Insights Chapter 40: Tongue Extraction

Chapter 40: Tongue Extraction

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

PenangCity Bureau, Forensic Investigation Center. Under the shadowless light, today for the autopsy, Shen Junci specifically applied for the largest autopsy room in the entire City Bureau. Three autopsy tables were arranged side by side, each with a charred corpse placed on it.

The blackened and charred corpses were difficult to identify, emitting a burnt smell. Although not as nauseating as decomposed bodies, they were still somewhat eerie to look at. From left to right were the father, mother, and daughter.

Shen Junci moved between the autopsy tables, his voice calm. “The daughter’s corpse is the most crucial. Let’s leave that for last and start with the other two.”

They began with the first male corpse. Shen Junci faced the corpse, pressed the recording pen, and began recording. “Qi Longfan, aged 49, height 174 cm. Apart from the back and inner thigh skin not being burnt, the rest of the body surface is charred. The left foot bone is charred and damaged, with cracks on the skin of the lower leg and chest due to dryness, as well as wounds left by the fire…”

Qi Yi’an also examined. The wounds on the body were easily distinguishable; typically, the wounds left by a fire are shallower and not smooth.

Then Shen Junci observed the deceased’s nasal cavity and peeled back the lips. “Some ash is visible.”

Qi Yi’an examined with the illumination tool. “So, it’s likely death by burning?”

The presence of ash and charcoal in the airway is a crucial indicator of the cause of death. If the deceased had respiratory capacity before death, it’s highly probable they died in a fire, whereas post-mortem burning would only leave a small amount of ash around the mouth and nose.

Shen Junci cautioned, “Let’s not jump to conclusions.” He then examined the head of the deceased. “Fractured skull with radiating bone fragments, likely caused by internal cranial gas expansion.”

Charred corpses often exhibit such injuries. In essence, this was due to cranial pressure, resulting in an internal explosion. The charred corpse formed a hard outer shell, extremely difficult to cut. With both of them working together and using various tools, they managed to cut through the surface of the corpse.

After the examination, Shen Junci adjusted his gloves and said to Qi Yi’an, “Get ready to extract the tongue.”

This “tongue extraction” was a medical examiner term, referring to making an incision from the jawbone after removing the sternum, extracting the tongue, uvula, larynx, esophagus, etc. A skilled medical examiner could even remove an entire set of internal organs from the deceased.

Prepared, Shen Junci said, “I’ll demonstrate first, and then you’ll handle the mother’s.”

He then adjusted his gloves and accurately inserted his fingers into the incision under the deceased’s jaw, his fingertips touching the throat, emitting a soft click sound.

Under the shadowless light, Shen Junci’s delicate features were focused. Qi Yi’an watched as his slender fingers moved, as if activating a mechanism. The throat of the corpse bulged, and the tongue and uvula were exposed. Shen Junci continued downward, seemingly effortlessly. A whole string of tongue, along with the airway, was pulled down, separating all the organs from the body.

Although charred on the outside, the organs inside were relatively unaffected. The texture of the internal organs was like smooth jelly, heavy in the hand. Now it was clear; there were also traces of congestion and ash in the deceased’s airway.

Qi Yi’an said, “With the ash, can we confirm it now?”

Shen Junci still shook his head. “The quantity is minimal. It can’t rule out inhalation of powder during weak breathing or in a dying state before being burned to death.” He pointed to the deceased’s organs and explained to Qi Yi’an, “A person who is burned alive will produce a large amount of carbon monoxide in the body, which combines with hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin. The color of the internal organs will be more vivid red.”

Qi Yi’an extrapolated, “I learned this from textbooks. In cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, the livor mortis would also be bright red.”

Shen Junci showed him, “So, what’s your judgment now?”

Qi Yi’an looked at the organs of the corpse in front of him. “The heart, stomach, liver, and intestines appear brighter than usual, but not quite as red…”

The young medical examiner was momentarily unsure how to conclude.

Shen Junci didn’t press him. “The deceased inhaled carbon monoxide, but the amount is not significant. Let’s extract heart blood directly, then conduct tests for sedatives and toxins. I suspect the deceased may have taken sedatives or drugs that cause unconsciousness.”

If one inhales carbon monoxide while in a state of drowsiness, it can lead to stiffness of the body and death during sleep. Such individuals would not struggle.

Qi Yi’an took samples of heart blood, chyme, urine, and organ sections, and sent them to the toxicology laboratory for analysis. Then they began examining the second corpse, the mother of Qi Siwei, the one most severely burned.

After the examination, Shen Junci pointed to the corpse and said, “You handle the tongue extraction this time.”

Qi Yi’an had also learned about this process during his classes in the past, but back then, the opportunity to practice was limited. The entire class would gather around, watching the teacher perform the procedure once, without any chance for the students to practice themselves.

