SFTD -Chapter 21 Giant Cadaveric Swelling (Part 1)

Monday, July 28, 2014 02:15 PM

A brutal heatwave had struck Dongnan City. For three consecutive days, temperatures had climbed above 40°C.

Outside the window, even the leaves on the trees seemed curled and shriveled from the scorching sun.

The air conditioner hummed steadily, keeping the office reasonably comfortable.

Director Pang Guoqing of the Forensic Center had assigned Zhou Hai’s Team Two to spend the past month handling traffic accident forensic reviews before Team One’s Liu Jianjun took over.

After all, with the explosive increase in car ownership, traffic accidents had become increasingly common.

Many forensic assessments were issued by hospital forensic outpatient departments.

Naturally, mistakes and oversights appeared among them, and those cases required periodic review by the center.

Under normal circumstances, noisy crowds would gather, all hoping professional forensic doctors could authenticate their injuries.

The work was tedious and complicated. Xu Biao was practically on the verge of going insane.

Team Three’s senior forensic doctor Gao had fallen ill and been hospitalized, while Teams Four and Five were away studying in the provincial capital and would not return until September.

So they had no choice.

Only Teams One and Two could rotate shifts, though Team One had six members, making their workload far lighter.

At the moment, the center’s greatest problem was manpower shortage.

After all, very few people chose to become forensic doctors. Even among those who studied the specialty, many switched careers halfway through.

So whether the newcomers could stay remained uncertain.

Zhou Hai stared at the Word document on his desktop titled “2014 First Half-Year Work Summary” and frowned slightly.

His entire first half-year here amounted to only one month—how exactly was he supposed to write this?

Aside from special case meetings and the smoke-filled offices that felt like burning firewood, the thing Zhou Hai disliked second most was these unavoidable meetings and summary reports.

Summarize what?

How many autopsies their team completed this year?
How many crime scenes they attended?
How many they planned to complete in the second half of the year?
How much they exceeded expectations?

What was the point of compiling these statistics?

The computer system already recorded everything in the daily work reports, transmitted them to the provincial office in real time, and automatically generated all kinds of charts and analytical reports at a glance.

If it were an analytical summary of major criminal cases, that would at least make sense.

But if he actually wrote all that into the report, Director Pang would probably kill him.

There was always a gap between ideals and reality.

That was simply how work functioned domestically—adapt and stay, fail to adapt and get lost.

Plenty of people were staring at him, waiting to laugh at his mistakes. Director Pang would probably be the first to applaud.

Sighing, Zhou Hai continued agonizing over the report.

A scalpel handle danced across his fingers and knuckles while a troubled look remained on his face.

Xu Biao had long since become immune to Zhou Hai’s unusual way of showing off. He merely glanced over before losing interest.

Half a day passed, and Zhou Hai still had not written a single word. His thoughts had already drifted ten thousand miles away. Writing this kind of bureaucratic essay was devastating to brain cells.

Xu Biao comfortably enjoyed the cool air conditioning while sipping tea. After finishing the last investigation summary, he happily hummed a tune, his plump belly swaying along with the rhythm.

Xiao Liang could not help laughing.

“Brother Xu is too funny. We’ve only been idle for half a day, and he’s already singing.”

Xu Biao nodded while swaying his head.

“Exactly! Tell me, how did Liu Jianjun’s Team One get so lucky? They managed the place for an entire month without a single homicide happening.”

Zhou Hai shot Xu Biao a glance and continued staring at the Word document. Xiao Liang shrank his neck slightly.

“Isn’t it good if there are no homicide cases? That means public security in Dongnan is good.”

Xu Biao curled his lips and waved a finger back and forth.

“Dongnan’s a coastal city. Economic growth is booming, and there’s a huge migrant population. Even with good public security, there’s no stopping vicious crimes from happening. The quieter things are, the easier it is for a major case to appear. Wasn’t that case with the two girls the same? Things stayed quiet for too long, and then boom—a huge case.”

“Aiya! I shouldn’t say things like that!

Ptooey ptooey ptooey!

Bad luck stay away, good luck come!
Bad luck stay away, good luck come!”

Xu Biao made exaggerated gestures toward all four directions.

Xiao Liang hesitated, clutching a sheet of paper as he circled around Xu Biao twice.

Xu Biao narrowed his eyes.

“Speak. What are you scheming?”

Xiao Liang handed him the paper and leaned closer to whisper.

