Miss Truth
Chapter 257 - 162: Coincidence or Premeditation

Chapter 257: Chapter 162: Coincidence or Premeditation

The carriage had been traveling for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before it began to jolt.

The carriage sent by the Government Office to pick up Liu Pinrang was naturally of good quality, but as they were shaken back and forth inside the carriage compartment, by the time the vehicle came to a stop, all three passengers still felt dizzy.

"Doctor Liu! You must come and see this!" called out County Magistrate Song from outside the carriage, his voice aging several years in an instant.

Ran Yan recovered first and got out of the carriage. Following her, Liu Qingsong dragged his suitcase down.

County Magistrate Song couldn’t help but widen his eyes the moment he saw Ran Yan. Although she was dressed in foreign clothes and wearing a mask, it was still clear that she was a woman.

"She is..." County Magistrate Song saw that Ran Yan came down from the same carriage as Liu Qingsong. Although he felt annoyed that Liu Qingsong was treating the case as a joke, he didn’t lash out.

"This is my master," said Liu Qingsong lightly, the statement landing like a bombshell over everyone’s heads, leaving them somewhat reeling.

But Liu Qingsong didn’t give the others time to process or catch their breath. As he walked toward the body, he asked, "What’s the situation?"

County Magistrate Song stole a glance at Ran Yan, thinking that Liu Qingsong was always offbeat. Perhaps calling her his master was just a jest, so he didn’t take it seriously. In any case, it wouldn’t be his problem if she were to be frightened later on, "The deceased is from a side branch of the Feng family in Luoyang, named Feng Zhao. He used to work as a prison guard in Jushui County jail. In recent years, he may have made a fortune in business, so he left that lowly profession, acknowledged his ancestors, and became a Market Officer in Luoyang, occasionally returning to pay homage to his ancestors."

A Market Officer was an official in charge of regulating market transactions. It was a minor position but quite a lucrative one.

"Paying homage to his ancestors? At such a late hour?" Liu Qingsong hummed lazily, his tone carrying a hint of sarcasm.

Upon reaching the body, what they saw was chaotic. Everywhere the eye could see there were entrails and blood. Wan Lu was so scared that her scream got stuck in her throat. After holding it in for a while, she finally turned and ran to the side to vomit. Seeing that she didn’t go far, Ran Yan didn’t bother with her.

Liu Qingsong set down his suitcase, put on gloves, and began examining the body.

This was a case of dismemberment. The legs and forearms had been sawn off to varying degrees. There were more than ten wounds between the chest and abdomen, and the internal organs and intestines had spilled out of the body. Blood splattered everywhere, coating the entire edge of the woods. All the bloodstains covered the withered low shrubs around, and the victim’s face was smeared with blood. His eyes were wide open, his mouth agape, and his expression was one of extreme fear. Under the eerie tree shadows, this scene was particularly horrifying.

Liu Qingsong didn’t hurry to examine the body but nudged Ran Yan, seeking her opinion, "What do you think?"

All eyes switched to Ran Yan. She had been silent all this time, barely noticeable, and people had overlooked her presence. Now, seeing a woman face such a gruesome dismembered corpse without a hint of fear, they were secretly startled and cast curious glances her way.

"The blood on the tree trunk splattered in different directions and there were signs of rolling and dragging on the ground. It seems that the assailant didn’t kill the victim in one blow, but rather..." Ran Yan followed the disturbed traces in the dry grass, walking forward, and stopped about six or seven zhang away, "it was probably around here. The assailant struck the victim, rendering him powerless to fight back, but he was still able to move at the time. So he kept crawling forward, while the assailant, filled with a sense of vengeance, slowly tortured him to death."

The extreme terror of the victim before death and the brutality of his demise were outlined in just a few words from Ran Yan, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

"Hmm," Liu Qingsong returned to the corpse with Ran Yan, turned around and said, "Let me get started, and you can give me some guidance."

Ran Yan nodded.

Liu Qingsong quickly put on gloves, briefly surveyed the body, and began the examination, starting from the head where the fatal wounds seemed to be.

