The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Chapter 361: Chapter 220: Jiang An’s On-the-Spot Analysis

His mind was as clear as a mirror. Jiang An’s expertise in solving criminal cases was evident to everyone.

After so many practical tests, he’s like a seasoned general on the battlefield, never making mistakes in matters crucial to the overall situation.

After a brief pause, Li Jian turned to Jiang An and asked, ”Do you think the marks here were caused by dragging?”

Jiang An nodded, ”I think it’s very likely, and the dragging distance wasn’t short.”

”Look here, in the area where the corpse’s back shifted, there are still some small pebbles left behind.”

”These pebbles didn’t appear at the original location of the corpse or at the path we’ve deduced it fell.”

”Only a few small stones are found locally on the hill, and these stones are of very similar types.”

Speaking of this, Zhang Yean quickly picked up the camera, ”Click click,” shooting several photos rapidly.

She exclaimed, ”These few pebbles are so important! They are like guiding lights hidden in the darkness.”

Noticing the pebbles on the clothes, Captain Li Jian seemed to eat a peace of mind pill.

Initially, he had some doubts, but the moment he saw those pebbles, the last shred of uncertainty in his heart seemed to be dispelled by a ray of dawn.

Li Jian’s face was solemn, he looked around and started to wonder: This place is remote, and suddenly a corpse appears, it clearly might be a case of a corpse being dumped.

Next, Jiang An squatted down, his movements were as gentle as touching fragile treasures.

He carefully lifted all the clothes of the deceased.

The deceased’s torso and right lower limb bones were exposed completely, resembling a sinister skeleton with only one leg, making one’s heart shudder.

After a long while, Jiang An picked up the skull of the deceased and examined it closely.

Suddenly, his brows seemed to be twisted into a deep ”Chuan” character by invisible hands.

”Something’s not right, there’s a longitudinal fracture on the deceased’s skull, its severity is not light, almost running through the entire skull.”

”A fracture?”

Captain Qin and Captain Fu looked at each other, their eyes widened like doorbells, both reading terror from each other’s gaze.

Li Jian also immediately squatted down, only to see a fine bone seam from the forehead to the right occipital part of the skull in Jiang An’s hand.

If not looked closely, it would be easy to overlook, like a strand of hair hidden in the grass.

Wan leaned in, his eyes almost falling out, exclaiming, ”Jiang An, brother, wow, your eyes are sharp, you can discover such a tiny bone seam!”

After a short pause, he asked: ”But why does this longitudinal crack next to it also look like a fracture?”

Jiang An answered: ”This place isn’t a fracture, it’s the normal suture of the human skull.”

”The human skull naturally has a longitudinal and a transverse suture.”

”Forensic work is really brain-burning; I don’t know how to differentiate them.”

Wan scratched his head, looking confused, muttering to himself.

Captain Qin smiled and raised his hand to pat Wan’s shoulder, jokingly said: ”Do you remember that poem? ’Male rabbit’s feet are soaring, female rabbit’s eyes are blurred, how can one tell if it’s male or female.’

”Forensics is a technical job, you need to observe and appreciate with your heart.”

Wan chuckled and said, ”Mr. Qin, your perception is higher!”

On the other side, Jiang An put down the skull, turning to observe the deceased’s cervical vertebrae.

He started looking while saying, ”Near the first vertebra of the deceased’s cervical vertebrae, there’s partial dislocation, I highly suspect it was caused by a severe blow to the head, resulting in cervical dislocation.”

”Cervical dislocation? This fracture situation is increasingly complex.”

Captain Fu couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

Next, Jiang An continued to examine the deceased’s ribs; originally complete ribs, now only four pairs remain.

Several ribs were fractured and missing, including a fracture of the fourth rib on the left side.

Moreover, you can clearly see the fracture and broken marks of the third rib.

”Were these fractures caused during a fight?”

Li Jian pointed at the ribs and asked, his voice squeezing through his teeth, filled with tension and urgency.

