Chapter 1106 - 566: An Unexpected Outcome

Ten minutes later, a police officer from the local station came running over in a huff, holding a long iron bar in his hand.

He stepped forward and said, "Mr. Qin, do you think this crowbar will work?"

"I just got this from the construction site next door."

Qin Feng glanced at it and saw that the far end of the iron bar was flattened, very suitable for prying open objects with gaps.

He nodded and said, "It should be this kind."

Soon, Qin Feng handed the crowbar to Jiang An. As soon as Jiang An took it, he bent down and inserted the far end of the bar into the gap of the coffin.

As he moved, he said, "For coffins in this kind of soil, they usually nail around the coffin, right?"

Qin Feng nodded. "Right, that’s how it’s usually done according to local custom."

He walked over and then asked, "Do you need me to help you pry it open together?"

Jiang An gripped the iron bar with both hands and said, "Let me try first."

He suddenly exerted force, but what surprised even him was that he pried the coffin lid open with almost no effort.

Seeing this, the officer gave him a thumbs up and said, "Mr. Jiang, you’ve got some strength in your hands! You opened it so easily."

The corner of Jiang An’s mouth twitched, and he said nothing.

At this moment, all his attention was focused on the inside of the opened coffin.

The coffin lid had been pried open. Inside the coffin lay two bones, a skull and a human pelvic bone.

With just one glance, something stirred in Jiang An’s mind.

He said, "Let’s open this coffin up completely so we can examine the body parts inside later."

Soon, Qin Feng and several officers beside him bent down and lifted off the coffin lid.

Just then, two officers from the Criminal Investigation Unit’s technical section came over quickly, carrying forensic protective suits and gloves. "Mr. Qin, Mr. Qin!"

Qin Feng turned to look and said, "Did you bring everything?"

"Yes. Look, these are four sets of forensic autopsy suits, two headlamps, and lots of gloves."

"Good."

Soon, Qin Feng handed one set of gloves and an autopsy suit to Jiang An and put on another set himself.

"Mr. Jiang, I’ll go down there with you. We’ll examine these body parts together."

Jiang An glanced at him and nodded. "Alright. But this set of remains shouldn’t be too complicated. Let’s remember to take photos and preserve the scene later."

As he spoke, Qin Feng pointed at a young officer nearby. "Get the camera ready. When we go in to examine the remains later, make sure to take photos."

"Got it, Mr. Qin."

Two minutes later, Jiang An and Qin Feng had put on their forensic protective suits, along with gloves, hoods, and shoe covers.

It was very similar to any exhumation scene in a film or TV drama: the two of them fully geared up and walked to the coffin.

The coffin was very narrow. After stepping inside, Jiang An stood at the foot end of the coffin and took a careful look, discovering that the body parts inside were arranged in a relatively orderly manner.

Even after so many years, clear burn marks could still be seen on the bones. Some local areas of the skeleton had been burned white, and there were even bone fragments that had fallen off.

Next, Jiang An bent down and picked up the skull from the coffin to examine it.

Overall, the outer structure of the skull looked very delicate and fine, with a graceful shape, very much in line with the description of a female skull in forensic anthropology.

As we know, male and female skulls are different. A man’s skull appears rougher, especially at the cheekbones and both sides of the forehead, whereas a woman’s skull is relatively more slender, particularly at the mandible. This is the biggest difference between the two sexes.

At first glance, the skull in front of him was female.

Next, Jiang An focused his attention on the lower part of the skull, that is, the area where the foramen magnum of the occipital bone connects with the cervical vertebrae.

The reason this area drew Jiang An’s attention was mainly because, with that unidentified body found in the valley, since it had been dismembered, it suggested that when the killer processed the body parts, he had used tools to cut them.

Whether an electric saw or some other sharp instrument was used, as long as it acted on human structures, it would generally leave some marks on the bony structures.

Unless the killer was extremely meticulous and exceptionally familiar with human anatomy, only then could he insert the blade into the joint spaces and soft tissues for cutting.

Jiang An turned the victim’s skull upside down and carefully examined the large foramen at the lower part of the occipital bone.

Qin Feng stood beside him, completely at a loss. To him, this skull showed no fractures caused by blows, nor any bone fragments knocked loose by impact.

As for the area Jiang An was examining, it looked no different to him.

After examining it carefully for two minutes, Jiang An shook his head. At least for now, he saw no bone loss at the connection sites, especially no cortical bone damage caused by sharp-force cutting.

Next, he turned his attention to the victim’s teeth.

We know that during struggles between people, teeth are the most easily affected.

Yet with this body, after more than ten years, apart from some loosening, there were no signs of teeth having fallen out.

After finishing with the skull, he turned his head and said, "Brother, hand me an evidence bag. I’m going to collect this skull and take it back."

The officer beside him handed over a plastic evidence bag, and Jiang An placed the skull inside.

Then he picked up the pubic bone at his feet. The subpubic angle was clearly greater than 90 degrees, a characteristic opening shape of a female pelvis.

There are major differences between male and female pelvic structures. Because the female pelvis has to function in childbirth, the pelvic outlet angle is greater than 90 degrees, whereas for males it is less than 90 degrees.

With just one look, Jiang An could determine that this was a female pelvis.

He examined it closely, still focusing on the bone junctions, including both the upper and lower connecting ends.

Just like when he examined the skull, what he wanted to find here were any cutting marks at the upper and lower junctions of these bones.

