AD | Chapter 8

As soon as Lu Qingfeng got out of the car, Tao Yu ran over in a hurry. “Captain Lu, we found the man in black mentioned by the person who reported the case by checking the surveillance footage from the traffic police brigade. The surveillance shows that the informant did converse with the man in black. However, after the conversation, he got into a taxi and left the monitoring range.”

“What was the license plate number of the taxi?” Lu Qingfeng asked.

“It’s here. However, the surveillance didn’t capture it completely. The license plate starts with Rong A·61. Jiang-ge has gone to check the license plate number. We should have clues soon,” Tao Yu replied.

Lu Qingfeng nodded. “Alright, go to the conference room and wait for me first. The brothers who went out on field duty should be back by now. Let’s hold a brief meeting in the conference room. This serial killing case doesn’t seem as simple as it appears on the surface. We need to summarize all the known clues we currently have.”

“Oh, okay. But where are you going, Captain Lu?” Tao Yu asked confusedly before leaving. He only heard Lu Qingfeng reply, “I’m going to check with Doctor Lin to see if there are any important findings on the third deceased person, or if the autopsy reports of the first two deceased persons need any supplements.”

Hearing the other party’s answer, Tao Yu finally realized something. He let out a thoughtful “Oh” and then turned to leave. Instantly, only Lu Qingfeng remained standing in the original spot. After staring blankly for a moment, he ultimately walked toward the forensic autopsy room.

As soon as he arrived outside the autopsy room and knocked on the door, the main door was opened by someone. It was Lin Shuyao. He was wearing a large white coat, had a mask on his face, and was holding two surgical scalpels used for dissection.

Seeing that the person at the door was him, Lin Shuyao was slightly startled. Then, he signaled with his eyes for him to put on the white coat from the cabinet. After that, he turned and entered the autopsy room with the scalpels in hand.

Lu Qingfeng put on the clothes and followed him in. As soon as he walked over, he saw Lin Shuyao cut open the chest of the corpse lying on the autopsy table. As they had previously speculated, there was indeed heart tissue in the thoracic cavity.

Seeing the scene in front of them, both were stunned for a moment. Then, he watched as Lin Shuyao continued to open the deceased’s bulging abdomen. As soon as the abdomen was opened, a strong stench of decay permeated through the masks. He frowned, but an even more shocking scene occurred.

The abdominal organs of the corpse had all decomposed and vanished, except for the eight-month-old fetus in the uterus, which was well preserved. However, even so, it was still a stillborn.

Seeing this, Lu Qingfeng’s heart trembled uncontrollably. He was about to speak when he heard Lin Shuyao say with a frown, “Perhaps I submitted those two autopsy reports a bit too early. There are still some places that need supplementation. Moreover, with this body, some suspicious points can be explained.”

Lu Qingfeng was startled. “What do you mean by that?”

“When I saw the first two bodies earlier, I couldn’t figure out some of the doubts. But after seeing this body, I suddenly understood. I suspect that the killer of these three deceased persons is the same person, and the killer also exhibits some sadistic sexual behavior,” Lin Shuyao said calmly.

“All three deceased persons had tears in their perineal areas and traces of semen. Moreover, these traces were produced after death, not before. This means that the killer likely has necrophilic tendencies.”

“Necrophilia…” Lu Qingfeng repeated his words softly.

“However, overall, the cause of death for all three deceased persons belongs to asphyxia. But I think it was not ordinary mechanical asphyxia, but something else. Also, I found that the first two deceased persons had traces of being cut by a knife. I wrote the specific details of the knife in the report,” Lin Shuyao said.

Seeing Lu Qingfeng’s bewildered expression, Lin Shuyao immediately understood and said, “Captain Lu, haven’t you had time to read those two autopsy reports yet?”

Lu Qingfeng nodded. Then he heard Lin Shuyao say, “That’s perfect. I’ll tell you directly.”

After saying this, without waiting for Lu Qingfeng to respond, he continued speaking on his own. “The knife that cut open the first two corpses… Preliminary judgment is a curved blade of about 50 centimeters. The specific appearance should be similar to this scalpel in my hand, but it shouldn’t be a scalpel. I lean towards a tool similar to this kind of knife. Another point is the traces on their bodies…”

After listening to Lin Shuyao’s description, Lu Qingfeng frowned. It wasn’t for any other reason, but because he found the killer’s use of such a knife strange. Why would the killer choose this kind of knife? Instead of easily accessible kitchen knives, fruit knives, or daggers, he chose this uncommon type of knife.

