Chapter 1257: Residue

Wearing a tweed plaid suit jacket, a beige deep-V knit vest, a blue and white striped tie, and a pure white Oxford shirt, Jacob was waiting for Jiang Yuan at the entrance of the forensic autopsy room.

He was small and thin, his physique was slender, his skin was dark and rough, but his British style was authentic.

Surrounded by a group of people, Jiang Yuan arrived outside the rough, paint-peeling autopsy room door. Looking at Jacob in his Western attire, he suddenly had the feeling of seeing the last comrade in an air-raid shelter after World War III.

Jacob was even more excited, gripped Jiang Yuan's hand, and said: "God Jiang, the corpse is ready, come in quickly."

As he spoke, he pulled Jiang Yuan's hand into the autopsy room.

Bright white light hit the stainless steel autopsy table, making the dark red corpse chunks that had just thawed emit a tuna-like luster.

Two forensic assistants stood by, both looking especially young but full of energy.

"I didn't call Hadi and the others over this time because I feel you are like Zhuge Liang; you need obedient subordinates to execute your orders. In this case, young forensic assistants might be more suitable! Besides, you can leave trivial work like making slices to me." Jacob explained to Jiang Yuan specifically, indicating that he had put in the effort.

Jiang Yuan nodded with satisfaction. This choice was indeed more to his liking, and he said: "You know about Zhuge Liang?"

"I think, to understand God Jiang and your forensic technology, one should also delve into cultural factors, so I specifically invited a Chinese master to introduce Chinese culture to me. The one I like most is Zhuge Liang. I think you, God Jiang, are the incarnation of Zhuge Liang." Jacob was so straightforward it was a bit embarrassing, truly like a foreigner who had just started learning Chinese culture.

Jiang Yuan smiled: "Zhuge Liang is too lofty; he is not suitable for describing a living person."

"Ah? Why?" Jacob was actively eager to learn, just like when he was studying in England back then.

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said: "In Chinese history, Zhuge Liang is a near-perfect figure, roughly... similar to a textbook-style anatomical structure."

Textbook-style anatomical structure meant golden ratios of bones, organs, muscles, etc., meant zero pathological variations, meant the optimal solution for various functionalities...

Jacob nodded in realization: "Too perfect?"

"Let's go change clothes." The forensic assistant reminded Jacob.

"Yes, yes, yes, I will take you to change clothes." Jacob hurriedly stepped in his polished black Oxford shoes with carved toes, took Jiang Yuan out of the autopsy room, and went to the changing room.

The two young forensic assistants respectfully sent off the big shot, their expressions full of anticipation. Although Jacob doing this was slightly like "taking off pants to fart" (unnecessary), since it was a British fart, it had a lot of style.

Jiang Yuan quickly changed into a one-piece protective suit, put on a head cover, protective goggles, and a mask. By domestic standards, this protection was excessive because the corpse was frozen in time and hadn't reached the point of decay, even smelling a bit fresh. However, being abroad, the protective equipment provided by the other party was at this level, and style had to be maintained.

Jiang Yuan walked back to the autopsy table, observed briefly, and then flipped through these corpse chunks one by one.

The corpse chunks had been moved several times, and their surfaces had changed somewhat, but the size of the chunks themselves had value. At the very least, the weight of the largest chunk here was within the carrying range of the corpse dumper.

This was a very simple inference. If there were two people carrying it, they wouldn't need to dismember it, or would only need to cut it simply. The same theory could also apply if the murderer was a strongman.

The situation of dismembering into very small pieces often pointed to some special reasons, such as to conceal the external characteristics of the corpse, or to facilitate the burial location.

Just like the corpse chunks this time, because they were all dumped into the sewer, the cuts were relatively small, including the head, which had also been hacked many times, just not split open—it didn't necessarily mean the strength wasn't enough; it could also be that the tool wasn't good enough, or there was no experience.

Jiang Yuan lifted the head of the corpse, placed it level with himself, and then examined her carefully.

The deceased was a woman, her mouth, nose, and eyes had been smashed to a pulp, and white bones were exposed in many places, especially the exposed tooth roots, which looked like buckteeth that had become demons.

Compared to the red muscles and white bones, the yellow fat on the face was more likely to cause psychological nausea, especially when mixed together, like dumpling filling that hadn't been chopped well, making it even more nauseating.

"Hacked with an axe." Jiang Yuan put the head back on the autopsy table.

"Agreed." Jacob had also given the same answer before.

Jiang Yuan: "The wound is mostly wedge-shaped, the wound edges are neat, indicating that the axe blade is very sharp, there are few contusion bands, it is likely a newly bought or newly sharpened axe."

Jacob nodded: "Indicating that it is likely a premeditated dismemberment act."

Jiang Yuan: "The wound angle is sharp, the exit end forms a tail and bifurcation because of the thickness of the axe blade, indicating that it is a relatively thick axe, possibly 3 to 4 millimeters."

Jacob used his brain: "Hmm?"

Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and then said: "This thickness exceeds the thickness of an ordinary axe; it belongs to a splitting axe, similar to one used for splitting wood. The bevel angle of the blade is large, about 40 degrees."