Now, it was a great opportunity, and Qi Yi’an was eager to try. He watched as Shen Junci effortlessly extracted the tongue earlier, but when it came to his turn, it wasn’t as simple. Either the incision was too small to extract the tongue, or the connective tissues weren’t properly cut. Extracting the tongue required finesse, and Qi Yi’an was afraid of damaging the corpse, so he didn’t dare to use brute force, sweating in frustration.

Shen Junci stood quietly beside him, watching him work busily. He only reminded Qi Yi’an of various key points when he encountered difficulties, without offering any physical assistance. Qi Yi’an persisted with the deceased’s tongue.

After twenty minutes of continuous effort, he finally extracted the tongue intact, holding it in his hand, feeling like a heavy bunch of grapes. Qi Yi’an wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, breathing a sigh of relief.

The condition of this corpse was similar to that of Qi’s father’s corpse. After dissecting two corpses in a row, Shen Junci, without taking a break, stood in front of Qi Siwei’s corpse. After observing the mouth of the corpse, he exclaimed, “This corpse is somewhat special; there’s minimal ash in the oral cavity.” He then examined the surface before cutting open the charred corpse. “There’s blood accumulation in the abdominal cavity.”

Next, he carefully searched the abdominal cavity for any signs of injury. After a moment, he found a point of bleeding. “There’s a small cut on the deceased’s liver, about the size of an awl. It’s likely she was already seriously injured before the fire.”

Because the wound was very small, and the scene had been burned, there were some skin contractions on the deceased’s abdomen due to high temperature, concealing the previous injury, making it difficult to detect until the autopsy.

To save time, Shen Junci didn’t let Qi Yi’an practice again this time. He extracted Qi Siwei’s tongue and organs himself. As he had speculated, the respiratory tract of the corpse was very clean, with minimal congestion and ash traces.

“The deceased died from liver rupture leading to bleeding. The body was then set on fire after death. This fire also killed Qi Siwei’s parents. This is a deliberate murder case.”

Meanwhile, the computer on the side beeped, reminding Qi Yi’an to check. “Both parents’ heart blood and urine contain zopiclone. No wonder they didn’t wake up during the fire.”

Zopiclone was a commonly used sedative hypnotic drug. After taking it, one would sleep deeply, and its effects could last the whole night.

Shen Junci said, “Go to the toxicology lab again. If all three of them have the drug in their bodies, it’s highly likely that someone deliberately drugged them.”

At the same time, Gu Yanchen, accompanied by Bai Meng, was having a conversation with Qi Siwei’s classmates in the repeater class.

After contacting the class director of Qi Siwei’s class, they called the class monitor. They first talked to the teacher and then began asking the monitor about the situation.

The monitor was a quiet girl with glasses who looked obedient.

“We’re in our senior year, and academics are very demanding. We don’t have many activities. Qi Siwei only interacted more with the girls in the class. Besides asking me about study questions, she didn’t communicate much with me.”

“Qi Siwei is very nice, cheerful, and popular. She has many friends in class.”

“People from outside the school? She hardly knows anyone outside the school…”

“Boyfriend? Absolutely not. She had a crush on a minor celebrity, collected some of his photos and magazines, and sometimes recommended them to other girls. She didn’t even look at the boys in school.”

“Her uncle once intercepted her after school, and I ran into them that day. Qi Siwei told me not to tell anyone else, afraid of gossip from classmates.”

After listening for a while, Gu Yanchen asked, “Is Qiu Xiaoxue also in your class?”

Mentioning Qiu Xiaoxue, the monitor’s expression suddenly became somewhat strange, as if she had tasted something sour, “I’m not familiar with Qiu Xiaoxue. We barely spoke in three years of high school.”

Gu Yanchen sensed something and asked, “How is Qi Siwei’s relationship with Qiu Xiaoxue?”

The monitor lowered her head, “Their relationship is quite good. There was a time when they were assigned to the same group for a project, and they became good friends because of that.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “What else do you know about Qiu Xiaoxue?”

The class monitor said, “Qiu Xiaoxue… Her parents seem to be from a remarried family, but they are wealthy. She didn’t want to live at home, so she rented a house near the school and lived alone. I don’t know much else.” She paused before continuing, “Qi Siwei and she were very close. They were always together, even during PE classes and after school. They would share everything, even clothes. But it seems they had an argument before and something happened. I saw that Qi Siwei and Qiu Xiaoxue didn’t seem to get along well for a while, but later they were back together.”

Gu Yanchen asked the monitor some more questions, but she hesitated, saying, “I’m really not sure about the specifics of what happened between them.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “Do you know if anyone in your class had a good relationship with either Qi Siwei or Qiu Xiaoxue?”

