Insights Chapter 67: Scars

Chapter 67: Scars

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

In the morning, outside the Fourth Division Bureau. Naturally, the office of the Fourth Division Bureau did not have the grandeur of the City Bureau. Upon entering the courtyard, there was a three-story building in front. The first floor was the case handling hall, and the upper floors were for administration.

Zhao, the head of the division, had been waiting at the door early, and when he saw the car arrive, he greeted them with a smiling face. Not only were several leaders present, but detectives and medical examiners from the division also gathered in the hall, welcoming them with smiles as if they were each holding a bouquet of flowers and collectively shouting “welcome”.

Lu Ying glanced at this scene and whispered, “There’s no need to welcome us like this, it’s obvious they’re here to cover their tracks. Do they think we’re here for sightseeing?”

Bai Meng glanced sideways and said, “I guess Director Zhao’s idea is to extend an olive branch.”

Qi Yi’an remembered scenes from when leaders visited his high school, “When we talk later, they won’t be applauding on the sidelines, will they…?”

Lu Ying imagined it for a moment, “Oh God, that would be disgusting.”

Gu Yanchen said, “It’s all just surface show.”

In the past, when they couldn’t find fault, the people from the Fourth Division Bureau were indifferent to Director Ding and the leaders of the City Bureau. Their current attitude indicated that the case was a bit tricky. Bai Meng and Lu Ying followed Gu Yanchen out of the car.

Director Zhao walked over, greeting them with a smile, “Leaders and colleagues from the City Bureau, regarding this case, we have already discussed it with Director Ding over the phone…”

Gu Yanchen interrupted Zhao’s pleasantries directly, “Director Zhao, time is of the essence, let’s start the handover work as soon as possible.”

Shen Junci, accompanied by Qi Yi’an, also entered the hall, “We’re from the City Bureau’s forensic investigation center, where is the corpse?”

A medical examiner wearing a lab coat stepped forward, “My surname is Zou, I’m the Director of the forensic investigation department here, I’ll take you there.”

While the medical examiners went to work, Gu Yanchen was led by Director Zhao to the detective office of the division. Zhao pointed to the case files on the table, “According to Director Ding, all the relevant information regarding the Zhou Yingying case is here.”

Gu Yanchen looked at the files on the table. There was only a small stack of case files on the table, but next to it were tea, snacks, and a large fruit platter with various fruits.

Gu Yanchen placed his hand on the case files, frowned, and asked, “Is this all there is?”

A nearby police officer said, “This case was classified as a missing person case at the time, so we didn’t do much…”

Gu Yanchen questioned, “Why was a criminal case classified as missing?”

“The regulations…”

Gu Yanchen wasn’t in the mood to listen to this bureaucratic explanation. He stopped the officer, “I’m asking about the actual situation, no need for you to recite regulations.”

The one who spoke just now was the Deputy Director of the Fourth Division, and his face instantly darkened. He was, after all, the second in command of the division, but he didn’t expect to be reprimanded by a Captain from the City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Team. But given the current situation, he couldn’t afford to lose his temper at all.

Director Zhao intervened, “It’s our fault for not doing our job well, Captain Gu, please correct us.”

Gu Yanchen sat down, opened the case files, and looked at the name of the detective in charge signed on top, “Pang Zimin, who is this?”

A captain from the division said, “That’s me.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “Could you please introduce the details?”

Pang Zimin stuttered, “This case was classified as a missing person case. There are three reasons. First, on that night, surveillance video near the factory captured Zhou Yingying lingering outside the factory. The second reason is the testimony of other coworkers. They all heard Zhou Yingying saying she was under a lot of pressure, her family was always pressuring her to get married, and she wanted to leave. The third piece of evidence is Zhou Yingying’s anonymous Weibo account, where she wrote that her parents ruined her life, along with some related content… In addition, we also confirmed that on that afternoon, Zhou Yingying had a fight with her parents over the phone. Her parents admitted this.”

Gu Yanchen flipped through the evidence Pang Zimin mentioned, “The surveillance video is only this short segment, without any other related footage. How can this be considered evidence of disappearance?”

Pang Zimin said, “It was our oversight. Mainly because the testimonies of the coworkers at the time were very consistent. They said they heard Zhou Yingying crying when she was on the phone with her family, thinking her parents wanted to sell her to raise money for her brother’s betrothal gifts. She had wanted to run away and go to a place where nobody knew her…”

When the discussion reached this point, Gu Yanchen asked again, “Now that this case can be classified as a criminal homicide case, have you found any suspects or potential suspects since a few days ago?”

Pang Zimin continued to answer with a stiff expression, “Her family members are all out of town with alibis, and Zhou Yingying didn’t have a boyfriend or anything like that. We haven’t found any suspicious individuals yet.”

So, they’ve spent a whole day with no progress? Gu Yanchen couldn’t even be bothered to say anything. He said, “Then please cooperate with our work, Director Zhao and everyone. We’ll copy the relevant information and take it with us.”

Director Zhao respectfully asked, “Is there anything else we need to do?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “Please comfort the victim’s family. If the media comes, don’t answer on your own, to avoid further problems. Let them interview the leaders of the City Bureau.” He added, “And…”

Director Zhao asked, “What else?”

Gu Yanchen closed the files and pointed to the tea and fruit platter on the table, saying, “Please remove these things, they’re distracting us from our work.”

Director Zhao removed the fruit platter and left dejectedly. The entire detective office of the Fourth Division Bureau began to enter a working state. Detectives started copying materials, exchanging information, and understanding the case. 

Gu Yanchen took another look at the testimonies. As he went through the testimonies, Gu Yanchen’s expression became more serious. The testimonies of several female workers from the same workshop were almost identical. They all claimed to have seen Zhou Yingying packing some personal belongings and documents before leaving, but no one knew where she went afterward. Now, they couldn’t even determine who was the last person to see her.

