Life in North America, you call this an autopsy officer?!
Chapter 71 - 63 Restless Youth, The Cost of Ignorance

Chapter 71: Chapter 63 Restless Youth, The Cost of Ignorance

Enter the room.

A faint stench wafted from the living room.

All around, the various pieces of furniture were covered with white cloths.

They were laden with dust.

Except for the white cloth on the sofa.

There were obvious signs of movement on it.

...

Because odors are sometimes part of the crime scene, unless dealing with a corpse that was clearly contagious, veteran detectives and forensic investigators wouldn’t usually bother to wear masks.

Ivan frowned, sniffing around: "This smell doesn’t seem like a decomposing body."

"Correct, it’s the smell of excrement."

Brian activated Olfactory Enhancement and took a light whiff.

He detected the excrement of four females and one male, likely left over the past two days.

The male in question seemed to have some issues, his urine smelled somewhat fishy...

Excrement carries unique biological pheromones.

And with each phase, the information conveyed by the pheromones changes.

So, he could easily discern it.

Thus Brian added, "It seems like the excrement of several people grouped together."

Ivan: ..

He looked at Brian like he was an idiot: "Dude, you can’t bullshit me just because I’m gay."

"See for yourself if you don’t believe it," Brian pointed at the sofa covered with the white cloth, then headed towards the master bedroom.

According to the homeowner’s statement.

The corpse was on the bed in the master bedroom.

This turned his stomach.

Behind him, Ivan, disbelieving, lifted the white cloth that covered the dust on the sofa.

The next moment.

"Ugh~", he hurriedly replaced the cloth: "FK, these people are truly disgusting, pulling such stunts in someone else’s home!"

The sofa unveiled five long streaks, trailing from the backrest to the seat cushion like a waterfall.

Ivan could imagine the scene.

Several people lined up on the sofa’s back cushions, and then...

He looked peculiarly at the retreating figure of Brian.

Was this guy nosing around like a dog?

Not only could he identify the source of the smell under the sofa from several meters away, but he also determined the number of people involved, including their sexes.

Absolutely preposterous!

He quickly followed and asked, "Hey, man, how did you sniff out that it was several people’s excrement?"

"Different diets lead to different scents in metabolic waste, having been exposed to this a lot, I’ve become sensitive to it."

Brian answered offhandedly.

...

He pushed open the master bedroom door.

Brian scanned the conspicuous corpse on the bed, and finding no lingering obsession, he frowned and turned his gaze to the floor.

This room, too, was littered with many white cloths.

But these were all tossed on the ground.

There were clear signs of ransacking in the room.

Stuff was strewn about haphazardly.

On those white cloths were discarded items: umbrellas clearly used, cigarette butts, beer cans, and greasy skewers.

Besides that.

The corner’s wall was blackened with soot.

More than a dozen bricks, clearly not belonging to this room, were stacked up into a makeshift stove.

The intruders had actually barbecued and thrown a silver party in someone else’s master bedroom.

Brian took a light sniff with his nose.

The air carried a very faint odor of decomposition.

And a strong lingering scent of marijuana.

After death, under normal temperatures.

Rigor mortis begins six hours post-mortem, spreading from localized areas to the whole body, fixing the posture.

Twelve hours post-mortem, the body’s internal microorganisms begin to digest the muscles and organs, softening the body once again.

Twenty-four hours post-mortem, the body shows signs of marbling, typically in the lower abdomen turning dark green or dirty green, and then spreading to the entire body.

Forty-eight hours post-mortem, a large amount of putrefaction gas forms inside the body, leading to increased internal pressure and some blood being forced to the skin’s surface, resulting in putrefaction blisters; some blood may also enter the subcutaneous veins, forming a network of rotten veins.

Seventy-two hours post-mortem, with a buildup of gas, the phenomenon known as ’post-mortem giant observation’ occurs.

Based on these signs, one can roughly deduce the time of death and the state before death, and even by examining the distribution of livor mortis and marbling, in combination with the current posture of the body, determine if the corpse has been moved post-mortem.

The room was relatively airtight.

The decaying scent on the deceased was very mild.

This indicated that the time of death probably hadn’t exceeded 48 hours.

...

Brian moved forward to meticulously examine the body for surface characteristics.

Ivan also entered the room at this point.

He was competent and after a quick scan, confidently said to Brian, who was performing the external autopsy:

"I saw at least five people’s activity marks here.

They threw a silver party in this room, drank beer, smoked marijuana.

Such behavior is typically seen in adolescents.

They do things to assert their grown-up status.

But usually, this happens at outdoor bonfire parties, not inside someone else’s house.

I suspect the participants come from strict families, possibly local residents, which would explain their impulse to sneak into someone else’s house to vent."

Ivan knew all too well about some of the high schoolers’ degenerate private lives here.

That attitude towards life could extend all the way into their college years and even their work life.

