Chapter 187: Broken Bones

On the autopsy table, thick fluid continuously oozed out.

At first, someone would rinse it away with clean water when it flowed too much, but gradually, everyone pretended not to notice.

The entire autopsy room was like submerged in abalone sauce—a scene as rare as boiling four large pots of dried abalone in a Cantonese kitchen.

The pressure cooker began hissing and steaming with a "puff-puff-puff."

Another large stainless-steel pot was brought over.

Wang Lan said: "This pot should be boiled normally—use this bag…"

The four bags of corpses had been stored for different lengths of time.

The oldest one had nearly liquefied flesh; the newest bag still had some muscle tissue clinging to it. But as the bag opened, its degree of oxidation visibly increased, making it usable for DNA extraction.

The corpse boiled in the pressure cooker earlier was of medium age. Now, Wang Lan selected the oldest one.

Because boiling it in a regular pot would require more complex procedures, choosing the oldest corpse made bone separation simpler.

Two unfamiliar forensic pathologists stepped forward and silently selected some bones, placing them into the stainless-steel pot.

Qinghe Bureau had bought a stainless-steel pot used locally for steaming buns; layered with steam racks, it could easily steam fifty or sixty buns.

Now, with bone and flesh inside, it could easily hold thirty or forty catties.

Some flesh still clinging to bones was piled into the stainless-steel tub.

The two pathologists deliberately placed fewer pieces, selecting vertebrae, pelvic bones, and similar items, then added water and began simmering over the fire.

All the forensic pathologists in the room fell silent.

Mainly because they weren't very familiar with each other, and secondly, the smell was unbearable.

Especially the boiled bones—partly fragrant, partly rotten, yet overwhelmingly reeking of corpse odor…

Jiang Yuan guessed that humans' intense aversion to this smell likely stemmed from DNA-level programming—something like "don't eat, run away."

"Have you all eaten yet?" Forensic pathologist Niu Dong felt he should fulfill his duty as host.

"You go ahead—I'll watch the pot," said Wang Lan, who usually played a supporting role but now took on host duties.

As he spoke, the water in the stainless-steel pot boiled over. Wang Lan stepped forward, turned down the flame, and said: "This needs to simmer for three or four hours on low heat. Go eat something first, then come back to scrape off the tendons."

Boiling bones until they separate from flesh follows the same principle as boiling pork bones.

Similarly, after the meat has detached, some tendons or fascia often remain on the bones. At this stage, further boiling risks warping the bones, so they must be scraped clean with a knife.

Jiang Yuan instinctively didn't want to eat. "I won't go—it's too much trouble to change clothes."

Several younger forensic pathologists decided to stay.

The showerheads in the changing room were insufficient; even if everyone wanted to leave, it was impossible. The odor clinging to them today wouldn't wash off without a thorough scrubbing—they couldn't step outside like this.

Better to keep clothes on and endure the stench than strip naked to show off.

Wang Lan likely thought the same. As a female pathologist, she was normally unaffected, but using the changing room now would be inconvenient.

"We'll go eat first and come back to relieve you," Niu Dong called out, pulling along Forensic Pathologist Lao Ye from Longli County and others to change and wash.

Wang Lan merely murmured "Mm," took a soup spoon, and stirred the bones in the stainless-steel pot to prevent them from sticking.

Wang Lan, who never cooked at home, somehow possessed exceptional skill in simmering meat until the bones separated.

During the downtime, Jiang Yuan opened another plastic bag, pulled out the flesh pieces, and roughly reassembled them.

The plastic bags were of excellent quality, with stones inside to weigh them down—ideal for fingerprint and DNA scanning—but Jiang Yuan didn't hold much hope.

Jiang Yuan searched the body parts mainly to look for distinguishing features that might trace their origin.

Better examples include tattoos, which might survive even after decomposition, or hair—if still present, it proved the corpse wasn't bald or shaved.

In truth, Jiang Yuan had overthought it.

All four corpses appeared ordinary—none had ever served in the U. . Marine Corps or anything like that.

After Wang Lan stirred the stainless-steel pot three times, the bones in the pressure cooker were done.

Wang Lan, expression stern, pried open the pressure valve with a chopstick. A hissing sound erupted, followed by a rich, meaty odor flooding out.

The few pathologists remaining in the autopsy room didn't bother speaking.

Honestly, everyone was hungry, but at this moment, even sipping water felt inappropriate.

Whether others thought it appropriate or not, Jiang Yuan himself found it inappropriate.

