Chapter 20: Details That Don't Match (Part 1)

It's a terrible sight!

Jin Shu fastened her handcuffs, put on her veil, and just put on one glove. She glanced sideways and peered inside by the moonlight. Her heart skipped a beat, and she froze.

Not to mention Jin Shu, even Li Jin, the battlefield god of war, frowned and was slightly alarmed when he saw the state of the room.

The walls were covered with messy, bloody handprints, and the ground was splattered with blood, mixed with a large number of trailing footprints, perfectly demonstrating how fierce the resistance and struggle had taken place here.

Li Jin lit two lamps, handed one to Jin Shu, and walked ahead. Just as he was about to take a step, he heard a loud shout from behind: "Sect Master, wait!"

Turning around, he saw Yunfei rushing over with his hands covered in blood, followed by Magistrate Lin carrying a box and jogging behind him: "Don't rush in, wait until I finish painting before you come in."

After saying that, he took the box from Magistrate Lin behind him and his gaze fell on Jin Shu, who was standing next to Li Jin.

She was dressed in the uniform of a constable from the Six Doors, but she was a completely unfamiliar face. Looking at her petite figure and the location where she appeared, Yunfei knew that this was probably the "Mr. Jin" who was accused all year round.

“Mr. Jin, there’s no rush. I’ll draw down the special marks from the scene quickly.” After saying that, he turned to the side, stepped onto a wooden board that was specially placed in the room, and, using the dim light, directly applied the ink to the rice paper with his hand.

"This is Yunfei. He has a keen eye and can identify unusual traces. He is an expert in trace and physical evidence identification within the Six Doors." Li Jin and others stood beside Jin Shu, watching him use his palm as a pen to copy some special traces in the room.

Jin Shu tilted her head and strained to look into the room.

In her previous life, the bureau had a specialized trace evidence identification center. In this life, she came to the Great Wei, which was no different from ancient China. Considering that technological development was limited, she thought that no one could do this kind of thing anymore.

"They can do trace evidence identification, so they probably also do criminal profilers, right?" Jin Shu muttered to herself as she looked at the document.

But to everyone's surprise, Li Jin nodded: "After returning to the capital, I will naturally be able to see him."

She was taken aback: "There really is?!"

Inside the room, Yunfei put away the papers, tiptoed out, looked at Jin Shu with great politeness, and nodded in greeting: "Mr. Jin, corpse language is not my specialty, so I will leave the rest to you. I hope you can give this case some direction."

Jin Shu bowed in greeting and was about to turn around when she saw Yun Fei disassemble the box in his hand, remove two layers, and hand it over: "Please use this, sir."

Inside the box were a knife and a saw. Jin Shu glanced back at the room and waved her hand, saying, "No rush, let me go in and take a look first."

Seeing her turn around and walk into the house without any fear, Yunfei stood aside with the box in his hand.

Li Jin looked at the carved and jade-inlaid box in his hand, crossed his arms, and seemed to be deep in thought.

Although it was expected, the chief coroner's probing came far too quickly.

Inside the room, Jin Shu took two steps forward with the lamp tray in her hand. She glanced at the horrifying bloodstains, and her gaze finally settled on the woman who was leaning against the door frame of the inner room, wearing a nightgown and covered with a small quilt.

She lay on her side with her head resting on the threshold, her body and surrounding area covered in large patches of blood.

Jin Shu squatted down, leaned closer, raised her hand and wiped the woman's forehead, then gently pressed on her upper arm.

“The deceased was relatively young and had been dead for a short time, estimated to be within three hours. She was not yet stiff and the residual warmth had just dissipated.” She picked up the woman’s hand. “There were scratch marks on the back of her hand and fingers, which should have been left by the victim in a struggle.”

Behind her, Li Jin, carrying a lamp tray, stood on the wooden board. Watching her squatting down and operating it with one hand, he bent down and took the lamp tray from her: "I'll take it."

Jin Shu's attention wasn't on who was holding the lamp. She turned the woman's head back and forth with both hands and, in the flickering flame, noticed an unusual scar.

"Severe head injury, suspected blunt force trauma, extremely serious." She slightly rose and adjusted the woman's posture, revealing the shocking marks behind her.

"...Sect Leader, in this state, we need to take him back to the yamen." She frowned as she looked at the patches of bloodstains. "In this situation, it's more likely a revenge killing or a crime of passion. Even if it was for money or sex, there's no need to be so ruthless."

Li Jin stood behind her, her lips pressed tightly together, and nodded.

This is something only a vicious and ruthless person could do.

"Magistrate Lin," he called softly as he turned around, "take this woman back to the county yamen's morgue."

"Your humble servant understands." Outside, Magistrate Lin, who had been standing there for a long time, personally pulled in the flatbed cart that had been prepared beforehand. He rolled up his sleeves and directed the constables to put her on the cart together.

Then, in full view of everyone, he personally pulled her away.

"Xiaolin County is a small place with limited resources and not much money." Li Jin, used to this, glanced at Jin Shu beside him and gave her a special explanation.

But she wasn't looking in that direction at all; she was staring into the room, her chin resting on her hand, her fingertips gently stroking her jawbone.

Standing in the morgue of Xiaolin County Government Office, Jin Shu remained silent, lost in thought.

She looked at the woman lying in front of her, took down the flat box from the antique shelf, laid it flat on the table behind her as usual, picked up a large pair of scissors from inside, and cut the woman's clothes open in a few strokes.

Everyone was stunned when they saw the patches of marks that came into view.

Jin Shu counted the various sizes of patches in front of her, pondered for a moment, and said, "Before the formal autopsy, I have something I'd like to ask Lord Yun."

She frowned and looked at Yunfei: "Lord Yun, based on the traces at the scene, have you been able to deduce what happened inside the house?"

"Well, based on the traces at the scene, the victim and the murderer had a fierce struggle. The footprints outside the house were relatively loose, while those inside the house were more layered, showing signs of dragging and pulling. So the situation at the time should be that the murderer and the victim had a conflict near the door of the house, and then fought from outside into the house. After a period of intense fighting, the victim lost too much blood and collapsed and died."

After Yunfei finished speaking, Li Jin looked at Jin Shu and nodded in agreement: "Great minds think alike."

“That’s strange.” Jin Shu put down the scissors in his hand and looked at the woman in front of him. “This woman has bluish-purple livid marks from blunt force trauma on her body. Not counting her head, there are at least twenty such marks. It is impossible for an ordinary person, regardless of age, to sustain such intense fighting for a certain period of time after suffering so many blunt force injuries at once.”

She was at a loss, pursed her lips, worried that she hadn't expressed herself accurately, and reorganized her words, adding: "If the murderer wanted to kill her, he would have used all his strength with every blow. Not to mention blunt weapons, even heavy blows with sticks could render a person unable to move after more than twenty blows."

"How was she able to continue fighting for so long despite suffering so many blunt force injuries?"