Jiang Yuan did not immediately perform an autopsy on the body.

Right now, the first thing to do is to determine the time of death.

The most familiar method for the public is to use the body temperature, but that is only applicable for recently deceased bodies. When the body is at the scene, a thermometer is inserted into the anus, but it is not very useful.

Other criteria for determining time of death, are basically just statistical summaries.

For example, the body in front of Jiang Yuan has already suffered skin swelling and wrinkles, and rigor mortis has also relaxed. Upon closer inspection, many areas of skin have peeled off during transportation. Jiang Yuan roughly judged, "The water temperature recently was probably just over 20 degrees, so the time of death should be within 2 to 5 days?"

Determining the time of death for a body, especially accurately, is a very difficult task. It can even be said that it is the most likely aspect of forensic work to make mistakes.

In many TV shows or movies, a forensic doctor can give an accurate time of death down to the hour with just a glance. Either they are extremely skilled, or the plot has to explain it.

In reality, a forensic doctor can give a relatively accurate time of death for a body that has been dead for a maximum of 12 to 24 hours, such as 4 to 8, or 6 to 12 hours. However, for a body that has been dead for more than a day, there are many favorable conditions needed to make an accurate judgment. Making mistakes in judgment is not a new thing either.

An extreme example is Professor Bass of the University of Kansas in 1977. He identified a body with a gunshot wound to the head. Because the muscles were well preserved and had a healthy pink color, Bass determined that the body had died within a year. However, the body belonged to Colonel William Shy, who died in the Civil War and was sealed in a lead coffin, making it a body from 1864, 113 years different from Professor Bass's estimated time of death.

Bass thus created the famous "body farm," but it still cannot completely solve the problem of time of death.

Many forensic doctors make mistakes in determining the time of death, which can greatly affect the progress of the investigation.

In Wu Jun's opinion, Jiang Yuan's answer of 2 to 5 days is quite reasonable.

After recording Wu Jun's certified answer in his notebook, Jiang Yuan straightened his body and examined the body on the autopsy table.

Jiang Yuan has performed normal autopsies on bodies many times before, usually opening three cavities.

After opening the three cavities, usually the cause of death should be found.

Occasionally, there are negative cases, which means bodies where the cause of death cannot be found. Further investigation of the limbs and other areas will often yield an answer.

However, the half body that Jiang Yuan faced today did not leave any of the usual places for a normal autopsy. It was as if the body did not want to give any clues.To be honest, Wu Jun felt a bit at a loss when he handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan. In his view, there wasn't much to pay attention to in dissecting this body.

"I'll start from the pelvic cavity," Jiang Yuan said softly after adjusting the body's position.

"Okay," Wu Jun replied.

A normal male body's pelvic cavity contains the bladder, testicles, prostate, vas deferens, urethra, and other organs. However, in today's case, the area between the legs was a mess, not only swollen and decomposed, but also possibly eaten by fish in the river or dragged out together with the abdominal organs. In short, there were no organs left in the usual sense.

Jiang Yuan followed the normal process, separating the soft tissues outside the peritoneum behind the pubic bone, cutting open the peritoneum, and observing the situation inside the pelvic cavity.

But he found nothing.

Jiang Yuan didn't say anything and continued with the local dissection process, cutting and pulling all the way down. Doing forensic dissection was sometimes like solving a problem. The solver wants a result, but the thought process is not there from the beginning.

At this point, you can only list all the conditions and think according to them.

This is also a major difference between forensic scientists and doctors.

Doctors often plan ahead before surgery and don't think while searching.

But forensic scientists don't have as many examination conditions as doctors do. Forensic scientists often use the simplest and most direct method - turn it over and look at it.

Only after seeing the clues can they follow them and come to a conclusion.

Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun worked together, staring at the dissecting table without blinking.

What they hoped for was to see some features, such as surgical scars, such as bladder surgery or varicose vein surgery, which could further narrow down the scope.

Or, the victim had a sports injury, such as an ankle scar, which was also a good entry point.

Of course, it would be best if there was a prosthetic limb, such as an artificial foot, with a number, and contact the relevant company to immediately obtain information such as name and age.

"The color here doesn't seem right," Jiang Yuan suddenly stopped the scalpel and put it aside.

Wu Jun, who was a little bit old-sighted, frowned and looked over.

"The lymph nodes here have turned black," Jiang Yuan flipped the skin of the body and pushed aside the muscles that interfered with the judgment, exposing the lymphatic vessels on the thigh.

The lymph, which should have been white or milky yellow, was now dark green.

Wu Jun leaned in to take a closer look and nodded, "It has indeed turned black. Take a sample."

"Okay," Jiang Yuan cut a little and put it in a sample bag, then opened the skin outside and said, "It shouldn't be cancer. There is no obvious swelling or characteristics of cancer cells.""Well, young people in their twenties have a lower risk of cancer." Wu Jun pressed on the lymph nodes a few times and frowned, "It doesn't seem like a lesion..."

Jiang Yuan said, "Could it be a tattoo?"

"A tattoo?" Wu Jun's mind was a bit slow, but Jiang Yuan reminded him and he nodded, "When getting a tattoo, the true skin layer could be punctured, so it's possible...but there's no tattoo on the outside."

"The tattoo was washed off, but the color of the lymph nodes is still there." Jiang Yuan pulled the skin of the deceased and said, "If you look closely, you can actually see some traces. It was soaked in water too much."

Wu Jun nodded slowly as he listened. For forensic scientists, tattoos themselves are a very good identifying feature. Rumor has it that every US Marine has a tattoo, just so forensic scientists can identify their bodies easily...

However, Wu Jun wasn't very familiar with washing tattoos. He asked, "Can tattoos be washed off so cleanly now?"

"Using laser to wash off tattoos has a certain probability," Jiang Yuan pointed to the leg of the corpse and said, "The area of this tattoo is not large, and now you can see some traces. It was washed pretty cleanly, and there are no scars. It should have been done in a hospital, so there might be a record of it."

"Your thinking is good. I'll call the Huang team. If someone used laser to wash off a tattoo in a hospital, they probably only washed off the tattoo on the thigh, which shouldn't be many." Wu Jun took off his gloves, washed his hands a little, and started making a phone call.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

The call went through, and Wu Jun shouted into the phone on the other end, "It's in the location of the Fengshi acupoint, where your hand naturally hangs down and touches the thigh, a little bit towards the surface of the thigh, a tattoo about the size of three coins. That's the preliminary estimate."