Fortunately, the abalone sauce had been completely consumed—otherwise, it would have been wasted.

"It's open," Wang Lan said once all pressure had released, lifting the lid.

Thick oil floated on top of the dark, murky broth.

Wang Lan sighed. "People today are just too fat."

"The fat must have gone rancid," said another city bureau pathologist, leaning in to peer. "Maybe the victim was obese—this is oilier than my braised pork hock."

"Pigs have only 15% body fat—barely different from mine," said Wang Lan, who was lean as a whip. Still, women naturally carried higher body fat than men.

The pathologists present glanced at Wang Lan and nodded silently.

Wang Lan rolled her eyes and fetched a large bottle of alcohol, pouring it into a basin.

The boiled bones were rinsed clean on the outside, then soaked in alcohol to fully remove residual lipids.

The bones turned pure white, clean and gleaming. Under the light, they carried a faint yellow tint—visually mild, since beside them, the autopsy table was piled with filthy, stinking body parts.

"Let's sort them together," Wang Lan called Jiang Yuan over to jointly identify characteristic bones.

Among everyone present, she trusted Jiang Yuan the most.

Though other young pathologists were a few years older, their skill level was orders of magnitude below Jiang Yuan's.

Wang Lan had personally reviewed Jiang Yuan's autopsy reports—part of her job. In forensic anthropology, Jiang Yuan clearly had exceptional talent.

Among all tasks on-site, bone identification was the easiest.

Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan cleared one autopsy table and began arranging the bones on it, modeling the layout after a skeleton lying flat.

Others helped rinse the white bones in alcohol, drained the boiled corpse water, placed new body parts into the pot, added fresh water, and resumed simmering.

Meanwhile, the young pathologists observed Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan's work.

Dismemberment cases were still rare.

For forensic pathologists, this was a rare learning opportunity.

In fact, in normal dismemberment cases, body parts aren't cut this small.

Most killers, even those who dismember, initially commit crimes in a fit of passion. When deciding to dismember to conceal the crime, most haven't fully grasped the difficulties ahead.

Human bones are extremely hard and heavy.

Nowadays, some women weigh under 100 catties, but men typically weigh at least thirty catties more—150 catties is very common for men. In other words, if a male corpse is divided into five pieces, each piece must weigh thirty catties. Just moving them would exhaust anyone.

Think of butchers splitting pigs—commonly, pigs weighing over a hundred or even two hundred catties are hung in the air for cutting, because that position minimizes effort.

Ordinary people, lacking dismemberment experience, have no idea how crucial hooks and ropes are.

Also, cutting itself is difficult—Pei Ding's butchering of the ox required at least Level 6 skill.

Those who can't even identify the tenderloin consider themselves skilled if they know to cut at the waist and neck. To dissect more precisely, one must understand the greater and lesser trochanters—or use heavy-duty tools like chainsaws.

Even then, cutting remains difficult and exhausting.

Thus, in most impromptu dismemberment cases, body parts remain large.

In this case, many body parts weighed under ten catties, indicating the killer was physically strong, had stamina, and knew how to operate powerful equipment.

Jiang Yuan picked up a bone, glanced at it, placed it on the autopsy table, then picked up the next.

Wang Lan did similar work, but first sifted through the pile of bones, found the one she wanted, then placed it on the table.

All present were pathologists—they quickly noticed the difference.

Wang Lan silently stopped.

Though she was thoroughly familiar with bones, picking up any random bone and placing it precisely in its correct position on the table—she could do it, but far less efficiently.

More importantly, this method prevented Wang Lan from forming a full mental image of the skeleton, impairing her judgment.

So Wang Lan simply stopped, deciding to wait until Jiang Yuan finished arranging the bones, then examine them from the beginning herself.

Jiang Yuan quickly laid out the pelvis.

The young pathologists beside him had already reached their conclusion.

"Female. Has given birth."

"Around forty years old."

…

"Height about 170 centimeters."

Jiang Yuan then spoke, leaving everyone stunned.

Wang Lan asked: "How did you determine that?"

The most common method for estimating age is long bones, but due to the pressure cooker's limited space, the long bones hadn't been boiled yet.

Jiang Yuan said: "I used the lumbar vertebrae first—I'll verify later."

"Note it down then," Wang Lan said, half-skeptical.

While forensic anthropology aims to determine everything from a single bone, the difficulty is extremely high. Wang Lan's own research in this area was shallow.

The young pathologists beside them instantly became quiet and respectful.

Everyone understood the limits of forensic anthropology—but when had those limits ever been practically useful in real work?