SFTD -Chapter 37 Mystery of the Dry Bones (Part 1)

Zhou Hai looked utterly speechless. That guy was nothing but a foodie. He simply closed his eyes, turned around, and pretended not to see anything.

But suddenly Xu Biao burst out laughing.

“What’s there to struggle over? Get one bowl of each flavor!”

A moment later he came back carrying three bowls, followed by another round of loud slurping noises before finally ending the battle.

Xiao Liang adjusted his glasses and sighed emotionally.

“Brother Xu’s appetite is honestly shocking!”

Fengzi chimed in enthusiastically and nodded.

“Seriously shocking.”

Xu Biao wiped the grease from his mouth and turned back to glare resentfully at the three of them.

“What? You won’t even let me eat my fill at a buffet? Following Hai-zi around all the time, I’m hungry half the day. I’ve already lost more than ten jin! Look, my belt’s loosened by two holes!”

“You lost weight? Can’t tell at all. How much do you weigh now? Two hundred jin? Maybe two hundred twenty?”

Zhou Hai sized him up from head to toe, shaking his head with genuine confusion in his eyes.

Xu Biao’s face instantly darkened.

“That hit right in the heart, bro! Never ask a fat man his weight. It’s like asking a woman her age—classified information. Anyway, Lord Xu Biao is full now. I can finally survive your abuse again. I’ve figured it out—Hai-zi was born to toil. Wherever he goes, cases follow. If another bloated corpse, floater, or roadside body turns up, at least I can help carry stuff around. Hahaha!”

Xiao Liang shuddered and looked at Xu Biao in horror, wearing a miserable expression.

“Brother Xu, please! Last time your crow-mouth jinx came true almost perfectly. Can you not ask for that? I just finished eating!”

Xu Biao smacked his lips and thought about it. It really did seem like his last prediction had gone terribly wrong. He nodded perfunctorily.

“Alright, alright. No more talking. Let’s head home.”

The four got up and headed downstairs.

Fengzi drove the car out from the back courtyard of the hotel. Everyone climbed in, and with one stomp on the accelerator, the vehicle sped toward the highway.

They had only passed two traffic lights when Zhou Hai’s phone rang.

The caller ID showed Hu Zhongdui from the Duping Branch Bureau. Zhou Hai swiped to answer, and Hu Zhongdui’s anxious voice immediately came through the speaker.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, have you guys left yet?”

Zhou Hai raised his eyes and glanced at the massive lump of flesh sitting in the front passenger seat. A bad premonition instantly straightened his back.

“Yeah, we’re heading for the highway now. What happened?”

“Great, we caught you in time. I’m currently by the highway entrance ramp. A body’s been found here—no, actually it should be skeletal remains! Could you come take a look?”

“Alright. Turn on your hazard lights by the roadside. We’ll be there soon.”

Xu Biao turned around anxiously to look at Zhou Hai in the back seat.

“So we’re not leaving?”

Fengzi said nothing. He simply switched on the police lights, and the car roared toward the highway entrance like something out of an action movie.

In just fifteen minutes, Fengzi reached the highway entrance. Several police cars were flashing their lights along the western roadside, and he pulled over nearby.

Xu Biao already looked nauseous.

“I’m telling you, Fengzi—you really are insane! Did you even look at the speedometer? You were speeding the whole way! Even if it’s a department vehicle, you can’t drive like that! Ugh—”

Before he could finish, he clamped a hand over his mouth and ran to the roadside to squat down, noisily “ordering another meal” all over again.

Seeing them arrive, Hu Zhongdui hurried over with an apologetic expression.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, looks like you won’t be leaving after all. Another case just came up.”

Zhou Hai waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s fine. Cases come first. Has your bureau’s Forensic Doctor Xiao arrived?”

“Yeah. It’s because Doctor Xiao examined the scene that we immediately called you.”

“Tell me the situation.”

Hu Zhongdui led them toward a strip of greenery beneath the ramp.

“At 6:00 this morning, Duping Dispatch received a report. A sanitation worker discovered a pile of human bones while clearing trash from the greenery, so we rushed to the scene. After examining it, Forensic Doctor Xiao said he couldn’t determine whether this was the primary crime scene. After all, the deceased is nothing but a pile of bones now, without any clothing at all. He hoped you could come take a look.”

Just then, Xu Biao staggered back over, glaring viciously at Fengzi.

