Shi Ting said, “The victim’s gold necklace, though not valuable, is something a killer bent on robbery would never have left behind. So we can confirm that robbery was not the motive.”

“The victim’s top looks very much like our school uniform,” Yan Qing said. “Female students in Shun Cheng wear similar uniforms — teal-blue tops with black skirts.”

Shi Ting nodded. “The killer must have had a vehicle — a rickshaw or an automobile. The nearest village is still five kilometers from here. To transport a body and dump it in the reservoir, the killer couldn’t have done it by human effort alone.”

“Can you determine the time of death?”

“The decomposition is too severe, with large portions of tissue missing. That can only be determined through a proper autopsy.”

After returning to the Military Police Division, the body was laid out on the autopsy table, and the clothing was removed.

Shi Ting was examining the victim’s garments. Besides the teal-blue school uniform top, it was the innermost undergarment that caught his attention.

The back of the form-fitting chest wrap had two elastic straps, and on the sides were buttons to adjust the tension. The straps in the middle had been cut through — judging by the damage at the tear, it had been severed with scissors or a knife.

The victim’s lower body was bare. Where had her skirt gone?

If the victim had been assaulted, why would the killer have used a knife or scissors to cut the undergarment’s straps rather than simply tearing them apart by hand?

While Yan Qing and E’ Yuan were putting on their autopsy gowns, Zheng Yun came in to report to Shi Ting. They had interviewed Cai Ling’s classmates but no one knew where she had gone, and Cai Ling’s behavior had been completely normal before she disappeared.

Shi Ting gave the order. “Go and find Cai Ling’s mother first — have her come in to identify the body.”

“Could this person really be Cai Ling?” He had a photograph the mother had provided. In the photo, Cai Ling was slender and beautiful.

Even he could not connect that beautiful young student to the dark greenish figure before him, let alone her mother.

“It’s not certain — the family must make the identification first.”

After Zheng Yun left, Yan Qing had already put on her gloves. She advised E’ Yuan to wear at least two masks.

E’ Yuan had never performed an autopsy on a body in this state of decomposition. To be honest, when he first saw this body, he had been fighting hard to suppress the urge to vomit — to avoid losing face in front of everyone.

Even now he still wanted to be sick, but seeing Yan Qing calm and unmoved, as composed as if she were dealing with an ordinary body, he thought that if he threw up, Bai Jin and the others would never let him hear the end of it.

“Let’s begin.” Yan Qing picked up the scalpel.

Under the force of decomposition gases, the body had swelled like a balloon — the face puffed up, eyes bulging, lips turned outward, the entire form in a state of gas-bloating, its surface an unpleasant sickly green.

When the blade opened the skin of the deceased, it was like stabbing a needle into a balloon — the stench burst outward like a dam breaking loose, and putrid liquid seeped out from within, releasing an unforgettable odor.

E’ Yuan finally lost the battle. He tore off his mask, ran to the trash bin in the corner, and retched.

Shi Ting glanced at Yan Qing — she was completely composed, not even a furrow in her brow, as though she were entirely accustomed to scenes like this.

A question took shape in his mind: was her composure the result of exceptional mental fortitude, or was there another reason entirely?

E’ Yuan returned with tears still glistening in his eyes.

Yan Qing said, “Keep vomiting and eventually you get used to it.”

“Master, doesn’t it make you feel sick?”

“Feel sick enough times and you get used to it.” It was the same answer as before. “You take care of the head.”

“All right.” E’ Yuan fought down the churning in his stomach and picked up a razor to begin shaving the deceased’s head.

The girl had a full head of long hair — now soaked through with putrid water and decomposition fluid, maggots nestled among the strands. E’ Yuan thought of how she must have looked in life, hair flowing freely, and felt a pang of sorrow for her.

Large sections of the body’s skin had peeled away, and in some places adipocere had formed. This made the autopsy proceed with unusual difficulty.

“No lacerations on the scalp, no fractures to the skull.” E’ Yuan had gradually grown more accustomed to this body. “The left greater cornu of the hyoid bone is loose but not fractured.”

Shi Ting said, “Looseness of the greater cornu of the hyoid — could it indicate that the victim was subjected to violence like strangulation during her lifetime?”

Yan Qing answered, “Not necessarily. If the victim was young and the greater cornu of the hyoid had not yet fully fused, looseness can occur naturally. Additionally, decomposition can also cause the greater cornu to become loose.”

She added, “The victim’s internal organs show no signs of congestion, and there are no petechiae on the epicardium or pleura — she did not die from asphyxiation.”

Yan Qing placed the victim’s organs on the tray. These organs had been heavily damaged and largely consumed by fly larvae, most of them incomplete and mutilated.

“The body has been destroyed too severely.” Yan Qing frowned. “No definitive cause of death has been found so far.”

Shi Ting said, “The victim’s lower body was bare, and the straps of her undergarment had been cut. Was she sexually assaulted?”

Yan Qing shook her head. “Impossible to determine. The victim’s pubic region has been most severely destroyed by fly larvae — the soft tissue is gone completely, leaving only white bone.”