Jiang An lowered his head to examine, and after a moment said: ”Judging from the fracture end characteristics, I believe they weren’t caused by fighting; it’s very likely animals gnawed after death.”

”Because at the fracture ends, I didn’t find obvious bleeding signs at the fracture segment sisters.”

”Judging from the shape of the fracture surface, I highly assume the fractures formed after the person died.”

Immediately after, Jiang An picked up the deceased’s pelvis for examination.

The pelvis is the key part for deducing the gender and age of the deceased.

Originally, he planned to send it to the lab to process the remaining muscle tissue on the pelvis.

But now it seems there’s no further need for processing.

Because the muscles on the bones have been gnawed away by maggots.

He picked up the deceased’s pelvis, examining the fracture of the pubic symphysis against the sunlight.

From the characteristics of bone quality, curvature of bones, etc., analyzing in-depth.

That focused expression, like deciphering a mysterious ancient scroll.

Two minutes later, Jiang An raised his head and said in a solemn voice: ”The deceased was a male; the age of death should be around 37 years old.”

Li Jian listened and nodded slightly, quickly taking out his notebook to record.

Then Jiang An picked up the right femur, and as soon as he looked at it, he suddenly froze.

”Eh, is there a fracture in this femur?”

Li Jian showed a surprised look and asked in confusion.

Jiang An frowned to himself, saying: ”No fracture, but the bone quality is a bit strange, it looks very porous.”

”A 37-year-old adult male shouldn’t look like this.”

”To speak from this bone quality, it resembles an 80-year-old elder, with severe osteoporosis.”

”This is like finding an aged heart in a young person, totally out of place.”

”What?”

”This conclusion is too contradictory; there must be a problem!”

Li Jian’s eyes widened, full of disbelief, as if witnessing something that defies common sense.

Everyone also nodded, wondering to themselves: Behind this abnormal phenomenon, there must be hidden truths. Like a calm lake with undercurrents surging beneath.

An idea suddenly flashed in Jiang An’s mind.

He blurted out: ”Could this person be sick? And it’s a consumptive disease, the kind that severely depletes the body’s nutrients.”

”Sick?”

”What kind of disease?”

Everyone asked in unison, their voices like converging torrents, eager and full of anticipation.

Jiang An pondered for a moment and said: ”It would have to be a very serious illness for the bone quality to appear so abnormal.”

”Like being long devoured by illness, causing severe nutrition loss to the body, massive calcium loss, affecting the bone quality.”

”This is like a building gnawed by termites, appearing solid on the outside but already full of holes internally.”

At this moment.

Down the valley, the atmosphere was frozen, everyone was dumbfounded after hearing Jiang An’s words.

Everyone looked at each other, their faces filled with surprise and confusion.

After all, in the study of human bone development, Jiang An was the team’s ”authority.”

The weight of his words was not light.

After a brief silence, Captain Li Jian frowned and took the lead in breaking the impasse.

He looked at Jiang An and anxiously asked: ”According to what you say, this person’s illness must be severe, surely can’t be caused by a common small ailment making such a commotion!”

Jiang An had a solemn expression and slowly nodded, ”To make bones so porous, even eroding them like this.”

”In my opinion, it must at least be a life-threatening disease like cancer.”

”Cancer?”

Wan seemed to be electrified, blurting out, his eyes wide open.

”Could it be another unlucky middle-aged uncle heartlessly abandoned by his family?”

With that, he lowered his head to glance at the cold corpse, his face instantly showing a layer of compassion.

Zhang Yean sighed lightly, ”Alas, I’ve seen elderly left aside and ignored, never imagined middle-aged men also suffer like this.”

Captain Li Jian crossed his arms, pondered for a while, his brows knitted into a knot, and firmly said: ”Even if he had cancer and his family abandoned him, how do you explain the scary fractures on his head?”

”Indeed,” Captain Fu now also calmly continued, ”Even if the illness is severe, in a law-abiding society, no one has the right to casually take another’s life!”