Chapter 727: Chapter 392: Major Discovery at the Scene Investigation (3)

When Zhang Yean took the tools, she specifically reminded him, "You have to be very gentle. We need to preserve the ash layer in its original state."

"Start from the edges first, peel it away layer by layer and observe."

"Senior, aren’t these just ordinary combustion residues?"

The assistant carefully scooped up the first shovel of ash while asking, unable to hold back his curiosity, "Is there really anything special we can see in this?"

"The ash at a fire scene is like a book that’s been burned!"

Lighting the ash with a high-intensity flashlight, Zhang Yean said, "Even though it all looks the same on the surface, if you look closely, you can still ’read’ a lot of information from it."

The first shovel of ash was spread evenly over the prepared white paper.

Wearing gloves, Zhang Yean gently sifted through the ash with her fingers, studying it carefully under the strong light: "Look at the degree of carbonization and the pattern of these fibers. This is indeed characteristic of cotton fabric after burning, but..."

Just then, the assistant scooped up the second shovel of ash.

At the moment the ash was poured out, an odd glint flashed through it.

Zhang Yean’s body went rigid, her pupils constricting sharply, the color draining from her face in an instant.

"S-senior?"

The assistant was startled by her reaction, nearly dropping the shovel. "What did you see?"

Zhang Yean didn’t answer immediately. Her hands shaking, she took a pair of tweezers from the tool bag and slowly parted that pile of ash.

She was silent for two seconds, her gaze dark and heavy as she stared at the ash. Then she suddenly pointed with her hand: "Wait, look at this."

His fingertips trembled slightly as he pointed at an inconspicuous little white particle.

Hearing this, the assistant immediately bent down closer, his nose almost touching the ash.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to make it out clearly. "Huh? This color..."

Before he finished, she suddenly drew in a sharp breath and instinctively stepped back half a pace.

"Of course something’s wrong."

Zhang Yean’s voice was so low it sounded like it was being forced up from deep in her chest. "This is a tooth."

"B-but..."

The assistant’s voice started to shake. He turned his head mechanically toward the living room. "Isn’t the body in the living room? How could there be..."

Halfway through, his words stuck in his throat, as a terrifying thought exploded in his mind.

His pupils contracted sharply. "C-could it be... there’s still... someone else in here..."

Zhang Yean did not answer, just stared fixedly at that tooth.

The two of them stood frozen in place like they’d been hit with an Immobilization Spell, the only sound in the deathly-still room their own breathing, unnaturally clear.

Just then, footsteps approached from far to near.

Jiang An and Mr. Chen came over from the living room. Seeing their abnormal reactions, Jiang An immediately tensed up. "Senior? What happened?"

Slowly shaking her head, Zhang Yean’s Adam’s apple bobbed once. "It’s not about the living room..."

She pointed at the bed. "I suspect there’s a second person here."

At her words, Jiang An’s expression remained composed, but a sharp glint flashed across his eyes.

Mr. Chen’s face, however, had gone ashen. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead. "W-what? Where?"

"It should be in that spot."

Zhang Yean pointed at that unusually massive heap of ash on the bed.

Following the direction of her finger, Jiang An’s gaze swept across the scene like a blade.

He immediately picked up on a crucial detail—given an ordinary 1.5-meter single bed, the volume of that ash pile was absurdly large, as if a huge amount of combustible material had been stacked there while it burned.

Zhang Yean pointed at the floor again. "Look at these. They were cleaned out from the ash."

Her fingertips trembled slightly. "I found a tooth."

Without a word, Jiang An squatted down, quickly slipped on a pair of gloves, and carefully picked up that tooth.

Under the light, the surface of the molar showed a strange, semi-translucent texture. Despite being subjected to high temperatures, it still retained an intact shape.

"This isn’t an adult’s tooth..."

Murmuring to himself, Jiang An said, "The crown morphology, the occlusal surface pattern... this looks more like..." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He paused, his voice turning abruptly heavy. "A child’s tooth."

"A child?!"

In an instant, Mr. Chen reacted as if struck by lightning. He staggered back a few steps, his back slamming hard into the wall.

His lips trembled uncontrollably. "That’s impossible... Their family clearly... clearly has only four people..."

He broke off mid-sentence, as a dreadful association sent a chill through his whole body—the incident report did indeed say four family members, yet only one adult male body had been found at the scene.

The other three, including two children, were unaccounted for... and no one had mentioned where they were...