Chapter 14 System Warning!_1

The smell of decaying flesh, how can one describe it?

That odor is akin to a blend of rotten salty fish, stinking eggs, and putrid meat, all mixed and left to ferment for two days in a dry latrine—an unforgettable stench once experienced.

Xu Dayuan and the officers from Tieshan Police Station all looked towards Zhou Ning, who, despite feeling extremely nauseous at that moment, could not afford to waver. After all, Xu Dayuan had just fiercely scolded Cheng Li's mother, and Zhou Ning, come what may, could not let Xu Dayuan lose face.

Zhou Ning didn't speak but simply nodded towards Xu Dayuan, then set down the large bag he was carrying, crouched on the ground, and started taking things out. Zhao Xinli put down the investigation kit and rubbed his nose.

"What's that smell?"

"Decomposition."

Zhao Xinli was taken aback and swallowed the rest of his sentence.

"Well, I'll wait for you here."

Zhou Ning had no choice but to refrain from complaining, as peers were watching. Given that he was the forensic doctor, he couldn't complain now.

He found a hazmat suit and a gas mask to gear up with.

Hurriedly, he walked up to the door. The wooden entrance was tightly shut, and a gentle push caused the lock with the key inserted to jiggle and resound with a crisp clang.

The room was locked from the inside, so he looked back at Zhao Xinli.

"Help me lift fingerprints from the door, then pry open the glass without damaging the lock, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Zhao Xinli nodded, put on his gloves, took a brush and the black powder for lifting fingerprints, and coated the lock evenly, then brushed aside the excess to reveal seven incomplete fingerprints.

After collecting them, he placed the items into the evidence bag in the investigation kit, then carefully removed the putty from the edge of the glass and took out the nails. Using tape to cover the glass and pulling, the glass pane came loose.

Reaching through the hole in the glass, he turned the bronze, three-ring lock key, and dropped it into an evidence bag, then gently pushed open the door.

By that time, Zhou Ning was fully equipped with three pairs of gloves, goggles, a gas mask, and a hazmat suit. Only then did he pick up the investigation kit and walk to the main house.

A closed room—a favorite of Conan's.

Zhou Ning took a deep breath and cast aside his messy thoughts.

A male corpse, from the waist down unclothed, intruded into Zhou Ning's view, a knife embedded in his back near the heart, a pool and splatters of blood on the ground, as well as drag marks smeared with blood, darkened by swarms of flies flitting up and down, and some pale white maggots wriggling on his body.

All the hairs on Zhou Ning's body stood on end, and the disgusting feeling aggravated his sense of oxygen deprivation.

However, this was not the time to falter.

Stepping inside, Xu Dayuan and the others had already gathered near the door. Many pairs of eyes were fixated on Zhou Ning's actions. The old cop chatting with Xu Dayuan gestured with his chin towards him.

"To come prepared with all these things shows he's a professional. When did you stumble upon such a treasure?"

Xu Dayuan remained unfazed, donned his mask, and crossed his arms.

"Professional indeed. Doctor Zhou is formally trained. It was his credit that the suspect of the 9.27 case was caught within 24 hours."

The old cop appeared surprised as they continued their discussion in hushed tones.

Such praise didn't excite Zhou Ning; rather, it added pressure to him.

He found a clean spot to set down the investigation kit and began to photograph the body and take measurements of the height and size of the victim's limbs.

The victim's left arm was stretched toward the door, right hand curled by his head, wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt, and lower body bare. Not far from the body, a pair of running shoes lay scattered, heels crushed down, and near the bedroom door, clothes were flung about, next to another bloodstain.

The victim's face was turned to the right, mouth agape, tongue protruding, eyes bulging, with the face and features all swollen. A cut was visible on the neck, around which maggots had gathered, eating away parts of the skin.

Zhou Ning's gaze swept over the maggots and flies, as the condition of the victim was scanned and appeared on a transparent screen before him.

At that moment, a familiar sound echoed by Zhou Ning's ear.

Ding, the system has issued a mission. Please assign a task difficulty: A. Beginner task; B. Intermediate task; C. Advanced task.

Zhou Ning was stunned. Is this how things were done now?

The three difficulty levels obviously indicated the highest was the most challenging to complete, and the rewards were correspondingly greater. Although he knew his own abilities, the allure of the potential rewards left Zhou Ning tempted. Perhaps he should aim for a middle ground and select the intermediate task?

As his mind weighed the options, a ding sounded in his ear, and the content on the screen changed.

Participant has selected the intermediate task; the task is now being issued.

Intermediate task details:

1. Based on the evidence at the scene, conduct a preliminary analysis and provide the causes of death for two victims within 60 minutes.

2. Find the murderer and all the evidence within 72 hours.

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Task Reward:

When only one element of the intermediate task is completed alone and the other is not, there will be no reward or punishment, and any late submissions will not count; if both tasks are completed within the allotted time, a corresponding reward will be drawn based on the quality of completion and the remaining time.