The monitor thought for a moment, “Yes, Qi Siwei’s former desk mate might know something, but she started university earlier than us. You can try calling her.”

The girl’s name was Shi Jie. Bai Meng made a call, and after some effort, they managed to contact her class director. She had already started university and was currently undergoing military training. She could only take calls and talk after 5 PM.

With that done, Gu Yanchen suggested, “Let’s head back to the City Bureau first and check the autopsy results from the medical examiners.”

In the afternoon, at 2 o’clock, at the Penang City Bureau. After having lunch, Gu Yanchen went to the medical examiner’s office. The autopsy reports and examination results were already available.

Shen Junci handed Gu Yanchen a simplified autopsy report, saying, “Qi Siwei died from severe liver injury, post-mortem incineration. The other two corpses died from combined causes due to the fire. All three of them ingested the same sedative drug, and the dosage was not small. I took their gastric contents, and all three of them had some undigested sour fish slices. It’s very likely that the drugs were put in the takeout.”

Gu Yanchen checked Qi Siwei’s takeout orders and immediately found an order for sour fish, placed yesterday evening at 6:30.

Electronic records could trace everything. The police contacted the restaurant that made the sour fish, and then traced the delivery driver who was responsible for delivering the food last night.

Bai Meng made a call to summon him to the City Bureau. The delivery driver happened to be nearby, finishing up a delivery. After completing it, he rushed over to the Special Criminal Division.

Since it was just yesterday’s order, the delivery guy still remembered, “I know this family; they often order sour fish takeout. Every time, they ask me to leave it on the stand outside the door, and then they come to get it.”

Bai Meng asked for more details. Qi’s family lived in a detached villa with its own courtyard. There was a gate at the outer wall of the yard, and inside, there was a door to the house.

Usually, the outer gate would only be closed before bedtime in the evening. The delivery guy entered through the gate, placed the food on the stand outside the house door, and left.

Bai Meng asked, “Are you sure the takeout was delivered intact?”

The delivery driver shook his head, “I didn’t pay attention to that. At that time, I had many orders, so I just called them when I arrived. They said they would come down right away. I placed the takeout in the designated spot and left. I’m not sure when they came to pick it up. But the packaging of the sour fish was very good. They should have been able to tell if it had been tampered with when they received it.”

Bai Meng noted down the delivery driver’s statement, then saw him off. The people from the Special Criminal Division gathered in the conference room. Gu Yanchen wrote the victims’ information on the left and the names of Wei Yingtian and Qiu Xiaoxue on the right, who were the main suspects at the moment.

He drew a line between the two ends and wrote the words beside it, “Sour Fish.”

Lu Ying speculated, “Suppose the drugs were put into the sour fish. The delivery guy delivered the food downstairs, and someone from Qi Siwei’s family came out to pick it up. There might have been a time gap in between. If someone poisoned the food before they picked it up, it could have been done.”

The logic seemed correct, but there were many details that didn’t add up.

Bai Meng frowned, a little puzzled, “I know this sour fish restaurant. It’s a chain, and their packaging is very good. The outer bag is stapled shut with a sticker. Inside, there’s a double-layered package: an outer layer of insulation bag and an inner plastic container wrapped in several layers of cling film to prevent soup leakage. The delivery guy said he called when he arrived, and if the culprit wanted to poison the food during that time, it’s not very realistic.”

Qi Yi’an also chimed in, “Yes, and Qi’s family isn’t foolish. If the takeout packaging was damaged, they definitely wouldn’t eat it. Plus, the drug needs to be mixed evenly; otherwise, it might be detected upon tasting. Did the culprit have enough time to do all this?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Junci pondered, “Directly poisoning it is too clumsy and risky.”

What if they were caught in the act? Qi’s family could come out to collect the takeout at any moment.

Gu Yanchen’s brows furrowed as he quickly figured out the missing link. He said, “There wasn’t enough time for a last-minute poisoning, but switching the takeout was possible.” Then he explained, “The culprit must be very familiar with the habits of Qi’s family, knowing that they often ordered sour fish from this particular restaurant. So, they could have bought a portion of sour fish takeout in advance, carefully opened the packaging, making sure not to damage the sticker, then added the drugs inside and resealed it with cling film. They carried the sour fish to Qi’s house, waited for the delivery, quickly switched the packages, and only needed a stapler to reseal the bag.”

This entire process could be completed in just a few seconds. After the switch, Qi’s family wouldn’t have noticed that the sour fish had been tampered with. The strong taste of the dish would mask the drug’s flavor, and they would unwittingly ingest the sedative.

Bai Meng said, “Then I’ll have this restaurant export the takeout records from yesterday. Maybe the culprit is among them.”

Gu Yanchen reminded, “Before 6 PM, check the takeout records of several chain stores.”