Chapter 3 Opening the Third Chamber

Mortuary.

The hearse swiftly delivered the body and left, leaving a weighty corpse placed on the gurney.

"As a forensic doctor, you have to start with moving bodies," Wu Jun said, hands behind his back, a smile he couldn't quite contain on his face. "Your build is really suitable for moving bodies."

His classmates in the big cities had been living a life free of moving corpses for over two decades, but Ningtai County was a place where people didn't stay. New forensic doctors would come and go; throughout the year, he rarely enjoyed the luxury of having others move bodies for him. The worst luck was when there were no bodies to examine while a new forensic doctor was present, only for them to show up after the doctor had left.

Jiang Yuan, pushing the cart, asked curiously, "Doesn't the county bureau have an autopsy room? The kind that looks bright and white once lit up..."

"Like in the TV dramas?" Wu Jun shook his head and said, "Wealthy cities can afford that, but our small county town shouldn't even dream of it. For our autopsies, we don't just need an autopsy room; we also need equipment like refrigerated cabinets to store the bodies. If we're a bit more particular, we need ventilation equipment and a washing area to be maintained and managed. It's easier to rent from the mortuary. If the county bureau is willing to spend an extra hundred thousand or so to fix up the autopsy room, that would be enough."

"Wouldn't it be inconvenient for collecting evidence and such?"

"We generally just draw some blood or take some stomach contents. In a county this size, how far can it really be? Convenient parking is more important," Wu Jun said with a laugh. "Anyway, corpses aren't picky."

Jiang Yuan looked down at his Uncle Seventeen and thought to himself that Uncle Seventeen, when visiting their home for the New Year, seemed rather fussy. Of course, he probably wasn't in the mood to be picky now.

"Next time you come by, remember to keep a pack of cigarettes in your pocket and occasionally buy some pastries to build relationships. If you get on well with the people from the mortuary, it makes work easier," Wu Jun said as he walked alongside, pressing the elevator button and instructing Jiang Yuan in a low voice, "The mortuary is also a workplace."

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "Okay."

Ningtai County Mortuary had set up the autopsy room in the basement.

Fortunately, there was an elevator to take them down, which was convenient. However, the flickering red emergency lights in the dim corridor were slightly unsettling.

The inside of the room was well-lit with large tiled floors and smaller tiled walls. In the center was a stainless steel autopsy table. To the left upon entry was a wash basin along with a long row of stainless steel cabinets. If you weren't looking carefully, you might think it was a regular household kitchen decor.

Then, Wu Jun stepped forward to help, pushing the gurney next to the autopsy table. He stepped on a lever to elevate the gurney to the level of the autopsy table and slowly slid the body onto the table before saying, "Go check if the family members have arrived. If they have, call them over to proceed with the autopsy."

Jiang Yuan replied promptly, his eyes fixed on Uncle Seventeen.

Uncle Seventeen, robust and well-fed, now lay supine on the stainless steel table, his belly protruding high, shining white. Under the bright light, one could see the fine hair standing on end, which made Jiang Yuan feel a chill, but more than that, a sense of distress overwhelmed him.

"The phone is by the door," Wu Jun reminded Jiang Yuan indifferently, not saying much else.

Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze, walked to the door, picked up the landline phone, and dialed out.

In China, autopsy of a body requires notification of close relatives who must be present and sign off; in practice, it is often non-blood relatives such as brothers-in-law, uncles, or sons-in-law that arrive. When direct relatives do come, it is usually necessary to prepare an extra trash can.

Soon enough, someone was led in, looking around bewildered and fearful.

"Uncle," Jiang Yuan recognized the man. He was Uncle Seventeen's brother-in-law, his Aunt Nineteen's husband. They must have met a couple of years back at a family ancestral worship.

"Jiang Yuan!" the uncle greeted him with a warmth that contained an emotional charge, looking at Jiang Yuan across the corpse of his elder brother with a gaze filled with feeling. "Your Uncle Seventeen left us suddenly, but thankfully you're the medical examiner. Make sure you do it well for him..."

"Let's get started," Wu Jun interrupted their talk, handed Jiang Yuan a full-body surgical gown to put on over his clothes, lifted the white sheet off the body, and asked, "Just to confirm, this is indeed Jiang Jiancheng, correct?"

Uncle Jiang retched before saying, "It should be."

"Sign here. Write down the ID number as well," Wu Jun watched the family member sign, then collected the documents before turning to Jiang Yuan, asking, "Not everyone dares to perform an autopsy on someone they know. If you don't want to do it, that's normal."

"I can," Jiang Yuan had already prepared himself psychologically before coming in. Now, while his heart was filled with mixed emotions, he didn't want to simply retreat.

Wu Jun checked one more time, then nodded, "You go first."

He also wanted to assess Jiang Yuan's abilities. If Jiang Yuan couldn't continue or made a mistake, Wu Jun would be there to teach him. This was how he had educated the new forensic doctors that had come before.

Jiang Yuan's expression was serious, betraying slight nervousness and hesitation.

When it came to autopsies, Jiang Yuan's experience wasn't extensive, but the few practices he had in school had earned him his professors' praise, and he was called "exceptionally talented."

If the body hadn't belonged to his Uncle Seventeen, he might have been more composed.

"First, examine the exterior of the corpse," Jiang Yuan took a deep breath of stale air, his frown fleeting, before immersing himself in the task, placing a notebook aside as he spoke while examining the body, "Deceased Jiang Jianfeng, age 50, male, height 169 cm, weight 188... there is a crescent-shaped birthmark on the left buttock, approximately 5 centimeters long..."

"Then comes the general state record. The rectal body temperature is..." Jiang Yuan kept his head down and worked, noting down conditions of the scalp, baldness, until reaching the pupils, conjunctiva, nasal cavity, teeth...

Most of the exterior examination had already been completed on the scene. Jiang Yuan was simply proceeding in an orderly fashion, reading the earlier parts aloud, while he gave the conjunctiva and teeth etc. another careful examination.

This method pleased Wu Jun, who nodded and said, "Well done... Have you performed a dissection before?"

Jiang Yuan answered, "I've done a few cases in school."

"That's good. Nowadays, many students in schools can only do one case."

"I participated in a few dissections when I was following a professor on a project."

"Oh, have you performed a 'three-cavity' dissection?" Wu Jun referred to the cranial cavity, thoracic cavity, and abdominal cavity, which house the body's important internal organs, blood vessels, and nerves, and are crucial for forensic pathologists in determining the cause of death.

Jiang Yuan affirmed, "Yes," and added, "I've done it twice."

"Then you do it," Wu Jun handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan, then said, "You might know this, but I'll remind you just the same, be careful when you make the incision, don't cut your own hand. The temperature in the dissection room is too low, and the blade is sharp. You won't feel it if you just cut yourself. The way to tell is whether blood comes out, the body won't bleed, so if there is bleeding, it can only be from you..."

Jiang Yuan nodded, then looked again at the body in front of him, adjusted his posture, picked up the scalpel, lowered the blade to the neck, and made a straight line all the way to just above the pubic symphysis...

Uncle Seventeen's body was heavy, requiring a deep cut, and the lifted fat was both yellow and white.

The excessively long midline incision was far more brutal than one typically sees in films or television. This method was also commonly used by forensic doctors in China, differing slightly from the Y-shaped incisions common in the United States.

Following this, Jiang Yuan began to separate the chest muscles, then proceeded to cut along the cartilage boundary lines that connect the ribs to the sternum.

As the autopsy proceedings began, Uncle Jiang, tense with nerves, took a deep breath and then, as his complexion changed, turned around and vomited.