Chapter 208: Calluses

“For the Senate,” Su Wan snapped to attention.

“For the Senate!” Chen Baibin followed suit, standing at attention and speaking loudly with a serious expression.

“Service, service,” Lei En echoed perfunctorily, adding, “Seriously, your timely arrival is a huge help. You know, I’m actually a public health and epidemic prevention worker…”

Su Wan understood what he meant. During the Battle of Chengmai, she had seen him turn pale in front of piles of bloated corpses, running to the seaside several times to “get some air.”

It was indeed asking a lot of a public health worker, whose job used to involve giving vaccinations, spraying disinfectants, and conducting public education in a city epidemic prevention station, to perform autopsies. What Su Wan admired was that, regardless of his actual professional skill, he had at least taken on the responsibility of local autopsies in Kaohsiung.

Although Lei En had also graduated from medical school and was no stranger to gross anatomy, that was in the controlled environment of a medical school’s dissection room, with properly sourced and prepared cadavers. A forensic scientist, on the other hand, deals with bodies at crime scenes that have often become grotesque. Some are dismembered, others highly decomposed. The stench alone is more than most people can handle.

“It’s fine. Let’s get to work,” Su Wan said.

“Let Comrade Chen Baibin brief us on the situation first.”

“Alright.”

Chen Baibin nodded. He was in plain clothes and had been silent and somewhat shy. Now he spoke: “This case was ordered to be investigated by the Executive Committee itself. To be honest, this time… it’s a bit…” He hesitated, apparently unsure how to express himself. “We want to verify this person’s identity.”

“Hey, hey, verifying identity isn’t something we forensic scientists do, okay?” Su Wan chuckled. “An autopsy can mainly determine physiological issues like the cause of death, time of death, specific age, and past medical history. How can it determine social identity? Implantable identity chips weren’t even widespread in the 21st century…”

Lei En stepped in to explain, “It’s about determining as many of this person’s physiological characteristics as possible so they can infer his social attributes…”

“Is this person that important?” Su Wan was getting curious.

“Yes.” Chen Baibin’s face was troubled. “This person was an enemy of our Hangzhou Station. He was killed by our men a few days ago. However, his words, actions, and ideas in Hangzhou and other places have exceeded our imagination…” He paused again. “He seems to be somewhat… beyond this time and space.”

“You mean this person might be a transmigrator like Rando?” Su Wan asked.

“That’s what we want to find out.”

“Now that you put it that way, I’m getting eager. Where’s the body?”

Lei En pulled a bell cord on the wall next to the table. A thick wooden door in the corner of the basement opened, and two orderlies in white isolation gowns came out carrying a tightly wrapped stretcher. They placed the stretcher on the autopsy table.

“This is the body just transported from Hangzhou.”

“How long has he been dead?”

“A week,” Chen Baibin said with a frown. “The special reconnaissance team raided his stronghold, and he shot himself before being captured. Following our instructions, the Hangzhou Station immediately refrigerated his body and then transported it to Kaohsiung.”

A week! Su Wan wondered what state the body was in after floating at sea for a week.

However, there was no stench of decay in the air. Lei En added, “It was preserved with ice packed in the hold this time.”

How extravagant! Su Wan’s gaze fell on the tightly wrapped body bag. It seemed the Executive Committee was taking this matter very seriously.

After she changed into her autopsy gown, Lei En helped her put on gloves and tie her belt and mask. He also changed into his work clothes to assist if necessary.

He could see that Chen Baibin was very uncomfortable with this. “You can wait in the next room for the report…”

“No, it’s better if I watch from the side,” Chen Baibin said, mustering his courage, apparently unwilling to show weakness in front of a woman.

The body was moved to the autopsy table. Even for the experienced Su Wan, the sight made her gasp. The deceased’s head was misshapen, like a crushed tomato. His entire face was gone. The remaining skin had black scorch marks from gunpowder. From her experience, it looked as if a massive bullet had entered through his mouth and blown his head apart.

Su Wan had rarely seen such a severe gunshot wound, even in her old world. The most powerful weapons used by gangsters in her county were five-shot shotguns and locally made pistols. She had never seen such a terrifyingly fatal wound. The bullet must have been incredibly large…

“What was this fired from?” Su Wan asked with a frown.

“A pistol. 20mm caliber,” Chen Baibin said, steadying his breath, forcing himself to face the horrific corpse.

