SFTD -Chapter 23 Giant Cadaveric Swelling (Part 3)

Zhou Hai nodded.

“We can pull surveillance footage from around that time period. After all, this pond is in an extremely secluded location. Unless someone is local or has been here before, it would be very difficult to find. Based on the killer’s habit of dumping bodies far away while hiding evidence nearby, he clearly believed no one would ever suspect him, which is why he decided to dispose of the body here.”

Xu Biao leaned over and used a magnifying glass to point out a label inside the collar of the victim’s clothing.

“The victim’s wool sweater is a 2014 spring-season Burberry model, worth around four hundred US dollars. As for the thermal shirt underneath, I don’t recognize the label.”

The three of them gathered closer. Sure enough, that was the case.

“It’s French. See the two dots over the ‘e’? Looks like the victim was fairly wealthy—able to buy clothes in Europe.”

Zhou Hai waved for everyone to step back.

With a single cut, he opened the victim’s abdomen. Instantly, the stench inside the autopsy room intensified to an entirely new level. Captain Huang bolted straight for the door.

His eyes watered from nausea. He rushed into the restroom and vomited violently.

Zhou Hai and Xu Biao retreated near the ventilation inlet, where fresh air entered from outside and the smell was weakest.

Only Xiao Liang remained standing beside the autopsy table. Even Zhou Hai had to admire him.

That kind of resistance to foul odors was truly exceptional.

Ten minutes later, Captain Huang returned to the autopsy room and nodded awkwardly toward Zhou Hai and the others.

“Sorry, just now…”

“It’s fine. That’s a normal human reaction.”

Zhou Hai waved dismissively and resumed the autopsy.

There was no damage to the hyoid bone or neck area, indicating the victim had not been strangled to death.

When he opened the trachea, he discovered a large amount of foam inside the airway.

Drowning fluid.

Zhou Hai paused slightly.

He had always believed the victim was murdered first, frozen, and only afterward dumped here. But the discovery of drowning fluid made the situation feel strangely unsettling.

He continued examining the lungs. The entire organ was filled with foam, with obvious pulmonary edema present.

He collected lung tissue samples and intracardiac blood, handing them to Xiao Liang for testing.

There was no drowning fluid in the digestive tract. Due to the advanced decomposition, the stomach contents had been forced out through the mouth by internal pressure.

Photos were taken of the scar from the victim’s hernia surgery.

An incision was also made from the side for closer inspection. Despite the severe abdominal decomposition, Zhou Hai still managed to locate a wave-shaped hernia repair mesh in the victim’s groin.

After rinsing it clean, he immediately placed it under a high-powered magnifying lens.

Zhou Hai observed it carefully.

The victim had likely suffered from a massive hernia, since the repair mesh was unusually large. Judging from the material, it appeared to be an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch.

To confirm his theory, Zhou Hai asked the others to help flip the corpse over.

That sticky, soft sensation was something no one present would ever forget for the rest of their lives.

Captain Huang rushed out again.

Sure enough, beneath the skin behind the victim’s ear and neck area, two dark green bruised patches were discovered.

“Xiao Liang, photograph these subcutaneous hemorrhages.”

A series of camera flashes clicked through the room.

Zhou Hai glanced around. Everyone had already reached the limits of their endurance, yet the cranial examination still had to be completed.

Examining the brain of a body in such an advanced state of decomposition was utterly unbearable.

No words could adequately describe the disgusting state of the heavily decayed brain tissue.

After taking two deep breaths to steady himself, Zhou Hai carefully began palpating the victim’s head.

Because of decomposition, the entire head had become grotesquely swollen. The puffed-up face and scalp made external injuries difficult to detect.

There was no choice but to shave the hair first.

Hair shaving was one of the essential skills every forensic pathologist had to master. Watching Zhou Hai’s swift and practiced movements, Xiao Liang and the others stared with wide eyes.

