National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1140 - 1071: Stars Also Have Livor Mortis

The autopsy room of the Lanyue City Bureau is also located in the funeral home.

Jiang Yuan performed the autopsy late at night, and the deceased’s family rushed over immediately. The deceased, Li Aiyuan’s younger sister, Li Airu, even proactively requested to enter the autopsy room.

This is allowed domestically, and in many places, police will specifically notify the family to observe. However, most of those willing to enter the autopsy room are distant relatives.

Li Airu, in her early twenties and still in graduate school, likely arrived in a hurry. She merely wore a jacket over her T-shirt and stood beside her sister’s icy corpse, letting out a cry at first glance.

Jiang Yuan was pressed for time. He glanced at her briefly, then nodded at Mu Zhiyang beside him and said, "Let’s get started."

"Wait!" Li Airu hastily stopped Jiang Yuan and glanced around before saying, "Could the room be cleared? I mean, minimize the number of people present. Also, could the camera not record my sister’s naked body?"

"The camera has to be there; we need to document the process of the autopsy, as many things change after the initial examination. Moreover, organs that are removed can deteriorate quickly." Jiang Yuan glanced at Li Airu and explained briefly, adding, "Fewer people can stay; anyone who doesn’t need to be here, please leave."

Several criminal police officers, including Dai Mingsheng, and an extra assistant were ushered out of the autopsy room.

Li Airu still seemed dissatisfied and added, "Then at least don’t record the beginning stages. You can start filming after the actual autopsy begins."

"No." Jiang Yuan’s patience was limited. When it comes to criminal police interacting with victims’ families, they are typically much more accommodating. However, forensic doctors usually deal with the silent, non-communicative type—the deceased—making such interactions rare.

Li Airu hadn’t expected Jiang Yuan to refuse so directly. She wanted to say more but stopped herself, noticing Jiang Yuan nodding as he lifted the white cloth covering the corpse.

Despite being a famous star, the corpse had settled into a blotchy state from livor mortis, resembling something out of a TV show about zombies.

Jiang Yuan donned gloves and began the external examination.

When he reached the genital area, Jiang Yuan carried out a particularly meticulous inspection.

Li Airu, who had been wiping away her tears nearby, momentarily forgot herself.

After completing the requisite tests and gathering additional samples, Jiang Yuan picked up a scalpel and made a heavy incision, cutting a long straight line from top to bottom across the body before him.

Dai Mingsheng, the experienced captain from the Lanyue City Bureau’s Criminal Police Brigade, realized the complexity of the case immediately upon receiving it. He had sought external assistance and ensured the body was preserved for forensic examination.

The Lanyue City film base had been operational for over a decade, and Dai Mingsheng, a veteran criminal detective, frequently dealt with related cases. He was well aware of media and public influence. In his view, cases involving public figures that are instantly solvable tend to remain simple, but those that require more time always prove unexpectedly intricate.

Most critically, the public demands straightforward answers; they are uninterested in complex reasoning, resistant to coincidences, and dismissive of authority.

For cases like these, even if Dai Mingsheng were able to handle them alone, he preferred involving officers from other regions. Especially when Lanyue City had abundant funding and sufficient budget allocations tied to its film base, adopting a more transparent investigative process helped ensure smoother press conferences.

Thanks to Dai Mingsheng’s hospitality toward external forces and his generous funding, he had earned widespread acclaim. Being dubbed "The King of External Reinforcements" was not an exaggeration.

If it hadn’t been for the recent lull at the film base, Jiang Yuan might have already been called to Lanyue City.

"Forceps," Jiang Yuan requested, and promptly used them to snap apart the corpse’s ribcage with a series of sharp clunks.

With that, the victim’s heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were fully exposed.

At this sight, Li Airu’s complexion instantly turned ghostly pale.

As Jiang Yuan extracted the victim’s heart and began collecting pericardial blood, Li Airu couldn’t endure the scene any longer. Her face underwent a drastic shift, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Throw up into the garbage can in the corner." Jiang Yuan was accustomed to such situations. Even young criminal police officers assisting with cases often needed to vomit.

In a sense, the forensic autopsy room served as a training ground for newcomers in the criminal police force.

