The remains were found under an old locust tree.

Xie Qing hurried over and stood at the excavation site to observe the surroundings. He found that the terrain here was the highest, and the tree crown was huge and the branches were dense. It had a kingly aura in this mixed forest.

The earth pits where the female remains were excavated were evenly scattered not far away, like an ancient cemetery with burial objects.

...

If a corpse is found, it is no longer possible to dig it up with a broad knife and an axe.

Several criminal police cooperated with three forensic doctors, using smaller tools, and worked slowly and carefully.

Forensic Doctor Zhang asked about the degree of decay, which was purely a beautiful wish.

Not only was the remains more dilapidated, but it was also a male.

Xie Qing studied the symphysis pubis, and was about 45 years old.

The three of them worked together, starting from the head, and first collected small pieces of bones - hyoid bones, teeth, and broken bone fragments.

Forensic Doctor Zhang held up a small black broken bone and complained: "This is the hyoid bone. Although it is broken, it is impossible to tell whether there is bleeding. It is estimated that it will still be difficult."

Forensic Doctor Luo coughed a few times, "Let's do our best."

The three of them worked together much faster than two people, but even so, Xie Qing felt numbness and swelling in her legs and feet when she got up.

She took out the evidence bag and put the corresponding soil under the abdomen of the deceased into it.

Li Ke asked, "Qingqing, what do you want the soil for?"

Xie Qing said, "For a toxicology analysis."

"We've already done the first three, and no poison was found." At this point, Forensic Doctor Zhang paused, "Of course, as long as we can't find the cause of death, we have to continue with the rest."

Li Ke said, "If we can't find the poison, can we still find the cause of death?"

Forensic Doctor Zhang picked up the last big bone and sat down on the ground, "Well, we are human beings, not gods."

Captain Chu and Tan Yi were standing aside.

Captain Chu said, "Little Zhang, you seem to be quite resentful today."

"Ah..." Forensic Doctor Zhang sighed deeply, "So many people died, and we can't even find the cause of death. I feel so depressed."

Captain Chu wanted to remind Forensic Doctor Zhang to pay attention to his mood, but after hearing what he said, he didn't say much and could only look at Tan Yi apologetically.

Tan Yi seemed to pay no attention to all this. He raised his hand and pointed towards the foot of the mountain, "Captain Chu, shall we go over there and take a look?"

Director Yang came over, "Captain Tan, do you suspect there are bodies there as well?"

Tan Yi said, "If all the bodies are without clothes, I suspect he might have taken them somewhere else to burn them. This is a forest with a lot of fallen leaves, so the possibility of a fire is quite high. The murderer is very cautious, so I think he should stay away from here and choose an open place to burn them."

"Young people have quick minds," Director Yang praised, "Yes, the murderer killed so many people, it is impossible for him not to be cautious. If it were me, I would have chosen there too."

There is a sandy and gravel area at the foot of the mountain, with not much weeds and many large rocks.

After the three arrived, they searched in three directions from one place... After more than ten minutes, they returned to the original place.

Captain Chu joked: "We didn't find anything. It seems that Captain Tan miscalculated."

Tan Yi smiled and said to Li Ke who was following from a distance: "Xiao Li, go get a shovel."

"Okay." Li Ke ran back and soon came back with Li Ji with tools.

Li Ji said: "Captain Tan, where should we dig?"

Tan Yi pointed to the side of a big rock, "Here."

Li Ji hit wherever he pointed, raised the shovel and started digging. After two shovels went down, everyone heard a small and sharp metal scraping sound.

Li Ke shouted: "There is something!"

The two put down their tools and dug in the small pit with their hands twice.

"Here it is!" Li Ke found a black, round object in the gravel, "It should be a coin."

She stood up and handed it to Tan Yi. After returning, she and Li Ji started digging it bit by bit with their hands.

Captain Chu was also impressed, "How did Captain Tan do it to hit the target with one strike?"

Tan Yi said, "If you can't find anything above the ground, it means the murderer buried the ashes after burning. I thought from the murderer's perspective. There is a mountain to the east and the line of sight is blocked. The west is open and you can see very far. In order to prevent people on the west from seeing the fire, the murderer would find a place that is convenient for lighting a fire and slightly sheltered from the wind. This place is blocked by rocks, so it is more suitable."

