestine, indicating that the deceased died 2-4 hours after eating. Assistant Li, write this down; it's crucial for estimating the time of death."

Li Ran quickly noted: "The stomach contents consisted of rice, vegetables, and meat, and had entered the upper part of the small intestine. It is estimated that the person died 2-4 hours after eating."

Zhang Kai continued dissecting the thoracic cavity. After cutting open the sternum, the heart and lungs were exposed. The heart was of normal size, with no obvious bleeding points or infarct foci on its surface, ruling out the possibility of death from an acute attack of coronary heart disease. The lungs were dark red with a small amount of edema, consistent with the characteristics of death by asphyxiation—in cases of asphyxiation, the lungs will swell and hemorrhage due to lack of oxygen. "The lungs show obvious signs of asphyxiation. Now examine the neck tissue to confirm whether the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation." (End of Chapter)