Zhou Ning was completely dumbfounded, as if a million crows had flown over his head. Is this really an intermediate task?

Thanks a lot, isn't this just making me do the work of an entire police team? You might as well kill me.

System Warning!

If the bound person abandons the task, all rewards previously obtained from the system will be retracted. Please confirm whether you wish to abandon the intermediate task?

Zhou Ning wimped out.

Grinding his teeth and taking deep breaths, he accepted the task!

Beep, the countdown begins!

With a beep, two countdown timers appeared at the top of the large screen: one read 00:59, and the other 71:59.

This...

What's with this overlapping timing? Are they even counting the hours like this?

Sighing, Zhou Ning stood up, gestured to Zhao Xinli outside the door, this wouldn't do, he needed to find help. Doing the investigation himself would take more than an hour.

Zhao Xinli, covering his mouth with a mask, carefully stepped around the bloodstains on the ground in his shoe covers and cautiously approached.

"What's up, Doctor Zhou?"

Zhou Ning didn't waste words, stuffing a camera into Zhao's embrace and tossing him another mask.

"Wear two layers of masks, it'll block some of the stench. Then just follow my lead. I'll place down the markers; you take photos when I tell you. If I do this alone, I won't be done by noon. We need to investigate the scene as quickly as possible and then remove the body."

Zhao Xinli wanted to refuse, but Xu Dayuan coughed, causing Zhao to shiver and obediently accepted the camera and mask, getting himself equipped.

"Alright, I'll follow your instructions."

At that moment, Xu Dayuan had pulled the old policeman aside. Zhou Ning only caught part of what Xu Dayuan said.

"Let's go, we'll investigate the periphery. Call the village committee, and that slightly simple-minded neighbor to ask questions. It's best to check and see if any households have surveillance installed, especially those with cars..."

Zhou Ning held a stack of numbered signs, arranging them around blood pools, blood droplets, swipe pattern bloodstains,[2] and bloodied footprints surrounding the male victim's clothes and shoes.

Afterward, he waved Zhao Xinli over for photography.

Zhou Ning bent down to search the pockets of the clothes and shoes, finding only a shopping receipt from Liqun, which he bagged as evidence.

Using tweezers, he picked up several pupae of varying sizes. Their color was light brown, and their shells not so hard. Zhou Ning looked up to see the flies buzzing around the corpse; there were common house flies as well as Lucilia sericata.

Looking at the wriggling maggots, Zhou Ning suppressed his disgust, picked out a particularly fat and strong one, and measured it with a ruler. It was 13 millimeters long. He found smaller ones and measured a few, their lengths being 10, 11, and 12 millimeters, respectively.

His mind raced as he recalled the parts about insect evidence and estimation of time of death regarding crime scene investigation.

Maggots appear 10-20 hours after death. Flies grow at a speed of 2-3 millimeters per day, and as for the presence of fly pupae, they are generally found 5-7 days afterward.

Zhou Ning crouched and shifted a couple of steps. The male victim's facial features were grossly distorted. He extended his hand, wanting to push the victim's head to see the full face, but the mushy touch that felt almost like it was about to melt dissuaded him from that action.

However, this slight movement caused the flies on the victim's neck to burst into flight. Near the back of the ear where the hair meets the jawline, there was a mole the size of a fingertip with a few hairs on it.

Zhou Ning felt a surge of excitement and looked up for Zhao Xinli.

"Hurry over and take a photo!"

...

PS:

[1] Flies and maggots: In forensic entomology, the various developmental stages of flies can be used to deduce the time of death of the deceased, making the maggots at the scene very important too (although they are disgusting).

Maggot eggs develop into larvae in one day, which then feed voraciously on the corpse, turning into first-instar larvae in another day, then into second-instar larvae after another day of frenzied feeding, and finally into third-instar larvae. They pupate after four to six days, and flies emerge from the pupae after five more days.

According to tests, it takes 19 days for eggs to develop into adult flies at an indoor temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, and if the temperature is above 25 degrees, it takes 12 days. Thus, time of death = time of fly egg-laying + hatching time of fly eggs + maggot growth time.

The length of a maggot upon hatching is roughly 0.175 centimeters. Under the same temperature and sufficient food, when the temperature is above 25 degrees Celsius, the growth time of maggots has a correlation coefficient of approximately 85 hours per centimeter.

[2] Swipe pattern bloodstains: refer to bloodstains formed when an object soaked in blood directly contacts the carrier in a smearing, rubbing, touching, or scratching motion.

For example, bloodstained hair rubbing against an object often forms streak-like bloodstains, bloodstained fingers can leave patch-like (when smeared), block-like (when touched), dot-like (when pinched), and long streak-like (when dragged) bloodstains.

Bloodstains formed by writing or drawing with blood-soaked hands or other objects fall within the category of swipe pattern bloodstains, hence they are regarded as a more special type.

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