American forensics, but the gourmet system

The water in the pot boiled and produced white bubbles. Russell pinched the lower end of the shinbone and stuck it into the pot.

Then he let go, and the entire tibia slid down and disappeared into the boiling water. The dark red connective tissue attached to the periosteum instantly turned grayish-brown.

A few seconds later, a layer of white foam rose from the edge of the pot and stuck to the pot wall.

A strange aroma of meat wafted through the air, and Russell twitched his nose, a strange smile appearing on his face.

If Russell really is making bone broth, then he should be skimming off the foam with a spoon right now...

But he wasn't actually making bone broth... Russell was already bordering on illegal by boiling bones in water, and if he then skimmed the foam off the surface with a spoon...

Russell couldn't even imagine how other forensic pathologists would react when they saw the surveillance footage.

He had no choice but to abandon his plan to actually find a spoon and hoped that the system wouldn't nitpick about it.

Of course, Russell figured he should be able to find something like a spoon in the large storage cabinet in the corner, since that's where he found the large stew pot and the induction cooker.

It's not uncommon for a forensic pathologist's autopsy room to have a slow cooker and an induction cooker. Some special types of remains do require heating and stewing, which is an unorthodox method in forensic work, but it is effective.

Russell remembered that there were at least two long-handled colanders in that cabinet, which he had used in his first case after joining OCME.

That day, Russell was using a long-handled strainer in each hand to scoop bone fragments out of a huge oil drum. He was startled by Jesse's exaggerated reaction and almost fell into the oil drum to join the bone fragments...

  

As Russell reminisced about the beginning of his forensic career, he stared at the shinbone bobbing in the boiling water. Even though he was a little distracted, his masterful control of the heat allowed him to keep track of the time precisely.

This shinbone cannot be overcooked. If prolonged heating causes calcium loss from the bone surface, it will also cover up the original tiny marks on the bone.

However, with Russell's precise control over the heat, such a thing would certainly not happen.

After the shinbone had been tumbling in the boiling water for a while, Russell took out a pair of silicone clips (to avoid the metal clips being too hard and damaging the surface of the shinbone), scooped it out of the boiling water, and immediately transferred it to the scrubbing pool next to him to rinse it clean with water.

The connective tissue that was originally attached to the tibia has now become soft and detached from the bone (this adjective is not quite right, but Russell could not think of a more appropriate word), and with a gentle stroke, it falls off in pieces from the surface of the tibia.

A few minutes later, a smooth bone stick appeared in Russell's hand.

[The host has been detected to have successfully prepared a pot of bone broth]

[Task Completed]

[Reward: Skill Upgrade Points *2]

A semi-transparent light curtain popped up.

It seems the system isn't very strict about the final product of the bone broth; it appears to value Russell's skill in controlling the heat more...

Russell didn't bother to investigate the purpose of those two skill upgrade points; instead, he looked at the shinbone in his hand.

The section of the lower leg from about ten centimeters above the tibia to about five centimeters from the ankle was deliberately burned by the assailant using an alcohol spray gun. This was also the area Russell focused his examination on.

He did indeed discover some problems.

This section of bone, about 4 centimeters long, feels rougher to the touch than other parts...

But when you look at it with your eyes, you can't see anything unusual.

Russell wiped his hands and pushed over a portable microscope that was placed in the corner.

It's called portable, but that's in contrast to the high-precision microscopes used in laboratories. This portable microscope weighs a full seven kilograms and is usually kept in the corner of the dissection room; when needed, it's pushed next to the autopsy table.

When forensic examiners conduct on-site investigations, no one would carry a seven-kilogram behemoth to the crime scene. OCME forensic examiners usually carry a handheld digital microscope, and Russell's examination kit has one.

Russell was very familiar with this Swift M3-F microscope. When he was doing his master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, there were two identical microscopes in the lab, and he operated them as easily as if he were at home.

Adjust the zoom parameters, use a 10x eyepiece, aim the objective lens at the tibia, and adjust the light source angle...

"Oh, there really is a problem..."

Russell took two steps back, clenched his right fist, and lightly waved it in celebration. Then he took out his phone again and dialed Dr. Beckman's number.

……

In Dr. Beckman's office, he was sighing over an email titled "Not Approved".

Suddenly the phone rang again.

Dr. Beckman answered the phone, and after hearing just one sentence from the person on the other end, he quickly stood up and walked out of the office.

……

Russell was also surprised to find that Dr. Beckman wasn't the only one who walked into the autopsy room; there was also a black forensic pathologist with gray hair and glasses.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Black."

Russell immediately stood at attention.

The elderly forensic pathologist, Cornel Black, was the head of the anatomy department at the Brooklyn Medical Center, a rank one level higher than Dr. Beckman. Russell only spoke a few words to him on his first day at the center.

Good afternoon, Dr. Russell.

Dr. Black's gaze swept across the stew pot, the induction cooker, the half-leg on the autopsy table, and Russell's body in the autopsy room, before finally settling on the microscope.

"I heard you made a new discovery in the investigation of the unsolved case of unidentified limbs from two years ago?"

Dr. Black continued to ask.

Dr. Beckman stood behind Dr. Black and gave Russell a wink.

Russell certainly understood Dr. Beckman's intention.

The opportunity to showcase oneself to senior forensic doctors has arrived.

Dr. Beckman set the stage for Russell, and Russell had to put on a good show.

"Yes."

Russell took out his laptop, on which were photos of the tibial surface he had just taken with a digital camera and microscope.

He cleared his throat and continued, trying to keep his introduction as brief as possible:

"I went through the case file from two years ago and found that the carbonized layer on the outside of the lower leg of the severed limb was thicker than that on other parts, proving that it had been burned for a longer period of time. I speculated that the killer did this to cover up the obvious wound on the outside of the victim's lower leg... So I removed the remaining soft tissue on the tibia and found three old bone fracture marks and one suspicious fresh wound on the tibia."

"Old fracture..." Dr. Black frowned as he looked at Russell's computer screen. "It is indeed a trace of healing after a fracture... The three fracture marks are almost parallel, and judging from the state of healing, they were not caused at the same time... Is the suspicious fresh wound you mentioned that small pit?" Dr. Russell.

Dr. Black turned his head and looked intently at Russell.

“That’s right.” Russell nodded. “The crater is about 0.3 millimeters in diameter and only 0.1 millimeters deep, with no signs of healing, proving that the leg was cut off from the victim’s body by the murderer shortly after this injury formed…”

"It's a victim," Dr. Blake corrected. "We don't yet have any evidence to prove that the victim is dead. You need to be more precise with your wording, Dr. Russell."

Russell choked on his own saliva.

Wait a minute, Dr. Blake's focus is also quite strange!

Do we really need to be rigorous about this kind of thing?

My legs have been frozen here for two years, how can a person still be alive?

Hmm...it does seem like that's a possibility...

Therefore, Russell readily accepted this suggestion:

"Yes, Dr. Black. The victim."