Su Wan shook her head. She carefully examined the remains of the head and torso, then the hands, feet, and joints. Judging by the rigidity and livor mortis, the body was well-preserved. Many details should be ascertainable.

She opened her toolbox, took out her “eighteen weapons,” and began to work skillfully, narrating as she examined:

“…Hmm, the deceased is male, of the yellow race, approximately 25 years old. His height in life was about 1.55 meters. Nutritional status is good, teeth are neat. He was healthy, with no hidden diseases.”

“Is that all?”

“Pretty much. I can also check the stomach contents to see what he ate for his last meal…”

“No need. The Hangzhou Station’s report already covered that,” Lei En said, feeling nauseous at the thought of examining stomach contents.

“If we could remove all the flesh, we could observe more details from the skeleton… Do you have a special large pot for that?”

Chen Baibin’s face had turned ashen. He suddenly covered his mouth and ran out.

“I don’t think removing the flesh is very meaningful. Just tell us about his other characteristics from a dermatological and anatomical perspective.”

“Alright. My feeling is that this person was not a laborer. His muscles are not well-developed, and his bones are not thick. He clearly didn’t engage in frequent physical labor. The skin covered by clothes is not rough, even rather delicate. The calluses on the soles of his feet indicate he often wore shoes, not walked barefoot.” Su Wan examined carefully. “His hands are smooth, with no signs of long-term labor. He wasn’t a soldier either; no calluses from holding a sword, spear, or firearm for long periods, nor the kind of scars often found on the fingers of archers.”

Su Wan picked up the corpse’s hand and looked at it closely. “He has calluses on his index and middle fingers from holding a brush for a long time. He should be an intellectual…” Su Wan’s brow suddenly furrowed as she looked it over and over. “Strange!”

“What is it?”

“The calluses on his middle and index fingers are from long-term use of a writing brush. But the other calluses on the first and second joints of his index finger and between the first and second joints of his thumb are not right…”

“That’s not how you hold a brush,” Lei En said, looking closely and unconsciously mimicking the motion. He suddenly exclaimed, “Those are marks from frequently using a pen!”

“Correct,” Su Wan nodded. “From the calluses, the part from using a brush is thicker and harder, while the part from using a pen has softened. That was clearly from an earlier time.”

“So he really could be a modern transmigrator?!” Lei En exclaimed.

“Very likely,” Su Wan said, then frowned again. “But I don’t quite understand. The calluses on his knees are very thick. It feels like he was a person who often knelt. I can’t think of any job in modern society that requires kneeling for long periods.”

“Let’s look again for any other clues.”

The autopsy continued until after three in the afternoon.

“Alright, there’s nothing more to check. Let’s suture him up.” Su Wan took off her gloves with a sense of relief and said to Lei En and Chen Baibin, who had returned after his brief departure and looked much better. “I’m starving. I really want to eat.”

Lei En was fine, but Chen Baibin’s face turned pale again, and he quickly turned and ran out.

“Did I say something strange?”

Lei En smiled and helped her suture and clean up. Hao Yuan’s body would be temporarily stored in the underground morgue of the Kaohsiung Health Center.

What to do with it would await orders from the Political Security General Bureau.

“Let’s go up and get some fresh air,” Lei En said apologetically. “You haven’t had lunch yet, have you? I’ve already had someone prepare it.”

The two went to the backyard of the Kaohsiung Health Center, where there was a small garden specially arranged for the Elders. In reality, it was for Lei En’s exclusive use. Lei En’s personal secretary had already set up a small table under a parasol, waiting for them.

“Sit, rest a bit. I’ll have them bring the food,” Lei En said. “We don’t have much variety here, mostly seafood. But there’s plenty of venison and other game.”

“I don’t like meat or seafood. Do you have vegetables?”

Lei En was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, “Yes, yes. Quite a variety, in fact. I’ll have them prepare it right away.”

Su Wan sank into the chair, completely limp. It had been over four years since she left her old world. The pain of not being able to eat her hometown’s food and the longing for her parents tore at her heart constantly. On the other hand, in her old world, she was just an unknown junior forensic scientist who had lost her job due to a misdiagnosis. Here, she had gained countless things she had never dared to dream of before. Position, money, honor, respect—to become the sole authority in the entire country before the age of thirty, what a feeling!

Then she thought of the daily scolding and reprimands from her sadistic boss in the old world, the neglect and indifference of her colleagues, and the ridicule and blame from her family and friends after she lost her job… All the annoying things were gone. Thinking of this, Su Wan felt a little proud.