I smelled the air and detected a fresh, greenish paint scent. From the degree of solidification, it seemed that the paint had been applied less than two weeks ago.
I used my flashlight to check the surroundings, and Zhao Simeng took out some squid ink from her inspection box and sprayed it on the wall. To our surprise, many bloodstains appeared on the wall.
But we still didn't find anyone else in the room.
There must have been a struggle here. Judging by the distribution of blood on the wall, which looked like a waterfall, someone had likely been slashed with a knife.
Did this relate to the female victim? There were no rooms on the second floor, and the stairs leading up to the third floor were beside a wall on the left. Just as we were about to go upstairs, we suddenly heard a male scream from downstairs!
It was Captain Yang!
We quickly ran downstairs. When we reached the living room again, Captain Yang was gone!
We searched everywhere and finally arrived at the spirit table. To our horror, we found a large pool of blood spreading out. Looking down, we saw that Captain Yang was charred black, and many parts of his skin had been corroded. There were numerous deep wounds on his abdomen, and the blood was flowing from there.
There were no weapons or traces left at the scene, and we didn't know what had happened.
It appeared that the body had been burned, but there were no signs of fire around.
Zhao Simeng immediately opened her inspection box. I called Liu Ju's phone to report the situation, and when he heard that Captain Yang had died, he contacted Huang Ju and sent reinforcements.
Before the reinforcements arrived, Zhao Simeng took out a pry bar and opened the deceased's mouth. She checked and said, "No traces of smoke, just like he said before, this person wasn't burned to death."
It was already night outside. She took out a UV lamp and pulled the body from the spirit table. Of course, she couldn't do it alone, so I helped her move the body outside.
Once the body was laid flat, it was easier for Zhao Simeng to conduct the autopsy. With the help of the UV light, she took out some black vinegar and an induction cooker from her inspection box. I was surprised by her actions and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Black vinegar can reveal the smallest wounds on the body."
She ignored my surprise and had me help her place one of the body's arms on the induction cooker, pour the black vinegar over it, and turn on the cooker. Fortunately, there was still electricity in the old house; otherwise, it would have been troublesome.
As the temperature of the induction cooker rose, the body's arm began to make crackling noises, like pork sizzling in a hot pot. But this was a human arm, and no one could stomach such a scene.
After a while, many very small wounds began to appear on the arm, which were invisible before, but after Zhao Simeng's method, they became more and more visible and gradually started to bleed.
She turned off the induction cooker and said, "It looks like marks from some kind of insect bite."
Insects? I was surprised and asked, "Insects?"
"Yes, insects. Go check the rest of the house for anything suspicious."
She spoke as I stood up, leaving the body for her to continue inspecting. With my flashlight, I carefully searched the surrounding area. At that point, Huang Ju and his team had arrived.
To my surprise, Huang Ju came in person, accompanied by about a dozen officers. He immediately asked, "Where is Captain Yang?"
I gestured in the direction where I knew he was.
Upon seeing that Captain Yang had died, Huang Ju was deeply saddened. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "Who killed Captain Yang?"
Many officers were comforting him, and the forensic team started searching the area. When I reached the area near the TV cabinet in the living room, I noticed a strange smell, like something acidic. I pushed the TV aside and discovered cracks in the wall!
I ordered people to help me break open the wall, and to our surprise, a swarm of strange black ants came pouring out.
Zhao Simeng immediately shouted, "European bullet ants!"
"European bullet ants?" I asked, astonished.
"Yes, European bullet ants. They are among the 'top ten most venomous animals in the world.' They look like bees from afar but have powerful mandibles and sharp, venomous stingers. Up close, they are ants and love to flaunt their large pincers. They are about 3 cm long, five times the size of a regular ant, and one of the largest ant species in the world."
I had never heard of such strange bullet ants. While we are used to seeing regular ants, these terrifying bullet ants were indeed rare.
The officers present were all quite shocked. Zhao Simeng didn't hesitate; she took out some insecticide from her inspection box and sprayed it on the ant swarm. Soon, all the European bullet ants were dead on the floor.
Of course, some managed to escape, but not many.
"Alright, don't panic, luckily these European bullet ants are afraid of my insecticide."
"Do these European bullet ants have anything to do with Captain Yang's death?" Huang Ju asked.
Zhao Simeng squatted down and took one of the dead ants. She compared it with the wounds on Captain Yang's arm. At that moment, Huang Ju and the other officers noticed that one of Captain Yang's arms was still on the induction cooker.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Huang Ju asked.
"An autopsy, Huang Ju. Didn't Liu Ju tell you? I'm not a medical examiner, I'm a forensic assistant!" Zhao Simeng replied.
"Ah, is this your way of performing an autopsy?"
Luckily, Huang Ju must have been briefed by Liu Ju about Zhao Simeng's methods, or he would have reacted like the old medical examiner, Huang, discovering Zhao Simeng's unconventional approach as if seeing a monster.
It turned out that both Huang Ju and the old medical examiner shared the same surname—could they be brothers?
I was thinking about this when Zhao Simeng instructed a few officers to take photos of the body. She then said, "Based on the size of the wounds, they must have been caused by the European bullet ants. So the deceased wasn't burned to death but was attacked by these ants."
"Ah, no wonder we couldn't find the killer. It was the European bullet ants!" Huang Ju exclaimed.
"Yes, but I think they weren't naturally occurring," Zhao Simeng added.
I looked at the wall, remembering the crack, and understood what Zhao Simeng meant. I then said, "That's right, someone intentionally raised European bullet ants in this old Qing Dynasty house."
"So, this was man-made," Huang Ju concluded.
I nodded and said, "Have your technical team investigate who has had contact with this old Qing house recently."
"We found someone—a man named Min Anmin, who spent 300,000 yuan to buy this house."