On the autopsy table, a thick liquid kept flowing out.

At first, it flowed a lot, and someone rinsed it with water. Gradually, everyone pretended not to see it.

The entire autopsy room was like being submerged in abalone sauce. This scene was as rare as boiling four large pots of abalone in a Cantonese kitchen.

The pressure cooker started to steam.

Another stainless steel pot was brought over.

Wang Lan said, "This pot is for normal cooking, use these bags..."

The bodies in the four bags had been stored for different lengths of time.

The oldest one had almost liquefied flesh, and the most recent one still had some muscle tissue hanging on it. But as the bag was opened, the degree of oxidation visibly deepened, making it suitable for extracting DNA.

The body that had just been cooked in the pressure cooker was of medium age. Now, Wang Lan chose the oldest one.

Because if cooked in an ordinary pot, the process would be more complicated. It was simpler to choose an older body and remove the bones.

Two unfamiliar forensic experts stepped forward and silently selected some bones to put into the stainless steel pot.

The pot bought by Qinghe Bureau was a local stainless steel pot used for steaming mantou. It could easily steam fifty to sixty mantou.

Now, if bones and meat were put in, it wouldn't be a problem to put in thirty to forty kilograms.

Some meat that hadn't been completely removed, still attached to the bones, was piled into a stainless steel barrel.

Find the original at "pawread dot com".

The two forensic experts deliberately put in less meat, selecting pelvic bones and vertebrae, then started adding water and boiling it on the fire.

The forensic experts in the room fell silent.

The main reason was that they were not very familiar with each other, and secondly, the smell was too unpleasant.

Especially the bones being cooked, they had a slight fragrance mixed with the smell of spoilage, and the stench of corpses filled the nostrils...

Jiang Yuan speculated that the reason why humans detested this smell so much was probably because their bodies had solidified a dislike for this type of odor in their DNA chains—probably meaning "can't eat, run away" or something like that.

"Have you all eaten?" Niu Dian, a forensic expert, felt that he should show some hospitality.

"You guys go, I'll watch over the cooking." Wang Lan, who usually played a supporting role, became the host this time.

As they spoke, the water in the stainless steel pot boiled, and Wang Lan went forward to turn off the heat, saying, "This pot needs to be simmered on low heat for three to four hours. You guys go eat something first, then come back to scrape the tendons."

Cooking human bones to remove the meat was the same principle as cooking pig bones to remove the meat.

Similarly, when the meat was cooked off the bones, there would still be some tendons or fascia remaining on the bones. At this time, it was easy to deform the bones if cooked further, so they would be scraped clean with a knife.

Jiang Yuan instinctively didn't want to eat, saying, "I'm not going either, changing clothes is too troublesome."

Several younger forensic experts decided to stay.

The shower heads in the bathroom were not enough, so it was impossible for everyone to leave. With the smell they had acquired today, they couldn't leave without washing up properly.

Instead of getting naked and showing off, it was better to show off while wearing clothes.

Wang Lan probably had the same idea. She was a female forensic expert and usually unaffected, but it was inconvenient to use the bathroom at this time.

"Then we'll go eat first and come back for you." Niu Dian called out and took forensic experts like Old Ye from Longli County to go change and wash up first.

Wang Lan nodded and didn't say much, going to get a ladle and stirring the bones in the stainless steel pot to prevent them from sticking and becoming difficult to handle.

Wang Lan, who never cooked at home, was unexpectedly skilled at cooking and removing meat from bones.

During the break, Jiang Yuan opened another plastic bag and turned out the pieces of meat inside, roughly piecing them together.

The plastic bag was of excellent quality and had weights inside to carefully scan for fingerprints and DNA. However, Jiang Yuan didn't have much hope for it.

Jiang Yuan searched for body parts mainly to see if there were any distinctive features that could be used to trace their origin.

Better ones, like tattoos, might still remain even if the body had decomposed. Hair, for example, if it still existed, would at least prove that the body wasn't bald or balding, and so on.

As it turned out, Jiang Yuan was overthinking it.

All four bodies seemed ordinary, at least none of them had joined the beautiful country's navy marines or anything like that.

After Wang Lan stirred the stainless steel pot three times, the bones in the pressure cooker were cooked.

Wang Lan frowned, found a pair of chopsticks, lifted the pressure cooker's valve, and heard the sound of air being released, along with a strong meaty smell.

The forensic experts who stayed in the autopsy room didn't feel like talking.

To be honest, everyone was a bit hungry considering the time, but at this moment, it was inappropriate to even salivate.

Regardless of whether it was appropriate or not, Jiang Yuan himself felt it was inappropriate.

Fortunately, all the abalone sauce had been eaten, otherwise it would have been a waste.

"It's done." After the pressure in the pressure cooker was released, Wang Lan opened the lid.

