Writing criminal investigation articles resulted in a life sentence, so I had no choice but to actua

Chapter 14 The Source of Corpses

Click!

The sound of camera shutters echoed in the cold dissection room.

The operating lights cast a stark white glow over the entire room. On the stainless steel dissection table, six pieces of human tissue had been reassembled according to the human anatomy.

The sutures snaked across the pale skin like centipedes, the stitches fine and neat—a signature skill of forensic pathologist Lao Zhou.

Su Wan stood by the dissection table, her stomach churning.

This wasn't her first time entering the dissection room, but each time, the air, a mixture of formaldehyde, putrid odor, and metallic smell, made her feel nauseous.

Old Zhou took off his rubber gloves, making a "pop" sound.

He threw the gloves into the biohazard bin, pulled a crumpled pack of Hongtashan cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and put it in his mouth without lighting it.

"Captain Su, preliminary results." Old Zhou's voice was hoarse. "The deceased was a woman, aged 25 to 28, 1.62 meters tall, and weighed approximately 45 kilograms. The time of death was approximately 48 hours ago, which means..."

"The night before last," Su Wan continued.

"Yes." Old Zhou picked up the folder and flipped through it. "The cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation. There were obvious ligature marks on the neck. The murder weapon was probably a soft object like a thin rope. The dismemberment was done with a professional bone saw. The cuts were clean and showed no signs of hesitation."

"No hesitation?" Su Wan frowned.

"That means the person who did it was very skilled; it wasn't their first time doing something like this." Old Zhou moved the cigarette from the left corner of his mouth to the right. "Moreover... the dismemberment was done after the victim was dead; there's no indication that the dismemberment occurred before the victim was alive."

Su Wan breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, the deceased did not suffer that kind of pain.

"Any other discoveries?"

Old Zhou turned to the next page: "The deceased had undergone a cesarean section before her death, and there was a horizontal scar about ten centimeters long below her navel. There was an IUD in her uterus, indicating that she had used long-term contraception after giving birth."

"Also..." Old Zhou pointed with his finger, "There are slight calluses between her right index and middle fingers. The location is rather unusual. They're not calluses from doing heavy work; they're more like calluses from holding a pen or operating a mouse for a long time."

Su Wan quickly sketched out a picture of the deceased in her mind: a woman in her twenties, who had given birth, had a cesarean section, had an IUD, and either worked in an office or was still in school.

"Can their identity be verified?"

Old Zhou shook his head: "There were no personal belongings, no cell phone, and no ID card. The fingerprints have been sent to the database for comparison, but there are no matching results yet. DNA testing will take at least three days."

Su Wan sighed and turned to look at the dissection table... no, to look at the six pieces of the body that had been reassembled.

Her gaze fell on the face of the deceased.

Even though a young face has lost the color of life, one can still see the delicate beauty it possessed in life.

The eyebrows were very thin, the kind of straight eyebrows that were popular a couple of years ago.

She has two ear piercings, but doesn't wear earrings. There are still traces of lipstick on her lips; it's a dusty rose color.

The girl was wearing makeup before she died.

In other words, she was preparing to meet someone before she left home.

"Old Zhou, can you get a sample of the cosmetics on her face?"

"Yes. Do you want to compare brands?"

"No." Su Wan shook her head. "I want to know where she got her makeup done."

Old Zhou paused for a moment, then understood what she meant: "You mean, by using the sales channels of cosmetics to deduce the scope of her activities?"

Su Wan nodded.

This is an idea Jiang Chen mentioned in the interrogation room yesterday... "Every deceased person is a book; her clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and the apps on her phone all tell you who she is."

She thought the metaphor was a bit pretentious at the time.

But now, she's starting to think that this line of thinking is correct.

Splash...

The door to the dissection room was pushed open, and Xiao Zhang poked half his body in, looking rather unwell.

"Captain Su, um... Jiang Chen is here."

Su Wan was taken aback: "Who sent him?"

"Director Zhang said he'd let him participate in the investigation of the body's origin, to see if he could find any clues."

Su Wan gritted her teeth, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.

"Let him in."

Da, da, da.

The sound of footsteps grew louder as they approached.

When Jiang Chen walked into the dissection room, Su Wan noticed that his face turned pale for a moment.

It was just a fleeting moment.

Then he resumed his nonchalant demeanor, as if he had walked into a café rather than an autopsy room filled with corpses.

"Officer Su, we meet again." Jiang Chen shook the chains on his hands. "Your Director Zhang really uses people to the extreme, even making suspects do manual labor."

"Enough with the nonsense." Su Wan stepped aside to make room for her. "Come and take a look."

Jiang Chen walked to the autopsy table and looked down at the stitched-up body.

There was silence for a moment.

"Her fingernails," Jiang Chen suddenly said.

Su Wan followed his gaze... The deceased's nails were neatly trimmed, painted with light pink nail polish, without any damage, residue, or bloodstains.

"If it was death by suffocation, the deceased would have struggled, and there should have been skin tissue or clothing fibers of the perpetrator under the fingernails," Jiang Chenpei said. "But her fingernails were very clean."

