4 Chapter 4: Is Big Brother Guessing Riddles?_1

Wow, am I really this lucky?

Zhou Ning bent excitedly, leaning in to inspect the school badge closely.

There were bloodstains on the badge, but the words "Qidong College" were extremely conspicuous.

Finding this made the identity of the deceased much easier to trace. Zhou Ning quickly wiped off the blood and took close-up photos of both the school badge and the deceased's face.

Turning to the door, Mr. Liu, the auxiliary police officer who had been waiting outside, poked his head in.

"What's up, Doctor Zhou?"

"Mr. Liu, do you have a police device on you? I need to send the deceased's photo to Xu Da."

Mr. Liu nodded eagerly, taking out a very advanced-looking mobile phone from his pocket.

Zhou Ning didn't waste any words, took the phone, walked over to the old computer in the autopsy room, uploaded the photos, found Xu Da, and clicked send.

He then dialed Xu Da's mobile number, and after just one ring, the call was immediately answered on the other side.

"Did you find something, Doctor Zhou?"

Zhou Ning swallowed, trying to contain his excitement, and spoke evenly,

"Xu Da, I borrowed Mr. Liu's police device to send you two photos. One is a photo of the deceased's face, and the other is a photo of a school badge found on the deceased. I suspect the deceased is a student from Qidong College. Try using the photos to search for a match."

Xu Dayuan laughed heartily.

"Haha, good, good, I'll go and contact the school for identification."

After hanging up, Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief, handed the police device back to Mr. Liu, who dashed off without another word. Seeing his timid manner, Zhou Ning suddenly felt pretty good about himself.

Putting down the phone, Zhou Ning put on a disposable isolation suit, complete with a cap, mask, and latex gloves. He picked up a clipboard that had the autopsy record printout on it.

Since the identity of the deceased wasn't confirmed yet, Zhou Ning didn't rush into things; he simply held the clipboard and closed his eyes slightly.

He had just mentioned receiving a reward, but his mind was filled with forensic evidence knowledge frameworks: bloodstain pattern analysis, inferring the cause of injury, electronic evidence survey, forensic scene analysis and reconstruction, arson case scene examination, dismemberment, and unidentified body case scene examinations.

Various detailed knowledge, even various scene photos, flashed through Zhou Ning's mind like a movie. This knowledge was very comprehensive, including cases with targeted explanations, as though it originally belonged to his memory.

This time he did not experience a splitting headache, probably because it wasn't the sort of forced feeding of information that would cause a headache.

Zhou Ning reviewed everything seriously, and this time the knowledge seemed clearer than when he first received this forensic scene study.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Zhou Ning opened his eyes and pushed his glasses up.

The image of the body and various known pieces of information beside it remained unchanged, except for a new sentence next to the body's profile.

Suspicion: Is the deceased a student from Qidong College?

As for the system, it was quite silent, not prompting any new tasks. It seemed that if he made any discovery during the autopsy, the system would consolidate it, but he needed to make the discoveries on his own. Without progress, he couldn't trigger any system prompts.

It was like being in the newbie village, and not triggering the mission by finding the NPC at the village entrance – you simply couldn't leave the newbie village.

Having understood this, Zhou Ning stopped flailing around aimlessly. Since he was waiting for the call, there was no point in just waiting.

He found some ink and began collecting fingerprints, then measured the rectal temperature, got Mr. Liu to find someone to take an X-ray of the deceased - the autopsy room had this equipment, but he didn't know how to use it.

After half an hour of work, Zhou Ning recorded the state of rigor mortis in various joints of the deceased. Holding the clipboard, he recorded all the data before calling Doctor Liu again.

"Master, let me report to you, I measured the rectal temperature of the deceased as 32.1 degrees. According to the formula, 37 degrees minus the body's rectal temperature divided by 0.83 times a coefficient, I deduced the time of death was about 8.27 hours ago.

My measurement time was 10:50 in the morning, which means the time of death was around 2:23 in the early morning. Rigor mortis was only found in the lower jaw and the fingers, consistent with the rectal temperature deduction. Master, how should I write this time of death report?"

On the other end, Doctor Liu hissed, perhaps touching a sore spot.

"Zhou Ning, your calculation is correct. Considering our high temperature here, calculate it using the summer coefficient. However, when reporting the time of death to Xu Da and the others, a range is enough. Just report to Xu Da that the estimated time of death is between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. on September 27th. Did you find the identity of the deceased?"

"Not yet, but I found a medical college school badge on the deceased, and Xu Da and the others have gone to check on it."

"Then there's no rush. You've been very detailed in your work. Just wait a bit. Once I finish the IV, I'll come to the autopsy room to have a look."

Hearing Doctor Liu say this, Zhou Ning also felt reassured and hung up the phone.

Just as the call ended, Xu Dayuan's number flashed on the phone, and Zhou Ning hurriedly answered.

