Chapter 239: The Autopsy Report

The Chief took a sip of Kvass and laughed.

“Although I don’t know what she looked like, just the fact that she refused to accept her fate makes me think she must have been more beautiful than Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao—a woman who could hold her head high after being sold by her brother to an old geezer must have been dazzling.”

Seeing Sun Shangxiang’s shining, captivated eyes, the female Chief reached out and patted her head.

“Well, I suppose those guys got it right for once… Let’s stick with Sun Shangxiang. It’s a good name.”

The female Chief smiled.

“By the way, remember my name. I’m Cheng Yongxin. From now on, you will be serving me for a while.”

Sun Shangxiang was taken aback.

“For a while? Chief, are you not satisfied with Shangxiang?”

Cheng Yongxin shook her head.

“No. Once I’ve figured out the life secretary system, I’ll get you transferred out of that roster. It’s one thing for the male Chiefs, but I’m a woman. If I get married and you’re still my life secretary, are you supposed to be part of my dowry? I can’t stand that.”

Seeing Sun Shangxiang’s face turn pale, Cheng Yongxin realized there was a misunderstanding.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not some vicious main wife—you’re the same age as my youngest cousin.”

She ruffled Sun Shangxiang’s hair and said seriously:

“I don’t care what those men think, but I won’t let a smart, good girl become a plaything who serves men with her body. I promise, I’ll wait for you to find a good young man and see you married off in a red dress.”

—Niu Niu, don’t be like your mother.

Sun Shangxiang clutched the bottle of Kvass tightly, tears mixing with the cold condensation on the glass. She nodded like a pecking chicken.

Su Wan’s face was grim as she walked quickly down the brick steps to the underground autopsy room. Her foul mood was because the terrible experience of the sea voyage had not yet completely faded.

Having finally returned to Lingao from Kaohsiung, the journey had been its usual painful ordeal. She had to be carried from the cargo ship to her dormitory.

After barely feeling “alive again,” she had decided to give herself a good rest, relax, and entertain herself. To that end, she had even spent an hour on the PHS with someone from the Young Officers’ Club.

Although she knew the morgue in the basement of the forensic center was certainly full of various bodies waiting for her autopsy reports, there was nothing urgent. A day earlier or later wouldn’t make a big difference.

However, her vacation plans were ruthlessly interrupted by a call from police headquarters. The caller was the head of the National Police, Ran Yao. Ran Yao rarely called her directly; their work was usually communicated through secretaries, messengers, and official documents.

On the phone, Ran Yao told her to immediately perform a forensic examination on a body in the forensic center’s morgue.

According to Su Wan’s initial thought, a case like a fall from a height, which was likely an accident, could be put on the back burner. But the call was very urgent. It was only when the messenger delivered the case report that Su Wan understood: the accident had occurred in the transmigrator residential area!

The deceased was a “life secretary” in training, and she had died within the transmigrator residential area. No wonder Ran Yao was in such a hurry for a definitive forensic report.

The police headquarters’ forensic center had its own autopsy room and an attached morgue. A large number of the unnatural deaths in Lingao County were sent here for examination. Due to the ample supply, the Ministry of Health’s teaching and research cadavers and specimens were currently provided by this center.

Stepping through the iron door, she casually took the woolen overcoat from the hook by the door and draped it over her shoulders. Although Lingao in the Little Ice Age had its cold moments, this was the only place that made one shiver upon entry year-round. However, for someone like Su Wan from Gansu, who was often “tested” by the northwest winds, it was a piece of cake, even commonplace.

“Teacher Su, you’re here.” As soon as Su Wan entered, several boys and girls in the same uniform quickly gathered around her. They were all Su Wan’s students.

After changing into a light blue autopsy gown with her students, Su Wan turned to a taller boy beside her and asked, “Hmm, the body has been delivered, right? And, repeat the case details again. Let me see how you handle your first independent crime scene visit without Officer Mu or me leading.”

The boy took a document from the side and read aloud:

“On the morning of September 1, 1633, at approximately 7:00 AM, Lin Xiaoya, a trainee at the Maid School, was found dead after falling from the roof of the comprehensive service building in the Bairen City transmigrator residential area. After receiving the report, the forensic team arrived at the scene at approximately 8:30 AM. The body was located about 10 meters to the right of the main entrance of the comprehensive service building, wearing a black dress, a white apron, white cotton socks, and black cloth shoes. The body was in a supine position… Based on body temperature, the time of death was estimated to be between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM on September 1. After a preliminary examination at the scene, the body was transported to the police headquarters’ forensic center at 10:17 AM to await autopsy.”

