Chapter 392: The Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Site (1/2)

Bingxin nodded, ”I’ll test it in the lab later.”

”Alright, place the intestines back into the body,” I said. “Let’s move on to the next victim.”

When I lifted the white sheet, the female victim didn’t look as wretched as before, probably because she was lying flat on the autopsy table. Despite this, Bingxin frowned, ”Was she raped?”

When I nodded, Bingxin couldn’t help but curse, ”I hate this sort of scum! Making love is such a sacred thing yet they desecrate it!”

After I took the fingerprints, I asked Bingxin to begin with the internal autopsy. The victim’s stomach was almost empty. I speculated that the murderers might have deliberately starved her so she wouldn’t have the strength to resist. Though I kept this thought to myself, or the two girls might start cursing the murderers for being sadistic beasts.

”Open the intestines,” I instructed.

Upon the dissection of the duodenum, I immediately cried, ”Stop!”

I worked with the tweezers, picking out some undigested rice grains. ”The rice is narrow with a total length of about seven millimeters. I think it’s Thai jasmine rice.”

”This rice is rather expensive. Even my family doesn't eat this,” interjected Xiaotao.

”We eat japonica rice,” said Bingxin.

”Feeding the victim Thai jasmine rice?” I sneered. “Either the murderers are wealthy or they sell this sort of rice.”

Bingxin pulled out something else from the duodenum. ”What is this?” she asked, staring at the lump.

It looked like meat, though the texture didn’t look as if it came from a terrestrial animal. Squinting her eyes, Xiaotao faltered, ”River snails? No, they aren’t that big. ”

”I know a type of snail that is huge!” argued Bingxin.

Upon careful inspection, Xiaotao commented, ”It’s a different color. Wait a minute, it is a snail, French escargot!” Then, she rolled her eyes and declared, ”Yet another dish I’ll never eat again.”

”French escargot?” I was shocked. ”The murderers must be very wealthy!”

”Rich and heartless beasts!” Bingxin spat in disgust. ”Song Yang-gege, what are we dissecting next?”

I shook my head, ”That’s it. We have the information we want.”

I lit some spiral incense to remove the stench in the room. Grabbing a metal basin, I burned a stack of yellow joss papers for each of the victims and I folded my hands as I whispered, ”Go with a peace of mind. I swear in the name of my ancestor, Magistrate Song Ci, that I will redress your grievances!”

Bingxin headed to the laboratory to conduct her tests while Xiaotao left to gather more clues. At present, we didn’t have much information. The officer explored the surrounding area of the crime scene and found no witnesses. Surveillance cameras failed to capture the murderers’ cars.

”Can you tell the model of the car from the tire tracks?” I asked.

”Yes,” nodded Xiaotao. “I’m just about to meet the vehicle expert from the Forensic Tire Tread Division.”

A thought suddenly crossed my mind, ”Didn't we find numerous tire tracks at the scene? If the murderers’ vehicles weren’t captured, all we have to do is exclude the other cars on the surveillance video, and the remaining two tire tracks will naturally belong to the murderers.”

”You have a lot of good ideas!” laughed Xiaotao. “I’ll get to it now!”

It didn't make sense for me to wait here so I asked, ”Did you test the dog hair last night?”

”Of course, there’s no DNA on the hair,” answered Xiaotao. “I’m going to consult the canine experts in the city.”