Shaving hair from such soft, fragile scalp tissue was basically like slicing cucumbers on tofu.

Once the head was shaved clean, a dark purple swelling appeared on the left occipital region. The epidermis had already peeled away, and the hollow, swollen discoloration was extremely obvious.

It was a classic mechanical injury.

Judging by its shape, they could even infer the murder weapon had been a wooden club. If it had been a metal rod, the scalp would likely have been completely destroyed.

Xu Biao hurriedly took photographs.

This discovery lifted everyone’s spirits considerably.

After cutting through the subcutaneous tissue, the corresponding section of skull revealed a boat-shaped depressed fracture.

Once the skull was opened, the brain tissue had already deteriorated into a mush-like mass. Nevertheless, dark red discoloration was still visible in the left occipital lobe.

Xiao Liang removed the brain tissue and discovered additional dark red discoloration at the temporal pole and underside of the temporal lobe.

Clearly, this was the site of a contrecoup injury.

Further examination of the remaining organs revealed nothing abnormal.

By now, Zhou Hai had reached his conclusion.

The victim had been struck unconscious from behind with a wooden club, then submerged in water and drowned.

That explained the complete absence of defensive wounds or restraint injuries.

Looking at the glove-like peeling skin on the victim’s hands, Xiao Liang held up the fingerprinting ink with a helpless expression.

The corpse’s arms were so slippery that even touching them caused skin to slough off. Fingerprints simply could not be collected normally.

Xu Biao pushed Xiao Liang aside, took several deep breaths, and stepped forward with the expression of a soldier marching to his execution.

“Move aside. I’ll do it.”

Grabbing the victim’s wrist, Xu Biao used a scalpel to cut a circle around it. Then he pulled upward, stripping the entire skin of the hand off in one piece.

Closing his eyes tightly, he slipped the victim’s skin over his own hand like a glove.

After dipping it into ink, he rapidly collected fingerprints and palm prints, then immediately flung the “skin glove” onto the nearby table holding the victim’s clothing.

Suppressing another wave of nausea, Captain Huang felt endless admiration in his heart.

Such dedication to the job truly deserved respect.

The body was placed into a body bag and transported to the freezer.

The pressure cooker hissed continuously nearby. Inside, the victim’s pubic symphysis and humerus were being boiled.

Only after all flesh and tissue had been removed could the bones be used to estimate age.

Once the autopsy table had been cleaned, Xiao Liang retrieved the pubic symphysis and humerus, and the four of them finally left the autopsy room carrying the bones.

All four spent nearly half an hour showering.

Even so, they still felt as though the stubborn stench clung to their bodies.

Captain Huang had vomited three or four times already. His steps were weak and unsteady, and his entire body felt drained.

For the first time in his life, he truly understood what his wife must have felt like during pregnancy.

Back in the office, Zhou Hai carefully compared the pubic symphysis and humerus.

Using standard calculations, he estimated the victim’s age at roughly 24.5 years old.

Allowing for the accepted two-year margin of error, the victim was likely between twenty-three and twenty-seven years old.

Combining this with the positional changes in the surgical and anatomical necks of the humerus, the estimated age range was narrowed further to twenty-three to twenty-five years old.

By now, Xiao Liang had skillfully connected the computer and printed all the newly taken photographs in color before handing them to Zhou Hai.

Zhou Hai looked up at Captain Huang.

“We now have a direction for identifying the victim.

Male.

Age between twenty-three and twenty-five.

Approximately 1.75 meters tall.

Estimated weight around seventy kilograms.

Financially well-off.

He traveled to Europe sometime after this year’s Spring Festival.

Based on this year’s temperatures in Southeast City, the estimated time of death falls between March 1st and March 25th.

Cause of death: drowning.

The killer struck the victim on the occipital region with a wooden club, then gripped the back of his neck and forced him underwater until he drowned.

And the pond in Xifu Town was most likely only the body disposal site.”