“The order for the Remy Martin was placed at 9:55.”

The officer on the scene reported the latest progress to Di Ye. After listening, Di Ye remotely instructed his subordinates to pull up the surveillance footage from 9:55 to 11:28.

He was on the phone with an earpiece while walking out, and bumped into Leng Ning, who was coming in with an investigation box.

Leng Ning: “…”

Di Ye: “!”

“What are you doing here?” Di Ye asked, not very friendly.

“Can’t you tell? Autopsy.”

“I know, but why were you sent?”

“You should ask Zheng Zhouhe about that.”

“Damn that Old Zheng!” Di Ye angrily hung up the phone, “If he can’t handle it, he should just say so, instead of wasting everyone’s time.”

Leng Ning didn’t waste words, “Take me to see the deceased first.”

Di Ye nodded towards the inside, “Lying in there.”

Leng Ning showed no extra expression, carrying the investigation box inside, while Di Ye dialed Zheng Zhouhe’s number again.

“Seriously, Old Zheng, what do you mean by sending a kid over…”

Di Ye didn’t follow into the autopsy room, standing in the hallway making calls. Inside the autopsy room, Yan Jun glanced out upon hearing the noise.

He saw someone younger than himself carrying an investigation box inside, wearing an ill-fitting disposable autopsy gown, looking quite loose on him.

Yan Jun sized up Leng Ning, “Where’s your mentor?”

“It’s just me,” Leng Ning replied.

Yan Jun frowned, “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new?”

“Yeah.”

Leng Ning didn’t pay attention to the pointing and whispering around him, calmly putting on his gloves.

Although the autopsy gown didn’t fit well, the gloves seemed tailor-made, perfectly wrapping his slightly long fingers.

Yan Jun, worried that the other might be all show and no substance, said with some concern, “If you can’t do it, just say so, don’t delay our work.”

Di Ye cursed at Zheng Zhouhe under his breath, holding his phone as he walked in, seeing that Leng Ning had already begun the autopsy, suddenly said, “We don’t have high expectations for you, just give us the time of death.”

Both Di Ye and Yan Jun believed the cause of death was obvious—gunshot.

Leng Ning held a flashlight, carefully conducting the autopsy.

“Rigor mortis and livor mortis haven’t appeared yet. Based on the body temperature, the time of death is within two hours.”

“Well, that doesn’t differ much from our investigation results,” Di Ye said, looking at the back of Leng Ning’s head, “Any other findings?”

Leng Ning stared at the wound on the deceased’s chest for a while, then suddenly frowned, “Something’s off.”

“What’s off?” Di Ye immediately asked.

“This gunshot wound was clearly inflicted postmortem.”

“Postmortem?” Yan Jun was completely shocked, “The person just died not long ago, and the shot was to the heart, and you’re telling me it was postmortem? Are you even professional?!”

This completely overturned their initial hypothesis. If this gunshot wound was indeed postmortem, the case would be utterly illogical.

No matter how you look at it, this rookie forensic doctor’s statement seemed utterly untrustworthy.

Faced with skepticism, Leng Ning neither got angry nor rushed to prove himself, “I’m just stating the facts I see. You say it was a gunshot murder, do you have any evidence?”

Autopsy wasn’t Yan Jun’s strong suit, so faced with Leng Ning’s question, he could only nudge towards Di Ye, “You tell him!”

Di Ye frowned, thinking: Tell him what? He can catch people, but autopsy is not his forte!

“I think we should wait for Old Li to come back and do the autopsy!” Yan Jun suggested, “He’s unreliable.”

Di Ye turned his gaze to Leng Ning, “Explain yourself, why was it a postmortem shot?”

“Pre-mortem gunshot wounds usually have significant bleeding, inflammatory response, tissue tearing, and bruising. Postmortem gunshot wounds lack significant bleeding and inflammatory response, the tissue appears dry and lacks bruising. This wound is clearly postmortem.”

Di Ye pondered for a moment, thinking: Is this guy reciting from a book or does he really know his stuff?

Leng Ning didn’t proceed with further autopsy, “If you don’t trust me, you can get another forensic doctor.”

Di Ye raised an eyebrow.

Getting another one, who knows how long that would take.

Di Ye rubbed the stubble on his chin, thinking, “If you say it’s not a gunshot murder, then what’s the cause of death?”

Leng Ning closed his eyes briefly, knowing full well that in this situation, if they wanted to shorten the time to solve the case, they had to trust him.

“Just a moment.”

Leng Ning bent down, the flashlight sweeping over the body from top to bottom.

Di Ye observed Leng Ning, who now looked completely different from when he was held hostage in the morning.

He had a kind of clean aura that only high school students have. Now, wearing a loose autopsy gown and a mask, he seemed scholarly and ascetic.

But this was a criminal case, not a place for him to cosplay. If he wanted to prove himself, he needed to show some real skills.

Leng Ning examined the surface of the deceased’s skin, noting the lips and nail beds were cyanotic, a typical sign of hypoxia.

But whether it was caused by internal factors or external factors needed further examination.

He lifted the deceased’s eyelids, the flashlight flickering over them, no petechiae in the conjunctiva. He then checked the neck skin, which was intact with no ligature marks.

Opening the deceased’s mouth, the oral mucosa was intact, basically ruling out mechanical asphyxiation caused by strangulation or smothering.

If it wasn’t external mechanical asphyxiation, could it be a pre-existing condition? Or drug use?

Further autopsy and toxicology analysis would be needed to confirm.

“Have you found anything?” Di Ye asked.

Leng Ning repositioned the deceased’s mouth, “Further dissection and blood tests are needed.”

“I told you he couldn’t do it,” Yan Jun said, “I think we should wait for Old Li to come back and do the autopsy!”

“By the time Old Li comes back, the trail will be cold,” Di Ye said, then looked at the side of Leng Ning’s face, “If you can’t do it, call your seniors. This is a homicide case, don’t try to be a hero, you can’t bear the responsibility.”

Leng Ning packed the autopsy tools back into the box, “Then please contact my seniors. I have other work to do.”

Di Ye squinted: Here we go again?

“You plan to just leave?”

It took him over half an hour to get Old Zheng to send a forensic doctor, even if he didn’t seem very reliable.

Leng Ning shrugged, “This case wasn’t supposed to be mine in the first place. If you don’t trust me, then find someone else.”

Di Ye rubbed the small stubble on his chin, thinking: This case came suddenly, the person hasn’t been dead long, it’s the golden time to solve it. If they switch forensic doctors, it would delay a lot of time, and by the time they find clues, the murderer could be long gone.

His gaze returned to Leng Ning’s face, “After all, you’re a graduate of Ningzhou University, I’ll trust you this once.”

Di Ye made a quick decision, “I’ll give you an hour to find the cause of death.”

Leng Ning put the investigation box back, “I won’t need an hour.”

There was a sense of maturity in Leng Ning’s every move that didn’t match his age, which made people around him trust him a bit more.

Di Ye looked at him like a kid, “If you need us to do anything, just say it, don’t be shy.”

“Send this arterial blood sample to the lab for blood gas analysis and toxicology analysis, please have them expedite the results.”

“That’s simple, we’ll get you the results right away.” Di Ye pointed to a few officers nearby, “You guys go help, follow Doctor Leng’s instructions.”