Chapter 1176 - The Mystery Behind the Preserved Corpses
Chapter 1176: The Mystery Behind the Preserved Corpses
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I’ve already called my shifu!” Zhang Peipei said to Zhao Yu and Miao Ying as she stood outside the dissection room, wearing a white coat. “Even if he can’t come, he will send a more experienced forensic doctor. I can’t handle such a corpse!
“She is beyond my field of knowledge. I have never seen anything like this before, really… it’s incredible!”
“Don’t get so worked up!” Zhao Yu said curiously. He had never seen Zhang Peipei, who was usually always calm, so flustered before. “What exactly happened?”
“Leader Zhao, I have already ordered a stop to the transfer of the remaining corpses, we aren’t moving them anymore!” Zhang Peipei said, taking off the mask and speaking in a panicked voice. “I have made them put back those that have been stored in the corpse bags. Everything must be left as it is, at least until my shifu comes…”
“Huh, is it that serious?” Zhao Yu asked.
Zhao Yu and Miao Ying glanced at each other, immediately feeling that the matter on hand was of high importance. If it were not for an emergency, Zhang Peipei would not have the right to suspend the autopsy process.
“Peipei, don’t panic. Tell us what happened first,” Miao Ying urged quickly. “Is there a problem with the body?”
“Yes!” Zhang Peipei said, calming her emotions a little. “The corpses are very well preserved, from the skin to the internal organs. Not only did the body not blacken, but rigor mortis also has yet to set in. It’s as if everything just happened a few moments ago!”
“What?! How could that be?” Zhao Yu asked, suddenly feeling a chill. “Don’t tell me… Were these girls just killed? Could it be… and…”
The meaning behind Zhao Yu’s words was evident. He was wondering whether or not there would be girls in the coffins who had yet to die, and whether they could be rescued.
“No… no! That’s not what I meant!” Zhang Peipei said in horror, taking a heavy breath. “The deceased has no temperature, no heartbeat, and no pulse or signs of breathing. We can be sure that she has no vital signs!
“And… during the autopsy, the body did show signs of rapid decay. The skin’s moisture has evaporated and oxidized, and the body has dried up substantially. The face is even deformed. From what I can see, it’s completely different from what has been found in the hanging coffins!”
“Huh?!” Upon hearing this, Zhao Yu and Miao Ying reacted with shock. Zhao Yu hurriedly asked, “So, nobody used any sort of preservation treatment on them?”
“I don’t think so!” Zhang Peipei said. “Other than the makeup on the face, there are no signs of artificial treatment on the corpse that I just dissected!”
“Then… what about the cause of death?” Miao Ying asked urgently.
“There are obvious cuts on the right wrist of the deceased, and the wound is so deep it reached the arteries,” Zhang Peipei said. “It is initially suspected that the possibility of death by cut wrist is very high!”
“That means to say…” Miao Ying wondered. “It can’t be confirmed if it was a suicide or a homicide? Does the deceased show any signs of fainting?”
“This requires further testing!” Zhang Peipei said, seemingly returning to her previous calm self and continuing without emotion. “About this corpse, my colleagues are still at work dissecting it, and there seem to be other causes of death. So, we need to wait until the dissection of the corpses is complete and wait for the laboratory test results before we know for sure!”
“Death by wrist cutting, a body that’s not decayed…” Zhao Yu thought for a moment before asking, “If the body is not decayed, that means…?”
“That’s right!” Zhang Peipei cut in, immediately nodding when she realized what Zhao Yu meant. “We can’t judge the specific time of death!”
“Does that mean we won’t know when this girl was killed?” Zhao Yu asked, turning to Miao Ying. “Leader Miao, has the identity of this body been discovered?”
“Not yet!” Miao Ying said. “Zeng Ke is still attempting to match them to the missing population database, but currently only managed to match Geng Yaai!”
“That slow?” Zhao Yu shook his head and turned to Zhang Peipei to ask, “Dr. Zhang, is there any information available other than the time of death?”
“Hmm…” Zhang Peipei began, nodding. “The female corpse that we are dissecting now will be referred to as female corpse number one since she’s the first female corpse transferred here from the Seven Stars Hanging Coffins.
“According to preliminary tests, the age of female corpse number one should be between 16 to 18 years old! Height is 1.55 meters, weighing 45kg…”
After that, Zhang Peipei continued reporting the information of the corpse to Zhao Yu and Miao Ying.
After the report was completed, Zhao Yu continued, asking, “How is Geng Yaai, Dr Zhang? Didn’t I ask you to transfer out her body first?”
“Oh…” Zhang Peipei heard Zhao Yu’s concerns and quickly pointed towards the dissection room. “It has been transported to the dissection room and is waiting to be processed! Geng Yaai was transferred from the sixth hanging coffin, so we call her female corpse number six!
“Leader Zhao, I’ll personally be responsible for it!” Zhang Peipei said, “Back then on the cliff when you informed us, we were dealing with female corpse number two.
“So, female corpses number one, number two, and number six are currently being sent to the autopsy room. The rest of them were put back in the hanging coffins and left as they were. I hope the remaining corpses can be dealt with properly. So, I hope you can understand me acting on my own previously. If I had asked you for your orders first, I might not have been able to preserve the bodies!”
“I understand, I understand! Even if you had asked me for orders, I would have made the same decision! Nobody wants the corpses to be destroyed like that!” Zhao Yu said, nodding. “The decaying process for the three corpses can’t be stopped anymore, so you must hurry up!
“Especially female corpse number six!” Zhao Yu emphasized. “Geng Yaai is the only deceased whom we have identified at this point. Therefore, we must give priority to this corpse as it may be crucial to solving this case!”
“I understand. Rest assured!” Zhang Peipei said, nodding.
“Uhm…” Zhao Yu glanced at Miao Ying and said to Zhang Peipei, “About the corpses left in the hanging coffins… Dr. Zhang! Can you at least do some simple inspections? Even if they have to be done inside the hanging coffins themselves?”
“Yeah!” Miao Ying echoed after thinking about it with Zhao Yu. “Only by understanding the cause of death of all the girls will we be able to figure out how to go about doing our investigations properly!”
“Okay, okay!” Zhan Peipei promised, hurriedly taking out her phone. “I will contact my colleagues now and have them find out the cause of death of these corpses by today!”
“Okay…” Zhao Yu said.
Zhao Yu nodded. At that point, the door of the autopsy room suddenly swung open and a heavily armed forensics doctor stepped out with a plate. On the plate was a navy-blue shroud.
Zhao Yu and Miao Ying recognized it at once. It was the shroud that female corpse number one had been wearing.
“Dr. Zhang,” the forensic doctor who was holding the plate said to Zhang Peipei. “Please, have a look. There is a piece of yellow paper inside the shroud, and some words are written on it!”
As he said this, he took a yellow piece of paper out of the shroud.
The yellow paper was not large by any means, and it was not folded. After it was taken out, everyone could clearly see the written text. It was a traditional character written with a red pen.
“One, two, three…” Miao Ying counted. There were eight letters on the paper.
“Ren, Gu, Cing, Xin…” Zhang Peipei read out the words, wondering. “What does this mean? It seems rather familiar.”
“No way?” Zhao Yu shook his head and smiled. “Have none of you ever done fortune-telling? This is the legendary eight characters of a person’s birth date and horoscope!”