After a person's heart stops beating, the blood that had previously flowed from the heart remains in the blood vessels and continues to flow slowly. However, without the drive of the heart's powerful pump, the blood will gradually stop moving within the vessels. Over time, the blood inside the human body undergoes a series of changes. Within the first 12 hours, blood will accumulate in some blood vessels, causing certain parts of the vessels to swell. However, the blood cells do not undergo significant changes and remain intact.
The blood within the human body does not disappear after death; instead, it primarily dries up in the blood vessels due to dehydration. Humans are complex and marvelous beings, and the functions of their organs are remarkable. Blood is no exception. After a person dies, it completes its life's work.
Regarding the cause of death, I discovered incisions on the face, a method that closely resembled that of the man's feet. When I examined the old woman's feet, I found that her lower legs were also missing.
If it weren't for the plank supporting her posture, she likely wouldn't have been able to maintain balance.
At this point, Zhang Keying found a photograph, and she immediately frowned. I leaned closer to look: "This person appears to be dead!"
The photograph showed an old man sitting on a toilet. The picture wasn't very clear, but it didn't prevent Zhang Keying and me from making our judgment.
Xia Xiaoling curiously asked me, "Isn't he sitting down? How do you know he's dead?"
I didn't answer, instead looking at Zhang Keying. She explained, "His body is leaning to the left, but his neck is turned to the right. This is a sign of post-mortem lividity displacement caused by rigor mortis. We know that post-mortem lividity appears some time after death, but if the body is fixed in a certain position, the lividity will shift. As you can see, the lividity is on the left side, which proves that his neck facing right is due to rigor mortis. He was already experiencing rigor mortis when he was placed on the toilet, which would create this phenomenon. Also, do you notice a strange position in his ankles?"
Xia Xiaoling stared intently: "You're right! Why are his ankles turned inward? A normal person wouldn't adopt such an awkward posture unless they were unconscious..."
"Yes, and another point is that his neck already shows a vascular network of decomposition. If he weren't dead, such a sign wouldn't appear. This person was likely photographed after death, but I'm curious, why would someone do that? Could the person who took the photo be the murderer?"
"Perhaps he killed the Xi Jingfan family?" Liu Yuning guessed.
Zhang Keying added, "And finally, the most crucial point that proves the old man was dead at the time: his skin color is reddish mixed with paleness. This indicates that the blood has been desiccated for too long, which also caused his post-mortem lividity to shift towards his right neck."
"According to forensic analysis, that's indeed the case. Where would the old man's body be?" I asked. We all left the room and began searching the surroundings for the old man's body. Since the photo was taken on the toilet, our target became the restroom.
Upon reaching the restroom, I indeed found evidence of someone having been there before – it was the old man from the photograph. In front of me, he looked almost identical to how he appeared in the picture, except now some of his bones were exposed. This was because the photo was taken some time ago, and the body had deteriorated significantly by now. I moved the deceased's joints and, based on the body's condition, estimated he had been dead for about 3 years. It seemed that everyone except the man we encountered earlier had been dead for some time. If we could contact the outside world, we would have immediately called for assistance.
The restroom was filled with filth and residual bloodstains, which I discovered using the yellow wine I carried with me. The bloodstains were in a splattered pattern about a meter in front of the old man, with some also found in the adjacent bathtub. The old man's shoulders and neck bore numerous knife wounds, having been slashed over a hundred times. There were even impact spatter bloodstains on the ceiling. It was easy to imagine the killer raising the knife and repeatedly hacking at the old man, with the blood splattering onto the ceiling along the blade.
A detailed autopsy was not possible at this time, but we found some abrasion marks on the edge of the bathtub with some lime on them. Comparing this with the old man's trousers, a pair of purple cotton pants, we found white lime around the hip and waist area. This indicated that the old man had been seated on the bathtub but was then dragged by the killer to the toilet before the assault. Looking at his torn face and bulging eyes, he must have endured immense pain and fear, experiencing a prolonged torment until his very last moment as he was hacked to death. The exaggerated muscle traces in his trachea suggested that he had let out a heart-wrenching scream.
With limited time and equipment for an in-depth autopsy, and without Xie Chuchu present, we could only proceed this far for now. I told everyone to leave the restroom. As we exited, I suddenly noticed movement in the corridor!
We had all assumed that everyone in the house had been found. Yet, there was still someone outside. We all immediately raised our guns again, on alert, fearing that the person might suddenly appear and attack us.
We all held our breath, trying not to reveal our position. In the darkness, our flashlights swept back and forth. As we passed through the corridor, our lights converged on something hanging from the ceiling. We moved forward and discovered a fireplace in a room. Yes, a fireplace, an ancient design. A television was even playing an unknown image repeatedly in the room. A coffee table was placed horizontally in the center of the room, with walls on either side cracked in multiple places. Colorful streamers hung around the cracks, along with several barbecue forks. Above, there was an ancient, damaged quartz clock. On the ceiling, a dilapidated chandelier dangled precariously. As we entered the room, we were hesitant to approach the center, fearing the chandelier might fall and crush us all.
We skirted around the area where the chandelier might fall and reached the front of the television. Beneath the cabinet, we discovered a VCR, a very old model. Above the VCR was a videotape labeled with a date.
March 9, 2020.
A videotape from 3 years ago?
This was rather strange. We all felt an irresistible urge to play it, provided the VCR was still functional. Otherwise, we wouldn't have even considered it.