Zhao Xinli spat out his food, luckily it just sprayed onto the ground beside him. Mr. Liu jumped away in disgust.
"Mr. Zhao, that was uncalled for."
Doctor Liu had a face full of gossip.
"What happened? I haven't seen you guys for just a few days, is there something I don't know about?"
Zhao Xinli was blunt and as Zhou Ning showed no particular reaction, he started recounting the events vividly. Zhou Ning doubted whether Zhao had been using all his intelligence solely for enjoying the spectacle, as he had never before seen him with such an ability to retell stories.
When he finished, Doctor Liu patted Zhou Ning.
"You're quick to react, young man, and you ran well. If you had delayed even a little in this matter, you wouldn't have been able to clear your name. If you had gone somewhere without surveillance, like a park, and someone accused you of indecency, you wouldn't be able to save the clothes on your back."
Zhou Ning nodded, that was what he had feared as well.
"I'm done eating. Master, I'm going to prepare. But why start with the female corpse first?"
"That's the thing, I praised you too soon. You should start with the body in advanced stages of decomposition. The room will stink anyway. Isn't the second one also highly decomposed? Moreover, start with the easier task before moving to the harder one, understand?"
Zhou Ning had a moment of realization. By this time, they had finished their meal. Mr. Liu quickly tidied up, and even the old man in the morgue took away the leftovers without any complaints. They then proceeded towards the autopsy room.
Zhao Xinli and the others stopped at the door, handing Zhou Ning the camera and forensic investigation kit from the car.
"We'll wait outside. Just call us if there's anything to send for examination or if there's any message."
Doctor Liu didn't object, and led Zhou Ning back to the autopsy room.
"Master, do we not need to wait for the family's consent this time?"
Doctor Liu waved his hand dismissively.
"No need, just take pictures and start working. The identities of these two victims are confirmed, and in such a severe homicide case, we can proceed straight to the autopsy."
"Master, actually with this female victim, I didn't find any injuries beyond the strangulation mark at the scene. It just seems to me that if someone regrets committing murder and then commits suicide, it wouldn't take so many days. But do we not need to wait for her family either?"
Doctor Liu waved his hand again.
"Don't worry, I've already discussed it with Xu Da. If the family causes any trouble, he'll deal with it."
Receiving a definitive answer, Zhou Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He helped Doctor Liu change into his clothing, delivered the high stool with wheels, donned his own gear, then stood by the autopsy table to start taking photographs and clearing the deceased's garments.
The external examination of the body began, starting with the cornea, checking each part one by one and voicing the findings while Doctor Liu took notes. Samples were taken from between the fingers, the mouth, and the vagina, with the instrument cart brought over in the end.
Once everything was ready, he held up the scalpel in front of Doctor Liu.
"What are you giving that to me for? You do it. The dissection of the neck on this corpse needs to be extra careful; make the incision a bit larger. I want to see if the subcutaneous injuries correspond to the ligature mark."
Zhou Ning didn't argue. Doctor Liu had taken the initiative, so of course he had no objections. After all, he needed to gain hands-on experience to build up his knowledge. It also meant he'd receive fewer electric shocks during the simulated case studies in the evening.
He made his incision directly, carefully separating the skin of the neck, and after fixing it with hooks, he did not rush to deal with the chest and abdominal cavities. Holding a magnifying glass, he compared the ligature marks while examining the subcutaneous traces.
Doctor Liu also picked up a magnifying glass and came over for a closer look. Suddenly, he let out a 'huh' sound, and Zhou Ning immediately stopped his actions, honestly admitting that he hadn't seen any problems.
"Look here, there's a larger contusion, though it's faint and partially overlaps with the ligature mark, it's still distinguishable. This is the mark of a right hand strangling the neck, short in duration but very forceful."
As Doctor Liu drew a circle with his finger, Zhou Ning looked closely, and indeed, it seemed to be the case. Doctor Liu quickly took photographs to document it.
"Master, shall we continue the autopsy?"
"Continue."
Zhou Ning moved swiftly, removing the breastbone and ribs, and discovered a subcutaneous hemorrhage on the chest that resembled a footprint. This external trauma further corroborated Zhou Ning's initial judgment.
He then drew blood from the heart and took out and cut open the stomach to find it empty. This discovery startled Zhou Ning.
"An empty state?"
"Yes, the victim was starved for a time, there are already hemorrhagic spots on the gastric mucosa, and the mucosa is damaged."
Noting this down internally, he continued the task at hand. When he reached the pelvic area, Zhou Ning noticed that the deceased's uterus was slightly enlarged. He took it out, measured its size at 12 centimeters, then cut it open and was stunned. He looked up at Doctor Liu.
