The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Chapter 470: Chapter 272: This Is Not an Isolated Case!

At this moment, inside the meeting room of the criminal investigation team, the atmosphere was as heavy as leaden clouds pressing down, leaving one feeling slightly suffocated.

Zhang Yean and Wan were staring intently at Jiang An, their mouths slightly open, their faces full of an expression that seemed like they had witnessed something beyond imagination, filled with disbelief.

Just moments ago, Jiang An’s deduction was like a powerful bomb, ”boom” exploding in their hearts. Their previously orderly and logical thoughts were shattered, leaving their minds in chaos, their entire being bewildered, completely lost.

Trying to determine the cause of death from just a White Bone? To them, it was nothing short of a fool’s dream, a fantastical tale! From burning the midnight oil reading professional books on campus, to finally stepping into the criminal investigation field, every determination of cause of death from a skeleton over the years had been ambiguous, never yielding a definitive conclusion! Unless they were extremely lucky to find a large amount of deadly poison in the soil beneath the bones, they dared to speculate about poisoning during the victim’s life. After all, after the corpse rots, poison seeps into the soil, which at least leaves some trace to make a tentative judgment. Otherwise, all they could do was stare blankly at the skeleton, completely at a loss, with no clues whatsoever.

After a brief silence, Zhang Yean was the first to recover. She gently furrowed her beautiful brows, nodded slightly, and after a moment, slowly spoke, her voice carrying a hint of hesitation, softly saying, ”Hmm... I carefully thought about it, and what you said does make a bit of sense.”

”If we calculate based on the hardness of the object being cut, something capable of cleanly slicing through bone would have already torn apart the victim’s neck blood vessels, nerves, and even muscle tissue beforehand.” As he spoke, Wan seemed instantly drawn into imagination by Zhang Yean’s words. He suddenly raised his right hand, exaggeratedly slashing across his own throat, his facial muscles twitching violently. Meanwhile, images of those bloody, throat-slashing horror scenes in movies flashed through his mind like lightning, causing him to shiver and tremble slightly.

Jiang An paused, his eyes carrying a hint of mystery, deliberately keeping them in suspense before continuing at an unhurried pace, ”Take another look here. The sharp tool cut marks on this bone conceal a great deal of mystery and much to explore. This cutting direction is from lower left to upper right, completely different from the horizontal direction. By carefully analyzing the attacker’s position, I estimate that when the attacker struck to cut the neck, they were most likely standing behind the victim.”

”Huh? Standing behind, could it be a sneak attack?” Zhang Yean seemed to be suddenly enlightened, her eyes lighting up with a ”swish,” eagerly echoing in agreement.

”There’s another point, did you notice?” Jiang An, like an experienced hunter who had complete control over everything, threw out clues bit by bit at a leisurely pace, skillfully guiding everyone’s thoughts, ”These knife wounds are particularly high up. I think the attacker wouldn’t be short in height. Is it possible the victim was sitting when they were attacked? Just like how Yang Xiu was killed.”

Zhang Yean tilted her head, gently touching her chin with her right hand, expressing her guess: ”Exactly, if they were sitting, the situation would be entirely different.”

Wan also joined in the discussion, his eyes rapidly darting between Jiang An and Zhang Yean, eagerly wanting to know the answer, as if the answer held some unspeakable treasure.

Jiang An calmly smiled with confidence, having anticipated this question, unhurriedly raising his finger to point at the photo in his hand, he said, ”Look here, senior! There are several extremely fine scratches on the victim’s cheek. If you don’t carefully examine with a magnifying glass, you could easily overlook them. I think these match the random knife marks left on the victim’s face during a chaotic struggle when the perpetrator wielded the blade...”

”What? There are scratches on the face too?” Zhang Yean seemed to have heard some earth-shattering secret. She leaned over, her neck stretched long, almost wanting to stick her face to the photo to see more clearly. Earlier, they were completely blind to these subtle details, and now, with Jiang An’s reminder, they suddenly awoke to the realization.

Indeed, under Jiang An’s magnifying glass, the faint, hair-thin scratches became clearly visible. Those marks were so small that unless one looked with wide eyes and concentrated fully, they would be completely unnoticed.

”This is a big deal.” Wan pursed his lips, a bitter smile appearing on his face, silently lamenting. After all, this corpse had been thoroughly examined by the forensic team, and now these overlooked details surfaced. He couldn’t help but feel a taboo about the forensic team’s oversight, secretly pondering: How could this be settled if it were pursued?

”If the case really needs to be reinvestigated, the forensics team could be in serious trouble. They might even be liable for negligence.” Zhang Yean looked terrified, her eyes filled with concern. Forensics work demands meticulous precision as a basic requirement; if some crucial evidence is missed due to oversight, it could be a catastrophic disaster for the case’s resolution, potentially altering the case’s direction entirely. For instance, this White Bone case was initially deemed a non-criminal case that did not warrant investigation because no clear cause of death was found, nor were there obvious marks of external harm. It’s important to note that the resources, manpower, and technology invested by public security agencies in criminal versus non-criminal cases are vastly different.