Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Did he discover something?

After loosening their grip, Shen Xing and Wen Yan both pondered each other's words, and the same question almost simultaneously popped into their minds: "Let's test the waters later."

Shen Xing put on shoe covers and gloves and walked into the crime scene, which was covered with plastic sheeting.

The body had not yet been removed. Shen Xing could see a burly corpse, about 1.8 meters tall, sitting in a corner, surrounded by several forensic technicians who were still taking photos and collecting evidence.

An elderly man wearing gloves was squatting next to the corpse, pressing on it, while his assistant used tweezers to collect hair and fibers from the corpse's clothing and the surrounding ground.

The body must have been discovered not long ago, and the forensic doctor probably didn't arrive much earlier than him.

Wen Yan stopped on the wall with the note, while Shen Xing walked straight toward the corpse.

If there's a body, then things are much easier to handle.

The rustling sound of Shen Xing's feet stepping on the plastic film made the forensic doctor squatting on the ground turn around.

He seemed to recognize Shen Xing, and upon seeing Shen Xing, he readily stood up and made room for him: "Would you like to take a look?" "No, I just wanted to ask you, senior, what was the time of death?" Shen Xing smiled at the forensic doctor in front of him, his attitude very polite, without any intention of overstepping his bounds.

The old forensic doctor squatted down again, pinched the deceased's chin with his fingers and pulled it down, saying, "The neck was bitten very tightly, and there are reddish-purple patches on the edge of the lower back where it meets the ground."

As the old forensic doctor spoke, he lifted the deceased's T-shirt and pressed on the areas on the body where purplish-red patches had appeared.

The patch, which had been pressed, faded to a pale color. After the old forensic doctor released his hand, blood seeped back into the patch, filling it with color again.

"Probably around four hours ago? That's the approximate time of death." Perhaps because Shen Xing was present, the old forensic doctor used many uncertain adverbs. "Okay, thank you." Shen Xing nodded, then asked, "What was the cause of death?"

"Excessive blood loss, fatal wound to the carotid artery," the old forensic doctor shook his head and said, "The direction of the stab wound and the way the knife was held are very similar to suicide. There was homemade chloroform at the scene, just like in the family annihilation case."

"The last victim didn't die from chloroform, did he?" Shen Xing asked.

"Nothing was detected in the mouth, nose, or blood." The old forensic doctor nodded.

"Okay, thank you. Sorry to bother you, please continue." Shen Xing took half a step back and said with a smile.

Shen Xing held the flashlight Chen Liming had handed him, looked at the corpse in front of him, and fell into deep thought.

The old forensic doctor's deductions were not wrong; if I were to do it myself, I would probably come to the same conclusions.

The materials from last time were just piled up haphazardly at the scene, and the killer had no idea what their purpose was.

But this time, he actually managed to make chloroform using those materials.

They even staged such a scene, as if they had guessed that there was a real culprit hidden in the previous Li Ya family murder case.

Why did he undergo such a transformation in just two or three days?

Did you have an epiphany? Did you notice something amiss during your last imitation? And then correct your technique?

Or did someone remind him?

Shen Xing turned on his flashlight, walked to the wall, and shone the beam at the white wall next to the corpse, which was covered with plastic film.

There wasn't much blood on the plastic film, but it was somewhat deformed on the smooth surface. The blood didn't really stick to the film and tended to flow downwards, like liquid wax that had flowed down and then solidified.

However, a few drops of blood were still relatively intact.

Shen Xing continued to move closer to the wall and crouched down.

Those few drops of blood, with the rounded end facing down and the tail end pointing up, flew upwards against gravity when they touched the wall.

If someone simply sits in a corner and slits their throat, the blood spurting from their carotid artery will either spurt out horizontally or descend.

The bloodstains were on a higher part of the wall, making it seem as if they had been thrown there by a bloodstained weapon.

Shen Xing traced the source of the blood splatter back to the body, apologized to the forensic assistant, asked for a place to move, and squatted down to the right of the body.

Shen Xing turned the deceased's palm upwards and, with his gloved hand, slowly pried open the corpse's stiff right hand, revealing a wooden knife handle. The old forensic doctor watched Shen Xing's actions from the side. When Shen Xing took out the knife, two separate drops of dried blood appeared on the deceased's palm.

"It was placed in your hands after it died?" the old forensic doctor asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Shen Xing nodded.

The two didn't exchange many words, but they basically knew what the other was thinking, since it was a very basic thing.

If you were to cut your own trachea or carotid artery while gripping the knife handle tightly, the blood would only cover the back of your hand. With your palm pressed against the handle, there should be a clean, blank area. Even if there is blood, it would only flow down the tip of the knife to the handle and then down the lines of your palm.

Now, there are two almost intact drops of blood in the deceased's hand, indicating that someone put the knife back in after the blood had dried. Shen Xing handed the knife to the forensic assistant, making room for him to take a picture of the palm for evidence, and then looked at the senior forensic doctor and asked, "Did he have any injuries that indicated resistance?"

"No," the old forensic doctor shook his head, then asked, "Could it be chloroform from the scene?"

"impossible."

Shen Xing had done it before, so he knew how difficult it was. Unless the killer had an abnormal ability to suppress and heal others' injuries like he did, it would be impossible to complete.

If it were these low-concentration chloroforms, it would be impossible for a 1.8-meter-tall strong man to lose consciousness on the spot in a short time; there would definitely be signs of struggle or destruction at the scene.

The edges of the nails were intact, there was no residue in the nail crevices, and there was no obvious subcutaneous bleeding on either arm.

What kind of physique would allow someone to subdue a 1.8-meter-tall, muscular man, holding a towel over his mouth and nose for several minutes without causing bruising or marks? Either someone is holding a gun to the man's head and forcing him to smother himself, or they've used some other drug that would render him unconscious and unable to resist. "During the autopsy, look for needle marks. I think the needle marks are most likely at the incision site on the neck. If the killer doesn't have forensic experience, he wouldn't be able to perfectly align the wound with the needle insertion."

After Shen Xing finished speaking, he stood up. The old forensic doctor would definitely know what to do next. After finding the needle path, he would cut a piece of flesh from the wound and run it through a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry instrument.

The murderer had no ability to disguise the body as a suicide, and judging from the exaggerated and highly ritualistic arrangement at the scene, he did not want the body to be perceived as a suicide.

Similar to Wen Yan's deduction, Wen Yan didn't even need to examine the body carefully to easily draw conclusions and even guess the murderer's motives and psychology.

After giving Chen Liming a brief report on the condition of the body, Shen Xing left the scene and began scanning the surrounding alleyways. Chen Liming followed him out.

"How's it going? Any new discoveries?" Wen Yan walked out of the bungalow and asked with a smile as he looked in Shen Xing's direction.

"The perpetrator is unlikely to be very old and lacks anatomical knowledge, but could obtain prohibited medical supplies. Veterinarians, medical waste transporters, and pharmacy warehouse managers are all possibilities."

After thinking for a moment, Shen Xing continued, "The scope is very small. After investigating for a while, we should be able to catch them."

"Introverted, likely suffered childhood trauma, has a habit of subscribing to newspapers, and a family member may have died at the hands of a criminal... With these conditions, we should be able to pinpoint the suspect quickly," Wen Yan said, adding a few more words.

"How did you figure that out?"

"Is that so..."

Shen Xing and Wen Yan began to discuss it.

Meanwhile, Chen Liming was frantically jotting down their conversation in a notebook. He then tore off a page, handed it to a nearby police officer, and whispered some instructions.

I rely on.

Chen Liming's mind was in turmoil.

It feels so damn good to not have to use my brain.