Chapter 388: Corpse By The Road (2/2)

”The victim sweat quite a fair bit before death. There are even small particles of salt from his body condensed on the skin after perspiration,” I explained. “In fact, the amount of perspiration is quite amazing. He must have been soaked from head to toe, almost as if he were submerged in sweat.”

I emptied the victim’s pockets and found nothing except a few black hairs which I placed in an evidence bag and handed to Xiaotao.

Then, using a pair of scissors, I cut the victim’s trousers. The sweat stains on the victim’s underwear hadn’t completely dried. It was right then that I noticed something strange. The fracture of the tibia was in the opposite direction, that is, the car hit him from behind.

While I stared at the empty road, Xiaotao seemed to recall something. ”There aren’t any cars on this road because a newer one has just been built. No one uses this old road so the municipal government is preparing to demolish it.”

”When the victim was hit, it was about ten in the evening. Two hours is barely enough time to dispose of a body,” I surmised. “I think the crime happened on this road and the victim was hit from behind. It doesn’t look like a simple hit-and-run!”

I pointed to the victim’s body, ”The bruises are extremely severe, indicating the victim didn’t have the protection of clothes at the time. He must’ve been half-naked like this.”

”Half-naked?”

”Yes, and he was running and sweating profusely!” I said, squeezing the victim’s leg muscles. “The serious overdraft of physical strength caused strains in the lungs.”

”Lung strain?” Xiaotao blinked in confusion.

”If you overexercise, your lung muscles will be strained. The condition is commonly known as dyspnea. The average person will stop immediately once they feel short of breath yet the victim desperately persisted so the strain is quite serious.”

Suddenly noticing something, Xiaotao cried, ”Oh look! The victim’s feet!”

As my gaze shifted downwards, I found that the victim’s soles were covered in blood and mud, and a layer of skin was almost entirely stripped. ”The deceased ran barefoot on the road,” I deduced. “From his figure, my guess is he doesn’t usually exercise. This has greatly exceeded his limit. Perhaps he was being chased by something... Yes, a car!”

”You mean, a car was chasing the victim. And when he could no longer run, whoever was driving the car killed him,” speculated Xiaotao.

”That’s my guess as well!” I concurred.

I grabbed a bottle of alcohol and wiped away the dirt and blood on the victim’s torso with a cotton swab, revealing his injuries. In the dark, Xiaotao found it hard to see clearly. ”Should we get a light?” suggested Xiaotao.

”No, I can see perfectly...” I trailed off because I immediately realized that she couldn't see at all.

”Yes, get a light!” I said.

Xiaotao got an officer to bring us a lighting device which she placed beside us. Under the strong glare of the light, the victim’s skin looked pale. That solemn, grim face seemed full of fear and resentment, as if he was unresigned with the cruel fate.

”These wounds weren’t caused by the car, especially here,” I pointed to the wounds on the side of his chest. “It’s obviously a shoe print, a soccer shoe with spikes in the sole.”

After staring at the victim’s chest for some time, Xiaotao nodded.

Upon further examination, I found more than one such injury, though the shoe prints were in different directions. ”More than one person attacked the victim! There were four people wearing different shoes.”