Ran Yan saw that he had almost finished examining the basic situation and then spoke, "Assess the chronological order of each wound."

This way, the shape of the murder weapon could be inferred more accurately.

"You’re not joking, are you?" Liu Qingsong looked up, meeting her calm gaze.

Almost everyone thought Ran Yan was giving random orders; deducing the order in which each wound was inflicted seemed like a complete fantasy.

However, after locking eyes with Ran Yan for a moment, Liu Qingsong quietly lowered his gaze to the wounds and said, "Fine, you lead, and I’ll examine."

"How is that possible!" County Magistrate Song couldn’t believe it, but Liu Qingsong had already agreed, and he did not disturb them. After all, although Liu Qingsong was unreliable as a person, his autopsy skills were praised by all.

Ran Yan automatically ignored County Magistrate Song’s doubts and continued, "If a muscle was severed while alive, the muscle would contract significantly, causing the skin around the edge of the wound to curl inward, making the wound gape noticeably. A wound inflicted shortly after death would also gape, but since the contraction would not be as pronounced, the wound would not gape as wide. A wound inflicted a while after death, especially after rigor mortis had set in, would have little contraction, with no curling at the edges. Use this to make your judgment."

Ran Yan’s former teacher not only required her to deduce the sequence of each wound but also to ascertain the victim’s specific mental state at the time of every injury, based on the contraction of the muscles. It was an abnormal requirement; determining the sequence was doable, but no matter the state of mind of the deceased, the muscles would spontaneously contract upon injury, a distinction so slight that it required scientific instruments, as well as the forensic doctor’s conjecture based on various pieces of evidence and knowledge of psychology.

Guessing the victim’s mental state could not serve as evidence for closing a case; however, it was often a significant aid in solving one.

"Inspecting, male victim, six feet one inch tall, aged between thirty-five and forty years, well-developed, with urine expelled from the lower body. Body temperature around thirty-five degrees Celsius, approximately half an hour postmortem, with patchy livor mortis on the back. Evidence of blunt force trauma to the back of the head, twenty-seven slash wounds over the body, mainly on the upper limbs, chest, abdomen, and lower limbs. Currently, the cause of death is assumed to be excessive blood loss," Liu Qingsong paused for a moment, and, seeing that Ran Yan had no intention of speaking, continued, "The wounds are neat, four inches long and one and a half inches wide, deep enough to expose bone, and the cross-section is inverted triangular, suggesting a weapon similar to a wood-chopping axe."

"His intestines are spilling out, why would the cause of death be excessive blood loss?" County Magistrate Song was puzzled.

Liu Qingsong glanced at Ran Yan, "Thanks to my master here, based on the knowledge she gave, it can be deduced that the abdominal wounds are neat with no significant evidence of contraction, whereas the wounds on the neck and chest gape noticeably, also injuring a major artery, meaning the victim was already in a moribund state before the abdominal wounds were inflicted."

County Magistrate Song was about to inquire further when an arrest officer rushed over and said, "County Magistrate, no suspicious individuals have been found."

From that initial scream until now, it had been, at most, just over half an hour. The government officials had been swift to arrive, yet the perpetrator had vanished without a trace?

"Do you think the murderer could be the same person? Is it a coincidence or premeditated?" Liu Qingsong leaned over and asked Ran Yan.

Looking at the method of murder, the deaths of these individuals were completely different. The one in the inn was frozen to death with a certain intent to misdirect blame, the beggar died of poisoning, and this person was hacked to death.

"I heard that the one who discovered Liu Wen’s body was an embroiderer?" Ran Yan didn’t directly answer Liu Qingsong’s question but instead asked County Magistrate Song.

Facing this corpse and asking about a previous murder case, Ran Yan was obviously suspecting another serial killing.

***

In the Tang Dynasty, one chi was approximately 30.7 centimeters. One chi equaled ten cun, and six chi one cun, is roughly 1.88 meters. The length of chi varied across different dynasties, so please note this. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to come to Qidian (qidian.com) and give your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)