Chapter 27: Unbelievable Killer

Autopsy Room.

On the medical examiner's side, everything is ready, just waiting for the corpse to thaw before the examination can proceed.

Sun Zhenbang also completed the disinfection work, put on sterile gear, and stood by to observe and record.

The corpse lay on a stretcher and was pushed out; as the ice melted, the full face appeared before Sun Zhenbang's eyes.

The man's face was dark as iron, his body deathly pale, his eyes stared wide open, almost bulging, his features twisted; it was unknown what he had seen before death.

"Victim one, male, 38 years old, time of death preliminarily estimated around 9–10 p. m., cause of death is a penetrating wound to the chest, leading to organ failure and excessive bleeding, weapon unknown."

Having said that, the medical examiner paused slightly, and Sun Zhenbang followed his gaze over.

The man's chest had a large blood hole, about the thickness of a thumb, unknown what sharp instrument pierced it, and it looked quite conspicuous.

The flesh inside had long since disappeared, likely fallen into the snow, and aside from that, there were no other obvious wounds.

The wound was unusual; ordinary sharp instruments could hardly produce such a shape, and the cut was also very neat and clean.

Sun Zhenbang observed carefully from the side, pondered in his mind, and felt that no weapon matched.

This corpse is relatively well preserved; the other one, however, is gruesome to behold.

On the face there is a scar that runs across the whole face; the traces look fresh, likely just inflicted, and half of the skull's interior is unknown what smashed it to pieces.

"Victim two, male, 39 years old, with an obvious wound on the face, time of death preliminarily estimated around 10–11 p. m., cause of death is severe head trauma, weapon unknown."

Sun Zhenbang couldn't help but fall into deep thought: "The two died in different ways, at different times; for now we can rule out mutual killing."

Moreover, they were killed one after another, meaning the killer took them out one by one.

No sharp instrument was found at the scene; the only possible weapon is a machete, which has been sent to the Testing Section for fingerprint analysis.

But regardless of which corpse, the wound shape does not look like something a machete could make; it is extremely strange.

Both also lacked any signs of being torn by wild beasts, so it is very likely that a third person was present, killed the two poachers, then released those wild animals and left with the weapon.

Or perhaps that third person was also a poacher, intending to steal from his own kind, but that wouldn't necessarily involve killing.

Or maybe they were discovered, forcing the killer to act ruthlessly.

After thinking it over, Sun Zhenbang came up with several possibilities.

The medical examiner was still doing detailed examination work; one of them seemed to have made a new discovery, seen holding fine tweezers, he picked out a tiny black-green scale fragment from the blood hole and placed it aside.

Sun Zhenbang couldn't help but move closer, asking, "What is this?"

The medical examiner examined it carefully and said uncertainly, "It looks like a fragment shed from the scales of some kind of serpent animal, but there are charred traces."

Afterward, someone also found similar scale fragments on the head of the other male corpse.

Sun Zhenbang immediately had someone take it away for inspection; because he was busy with other matters and couldn't stay in the autopsy room, seeing that the autopsy was nearing its end, he chose to leave.

Notify the medical examiner's side; if any new results come up, inform him right away.

By afternoon, all examination results were out; the machete bore only the fingerprint of victim two, and at the same time, aside from the footprints and fingerprints of the two deceased, there was nothing else at the scene.

That is to say, there was no third person present at the scene.

Then the strangest part: serpent scale fragments were found in the fatal wounds of both poachers.

Also at the scene, a wooden board was discovered, with a small hole roughly the same size as the chest wound of the deceased; after measurement by the on-site police, the two holes had the same shape and diameter.

Strange manner of death, strange small hole, strange appearance of serpent scales—everything is full of oddity.

It leaves people baffled.

Sun Zhenbang, holding the report in his hand, fell into doubt.

Geese passing leave traces; water passing leaves sound.

No matter how well done, there will always be some clues missed, but from the scene we see only traces of these two poachers, basically no third person.

Then who exactly killed them?

It surely can't be a ghost, right?

Moreover, up to now, besides a few serpent scale fragments, even the weapon hasn't been found; we have no clue as to what object or what shape it is.

Just as Sun Zhenbang sank into confusion, the medical examiner's side indicated there was new progress.

Only see that the several medical examiners had solemn faces, their expressions hard to put into words.

Sun Zhenbang suddenly asked: "What happened?"

The several medical examiners looked at each other, none speaking.

The atmosphere instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Finally Li Fayi stood up and said, "Officer Sun, I have examined so many corpses, yet this is the first time I've encountered such a strange matter; I'd like to ask you over to discuss."

Li Fayi is the most senior and highest-ranking here; he has examined over a hundred, if not thousands, of corpses, and for him to say this shows the matter is not simple.

"What exactly happened."

Li Fayi couldn't help but sigh, "I suspect the one who killed them is not a human."

Hearing this, Sun Zhenbang's mind filled with countless question marks: "If the killer isn't human, could it be a ghost? Li Fayi, you've read books too—how can you be so superstitious—"

Li Fayi quickly waved his hands, "No, no, no, Officer Sun, you misunderstood my meaning; I mean the killer is very likely a snake."

"Did they test positive for snake venom in their bodies?"

Li Fayi shook his head.

That sounds even more unbelievable; Sun Zhenbang couldn't help but say, "If it's not snake venom, how could a snake kill someone? It can't be that they were strangled to death by a giant python."

Most people killed by a giant python die of suffocation, because blood flow is impeded and the body turns purplish-red, but the cause of death for these two is clearly not that.

Even if Sun Zhenbang is not a medical examiner, he can see that.

Li Fayi knows the facts are hard to believe, but if they hadn't seen it themselves, they wouldn't believe this absurdity; he took out a report and handed it to Sun Zhenbang.

"Officer Sun, this is the latest inspection report; according to feedback from comrades at the scene, there are no signs of a fierce struggle, and no weapon was found, but the fatal wounds of these two both tested positive for serpent DNA tissue and fragmented scales."

Li Fayi's tone paused; it seemed the following words were extremely hard to utter, "So——"

He hadn't finished his sentence when Sun Zhenbang interrupted, "So you suspect the killer is a snake?"

Li Fayi and the others fell silent, then nodded, "From the current situation, it's like that."

"Absurd! You must be joking."

Sun Zhenbang felt this statement was even more unbelievable than ghosts killing people.

If any snake bite marks or venom traces were found on these two people, he wouldn't have reacted like this.

The fatal wounds on those two corpses, he saw them with his own eyes.

"Those two people, one had his chest pierced, the other had his head smashed into a pulp."

"You're telling me now that a snake killed those two? Are you mistaken?"

(End of chapter)