The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”Usually it’s the whole family pitching in, and if there aren’t enough hands, they still have to hire temporary help.”

”Exactly,” Director Hou gave a soft sigh, ”seems every trade has its hardships that outsiders don’t see.”

Talking as they went, the four of them stepped into the shop. The twenty-odd square meters of space were packed, not an empty seat in sight, steam billowing up from the bamboo steamers, carrying the fragrance of dough and meat through the air.

After they finished ordering, they finally managed to find a small round table in the corner, just big enough for the four of them to squeeze around.

The proprietress, wearing a floral apron, hurried over with her order pad in hand. Smiling, she asked, ”What would you like to eat?”

”Four baskets of the house soup dumplings, two baskets of chive buns, and four bowls of crucian carp soup.”

Mr. Qin placed the order deftly.

A moment later, the proprietress came over carrying their food.

As the steamer baskets and soup bowls were set on the table, an enticing aroma rushed up to greet them.

Especially the crucian carp soup, milky-white and rich, with a thin sheen of golden oil on top—it was enough to make one’s mouth water at a glance.

Director Hou picked up a soup dumpling and examined it carefully, unable to help praising, ”Look at this wrapper—it’s so thin you can practically see the filling inside. I’ve never seen such finely made buns before.”

”It really is the genuine stuff,” Jiang An echoed with a smile. ”This business trip of ours has turned out to be a feast for both the eyes and the stomach.”

At 9:30 in the morning, when the four of them walked into the Criminal Investigation Team’s conference room, they all paused in surprise—the room they’d expected to be half-empty on a weekend was, at the moment, filled to capacity.

Jiang An glanced around and muttered under his breath, ”Isn’t today Sunday? How come there are so many people here?”

Director Hou swept his gaze over the officers present, a hint of emotion in his voice: ”Looks like everyone is spending this weekend on duty.”

Political Commissioner Li gave a small smile, his tone tinged with feeling as he said, ”Hey, when it comes to this White Bone case, it’s not just an unsolved file—it’s that question mark that’s been hanging in each of our hearts all this time.”

”Back then, the bureau pulled in our best people and set up a special task force, working on it off and on for a full eight months. And the result?”

”Clues came in fits and starts, opinions never really aligned, and in the end we still couldn’t reach a definitive conclusion.”

”Compared to those earlier cases, this one leaves you even more at a loss about where to start, shrouded in layer upon layer of fog. So everyone’s holding in this pent-up energy, really wanting to hear the two experts’ analysis and views.”

Jiang An paused briefly, then added, ”But, that said, there’s actually no need to take it too much to heart.”

”It’s the weekend—time that should be spent with family, with the kids.”

”Even if there are developments later, everyone can read the written materials; it doesn’t have to take up your rest time.”

”Ah, that’s not the same thing,” Mr. Qin picked up the thread, his voice loud and sincere. ”Yesterday I only casually mentioned in the group that anyone interested could come and listen to the analysis. I didn’t expect that, aside from a few who truly couldn’t make it back because they’re on trips out of town, four-fifths of our people showed up on their own.”

”Even I didn’t foresee this level of enthusiasm.”

Hearing this, Director Hou nodded slightly, approval showing in his eyes: ”It’s clear that the mental outlook of our Qinzhou criminal investigation team really is something special.”

”For everyone to gather here of their own accord, to focus on the case and hone their skills—this kind of initiative and cohesion is very rare.”

”With this kind of drive, I believe that as long as we pick this case up again, pool our efforts, and sort through it carefully, we’re bound to make a breakthrough.”

As he spoke, he deliberately turned his head, his gaze landing on Jiang An, his eyes filled with both earnest expectation and firm trust.

Meeting his eyes, Jiang An gave a solemn nod, his expression focused and composed.

Next, Political Commissioner Li turned to Mr. Qin and said in a steady tone, ”Mr. Qin, you’ve been on this case from start to finish; you know it best.”

”I’ll trouble you to give our two leaders a brief overview of the whole situation. Let’s make good use of the time.”

