SFTD -Chapter 262 Rabies Virus (Part 17)

There was a hint of excitement in Xiao Zeng’s voice as he spoke rapidly:

“Yeah, this person was transferred from Rizhao to Dongnan for surgery. It was at the women’s hospital we searched earlier. She was discharged yesterday. We checked her medical records and found her address and contact information. Just ten minutes ago, we already sent the patient to the hospital. Hopefully, we’re still in time.”

Zhou Hai let out a slight sigh of relief.

“How’s the patient’s mental condition?”

Xiao Zeng chuckled.

“I don’t really understand that stuff, but it seems she’s finally able to eat again. She’s extremely thin, but surprisingly energetic.”

“That’s good. You still need to find the patient waiting for the bone marrow transplant. Lin Hua already gave you that person’s information. Bone marrow transplantation is different from other transplants. Before the transplant, all of the patient’s own immune cells have to be destroyed first, and then they wait for the transplant. If we don’t notify them in time, without bone marrow, death awaits them just the same.”

The smile on Xiao Zeng’s face instantly disappeared, replaced with solemnity in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Forensic Doctor Zhou. I’m searching now. The moment I find them, I’ll notify you immediately.”

Seeing Zhou Hai finish the call, Xu Biao walked over and bumped him lightly.

“Haizi, isn’t everything going pretty smoothly? Why do you still look so worried?”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s wait for news from Wang Man’s side. I have a feeling this is much bigger than we imagined.”

Before he even finished speaking, his phone rang. The name “Wang Man” flashed on the screen, and Zhou Hai immediately answered.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, can you come to Xuzhou?”

June 14, 2015 — before dawn.

The sky had not yet brightened, but the entire Jia Mountain Cemetery was illuminated like broad daylight by massive lighting equipment.

Wang Man had stayed awake all night. The entire Xuzhou bureau had been shaken by the case. A huge number of officers and machines had been mobilized to inspect grave after grave, and the results were horrifying.

On the open ground north of the cemetery, twenty-four corpses sealed in body bags had been discovered.

Inside the graves themselves, another twenty-nine skeletons had been found.

Fengzi and Xiao Liang had never performed this many autopsies before—especially skeletal examinations. That was Zhou Hai’s specialty. The most they could do was preserve every set of remains as completely as possible while carefully cataloging them.

Fengzi conducted rough examinations on each skeleton and discovered that the twenty-four bodies inside the body bags were relatively intact. Though the levels of decomposition differed, the corpses were mostly complete and still clothed neatly.

The remains inside the graves, however, were another story entirely.

Most showed damage or obvious premortem injuries. Stranger still, all twenty-nine skeletons were completely naked, and their decomposition was far more severe. Many had already become bare bones, while others were incomplete skeletal fragments piled together randomly, impossible to distinguish clearly.

The more Fengzi looked, the more confused he became. The situation was enough to drive anyone mad with anxiety.

Skeletal identification was already his weak point, and now every examination involved exactly that. Worse still, they lacked enough pressure cookers to process the bones.

Looking toward the cemetery entrance, he wondered when Zhou Hai would arrive.

Just then, as Fengzi raised his head, two beams of light flashed along the mountain road.

His heart leapt with joy, and he hurried toward the gate. Seeing his reaction, Wang Man also stopped what he was doing and turned toward the entrance.

A white Ford minibus drove into the courtyard.

As the door opened, a hefty figure appeared at the entrance and waved enthusiastically at everyone.

“Comrades, you’ve worked hard! Miss me or not?”

Fengzi immediately yanked Xu Biao out of the vehicle.

“You brat, damn right we missed you! We haven’t slept for twenty-four hours—we’re exhausted! Where’s the boss? Xu Biao, stop blocking the door. Is there nobody else in the car?”

Xu Biao’s face darkened instantly. He shoved Fengzi aside.

“Move, move! Calling you Fengzi wasn’t wrong after all. I kindly brought reinforcements to save you guys, and this is the attitude I get? Too heartbreaking. Fine then, we won’t even get out. Load the equipment back up—we’re going home.”

