Forensic Doctor 2003: I Became a Legend on the Front Lines of Criminal Investigation

In 2003, standardized autopsy rooms were not yet widespread.

The county bureau has not established a standardized autopsy room, and most of the bodies are still taken to a small room next to the funeral home.

It's called a small room, but it's actually just a tiny cubicle right next to the morgue, with a table inside.

The platform is mostly made of cement, although some areas may be tiled.

The size of this dissection table is roughly the same as that of a single bed.

In well-off areas, there will be water taps; in poor areas, there may not even be any water taps.

Outdoor autopsies, as seen in Qingshan County, are not uncommon.

However, it is rare to conduct an outdoor autopsy in the middle of the night.

Five minutes later, Wang Hui brought a relatively large plastic bag from the deceased's home.

He and Jiang Chen spread out the plastic bag together, and then the two of them lifted the body onto the plastic bag.

Originally, the two wanted to find a door panel nearby and place it on it so that Jiang Chen wouldn't have to squat on the ground during the dissection.

However, the deceased lived in a detached house on the edge of a mountain, about 600 or 700 meters away from the nearest neighbor.

Moreover, it was late at night, so it wasn't convenient to disturb others.

Besides, if you go to someone's house late at night to borrow a door panel, claiming it's for dissecting a corpse, you'll probably be kicked out on the spot, or even beaten up by someone with a bad temper.

After the two men laid the body flat on the white plastic bag, Jiang Chen turned around and went to the forensic scene investigation kit.

The on-site investigation box in front of us is also made of metal, and it has never been used.

After all, this was the second autopsy he had performed in the few months since he arrived in Qingshan County.

The autopsy instruments used for yesterday's autopsy were still being sterilized; this is a new set.

When Jiang Chen first came to the Qingshan Criminal Investigation Team, he specifically suggested that Captain Li buy two sets of dissection instruments, mainly for the convenience of disinfection and use.

In Jiang Chen's view, although forensic doctors and doctors deal with different objects, they face the same risks.

After all, diseases that are often criticized, such as syphilis, hepatitis B, and genital warts, can appear in living people as well as in corpses.

Of course, viruses like HIV can only survive in a living body.

After a person dies, HIV will die quickly within the body.

However, according to the latest research, HIV can survive for five or six hours after a person dies, and it is possible that some stubborn HIV strains can survive even longer.

Jiang Chen has taken good care of his personal protection; he must not have contracted this strange disease at such a young age.

More importantly, you may not even know you've contracted this disease.

If you don't go to the hospital for a blood test, you won't know if you have an infection.

Years later, when you go for a hospital checkup, you suddenly discover that you have a disease.

They probably can't prove whether they contracted the virus at work or through promiscuous sex.

At that point, you won't even be eligible for a work-related injury assessment, and you might even be persuaded to resign by your supervisor.

At that moment, Jiang Chen put on a pair of gloves, and then put on another pair.

He prepared a box of razor blades and took out two.

Next, they attached the blade to the handle and prepared a pair of tweezers, a pair of hemostats, and four evidence bags.

Normally, a body needs to be examined by at least two forensic doctors simultaneously, which may be faster.

Furthermore, if there are enough staff, having a forensic pathologist specifically for record-keeping would greatly improve efficiency.

However, the conditions in Qingshan County were far too rudimentary.

As the only forensic doctor in Qingshan County, I have to be multi-skilled and do the work of several people.

At that moment, Jiang Chen turned to look at Wang Hui and said, "Brother Hui, the captain isn't here today. In addition to taking photos, could you also take a notebook and record the forensic measurement data?"

Wang Hui nodded and said, "This is the only way. This is my first time doing an autopsy in the middle of the night."

"Senior brother, aren't you scared?"

"What are you afraid of? If this corpse can suddenly stand up, then the two of us can definitely apply for the Nobel Prize in Life Sciences."

"Haha, senior brother, you're so funny."

"That's right! If I had stabbed him and actually brought him back to life, I reckon the two of us could have quit our police jobs and travel all over the country bringing many people back to life."

......

After some simple preparations, Jiang Chen began the autopsy.

Although the dissection was performed outdoors, he kept the entire process firmly in mind, making sure not to skip a single step.

His plan was to first remove the deceased's clothes, from the coat to the pants, piece by piece.

It must be said that squatting on the ground to perform forensic examinations is indeed a test of physical strength.

Squatting for a long time not only causes numbness in the legs, but also restricts the range of motion in the body.

Just by taking off his clothes, Jiang Chen realized that he had already used up almost half of his energy.

After all, undressing a dead person is obviously not easy, as the deceased already showed obvious signs of rigor mortis.

He first raised the deceased's arm to completely break the rigor mortis, and then took off the deceased's coat.

It took him almost 15 minutes just to take off his clothes.

After taking off his clothes, he said, "Brother Hui, please take a picture."

Immediately afterwards, Wang Hui picked up his camera, focused, pressed the shutter, and snapped a series of photos.

They took photos of the deceased from the face, side, front, and back.

After doing all that, Jiang Chen picked up a steel ruler and began taking measurements.

This is also an important part of forensic examination; height, hair length, and body shape all need to be recorded...

The deceased was 1.7 meters tall, with short, graying hair, normal development, and a slender build. Lividity was located on his back.

The deceased's conjunctiva on both sides of the eyelids was pale, and no petechial hemorrhages were observed.

The deceased had no external injuries to the lips, no missing or loose teeth, and no bleeding changes were observed on the neck, chest, abdomen, or limbs...

Next, he pulled up the corpse's arm to measure the size of the livor mortis.

However, just as he raised his arm, the corpse suddenly exhaled with a "whoosh".

Instantly, Wang Hui took two steps back: "Holy crap! Something's ghosting!"

"Is he really alive? Or is he not quite dead yet?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen turned to look at Wang Hui, smiled, and said, "Brother Hui, don't be nervous!"

"Just now, I moved the body, and the change in position may have caused his chest to deform, and the air in his lungs was expelled."

Hearing this, Wang Hui laughed awkwardly: "Oh my god! That really scared me to death. I thought he had come back to life."

Jiang Chen smiled and said, "Senior brother, if we really bring him back to life, we can go and work on the dead together!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Hui waved his hand, his face turning deathly pale. "Forget it, let's just make some money from the living..."