Chapter 294: Not Easy

"Dr. Jiang, take a look at the body?" Forensic examiner Ye Tianhe smiled as he greeted Jiang Yuan.

Ye Tianhe had previously worked with Jiang Yuan on the Wu Longshan Wild Man case, examining the bodies of the hikers together.

At that time, Jiang Yuan had been noticed by Liu Jinghui solely for his fingerprint analysis and crime scene investigation skills; his forensic medical abilities were not outstanding.

Yet Ye Tianhe dared not underestimate Jiang Yuan.

Not only did solving cases make one the greatest god in the police force, but Jiang Yuan's recent work on the charred bone case had demonstrated exceptional expertise in forensic anthropology.

Forensic anthropology was nearly the pinnacle of forensic medicine—just mastering that one field alone was enough to earn the respect of other forensic examiners.

Ye Tianhe had no intention of becoming the first stumbling block for the Changyang City Police Forensic Unit—Yu Wenshu had served nearly ten years there, and everyone in the unit had heard the stories about his photographic memory and how he'd been tripped up.

Especially after Yu Wenshu's repeated mishaps, the unit's atmosphere had become considerably more harmonious.

Ye Tianhe had nearly finished his examination and now stepped aside to make way.

Jiang Yuan had arrived on scene—of course he was here to inspect the body; Ye Tianhe understood perfectly.

Jiang Yuan stepped forward to examine the corpse and asked, "What's your conclusion, Dr. Ye?"

"Strangled," Ye Tianhe removed his gloves, stretched his waist and back, and added, "Petechial hemorrhages in the eyes and sclera are quite obvious."

Determining whether a hanging victim was murdered or committed suicide was essentially a forensic exam's elementary school graduation question.

Was it difficult? A little.

The difficulty lay in comprehensiveness—how many methods you could propose to distinguish suicide from homicide.

If you could list them all, or at least eighty percent, you'd pass elementary school level.

Of course, like all such topics, this one could be endlessly complicated into a master's or even doctoral research subject. But in real cases, criminals with such high academic sophistication were exceedingly rare.

More importantly, when a criminal studied this area in such depth, his performance in other areas was likely worse.

Petechial hemorrhages in the eyes and sclera were one method for distinguishing suicide from homicide.

Some victims strangled did not show petechial hemorrhages—that was the only caveat. If so, during autopsy, the forensic examiner could further judge by examining neck muscle bruising and the hyoid and thyroid cartilage angles—typically, those who strangle others tend to use excessive force, applying more brute strength than necessary.

To strangle or choke someone just right—with perfect precision—required very high technical skill.

Even so, scleral hemorrhage could still occur—possibility was just that fascinating.

For Ye Tianhe, seeing scleral and ocular hemorrhages was sufficient to conclude non-natural death and treat it as a homicide.

Next, the body definitely couldn't be released to the family—it would need autopsy to examine the hyoid bone and neck muscles…

Even if the hyoid bone and neck muscles showed no damage, the conclusion wouldn't change.

Because the victim might have been strangled with a cord-like object, which might not break the hyoid bone but had a high probability of leaving a ligature mark—due to tissue collapse and vascular compression in the mark area, bacterial decomposition arrived later, preserving the trace.

It was like cutting off a highway or supply railway, while simultaneously blocking enemy troop routes—slowing erosion.

In short, staging a strangulation as suicide had become too difficult in this era—better to just… right?

Jiang Yuan had no objection to the cause of death, nodded, put on gloves, and began meticulously examining the body front, back, left, right, top, and bottom.

He had waited so many days—he was eager to

try out his newly acquired Level 6 skill.

The first sensation upon touching the body was… stiff.

The body stiffens as death approaches.

Rigor mortis typically begins within an hour after death, reaches full stiffness around twelve hours, and begins to subside after about eighteen hours as the body gradually softens.

That's why some meat companies promote pork "aging"—to preserve the meat properly. Pigs begin rigor mortis eight hours after death, lasting fifteen to twenty-four hours; by thirty-two hours, transport is complete and rigor has passed, so the meat reaches consumers soft and tender, not stiff.

Enzymes in the meat then activate, breaking down myofibrils to make the meat softer and juicier—the so-called "not dry." Theoretically, this also enhances flavor.

It's perfectly reasonable that Chaoshan beef prefers freshly slaughtered meat.

Because cattle begin rigor mortis only after ten hours, and it lasts seventy-two hours. So good beef should be eaten within ten hours—seventy-two hours is far too long; better to age it.

