Chapter 137

To visit your master, you shouldn't go empty-handed.

Jiang Yuan enjoyed the pork intestine, pig stomach, and chicken stew so much that he told the owner to make another portion, paid extra, and carried off the entire clay pot along with the bowls and utensils.

Hou Xiaoyong received the squad leader's order to take Jiang Yuan to the funeral parlor and brought along the pork intestine, pig stomach, and chicken stew.

The clay pot was still warm, its heat especially noticeable in the morning car.

As Hou Xiaoyong neared the funeral parlor, his expression subtly changed. "Where exactly are you planning to eat the pig stomach stew?"

"I've never been to this funeral parlor before…" Jiang Yuan replied half-heartedly, then noticed Hou Xiaoyong's expression and understood—he smiled. "Don't worry, we won't eat it beside the corpse."

"Really? Hahaha, maybe I'm overthinking it." Hou Xiaoyong had just finished eating and had seen corpses before, but now, thinking of the stew's appearance, his stomach churned uncomfortably.

Jiang Yuan felt for him and gave a firm reassurance: "Corpses carry pathogens and can't be sterilized. That's why our gloves, after touching a dead body, shouldn't come into contact with the living—it's unhygienic and disrespectful."

"That's true," Hou Xiaoyong chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I thought I remembered seeing forensic doctors eating at the autopsy table—must've been staged."

"Uh…" Jiang Yuan fell silent.

Hou Xiaoyong waited a moment, not getting the answer he wanted, and glanced at Jiang Yuan—his stomach twisted again. "You really eat at the autopsy table?"

"It depends on what kind of autopsy table you mean. When no corpse is on it, it's thoroughly cleaned with disinfectant. There's no contamination issue." Jiang Yuan smiled.

When he first joined, he might have thought twice—but now he was used to the autopsy room as a routine part of life.

Hou Xiaoyong could never get used to it. He mechanically followed Jiang Yuan's logic: "So if no corpse is on the table, it's not disrespectful either—does that mean you can eat on it?"

Jiang Yuan chuckled twice, quoting his master Wu Jun: "Honestly, it's not a big deal—there's just no cafeteria in the forensic office."

Hou Xiaoyong didn't know how to respond. When they arrived, he watched Jiang Yuan carry the pork intestine stew into the elevator and couldn't help but feel sorry for the street stall owner—thankfully, Jiang Yuan had paid for the pot and utensils; otherwise, what would they do with the clay pot now?

…

Autopsy room.

Ye, the forensic doctor from Longli County; Wang Lan from Qinghe City Bureau; and Master Wu Jun all waited eagerly, their faces filled with anticipation for the pork intestine, pig stomach, and chicken stew.

Upon meeting, Wu Jun grinned: "Just now, Old Ye kept telling me how delicious this pork intestine stew is—I was worried you'd spill it on the way, and I'd starve to death from craving it right here in the autopsy room."

Jiang Yuan laughed, then quickly stifled it. "If that gets out, people might misunderstand."

"No one will. It really does smell good." Wu Jun led Jiang Yuan into the autopsy room.

Inside, on a stainless-steel autopsy table lay a corpse, its hair and beard completely shaved off. The scalp had been peeled back, covering part of the face and forehead. The skull had been sawed open horizontally, the brain removed.

Jiang Yuan glanced once, then looked away. "Any conclusions?"

"Beaten to death with a stick," Ye said bluntly, then hurriedly placed the clay pot on a separate autopsy bed.

Longli County's autopsy room was even larger than Ningtai County's, with three autopsy beds spaced well apart—comfortably arranged.

Wang Lan from the city bureau followed protocol: "Death caused by blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in cranial and cerebral injury."

This was phrasing suitable for the official forensic report, but clearly less clear than Ye's blunt statement.

Jiang Yuan glanced at Ye, then at his master. "The weapon hasn't been found, has it?"

"Right. The body is covered in bruises—beaten severely, clearly out of rage," Wu Jun said, arranging the bowls and utensils, placing dipping sauces on each, then sitting down. "We suspect it's something lighter and more flexible than a steel pipe—perhaps a thin wooden stick."

Jiang Yuan nodded. "You eat first. I'll examine the body."

He went to change clothes and pulled on his own gloves, then leaned over the corpse to study it closely.

The cause of death was clear—the intracranial injuries were distinctly visible.

But since no weapon was found at the scene, identifying its type and shape became the forensic team's top priority.

Because the weapon was held by the killer, finding it made proving the killer's identity easier. Sometimes, a unique weapon alone could solve the case.

Jiang Yuan followed standard autopsy procedure, methodically examining the body from head to toe.

If he hadn't come to inspect it, Wu Jun and the others would have already moved the corpse hours ago.

Bruises covered the entire body.

Not just the arms, legs, and back—his chest and abdomen bore marks too, even his groin had been struck multiple times.

"The beating lasted a long time?" Jiang Yuan said slowly.

Wu Jun, chewing a piece of pork intestine, replied between bites: "That's also why we suspect a lighter weapon—if it were too heavy, he'd have died instantly."

Jiang Yuan's mind flashed back to the scavenger courtyard—he'd rummaged through every item there, and now every detail stood vividly clear.

Without thinking, Jiang Yuan said: "PVC pipe?"

"Hmm… possible," Wu Jun paused mid-sip of soup, then nodded. "Very likely…"

Wang Lan looked over in surprise. "You saw PVC pipes?"

"There were some piled under things in the yard. And a small heap by the door." Jiang Yuan connected the dots: "The killer probably picked it up on the spot after entering and used it to beat him."

"Possible," Ye agreed.

Still, they couldn't confirm it was PVC pipe—but listing it as the top suspect was fine.

At the same time, a glistening dumpling-like object oozed out from the corpse's skull.

Jiang Yuan reached out and caught it—then a system message flashed:

Zhang Hong's Legacy: Waste Sorting (Lv4)—Waste was the thing Zhang Hong knew best. He excelled at categorizing items in his small courtyard. Usually, he sorted by value, but after the government introduced waste sorting rules, he quickly learned this system too. His method was simple: just flip through enough trash bins and memorize what went where. In Zhang Hong's eyes, not only was the trash inside bins waste—so was everything outside them.