Insights Chapter 44: Corpse Remaining

Chapter 44: Corpse Remaining

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

At night, inside the restaurant’s private room. Shen Junci finally put down the chopsticks in his hand and raised his head to ask, “Are we telling stories?”

Qi Yi’an replied, “Yes, Teacher. If it’s not exciting, you have to drink three cups as a penalty.”

Shen Junci thought for a moment and said, “When I first entered the provincial hall, I once handled a case. The incident happened at ten o’clock in the evening when a high-speed train was running on the tracks. The train was speeding, and the carriage began to quiet down. As it was approaching the vicinity of the second bridge, the train driver suddenly noticed something ahead… The driver wanted to brake, but it was obviously too late. The train made a loud bang as it collided directly with that thing.”

Qi Yi’an asked, “It wasn’t a person, was it… Was someone lying on the tracks?”

Shen Junci replied, “It was a person, but the person wasn’t lying on the tracks.” As he spoke, he took Gu Yanchen’s wine glass from the side, along with his own, and used chopsticks to prop them up, as if building a bridge. As he explained the terrain, Shen Junci continued, “At the location of the second bridge, horizontally above was a bridge, and the person was hanging by a rope, suspended vertically down, exactly level with the train.”

After explaining the terrain, Shen Junci continued, “At that time, the train was moving very fast. Even if it braked, the speed didn’t decrease much. After colliding head-on with the person, the person was basically smashed. It traveled another hundred meters or so before stopping, with the front of the train splattered with blood. The corpse’s face was stuck on the front glass of the train, staring at the driver. The driver was scared and immediately reported to the police. So, the medical examiners and detectives from the provincial hall were called in to search along the tracks for the corpse. That was probably the most gruesome scene I’ve ever seen. The body was shattered, and there were pieces of flesh everywhere. The corpse was completely torn apart, as if cut in half, with intestines dangling several meters out. The whole stomach was spread out on the tracks, stuck together with the rails… It was the first time I saw such a sight. Several medical examiners tried to gather the stomach, but couldn’t lift it off…”

A senior medical examiner calling it gruesome would definitely be shocking. He vividly described it. As the story reached this point, everyone who had eaten and drank began to feel nauseous, their faces showing fear. Lu Ying covered his mouth directly, almost vomiting.

Only Shen Junci remained calm while telling the story, while Qi Yi’an listened with relish, urging, “And then?”

Bai Meng’s face wrinkled a bit, seeming to regret suggesting this, “Please, Doctor Shen, you don’t need to go into details, just tell us what happened.”

Shen Junci continued, “Due to the severe damage to the corpse, there weren’t many clues. The only evidence was the corpse’s hands, still tied together from the wrists, with the rope intact and the knot well preserved. After collecting the corpse, we concluded that the deceased was a middle-aged man, around forty years old. Then the detectives began searching in the nearby villages and finally confirmed the identity of the deceased in a village called Liujin, dozens of kilometers away.

“There’s a river in that village called Liujin River, and the deceased was Huang Yinlu, the principal of the Hope Primary School in the village. This murder case had a backstory. Huang Yinlu discovered a large iron sand-collecting ship parked in the river of the village, so he reported it to the village committee, the Water Resources Bureau, and the Water Administration Inspection Team. The Water Administration Inspection Team symbolically sent people a few times, but there was no punishment.”

Lu Ying asked, “The sound of sand mining is loud and easily noticeable. Why wasn’t there any punishment?”

Shen Junci said, “The explanation from the inspection team was that, firstly, those sand thieves were very cunning, always operating at night or on weekends. The river basin section they were responsible for was very long, and they didn’t work on weekends, so they couldn’t watch the river all the time. Secondly, their law enforcement patrol boats would make noise when they approached, and the criminals would flee upon hearing the sound. Thirdly, they often seized some sand mining equipment, but many sand mining activities didn’t have actual evidence, so they couldn’t arrest people rashly.”

Bai Meng said, “These are all excuses. I don’t believe they couldn’t handle it. Just send a few people to the riverside to take photos and catch them all. Moreover, with such rampant sand mining, perhaps everyone in the village knows about it.”

Shen Junci nodded, “Not only did the people in the village know, but even several ruffians in the village were leading it. The people from the Water Resources Department have been threatened physically, and there were also financial incentives. The meager salary they received each month wasn’t worth risking their lives for. They’ve long been in cahoots with the sand miners. And the sand miners, in order to seize territory, have knives and guns on hand, and ordinary villagers dared not provoke them. When those sand miners saw law enforcement officers, they didn’t even bother to hide. But Huang Yinlu was an upright person, stubbornly righteous. Seeing the inaction of the village and the grassroots water authorities, he wrote letters to appeal. As a result, he angered the sand miners. They sent a few people in a car, tied Huang Yinlu up and hung him on the bridge, letting him watch himself get run over by the train.”

This led to that horrific scene.

Hearing this, Bai Meng gritted her teeth, “Those sand miners are despicable. Did the detectives catch them later?”

Shen Junci continued, “The detectives from the provincial hall investigated and went to the river to look at the sand mining boat. There was a rope tied to the shore, exactly the same as the one on Huang Yinlu’s hands. They followed up and arrested the murderers, but only those murderers were caught. As for the sand mining activities, the detectives were short-handed, and it was not within their jurisdiction to stop them. After the investigation, the captain of the detective team who led the team back felt overwhelmed by the indifference of the people in the village. In fact, the sand miners were a minority. If the local leaders took action and the people were united, there would still be a way to fight back. After Huang Yinlu’s death, at his funeral, there were still people bullying his wife and daughter, saying he was too foolish and didn’t know how to compromise, which led to his death.”

