I remember when I first faced my first corpse, I was more or less nervous, I mean a real crime scene corpse, not the kind used for experiments in school.
Zhang Keying, on the other hand, was excellent. She had her tools out faster than us, first checking the victim's skin and fingernails, then their eyelids, then collecting blood, urine, and other samples to be sent for analysis. Her movements were incredibly skilled, even faster than the two of us seasoned professionals.
She picked up the scalpel and began dissecting the male corpse, removing all the internal organs and weighing them. She asked us to help, and at some point, Zhang Keying had become our superior, and we were merely assistants.
It seemed this was the legendary talent, Zhang Keying was as if born to be a forensic investigator. Just by taking on the case, she was already more capable than some veteran forensic examiners with over a decade of experience. Even I felt a bit overwhelmed.
Of course, my other method differed from her forensic philosophy. At this moment, I took out the bamboo leaf extractor. Zhang Keying, seeing this for the first time, was naturally curious. After I explained it, she didn't question it like others usually did; instead, she looked at me with anticipation. A short while later, I detected the presence of stimulant components in the male victim's body.
The female corpse was the same. I couldn't understand why they would take stimulants. The content seemed to be roughly the same. Were they drugged by someone?
While testing the urine, I discovered traces of cocaine. It seemed this was the cause. This couple were drug users.
I wondered if the killer was targeting this group?
Of course, with only two victims, it was too soon to draw a conclusion. I re-examined the wounds on the bodies, meticulously inspecting them repeatedly with an aniconic reflector. I found that the wound profiles were caused by a claw hammer, but the proportion seemed much larger than usual.
Through repeated experiments, we deduced that it must have been a claw hammer with a thickness of 0.5 meters. That's quite large; if it hit the head, it would undoubtedly be fatal.
I recalled what the middle-aged man had said: the killer's hammer was large. He wasn't wrong about that.
The wounds on both the male and female corpses were clearly caused by the same blunt instrument. Later, I asked Gao Mingqiang and Xiahou to investigate the man's situation, only to discover that he suffered from paranoid delusions. It was estimated that those scenes were entirely fabricated by him. He likely only heard strange noises, and those images simply didn't exist.
Considering the bodies were not found in the hallway and there were no signs of dragging, the man's claim of seeing someone being attacked in the hallway was likely fabricated.
If he didn't have delusions, I would have considered him a suspect.
Next, we examined the victims' stomach contents, abdomen, tested their rectal and liver temperatures, and performed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry on their urine. After analyzing various indicators, we conducted comparative experiments on the victims' hemoglobin: "Xiao Dong, test the victim's urine to see if it's positive!"
"Yes!" After Xiao Dong left, he returned with a report after some time. I noticed some strange components in the victim's liver and instructed Xie Chuchu: "Extract the hair and nails for testing, followed by X-ray diffraction analysis of the urine and blood!"
"Okay!" Later, Xie Chuchu's final results indicated the presence of plasma components.
Plasma? That's just plasma, isn't it? It seems the victims had worked in an electronics factory before.
I pondered this, but then I found more plasma near the wounds, and I immediately understood. It was transferred to the victims from the murder weapon. Could it be that the killer's job was in some electronics factory or similar place?
I conducted numerous analyses, but this work couldn't be confined to the autopsy process. I sprinkled some seaweed ash and also used bone-feeling techniques to reconfirm the time of death. The bodies were then sent to the bone examination station for re-examination.
Zhang Keying had never seen the bone examination station before, but with Xie Chuchu's help, she quickly familiarized herself with the environment and got busy. Seeing them both occupied, I didn't need to linger. I immediately went to the technical department and found He Xin. With her assistance and by testing the residues in their stomach contents, we learned that before the couple's incident, they had attended a banquet at the Haodu Hotel. It was reportedly a company celebration banquet. Both of them were in sales, selling houses.
I said to Liu Yuning, who was watching the surveillance footage nearby, "I think it's necessary to go to this hotel. By the way, Gao Mingqiang, visit the company where the couple used to work!"
"Understood!"
After Liu Yuning and I left, He Xin sent us the location. We drove to the Haodu Hotel. We had been here before, but it wasn't the one in Fuming City; this hotel was part of a chain.
Upon arriving downstairs, we identified ourselves. A hotel receptionist, after understanding the situation, led us upstairs.
With the help of a bald manager, we learned that the Pinlong Real Estate Property Company, where the victims worked, had held a banquet in VIP Room 201 that day.
I asked the manager to take us there. Entering the private room, I noticed that the cameras could capture the entire area.
I checked the seats but found nothing. Then, Liu Yuning and I went to the security room. While reviewing the surveillance footage, we discovered that the couple had argued at the banquet.
However, since we couldn't hear anything, we didn't know what they had said. I turned back and asked the bald manager, "Do you know what they were arguing about at the time?"
"I passed by there and seemed to hear something about performance, and the man might have snatched the woman's deal. I was curious, weren't they a couple? It shouldn't matter who got the deal, right? People nowadays, just to make money, will turn on each other at any moment."
I observed the bald manager and found his micro-expressions to be normal. He likely wasn't lying.
I copied the surveillance video and asked a few employees there, but found no further clues. What we could ascertain now was that the couple had a poor relationship and a history of drug use.
As we left the hotel, Liu Yuning said, "It's best to investigate where their drugs came from."
"Yes, I've already asked Xiao Yuande to investigate."
"Then let's go check out Pinlong Company. I wonder how Gao Mingqiang and Xiahou's investigation is going. It's almost lunchtime, let's grab a meal together later!"
"Alright," I agreed, already in the car, and then we headed towards Pinlong Company.
The company seemed to be of average size, but the renovation was decent. Upon learning that we were investigating the case of Fang Leshan (male victim) and Yan Yeman (female victim), a company receptionist immediately led us upstairs.