Chapter 20.1
Case Solved

The autopsy room had decent ventilation, but the stench of the corpse was overwhelming.

Xie Qing picked up the scalpel and glanced at Tan Yi, thinking, “It’s so smelly. Aren’t you going to leave?”

Tan Yi hadn’t considered leaving at all. As a man, he couldn’t let a young woman in her early twenties face such a horrifying corpse alone. However, Xie Qing’s glance made him misunderstand, thinking she was scared. He gently suggested, “Mr. Cao is on his way. Do you want to wait?”

Xie Qing was surprised, “My mentor is coming? When did he say that?”

Tan Yi replied, “Ten minutes ago, he paged Fu Da.”

So Fu Da must have called him.

Xie Qing thought for a moment. Tan Yi was new and would need to cooperate frequently in the future. If her mentor didn’t come at this critical moment, even if there was a reason, it wouldn’t look good.

She explained, “My mentor’s wife has been ill for years with allergic asthma, which gets severe in autumn and winter. Her condition is probably not good; otherwise, my mentor would definitely come.”

Tan Yi said, “I see.”

Cao Haisheng not coming made Tan Yi a bit uneasy, but after hearing Xie Qing’s explanation, he understood. Being a police officer is tough, and so is being a police officer’s family member.

Everyone should understand each other.

Xie Qing said, “I need to get to work. Captain Tan, do you want to help?”

“Sure, I’ll take photos.” Tan Yi picked up the camera to assist Xie Qing in documenting the evidence.

Xie Qing said, “Now, I’m going to open the abdominal cavity. Captain Tan, you might want to step back.”

“No problem.” Although Tan Yi said this, he didn’t try to be tough and took several steps back.

Xie Qing decisively made the incision. The soft tissues were excessively decomposed, and the flesh was loose, making the scalpel cut through easily. When she reached the abdomen, she held her breath. With a “puff,” decomposition gases and fluids sprayed out, splattering her lab coat.

“Damn!” Fu Da happened to walk in, let out a strange cry, and quickly closed the door.

Xie Qing was startled, nearly making a wrong cut with the scalpel. She steadied herself, made another incision, and opened the chest cavity. After the smell dissipated a bit, she said, “The ribs have fractures, and the subcutaneous tissues of the chest and abdomen are dark green, indicating the deceased was beaten before death. Judging by the rib structure, the deceased was under twenty years old… The heart, lungs, and abdominal organs are undamaged.”

Tan Yi took photos with a “click, click.”

Next, Xie Qing opened the stomach. There was no drowning fluid, and it was mostly empty, with no intact food remnants. Just as she was about to put it down, the spoon scraped out a small lump of rotten meat stuck to the stomach wall.

She used forceps to extract it, placed it in a dish, and examined it, “This is a piece of raw meat, not cut by a knife, but more like bitten.”

Tan Yi speculated, “Did the deceased bite the killer, causing the killer to become enraged and kill the deceased?”

“I think so too,” Xie Qing said while cleaning the remaining scalp, then opened the fractured skull and scooped out a small amount of dark brown brain tissue.

She said, “Comminuted fractures usually accompany brain tissue leakage. After autolysis, brain tissue should be light pink. This color indicates the injury occurred before death, with significant bleeding.”

Tan Yi knew this point and nodded, taking two more photos of the skull and brain tissue.

Xie Qing put down the spoon, “Now we can confirm that the deceased was young, died from comminuted skull fractures, and died quickly.”

Tan Yi said, “Next, we need to identify the body. If the deceased was young and wearing sportswear, we should consider middle or high school students, with high school being more likely. If the deceased was a boarding student, the killer might be a classmate.”

Although there wasn’t more evidence, this guess was logical.

Xie Qing nodded internally, thinking: The second male lead is indeed capable, though those non-prescription glasses are a bit ugly.

She rechecked the cut clothing but found nothing.

At that moment, Fu Da returned, “Captain Tan, several precincts have reported back. In the past eight days, there were three missing person reports, but two didn’t match the gender, and the other didn’t match the clothing or age.”

As he finished speaking, the door opened again.

Cao Haisheng hurried in, took a lab coat from the rack, and greeted Tan Yi while putting it on, “You must be Captain Tan. I’m Cao Haisheng. I had some family matters that delayed me.”

Tan Yi said, “I understand. How’s the patient?”

Cao Haisheng replied, “It’s an old problem, not too serious. She’ll be discharged in a couple of days.” He looked at the deceased, “Is the autopsy done?”

Tan Yi put down the camera, “Chief Cao, rest assured. Xiao Xie is very capable. The work here is basically done. We’re going to identify the body.”

Cao Haisheng smiled, “That’s good. Captain Tan, go ahead. Xiao Xie and I will clean up here.”

“Alright, see you at the bureau.” Tan Yi nodded slightly, “Team Leader Fu, let’s go.”

Fu Da was puzzled, “Captain Tan, where are we going to find the body’s identity? We have no leads.”

Tan Yi said, “I’ll explain on the way.”

The two left one after the other.

Xie Qing said, “Master, you should go out. It’s too smelly here, and you still need to go to the hospital.”

“Alright.” Cao Haisheng didn’t hesitate, “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Xie Qing cleaned the body and the autopsy table and roughly stitched the incisions with thick thread. She covered the body with a white cloth, straightened up, and said, “Rest in peace. We will seek justice for you.”

After finishing everything, Xie Qing filled out the autopsy report and pushed the body out.

Cao Haisheng came up, “Tell me, what’s the situation?”

