BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 166 Autopsy

Everyone in the meeting room was used to seeing corpses—except Che Qianzi.

Although the young Taoist had broadened his horizons in the past few months, it was still his first time witnessing a naked female corpse being completely dissected, with all her internal organs removed and laid out.

He forced himself not to look at the body and instead focused on listening to Xiao Yifeng’s explanation through the speaker.

“This is an abnormal condition discovered by Chief Ouyang. The liver shows obvious irregularities, but there are no signs of poisoning.”

As he spoke, Xiao Yifeng personally cut off a piece of liver and held it up to the camera to display the abnormality.

“I can smell a strong acetic acid odor. It seems this liver has been soaked in vinegar for a long time—”

Before he could finish, the door behind him opened.

A white-haired man—Yang Xiao—walked in.

After interrogating the couple the night before, he had left the Bureau. No one knew where he had gone, and no one expected him to appear in Division Five’s temporary autopsy room at this moment.

Neither Ouyang Pianzuo nor Xiao Yifeng expected his arrival either.

While they were still stunned, Yang Xiao had already stepped up to the autopsy table and picked up the white liver, examining it carefully.

Only then did Xiao Yifeng speak.

“This is Du Qian, the body we retrieved from formalin last night. We’re currently dissecting her corpse…”

“I saw it,” Yang Xiao replied without looking up.

He continued examining the body. Then he pressed the female corpse’s throat and a pinkish fluid seeped out.

Seeing this, Yang Xiao waved the two Division Five chiefs back.

Then, with a flick of his fingernail, he sliced open the throat and retrieved a soaked talisman from the trachea.

The talisman was written on a strip of cloth, which is why it had been preserved for so long.

After unfolding it, everyone saw strange symbols that no one could understand.

Even Hao Zhengyi—who had the widest knowledge in the room—could not identify them.

Xiong Wanyi, unwilling to accept that Che Qianzi had been appointed consultant, deliberately asked,

“Consultant Che, what is that? You can’t recognize it either? You’re our consultant—time to do your job.”

Che Qianzi glanced at the sticky cloth strip and forced down the urge to vomit.

“Nonsense. What else could it be? Obviously the curse that killed those eight people. Right, Old Yang?”

Yang Xiao glanced at him through the camera but did not immediately answer.

Instead, he leaned over and whispered something to Xiao Yifeng.

Xiao Yifeng’s expression changed drastically.

“That’s impossible… I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

At that moment, Ouyang Pianzuo walked over.

“If I tell you to go, then go. You haven’t heard of many things like this…”

With no choice, Xiao Yifeng left the autopsy room.

A moment later, he returned pushing another corpse—one of the six attackers who had died earlier that morning.

“Look carefully. This type of curse-killing technique—I’ve only heard of it, never seen it before.”

As he spoke, Yang Xiao tossed the talisman onto the corpse.

The moment it made contact, everyone in the room felt an indescribable change in the body.

But no one could clearly explain what had changed.

“Even the dead feel fear,” Yang Xiao said slowly.

Only then did everyone realize the truth:

The corpse was “afraid.”

Not the soul—but the physical body itself was in extreme terror, even though it was motionless.

Chief Hao Wenming and Chief Hao Zhengyi exchanged a glance and stood up simultaneously.

“We’ll go take a look ourselves. Learning from Yang Xiao would be beneficial.”

Sun Desheng ignored them and spoke into the microphone.

“Old Yang, let me confirm if I’ve understood this correctly.”

“Those eight people who died this morning all had a different type of talisman inside their bodies.”

“These two types of talismans cannot come into contact within a certain range.”

“As soon as Du Qian was removed from formalin, the two talismans reacted… and triggered the deaths of the others?”

Yang Xiao looked slightly surprised at the camera.

“If I didn’t know your mind works differently from normal people, I’d think you were the one who did this, Sun Dasheng.”

“Your guess is mostly correct.”

“This is a technique used by Southeast Asian cultivators to deal with traitors.”

“The master keeps a primary talisman, and the disciple drinks water infused with a secondary talisman.”

“That way, the disciple can never betray the sect. If they return, they die from extreme fear.”

“Later, that branch of cultivators died out, and this technique was lost.”

While he spoke, the two Hao chiefs had already arrived and were watching everything in detail.

Without stopping, Yang Xiao cut open the newly arrived corpse’s chest and revealed a heart shriveled down to the size of a ping-pong ball.

Although it no longer beat, it turned grayish-white when exposed to the nearby talisman.

He then cut open the throat again—the tissue inside had already begun to rot and decay in a disgusting manner.

“That’s enough. You handle the rest of the autopsies.”

Yang Xiao washed the blood from his hands and turned to the camera.

“I’m going upstairs. There’s something else to discuss.”

“Sun Dasheng, you can close the case now. You already know what’s going on.”

That final sentence made everyone look at Sun Desheng strangely.

Their expressions carried the same thought:

This fat man really does know something—he just isn’t saying it.

“I was just guessing,” Sun Desheng said casually, noticing the looks.

“I looked through the file. The timing matches exactly—the moment Du Qian was pulled out of formalin.”

“It seems the formalin temporarily suppressed the mutual reaction between the talismans.”

“Once she was removed, the talisman inside her body activated, triggering the deaths of the others through resonance.”

“This kind of death would indeed leave almost no trace.”

The senior leader frowned.

“And the mastermind behind all this? Director Sun, we can’t close the case without catching that person.”

At that moment, Che Qianzi’s mind drifted elsewhere.

Last night, he had just received fifty gold bars—and they were now in his name.

If the culprit was caught and exposed everything… what would happen to him?

Would he have to return the gold?

Sun Desheng glanced at his brother, then said to the leader:

“My suggestion is to close the case temporarily.”

“Set a review period of two years. Reopen it every two years until the culprit is caught.”

“Two years? Are you joking?” the leader said after a pause.

“There is no precedent for that in the ministry. Either it’s an open case or a closed one.”

Sun Desheng smiled slightly.

“If you insist on catching the culprit quickly, it’s possible.”

“But it would require the full manpower and resources of the Bureau.”

“And we would have to prepare for at least ten percent casualty rate among investigators.”