SFTD -Chapter 342 Rooftop Human Skin (Part 1)

Zhou Hai was on the side when Xu Biao leaned in. The contents of the call immediately grabbed his attention.

Zhou Hai reassured him, “Send me the address. We’re going there now.”

Xu Biao shouted into the phone, “Send a photo first!”

The two of them grabbed their bags and went downstairs. Old Wang was wiping his car. Seeing them come down with equipment cases, he quickly put everything away and jumped into the driver’s seat. Coming from a military background, his sense of urgency was clearly different from ordinary people. Zhou Hai nodded at him.

“Master Wang, take us to this address.”

Old Wang glanced at the location on the phone. “I know this place. It’s an urban–rural fringe area.”

Without hesitation, he started the car.

As soon as Zhou Hai sat down, a new WeChat message came in. He opened the image—and immediately sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

Xu Biao beside him noticed Zhou Hai’s reaction and became even more curious. He leaned over to look—and was instantly shocked.

“What the hell is that?”

“What the hell is this thing?!”

Zhou Hai shook his head and enlarged the image carefully. The photo seemed to show a rooftop platform—shops on the ground floor with residential housing above. The upper floors were set back slightly, leaving a terrace above the commercial roof.

On that platform lay a yellowish-white mass, vaguely shaped like the letter “M.” At first glance, it looked like a large featherless bird, wings seemingly broken, collapsed on the rooftop. But the photo was taken from a distance, and many details were unclear. Only darker patches could be seen in the middle section.

Zhou Hai lowered his phone and asked Xu Biao, “Who requested forensic support for this case?”

Xu Biao checked his phone. “Wang Man’s team requested it. They said they can’t identify it and need us to help confirm what it is.”

Zhou Hai nodded. It was indeed difficult to judge. He closed his eyes briefly—only seeing the scene in person would make things clearer. The eyes were often the easiest to deceive.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the address given by Zhao Xinli.

It was still an old residential complex in the urban–rural fringe. From the name alone, it was clearly a resettlement community built after the 2000s.

At the gate, golden metal letters read “Lijiahe Community,” already showing signs of age. The character for “He (river)” even had missing strokes.

Several police cars were parked inside.

Old Wang stopped the car. Zhou Hai and Xu Biao got out with their equipment cases.

After a few steps, Zhou Hai turned back. “Master Wang, take out the two white high-decomposition protective suits from the trunk. Given this weather, anything—animal or human—will have advanced decomposition if exposed. Better safe than sorry.”

Xu Biao shivered at his words, suddenly regretting every complaint about the air conditioning earlier.

It was nearly 2 p.m.—the hottest time of summer. Even just carrying equipment outside for a few minutes left him breathless.

Zhou Hai’s short-sleeved uniform was already soaked with sweat on the back.

They moved quickly toward the north side entrance, where a young officer was already waiting. He offered to help carry the gear, and Zhou Hai handed him a forensic case without hesitation.

They went straight through the fire passage to the third floor, where Wang Man was already waiting.

“You’re finally here!”

Zhou Hai entered quickly, followed by Xu Biao. He scanned the surroundings and asked, “Where’s Zhao Xinli and the others?”

Wang Man waved his hand. “Come with me. They’re already at the south-side balcony. There’s a passage that leads out.”

He led the way.

When they stepped onto the balcony, Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes. The layout resembled a previous case involving a photography studio—interconnected rooftops allowing movement between buildings. The complex looked only about a decade or so old, yet it used older architectural designs.

Then he smelled it.

A strong stench.

Rotten. Extremely rotten. The smell of advanced decomposition.

Xu Biao’s hair stood on end. Even in the sweltering heat, he felt a cold chill on the back of his neck.

Following Wang Man, they reached the edge of the platform.

The suspicious object was not directly on the main rooftop—it was on a lower, offset platform connected to it.

The structure sloped slightly eastward. Blue corrugated metal panels lined the edge to block sun and rain. The object lay stretched north–south across the lower platform.

Zhou Hai leaned forward to look. Sure enough, Zhao Xinli and Da Liu were already below.

The smell was even stronger here.

“Who discovered it?” Zhou Hai asked.

Wang Man pointed downward. “Residents have been complaining for half a month about a sewage smell. The property management cleaned it multiple times, but it never improved. On sunny days, it got even worse.

This morning, residents claimed the smell was coming from a restaurant nearby, so environmental inspectors were called in. But the restaurant insisted they were also victims.

The inspectors found no violations, though the smell near the second floor of the restaurant was indeed stronger.

Later, a security guard mentioned the odor was strongest at the southeast corner during patrols. There was also a patch of black soil attracting flies and stray dogs.

The property manager checked and found about sixty square centimeters of ground covered in black grease. When they approached, flies scattered everywhere.

Then a drop of grease fell from the eaves—it fell from above.

So they checked the third-floor residents, came up to the platform… and finally found this thing. Our team looked for a long time but couldn’t identify it. It’s completely flattened now and hard to recognize.”

Zhou Hai frowned.

In such heat, anything exposed should be severely decomposed or even reduced to skeleton. So why was there still a skin-like structure?

“Let’s go down and take a look.”

He climbed down the ladder.

Below, the stench hit like a physical force—enough to sting the eyes and bring tears.

Soon Xu Biao and the equipment were lowered as well. He quickly put on the high-decomposition protective suit, handed one to Zhou Hai, and put one on himself.

Once suited up, Zhou Hai crouched beside the massive “M-shaped” object.

Using the back of his tweezers, he gently tapped it.

The surface was extremely hard and leathery. Some areas were pale brown, others pale yellow, all fully mummified into a skin-like texture.

What was even more shocking was that it was almost completely pressed against the ground. Only the southern edge was slightly raised, revealing hints of underlying bone structure.

Even so, it was impossible to identify the species at a glance. The object was simply too large—if Zhou Hai lay beside it, it would be more than twice his width.

Xu Biao muttered in a muffled voice through his mask:

“Zhou Hai… what the hell is this thing?”