That night, I memorized everything the clan leader had told me, watching her retreating back.
Examine the corpse's Heavenly Court acupoint, observe the limbs for looseness.
The pelvis distinguishes male from female, the frontal bone shows the sagittal suture.
Discern day and moon, comprehend the inspection umbrella.
These verses were written by the He family ancestors to educate their descendants. It is said that those He family coroners who memorized these lines grasped the essence of their craft.
Before I turned the inspection umbrella, I silently recited a few lines. The inspection umbrella’s top was equipped with a shadowless reflector tube, which I directed at the deceased's forehead. This time, no one could help me; they could only watch from the side.
As the black umbrella, riddled with holes, slowly rotated, Ling Xiaotao’s eyes bulged. She might have seen an autopsy umbrella before, but this was her first time encountering an inspection umbrella, so her reaction was understandable.
At the position I turned to, distinct vascular marks appeared on the deceased’s body. That’s right, vascular marks, not wounds. Liu Kangcheng's corpse was now completely revealed as if under an X-ray, with even his nerves laid bare.
With this technology, I could discern all these details of the corpse in one second, even without performing X-ray diffraction tests. The clan leader had mentioned this to me, but experiencing its actual effect for the first time still left me incredibly awestruck.
The results exceeded my expectations.
Ling Xiaotao was the quickest this time, even starting to take photos, while Zhang Keying and Xie Chuchu remained stunned.
Only a few minutes later did they react, holding the shadowless lamp for me. At this moment, I distinctly noticed impact injuries on the deceased’s pelvic bone, ligature marks on the forehead and neck, and varying degrees of binding marks on the cheekbones and shoulder bones. There was also a handprint on the deceased's left shoulder and a heavy blow to the back of his head, sufficient to knock Liu Kangcheng unconscious, based on the imprint.
This time, the killer did not directly strangle the neck but marked the forehead and other areas. However, I could tell that the cause of death was still the neck, with even more ligature marks appearing on the deceased’s body.
These marks did not seem to be from a struggle with the killer, but rather from the killer strangling the deceased after knocking him out. Based on the depth of the marks, the killer must have experimented a few times on the deceased’s body, but ultimately decided the neck was the only way to kill him and proceeded there. However, this was the killer’s third offense; how could they make such a basic mistake?
Not to mention a third offense, even an ordinary person would understand this. It was too strange. At this point, I removed the shadowless reflector tube from the inspection umbrella and shone it back and forth on the deceased’s forehead, cheekbones, and shoulders.
By now, Zhang Keying had finished taking photos, and everyone continued to watch my every move intently.
If I hadn't observed more closely, I wouldn't have realized that these marks were not caused by a rope.
It should have been a type of cotton cloth or silk ribbon. I took a small section of the deceased’s skin and placed it in a glass dish for Xie Chuchu to analyze. Then, I sprinkled some yellow wine on the deceased's body. Coupled with the inspection umbrella's effect, a strange symbol appeared on the deceased’s body, from his shoulder to his left chest.
It was a monster, half male and half female, holding a book. If I wasn't mistaken, the killer had left us Dantalion this time, the 71st demon in the 72 Goetic demons of King Solomon. He appears in various male and female forms, but always holds a book in his right hand. He teaches the summoner all arts and sciences, can probe anyone’s privacy, know everyone’s thoughts, and change them at will. He can mimic any person's appearance and create a mirror image.
So, along with this corpse, we now have Andromalius, Asmodeus, and Dantalion.
Will the killer continue to create symbols of demons for us? Is this bastard out of his mind?
Has he been watching too many Western movies, getting carried away, thinking he's an incarnation of a demon!
At that moment, Xie Chuchu said to me, "Like this again? Dantalion this time?"
"That's right. It seems you've also read about the 72 Goetic demons!"
"I read a bit when I have free time. After all, this case has a strong connection with demons!"
As Xie Chuchu spoke, Zhang Keying suddenly exclaimed, "72 demons? Don't tell me the killer intends to kill 72 people and use them to… sacrifice to the gods?"
"Sacrifice to the gods!?"
Everyone present was utterly stunned by Zhang Keying's statement. In fact, I had also considered this possibility, but there was no concrete evidence to support it yet.
To speak of it so mystically could easily lead to confirmation bias.
I mused, then gritted my teeth and decided to continue my work for now. With that, the scalpel went in, and the deceased’s body was opened. Technically, coroners don't need to dissect the body, but I had studied forensic science and was once a forensic doctor. Moreover, when I do something, I want to see it through to perfection.
I dissected the body in a starfish pattern, not using the traditional "X" or "Y" shaped incisions that I had learned from the clan leader.
However, I had already mastered it on my first attempt.
The main parts of the body were separated. I removed the ribs and then began to cut open the internal organs, weighing them on the electronic scale.
Analyzing the lungs, it was evident this person did not smoke much; the nicotine content in his lungs was zero.
There were no signs of pathological changes in the alveoli, and the color was normal.
From the stomach contents, it was clear that the residual food consisted of expensive items, such as foie gras.
This victim's circumstances must have been different from the previous two; he likely came from a wealthy family. I didn't have the specific details yet; I would have to find He Xin for that later.
After all, by the time I returned, the case had already progressed to this extent. If I had returned a day later, the bodies would have probably already been examined.
Then I wouldn’t have had the chance to try out my newly learned skills.
Next was the deceased’s abdomen. There were no injuries here. Based on the liver temperature index, the time of death was approximately 9 hours prior. We discovered the body at 2 AM yesterday, meaning he was murdered at 5 PM the day before. I clearly stated this in the report, which would be convenient for checking surveillance footage later.
Even though I did everything, I was happy to do it. It felt like many things were beyond my complete control, yet I never felt tired.
Then, I noticed the man’s private area. Uh, women call it the White Tiger; do men call it the White Dragon?