"Doctor Zhou, you're at the autopsy room, aren't you? I'm bringing the victim's family over for identification. Prepare the autopsy consent form."

"Okay."

In the vast autopsy room, Zhou Ning rummaged through the desk next to the computer and finally found a consent form. Just as he was ready, the door to the autopsy room was pushed open.

Xu Dayuan entered with a man and a woman, followed by a policewoman who looked like an auntie. Their tense expressions made it clear they were immediate family.

Actually, the identification could be confirmed through photographs, but coming to see in person was also a way to let go of the last bit of hope.

After all, the old saying goes, we need to see the living in person and the dead in body.

Mr. Liu closed the door and stopped the two, handing them masks. Zhou Ning took the consent form and walked over, standing between the autopsy table and the relatives.

Xu Dayuan nodded toward Zhou Ning, trying to make his voice sound gentler as he said:

"Come closer and see, is this your little Man'er?"

They leaned in to look. The man coped fine, but the woman collapsed to the floor, her wailing filling the autopsy room.

Xu Dayuan exhaled. The reaction was telling enough, but the necessary procedures still had to be followed.

"You two, try to control your emotions. We have many questions to discuss with you. The child is gone, things can't be left unclear like this. The priority is to catch the criminal. Come, sign the consent form first, and then we can talk in detail outside."

As he spoke, he gestured to the policewoman with a nod of his head. She helped the woman out, and the man took the tissue offered by Zhou Ning and wiped away his tears before looking at the autopsy consent form handed to him by Zhou Ning.

Clearly, the man's movements froze.

Xu Dayuan seemed very familiar with such scenes and continued to speak on his own:

"Actually, according to the procedure, for criminal cases, we can proceed with the autopsy without family consent. However, since the identity of the deceased is unclear, we wanted you to take a look first. We've already delayed enough time, and every extra minute we delay can reduce the chances of catching the killer, right?"

The man nodded, not needing any more words from Xu Dayuan. He simply took the autopsy consent form from Zhou Ning's hand and signed his name. He then gave Zhou Ning and Xu Dayuan a look and bowed deeply at ninety degrees.

"My little Man'er passed away so suddenly. I implore Officer Xu to do his utmost to solve the case and catch the killer as soon as possible."

Xu Dayuan nodded, patted the man's shoulder, and pointed to Zhou Ning, saying:

"Brother, we all have kids at our age, I understand how you feel. I can't stand to see such a criminal go unpunished. See him? This is our new high-flyer. He's the one who identified your little Man'er's identity. We have professionals and will certainly do our best to solve the case. Come on, first talk to our officers and provide information."

With that, Xu Dayuan led the man out. Zhou Ning blinked, never having expected to be used as a selling point himself one day.

A moment later, Xu Dayuan returned at a quick pace.

Looking at Zhou Ning, his gaze had changed. He took off his cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Not bad, Doctor Zhou, very observant. I thought it would take some effort to verify the identity, but I never expected it to be solved so quickly wherever we looked. You should record this too."

As he spoke, he handed Zhou Ning a piece of paper. It had a photo of a girl with a bright smile, wafting long hair, and a pale yellow dress, all exuding the spirit of youth. He knew it was a photo of the deceased. It was actually hard to link them together because the victim's face was already deformed.

"The deceased is named Su Manli, 17 years old, a third-year student in the 3+4 nursing program. Her academics aren't strong, and she's a bit rebellious, living on her own in an apartment next to the school. Her father owns a Volkswagen 4S shop and doesn't usually live in the city to take care of business.

The school revealed upon inquiry that she often changed boyfriends, was either skipping class or hanging out with guys outside of school to sing and drink. She was frequently reprimanded. The teacher, however, always spoke well of her, probably because her father had a way of ingratiating himself.

On the way here, her father kept saying that he suspected someone was taking revenge on him and harmed his child and that we should investigate his competitors. Alright, I've given you a general idea of the situation. You understand what else you should look for in the autopsy, right?"

Zhou Ning was stunned. Is this a guessing game?

How would I, such an innocent person, know what you're trying to say? Can't you just speak plainly?

............

PS:

[1] Death time estimation calculation: According to domestic research on post-mortem body temperature, within 4---5 hours after death, the production of heat in the body has not completely ceased, and the average hourly decrease of the body temperature is 0.58 degrees; 5---16 hours after death, heat production completely stops, and the average hourly decrease of the body temperature is 0.97 degrees; 16---24 hours after death, since the temperature difference between the corpse and the environment narrows, the decrease in body temperature slows down, averaging 0.54 degrees per hour. This research established a formula for calculating the time of death, which, after practical application and improvement, led to the following simplified formula:

Time elapsed after death (hours) = 37 degrees - rectal temperature of the corpse / 0.83 * coefficient

(Coefficient to be multiplied: 1 for spring and autumn, 1.4 for summer, 0.7 for winter.)