Chapter 597: Caught in One's Own Web?

"When he was studying at school, he was a boarder, and only returned to this house during holidays. Usually no one was home; both parents worked at construction sites in the city."

"On a typical weekend, the deceased would go into the city to ask his parents for the next week's living expenses. But this week, the deceased called his father and said he wouldn't be coming, telling his father to come back to the old country house to deliver the money."

"On Friday, the deceased's father couldn't get in touch with him because his phone was broken. The parents were a little worried at the time, but the deceased was usually very obedient, so they didn't think too much of it."

"By Sunday, the deceased's father finally came back here to deliver his son's living expenses."

"Just as he arrived at the door, the deceased's father found the door was locked. Worried, he knocked, but no one inside opened it. So the deceased's father went around to the back door and kicked it open. Only then did he discover the deceased had hanged himself."

The officer quickly finished recounting the course of the case.

Chen Fan came over to the deceased's side, and the camera also panned to the deceased, but since the deceased was a minor, his face was pixelated.

But that didn't stop the audience from being able to see a vague outline.

On the uneven cement floor lay the deceased, dressed all in red.

His body was bound with rope, a weight tied to his feet as well, and there were very obvious ligature marks on his neck.

It looked like death by asphyxiation, 200.

The instant he saw the corpse, a scene suddenly flooded into Chen Fan's mind.

It was what the deceased had seen in the three seconds before his death.

Still the same room, pitch black outside the window, only a single electric lamp inside the room.

No one else was in the house, it was empty. The deceased didn't struggle, and there wasn't any sound at all.

The scene only lasted three seconds, but it seemed to pause like a photograph.

Judging from this point.

The deceased was indeed bound hand and foot, or had already lost consciousness at the time.

Chen Fan asked: "When he came in, what did the deceased's father see?"

The officer beside him answered: "What he saw was the deceased's hands suspended from the crossbeam, and to the lower right of the deceased, a long wooden bench had fallen over, with the legs of the bench pointing toward the deceased."

"And the deceased was wearing a red dress, with a weight tied to his feet."

"That's all?"

Chen Fan asked.

The officer nodded: "Because the forensic examiner hasn't arrived, we didn't dare to perform an autopsy rashly."

Chen Fan put on gloves and began the autopsy on the corpse.

During the examination, his apprentice Liu Mengyan stood beside him taking notes.

While performing the autopsy, Chen Fan said: "The deceased was wearing a red dress. Under the red dress was a black women's one-piece swimsuit. On the front chest area of the swimsuit there were many round wax droplets, presumably from a lit candle."

"On the deceased's chest there were also two clumps of black velvet cloth, which appeared to be folded into two fake bears."

"On the posterior side of the middle and lower segments of both legs was a length of black rope. The rope went from back to front, then passed through the perineum and went backward and upward, passing along both sides of the buttocks, the outer waist, and the armpits."

"Then it emerged from the collar of the outermost layer of the dress, finally reaching the suspended hands where it was tied off, forming a looped harness."

"Both wrists were wrapped multiple times with another rope, several loops both horizontally and vertically, and some loops also went around the crossbeam."

"Finally, the lower segments of both legs were wrapped multiple times with a third rope, with a black one-kilogram weight tied to the end."

"The deceased was barefoot."

"……"

Hearing Chen Fan rattle off so many findings from the examination of the corpse, the comments in the livestream surged rapidly.

"Holy crap? What kind of killer is this, so perverted, to do something like this to a child."

"Wait, doesn't this killer have a pedophilia thing, dripping candle wax on a kid? That's not normal! Isn't this something they often use in SM?"

"Haven't you guys noticed how eerie the way this boy died looks, it doesn't feel like an ordinary case."

……

While Chen Fan was performing the autopsy here, Xiang Qinqin, Li Tian, Old Song and the others who had come along began inspecting the house.

After a while.

Everyone gathered together to share the information they had found.

"There are three old rope-friction marks on the crossbeam, which suggests this kind of thing probably happened more than once."

Li Tian said.

"I just carefully examined the scene. There are no traces of the killer's activity at all; apart from the deceased's own traces, there are no signs of anyone else having been here."

Old Song said, "We also found a lot of the deceased's belongings on the bed, including some anime discs, quite a few manga and women's magazines, as well as half a candle, a learning machine, and a rusted iron chain."

As for Xiang Qinqin, she hadn't found any hidden clues either.

Back to Chen Fan's side.

Chen Fan had already cut open the deceased's clothes and begun a further autopsy.

"The deceased already had livor mortis, dark red in color, and fairly widespread greenish discoloration on the upper sides of the ligature marks on the hands and feet, as well as on the abdomen."

"Judging from this, the time of death was roughly twenty-four hours ago."

"There are mild abrasions and contusions on the forehead and other areas of the corpse, though not very obvious. The rope caused compression on certain areas, all with vital reactions."

"There are pinpoint petechial hemorrhages in the conjunctiva of both eyelids, and there is dust on the main body and toes of both sides."

"The rest will have to be taken back for further dissection and autopsy."

After Chen Fan finished speaking, Liu Mengyan had just finished writing.

Li Tian also walked over and asked Chen Fan: "How is it, can you determine the cause of death?"

Chen Fan immediately answered: "All I can tell you right now is that a large part of it was positional asphyxiation."

"The rest will require further autopsy."

Li Tian nodded and said: "Alright then, I'll have someone send the body to the dissection room. Whatever the results, be sure to tell me immediately."

Chen Fan asked: "Did any of you find anything else in terms of clues?"

Li Tian had the person behind him hand over the recorded clues for Chen Fan to see.

"These should all be the deceased, but there is one strange thing: the candles on the bodies. Could it be that this deceased person had a masochistic tendency and liked doing this?"

Li Tian suspected.

Chen Fan replied, "Not necessarily. A boy in his teens is in puberty; perhaps he was pursuing something."

Li Tian nodded. Everyone has gone through puberty; during this period, whether male or female, one develops a special feeling toward something.

At this stage, men and women are most prone to trouble.

"But there is one strange thing: were the ropes binding the boy tied by someone else, or did he tie them himself?"

Li Tian asked.