National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1347: Chapter 1273: Cheating Mode Activated

The white bones stood in the pot, surrounded by bubbling white soup, looking extremely appetizing.

"This is our Dama Chuanxiang Hot Pot Restaurant’s most popular hot pot soup base, the bone soup. Anything cooked in it tastes great, especially vegetables, which become very sweet. Additionally, we have a fish maw chicken soup base prepared over here, which is a bit richer. You can choose the type you prefer," the Chinese chef introduced enthusiastically to Jiang Yuan and the others while standing by the hot pot.

Ni Cha corrected from the side: "It’s beef bone soup. You need to make that clear."

The chef paused for a moment, feeling a bit annoyed but still said, "Yes, it is indeed beef bone soup."

"Hmm... I’ll have the fish maw chicken," Ni Cha said, getting up and moving from beside Jiang Yuan to the opposite side.

Jiang Yuan calmly picked up the warm towel beside him and wiped his hands before saying, "Everyone wipe your hands. Shall we start with the big bones?"

The last question was directed at the chef.

The chef nodded immediately and said, "Sure, I’ll prepare a dipping dish for you. You can add whatever you like."

As he spoke, he brought out a large flavor dish with nine sections and put some soy sauce on Jiang Yuan’s small dish, leaving the rest for Jiang Yuan to add himself. NovelFire

Ni Cha, watching Jiang Yuan’s actions at the table, also took a warm towel to wipe his hands, only to feel increasingly uncomfortable.

The hot pot they used, naturally, was brand new, hastily transported from the restaurant, but in the forensic autopsy room, the same type of pot was being used to cook big bones. Thinking of this scene, Ni Cha couldn’t help but feel his stomach churn.

Of course, he couldn’t vomit, nor could he show disgust, because doing so would mark him as a rookie detective. It’s the young police officers fresh on the job, those who haven’t seen many crime scenes, who fail to control their throat muscles.

Ni Cha’s throat muscles were trained!

He thought while controlling his throat muscles, and then...

Jiang Yuan started dipping the meat.

The marbled Dama local beef, sliced thin, cooked in a few seconds and fished out, tasted delicious even with just a bit of soy sauce.

The chef ground some fresh wasabi and thoughtfully plated it for Jiang Yuan, letting him dip one side in soy sauce and the other in wasabi, like sushi or sashimi. Even with the cooked beef, it was just as tasty and sweet.

Jiang Yuan ate quite seriously.

No time passes when working on a case, and now the case hadn’t fully unfolded yet. Once it did, and the resources of Dama Police Station were in full motion, not even a god could afford to waste time easily.

This was similar to how commanders behaved after the onset of many battles, where soldiers risked their lives, and the commanders couldn’t afford not to eat and sleep.

Even if deploying troops like pouring mud, it only allowed for small chances of increased success rates by piling on manpower but couldn’t carelessly waste the soldiers’ physical strength, energy, or lives.

Jiang Yuan estimated that the difficulty of this case wasn’t small.

The environment in Dama’s city was unlike in the homeland, lacking surveillance, and the police’s control over the area was far less adequate. When it came to issues of privacy regarding cell phones and surveillance cameras, ordinary people’s willingness to cooperate would greatly decrease.

In such circumstances, Jiang Yuan didn’t have a complete investigative idea; although some micro-evidence had already been extracted through equipment like electron microscopes before, these barely counted as clues, only advancing the investigation process, yet the end line for solving the case—was still nowhere in sight.

Originally relaxed, Wei Shikan noticed Jiang Yuan was tucking into the food and subconsciously started to alert himself.

Recently, his progress in mathematics was minimal, but his progress in researching alongside his master Jiang Yuan was substantial. So seeing Jiang Yuan stockpiling nutrients, Wei Shikan instinctively got anxious.

"Master, try this," Wei Shikan quickly used communal chopsticks to give Jiang Yuan a piece of meat, and then grabbed a large piece for himself too.

Before anyone else reacted, the master and disciple duo finished eating first.

Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, stood up, and said, "I’ll go down and see how the cooking is going. You all continue eating."

The others just started and were momentarily indecisive.

Wei Shikan unhesitatingly followed Jiang Yuan’s steps and kindly told the others, "I’ve had enough too; I’ll follow Master. The rest of you can eat a bit more."

With that, Jiang Yuan and Wei Shikan headed to the forensic autopsy room. noveldrama

...

The white bones stood in the pot, surrounded by bubbling white soup...

A forensic assistant sat with a pained expression in the autopsy room, holding a stick and stirring in the largest water bath pot. Nearby, the pressure cooker and several hot pot boilers all puffed white steam, putting on a busy display.

