Chapter 725: Chapter 392: Major Discoveries in Scene Investigation

Jiang An patted his shoulder, "Just joking."

"Isn’t this the duty of the criminal police?"

He turned and walked towards the scene investigation, "If everyone was afraid of the cases, then what would be the need for us?"

"Although everyone hopes for peace, as long as there are villains, we must let them know—" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He paused, his tone suddenly turning cold, "Justice is never absent."

At this moment, Zhang Yean led the investigation team into the fire scene first.

Jiang An hesitated for a moment, then turned to Mr. Chen beside him, his gaze carrying a hint of inquiry.

"Mr. Chen, shall we go in and take a look too?"

Mr. Chen instinctively frowned, through the open doorway, he could clearly see the smoke-blackened walls and ceiling inside.

As an experienced station chief, he had preliminarily determined that this was a typical accidental death case.

He had seen many fire scenes of this magnitude, mostly tragedies caused by aging circuits or careless use of fire.

However, since Jiang An had spoken, he couldn’t find a suitable reason to decline.

"Cough, cough..."

Mr. Chen cleared his throat, reached into his pocket to pull out a brand-new medical mask and put it on, then handed one to Jiang An.

"Captain Jiang, wear this, the smoke inside is too dense."

Soon, the two walked into the fire scene one after the other.

Although the firefighters had completely extinguished the flames, the air was still filled with an acrid burnt smell, thick smoke swirled inside, visibility was less than two meters.

Jiang An paused at the door, waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim environment, then cautiously stepped forward.

This was a typical rural self-built house, the layout of two bedrooms and a living room seemed very cramped.

Jiang An stood in the center of the living room, looked around, and found the entire space was scorched black, the paint on the walls had peeled off massively, revealing mottled cement inside.

The living room furniture had almost turned to ashes, only a few twisted and deformed metal frames still retained their original outline.

At this moment, Jiang An’s gaze was drawn to a charred object on the floor.

It was a fully carbonized corpse, curled up in a posture that seemed to tell of its final painful struggle.

The skin and muscle tissue of the corpse had already carbonized and cracked, like a piece of overly charred charcoal, the surface covered with crisscross pattern of cracks.

Jiang An squatted down, slightly tilted his head, focused his gaze on the charred corpse, and said in a deep voice, "Please give me a pair of gloves."

His voice was not loud, yet it carried an undeniable professional feel.

Mr. Chen immediately stepped forward quickly, deftly opened the investigation box, took a pair of brand-new latex gloves from the neatly arranged equipment, and cautiously handed it over.

"Thank you."

Jiang An took the gloves, his long fingers skillfully spread the rubber membrane, carefully put on the gloves.

Mr. Chen stood by, couldn’t help but ask, "Captain Jiang, are you... going to perform an autopsy on site?"

As a renowned forensic expert in Jiangcheng, Jiang An’s professional capabilities were well known throughout the law enforcement system.

Jiang An gently shook his head, his gaze never leaving the corpse.

"An autopsy is not needed for now."

"I just want to first observe the specific condition of this carbonized surface."

He paused, pointed at the corpse, and explained: "Although most of the corpse is carbonized, beneath the charred layer, I want to examine the state of clothing remains."

"This could be significant in solving the case."

Mr. Chen frowned and leaned closer to take a look, puzzled, "It’s completely burned black, can anything be discerned?"

He found it hard to imagine what valuable information could be extracted from such a charred and distorted body.

However, Jiang An nodded confidently, "The form of muscle tissue carbonization and clothing remain carbonization is distinctly different."

"To a professional eye, these subtle differences can serve as a crucial basis for us to discern the case."

He spoke while gently tapping the surface of the corpse with his gloved fingertips.

"For instance, if the deceased’s clothing is intact, it would greatly assist in determining the time of death."

"Conversely, if there are tear marks on the clothing, it could indicate another scenario."

Mr. Chen pondered and nodded.

Though he had worked at the grassroots station for many years, Jiang An’s explanation immediately made him understand the key points.

Inferring the condition of the deceased before death through the state of clothing is indeed one of the common methods in forensic science.

Suddenly, he couldn’t help but respect the professional competence of the young forensic expert before him even more.

Jiang An leaned forward, first scanning the corpse as a whole, his gaze like a scanner meticulously sweeping over every detail.

Then, he slowly raised his hand, gently but firmly began turning the corpse.

When the corpse was carefully flipped over, Jiang An suddenly halted his actions.

"Found something?"

Mr. Chen, sharply detecting a change in Jiang An’s expression, immediately moved closer.

On the part of the corpse’s back that was in contact with the ground, there was miraculously a relatively intact piece of skin preserved.

This piece of skin was about the size of a palm, contrasting sharply with the charred tissue around it.

Even more surprising, the skin surface revealed an irregular pattern, looking quite strange.

"This..."

Mr. Chen widened his eyes in astonishment, "This piece of skin actually persevered!"

He instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, but immediately realized it was inappropriate and quickly withdrew his hand.