But unfortunately, after observing for five minutes, he still found nothing.

Next, Jiang An’s gaze shifted back and forth several times between the pelvis and the skull, and the questions in his mind grew a little stronger.

Could it be that this body part really wasn’t cut off?

Was it entirely a natural separation that occurred after the muscle tissue sloughed off in the fire?

With this thought, his gaze focused once more on the pelvis. He saw that aside from obvious burn marks on the pelvic bones, there were no visible muscle attachment points.

Presumably, the temperature at the time must have been quite high, so all the muscles had already been completely destroyed.

After a long while, the doubts in Jiang An’s heart grew heavier, to the point that he even began to question his earlier conclusions.

However, he still did not make a judgment at this moment, because the upcoming identity verification and genetic comparison were what mattered most.

Twenty minutes later, he and Qin Feng climbed up from the coffin.

Jiang An turned and said, "Mr. Qin, please arrange for someone to put up a cordon around here."

"We’ll take the body parts to the DNA lab for extraction, and once the test results are out, we’ll put the remains back into this coffin, restore the lid, and cover it again with earth."

After hearing this, Qin Feng nodded and said, "Okay, I’ll have someone do it right away."

When the two men came out carrying their autopsy gowns and gloves, Li Ailing’s parents hurried over. Seeing the bag of skeletal remains in the officers’ hands, both of them burst into tears.

"Daughter, you really died such a miserable death! You left so early back then—do you know that your parents have never stopped thinking about you?"

As he spoke, the elderly man turned to look at the coffin, then said, "Officer, look at the way your people have opened the coffin. I have one request: after the examination is finished, no matter what the result is, please put this coffin back where it was."

Qin Feng nodded and said, "Sir, no problem. We police handle matters properly, you can rest assured."

"We will definitely close up the coffin and restore it to its original state."

"But this is not the time to restore the coffin yet. We need to extract DNA from the body parts, and in a moment we’ll also need to draw blood samples from both of you for comparison. I hope you can understand."

As he spoke, Jiang An’s gaze fell especially on Zhang Xiang.

At this moment, Zhang Xiang’s expression looked rather grave; there was not the slightest ripple visible. He stood beside the two elderly people, like a dutiful son.

Thirty minutes later, Jiang An and Qin Feng returned to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Guangling City Public Security Bureau.

As soon as they got out of the car, they rushed the extracted body parts straight to the physical evidence lab.

Mr. Li in the physical evidence lab was busy inside when he saw the two criminal investigation captains personally come to submit evidence, and he was somewhat surprised.

In the past, evidence submissions were usually handled by younger officers, or even auxiliary police. He hadn’t expected that this time, two criminal investigation captains would come in person.

He took the evidence and said with a smile, "With such a high-level delivery, I suppose I’d better run the tests immediately."

"Of course. After you run the tests, please compare them with the body parts found in the valley fifteen years ago."

"Also, these are blood samples from two adults. After you finish the DNA analysis on the body parts, please do a parent–child trio comparison with these two blood samples as well."

"No problem, I’ll get on it right away."

Jiang An asked, "When will we have a preliminary result?" Mr. Li looked up at the clock. "About an hour."

"Alright, we’ll wait for you outside the lab."

Very soon, Qin Feng and Jiang An went to the waiting area outside the lab.

They sat on round wooden stools, their gazes fixed on the lab behind the one-way glass, hearing only the beeping sounds of the instruments.

It felt as if every second was unbearably long.

Because the comparison result would directly determine the direction of their next line of investigation.

If the comparison matched, then clearly there was a serious problem with the fire back then, and the case would see a new opening.

But if the comparison failed, or if these bones actually matched the blood samples from her parents, then the case would once again hit a dead end.

Time was ticking by, but the anxiety on the faces of the two criminal investigation captains could be seen at a glance.

Just as the two were waiting with growing impatience, Mr. Li came out of the lab in his white coat.

Qin Feng immediately asked, "Well? How is it, Mr. Li?"

Mr. Li shook his head. "The body parts you sent don’t match the ones from the valley. Although both are female, their genes don’t match."

"However, there is a clear kinship with the blood samples from the adult man and woman you sent."

"Kinship?"

"Mm. In other words, it should be their child."

Hearing this, Jiang An’s heartbeat suddenly quickened. Could the result really be the second possibility?

Immediately after, Qin Feng and Jiang An exchanged a glance, each reading the shock in the other’s eyes.

Two minutes later, Qin Feng said, "Mr. Li, thank you for your hard work. Is the result reliable?"

"Don’t worry, Mr. Qin. I’ve worked this job for a long time, and I’ve never made a mistake in an identification conclusion."

With that, Mr. Li turned back into the lab and continued working.

Jiang An and Qin Feng remained silent for a long time, until Qin Feng finally spoke: "Mr. Jiang, maybe Zhang Xiang was telling the truth, and maybe that fire back then really wasn’t suspicious."

Hearing this, Jiang An looked up at him, but said nothing.

Yet in his mind he kept circling around one question: could this direction really be wrong?

Was that fire back then truly an accident?

Scenes from the day played back in Jiang An’s mind—from their first contact, to opening the coffin, to the evidence examination.

If the result had been like this from the start, then why had Zhang Xiang reacted with such resistance when they met him in the village clinic?

That clearly shouldn’t be the case!

Could Zhang Xiang’s nervousness and resistance have been solely because of customs and fear of disturbing the feng shui?