The reporter stated that he dared not approach the box upon seeing it, fearing what might be hidden inside. I told him not to worry, and that Xia Hou would first use precision equipment to confirm there were no explosives. Then, Zhang Keying, Xie Chuchu, and I carefully opened the lid of the box.
An extremely strong smell of decay and blood wafted out, hitting us simultaneously. Some nearby police officers nearly vomited, while we witnessed a woman's head hidden at the bottom of the box!
The head's tongue was sticking out, and it seemed to have a memory card attached to it, the kind we use in our phones.
I picked up the memory card, then carefully lifted the head out of the wooden box and placed it beside an apple tree. At this moment, Ling Xiaotao approached. Her psychological resilience had improved considerably; at least, faced with such a horrifying scene, she only furrowed her brow. We then all gathered around the head to examine it, while the forensics team also began their investigation nearby.
"Based on the degree of skin decomposition, lividity, and other factors, she should have been dead for one to two years. Yet, the flesh has not completely decomposed. It's likely the killer used some special preservation method to delay the decay. The cause of death was likely the severe blows to the head. Look, these wounds are very likely the result of repeated impacts with a blunt object against the skull," Xie Chuchu analyzed.
I nodded in agreement with Xie Chuchu's assessment. "Exactly. Further in-depth investigation can only be conducted back at the forensic laboratory. I'm not sure about the memory card, I'll need to investigate it technically when we get back."
"Let's wrap up here for now. Bring the body handlers!" Xie Chuchu called out to some body handlers nearby in a practiced manner. I checked the surroundings. There were no traces left on the trees. It had rained recently, so if the killer had been here, they would have left footprints.
We collected quite a few footprints at the scene. Upon comparison, one set, closest to the wooden box, belonged to the fruit orchard's reporting staff.
The police immediately zeroed in on him, but he denied killing anyone. I immediately stated, "The killer isn't him. These footprints are identical to his!"
"I don't understand, Deputy Director He. If they're identical, doesn't that mean it's him?" Ma Biao asked curiously.
Sighing, I could only explain, "It rained recently. Under the sun, according to forensic analysis, a size 40 footprint would shrink by at least one size. If this footprint is identical to his, it proves the killer isn't him. The killer should be someone wearing shoes larger than size 40."
Ma Biao looked enlightened. I patted his shoulder. "Rookie, you still have a lot to learn."
"I understand. I'll work hard."
I knew he desperately wanted to join the Punishment and Justice Team, but with his current ability, he'd likely struggle even in the criminal investigation unit. If it weren't for my help, well, forget it. I signaled everyone to photograph all the evidence at the scene and take it away. Following the clues, we would first focus on identifying the victim. Although there was no surveillance here, we could find it outside the orchard.
I assigned Xia Hou to handle the surveillance. Without Gao Mingqiang, all these tasks now fell to him.
I suddenly missed the old Gao Mingqiang, especially seeing Ma Biao's clueless expression. I wondered if this guy was a reincarnation of him, though Ma Biao's age made it unlikely.
What was I thinking?
With a sigh, the head was taken away. When we returned to the provincial department, before the autopsy was even performed, He Xin had already deciphered the data on the memory card. She stated that the memory card was undamaged and new, meaning the killer deliberately left it for us.
The memory card contained no other data, only a video of about 10 seconds.
The video showed various body parts. The location was likely Huangpu District!
Damn it! Is that guy playing a jigsaw puzzle game with us using bodies?
After dismembering the body, he scattered the parts in several locations in Guangming City and then told us where to find them!
Upon arriving at Huangpu District, we found human arms, a left and a right, in another wooden box. The moment I saw another memory card clutched in the left hand, I realized my guess was correct.
That bastard is really playing a body puzzle game with us!
Back at the provincial department again, we investigated the contents of the memory card. It contained another video, this one also about 10 seconds long.
This time, the scene was a dock. He Xin used the triangulation method to confirm it was our Guangming City's Fusui Pier. We immediately dispatched a team again!
This time, it was also body parts, the legs. But this time, it wasn't a memory card; it was a DVD!
At that moment, I thought, could it be another clue to the location of body parts? But after we finished our work and returned to the provincial department, we put the DVD into a player and discovered it was a video of a pile of bodies being dissected. This time, it wasn't ten seconds, but several hours of footage, much of it in a dark room, showing people being cut open alive, blood being drawn, and scenes of torture.
I temporarily assigned technicians to examine the details while I focused on piecing together the parts of the female body.
How else could we perform an autopsy without assembling the body? Fortunately, the woman's face was still intact, so identifying her should not be difficult.
He Xin first used the facial recognition database to confirm the victim's identity: Quan Yingzhen, born May 3, 1995, a resident of Haohua Town, Guangming City, and an employee of Ronghua Fruit Orchard, where she had worked for five years. I initially thought she had gone missing recently, but upon interviewing her colleagues, they told me that Quan Yingzhen had actually been missing for over a year. The security guard who first saw the body had not recognized her at the time, hence the initial confusion about her identity.
He told us that Quan Yingzhen had been a planter there. The girl had always been normal, but before her disappearance, she started skipping work frequently, sometimes not showing up for days or leaving early. The boss had wanted to fire her for a long time. Later, she simply stopped coming to work, and the boss assumed she had quit. He was even curious why she hadn't come to collect her final wages, unaware that she had actually gone missing then.
Yet, during this entire period, no one reported her missing. I checked with the missing persons investigation unit and found that no one had inquired about Quan Yingzhen in the past year. This was strange. Was this woman an orphan, or perhaps a migrant worker with a poor relationship with her family, so much so that even a year of no contact wouldn't raise any alarms?
I considered the latter possibility more likely. However, upon further investigation, I discovered that Quan Yingzhen's parents had both passed away. Her only remaining relatives were her uncle and aunt, who lived in Haohua Town.