Lu Qingfeng could only think of one possibility: that the killer only had this kind of item nearby when committing the crime. He picked it up conveniently, and he was also quite clear about the sharpness of this knife. Apart from this, he couldn’t think of any other possibilities.

Thinking this, Lu Qingfeng was about to speak when he heard Lin Shuyao continue. “Captain Lu, I just told you about the traces on the first two deceased persons, right? Both of the first two deceased persons had ligature marks from fishing line, and these marks appeared after death. However, the incision on the abdomen was cut open while they were alive, before death. This indicates that the two deceased persons experienced extreme pain before dying. In addition, there are traces of adhesive tape residue around their mouths and noses. Their mouths must have been taped shut.”

“But the third deceased person not only lacked the fishing lines found on the first two bodies, but also had no incision on her abdomen, and no traces of adhesive tape residue around her mouth. Everything looked normal, yet her cause of death was asphyxia.”

Lu Qingfeng was startled and then said, “How do you explain that?”

“It sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? Look here. The deceased’s face is swollen, and the conjunctiva shows petechial hemorrhages, which are basic characteristics of asphyxia. However… the remaining appearance is fundamentally different from mechanical asphyxia,” Lin Shuyao said seriously, looking at Lu Qingfeng.

“I have an idea here, but it only represents my personal opinion. Captain Lu, do you want to hear it?”

“Of course. Go ahead—”

“I think these deceased persons might have all died from dry drowning.”

“Dry drowning?” An unfamiliar term made Lu Qingfeng’s expression stiffen. He only heard Lin Shuyao continue, “Ordinary drowning involves a large amount of water and impurities entering the lungs, preventing gas exchange, essentially blocking the lungs and making it impossible to breathe. But dry drowning does not require a large amount of water. Only a very small amount of water is needed to trigger a bodily reaction similar to drowning. You could say that you just took a sip of water, the water entered your body, stimulated the larynx, and caused spasms. In layman’s terms, you slowly suffocated yourself to death.”

Lu Qingfeng was startled. “Is this method of death common?”

“Of course not. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be unaware of it,” Lin Shuyao said, looking up at Lu Qingfeng.

As he spoke, he used the scalpel to reopen the thoracic and abdominal cavities again and pointed toward the stomach. “Look, although this deceased person was a pregnant woman, what remained in her stomach was not gastric acid and undigested food, but a small amount of accumulated water. Also, her lungs formed edema, indicating that this small amount of water also entered her lungs. However, this alone cannot hundred percent prove that it was dry drowning. So I say this is just my speculation. Whether it is or not depends on you.”

“Water in the stomach…” Lu Qingfeng pondered for a while and then asked, “Generally speaking, how long does it take for the water in the stomach to be discharged?”

“It depends on individual constitution. If fast, it reaches the bladder in ten to fifteen minutes. If slow, it takes dozens of minutes. However, people suffering from dry drowning show no special symptoms in the early stage, which is why it is often overlooked. But in the later stage, as time prolongs, it leads to difficulty breathing and hypoxia, ultimately resulting in death.”

“So, these three deceased persons all experienced what you called dry drowning immediately after drinking water?”

Lin Shuyao nodded, then shook his head. “It can’t be said exactly like that, but this factor indeed exists.”

After saying this, he walked to the tray, put the scalpel back inside, then returned the white coat to the cabinet. After washing his hands, he prepared to leave the autopsy room.

Unexpectedly, just as he took two steps out of the autopsy room, a key was thrown in front of him again. Lin Shuyao was startled, but he only heard Lu Qingfeng instruct, “Go wait for me in my car first. I’ll hold a meeting for them and come shortly.”

“No, Captain Lu, my work is done. I’m off work. What do you mean by forcing me?” Lin Shuyao said helplessly.

“What kind of ‘done’ is this? Even if you are a forensic doctor, you are a public servant. Before the case is solved, we public servants do not need rest. Go wait in the car. I’ll take you somewhere later.”

“Hey, no, Lu Qingfeng, I don’t get overtime pay. What kind of public servant am I?” Lin Shuyao replied. Unfortunately, Lu Qingfeng had already hurried away, obviously not hearing his subsequent protests.

He sighed helplessly, but still obediently walked toward the car.

After learning that the cause of death for all three deceased persons might be dry drowning, Lu Qingfeng hurried to the conference room. To be honest, this case had not made any key progress from before until now, although several meetings had already been held.

When he hurriedly arrived at the conference room, everyone inside looked at him. Lu Qingfeng cleared his throat and then told everyone the conclusions inferred by Lin Shuyao in the autopsy room. Upon hearing this conclusion, everyone’s expressions became grave.