By the way, fish begin rigor mortis within 0. to 0. hours and last about two hours. Thus, the correct way to eat fish is either to cook it immediately after slaughter or marinate it for over two hours before eating.

From the examples of pigs, cattle, and fish, one conclusion emerges.

The onset and duration of rigor mortis vary in each corpse.

The onset time, duration, and stiffness of rigor mortis differ among individuals—not only due to body fat and muscle mass, but also due to the environment where the person died.

This isn't regional discrimination; it's because temperature and humidity vary by region, and bacterial species and states differ.

That's why determining time of death is so difficult—there are too many uncertain factors.

Some forensic examiners who've worked long-term in one region develop their own personal experience in estimating time of death—precisely because of this.

Take a simple example: suppose a man from Northeast China dies in the Northeast, and a man from Hainan dies in Hainan—the Hainan man would likely enter rigor mortis sooner and recover from it sooner.

And if a Northeasterner dies in Hainan, the speed of rigor mortis onset would also depend on how long he'd been in Hainan before death.

Of course, beyond rigor mortis and livor mortis, there are many other techniques for estimating time of death—largely because demand for precision here is extremely high.

For instance, corneal opacity, body temperature, and more advanced methods like chemical analysis of the eye—measuring potassium concentration in ocular cells…

Jiang Yuan didn't rashly speak just because he possessed a Level 6 skill.

He carefully examined every detail of the body, gathering as much information as possible.

This advanced death identification skill wasn't merely about executing one technique well—it meant excelling in every technique and having them mutually corroborate each other.

So after finishing his examination, Jiang Yuan confidently stated: "Time of death was approximately ten fifteen this morning."

Ye Tianhe's brow furrowed slightly.

As a fellow forensic examiner, he disliked vague phrases like "approximately." Ye Tianhe preferred giving a time range—this hour to that hour—clear and unambiguous.

Some forensic examiners always gave a precise time and added "approximately."

This sounded more confident and accurate, but in reality, it meant the same thing—and risked misleading.

Yet after a case was solved, people always assumed the one who gave the precise time was more accurate.

Ye Tianhe silently shook his head, assuming Jiang Yuan was just a young man eager to show off.

But objectively, Ye Tianhe felt the judgment should be more rigorous.

"Time of death between ten and twelve," Ye Tianhe said—he'd arrived earlier and measured body temperature, confident his margin of error was small.

Jiang Yuan arrived later, so his accuracy was certainly lower.

Ye Tianhe had already given Jiang Yuan face—he'd originally estimated eleven to twelve, but now he'd pushed it back forty-five minutes, making his point clear enough. He'd still need to inform the investigating officers later.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan said: "I said ten fifteen approximately—I personally lean toward the earlier end. I believe the most likely time was just after ten, no earlier than ten, no later than ten thirty."

Ye Tianhe froze—this completely contradicted his own time estimate.

His own earliest possible time was eleven. A thirty-minute difference might seem small, but here it meant one was the upper limit and the other the lower limit—essentially two entirely different conclusions.

"I'll check again," Ye Tianhe said, no longer confident enough to outright reject Jiang Yuan's judgment—he couldn't bring himself to dismiss it outright.

Wan Baoming, sensing the tension, stepped forward with a smile: "Our time estimates are essentially the same. A slight discrepancy is normal—I've often seen differences of one or two hours. After all, the deceased didn't die according to schedule…"

Ye Tianhe sighed, glanced at Tang Jia in the room, hesitated a few seconds, then said: "The victim's husband entered the room at eleven forty. According to Jiang Yuan's time of death, the husband had no opportunity to commit the crime."

Wan Baoming froze—the husband was the prime suspect, practically tailor-made for the role of killer.

If the time-of-death determination gave the husband an alibi, this would be absurd.

Worse, it could cause serious problems during death penalty review.

Wan Baoming grew serious, looked at Jiang Yuan, and said: "Dr. Jiang, please re-examine carefully."

"Understood." Jiang Yuan readily complied and examined the body again.

Just a few minutes passed before Jiang Yuan looked up and said: "Considering all factors, I believe the victim ceased breathing at approximately ten ten."

He paused, then added solemnly: "I understand your concerns, but my conclusion is not for show."

Jiang Yuan looked at Ye Tianhe: "Dr. Ye, my judgment is purely technical—not personal."

"I understand," Ye Tianhe's expression remained grim but softened slightly.

The expressions of everyone in the room grew grave—this case was clearly far from easy.

-- to proceed with inspection

-- go to check