The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1107 Time and Cause of Death

“There is a 5x3 cm skin defect on the left side of the neck,” he measured with a ruler. “The wound edges are irregular, with a tear in the dermis and leathery skin at the edges, which is a characteristic of ante-mortem injuries being covered by decay.” He probed deep into the defect with a probe. “I touched bone, which may indicate cervical spine injury. Further confirmation by dissecting the neck muscles is needed.” Several dark blue polyester fibers were found stuck in the decaying tissue around the defect, consistent with the fiber morphology extracted from the scene. Xiaolin immediately collected samples in a sterile container.

“There are extensive abrasions and contusions on the back,” Kobayashi suddenly exclaimed. As she turned the body over, putrefactive fluid flowed down the grooves of the countertop into the waste bin. “It’s distributed in patches, covering an area of ​​about 20x15 centimeters. The vital signs have been disrupted by putrefaction, but the muscle tissue in the center of the contusions still shows signs of bleeding, consistent with the characteristics of being dragged before death, and matching the drag marks found at the scene.” She examined the skin defects with a magnifying glass. “The edges have metallic-looking particles. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows a carbon content of 1.2%, indicating it’s high-carbon steel, consistent with the metal shavings found in the workshop.”

Zhang Lin's scalpel sliced ​​open the chest cavity along the intercostal spaces. The putrefied lung tissue, like a bloated sponge, crumbled at the slightest touch in the tray. "The lungs weighed 1800 grams, twice the normal weight," he said, using hemostatic forceps to separate the bronchi. "There was a large amount of putrefied debris in the bronchial lumen, but there were petechiae in the submucosa, which were not caused by putrefaction—the distribution of these petechiae, symmetrically arranged along the bronchial tree, suggests that there may have been an asphyxiation process before death." He took lung tissue samples, "to do diatom testing to rule out drowning, but we need to focus on checking for foreign body aspiration."

“The stomach contents were about 500 ml,” Kobayashi said as she opened the stomach wall with a scalpel, splattering putrid food onto her protective mask. “It contained undigested rice and vegetables. The degree of putrefaction of the food residue indicated that the person died about 6 hours after eating.” Under the microscope, she observed, “and found a small number of metal particles, the composition of which is consistent with high-carbon steel, as well as dark blue fibers with a warp and weft density of 120x80 threads/inch and a twist coefficient of 18.5, which perfectly matched the industrial-grade tooling fibers on site.”

Zhang Lin focused his attention on the skull of the deceased, where the coronal and sagittal sutures had separated due to decomposition. "There is a 3x4 cm depressed fracture in the left temporal bone," he said, inserting a probe along the fracture line. "The fracture line extends radially, reaching a length of 5 cm, accompanied by suture separation, consistent with blunt force trauma." He removed a small piece of skull and placed it under an X-ray. "The fracture of the inner table is larger than that of the outer table, forming a funnel-shaped deformity. This 'ping-pong ball-like fracture' suggests that the injuring object was a round blunt instrument, approximately 4 cm in diameter, matching the parameters of the heavy wrench lost at the scene."

“The bleeding area in the neck muscles is quite large,” Xiaolin said as he separated the sternocleidomastoid muscle, with putrefied muscle tissue falling off in a flurry. “There is diffuse bleeding in the deep omohyoid and sternohyoid muscles. There is no fracture of the greater horn of the hyoid bone, but there is subperiosteal hemorrhage at the superior angle of the thyroid cartilage. Could this be a sign of asphyxiation?” Zhang Lin lifted the trachea with hemostats. “There is a pseudomembrane formed in the tracheal mucosa, which is caused by putrefaction. However, there is no foreign body obstruction or any trace of drowning, so asphyxiation is unlikely. The neck injury is more likely caused by dragging after death.”

There was a ring-shaped skin defect on the right wrist of the deceased, with obvious leather-like degeneration at the edges. "This is a restraint injury," Zhang Lin measured the circumference of the defect, "15 centimeters, consistent with a rope mark of 5 centimeters in diameter. The signs of life were masked by decomposition, but there was bleeding in the muscle tissue below the defect, suggesting that the person had been bound before death." He asked Xiao Lin to examine the fingernails, "The dirt in the fingernails contained steel slag and machine oil components, consistent with environmental samples from the steel plant, and there were also a small amount of skin tissue debris. DNA typing needs to be done back home, but the morphology shows that it is someone else's epidermal tissue."

Upon dissecting the abdomen, Zhang Lin discovered a 2-centimeter perforation in the stomach wall. "The perforation had contusions around the edges," he explained, widening the incision with a scalpel. "The stomach contents spilled into the abdominal cavity, causing diffuse peritonitis, but the putrefaction had already disrupted the inflammatory response, making it impossible to determine when the perforation occurred." He extracted a sample of the abdominal fluid. "Toxicological analysis ruled out poisoning, but the morphology of the perforation suggests it was caused by a sharp instrument; the kerf angle is sharp, consistent with the characteristics of a high-carbon steel scalpel."

“The deceased’s right femur has an old fracture,” Xiaolin exclaimed while examining the lower limbs. The X-ray showed that the fracture line was blurred. “The callus formation is good, but the density of the medullary cavity is uneven, indicating that the healing time is more than a year, which is consistent with the characteristics of the ‘old injury to the right leg’ inferred from the scene!” She measured the femur length, “48 centimeters. Combined with other skeletal parameters, the estimated height is 175±3 centimeters, which is completely consistent with the results of the footprint analysis.”

Zhang Lin's scalpel finally stopped at the heart. The putrefaction had turned the myocardium into a boiled, fleshy mass, but the subepicardial hemorrhages were still clearly visible. "The cardiac blood was dark red and didn't clot," he said, taking a sample. "Blood gas analysis showed an oxygen saturation of 58% and a carbon dioxide partial pressure of 65 mmHg, indicating hypoxia, but not asphyxiation; more likely, traumatic shock." He synthesized all the findings: "The cause of death was complex trauma: a depressed fracture of the left temporal bone leading to craniocerebral injury, combined with hemorrhagic shock caused by a perforated stomach wall. The time of death was between 10 PM and 11 PM on July 15th, which coincides with the time the caller heard the truck start."

Xiaolin suddenly pointed to the tattoo on the left chest of the corpse. The decomposition had blurred the design, but the two characters "Hongwei" were still legible. "Could this be related to Hongwei Building Materials?" She took a picture with her camera. "This name has appeared in previous cases as well." Zhang Lin took off his gas mask. The air in the autopsy room was filled with the strong smell of disinfectant. "Restore the tattoo design and compare it with the files of former employees of the steel plant. Focus on men who are about 175 cm tall, have an old injury on their right leg, and a scar on their right wrist. The identity of this corpse may very well be hidden in these clues."

As the technicians packed the samples, Zhang Lin's autopsy record had already filled eight pages. From the time of death inferred from the degree of decomposition to the cause of death from complex trauma, each conclusion was supported by anatomical features, forming a complete chain of evidence with the steel slag, fibers, and shoe prints found at the scene. While cleaning the scalpel, Xiao Lin watched the moonlight reflected off the blade and suddenly remembered Zhang Lin's words: "Decomposition may cover up the truth, but it cannot destroy it. Hidden within these bones and tissues is the final cry of the deceased."

While Zhang Lin was performing an autopsy on the body overnight, Zhang Hui and her team were also searching and comparing information in the missing persons database.

The air conditioner in the information center emitted an old hum, and the blue light from the display screen reflected on Xiao Zhou's bloodshot eyes.