Qi Yi’an said, “In the end, they probably thought it was just sand mining, and the loss wasn’t personal…”

Shen Junci paused for a moment and continued, “But this case didn’t end there; there’s more to it.”

Everyone was interested in his story and were eager to hear the outcome.

Shen Junci said, “A year later, heavy rains came, and the Liujin River flooded. Due to years of illegal sand mining the riverbed gave way, and the river embankment suffered extensive collapse. Overnight, the entire Liujin Village was submerged. Many people died in the flood. Huang Yinlu’s wife and daughter, because they had been bullied in the village, moved away and escaped.”

Upon hearing the outcome, Lu Ying sighed deeply.

Bai Meng muttered, “This could be considered karma…”

Gu Yanchen said, “At that time, they probably remembered Huang Yinlu, who was killed by the sand miners.”

In the next round, it was finally Gu Yanchen’s turn. After listening to several stories, everyone became expectant. Gu Yanchen thought the previous stories were a bit too heavy and wanted to lighten the mood. After careful consideration, he suddenly remembered a case Lin Xianglan had told him about. Gu Yanchen began, “The case I’m talking about is quite peculiar. It happened about ten years ago in a town west of Penang, where there were suddenly two incidents. A young couple from a household both died unexpectedly one afternoon. The husband died on the road. He stopped in the middle of the street and was hit by a truck. Meanwhile, the police were preparing to call his wife when she suddenly fell from the rooftop of their own house. The local precinct found the case too suspicious, so they forwarded it to the City Bureau and sent the corpses to them.”

Bai Meng asked, “Did the wife jump off the building after learning about her husband’s death, out of grief?” Such cases, although rare, have happened before.

Gu Yanchen shook his head, denying this possibility. “The wife fell almost at the same time as her husband was hit by the car. She hadn’t received news of her husband’s death yet.”

Lu Ying asked, “So, both husband and wife died simultaneously. Was it murder then?”

Seeing they couldn’t guess, Gu Yanchen continued, “Not only that, when the corpses were brought to the medical examiners, upon opening the body bags, even the medical examiners were shocked because both corpses had eerie smiles on their faces.”

This made it even more eerie. Qi Yi’an said, “If I weren’t a medical examiner, I’d suspect this family was cursed.”

After they guessed various possibilities, Gu Yanchen denied each one, leaving everyone puzzled.

Bai Meng said, “Captain Gu, we can’t figure it out. Please, tell us the answer.”

Gu Yanchen saw Shen Junci sitting beside, chin in hand, and asked him, “Doctor Shen, what do you think?”

Shen Junci, being asked, lifted his head and said, “It could be poisoning.”

Gu Yanchen then revealed the answer, “This couple died from food poisoning, which caused hallucinations leading to the accidents. The detective team immediately investigated and found out that they had lunch at a relative’s house that day. Not only were they poisoned, but other relatives were also affected. When the police rushed over, a ten-year-old child was dancing on the railing of their balcony. The detectives hurriedly rescued him.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s tense hearts relaxed.

Qi Yi’an said, “So, the medical examiner made a significant contribution.”

Gu Yanchen replied, “The first one to think of this wasn’t the medical examiner at the City Bureau. The medical examiner only concluded after conducting the autopsy according to procedure. The first to propose this hypothesis was a high school student doing homework at the medical examiner’s office. He had suspicions and told his father, who was a policeman.”

Lu Ying asked, “Who was it? They’re impressive.”

As the story went on, Bai Meng suddenly remembered, “Wasn’t it Lin Luo, the son of Director Lin from before? My dad said he used to go to the medical examiner’s office often to do homework.”

Gu Yanchen confirmed, “Yes, it was him.”

Qi Yi’an said, “Then he must have a talent for it. Did he become a medical examiner later?”

This sentence made everyone silent, and Qi Yi’an didn’t know what he said wrong.

After a pause, Gu Yanchen stood up and said, “The story’s finished. It’s getting late now. I’ll go pay the bill.”

After paying, everyone descended the stairs. At the door, they bid each other goodbye and dispersed. Shen Junci stood not far away, looking up at the stars with a slight redness at the corners of his eyes. At this moment, in his eyes, the sky seemed to be spinning, like Van Gogh’s starry night. He had experienced and knew too many cases. Some were deeply disturbing, some were begrudging, some were without regret, and some were regrettable.

Looking up at the starry sky, his eyes unknowingly became moist. Gu Yanchen came out after paying the bill and saw Shen Junci waiting for him. Under the streetlight, the corners of Shen Junci’s eyes were tinged with red, his eyes appeared moist, his neck was slender, and he looked thin and lonely, standing there alone. But his back was straight, and within his lean figure seemed to be endless strength, capable of dispelling the darkness.

For a moment, Gu Yanchen felt his heartbeat quicken, feeling particularly sorry for the person in front of him. Gu Yanchen walked over to Shen Junci and said, “The story you told just now was great and very educational.”

Shen Junci replied, “Now that I think about it, it’s a bit disgusting. I drank too much just now and didn’t consider the occasion.”

Gu Yanchen said, “It’s okay. What’s considered horrifying and disgusting for ordinary people is just routine for you medical examiners. Your job is really not easy.”