Jacob looked at Jiang Yuan, then at the corpse chunks, and suddenly smiled.

Jiang Yuan pondered and analyzed on his own: "Combining the previous information, a 40-degree blade edge, and an axe blade thickness of about 4 millimeters, this axe is at least not in a state of being polished, because this thickness is also very thick among splitting axes. Frequently polished axes should become thinner, so... the murderer is very likely to have bought a new splitting axe, common ones like an American splitting axe. Very likely newly purchased."

Jiang Yuan looked at the marks on the smashed head again and said: "The axe back is about 30 millimeters. In this case, what we are looking for is a splitting axe with a blade edge of 3.5 to 4 millimeters, a blade bevel angle of 40 degrees, and an axe back of about 30 millimeters, very likely an American splitting axe. Very likely newly purchased."

The two forensic assistants couldn't help but stretch their necks to look over.

Jacob also stretched his neck; it wasn't necessary, but it was needed.

The thickness of the axe back was easy to judge, but the thickness of the axe blade wasn't so easy. Jacob didn't even see Jiang Yuan take a ruler to measure, but this ability to see length with the naked eye shocked him, because the axe blade was accurate to the millimeter level. Needless to say, Jiang Yuan was also confident in the length he judged to the millimeter level.

Jacob couldn't help but consider from several angles, the more he considered, the more problems he found, and for a moment, his brain was so chaotic he didn't know what to say.

Jiang Yuan put down the head of the corpse at this time and began to check the other corpse chunks.

Judging tool marks was his specialty. The LV6 【Trace Evidence - Tool Mark Inspection LV6】 in Jiang Yuan's skill list also belonged to the top-tier skills. And the hacking of an axe was too obvious; in fact, it didn't even need the LV6 level.

Jacob pondered for a long time, finally sobered up, hurriedly took his notebook to record, and said: "In this case, can we check the sales of American splitting axes during this period to find if there is a murderer?"

"It's highly likely to be an American splitting axe, but not absolute. If you want to conduct an investigation, it is recommended to be thorough." Jiang Yuan said the Xu Taining school of thought, then said: "Do you have a way to check the sales records of all axes? Online shopping and offline purchases... a new axe doesn't necessarily mean it was newly bought."

Jacob had just been stunned by Jiang Yuan. Hearing Jiang Yuan say this, he was stunned again: "In this case, the axe information... cannot be used directly?"

Jiang Yuan spread his hands, his hands covered in blood.

He hadn't counted on conducting an investigation in Malaysia anyway, just continuing to look at the remaining corpse chunks.

Jacob gradually calmed down and followed Jiang Yuan to restart the immersive autopsy.

Strictly speaking, this could also be considered a second autopsy.

Moreover, because it was an autopsy conducted by Jacob, the autopsy was quite perfect, and Jiang Yuan didn't find any omissions.

Looking all the way down like this, Jacob inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, then turned his head and frowned slightly.

In this way, there was no new clue to speak of...

At this time, Jiang Yuan picked up a few corpse chunks that originally belonged to the chest and put them together, saying: "This part was cut especially finely."

Jacob turned his head to look and saw Jiang Yuan had pieced together a pale, yellowish breast.

"You mean... the murderer is a pervert?" Jacob didn't know what Jiang Yuan's line of thought was and could only diverge his thinking.

"Find a microscope and take a look." Jiang Yuan looked at the state of the corpse chunks and knew that no samples had been taken before, so he began to take samples himself.

Jacob hurriedly had people arrange it, then stepped forward to help. Watching Jiang Yuan scrape off a layer of flesh and blood, he couldn't help but ask: "What do you suspect it is?"

"What is the cause of death?" Jiang Yuan asked Jacob back.

Jacob hesitated for two seconds: "Death by hacking? Death by hemorrhagic shock due to multiple hacking wounds on the body."

"Hmm... not excluded." Jiang Yuan said.

After the victim was dismembered, some evidence was missing, and Jiang Yuan didn't deny this possibility.

Jacob asked: "What do you think?"

"I think the size of the chest corpse chunks doesn't fit the murderer's dismemberment rhythm; there is a possibility of concealment. The chest has ribs and spine, which are not easy to chop, and there is no need to cut so many pieces. Therefore, the chest, especially the marks near the heart, is likely to indicate the cause of death. Specifically, I didn't see any particularly obvious axe hacking marks before dismemberment. Let's take a look under the microscope." Jiang Yuan said as he handed the taken sample to Jacob.

Jacob had no more words and quickly set up a high-resolution microscope.

Jiang Yuan operated slowly, scanning to the fourth sample in one breath, stopped, gave up his position, and said: "Look at this."

Jacob hurriedly stepped forward. Without Jiang Yuan's prompt, he saw obvious non-body residue in the familiar cell world.

"This is..." Jacob looked hard but couldn't see clearly.

"Find a centrifuge, centrifuge the sample, and then look with an electron microscope." Jiang Yuan's LV5 physical and chemical analysis began to come online at this time.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1258 =====