Meanwhile, in the office of the Fourth Division Bureau’s medical examiners, the stored corpse had already been brought out. Due to being frozen after excavation, the corpse was still stiff. As the ice melted, a foul smell emanated from it. It was a female corpse, found nearly naked with just a bed sheet wrapped around her when discovered.

Shen Junci and Qi Yi’an changed into their autopsy suits. Accompanied by Zou, the Director of the forensic investigation department, they were respectfully handed an autopsy report. “The corpse was discovered several days ago in the middle of the night. We worked overnight to perform the autopsy. Due to being buried for over a year, the corpse was severely damaged, and there aren’t many clues on it.”

This was the first time Qi Yi’an had been directly addressed as a leader, and he felt a bit uncomfortable.

Shen Junci, however, didn’t mind. He lowered his head to examine the corpse. It was apparent that the corpse had been buried for a long time. The facial features were severely decomposed, the eyeballs had sunken, the teeth were exposed, and some parts of the face appeared grotesque. The hair was tangled, with some mud and dry grass mixed in.

The smell emanating from the corpse was unpleasant but still within their tolerance range for now. It could be seen that there was a wound on the head of the corpse, which had clotted some blood and hair together.

Shen Junci flipped through the autopsy report. The autopsy conducted by the Fourth Division seemed careless. He frowned, “Some parts are not very accurate.”

Looking at the crooked stitches on the corpse, Qi Yi’an also showed a slightly disdainful expression. The job was done too sloppily, far from the level of his teacher’’s skills.

Zou’s mouth twitched slightly, “We are inexperienced and definitely not as experienced as Doctor Shen. It seems we’ll have to trouble you to double-check.”

Shen Junci then asked Zou, “Were internal organ slices taken for examination?”

“The corpse was heavily decomposed internally, so we only managed to take some costal cartilage slices after much deliberation.”

“Costal cartilage slices won’t yield much toxicological analysis,” Shen Junci said, “Let’s redo it.”

Qi Yi’an took out the record sheet and began to take notes.

Shen Junci conducted a basic examination, “Female, approximately 22 years old, the length of the corpse is about 1,6 meters, weight is 107 pounds…”

Due to the loss of moisture after death, the weight of the corpse would decrease. The fact that the corpse was still heavy indicated that the deceased was overweight before death.

This particular corpse, wrapped in a bedsheet and buried in the ground for over a year, had exuded a considerable amount of yellowish fluid. Now, its surface was covered with some white-yellow solid deposits.

Qi Yi’an wanted to see the state of melting. He pressed the skin of the corpse with gloved hands, “Teacher, the surface is very hard.”

Shen Junci nodded, “Extensive saponification.” Then he added, “When it melts later, it might be very slippery.”

Saponification of the corpse was an uncommon phenomenon. The white-yellow substance appearing was called adipocere, also known as grave wax. This was a preservation phenomenon of the corpse. It occurred when the corpse was placed in an environment with low oxygen and high moisture content. The area near the drainage ditch behind the factory just happened to fit this condition.

The fat inside the corpse reacted chemically with the external environment, forming a hardened adipocere similar to amber. Within a year’s time, this adipocere had spread over the surface of the corpse. Some areas were extremely smooth, while others bulged, forming hardened lumps resembling amber. Qi Yi’an pinched the corpse’s leg, feeling as though he were touching a block of soap with ice inside.

Shen Junci said, “Adipocere formation can preserve some of the scars suffered by the corpse intact. For us, this is a good thing.”

Qi Yi’an nodded obediently.

Shen Junci didn’t rush to remove the stitches. He judged, “It will take a while for the corpse to completely thaw. Let’s continue with the surface examination for now. Flip the corpse over.”

Zou also stepped forward, and the three of them flipped the corpse over together.

With the back facing up, the back of the corpse showed more severe saponification. Shen Junci observed carefully and then exclaimed.

Qi Yi’an leaned in to look, “Teacher, did you find something?”

Shen Junci pointed and said, “There may be some wounds on her back.”

The entire back was uneven, with some areas of severe saponification being very hard and forming a layer of hard scabs on the surface. Overall, it looked like a hard washboard.

Qi Yi’an examined carefully, “There are indeed some small wounds, each not very large. Seems like there are many?” He went to check the previous medical examiner’s autopsy records to see how they were written. After seeing it, Qi Yi’an widened his eyes in anger, “Bite marks from rodents? How could these possibly be bite marks from rodents? Your division’s medical examiners are really just writing nonsense without any basis.”

“It was written as ‘suspected,'” Zou wiped his sweat, “The wounds are shallow and have little bleeding. It’s very likely postmortem injuries. How could ordinary wounds be so superficial? Moreover, some wounds didn’t even penetrate the muscle layer, only on the skin surface. Could it be some kind of perverse habit of the perpetrator to mutilate the corpse? Using the back as minced meat?”

Apart from rodents or animals like yellow-throated martens that could leave such dense, shallow marks, he couldn’t think of anything else that could cause such injuries. Shen Junci carefully distinguished and measured each wound one by one. These wounds were not deep; some had just cut through the skin and flesh, with the smallest being only about one centimeter long and the longest no more than three centimeters. The average depth was around three centimeters, with some slightly deeper ones reaching up to five centimeters, located in the gaps between the bones.

These wounds were scattered across the back of the deceased, intricate and varied in depth. Moreover, it appeared to be postmortem injuries. It seemed as if the corpse had once lain on some kind of nail board or cutting board. Frowning at the plethora of scars on the back, Shen Junci couldn’t help but feel that these wounds were somewhat illogical. What kind of situation could have caused them?