Crimson Lotus Trial (4)

  Zhang Gongzi's body was charred beyond recognition, prompting me to silently recite "Amitabha" several times in my heart, and then drew two crosses on my forehead and chest with my hand.

  If it's really Erlang who did this, then he's truly gone mad.

  I calmed down and began to carefully recall the steps of dissection. The Phantom Knight next to me had a mask on his face, which was covered with another layer of gauze, and he curiously touched it with his hand, looking like an alien, and the atmosphere in the morgue suddenly became less solemn.

  Generally, an autopsy starts with the external examination of the body, including clothing, height, and nutritional status. However, none of these are necessary now. There's no clothing, not to mention skin, which is almost all gone, and the body has shrunk due to burning. In fact, even examining external injuries isn't needed because nothing can be seen anymore. This is why I had to reluctantly perform an autopsy on him.

  "Are you going to cut open your belly?" asked the Young Master of the Night in surprise.

  I nodded: "It's been burned too badly, the exterior doesn't look like anything anymore, as for how it died, there are many possibilities. So, we can only hope that the inside isn't completely roasted."

  If it's been burning for a long time, the internal organs will also undergo changes due to heat, and those characteristic reactions such as hemorrhagic spots on the conjunctiva will all disappear.

  "But your face has turned pale!"; He looked at me in the night and said, "You... haven't done it before, have you?"

  I glared at him, my trembling hands betraying me.

  The Young Master of the Night stepped forward, gently pried open my tightly clenched right hand, and extracted the knife from my palm: "Alright, let me do it instead."

  "Really?"; I widened my eyes in surprise.

  "Is your world also dissecting corpses when solving cases?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

  What does ";also" mean? According to historical records of forensic science, there should be no autopsy in this era.

  "Before that, I had performed autopsies several times. The first time was when I needed to retrieve something the person had swallowed from their abdomen, but it was during that time that I realized examining the internal organs could be helpful in determining the cause of death. So later on, when investigating cases, I also tried using this method. Anyway, since I was young, I've been trained in how to kill people and performing autopsies is nothing out of the ordinary for me."

  The gaze of Master Yinye drifted far away, as if recalling a scene from the past.

  And at that moment I possessed Lu Da Chun's body, I suddenly understood why his thoughts always ran off track, in this scenario, I couldn't help but run off track either.

  "What?! Investigate the case!!" I completely didn't notice what he was doing dissecting the corpse for.

  His face was as dark as the night, and he said in a low voice: "It's not what you think, I just omitted some details. The cases were all investigated by Qiu, I just accompanied him, cut open the dead man's belly, that was my hand."

  So that's how it is. You've omitted too much!

  Time was of the essence, and under my direction, we first opened up the scalp of the corpse at night.

  Head injury is the first cause of death I considered, that is, being beaten to death with a blunt object. If a person is hit on the back of the head with a wooden stick or something similar, it may not be visible on the surface but can still cause fatal brain damage.

  "Hmm, and now to flay the skin... this I've never done before." Although he said so, Master Yinye's tone and actions seemed very excited, and he neatly and efficiently cut open the scalp.

  "Ah!"; The Young Master of the Night exclaimed excitedly, "Bones are broken! But this..."

  The deceased's skull burst open, indeed a fracture, from the inside out, like blooming flowers. I reckon the "but" in the night mouth is that it's hard to understand what method can be used to blast the skull open like this.

  "Never mind this for now, let's move on."

  "I had him cut open the deceased's neck."

  Another new feature: hyoid bone fracture.

  The hyoid bone, located below the mandible and in the posterior part of the lower jaw, is a horseshoe-shaped bone that plays a role in swallowing and speech production. Fractures of the hyoid bone most commonly occur under one circumstance - strangulation.

  Through the current autopsy, I found a fortunate thing, that is, Lu Da Chun and others organized fire rescue measures effectively, which quickly controlled the fire. Therefore, this corpse still retains the conditions for inspection and judgment.

  From the moment I saw the fracture of the hyoid bone, I consciously opened up the night and examined some key areas, and the result was as I had imagined. The remaining blood in the corpse was extremely dark red, with pulmonary edema, splenic shrinkage, and visible bleeding points on the meninges, pleura, and pericardium, almost all of which were indicative of mechanical asphyxia death.

  So, this young master Zhang was very likely strangled to death.

  "Hmm, I didn't know you could search like that, it's unbelievable! The great thief got excited again, "However, there are still two things I don't understand."

  "What two things?"

  "His skull wasn't fractured, why wasn't that a fatal wound?" Ye Ru said thoughtfully, "And look, if you examine him closely, there are many knife wounds on his body."

  Indeed, in the parts of the deceased's body that were not charred too badly, there were multiple visible lacerations on the skin, resembling knife cuts. However, during the examination, I directly ignored them, and this was also for a reason.

  "You really have a good eye for this."

  I praised the amateur detective,

  "What you said about these two places is actually true, they were both arson."

  "Is it cooked?" The second-hand detective started again in shock mode.

  The power of high temperature is very great, acting on the corpse, will form a terrifying phenomenon. For example, under the action of high temperature, skin tissue will appear along the skin rupture, forming a number of slit-like wounds, looking like cuts, we call it "rupture wound". If not careful, it will be mistaken for the deceased being stabbed multiple times before death. When burned more severely, bone fractures will occur, and the fracture of the skull is the most typical manifestation, which is caused by the extreme expansion of hot gas inside the skull, and the skull fragments will radiate outward, quite frightening.

  "So, it can be concluded that the cause of death was strangulation by someone, and then the body was burned after death." said Yinye Gongzi.

  I think it should be determined by now. And the most suspicious one is none other than the poor victim's brother, that lying scoundrel.

  However, we have no evidence. Even in modern detective work, arson and explosion cases are one of the most difficult types to investigate. Because fire not only takes lives but also burns all traces of physical evidence at the scene into ashes.

  "No need to rush, there are other channels. Everything, wait until Da Chun returns tomorrow to discuss." The Night Gentleman spoke with a few points of Nie Qiuyuan's calmness.

  I suddenly understood his meaning. The task for tonight was to figure out the cause of death. Those who were now in action were not just the Phantom Master, but probably everyone. Luo Da Chun's task must have been what he was best at: collecting data and investigating motives.

  Datang Chang'an Evening News Flash Report

  Datang Chang'an Evening News reprinted Modern Tencent News on October 6, 2014 with a pop-up graphic report: "Luoyang White Horse Temple tourists burst, wishing well rakes in money four times a day!"

  It's really hot! Baima Temple is a great place! From the draft provided by the author earlier, it seems that after the "Red Lotus" chapter ends, the story will enter the "Baima Temple" chapter. Even Tencent News has started to warm up (thanks to Tencent News). It looks like the supernatural events are endless, and it's a good omen for this year!

  This newspaper wishes all dear readers good luck and may you win the double-color ball lottery four times a month!