National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1110 - 1041: Three Corpses

Qianjin District.

Tai Riverbank.

Grass swayed gently, rising and falling with the ripples.

The wind bent the grass, revealing the corpse’s pale, decomposed flesh shimmering under the sunlight—occasionally quivering. A closer look unveiled maggots squirming within the decayed body.

"Time of death exceeds 10 days," Jiang Yuan remarked as he examined the corpse, immediately reaching a conclusion.

"The time of death isn’t far apart from the previous two corpses," Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment’s Brigade Commander Shen Feihong said as he waited on-site for Jiang Yuan.

Technically speaking, Shen Feihong was half a superior to Jiang Yuan, but with Huang Qiangmin acting as a go-between, Shen Feihong always maintained a polite demeanor.

Still, given the Criminal Police Brigade is the frontline unit, the connection between three consecutive murder cases with obvious similarities didn’t need any prompting—it was evident.

"Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. He crouched at the scene and turned the corpse over, examining several severed sections.

The flesh-covered severed wounds lacked the clarity of revealed bones and required longer observation. Jiang Yuan squatted beside the body, soon feeling his legs go numb.

The soft mud by the riverside made it not only prone to recording traces but harder on the officers performing their duties.

The victim’s head was severed, along with all ten fingers and toes.

Jiang Yuan meticulously examined them one by one, spending considerable time before turning around to shout, "Bring two people here to lift me—I’ve got pins and needles in my legs."

Mu Zhiyang, who had deliberately stayed farther away to avoid contaminating the crime scene, quickly ran over with a forensic officer. Together, they helped Jiang Yuan away from the body and over toward Shen Feihong.

Jiang Yuan’s tall stature was quite striking as the two officers carried him, provoking an involuntary chuckle from Shen Feihong.

However, realizing they were at a crime scene, Shen Feihong promptly bowed his head and put on his mask.

"What’s your assessment?" Shen Feihong looked at Jiang Yuan expectantly.

Jiang Yuan stretched his legs and flexed his hands before responding, "It’s definitely done by the same individual, using the same knife."

"Damn... a triple homicide?" Shen Feihong’s mind raced.

"Roughly one victim every three days," Jiang Yuan answered.

Shen Feihong froze: "What do you mean?"

"Taking today’s date as reference, the three corpses respectively died 12 days, 15 days, and 18 days ago. They died exactly three days apart," Jiang Yuan explained as thoroughly as possible.

This revelation stunned Shen Feihong deeply. As an experienced detective, the accuracy of Jiang Yuan’s timeline struck him harder than the sight of the corpses. For a brief moment, Shen Feihong almost questioned whether Jiang Yuan might be the perpetrator himself.

Such precise deductions seemed uncanny!

Fortunately, Jiang Yuan was always accompanied by colleagues.

Shen Feihong’s thoughts shifted quickly; recalling Jiang Yuan’s mention of the knife, he asked, "The same perpetrator didn’t change knives at all?"

Killing dulls a blade—something not everyone understands nowadays. It’s akin to old tales and martial arts novels that gift protagonists a mythical weapon, enabling them to slaughter enemies from one end of the street to the other.

Jiang Yuan also found this point significant and nodded. "The knife seems to be akin to a chef’s knife, kept sharp. There are test cuts near the victims’ wounds, suggesting they were restrained before being accurately dissected."

"A chef, perhaps? But chefs using chef knives are rare in Qinghe," Shen Feihong muttered aloud as he thought, his mind moving quickly, his words even faster: "That said, why here in Qinghe? Our city rarely sees major criminal cases—let alone a spree killer committing three murders in one go. This is a clear case of a serial killer..."

Jiang Yuan had handled many cases for Qinghe City, but his encounters with Shen Feihong were usually under an official hierarchical relationship. Listening to Shen’s rapid analysis now, Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but comment: "Jianyuan Pharmaceutical."

Shen Feihong was momentarily speechless.

Jianyuan Pharmaceutical—a colossal drug cartel responsible for enough crimes to merit thousands of death sentences—had once been the pillar enterprise of Qinghe City.

Of course, Qinghe’s past reputation for safety wasn’t unwarranted. It was akin to a house with a nest of snakes—no rats dare enter.

"Commander Shen, shall I transport the corpse back to Ningtai County and merge the cases?" Jiang Yuan inquired.

Shen Feihong nodded without hesitation: "Take it back. Should the site be preserved?"