“Brother Xu, if there’s nothing important tomorrow, I’d like to take a day off. Do you think Brother Hai will approve it?”

A lecherous grin spread across Xu Biao’s face as he grabbed Xiao Liang’s wrist.

“What for? You brat got yourself a girlfriend, didn’t you?”

Xiao Liang smiled awkwardly.

“My girlfriend Xiaoke is coming to Dongnan tomorrow. Don’t misunderstand. She’s going to intern at the Municipal People’s Hospital and wants to come early to familiarize herself with the area. Besides… we haven’t seen each other in a long time…”

Xu Biao poked him.

“No need to explain. Go ask Hai-zi yourself. He’s just bad with words. He’s actually easy to talk to. Besides, the two of us are nearly thirty-year-old bachelors. We’re not jealous of student couples with childhood sweethearts.”

Right then, the office phone rang. The caller was Director Pang Guoqing.

Seeing the number, Xu Biao hurriedly picked up.

“Hello, Director Pang!”

“Da Xu, notify Zhou Hai. Your Team Two needs to head downstairs immediately. Captain Huang already sent someone to pick you up. A floating corpse has been discovered in an irrigation pond in Xifu Town. Bring the new protective equipment.”

Xu Biao shuddered all over, his lips trembling slightly as he acknowledged and hung up.

If the director was “kindly” reminding them to bring protective gear…that meant the scene was going to be horrifying.

In this weather—

Could it be giant cadaveric swelling?

Zhou Hai closed the document and looked up at Xu Biao.

“We’ve got a case?”

Xu Biao looked miserable.

“Yeah. Floating corpse in a pond in Xifu Town.

In this temperature…Outdoors… in a pond…This is asking for trouble.

Ptooey ptooey ptooey!

Damn my crow mouth.”

He slapped his own mouth twice.

As though he had heard nothing, Zhou Hai grabbed the investigation kit and instructed Xiao Liang:

“Bring the new gas masks we just received. We’re leaving.”

July 28, 3:07 PM

The three arrived at Xifu Town.

A humid, sticky hot wind slapped against their faces.

At this hour, exposed concrete surfaces outdoors had reached a ground temperature of seventy-three degrees Celsius.

The scorching air felt hot enough to burn the respiratory tract, while an incomparably horrifying stench swept toward them like a tidal wave.

The sensation was strangely familiar.

That hyperactive nerve in Zhou Hai’s brain seemed to grow even more excited.

He first put on a charcoal filtration mask, then added a gas mask over it.

With double protection, the smell finally weakened somewhat.

Zhou Hai changed into a full-body forensic suit, put on two layers of latex gloves, and stepped into specialized scene-investigation boots. Carrying the case box, he glanced at the other two.

“Put them on. Being a little hotter is fine. Otherwise your body will stink like corpse odor for the next three days.”

Xiao Liang and Xu Biao both shivered and hurriedly copied Zhou Hai’s preparations.

Crossing the police tape, they headed toward the pond.

The sloped walls of the pond descended toward the water at roughly a forty-degree angle and were entirely lined with stone slabs. Only the southeast corner had a stairway extending beneath the water surface.

The investigators who arrived earlier had already taken a boat down there. Captain Huang waved at them from below.

Zhou Hai’s ears were filled with the sound of his own breathing. Wearing a gas mask always felt awkward.

Following the fifty-centimeter-wide stone steps, he descended toward the bottom of the pond.

Captain Huang removed his mask. Sweat had already soaked through his shirt. Turning around, he patted Zhou Hai on the shoulder.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, looks like Team Two will have to work hard again.”

Zhou Hai nodded.

“Tell me the situation.”

“An hour ago.

A local villager named Zhou Damin reported the incident. Because of the ongoing drought, the villagers wanted to pump water to irrigate the cornfields.

After pumping for over an hour, the water suddenly stopped flowing. He climbed down to check.

That’s when he saw a tightly wrapped gigantic silver-white bundle floating on the water surface, blocking the intake pipe.

At the same time, an unbearable stench nearly suffocated him.

The villager walked a few steps closer and spotted a human foot sticking out from the massive silver-white bundle. Terrified, he immediately climbed back up and called the police.”

Zhou Hai nodded.

“I’ll go down and take a look. Have you called in divers to investigate?”

Captain Huang glanced at his watch.

“They should be arriving soon. We contacted them first.”