“Not bad. Better than your teacher’s first time at a scene. Keep it up.” Su Wan nodded in approval. “Alright, let’s begin the autopsy. Although you’ve seen plenty of disgusting pictures in the books I gave you and are probably immune, this is your first time actually performing an autopsy. Hmm, this body isn’t too bad. Don’t go running off scared when you see a highly decomposed body or a dismemberment case in the future.” With that, she turned and walked to the autopsy table.

On the autopsy table lay the body of a young woman, who Su Wan estimated to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was of medium height, and her build was basically acceptable by old-world standards.

“Ah, you poor little sister. I wonder how much you suffered before being sent to the maid school. Although you were to be a sex slave for those bastards, at least you had food and clothing. But now you’re gone just like that. I hope you’re better off on the other side, no more suffering.” For some reason, Su Wan, who had initially been indifferent to the case, suddenly felt a strong wave of sympathy.

Su Wan grabbed the body’s arms and legs and moved them around a few times. “Hmm, rigor mortis has subsided.” She then turned the body over, pressed the livor mortis spots with her fingers, and after another surface examination, she skillfully picked up the scalpel from the tray. Starting from the upper edge of the neck, she slowly cut down, parting the skin of the chest and abdomen like a boat gliding through water. The tip of the blade then went around the navel on the left side and continued down to the upper edge of the pubic symphysis.

A male student used a large scalpel to separate the muscles and skin of the chest and abdomen to the sides, exposing the ribs.

“See here? Her sternum and ribs show extensive hemorrhaging, and there are scattered petechiae elsewhere.” Su Wan pointed with the small stick in her hand at the exposed chest, then pressed the sternum and ribs with her fingers. “The fractures of the sternum and ribs are very obvious. You, separate the sternum.”

The tall boy who was called rubbed his hands together and used a pair of heavy-duty shears to cut the sternum, one snip at a time. “Teacher, there’s extensive hemorrhaging beneath her sternum, the size is… 6 by 15 centimeters… there’s also a hematoma in the retroperitoneum…”

“Very good.” Su Wan maintained a calm demeanor in front of her students, even though in the old world she was still an inexperienced junior forensic doctor who had been sick from the smell of a corpse. “Separate the organs.”

With the help of two female students, the boy somewhat clumsily removed the internal organs from the body cavity. Su Wan bent down and brought her face close to the empty abdominal cavity. “Hmm, quite a bit of accumulated blood, at least… 200 ml. The thoracic and lumbar vertebrae are severely fractured…”

After examining the thoracic and abdominal cavities, Su Wan moved to the head. She made a coronal incision in the scalp and peeled it back to the front and sides, revealing a large area of hemorrhage underneath. She then sawed open the skull and found that the brain was a mess of bleeding. After removing the brain, she drew out a considerable amount of accumulated blood from the base of the skull.

“Alright, the conclusion is obvious. Lin Xiaoya died of traumatic hemorrhagic shock caused by the fall. Suture her up,” Su Wan said to her students, somewhat relieved as she took off her gloves.

After the suturing was complete, the students left the autopsy room to attend to their own tasks. Su Wan, however, lovingly cleaned and prepared the body of the poor girl named Lin Xiaoya. She was an orphan taken in from the mainland. Naturalized citizens like her who died in accidents and had no family were usually sent directly to the public cemetery under the Civil Affairs Department for cremation and burial. This kind of “extra” post-mortem care was almost never provided, but today Su Wan stubbornly and meticulously prepared the body, just as she would have in the old world.

Su Wan washed her hands, changed her clothes, gave a few instructions to the students and the person on duty, and returned to her office to fill out the standard autopsy report. She had just returned from Kaohsiung yesterday. Although the main purpose of her trip was to dissect Hao Yuan’s body, she obviously couldn’t return immediately after arriving. She had to do some teaching and training of key personnel. Giving anatomy lessons to the medical assistants in Kaohsiung became one of her main tasks there.

Day after day of repetitive work eventually became tedious. Kaohsiung was a small place with no real attractions. Although Dr. Zhong, his daughter, and the Dutch young lady were interesting, and she used to frequent Dr. Zhong’s workshop in the customs building, the three of them were clearly a tight-knit circle. When they were fiddling with various parts and discussing problems in the workshop, Su Wan felt like an outsider with no reason to be there.

She was not as knowledgeable as Zhong Lishi, nor as eager to learn as the two girls. Gradually, she stopped going to the customs building.

“Miss Crodia is truly a beauty. Her skull is so perfectly shaped,” Su Wan couldn’t help but imagine her skull as a typical dolichocephalic shape…

She fluently signed her name at the end of the autopsy report with a dip pen. This repeatedly urged matter was finally concluded.

As for the case, let Mu Min and Ran Yao worry about it. She was going to the Farm Café for a good meal to relax.