"Master is pregnant!"
Doctor Liu's clipboard clattered as he knocked it against Zhou Ning's head.
"Master is pregnant? Do I have that function? Why the excitement? Take it out, weigh it, stitch it up. That wraps this one up."
Zhou Ning felt awkward; his nerves had made him misspeak. He quickly reported the weight after measuring it, then organized the samples and began sewing up.
After calling Zhao Xinli and the others over, Zhu Meifeng's body was carted away.
Having completed his notes, Doctor Liu hoped on one foot towards the table, his mouth moving non-stop.
"Quick, quick, quick, turn on the exhaust fans, both of them, and open all windows. Our room doesn't have an air exchange system like proper decomposition rooms. Help me get into my protective suit."
Zhou Ning hesitated, realizing his own oversight, and hurried to help Doctor Liu into his suit. He too donned his own, along with goggles and a gas mask and put on three layers of gloves as the door was opened.
The gagging sounds from Zhao Xinli and his team came first.
The morgue's old-timer was resistant to the stench as he wheeled the cart in. Seeing Doctor Liu's intense gaze, Zhao Xinli quickly walked in, took a pair of gloves and a mask from Zhou Ning, and got ready. The four of them strained to place the body bag onto the autopsy table.
The body was still face down. Doctor Liu leaned in for a closer look at the knife and waved Zhou Ning over.
"Don't leave yet. After taking pictures, I'll pull the knife out. Help us flip the body over after that. My foot won't be much help."
Zhou Ning moved closer to take photos. The knife had already been photographed at the scene, but he still took pictures from every angle as Doctor Liu had indicated.
Doctor Liu grabbed the knife's handle and lifted it straight up. The blade slid out of the corpse, but with the motion, several maggots also jolted, giving a visceral stimulation that made one's stomach dance.
Zhou Ning turned his head slightly to suppress the nausea, yet the repercussions of Zhao Xinli's retching were felt outside as well.
"Stop yapping and start moving. Don't touch the body, just pull the body bag toward you, then lift it upward. We'll push from this side. Keep up, Zhou Ning. If you mess up and it gets on you, I won't be responsible."
They all nodded in agreement; clearly, the older man had more experience. The body bag was pulled in Zhao Xinli's direction, then they stood it upright and tipped it towards Zhou Ning's side. The old-timer and Zhou Ning caught it together, finally lowering the body.
Various parts fell out of the body bag, prompting Zhao Xinli to turn and run out.
The old man shook his head, gathered up the body bag, and even helped clean the cart before nonchalantly taking off his gloves and calmly closing the door behind him as he left.
It seemed the morgue was no easy gig—this was 'experience talking'!
"Alright, let's do this autopsy together to be quicker. Have the male victim's identity been confirmed?"
Doctor Liu, his voice somewhat muffled by his gas mask, must have been trying to speak loudly.
Zhou Ning gestured an OK sign.
"The victim's name is Li Delin, a resident of Yujia Village. He owned a company, but that's about all we know. Xu Da and his team have already started investigating."
Doctor Liu nodded.
"That's good. Otherwise, we'd have to take fingerprints from the victim. Even though he didn't drown, he's exhibiting 'giant observation.' The 'drowning hand and foot sleeves'[1] are already present, and gathering those really is a sensory challenge."
Zhou Ning felt his hair stand on end, still remembering his sophomore year.
Upperclassmen in the cafeteria had a contest to watch CSI footage of collecting fingerprints from a high-decomposition corpse while eating, and he'd joined in, curious. He couldn't stomach any food for a week; the memory was etched deep into his bones.
Shaking his head to scatter those deeply-buried images, Zhou Ning looked at Doctor Liu.
"Master, what are we doing now?"
Doctor Liu's eyes crinkled as if he was smiling, and he handed Zhou Ning a large glass jar and a spoon. He himself held a plastic scraper, the kind used for pastry dough, and gestured at the body.
"Let's start with a big task. I'll scrape the maggots and pupae off the surface of the body, and you collect them."
Zhou Ning let out a shocked gasp as the glass jar nearly slipped from his grasp.
"Master, how about you do it?"
...
[1] Drowning hand and foot sleeves: One of the characteristic phenomena of water-decomposed corpses where the skin of the hands and feet swells and sloughs off like gloves—due to the body soaking in water for a long time (one week in summer, two to three weeks in winter) and putrefactive autolysis. The skin of fingers and toes separate between the epidermis and underlying dermis, and nails come off, forming glove-like or sock-like peeling. Hence, it's called "drowning gloves" or "drowning socks." Some bodies with 'giant observation' will also display a similar state, usually when there are more maggots and a substantial amount of putrefactive fluid present.