Old Zhou leaned closer and nodded: "That's right. We checked, and we didn't find any exogenous substances in the fingernail crevices."

"What does this mean?" Su Wan asked.

Jiang Chen straightened up and looked at her: "That means she didn't struggle when she died. Either she didn't have time to struggle, or... she knew the killer and wasn't on guard."

Su Wan frowned.

I recognized the killer. I was caught off guard. I was wearing makeup. I went out at night.

These fragments, pieced together, point in one direction…

"She made an appointment with someone," Su Wan said.

"Yes." Jiang Chen walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote down a few keywords.

He has now gotten used to writing and drawing on the whiteboard in the interrogation room and the temporary office. Although this place is not an interrogation room, Director Zhang has tacitly allowed him to use it as a temporary command post.

"The deceased woman was between 25 and 28 years old, had a history of cesarean section, used an IUD, worked in an office or was a student, was wearing makeup, had made an appointment, and did not struggle."

"What can this information tell us?"

Su Wan thought for a moment: "She's a mother, but she doesn't plan to have any more children. She cares about her appearance, so her financial situation should be good. The person she's meeting is most likely an acquaintance, or at least someone she trusts."

"Anything else?" Jiang Chen pressed.

Su Wan thought for a long time and then shook her head.

Jiang Chen turned around and wrote two words on the whiteboard…

Dating.

"She put on makeup and went out at night to meet someone she trusts," Jiang Chen analyzed. "What does that sound like?"

Su Wan's pupils contracted slightly.

"Like...a date."

"Yes. But it's not a normal date." Jiang Chen drew a line under "date". "A young woman who has given birth goes out to meet someone at night, without her child, and is wearing makeup... The person she meets is very likely her boyfriend, or someone she's having an affair with."

"So, the killer might be her boyfriend?"

"Or... someone pretending to be her boyfriend." Jiang Chen put down his marker. "The problem now is, we don't know who she is. If we don't know who she is, we don't know who her boyfriend is. If we don't know who her boyfriend is, this case can only wait for DNA testing, which will take at least three days."

"What's your plan?"

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"Her phone. The phone wasn't found at the scene, right?"

Su Wan nodded: "No."

"The killer took her phone. Why?"

"They're afraid we'll be able to track her social relationships through her phone."

"Yes. But the killer also made a mistake." Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. "The fact that he took the phone means there was important information on it. And that information might not be only on the phone."

Su Wan was taken aback for a moment, then realized: "You mean... cloud backup?"

"Smart." Jiang Chen smiled. "Most smartphones these days automatically back up their contacts, photos, and text messages to the cloud. As long as we find her account, we can restore the data on the server."

Su Wan immediately took out her phone and dialed the technical department.

Three minutes later, she hung up the phone, her expression somewhat complicated.

"The technical department said they could try to trace the cloud account using the phone number. But we don't know her phone number."

"I don't need a number," Jiang Chen said.

"What do we need?"

"IMEI. The phone's serial number. Every phone has a unique serial number that doesn't change no matter what SIM card you insert. The murderer took the phone, but he might not know... or he might not care... The serial number is printed on the phone's packaging box."

Su Wan's eyes lit up: "You mean, find her phone purchase records?"

"right.

According to the photos in the email, she was using a pink phone, a domestic model that was released last year.

This model is priced at around three thousand yuan, which is neither cheap nor too expensive. It's positioned in the upper-mid-range market and targets young women.

Jiang Chen walked to the computer, quickly searched for a few seconds, pulled up a picture of a mobile phone packaging box, and pointed to a string of numbers on the side.

"The IMEI number is right here. As long as we find the sales records for this phone, we can find the buyer's identity information."

"But there are thousands of stores selling this model of phone nationwide, how can we check?" Su Wan felt that this workload was too great.

"No need for a nationwide search." Jiang Chen zoomed in on the image, pointing to a detail on the back of the phone. "See this?"

Su Wan leaned closer to look and saw a small sticker on the back of the phone with a line of small print: XX Communications City.

"XX Communications City is a mobile phone market in the west of the city. It's not very big, and it mainly serves a few surrounding blocks," Jiang Chen said. "The fact that she could buy a mobile phone there indicates that her living radius is most likely in the west of the city. Combining this with the clue about the garment factory, we can narrow our search area to a five-kilometer radius around the vocational college in the west of the city."

Su Wan stared at the line of small print for a long time, then looked up at Jiang Chen.

"How do you know so much?"

Jiang Chen shrugged: "Novelists have to investigate every detail. I wrote a plot last year where the protagonist buys a cell phone to solve a case, and I specifically researched this."

Su Wan didn't know whether to believe it or not, but she had no better option at the moment.

"Xiao Zhang!" she called out towards the door.

Xiao Zhang pushed the door open and came in: "Team Leader Su?"

"Go to XX Telecom City in the west of the city and check the sales records for this phone." Su Wan wrote the phone model and IMEI on a sticky note and handed it to him. "The sooner the better."

"Yes!" Xiao Zhang turned and ran, his footsteps echoing in the corridor.