"That makes sense." Director Yang raised his thumb, "Nine bodies were burned nine times, so there may be things next to other large rocks in the same direction."

Captain Chu nodded, "I'll call a few more people."

So, a carpet search was carried out in the woods and at the foot of the mountain...

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, the police officers went through the two places carefully.

The mission was basically completed, and it was time for lunch.

Except for a few on duty, all the criminal police gathered in another open space where no evidence was found to eat lunch.

Director Yang apologized and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I will treat everyone to a good, hot meal when I get back."

Fu Da smiled and said, "Director Yang is too polite. We are used to it. It is common to be so busy that we can't even drink a sip of water."

Director Yang said, "That's right. Most people in our line of work have bad stomachs."

After working for most of the day, everyone was already hungry, and the casual chat came to an abrupt end.

Tan Yi bit his bread and his eyes fell on a small pile of evidence bags in the middle.

They didn't find much: a few burnt plastic knots, a metal buckle on jeans, a small piece of leather that was not completely burnt, and two coins. The rest was sand mixed with ashes in each pit.

Two coins, one issued in 1980 and the other in 1989. 1980, sixteen years ago, should not explain anything, but 1989 can reflect the time when the deceased was killed to a certain extent.

However, the corpse can only identify the approximate year of death, which is not accurate.

Moreover, these piles of ashes cannot be matched one by one with the deceased, so the role they can play is very limited.

Tan Yi believes that if the forensic doctor can't get any clues, they can only follow the two lines of the missing person and the murderer, especially the latter.

Captain Chu was also thinking about these problems, and he suddenly said, "If this person is from another city, this case will never be solved."

If such a big case cannot be solved, it will not only be painful for Xiang'an County, but also for Anhai City.

Director Yang said, "If he's missing and no one reports it, we can consider that he was sold. This case may have a clue. Don't let others' ambitions destroy your own prestige, so as not to affect morale."

Captain Chu smiled naively, "Director Yang is right in his criticism."

Director Yang waved his hands, "It's not a criticism, just a suggestion."

Tan Yi took out a mobile phone from his bag and quickly put it back, "No signal, go back and notify the bureau. Anhai City and nearby cities and counties must be checked."

Director Yang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, first of all, the murderer has a car. He killed so many people, but there was not a splash. It is very likely that the scope of the crime is relatively large."

...

Xie Qing couldn't find the cause of death on the corpse, and was depressed. He listened to their conversation while silently eating bread.

Forensic doctors Zhang and Luo had great fantasies about the male corpse.

First, the first victim killed by the murderer was likely to be his relative. If so, the police would be able to find the report record, and it is likely that the case is still unsolved. In

this case, they can just restart the investigation, and the scope of suspects is not large, at least everyone will not be in the dark.

But Xie Qing thought it was not that simple. The murderer committed so many crimes without being discovered, which shows how cautious he was.

She thought that even if there were flaws in the first murder, it might not be possible to find the flaws after so many years; even if the deceased was a relative of the murderer, it might not be a criminal case.

It is undeniable that this case is very difficult from a forensic point of view. The follow-up investigation can only start from the deceased and the murderer, but the case of an unknown corpse is not simple in this historical period when technology is not developed...

Li Ke touched Xie Qing with his elbow, interrupting her thoughts.

She said, "Qingqing, the difficulties are there, don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Li Ji also said, "Yes, Xiao Xie, the leader is not worried yet."

His words reminded Xie Qing.

She is not a leader, why should she bear a psychological burden heavier than the leader?

Do you think you can do everything because you are a time-traveling woman and take the world as your responsibility?

This doesn't make sense!

She quickly adjusted her mindset, "Thank you, Brother Ji, you are right."

Li Ji nodded with satisfaction, "That's right, have a good meal."

The pressure was gone, and the food in her mouth tasted good.

The bread at this time was delicious, and the milk biscuits were also pure - for the sake of the heroine's health, the author had described the quality of various products when constructing the novel system, and Xie Qing also benefited from it.

After eating and drinking water, everyone cleaned the scene for the last time, and then returned with tools.

