SFTD -Chapter 17 The Faceless Female Corpse (Part 9)

After Xu Biao finished handling the necessary procedures, he rushed back at lightning speed.

Recently, under Zhou Hai’s influence, he had developed a strong interest in autopsies. The three of them changed clothes, washed up, and appeared in the autopsy room.

As Xiao Liang unzipped the body bag, he let out a startled cry and instantly staggered back several steps.

“Ah! Oh my god!
She—
She—
Her eyes are open—”

Xu Biao bumped Xiao Liang with his shoulder and blinked his tiny eyes.

“Hey! Kid, stop freaking out. Haven’t you ever heard of dying with one’s eyes open? I wasn’t scared by the corpse, but you nearly scared my soul out of me.”

Zhou Hai glanced at Xiao Liang.

“The orbicularis oculi muscle surrounds the eyelids. After death, all muscles relax. As rigor mortis sets in, the eyelids may open slightly. But a case like Ma Keke’s, with the eyes wide open, is fairly rare. I suspect it has something to do with her condition before death.”

Xu Biao pushed Xiao Liang aside and swallowed nervously.

“You mean… before she died, she was so terrified that her eyes were wide open, and now it’s like that expression was frozen in place?”

Zhou Hai nodded.

“The killer spread her hair out to cover her eyes. When it’s someone the victim knows, the killer often feels guilty and can’t bear to look directly at the victim.”

The three worked together to remove Ma Keke’s clothes, placing them neatly on a nearby table in order.

“What a pity. Such a beautiful girl.”

Xu Biao smacked his lips as he spoke.

Ignoring him, Zhou Hai began the autopsy.

There were bits of tree bark debris on the front of the short-sleeved school uniform.

Because Ma Keke died from mechanical asphyxiation, she had involuntarily voided her bladder and bowels, leaving stains on her underwear.

The shoelaces tied around the victim’s wrists and neck were removed. After photographing the wrapping method and knot structure, they were sealed into evidence bags for testing.

Pointing at the knot, Zhou Hai explained:

“Look here. The way this knot was tied is the same as the knot residue left on Zhong Yishan’s wrist.”

Xu Biao frowned and curled his lips.

“And based on just this knot, you concluded Zhong Yishan and Ma Keke were killed by the same murderer?”

“That’s only part of the reason. The choice of crime scene, along with the repeated methods used to confirm the victim’s death, all point to the same killer.”

“But Zhong Yishan died from hemorrhagic shock, right? And this one was strangled. That’s a pretty big difference.”

Zhou Hai glanced at Xu Biao and Xiao Liang beside him.

“Remember the knife inserted into Zhong Yishan’s crotch area?”

The two nodded.

“Yeah.”

“The killer did that for two reasons. First, to vent hatred. But more importantly…she was confirming whether Zhong Yishan was truly dead. Xiao Liang, send the bindings and the samples collected at the scene for testing. The killer didn’t have time to clean up the scene. If she wasn’t wearing gloves, there’s a chance we can recover the killer’s DNA from the shoelaces. Tell Sister Zeng to compare it with the DNA samples collected from those people yesterday.”

Xiao Liang hurried upstairs with the samples.

The autopsy continued.

Ma Keke’s face was swollen. There were pinpoint hemorrhages on the facial skin and conjunctiva, and involuntary discharge of urine and feces—classic signs of death by strangulation.

With one clean motion, Zhou Hai opened Ma Keke’s neck, chest, and abdomen, examining the organs in sequence.

“Fracture of the superior horn of the thyroid cartilage. Significant dark brown subcutaneous hemorrhaging beneath the ligature marks. Four deep ligature marks in total.”

Congestion was present in the right atrium, right ventricle, liver, and kidneys.

Pulmonary congestion and emphysema were extremely obvious. There were pinpoint hemorrhages beneath the serous and mucosal membranes of the internal organs, and the blood was dark red and fluid.

“There’s only a small amount of fiber and chyme in the stomach contents. Time of death was more than six hours after the last meal. Combined with the rectal temperature, Xiao Liang, calculate the time of death. Do you remember the formula for estimating time of death using body temperature?”

Xiao Liang nodded. These basic concepts were second nature to him.

“Elapsed time after death equals: 37 minus the rectal temperature, divided by 0.38, multiplied by the coefficient. (Coefficient: 1 for spring and autumn, 1.4 for summer, 0.7 for winter.) After calculation, Ma Keke’s time of death was around 4:30 to 5:00 this morning—approximately four hours ago.”

Xu Biao blinked. He knew Zhou Hai was deliberately making Xiao Liang explain it for his benefit.

“So that means the light the security guard saw really was from the killer.”

Zhou Hai nodded and examined the victim’s genital area.

Just as expected, he collected a swab sample and placed it into an evidence bag before looking up at Xu Biao.

“There’s an old hymenal tear. This needs to be tested.”

Xu Biao smacked his lips.

“Damn! That proves your earlier judgment was right. Ma Keke’s parents knew exactly what their daughter was doing, and they even encouraged her to stay with Zhang Yang!”

Zhou Hai nodded heavily.

The worship of money above all else had caused teenagers to encounter society’s darker side far too early.

Being born into such a family was Ma Keke’s tragedy.

Zhou Hai carefully stitched the victim’s body back together, preserving her dignity and appearance as much as possible.

After all, she had been such a beautiful girl.

June 25th, 11:00 AM

Back in the office, Zhou Hai stared blankly at a photo of a piece of white leather displayed on the computer screen.

Standing behind him, Xu Biao drank water while rocking back and forth on a stool.

“I say, Hai Zi, you’ve been staring at this picture for half an hour. What information do you see in it? Anyone else would think some girl gave you a present.”

Zhou Hai suddenly turned around and stared at Xu Biao.

A girl!

Right—why hadn’t he thought of that earlier?

“I know who the killer is!”

Xu Biao nearly spat out the mouthful of water he was drinking.

Cough cough!

“Don’t do that! You’ll scare someone to death like that! So who is it?”

Zhou Hai pointed at the white leather in the photo.

“Wang Yu. This is a decorative piece from Wang Yu’s shoe.”

Before Xu Biao could even react in shock, Xiao Liang rushed into the office.

“The results are out?” Xu Biao raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, the test results are back.”

Xiao Liang looked excited as he handed the report to Zhou Hai.

“We found someone’s DNA on the shoelace used to strangle Ma Keke, and under her fingernails. You’ll never guess who it is!”

“…”

The two stared at Xiao Liang expressionlessly. Zhou Hai frowned slightly, thinking for a moment.

A flock of imaginary crows seemed to fly over Xiao Liang’s head.

Why wasn’t anyone reacting?

Xu Biao smacked Xiao Liang on the head.

“Stop obsessing over it! Before you even walked in, your Hai-ge had already figured out who the killer was. Your report is just supporting evidence. The DNA from the fingernails and shoelace—it belongs to Wang Yu, right?”

Xiao Liang’s eyes widened behind his black-framed glasses. Xu Biao’s words shocked him far more than the report itself had.

“Huh? Oh! But how did Hai-ge figure it out?”

Xu Biao waved his hand and smacked him on the head again.

“Guess, guess, guess—guess your head! This is rigorous forensic analysis. Learn from it, kid!”

Xiao Liang pouted but said nothing more.

Zhou Hai took the report, glanced through it, then picked up his phone and dialed Captain Wang’s number.

“The murderer who killed Ma Keke and Zhong Yishan is Wang Yu. You can make the arrest now!”