Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 199 Autopsy
It is undeniable that traditional crime-solving methods are extremely inefficient.

This is most evident in forensic medicine and laboratory testing.

This is not a human problem, but rather a technological limitation. With breakthroughs in fields such as chemistry and biology, some advanced technologies have gradually been applied to the investigation of criminal cases.

It's important to know that fingerprint extraction technology only became widespread about ten years ago, but even today, a decent fingerprint database has not been established. In other words, even if a criminal's fingerprints are extracted, it is still impossible to obtain their true identity information until the criminal is found.

Due to various technical limitations, it is extremely difficult for the laboratory team to obtain sufficiently accurate clues from the corpse.

The human body is more complex than any machine. Moreover, the body of a dead person quickly attracts microorganisms from the environment, which can "dissect" the corpse faster than the laboratory team.

It's like a race.

If law enforcement officers do not extract all the clues from the body in time, those clues will quickly become nutrients for microorganisms.

So while the criminal investigation team and other groups are out investigating cases, the law enforcement officers in the autopsy team also need to work through the night.

……

The southern part of Nanwei City was much quieter than usual after nightfall.

Besides the unpredictable rain, the main reason for this is the recent unstable situation.

A series of murders have been exposed one after another.

The Robben case was suppressed a few months ago, but the recent assassination outside the law enforcement office and the hanging corpse case at the dock are heinous incidents that have been fully exposed to the public eye.

When people realize the dangers lurking in their city, they will naturally reduce their nighttime outings.

Nobody wants to be the next unlucky soul hanging off a bridge.

...

People in the city lit up the streetlights on the main streets of the nearby parish.

But this faint light was not enough to ward off the eerie feeling that enveloped the entire city.

The bridge at the Confession Pier has been reopened, but even during the day, few vehicles pass by.

At the spot on the bridge where Aya Ferguson was hanged, there were some flowers and candles, offerings from well-meaning citizens to commemorate the tragically deceased girl.

On the dark canal, a lone candlelight hangs forlornly on the bridge, waiting for the night's rain showers to extinguish it.

The Chengnan Law Enforcement Office also kept its candles and kerosene lamps burning all night.

……

The morgue in the basement was filled with the smell of corpses and disinfectant.

Opposite the morgue is the laboratory of the testing team.

The law enforcement officer on duty is Rick.

At this moment, he is testing the blood samples taken after the autopsy. His task tonight is not complicated; he only needs to check whether the time of death of the body is consistent with the previous judgment.

Now he is the only one in this basement.

To be precise, he was the only living person there.

For ordinary people, being in a room with a dozen or so corpses in the dead of night is probably a terrifying experience.

But Rick, with his background in clinical medicine, was already used to working with corpses.

In fact, being surrounded by these silent corpses actually helped him concentrate better on his work.

The only downside is that the basement lighting is a bit dim.

This caused his eyes to feel very dry when he was comparing some experimental data.

But Rick didn't stop working.

Just minutes earlier, he had removed a strange spike from the sole of Aya Ferguson's body.

The spike was an unexpected discovery. It was deeply embedded in Aya's heel. At first, Rick thought it was just a grain of sand stuck to the skin, but after he pulled it out completely, he found that it was a hollow spike nearly 15 centimeters long.

Its material is special; it is not entirely rigid and has a certain degree of flexibility. It is dark brown all over, but it cannot be determined whether this is the natural color of the spikes.

The overall impression of the spikes is that they resemble the needle-like branches of some kind of plant.

To this end, Rick went to the evidence archive and compared it with the plant samples that had been collected from the streets near the docks at the time.

However, no similar plant samples were found, and the municipal greening in Nanwei City does not have the habit of planting needle-like plants.

Rick was somewhat puzzled.

He was not without similar experiences. In fact, throughout his career, he had removed all sorts of strange objects from inside corpses countless times, some of which were things that ordinary people could not even imagine.

However, he rarely struggles to discern the material of something after acquiring it.

At this point, we can only preliminarily determine that the spikes were deliberately inserted into the body, most likely by the murderer.

However, based on the law enforcement agency's current assessment of the nature of the case, the attack may involve some heretical religious rituals. Therefore, Rick deduced that the spikes on the soles of the feet might also be part of the ritual, and this was another item left on the victim besides the antlers.

Once Rick realized this, his mind started to work.

Without a doubt, the antlers are one of the key clues.

However, with only this one clue, it is difficult to narrow down the scope of the investigation. But if we add a spike, we can make a general judgment on the direction of the investigation.

In short, antlers are everywhere, but not every place has both antlers and spikes at the same time.

All that's needed now is to figure out the material and origin of the spikes.

……

Rick put on his mask, scraped a small amount of debris from the surface of the spikes and placed it in the crucible on the test bench, while simultaneously opening his notebook to prepare for recording.

At a time when everyone else is drowsy, he is more energetic than anyone else.

"Traces can be found everywhere."

His gaze was fixed intently on his experimental equipment, and he muttered to himself, saying things that only he and the corpse could hear.

Rick began his work late into the night, intending to get a clear picture of the spikes before dawn and ideally submit a complete report.

……

Rick paced back and forth in the dimly lit studio.

He would stare at the alcohol lamp at times, and then quickly take notes with a pen. In the quiet of the night, this unconventional man in black seemed to have more enthusiasm for his work than usual.

……

However, a strange noise coming from across the corridor soon interrupted Rick's work.

The sound was abrupt, like a heavy object pressing down on the metal platform where the corpse was placed, causing the surface to twist and produce a clanging sound.

Rick was intently pinching the spike, preparing to dip it into the diluted medicine.

As a result, his hand trembled, and the sharp spike tore a tiny gash in his glove, piercing the skin on his finger.

"Damn it."

He cursed under his breath, got up, and walked towards the morgue across the aisle.

After circling around, Rick couldn't find the source of the strange noise. After confirming that everything was normal, Rick returned to the workshop and took out a high-concentration alcohol solution to clean the small wound on his finger.

……

However, just as he turned his back to clean his wound.

Across the corridor, in the morgue, in the light of a kerosene lamp on the wall...
Suddenly, the shadow of a woman with deer antlers sat up.

(End of this chapter)