Jiang Yuan turned back to look at Wei Shikan.

Sure enough, Wei Shikan froze on the spot, not moving forward for quite a while.

Mainly, the hot pot boilers used in the autopsy room were too familiar, and the strong, unusual scent in the room made the recently full Wei Shikan a bit unable to adjust.

However, in the end, he was a legitimate detective with the Criminal Police Brigade for two years. Although he was a bit inexperienced, he was not lacking in exposure. After forcibly turning his head and not looking at the hot pot stove, Wei Shikan’s expression gradually returned to normal.

Jiang Yuan nodded and turned back to ask the forensic assistant, "How is it? Is there any bone separation?"

"Maybe the one in the pressure cooker?" The forensic assistant was not very sure.

"Open one and take a look." Jiang Yuan said as he went to the dressing room to change.

By the time he came out, Jacob and several other forensic doctors had already arrived.

Forensic Anthropology is rare and considered a prominent study in the country, and even more so in Dama.

Although Jacob studied at a prestigious traditional British university, he didn’t learn these things.

As a modern science with classical elements, to learn Forensic Anthropology well, one needs not only theory but also a lot of practice, preferably taught hands-on by someone.

Of course, some people have inexplicable talents.

A pressure cooker was opened.

Jacob took the initiative to step forward and lifted a wet bone rod.

Strands of meat were still wrapped around the bone, so he swished it around in the pot, and the bone rod became clean.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan stood at the first dissection table and said, "Put it here."

For him, it wasn’t necessary to have a complete set of bones to make a judgment. In past cases, he dealt with partially incomplete bodies, even just burned bone fragments, and was able to complete the analysis. Now with better conditions, there’s no reason to demand a full set.

The first pot of bones mainly contained an arm and part of the chest. Jiang Yuan arranged them on the spot, glanced at the arm, and focused his attention on the ribs.

The chest had been hacked with an axe many times, causing many ribs to be incomplete, and there were numerous marks on the bones.

With this observation, even without finding very fresh body parts, simply examining the bones could reveal a lot of information about the axe. Of course, combining both aspects and cross-verifying is definitely better.

"Shall I open the cooker with the skull too?" Jacob asked, received a response, and began releasing the air from the second pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker made a hissing sound and released a more complex aroma.

Jacob remained silent, only turning the ventilation system to its maximum setting.

A pile of scattered bones was fished out by Jacob using a strainer similar to those used in Chaoshan hot pots.

A skull consists of 23 bones of varying sizes, joined together by connective tissues and cartilage, and sutures. The temperature inside the pressure cooker exceeding 100 degrees causes the connective tissues to denature, making it impossible for the skull to maintain its shape.

Moreover, due to the murderer’s imprecision in cutting, the fresh skull originally had some cervical bones, which complicated the onsite puzzle a bit.

But it doesn’t matter.

Jiang Yuan waited until the heat had dissipated somewhat before wearing gloves to piece them together one by one, which was essentially effortless.

The reconstructed skull was not intact.

"The facial area of the skull has already fragmented." Jacob sighed, "In that case, reconstructing the skull won’t be feasible."

He had heard of Jiang Yuan’s Skull Restoration Skill. For forensic doctors, this technique is like a killer move or a trump card. While it cannot be used casually, it’s much more reassuring if one can grasp it.

Jiang Yuan, however, smiled at this moment, "It’s not exactly impossible."

As he spoke, Jiang Yuan tapped the sides of the skull and said, "Strictly speaking, the Skull Restoration Skill involves reconstructing the entire skull, since the appearance of a person’s head isn’t determined solely by the front. The four parts of a complete skull anatomy—skull cap, skull base, skull sides, and skull front—must all coincide for a successful skull restoration."

Jiang Yuan: "Among them, while the front of the skull is the most crucial, it’s also the most time-consuming. To restore the front, it would take at least a hundred hours. Instead, the other three parts can be done relatively quickly..."

"But with only these three parts, facial recognition is impossible, right?" Jacob pointed out the main issue.

"More informative than the ribs," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "Combined with information from the other bones, it should be sufficient."

Jacob couldn’t help but ask, "What information?"

"You’ll know once it’s taken out." Jiang Yuan indicated with his mouth. He hadn’t seen the bones yet but was confident he could extract all the information from them using anthropological techniques.

As they spoke, Jiang Yuan activated the "Temporary Skill Level +1" and upgraded Forensic Anthropology to LV3.

Over 400 minutes of LV4 Forensic Anthropology was enough to unearth an emperor’s ancestral grave!