SFTD -Chapter 96 Man in the Wall (Part 6)

“We’ve finished the autopsy. Now we need to wait for the test results, but the murder weapon is a bit special. We need you to come identify it.”

“The murder weapon? Isn’t it a nail?”

“It is a nail—but have you ever seen a nail with a triangular cross-section?”

“I’ll be right there!”

Before Zhou Hai could say anything else, Chu Menghan had already hung up. He knew she was impulsive by nature—she must have received some kind of lead at Dongjian Group and was already rushing back to the center.

He put down his phone and called out to Xiao Liang, who was peering around the doorway.

“I’m here. What is it?”

Xiao Liang walked over holding several printed A4 sheets.

“Brother Hai, this is an electronic fax from Deputy Captain Wang. I printed it out.”

Zhou Hai took it and glanced over it. It was labeled concrete test block strength evaluation, filled with technical terms and code-like symbols. At the bottom were comparison results from three concrete samples.

Since they were from the same batch of concrete, the values shouldn’t differ much. And indeed, the three full-sized samples showed no major deviation in hardness, and their material composition was basically consistent.

“Brother Hai, I already looked at it. The three values are extremely close, but one sample is slightly different in hardness. Not sure why.”

“Because that part is in front of the body. The pour there was thinner, so the hardness would definitely be affected. It’s just like at the bar—one hit from a fire extinguisher and the whole thing cracked.”

“Wait… I’ve always felt something was off about how the incident happened. Now I’ve figured out where the problem is.”

Zhou Hai took the report and the high-magnification lung tissue images he had just taken, and returned to the office.

As he entered, he nearly collided with someone. The person grabbed his coat to steady themselves.

“Why do you walk without making a sound?!”

“This… is my office!”

Zhou Hai looked down at the hand gripping his coat. Only then did Chu Menghan realize what she was doing and quickly let go. Zhou Hai smoothed out the wrinkles on his white lab coat.

She stepped aside from the doorway, and Zhou Hai and Xiao Liang walked in. They saw Xu Biao for once not being interrupted—he was sitting in front of the computer, typing rapidly.

Chu Menghan continued, “I’ve already obtained all the construction and contractor records for the Sofia Grand Hotel. But there’s too much information. If we check it one by one, it’ll take at least half a month. Forensic Doctor Zhou, can you give me a direction to narrow it down?”

“Male victim.
Age 45–50.
Time of death is 1–3 days before the concrete pouring on the sixth floor of Sofia.
So between June 2nd and June 5th, 2014.
Right foot had been fractured about half a year ago, causing a slight limp.
Worked in a cement factory for over twenty years.
Now either working in ready-mix concrete or in sand and gravel supply.”

“You can investigate the victim identity along this line.”

“You can even estimate the time of death?” Chu Menghan asked in surprise.

Zhou Hai raised the report in his hand and shook it slightly.

“It’s not an estimate. The body was pickled and tightly packaged, then directly thrown into the formwork pouring trough and buried in concrete. Each truck of concrete had retained samples with timestamps.”

“That means the body stayed at room temperature for a period of time and began decomposing, but was quickly sealed off from air, slowing decomposition. Everything was compressed into a very small space.”

“When the wall was broken open, it was like an explosion venting—all the smell was released at once.”

“Why one to three days?” she asked.

“Killing and pickling take time. June in the southeast is already hot. If it exceeded three days, decomposition would accelerate quickly, and what we saw would already be a skeleton.”

“The corpse odor we smelled at the scene last night came from decomposition of the brain tissue.”

Chu Menghan looked a little unhappy at Zhou Hai’s confident tone.

“The killer could have stored the body in a freezer. That way you couldn’t tell the time of death!”

“Wrong. If it had been refrigerated, decomposition would actually be faster. Moisture wouldn’t evaporate quickly, and it wouldn’t form a mummified body.”

Chu Menghan knew he was right, but still didn’t like his smug confidence. She pulled out a stack of forms from her bag.

“Help me screen them… okay?”

Hearing her added “okay,” Zhou Hai finally took the documents.

As he turned back to his desk, Chu Menghan let out a breath. This damn forensic guy was infuriating—but also indispensable. Grinding her teeth, she followed him.

Zhou Hai twirled a pen between his fingers while looking at the list.

“Has this been checked in the system database?”

“No. There’s no detailed identity information. We can only manually call or visit in person.”

Zhou Hai nodded and quickly circled more than fifty names.

“Split them up among your people. Ten each. It’ll be done quickly.”

Chu Menghan pointed at the people in the office.

“Aren’t there a few here? Let them help. It’ll be faster.”

“This is the forensic center, not the criminal police team. They have their own work.”

Chu Menghan was so angry her chest rose and fell sharply. After taking a few deep breaths, she turned and left the office.

Fengzi came down from the third floor holding several reports. He just happened to see Chu Menghan’s departing figure and awkwardly withdrew the hand he had raised in greeting.

Who provoked this bomb?

While he was upstairs retrieving reports, did something explode in the office?

Thinking of his captain’s cold personality, Fengzi felt that outsiders really couldn’t handle it.

He quickly returned to the office and placed the reports on Zhou Hai’s desk.

“Boss! I just saw Chu Menghan leave with tears in her eyes!”

Xu Biao nearly spat out laughing and spun his chair over.

“That iron-blooded Chu beauty? Crying? Come on, stop joking!”

Zhou Hai glanced at his watch. It was 4 p.m., and the sky outside had turned dim, as if snow was brewing. Things were more complicated than he had imagined.

He decided to wait until Chu Menghan calmed down before verifying his hypothesis together.

He picked up Fengzi’s report and flipped through it.

The analysis of material found under the victim’s fingernails showed a tiny bamboo fiber. The mixed tissue fragments were not human—they were a mixture of pork and mutton, along with some chili powder particles and a seed.

The seed was identified as that of Zoysia japonica (Japanese lawn grass).

Fengzi sighed.

“The fingernail debris is mostly cement dust. It’s embedded deep in the skin and nail keratin layers and hard to clean. But I don’t understand why there are bits of animal meat.”

Xu Biao printed out a sheet and handed it over. Zhou Hai took it and flipped through it, his eyes widening—his usual playful expression gone.

“Maybe I know what this is.”

Fengzi looked at him. “What?”

“Barbecue! These are skewers!”

Fengzi’s face darkened. He pushed him away.

“Stop messing around! We’re talking serious business!”

Xu Biao got annoyed and shoved Fengzi’s hand away.

“Being fat doesn’t mean I don’t work properly. Don’t be biased! Fat people have dignity too! Brother Hai, save me!”