National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1111 - 1042: Challenge

Qiao Shengli arrived even faster than Liu Jinghui.

The phone call was made at night, yet Qiao Shengli arrived in the morning. When she entered Building No. 9, her face was fully made up, complemented by a T-shirt and jeans—a youthful, irresistible vibe that left many middle-aged men momentarily stunned.

Miao Ruixiang couldn’t help but whisper, "Even without makeup, she’s so impeccably delicate. Rare, indeed."

Shen Yaowei, who was initially focused and indifferent, couldn’t resist chiming in when he heard this, "Who told you she’s without makeup?"

"Isn’t she?" Miao Ruixiang froze for a moment, then carefully examined her again and murmured, "Did she put on mascara? But, she didn’t put on lipstick."

Shen Yaowei almost choked from laughing, "Kid... You’ve only seen makeup on corpses, haven’t you?"

"The corpses I’ve seen were beyond recognition." Miao Ruixiang paused, looked carefully at Qiao Shengli again, and murmured, "She really put on makeup?"

"Of course. What, you’ve never heard of ’no-makeup makeup’?" Shen Yaowei shot him the look of someone scolding a rookie.

"I’ve heard of it," Miao Ruixiang replied softly.

"Never seen it at school?"

Miao Ruixiang hesitated for a moment, "Maybe?"

"Eh?"

"Not every naturally flawless-looking girl is wearing no-makeup makeup, is she?" Miao Ruixiang’s expression carried a hint of apprehension.

Shen Yaowei let out a heavy sigh upon hearing this.

On the other side, Qiao Shengli couldn’t help but laugh in front of Jiang Yuan.

These days, even schools are fiercely competitive. PhD grads who couldn’t secure post-doctoral positions are plummeting from top-tier universities to second-rate colleges that enforce publish-or-perish policies—and some institutions are even implementing such policies at the associate professor level.

Research itself is an endless money pit. Back in the day, finance procedures were less rigid, making grant usage more flexible. Nowadays, aside from tedious reimbursement processes, many young scholars have to dig into their own pockets to subsidize research expenses, essentially financially backing their own projects.

Take, for example, creating phylogenies and databases for the Taihe Basin’s key plant species. Even at her mentor Sulei’s level as a doctoral advisor, securing such projects is challenging.

Of course, the project was technically Sulei’s. Qiao Shengli wasn’t qualified to take on such a major project alone, but being able to participate was valuable training. After graduation, this project would pave the way for finding a teaching position relatively easily.

Jiang Yuan, having worked with Sulei and Qiao Shengli in the past, gave her a few brief instructions before letting her begin her work.

The Taihe Basin database was one thing, but the case also needed to be solved as soon as possible.

Jiang Yuan took a moment to rest, scrolled through WeChat, and replied to a few questions from forensic doctors and trace evidence analysts elsewhere before Liu Jinghui finally arrived.

"Still three corpses?" Liu Jinghui asked as he hurriedly entered the office, carrying a hint of excitement.

"Yes," Jiang Yuan replied succinctly, gesturing to Miao Ruixiang to pour tea for Liu Jinghui.

"Still three, huh." Liu Jinghui took a deep breath and said, "Any similar reports from nearby cities? What about upstream of the Tai River, hundreds of kilometers further? Bodies can theoretically drift downstream, from Pingzhou all the way to Shan Nan, for instance."

Jiang Yuan directly instructed Wang Chuanxing, "You should check on the reports and make some calls, especially to the Pingzhou area. Ask the provincial office for some coordination assistance."

Many people assume that police operate as a cohesive unit, as though a single piece of information reaches one officer and suddenly the entire force knows about it.

But in a world not centered around "me," police from other provinces probably don’t have time to concern themselves with cases outside their jurisdiction. Even officers from Lin City have their high-priority cases of the day. Those cases might not involve three bodies, but perhaps, on some level, three influential officials could be equally engrossing.

Even with digital documentation on the rise, phone calls remain the most effective means of communication.

Once Wang Chuanxing began his work, Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui, "Do you think there’ll be more bodies?"

"Hard to say, but since you’ve got corpses washing down here from upstream, we can’t rule out the possibility that the killer discarded multiple bodies. There might even be some that haven’t managed to float down yet," Liu Jinghui suggested modestly.

"Three bodies aren’t enough?"

"Do you think killing three people would satisfy the murderer?" Liu Jinghui countered.

"That would depend on the killer’s motive." Jiang Yuan had been pondering this for days.

Liu Jinghui slapped his forehead and nodded, "Right, that’s the right angle to approach. What does the killer want from killing three people?"

Jiang Yuan spread his hands. While he had his suspicions, he left the conjecturing to Liu Jinghui now that he had arrived.

Seating himself, Liu Jinghui sipped his tea noisily before casting a glance at Mu Zhiyang and casually asking, "Is Xiao Mu armed?"

Mu Zhiyang was taken aback, "In the office, I’m not carrying."

"You might want to start carrying. Stay alert now." After finishing his tea, Liu Jinghui continued, "Let’s talk about the killer’s motive again. To answer that, I think we need to concentrate on the points of contention surrounding the three corpses."

"Director Liu, what are your thoughts?" Mu Zhiyang looked much more serious now.

Having reviewed some documents on the way, Liu Jinghui examined the evidence further and then addressed Jiang Yuan, "First, let’s say if it weren’t for your determination that these three corpses were all the work of the same killer, there wouldn’t even be any contention points to discuss. Instead, we’d be looking for similarities—like why these three were all discarded. But setting that aside, if we stick to the contention points, the first is: why did the killer dismember the bodies—removing heads, fingers, and toes—so meticulously yet discard them so casually?"

Liu Jinghui added, "Especially with the second body, which can’t even be called a body. It’s just five fingers. Honestly, aren’t fingers one of the easiest parts to dispose of? The question is, where did the rest of the second body go? If the killer had the means to fully dispose of it, why leave the fingers behind?"

Tang Jia, taking notes nearby, nodded along, "We’ve considered this point as well."

Liu Jinghui continued, "Furthermore, the first body had fingers left intact. Yet with the second body, the fingers were removed—that’s inconsistent. A person’s mindset doesn’t shift so abruptly. If the killer was concerned about fingerprints, they should’ve removed the fingers from the first body too, rather than only deciding to do so with the second body."

After laying out several points, Liu Jinghui concluded, "Based on all this, I don’t believe the motive behind dismemberment and body disposal was merely to evade investigation."

Dismemberment can stem from various motivations—anger, fear of punishment, convenience for transport.

But for these three bodies, the most apparent reasoning seems to be avoiding detection or punishment. Yet Liu Jinghui immediately dismissed that theory.

"What do you think, Director Liu?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"To put it bluntly: the killer’s motive is bragging. It’s a show of defiance toward the police!" Liu Jinghui glanced at Jiang Yuan and added, "The bodies appearing in Ningtai County—I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they’re directly challenging you."

Mu Zhiyang silently got up and went downstairs to fetch his equipment.