Chapter 228: The Missing Tongue (1/2)

Judging by the footprints in the grass, the superior was a mere 1.6 meters tall with a weak and small stature. I pictured a well-dressed man who fussed over every minor detail.

The man who moved the body was also the bomb maker. He was most likely the careless, temperamental kind who lacked self-control.

My analysis impressed Xiaotao. “Could they be part of a criminal gang?” she asked.

”I don't think so,” I said, shaking my head. “Perhaps they are allies, each with their own role to play–one responsible for the murder and torture while the other in charge of destroying the corpse. Their common interests are what connect them.”

Xiaotao scoffed, ”Common interests? What benefit could they possibly get from torturing and killing people?!”

”Although this is the second murder, I’m not reconciled to admit anything while the details of the case remain unclear,” I said. “Let's take a look at the corpse first!”

When we returned to the crime scene, we saw Dali leaning against a tree throwing up. It turned out that this idiot had slipped in unnoticed and peeked into the car only to be overwhelmed by the sight that awaited him.

”Hands off the tree! There’s evidence on it!” I yelled.

Dali had vomited so hard his eyes were brimming with tears. He wiped his mouth with a paper towel and cried, ”What evidence?”

There were a few teeth and some broken bones embedded in the tree trunk. As soon as I pointed that out, Dali ran away screaming.

”What a coward!” laughed Xiaotao.

Teeth were the hardest bones in the human body. The explosives must have been placed in the middle of the victim’s body for his teeth to have been sent flying and riveted to the tree by the impact. The perpetrator might have placed the victim’s arms around the bomb or stuffed it into the victim’s belly.

”Where was the pinhole camera found?” I asked Xiaotao.

Xiaotao gestured, “Near a stone over there.”

One of her father’s rules was not to step into a crime scene at night so Bingxin wasn’t with us.

”I'll take a look inside the car!” I said.

”Are you going in?” asked Xiaotao in wide-eyed astonishment. “Forget it, I'll ask the other coroners to help clean up the scene tomorrow.”

”It’ll be dawn soon,” I said. “When the sun comes out, the ultraviolet rays will inevitably destroy some of the evidence. Moreover, the car is seriously deformed from the explosion so there are only two ways to get the corpse out of the car–squeeze into the car or take apart the car. The former is definitely the better option of the two and I’m the best candidate here for the job so I'll go in and do an autopsy now!”

”Alright then, be careful!” reminded Xiaotao as she waved me away.

Xiaotao asked the officers to find me a protective suit which I put on after swallowing a Mind Clearing Pill. The officer who delivered the suit also handed me a wooden board and a large plastic bag to ”scrape” the corpse off the seats.

Before entering the car, I checked the fuel tank. Generally speaking, a secondary explosion would surely occur in the fuel tank with such a violent explosion. However, the car’s fuel tank was intact. Was the fuel tank empty at the time?

When I carefully crammed myself into the car, the sight that greeted me almost stifled my breath! Flesh, blood and internal organs coated the interior of the car as far as the eye could see. There were skull fragments embedded in the roof and a large lung lobe hanging from the steering wheel. As soon as my feet landed, I stepped on a mass of slimy intestines. The seats were completely burnt, exposing a bunch of bloody springs so it was impossible for me to sit. I had to bend my waist at an uncomfortable angle. Outside, Xiaotao asked if I needed her to shine a light but I refused.

The protective suit was equipped with a gas mask but it was ineffective against the offensive smell that permeated the air. The nasty stench of human internal organs combined with the smell of burnt flesh and rubber penetrated the gas mask. I figured if I hadn’t worn the gas mask, I would have passed out on the spot.

The victim’s viscera were mostly concentrated in the front seat. There was a foot under the seat and when I pushed the seat down, I found two charred arms in the back seat. The unusual location of where the arms had landed suggested that the victim’s hands were tied behind the victim and the bomb was probably tied around the waist.