"After securing the body, I’ll conduct a full site investigation," Jiang Yuan replied, already swapping out gloves and other gear.

Technically speaking, since Ningtai County falls under Qinghe City’s jurisdiction and both locations discovered homicide cases, it would be standard procedure for Qinghe City Bureau to take charge of managing and cracking the cases. However, this wasn’t set in stone; some cities primarily offered guidance, leaving district and county officers to handle frontline investigations with minimal jurisdictional disputes.

In Qinghe City’s case, while the Criminal Police Detachment carried out operations, seizing Jiang Yuan’s cases wasn’t practical—their fingerprint analyses still frequently relied on Jiang Yuan’s expertise.

Wang Lan, Miao Ruixiang, Jiang Yuan, and two officers worked together to place the corpse into the body bag.

With the head missing, the corpse’s weight was noticeably lighter. Factoring in decomposition, Jiang Yuan estimated the female victim might have weighed under 100 pounds while alive. Of course, the estimate wasn’t precise; the weight of a human head varies and lacks scientific consensus.

Even forensic doctors seldom measure heads en masse or compare averages. Such data is irrelevant given most cadavers they encounter have severely dehydrated tissues.

Medicine often cites a head weight of seven and a half pounds—but its origin is a mystery.

Jiang Yuan watched the team load the body into the transport vehicle, then began surveying the surrounding site in detail.

He hadn’t personally visited the sites of the prior two corpses. The first site was handled by local police; the second merely involved five severed fingers, hardly warranting a full crime scene analysis.

As for this case...

Walking in his rubber boots, Jiang Yuan took a lap around the scene, ultimately sighing: "The body washed ashore."

If it washed ashore, then this must be at least the second or third crime scene. The information contained here was considerably less than what could’ve been gleaned from the primary site.

Jiang Yuan analyzed the surroundings as he went; within twenty minutes, he emerged from the police cordon.

"What’s your conclusion?" Shen Feihong asked eagerly.

"Call Director Liu over—he’ll definitely relish this case," Jiang Yuan replied. Then he added, "For the third corpse, I intend to try legal botany to pinpoint the exact location where it entered the water."

Shen Feihong’s eyes lit up, exclaiming, "Legal botany can accurately determine the site where the suspect entered the water, right? If we already have an approximate time of death, searching surveillance footage or applying technical investigation afterward... The perpetrator would never anticipate we could pinpoint the entry location so precisely..."

In contrast to case two’s severed fingers, legal botany had minimal utility there. The perpetrator had taken great care in concealing evidence.

Using legal botany to identify a water entry point, however, was a vulnerability the perpetrator likely hadn’t considered.

From this perspective, legal botany was akin to deploying a new weapon in battle—an innovation adversaries would pay a price to learn and counter.

Shen Feihong felt a spark of possibility. His mind raced as he spoke rapidly: "Given that the perpetrator killed three individuals using exceedingly professional methods in a short span, adopting advanced techniques and approaches for this case is definitely warranted..."

"For comparison, samples must be taken every 50 meters upstream from where the bodies were discovered," Jiang Yuan reiterated instructions he had given to leaders in Qingshi City before.

Creating a database of plant species within Tai River was part of Jiang Yuan’s long-term plan—it was only a matter of timing.

Shen Feihong couldn’t mask his apprehension.

With Jianyuan Pharmaceutical gone, Qinghe City Bureau was already facing leaner times...

"Call Qiao Shengli," Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing, seeming to assume Shen Feihong’s approval.

Of course, such a project would require not only Shen Feihong’s consent but also higher-ups and possibly even a dedicated committee meeting.

But how could Shen Feihong say no?

"Wasn’t one of the victims identified via fingerprint analysis earlier? Could following leads on their identity offer breakthroughs?" Shen Feihong pivoted his approach.

Jiang Yuan replied thoughtfully, "We’re already investigating that victim’s relationships and movements on the day in question but haven’t found anything concrete yet. So far, out of the three victims, we’ve only identified one. If we can uncover the identity of another, we could cross-reference their backgrounds and find overlapping connections..."

"Generally speaking, that tends to work..." Shen Feihong acknowledged.

At this point, Huang Qiangmin joined them, cutting straight to the heart of the matter with his comment: "Commander Shen, the Tai River database is inevitable. The sooner it’s built, the sooner it can be utilized."

"Delaying wouldn’t lower the cost?" Shen Feihong replied wryly.

"Only if there were no more murders," Huang Qiangmin joked with a shrug.