Fengzi was about to respond when a voice behind Xu Biao spoke up:

“Quit fooling around and get to work. Fengzi’s practically collapsing from exhaustion already. You slept like a dead pig in the car, so now you can help carry the equipment.”

Xu Biao smacked his lips and quickly stepped aside from the door.

The moment Fengzi heard that voice, he nearly burst into tears.

Damn it… he really missed Zhou Hai.

Especially whenever they hit difficult problems, he desperately wanted Zhou Hai’s help. But this was his first independent assignment, and asking directly for help might make Zhou Hai lose face, so he had endured it.

Yet somehow, Zhou Hai and the others had still come.

“Boss, you’re here! That’s great. Looking at this mountain of bones was making me want to cry.”

Zhou Hai jumped out of the vehicle and patted Fengzi on the shoulder.

“I heard about your great achievement. Using the medulla oblongata like that was extremely well done. Wang Man should properly thank you.”

Fengzi grinned happily.

But immediately afterward, several more people jumped out of the van, and Fengzi’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Zhao Xinli from Team Three and Cui Xin from Team Four had both come, bringing trace evidence personnel as reinforcements.

“My god! Boss, did you move the entire center here?”

Zhou Hai smiled and pointed toward the cemetery.

“Enough nonsense. Brief us on the situation so we can divide the work.”

Fengzi quickly put away his grin and called Xiao Liang over. Together they explained the cemetery’s condition in detail, causing Zhou Hai’s brows to knit tightly.

“The workload is enormous, but that’s fine. Xu Biao, take the trace evidence team and organize the twenty-nine skeletons from the graves that Luo Yunfeng’s people already separated. Arrange them in groups of four in the hall according to numbering order. I’ll examine them shortly.

Zhao Xinli and Cui Xin, you’re responsible for cleaning and examining the twenty-four bodies buried outside. Determine age, sex, and estimated time of death. Even with the heavy workload, every detail must be handled carefully.

I refuse to let our autopsies contain mistakes.

Otherwise, it won’t just disgrace you or me—it’ll disgrace the entire Dongnan City bureau. Understood?”

Everyone answered in unison:

“Understood!”

At once, everyone sprang into action.

Although Zhou Hai had never formally been a leader, his words often inspired more obedience than Director Pang’s orders ever could.

Soon, skeletons inside body bags were carried over one by one. Numbers and grave information were marked on the outside of each bag, and the remains were arranged neatly in groups of four.

Zhou Hai had already changed into investigation gear and put on protective goggles.

The moment he saw the condition of the bones, his brows furrowed deeply.

“They’re completely skeletonized… How many years has this cemetery existed?”

Xiao Liang flipped through his notebook.

“That Boss Wan guy contracted it for ten years. There are still three years left on the contract. Oh right, Brother Hai, all the graves appear sealed on the surface, but there’s an opening at the back of each one. The stone slabs there were pried open deliberately—you can still see traces around them.”

Zhou Hai crouched beside a body bag and removed the humerus and pubic symphysis.

At this level of complete skeletonization, boiling was unnecessary.

Judging from the weathering marks, these remains seemed to have been stored for many years. But Zhou Hai knew this was an intentionally staged scene.

The cut marks on the bones made that obvious.

The muscle tissue had been deliberately stripped from the body.

Based on characteristic features of the pubic symphysis and the epiphyseal lines near the surgical neck of the humerus, this had been a boy around fifteen or sixteen years old.

A slight fracture in the cervical vertebrae and the unusual curvature of the posture indicated that the boy had not died naturally.

Furthermore, every rib connected to the sternum had been severed. The cuts were exceptionally clean—marks left by a surgical electric saw.

A section of rib edge had been cut away.

Zhou Hai tossed it to Xiao Liang beside him.

“Prepare a bone grinding slide. Check it under the microscope and see whether there are blood cells inside the osteons.”

Zhou Hai carefully examined the remaining rib cross-sections.

Suddenly, his fingers paused slightly.

Could it really be exactly as he had suspected?