Chapter 24: The Extra Bloodstains and DNA

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While Forensic Pathologist Lin busied herself with the autopsy, Cen Lian and Tang Hua undid the layers of wrapping around the body bag. Inside were two thighs still attached to the pelvis.

It appeared that the killer had made an incision across the waist and abdomen, then stuffed the internal organs into the body bag as well.

“It’s been divided into roughly four sections.” Forensic Pathologist Lin came over to glance inside when she saw them open the bag. “The two upper limbs were probably severed separately, along with the head.”

Cen Lian gestured with his hands, roughly reconstructing how Hu Tingting had dismembered the body.

“Dragging a body across provinces and cities like this—either she’s incredibly bold, or she really believed she’d never be discovered.” Tang Hua rarely encountered corpses, and seeing this half of a dismembered body instinctively made him nauseous. Still, he was not quite sick enough to vomit. He could only hunch over with a pale face, staring wide-eyed at the remains and trying to see whether they revealed any identifying features.

Cen Lian was also examining the lower half of Chen Nan’s body.

Although Chen Nan’s criminal record showed that he had a killing on his hands as well, Cen Lian was unsure how to connect this quarter of a corpse to that murder.

“Brother Cen, you really don’t feel anything looking at a dismembered body like this?” Tang Hua found it increasingly unbearable and had to turn away for a moment.

He had worked as a criminal police officer at a local police station for five years and had seen corpses before. But as they worked at a police station, they rarely encountered bodies that had been dismembered.

Cen Lian remembered what he had been like the first time he had secretly sat in on an autopsy class. Tang Hua’s reaction now was already comparatively mild.

“I nearly threw up the first time I watched an autopsy. You’re doing better than I did.” Cen Lian was not sure whether that would comfort Tang Hua. “But I sneaked into an autopsy class for forensic medicine students. If I reacted too obviously, they would have thrown me out, so I managed not to vomit.”

Forensic Pathologist Lin laughed aloud from nearby.

“You’re quite eager to learn.” A strand of hair was caught in the tweezers in her hand. “Come over and take a look. Judging by its length, this hair probably doesn’t belong to Sun Xiaoyu. I saw the photographs from her first autopsy, and neither the length nor the texture matches her hair.”

Cen Lian and Tang Hua had just finished arranging Chen Nan’s half-body on the autopsy table. At Forensic Pathologist Lin’s words, they immediately perked up.

In the middle of the night, there was no news more invigorating than this.

They hurried to her side and watched as she placed the strand of hair into an evidence bag.

“Send it for testing first. We may not be able to extract DNA from it, but I’ll keep looking.” Forensic Pathologist Lin handed them the evidence bag and continued working over the corpse.

At midnight, two vigorous young men carrying an evidence bag walked out of the forensic autopsy room and stood outside the funeral home.

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Tang Hua shivered, suddenly feeling a chill run down his back.

“What are you panicking about? If a ghost really wanted to hunt us down, the owner of that quarter of a corpse would be its first target.” Cen Lian yawned. He was actually afraid of ghosts too, but ever since he had begun working so hard to send people down below, he had somehow started to feel that ghosts ought to be afraid of him.

Tang Hua felt an even colder chill behind him.

The two of them returned to headquarters and discovered that the Criminal Technology Division had not yet gone off duty.

“You’re still working?” Tang Hua entered in confusion, the evidence bag in hand. “Is there another case that needs testing?”

Chang Yuan, dark circles under his eyes, raised his head.

“Didn’t you stop a vehicle today? All of this was collected from it.” With a smile that seemed to hover on the brink of sudden death, he took the evidence bag from Tang Hua. “This one needs a DNA test?”

“Yes. We suspect this hair belongs to the suspect in the Sun Xiaoyu case.” Cen Lian felt that the Criminal Technology Division ought to be supplied with nitroglycerin and emergency heart medication.

“Come back for the result tomorrow. There was far too much material in that vehicle. I’ll finish what’s already on my desk first.” Chang Yuan was working on blood DNA tests, and several processed samples sat beside him, still awaiting examination.

“You’ve worked hard.” Cen Lian meant it sincerely. Judging by the number of samples waiting to be tested in the laboratory, Chang Yuan would probably be working through the night.

Tang Hua could barely keep his eyes open by then. He returned to the dormitory with Cen Lian and nearly walked into his own door.

Cen Lian helplessly supported him inside and threw him onto the bed.

Tang Hua’s body had not yet fallen asleep, but his mind had already begun talking in its dreams.

“Don’t stop me! I’m going to eat that half a roast duck!”

Cen Lian thought of the half-corpse on the autopsy table and suddenly lost his appetite.

…

The next afternoon, Cen Lian ordered half a roast duck for Tang Hua.

“You repeated that at least eight times yesterday.” He opened the takeaway bag. “Eat more.”

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Remembering the half-corpse from the previous night, Tang Hua still rolled up a duck pancake with tears in his eyes.

“Whatever. I’ll eat first and worry about the rest later!”

Wu Qiushan walked in through the office doorway at that moment, looking extremely excited.

“Cen Lian, the results you wanted are here. I extracted some skin flakes and several strands of hair from the clothing Sun Xiaoyu was wearing when she was murdered. The tests matched them to Lin Xiangyuan’s DNA. I also ran into Forensic Pathologist Lin on my way here, and she asked me to bring you the forensic report as well. Of the two hairs she extracted from Sun Xiaoyu’s body, one also tested positive for Lin Xiangyuan’s DNA!”

Wu Qiushan had brought nothing but good news this time, and the previously gloomy office suddenly came alive.

“We finally have direct evidence!” Cen Lian took the report and carefully read it through before letting out a sigh of relief.

He had been worried that Sun Xiaoyu’s body had been frozen for too long and that they might not be able to obtain DNA from it. Fortunately, about twenty percent of all the samples they found were still usable.

Yuan Chenxi was already calling Tan Tonghui. Their squad leader was currently searching with Hu Tingting for the three remaining sections of Chen Nan’s body, and was not even in Kang’an City at the moment.

Cen Lian and Wu Qiushan both waited for Yuan Chenxi’s report.

Before long, Yuan Chenxi hung up.

“Captain Tan says you should go arrest the suspect first. Captain Liang will be back shortly to join you.” Yuan Chenxi also seemed much more relaxed. At last, the case had been solved.

“Brother Yue, you didn’t come all this way just to deliver the report, did you?” Cen Lian noticed that Wu Qiushan was still holding something. “Is it about the dismemberment case?”

Wu Qiushan set down another stack of reports.

“I really did come because of that. There are blood DNA samples from three people in the vehicle you stopped, and none of them belong to Hu Tingting, the person you arrested. Of the three remaining DNA profiles, one belongs to Chen Nan, whom Hu Tingting killed and dismembered. I’m still working to identify the other two.”

“There are two more people whose identities are unknown?” Cen Lian froze.

The text bubble he had seen on the quarter of Chen Nan’s body indicated that Chen Nan had killed only one person.

Then whose blood did the other sample belong to?

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