Eventually, after purging most of what was in her stomach, Li Airu cleaned her mouth, straightened up, and summoned the courage to return to the autopsy table.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan was examining the stomach contents.

From the perspective of the autopsy procedure, dealing with stomach contents was not the most visually disturbing task. Imagine flipping over a butchered stomach from a marketplace and filling it with the vomit of a drunk who had just emerged from a bar—it’s a scene most people can tolerate.

However, this process added another variety to the foul air permeating the autopsy room.

The instant Li Airu saw and smelled this, she took two large steps toward the corner and began retching uncontrollably. It must be said that her movements had an elegance to them, revealing a high level of professional dance training that she was unconsciously applying at this moment.

Her vomiting was quite refined, especially with her pale, long neck—she even seemed to take an extra second to expel her contents compared to the average person.

For the remainder of the autopsy, Li Airu mostly stayed in the corner of the room.

Jiang Yuan spent more time dissecting the corpse than usual, not intentionally, but rather because the victim’s cause of death involved certain complexities.

Firstly, it was evident that the deceased had engaged in sexual activity shortly before death. This was easy to ascertain from the detailed examination of the genital area. Furthermore, the condition of the skin and minor abrasions suggested the sexual activity had been intense but not violent to the point of rape.

Of course, rape does not always mean extremely violent sexual activity, and vice versa—the two are not mutually inclusive.

However, considering the victim had been suffocated to death... Jiang Yuan was uncertain.

In cases of mechanical asphyxiation during or after sexual assault, common scenarios involve strangulation or smothering with objects such as pillows. But in this case, Jiang Yuan believed the killer’s position was unusual.

If the murder occurred during or following sexual assault, the perpetrator facing the victim—hips aligned and faces close—was typical. Often, the victim ends up lying down. However, the scene here suggested the perpetrator had been positioned behind the victim.

Notably, the victim’s clothing remained clean until death. While this posture isn’t impossible, carrying out murder this way during a sexual assault would require the perpetrator to meet specific physical and technical demands.

Additionally, no visible defensive injuries were found on the victim.

The genital area showed no tearing, her fingers, wrists, and arms were intact, and even her fingernails were clean—none of which matched the usual profile of mechanical asphyxiation victims.

Jiang Yuan suspected the victim may have ingested some drugs or toxins which rendered her incapacitated and vulnerable, at least in the moments shortly before her death.

Confirming this would require the Toxicology Laboratory to analyze the stomach contents, pericardial blood, or other samples for evidence.

Lost in thought, Jiang Yuan concluded the autopsy.

Out of respect for the victim’s status as a famous star, he waited as Lanyue’s forensic team performed the stitching and slid the body back into the frozen chamber.

Li Airu, having vomited enough, asked Jiang Yuan through reddened eyes, "How did my sister die?"

"We can’t determine that fully just yet." Jiang Yuan naturally wouldn’t reveal anything at this stage and turned to leave.

Li Airu followed him out and saw a cluster of uniformed police gathering around.

"Captain Jiang."

"Jiang."

"Doctor Jiang, thank you for your hard work."

The crowd greeted Jiang Yuan warmly, and Dai Mingsheng was among them, leading a group waiting outside. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"Captain Jiang, where to next?" Dai Mingsheng noticed Li Airu following behind and nodded kindly at her, saying, "Miss Li, accept our condolences. Doctor Jiang is a forensic and criminal investigation expert we specially invited. He is one of the best in the country. Once we have updates, we’ll communicate with you."

After saying this, Dai Mingsheng gestured for a female officer to comfort Li Airu and escort her away.

At this point, Li Airu noticed the respect the police showed Jiang Yuan and, considering Dai Mingsheng’s remarks, realized Jiang Yuan might truly be exceptional. She quickly pulled out her phone and said, "Doctor Jiang, let’s exchange WeChat contacts."

The female officer, prepared to escort her, hesitated slightly—even Dai Mingsheng did not step in to stop her.

Ordinarily, Dai Mingsheng would have promptly had the victim’s relatives taken away, but given Li Airu’s beauty and Jiang Yuan’s status as an eligible bachelor, he found it hard to object to this unusual encounter.

Li Airu gazed intently at Jiang Yuan with her large eyes.

Jiang Yuan waved dismissively, "No need. If you need anything, contact the investigating officers."