SFTD -Chapter 344 Rooftop Human Skin (Part 3)

Zhou Hai nodded firmly.

“Yes. If someone has low intelligence or mental impairment, would an adult be completely naked? Would they fall out of a window?”

Xu Biao was a bit unconvinced and retorted:

“Maybe someone pushed him down.”

Zhou Hai glanced at him.

“Can you push a two-hundred-plus-jin (100+ kg) man out of a window? You have to know, people with mental impairment can sometimes have abnormal strength. If he was pushed, how big a commotion would that be? Would no one around hear it? And would there still be such a strong odor for us to track?”

Xu Biao fell silent instantly. Although still doubtful, Zhou Hai’s words sounded quite reasonable.

Wang Man quickly arranged for people to investigate the building. If they could identify the deceased before the autopsy, it would greatly help both the autopsy and determining the nature of the case.

At that moment, Zhou Hai tapped Zhao Xinli, signaling him to rest, then carried his case toward the southern pointed end of the so-called “human-shaped M.” If this really was a human, then the raised area here might be the head.

Zhou Hai knelt on one knee, examining carefully with a magnifying glass. Finally, he found several strands of hair about ten centimeters long in the folds of the skin. Just as he was about to take out an evidence bag, Da Liu already handed him one. Zhou Hai placed the hair inside.

Da Liu lifted it up to look and exclaimed in surprise: “Long hair? A woman?”

With this weight, if it was a woman, she would be unusually “large.”

“Not confirmed yet. After all, men can also have long hair.”

Zhou Hai tried to lift the skin from this side, but after several attempts, he couldn’t find any leverage and it kept slipping. In the end, he helplessly called Zhao Xinli and Xu Biao over. Each of them took a surgical knife and slowly began separating the “skin” from the ground.

“Try not to damage the skin. Pry up the cement underneath. The desiccated, leather-like surface will retain injury marks, which could help determine the cause of death.”

Easier said than done.

Due to moisture loss, the entire mass had completely adhered to the ground with no gaps at all. They could only peel it away bit by bit.

After half an hour of effort, each of them had barely managed to create a gap large enough for both hands.

Zhou Hai dropped his surgical knife and inserted his fingers into the gap. Seeing this, the others followed his lead and found their own leverage points.

“Alright, I’ll count to three. Let’s all pull together and see if we can lift it off the ground.”

Xu Biao looked worried.

“If we’re this rough, won’t we damage it?”

Da Liu shook his head.

“When we dry salted fish, if they dry on a basket too long, no matter how you pull, the skin won’t come off. Only the basket marks will remain. I think a human dried like this works the same way. Look at this whole mass—it’s basically a giant dried human.”

This analogy actually made sense to them.

As a coastal city, almost every household dried salted fish. During festivals, they even mailed them as gifts. Occasionally over-dried fish would stick to the bamboo basket, and even when removed, the skin would remain intact.

Thinking of this, they all felt a bit more confident. Zhou Hai began counting:

“One—
Two—
Three—
Pull!”

All four exerted force upward. The remaining officers nearby, seeing the forensic team working so “violently,” quickly came down to help. With their added strength, the mass began to lift.

A moment later, with a horrifying tearing sound, the entire southern section of the “human skin” was lifted about half a meter into the air.

Zhou Hai crouched down and looked at the underside.

What appeared before them was a severely deformed face, features grotesquely misaligned. The mouth was open, and several teeth on the right side were missing. It was clear the injuries were caused by landing on the right side.

Zhou Hai pulled a white cloth over the distorted face. No explanation was needed—the others all understood. The deceased’s condition was extremely gruesome, so much so that even Zhou Hai felt uncomfortable looking at it.

No one asked further questions. They continued lifting in coordination and soon managed to pull the entire “human skin” off the ground.

During this process, more oily fluid seemed to drip from the side where Zhou Hai and the others had removed the bones earlier. From below, rustling sounds came from the bushes.

Standing at the edge, Zhou Hai leaned over to look down.

A few wild dogs were seemingly tearing at something, but mostly sniffing around the area where the oil was dripping.

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes. If decomposition fluids were leaking from this side opening, then it would not only be bodily fluids and oil dripping out—everything inside this “skin bag” would have been carried out by the oil flow.

That could explain the source of the stench. This was a sloped platform; anything rolling down would be normal.

If bones and internal organs had fallen from here, they were likely taken away by these wild dogs. Judging from their behavior, they seemed to have “tasted something good” here before.

In this way, nothing would remain for others to discover—only this patch of darkened ground.

And being next to the kitchen area, it was easy for people to overlook the oil stains.

Zhou Hai told the four officers to climb back up first and retrieve the safety hooks they had used earlier, then throw them down. Xu Biao and Da Liu tied up the corpse and pulled it up directly.

Just as it was about to reach the top, a young officer accidentally slipped on the rope.

This caused the white cloth covering the head to be blown aside, and his face ended up almost pressed directly against the corpse.

Suddenly confronted with such a terrifying face, the young officer screamed loudly.

Xu Biao rushed over immediately, grabbed him up, and covered his mouth.

After a while, the officer slowly recovered from the shock, sitting on the ground and gasping for air. Da Liu quickly went over to straighten the white cloth again.

Seeing the young officer still being held by Xu Biao, Zhou Hai felt a wave of helplessness. Comforting people wasn’t his strong suit—better leave that to Xu Biao.

Xu Biao patted his head.

“Kid, feeling better now? If you keep screaming like that, you’ll cause panic in the neighborhood. Do you want this case to blow up? If reporters come, I guarantee your Captain Wang will make you suffer for it.”

That actually worked. The young officer quickly nodded.

Xu Biao released his hand, and indeed he stopped shouting. He patted the officer’s shoulder.

“Alright, get up. That thing was already scary enough—you scared me half to death.”

The young officer stood up but still didn’t dare to go near it again.

At this point, it really looked like a dried human. The whole thing probably weighed only a few dozen jin, just with a large surface area. Zhou Hai looked at Zhao Xinli and the other man.

“Do you have anything in the car that can wrap it?”

Zhao Xinli thought for a moment and shook his head.

“No, only two white cloths about the size of the one covering your head.”

Zhou Hai shook his head. They needed to figure something out—there was no way they could carry it out like this. The entire neighborhood would be thrown into panic, and even property prices could be affected.

“Xu Biao, go find the property manager. Explain the situation briefly. Get a bedsheet or a large piece of cloth. Otherwise, carrying it out like this will cause panic.”

Xu Biao immediately went to act.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw a woman in uniform entering the resident’s living room. He quickly walked over and explained the situation. The woman froze in fear, pointing outside in confusion.

“You’re saying… that thing on the platform is—human?”