Wan Junjie widened his eyes after a long while and asked, "This isn’t something to joke about, right?"
"I’ll get a brighter light for you to take a closer look."
Then, he loudly said, "Mr. Zhang, could you bring a brighter flashlight?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chao immediately came over with a high-intensity flashlight.
Under the intense beam, Jiang An said, "No mistake! It’s indeed the left thigh femur."
"Moreover, the lower end of this femur also shows evidence of being cut by a power saw."
Zhang Chao looked puzzled upon seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the four people.
"Isn’t this the same as the one we found earlier?"
"A person has two thigh bones."
Li Jian said with a deep voice, "The key is, both are left legs!" Official source is novel-fire.ɴet
With a "thump," the flashlight in Zhang Chao’s hand fell to the ground.
He just felt his head buzzing.
This afternoon he received a call from Captain Li Jian to find the murder weapon.
He originally thought it was a good task, at least the homicide investigation would bring some glory to the Back Mountain Police Station.
But since they discovered this heap of White Bone, the entire afternoon has been like a roller coaster.
From suspecting it to be a natural burial to confirming it as body dumping.
From one deceased to two deceased.
Instinctively, beads of sweat rolled down Zhang Chao’s glistening forehead.
Li Jian harbored no doubts about Jiang An’s conclusion.
After calming himself slightly, he closely examined the White Bone on the ground and said, "We’ve only discovered one skull so far."
Jiang An said, "A normal human body has 206 bones."
"At a glance, this pile of bones doesn’t appear to have 400 pieces."
Li Jian said, "Are you suggesting there might be other burial sites where the bodies were dumped?"
Jiang An nodded.
Then, Li Jian stood up and said, "We’ll immediately split into four teams, three people in each group, and begin searching the surrounding area, focusing on finding the remaining White Bone."
"Jiang An, Zhang Yean, both of you will stay here and continue the examination, while I’ll lead the others to search around."
"Alright!"
Immediately, Jiang An lowered his head and continued the examination.
He picked up a mandible and held it in his hand.
With a "click," Zhang Yean pressed the camera shutter.
Zhang Yean said, "This person’s teeth look very neat."
"Before dying, the deceased likely had dentures and wore six of them, including the bilateral central incisors, lateral incisors, and canines."
"Six dentures must have cost a lot, right?"
Jiang An looked at the mandible, "The material of the dentures seems to be of good quality; even after being buried in the soil for so long, they still look lustrous."
"This deceased must have been very particular about appearance!"
Next, Jiang An picked up a pelvis.
"Senior Sister, please photograph the subpubic angle here."
"Click"
"What’s the significance of this angle?"
Only to see Jiang An extend his thumb and index finger, making a V-shape and placing it at the subpubic angle.
"The subpubic angle of this deceased is blunt; she was female."
Holding the camera with one hand, Zhang Yean extended her thumb and middle finger, making the same V-shape.
She curiously asked, "Can you determine the gender of the deceased like this?"
Jiang An nodded and said, "This subpubic angle is the passageway for childbirth."
"Females, because they give birth, have a blunt subpubic angle."
"Males don’t need to give birth, so their subpubic angle is sharp."
Curiously, Zhang Yean asked, "If it were a male subpubic angle, could we also use our fingers to measure?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang An extended his index and middle fingers, making a "V" shape.
"The male subpubic angle is this gesture."
Zhang Yean said, "Simplicity at its best; you truly are a forensic expert."
Immediately afterward, Jiang An said solemnly, "This woman has given birth before."
"Huh?"
"You can even tell that?"
Holding the pelvis in his hand, Jiang An said, "You can see evidence of post-fracture healing on the upper border of the pubis."
"Post-fracture healing?"
Jiang An replied, "During childbirth, as the fetus separates from the mother, the intense pulling of muscles at the pubic opening results in partial destruction of the bone at the muscle attachment site."
"This damaged bone repairs to become lumpy afterwards."
Zhang Yean looked down closely and said.
"It’s true!"
Meanwhile.
Captain Li Jian led the officers to search for White Bone.
The four groups moved in different directions, expanding their search radius.
After 30 minutes, Li Jian and Wan Junjie stopped.
Before their eyes, they could see partially exposed White Bone.
Li Jian said, "Wan, inform everyone we’ve found it."
Realizing he had no walkie-talkie in hand, Wan Junjie turned and shouted, "Guys, we found it, no need to search anymore."
At this moment.
Jiang An and Zhang Yean had essentially completed the examination and photo documentation of this pile of White Bone.
minutes later, everyone gathered around.
The same workflow was applied.
Everyone worked together to excavate all the White Bone.
Looking at the White Bone on the ground, Li Jian’s brows furrowed.
"Still no skull!"
Everyone fell into thought upon hearing this.
Moments later, Wan Junjie speculated, "Could it have been carried off by animals?"
Zhang Chao said, "I think it’s possible; there are many wild large animals here."
Jiang An didn’t comment; he squatted by the White Bone.
Under the intense beam, his gaze focused on one vertebra after another.
After 2 minutes, he picked up a vertebra and examined it carefully.
Li Jian, Zhang Yean, and others followed him.
"Jiang An, did you discover something?"
Holding the vertebra, Jiang An said solemnly, "Mr. Li, this is the second cervical vertebra of a human body, very close to the skull."
"On this cervical vertebra, you can still see evidence of a power saw cut."
In an instant, everyone’s gaze focused on the seemingly small vertebra.
"Therefore, I believe this deceased’s skull wasn’t carried off by an animal but wasn’t buried here."
Zhang Yean asked, "Could it possibly be buried at a third location?"
Jiang An said, "Personally, I think that possibility is very small."
"The skull of the deceased woman was buried in the soil earlier."
"If the goal were merely to dump and bury bodies, the perpetrator wouldn’t need to do this."
Li Jian asked, "What do you mean?"
"I suspect the perpetrator somehow deliberately cut and preserved the deceased’s skull, which holds special significance."
Li Jian nodded, suddenly recalling a disgusting case he investigated years ago, where the perpetrator cut and preserved parts of the deceased’s organs post-crime.
Next, Jiang An picked up the pelvis from the ground and used his fingers to measure.
"This too is a female, but she hasn’t given birth."
Li Jian squatted down to ask, "What about the age?"
"This female deceased was about 23 years old."
"The earlier female deceased was about 22 years old."
After examining a round of White Bone, Jiang An looked around.
Li Jian asked, "Jiang An, what are you looking for?"
Jiang An replied solemnly, "Mr. Li, why haven’t we found the clothes and shoes of these two deceased women?"
Instantly, everyone looked down at the White Bone, lost in thought.