“Fengzi, just you wait. When we get back to Dongnan, you owe me a huge feast.”

Fengzi’s handsome face showed not the slightest embarrassment.

“No money.”

“Hmph!”

Xu Biao held back his anger and hurried after Zhou Hai with the equipment case.

Following Hu Zhongdui’s lead, Zhou Hai finally looked up when the man stopped. Ahead, among uneven clusters of trees, Forensic Doctor Xiao and several others were crouching there.

“Captain Hu, don’t worry yet. We’ll go take a look. But you should call Director Pang from our center first.”

Hu Zhongdui flashed a broad grin.

“Of course. I’ll make the call right now.”

No one wasted time chatting. They changed clothes, put on protective masks, and headed toward the scene. The instant Forensic Doctor Xiao stood up and saw Zhou Hai, his eyes practically lit up.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, you’re finally here! I’m completely overwhelmed.”

Zhou Hai stepped forward.

In front of Doctor Xiao lay a filthy pile of human bones. Bits of incompletely decomposed tissue and dark brown liquid still clung to them. The moment anyone moved nearby, a cloud of flies buzzed up into the air.

The decompositional fluid beneath the skeleton had stained the surrounding plants dark brown, forming a pool of foul-smelling liquid in which the bones were soaking.

Beneath the skull was a clump of black thread-like material, likely hair.

Several fingernails still remained beneath the finger bones. Two of them had not soaked in the decomposition fluid and had fallen onto the grass leaves. Zhou Hai quickly collected them.

Numerous black rice-grain-sized objects were clustered around the neck and head of the skeleton in little piles. These were empty maggot casings.

Ordinary people felt disgust at the mention of maggots, but forensic doctors loved them because they could reveal the victim’s time of death and injury conditions. This was the field of forensic entomology.

Within fifteen minutes after death, flies would already be attracted to the corpse. They especially liked laying eggs in wounds so the larvae would have an abundant food source. Therefore, concentrated piles of maggot casings indicated areas where injuries had once existed.

Looking further down the skeleton, Zhou Hai’s eyes lit up.

Although the bones were scattered, a single glance told him the remains had never been moved. When the victim died, they had been lying on their back with both legs apart, the right leg curled to one side.

Something appeared to be looped between the victim’s right femur and the tibia and fibula.

Squatting down, Zhou Hai used tweezers to lift it gently. A pale-colored section emerged—it was actually a pair of flesh-colored thigh-high stockings. Though heavily contaminated, the original color was still easy to identify near the ends.

Xiao Liang had become very competent by now. He took out measuring scales, attached them, photographed the scene, and collected over ten samples of maggot casings and beetle shells from around the skeleton, methodically carrying out his duties.

“Well done, Xiao Liang.”

Forensic Doctor Xiao leaned over and smiled.

“I examined those casings already. They’re all first-generation casings. With this damned weather, it’s really hard to say when the victim was dumped here.”

Zhou Hai frowned slightly. He hadn’t even begun his own examination yet, and Doctor Xiao had already concluded it was a body-dumping case. Then why had they called him here at all?

“So you’ve already reached a conclusion?”

The smile on Doctor Xiao’s face instantly stiffened.

“Hm? Please don’t misunderstand. I just thought this place was secluded, densely wooded, and rarely visited—a perfect place to dump a body.”

Zhou Hai ignored him and stood up to issue instructions.

“Xu Biao, Fengzi, and Xiao Liang—take the investigators and search this triangular area. From the ground up to two meters high. Don’t overlook a single leaf.”

Squatting down again, Zhou Hai picked up the victim’s skull.

As expected, there were several holes in both the temporal and parietal regions of the skull. The holes were rectangular, measuring 0.85 centimeters long and 0.12 centimeters wide.

Most of the injuries penetrated into the cranial cavity. On the right side surfaces of the atlas and the second and third cervical vertebrae were seven or eight puncture marks matching the size of the skull perforations.

Such depth would have required tremendous force to leave marks on the front surfaces of the cervical vertebrae.

The victim’s teeth were extremely sparse and fitted with metallic braces. Zhou Hai’s eyes brightened immediately. He quickly took photographs himself, then examined the wear patterns on the teeth.

The remaining bones were too contaminated for clear identification at the moment. Zhou Hai packed all the skeletal remains into a large plastic container before finally standing up from the ground.

Then Xu Biao’s loudspeaker-like voice suddenly rang out: “Hai-zi, get over here quick!”