The dissection room fell silent.

Old Zhou lit the cigarette at some point, took a puff, and exhaled a cloud of bluish-gray smoke.

"Young man," Old Zhou looked at Jiang Chen, "you're not a policeman, are you?"

Jiang Chen shook his head: "A novelist."

"Does a novelist know so much about criminal investigation?" Old Zhou squinted. "I've worked in forensic medicine for thirty years, and I've seen more criminal investigators than you've eaten meals. Your way of thinking doesn't seem like that of a novelist; it's more like that of a seasoned criminal investigator."

Jiang Chen didn't reply, he just smiled.

As Su Wan watched this scene from the side, the question in her mind grew stronger and stronger.

Who exactly is this man?

Beep beep beep…!

The phone rang; it was Zhou Guoping calling.

"Captain Su, the male victim's identity has been confirmed." Zhou Guoping's voice carried a hint of fatigue, but also a hint of excitement.

"So fast?"

"There was a wallet in the woven bag he was carrying. Although the ID card inside was soaked in blood, it was still legible. His name was Liu Qiang, 26 years old, a local from the west side of the city."

"And your profession?"

"He works as a driver for a logistics company. The company says he hasn't come to work for two days and they can't reach him by phone."

Su Wan quickly went through the process of elimination in her mind... What connection could a logistics company driver have with a clothing factory and a vocational college?

"Check his social connections, especially whether he has any dealings with Chengxi Vocational College," Su Wan said.

"It's already under investigation." Zhou Guoping paused. "There's one more thing."

"What?"

"Liu Qiang's phone is also missing. But he was wearing a smartwatch, which the killer didn't take off."

Su Wan's heart suddenly raced: "There's data on the watch?"

"Yes. Heart rate, steps, sleep records, and..." Zhou Guoping lowered his voice, "The last heart rate record was at 9:13 PM the night before last, when it plummeted to zero. In other words, the time of death is accurate to the minute."

"What about GPS positioning? Smartwatches usually have GPS."

"Yes. Data from 8 PM the night before last was deleted."

Su Wan took a deep breath.

It's been deleted. Another killer.

But deletion itself is a form of information.

"Team Leader Zhou, send the smartwatch to the technical department and see if the deleted data can be recovered," Su Wan said.

"It's already on its way."

Click. Su Wan hung up the phone and looked at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had heard everything. He stood in front of the whiteboard, his pen tip hovering in mid-air, as if hesitating about what to write.

"The logistics company driver," he muttered to himself, "is he related to the deceased woman?"

"I don't know yet," Su Wan said.

"Check Liu Qiang's license plate number, retrieve the traffic surveillance footage from the night of the incident, and see where he was last seen," Jiang Chen said quickly. "Also, check his call records and social media accounts to see who he's been in close contact with recently."

Su Wan nodded and was about to make arrangements when her phone rang again.

This time it's Xiao Zhang.

"Captain Su! We've found it! The phone sold at XX Telecom City last year was purchased by a woman named Li Yutong, who is 24 years old!"

Su Wan's heart pounded in her chest.

"What's the address?"

"The address I left when purchasing the phone was... No. 78 Jianshe Road, Chengxi District, near the Pengda Teachers' Dormitory Building, Chengxi School!"

Click.

Su Wan almost dropped her phone.

Chengxi Vocational College. It's Chengxi Vocational College again.

All the clues point to that school that closed down five years ago.

Jiang Chen showed no surprise upon hearing the news. He picked up a marker and wrote three names on the whiteboard.

Li Yutong. Liu Qiang. Chengxi Vocational College.

Then connect them with a wire.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be some connection between Li Yutong and Liu Qiang," Jiang Chen said. "Have you found out about Liu Qiang's social connections?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Su Wan's phone rang again. Zhou Guoping's message arrived quickly and urgently.

"Found it. Liu Qiang's ex-girlfriend is named Li Yutong. The two broke up six months ago. Li Yutong studied at Chengxi Vocational College and stayed on as an administrative staff member for a year after graduation. After the school closed down, she lost her job and made a living by doing odd jobs."

Beep beep beep... Su Wan's phone received Li Yutong's photos at the same time.

She looked down and her heart skipped a beat.

The young woman in the photo has delicate features, straight eyebrows, a dusty rose lipstick, and two pierced ears...

The face on the dissection table was almost identical to the one on the dissection table, if not exactly the same.

The puzzle was solved. But another puzzle appeared.

Li Yutong is Liu Qiang's ex-girlfriend.

The two had broken up six months prior, yet on the same night, they were murdered in the same manner, their bodies dumped in the same location.

Was it a coincidence? Or was it intentional?

Su Wan looked at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen's eyes shone like two candle flames in the darkness.

"I understand," he said.

"Know what?"

Why did this organization choose them?

Su Wan held her breath.

Jiang Chen turned around, faced the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote a line of text at the top.

"The truth behind the closure of Chengxi Vocational College five years ago."

The pen tip struck the whiteboard with a crisp sound…

despair.

"It wasn't a random killing," Jiang Chen said in a low voice. "It was revenge."