Some would end up ruined.

Others might come to their senses by their thirties after growing tired of play.

This is why many Hollywood movies, or more broadly, American values, affirm the redemption of the prodigal son.

Because they’ve all been there.

"That’s an excellent conjecture," Brian nodded:

"I’ve made some findings here too, there’s no obvious trace of external injury on the victim’s appearance.

It wasn’t completely so.

His lower body had some bruises and abrasions, suggesting he probably had a very good time before he died.

Furthermore, his mouth was slightly open, and the blood accumulation under his eyes indicated he was still in an excited state before he died.

To be precise,

he most likely overdosed and died suddenly.

That’s right.

The deceased also had STDs; you could see the syphilis sores just by looking, not to mention what else he might have had."

Ivan was indeed very capable, easily deducing psychological profiles from the scene and narrowing down the characteristics and probable identities of the participants.

Brian felt impressed.

He couldn’t have produced such a psychological profile himself.

Those who stand out really do have a few tricks up their sleeves; otherwise, they wouldn’t have lasted.

Ivan stroked his chin, "Are you saying that this eighteen-year-old kid died from exhaustion because he went to battle with four women at once, along with drinking and smoking marijuana? He wasn’t murdered?"

Brian nodded, then shook his head, "There’s another possibility."

"What possibility?"

"He was killed by someone!" Brian turned his head toward the neatly arranged wedding photo on the bedside, his nose twitching thoughtfully, "First, we need to find the other people who came to this party."

There were so many clues left at the scene.

It wasn’t going to be hard.

...

A few hours later.

Four girls, dressed demurely and elegantly, appeared in the B6 group’s interrogation room, wringing their hands anxiously.

Their parents were in the midst of a shouting match with old Hardenn and his team.

"FK squid!"

"My daughter has followed the Lord’s teachings since childhood, how could she do such a thing!"

"It must be a mistake, you bastards, you must be slandering her!"

The usually quiet office had turned into a noisy marketplace.

Bang~

A gunshot rang out.

The room went completely quiet.

Brian reholstered his gun and said casually, "Sorry, it went off by accident, but I must remind you that if you continue to obstruct our investigation, your children might not be in trouble, but you certainly will be!"

The two newcomers were gnashing their teeth in shock.

Team leader Susan seemed so gentle and beautiful; how could she have such a violent Autopsy Officer under her...

...

After calming the agitated parents,

Brian and his team began to question the girls separately.

Ivan’s inference was extremely accurate.

The four girls came from decent, albeit not very wealthy families and were raised with good values and strict discipline.

The eighteen-year-old boy who died, on the other hand, was a troublemaker.

After his family found out about his involvement in some street-level drug dealing, they argued.

In a fit of anger, the boy chose to run away from home.

Relying on friends.

He mixed with the wrong crowd for nearly a month.

But his friends were either too poor or got fed up with him after a while.

Out of desperation,

he thought of dealing marijuana again.

He understood the psychology of his peers very well, carefully selecting four girls who appeared very naive, then approached them, tempted them, and finally, with smooth talk, sold them his marijuana.

When full, one yearns for pleasure.

The boy who had made some money and saw how easily the girls were deceived,

thus, with the girls’ excitement for rebellion and departure from their usual lives, persuaded them to play some ’king’ games.

Starting with kissing at first, and then later...

Two days before.

The five of them had played together, and it was the most exciting time they ever had.

Because they were tightly supervised at home,

after going crazy,

the four girls went back home early, leaving the exhausted boy to continue sleeping on the bed.

As for his death,

they genuinely didn’t know.

...

After the interrogation.

Old Hardenn approached Brian and said softly, "The test results are in; the deceased had three STDs, including HIV..."

Upon hearing this, Brian shook his head.

Such a long time of unprotected contact.

Those four girls would probably not escape it either.

Actually, these cases weren’t that common.

Because education about STDs here starts early and is relatively straightforward.

It was precisely these girls’ families that were very conservative believers.

The children were restless during puberty, but due to a lack of education, didn’t know how to protect themselves.

This was the cost of ignorant youth.

...

Out of humanitarian concern,

they still informed these girls and their parents of the situation.

Now, not only did they have to compensate the homeowner for the damages, but they were also worried about their children’s health issues.

And because of this event,

Their homes might very well fall apart.

Seeing this, Brian felt somewhat emotional.

Regardless of his previous life or this one, the destructive power of a ’bad boy’ on naive girls was not to be underestimated.

He turned his head and clapped his hands at the spectators, "Alright, everyone, let’s bring the homeowner back. Although I sympathize with what he’s been through, murder is murder; we’ll just have to take him for our performance."

Ivan, Glenn... and the rest stared at Brian in astonishment.

The case was so clear now.

Was Brian really trying to take the innocent, unlucky homeowner to boost their performance?

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