”All right.”

Mr. Qin responded, then opened the file in front of him, his expression intent as he began his briefing.

Mr. Qin then opened his laptop, clicked on the projector with practiced ease, and pulled up a detailed case-report PowerPoint. Facing the participants, he began his account: ”First, let me report to the leaders that the case codename is the ’5·10 White Bone Case,’ named after the exact date the remains were discovered—May 10 of this year.”

”Next, I’ll report from several aspects: a brief overview of the case, the crime scene examination, the autopsy of the remains, and the subsequent investigative work.”

According to the case files, in the early hours of May 10, a local villager placed an urgent call to one of our subordinate police stations.

The villager said he’d been hunting in the mountains and, on his way back, suddenly tripped over a hard object.

At first, he thought it was a rock on the mountain path and instinctively kicked it. Unexpectedly, the object rolled several meters away.

When he shone his flashlight and took a closer look, he realized it was a partially weathered human skull, and in his panic he called the police immediately.

After receiving the call, officers from the police station rushed to the scene at once to conduct a preliminary verification. Once they confirmed that the remains were human, they followed procedure and notified our Criminal Investigation Brigade to activate the homicide scene investigation mechanism.

When we arrived, we noted that the location was deep in a remote mountain area, very little foot traffic.

At first, some colleagues speculated that it might be an unmarked grave exposed by rain erosion, a natural occurrence.

However, upon initial observation, we found that the bones were lighter in color and brittle in texture; there were no grave markers or burial goods in the vicinity, which clearly differed from the characteristics of naturally exposed remains.

Therefore, our preliminary assessment was that this was very likely a non-natural death, although at the time we couldn’t completely rule out an accident or other non-criminal factors.

In accordance with the homicide-solving campaign mechanism promoted by the Provincial Department, we immediately organized officers to carry out systematic work.

On one hand, we conducted a blanket search of the core scene and surrounding area, not overlooking any trace or physical evidence that might relate to the case;

On the other hand, we dispatched multiple canvassing teams to visit nearby villages, households that go into the mountains, and people who are regularly active in the area, in an effort to obtain clues about the victim’s identity or any suspicious behavior.

The scene examination showed that the victim’s body was highly decomposed, essentially in a state of skeletal remains.

Based on the degree of bone weathering and the surrounding vegetation growth, we concluded that the time of death was no less than one year.

The victim’s clothing was badly rotted, but from the remaining fabric we judged it to be consistent with spring–autumn attire. The skin and internal organs were entirely gone, which posed enormous difficulty for determining cause of death and identity.

Subsequently, the forensic unit conducted a systematic autopsy on the bones.

Examination revealed no obvious fractures in the skull or long bones of the limbs, but multiple ribs in the chest showed fractures.

Unfortunately, because all soft tissue was gone, we could not determine whether these rib fractures were caused by antemortem external force, or by postmortem natural degradation or animal gnawing.

This became a key point of doubt in the forensic evaluation of the case.

After completing the initial examination of the remains, we once again expanded the scope of the search and canvassing around the scene, attempting to find missing-person information consistent with the victim’s characteristics.

The task force devoted substantial manpower over the course of nearly a year, checking missing-person records from multiple surrounding districts and counties and repeatedly verifying suspicious leads, but we still could not definitively establish the victim’s identity.

Due to objective constraints, the investigation eventually reached an impasse and is currently in a temporarily shelved state.

However, all relevant work materials have been fully organized and archived.”

At this point, Mr. Qin raised his hand slightly toward the stack of thick case files on the table and said solemnly, ”This case file embodies the tremendous effort of our task force and records all the investigative work we’ve carried out over the past year.”

”Although the physical scene couldn’t be preserved because of natural conditions, the photographs, scene logs, forensic reports, and various investigative documents are all intact.”

”Taking advantage of today’s opportunity, we sincerely ask the leaders from the Provincial Department to point us in the right direction, help us further clarify our investigative thinking, and push this case toward a breakthrough.”