This time, everyone also searched the area near the road, but still found nothing.

To be honest, there was no decomposing body at the scene, which meant that the murderer had stopped long ago.

Expecting to find lost items in the mountains from one or two years ago, even if you find them, you can't be sure of anything.

The return journey was slower than the outbound journey. When we got back to the car, the sun had already set behind the mountain.

Considering that police officers work harder than forensic doctors, Xie Qing took the initiative to sit in the driver's seat and let Li Ji and Liu Feng rest.

As soon as the car left the mountainous area, the three passengers fell asleep, and Liu Feng even snored.

Forty minutes later, the car entered the county bureau.

The cafeteria had already prepared the meal, and everyone had a hearty meal and then went straight into the conference room.

Director Yang presided over the meeting in person. The forensic

doctor first gave an introduction to the autopsy.

Forensic Doctor Zhang mainly introduced the age and gender of the victims, as well as the approximate time range of the murders - without scientific and technical support, no definite time could be given.

The male victims were killed the longest time ago, about ten years ago. The reason is that the tree where the deceased was buried has a large crown and is less likely to be eroded by rain, so the body is naturally decomposed, and the judgment based on experience will not be very wrong.

The female victims are relatively young, in their twenties or thirties. The longest time of death is seven or eight years, and the shortest is about two years. This range is not accurate and is for reference only.

As for the means and tools used to commit the crime, the forensic doctor has not yet reached a conclusion, and further research is needed.

Forensic doctor Zhang's words are actually beautifying himself.

But as I said before, forensic doctors are not gods, and it is indeed difficult to determine the cause of death of a body that has turned into bones.

After forensic doctor Zhang finished talking about the part that forensic doctors are responsible for, he also made some guesses about the relationship between the male deceased and the murderer. This is the scope of work of criminal police. When he said it, it was also a kind of supplement in his heart.

Director Yang did not forget Xie Qing.

He said, "Doctor Xie have anything to add?"

Xie Qing said, "Regarding the male deceased, I also have some ideas."

Director Yang said, "Please speak."

The police officers of the county bureau looked over, most of them with surprise in their eyes. They didn't understand how a trainee forensic doctor could be more knowledgeable than their forensic doctors?

Xie Qing remained calm, "Assuming that the male deceased had a close relationship with the murderer, there are two possibilities before he was buried here. One is that he was missing. There is nothing much to say about this. The possibility of reporting him missing is greater than that of a female deceased, and the grassroots police station may have left a record."

"The second is that he was dead. There are two possibilities. First, he may have died of natural causes. The murderer buried him as a relative, and then secretly stole the body and buried it here. Second, he may have died of unnatural causes. Out of some kind of collecting fetish, he moved the body here."

There was no such term as "collecting fetish" in the 1990s. Someone interrupted and said, "Collecting bullshit, what does this mean?"

Tan Yi said, "The hobby of collecting, serial killers will mostly go to the scene to review it in order to gain a psychological comfort. "He moved the person to a place and checked him from time to time. I guess the satisfaction must be doubled."

Captain Chu puffed out a puff of smoke, "This explanation makes sense, but I still don't understand, if the male deceased died of natural causes, why did he move the person here?"

Tan Yi said: "Male deceased are buried in the best position. Eight women are scattered in all directions. Don't you think it's very grand, Captain Chu?"

Xie Qing looked at him unexpectedly. She knew that Tan Yi would find something there, but she didn't expect that Tan Yi's idea was exactly the same as hers.

Tan Yi gave her a reassuring look.

When their eyes met, Xie Qing suddenly felt less panicked.

"Fuck!"

"It seems to be true."

"Not necessarily. Many of the bodies were buried quite far away."

"It depends on the identity of the female deceased. If she is really a fallen woman, the murderer is also unfilial enough to make his father wear a lot of green hats."

"I think it is possible. In poor places, they can't even marry a woman. Marrying a bunch of fallen women after death is considered very filial."

"Do you mean ghost marriage?"

"Of course, there is no such thing in the city, but it is not uncommon in some rural areas."

"I have heard of it too. This thing is not only terrible, but also extremely hateful."

...

Everyone chatted about the content.