On top of the dark soup floated a thick layer of oil.

Wang Lan sighed and said, "People are getting a bit too fat now."

"The fat has all gone rancid." Another forensic expert from the municipal bureau said, then leaned in to take a look and said, "Maybe the person was fat when alive. This is even oilier than when I cook pork knuckles."

"The fat percentage of a pig is only 15%, not much different from my body fat percentage." Wang Lan was very lean. It's just that women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men.

The forensic experts present couldn't help but size up Wang Lan and nodded to themselves.

Wang Lan rolled her eyes and went to get a large bottle of alcohol, pouring it into a basin.

The cooked bones were rinsed with water to clean the outer layer, then soaked in alcohol to remove the remaining fat.

The white bones became white and clean, with a faint yellow tint when illuminated by the light—a visual impact that was quite weak. After all, the autopsy table next to it was piled with dirty and smelly body parts.

"Let's compare them." Wang Lan called Jiang Yuan over and they examined the bones' distinctive features together.Among the forensic experts present, Jiang Yuan was the one she trusted the most.

Although the other young forensic experts were a few years older than Jiang Yuan, their abilities were still leagues behind him.

Wang Lan had carefully observed the autopsies performed by Jiang Yuan, which was also part of his job. In the field of forensic anthropology, Jiang Yuan was clearly very talented.

Among the various tasks at the scene, identifying bones was the easiest.

Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan cleared an autopsy table together, and then arranged the bones on it one by one, using the model of a skeleton lying on it.

Others helped to clean the bones in alcohol, then discarded the water used to boil the body, replaced it with other body parts, added fresh water, and continued to simmer.

Meanwhile, several young forensic experts were also observing the work of Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan.

Dismemberment cases were still quite rare.

For forensic experts, this was also a rare learning opportunity.

In fact, in normal dismemberment cases, the body parts would not be cut so small.

Most murderers, even those who dismember bodies, initially might commit crimes of passion. When they decide to dismember the body to cover up their crimes, most of them do not fully consider the difficult situation they will face.

Human bones are actually very hard and heavy.

Nowadays, women weigh less than 100 pounds, while men weigh at least 30 pounds more. There are also many men who weigh 150 pounds. In other words, if a man is dismembered into 5 pieces, each piece would weigh 30 pounds, and the process of moving them alone would be exhausting.

Imagine a butcher dividing pork. The common pigs weighing over 100 pounds, 200 pounds, are all divided while hanging in mid-air. This is because such a position is the most labor-saving.

Ordinary people, without experience in dismemberment, do not know the importance of iron hooks and ropes.

In addition, cutting itself is also difficult, akin to a level 6 skill difficulty in butchering.

Those who can't even figure out which part is the tenderloin, knowing to cut at the waist and neck, are already impressive. If you want to dismember more meticulously, you either need to know about the major and minor rotators, or you need to use powerful cutting equipment, such as chainsaws.

But still, there will be many difficulties in cutting, and it's very tiring.

Therefore, in most temporary dismemberment cases, the body parts are relatively large.

The body parts in this case, many of which weigh less than 10 pounds, at least indicate that the murderer is physically strong and knows how to operate powerful equipment.

Jiang Yuan picked up a bone, looked at it, and then placed it on the autopsy table, then picked up another one.

Wang Lan was doing similar work, but he was first rummaging through the pile of bones, finding the bone he wanted, and then taking it out and placing it on the autopsy table.

Everyone present was a forensic expert, and they quickly noticed the difference.

Wang Lan quietly stopped.

Although he was also very familiar with bones, picking up a bone at random and placing it without doubt in a fixed position on the autopsy table - he could naturally do it, but his efficiency would be much lower.

Most importantly, this method did not allow Wang Lan to form a sufficient understanding of the bones, affecting his judgment of the bones.

So, Wang Lan simply stopped, planning to wait until Jiang Yuan had arranged the bones before starting from the beginning.

Jiang Yuan quickly arranged the pelvis.

The young forensic experts next to him had already made their judgments, saying:

"It's a female. She has given birth."

"About 40 years old."

"Height is 170 centimeters."

At this point, Jiang Yuan said something that shocked everyone.

Wang Lan couldn't help but ask, "How did you determine that?"

The most commonly used method to determine age is the long bones of the limbs, but because the space in the pressure cooker is limited, the long bones have not been boiled out yet.

Jiang Yuan said, "I first judged it by the lumbar vertebrae, we can verify it later."

"Then let's note it down." Wang Lan was half doubtful.

Although it is the goal of forensic anthropology to judge everything with one bone, the difficulty is very high. Wang Lan's research in this area is not deep.

The young forensic experts next to him suddenly became obedient.

Everyone had some understanding of the limits of forensic anthropology, but when could these limits be applied to their work?

(End of Chapter)