"I understand, thank you for your hard work!" Liu Yuning and I informed the families and then temporarily left the hospital.
With the truck driver's lead gone, we returned to the provincial department. I immediately went to the forensic science laboratory, intending to conduct autopsies with Xie Chuchu and the others.
Facing six bodies. Oh, right, the truck driver's body will be arranged at the funeral home later because his situation is a bit different from these bodies. This means we'll have to go to the funeral home for an autopsy as well.
However, perhaps some clues were lost due to the treatment received earlier. As we know, the terminal death of such injured individuals is the most troublesome; it has already happened with Liu Yuning before.
I examined the first male corpse and found that his face was disfigured beyond recognition by the rebar cage. It would be difficult to determine his specific identity at this point. We'll have to dissect him first.
For such a major case, the police can proceed without the family's consent for autopsy. Once the investigation is concluded and the identity of the deceased is confirmed, the family will be notified. I've explained this situation before and won't reiterate it here.
It's easy to imagine that with so many people crashing into a large truck, if it were one person, suicide or confusion might be understandable. But so many people at once? That's definitely not a coincidence.
Furthermore, we've already tested the blood alcohol content of the deceased. They hadn't been drinking before the accident.
The first male corpse appeared quite robust. His fingers were calloused, a testament to years of steering a taxi. His hips were larger than the other corpses, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Even without the work ID or the vehicle at the scene, I knew he was a taxi driver.
I first used an appropriate scalpel to separate the deceased's throat. I found no signs of smoke or dust, and the larynx was of a normal color. I used a mouth gag to open his mouth, examined his tongue, and explored its complex and mysterious depths with a shadowless lamp.
To my surprise, the deceased's tongue had several half-inserted silver needles. I used tweezers to pull out the tongue and then asked Xie Chuchu and Zhang Keying for assistance to remove all the needles.
Ling Xiaotao then asked curiously, "So many silver needles, wouldn't it take a long time to insert them one by one?"
"It wouldn't take that long, about 10 minutes. I wonder what's going on? Could it be that all these people..." I said, speeding up the autopsy. More accurately, I instructed all the forensic pathologists to open the mouths of the other deceased. To my dismay, my guess was correct: the tongues of these drivers involved in the accident had been specially treated!
It seems these silver needles are undeniably related to why they went berserk and crashed into the large truck.
But the question is, how did these silver needles get into the mouths of the deceased? They certainly weren't put there during the accident. This means they were already on the deceased's tongues before the accident. Based on the freshness of the needle marks and the muscle contraction, the needles must have been inserted into their tongues over a month ago. If I'm not mistaken, this situation could arise if these individuals were previously held captive and subjected to torture, with the needles inserted. Then they were released, but instead of reporting it or seeking medical attention, they lived like zombies for a month before today's events.
As this thought surfaced, I felt a chilling dread. However, I quickly shifted my focus to the organization and the so-called "Guilt Inducer." I believe it's more likely the organization is behind this, as it involves a significant number of people, and their numerical advantage would be more fitting for such a crime.
During the criminal case discussion meeting, I presented my opinions on these findings. Many agreed with me. Such large-scale cases are not unprecedented. For example, the hospital attack by many thugs before. While this isn't a riot-like crime, the simultaneous collision of so many vehicles shares a similar pattern in terms of numbers.
"What should we do then? Interview all the victims' acquaintances?" Xiahou continued.
"That's basic work. I've already assigned people to handle it. We've mobilized a significant number of personnel from the provincial department. If we hadn't come here, it would likely be tough for Fuming City with its usual manpower to handle so many victims at once."
Liu Yuning spoke the truth. However, Fuming City's public security had improved considerably by the time we left. Otherwise, we wouldn't have dared to leave. After all, that place is our hometown.
"We've analyzed those silver needles. They are the ordinary kind used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and they carried alcohol but no other components," Xie Chuchu said.
Zhang Keying then chimed in, "That's right. The time of death for everyone is very close, almost all dying at the moment of impact with the large truck. Especially those with head injuries, they likely died instantly. Even if they could hold on for a while in such a situation, it wouldn't be long, depending on their physical constitution. Now, a key point is that we've subsequently inspected the vehicles brought back, and the cars are normal. This means those individuals intentionally drove their cars towards the large truck. Xia Xiaoling, does this look like a sign of hypnosis?"
The mention of hypnosis drew everyone's attention to the psychological expert. Xia Xiaoling quickly responded, "Since the needles were inserted, if there truly was hypnosis, there might be some substance inside the needles, but you haven't detected it. This proves that this hypnosis is not related to drugs but rather absolute mental hypnosis. Of course, this is assuming these people were indeed hypnotized. However, I don't think it's hypnosis this time. I believe someone close to these individuals was threatened, forcing them to act this way."
"Why isn't it hypnosis?" Zhang Keying asked with a frown, as the surveillance footage of the accident was already displayed before us.
"If it were hypnosis, so many people wouldn't be affected simultaneously unless there were many hypnotists nearby. But look at the surveillance footage. At that section of the road, there were only about a dozen cars at that time. After the collision, more cars gradually arrived."
"Then perhaps there was another trigger mechanism, for example..."
Zhang Keying was cut off as Liu Yuning seemed to follow her train of thought, saying, "Look, isn't that camera flickering, and it happened before the car accident? Could this be the signal for hypnosis?"