Xie Qing said, “The deceased was under twenty years old, wearing sportswear, died from comminuted skull fractures, and was beaten before death. We haven’t identified the body yet and haven’t found a matching missing person. Captain Tan speculates he was a boarding high school student.”

“I agree with his judgment. If the killer told the teacher the deceased had a family emergency and went home, then told the parents the deceased couldn’t come home, or if the deceased’s family was in the countryside, there might be no report for a long time.”

They talked as they walked, quickly reaching the cold storage, and together they placed the body in the freezer.

Closing the door, Cao Haisheng sighed, “I heard he’s not even thirty, truly young and promising.”

Xie Qing recalled that Tan Yi was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine, six or seven years older than her and Xie Yun. She said, “Very steady, a bit like an old cadre.”

“Haha,” Cao Haisheng laughed, “You kid, how is he an old cadre?”

“I meant steady, not old.” Xie Qing took off her lab coat and threw it in the trash bin, “Master, I’ll go to the police station to change clothes, then visit your wife.”

She had been at the police station for almost a month. Even colleagues from the same department would visit the hospital, let alone a mentor.

“This…” Cao Haisheng hesitated for a moment, “Alright, she’s in room 416 on the fourth floor of the inpatient department.”

The mentor and apprentice took a taxi from the funeral home. Cao Haisheng dropped Xie Qing at the police station and returned to the hospital.

…

Passing the outpatient building, the inpatient department was behind it.

After a few steps, a young man called out to Xie Qing.

“Qing Qing!” Qin Jie, wearing stylish Ray-Ban glasses, a grass-green casual blazer, beige casual pants, and a noticeable Goldlion belt, approached quickly. He walked up to Xie Qing, “Qing Qing, what brings you to the hospital?”

Xie Qing pretended to be confused, “You are…”

Qin Jie was the original owner’s fiancé. If she wanted to avoid entanglements, it was best to cut ties from the root.

Qin Jie looked disappointed, “I’m Qin Jie. Don’t you remember me? I even attended your brother’s birthday.”

“Oh… I have a vague impression,” Xie Qing said. “Brother Qin, are you here for something?”

Qin Jie replied, “My grandfather isn’t feeling well, so he’s here for a few days of treatment. What about you?”

Xie Qing lifted the fruit basket, “My mentor’s wife is ill, so I’m here to visit her.”

“Mentor’s wife?” Qin Jie was puzzled. How could a 110 operator have a mentor’s wife?

“I’m a forensic doctor,” Xie Qing said with a sly smile, looking like a little fox. “I graduated from Jinghua University’s forensic department, but my parents never approved of this career, so I told a little white lie. Sorry!”

“Forensic doctor?!” Qin Jie was stunned. The bright-eyed, serene-smiling, neatly dressed girl in front of him was a forensic doctor!

Xie Qing: “Yes!”

Qin Jie took a moment to react, finally managing a stiff smile, “Well, I have something to do, so I’ll go now. You go ahead.”

Xie Qing was amused, “Brother Qin, how’s your grandfather?”

Qin Jie said, “He’ll be discharged soon. No worries, you go ahead.”

This was almost like shooing her away.

Xie Qing said, “Alright, call me if you need anything. I’m good at medical science too.”

“Ha, ha~” Qin Jie forced a laugh, “I’ll go now.”

Having achieved her goal, Xie Qing happily went up to the fourth floor.

Cao Haisheng opened the door for her.

The ward had three beds, with patients and their companions present, and the smell wasn’t pleasant.

Cao Haisheng said to his wife, “Wenxin, this is Xiao Xie, Xie Qing, whom I often mention.”

Zheng Wenxin held Xie Qing’s hand, breathing heavily, “She’s indeed a good girl, very pretty.”

According to Cao Haisheng, her condition had worsened recently, making it difficult to breathe while lying down, forcing her to sit up all night, unable to sleep. She was thin and looked very unwell.

Xie Qing quickly said, “You’re too kind, Mentor’s wife. You don’t need to entertain me if you’re short of breath.”

Cao Haisheng added, “Yes, Wenxin, Xiao Xie is my apprentice, not an outsider.”

Zheng Wenxin nodded and gave Xie Qing an apologetic look.

“It’s okay, just rest,” Xie Qing said. “Mentor, have you found the allergen?”

Cao Haisheng shook his head, “We still haven’t figured it out.”

Xie Qing said, “The window is open, and the air composition is complex, which isn’t good for the trachea. Once her condition improves, she should wear a mask regularly to filter out potential allergens.”

Cao Haisheng’s eyes lit up, “That’s a good idea.”

Xie Qing added, “The current medical masks aren’t very effective. It’s best to use medical masks from the US. If they’re not available domestically, you can ask someone in a big city to look for them.”

Cao Haisheng nodded repeatedly.

The ward was crowded, and Zheng Wenxin was struggling to breathe.

Xie Qing didn’t want to stay long. She took out a red envelope from her bag, “Mentor, I’ll be getting my salary soon. This is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it.”

Cao Haisheng frowned, about to refuse.

“Mentor, this is a tradition. If you don’t accept it, it would be too impersonal,” Xie Qing said, turning to leave. “Take care, Mentor’s wife. See you tomorrow, Mentor.”

The door closed.

Cao Haisheng opened the red envelope and took out 500 yuan.

Zheng Wenxin was shocked, “Why so much?”

Cao Haisheng shook his head, “She’s a thoughtful child. She doesn’t need much guidance from me.”

…