“I recall you said earlier that the lower half of the body decomposed more severely than the face. If the victim had been assaulted and bled, could the bleeding have drawn an unusually large number of flies to lay their eggs there, resulting in the severe damage to the lower region?”

Yan Qing gave him an approving smile. “That’s a possibility.”

“But there is something strange.” Shi Ting picked up the undergarment. “If the killer assaulted the victim — or if the victim willingly had relations with the killer — why would the killer use scissors to cut the straps? These straps aren’t tight, and could easily be pulled apart by hand, or the buttons undone. Wasn’t this an unnecessary step for the killer?”

E’ Yuan offered, “Maybe the killer was holding a weapon and threatened the victim. While coercing her, he happened to cut through her undergarment straps with the blade.”

“If that were the case, why didn’t the killer remove the victim’s top and undergarment? When we found the body, both items were properly on the victim — there wasn’t even a sign of them having been pulled up. So wasn’t cutting the straps redundant? And where did the victim’s skirt, inner trousers, and shoes and stockings go? The body was wrapped in a bedsheet — the water couldn’t have washed them away.”

E’ Yuan furrowed his brow. “It seems the killer threw the body in the water with the lower half already bare.”

Yan Qing said, “Since the body is too damaged to determine cause of death, let’s try to estimate the time of death instead.”

“The body is already in full bloating. There’s no livor mortis, and rigor mortis disappeared long ago. Can we still get an accurate estimate from this?”

“The body has left us one thing to work with.” Yan Qing’s eyes lit up. She found the victim’s stomach on the tray. “The victim’s stomach is not too severely damaged, and still contains the remains of her last meal.”

Yan Qing skillfully cut open the stomach and tipped out some rice-paste-like food residue.

E’ Yuan immediately covered his nose, nearly overcome by the smell.

Yan Qing found a small sieve, went to the sink, and used running water to wash away the pasty matter. What remained in the sieve were some fragments visible to the naked eye.

She examined them carefully with a magnifying glass. “The victim’s last meal consisted of egg, salted vegetables, and rice porridge.”

Shi Ting said, “According to the dietary habits of our people, that would be breakfast.”

Yan Qing made a sound of agreement. “Food can empty from the stomach to the small intestine to varying degrees within four to six hours. The food the victim ate has already entered the large intestine, with only a very small amount of grains and residue remaining. The victim died approximately four hours after her last meal.”

E’ Yuan asked, “But we don’t know when she had her last meal. Even if we know she died about four hours after eating, we still can’t get a specific answer.”

Before Yan Qing could answer, Shi Ting resolved his question. “As long as we can confirm the victim’s identity, that question will solve itself.”

As he spoke, Zheng Yun knocked at the outer door. “Seventh Brother, Madam Wang is here.”

This Madam Wang was the woman who had come to file the report that very day looking for her daughter. Her husband worked at a bank, and the family was reasonably well-off.

“Have her come in to identify the body.” Shi Ting said. “But first explain the state of the body to her — give her some psychological preparation.”

The body was beyond recognition and looked like some enormous creature. Anyone who saw it would be startled.

Before long, Madam Wang entered alongside Zheng Yun. When she heard she was here to identify a body, her emotions had already broken down. Zheng Yun reassured her — it was only an identification, and it wasn’t necessarily her daughter.

From the doorway to the autopsy table was a distance of only five short meters. But for those who had never lived through such an experience, one could never understand how long and how torturous those five meters could be.

Those who had witnessed the most partings between life and death in this world were perhaps doctors and forensic examiners. Even after years in this role, Yan Qing had never managed to forge a heart of steel. Whenever she heard the bereaved let out heart-shattering, gut-wrenching wails, she felt grief, and sorrow — a feeling she would carry for the rest of her life.

A shriek tore from Madam Wang — a sound that split the heart apart. Yan Qing let out a quiet sigh.

“Cai Ling, Cai Ling!” Madam Wang lunged toward the body and was held back firmly by E’ Yuan and Zheng Yun.

Madam Wang’s emotions were somewhat out of control, and the group had to first lead her out of the autopsy room. She sat on the bench outside, her cries shaking the very walls.

When her emotions had calmed slightly, Shi Ting stepped forward. “Auntie, I know how deeply grieved you are right now. But the one who killed your daughter has not yet been found. You must gather your strength and help us.”

Madam Wang covered her face, her body trembling ceaselessly, tears streaming through the gaps between her fingers.

Cai Ling was her only daughter. The mother and daughter shared an exceptionally close bond, and with the family doing well financially, they had all lived in harmony and happiness.

Madam Wang’s emotions remained impossible to stabilize, and half an hour later, her husband came rushing over after receiving word. He had worked at the bank and had already learned the truth from the police.

Mister Wang did not go into the autopsy room. He came forward and held Madam Wang, and the two of them broke down in tears together.

When Mister Wang was the first to regain his composure, Shi Ting took him aside for a one-on-one interview.

“Mister Wang, on the morning before Cai Ling disappeared, did she have breakfast with you and Madam Wang?”

Mister Wang’s gaze was desolate and vacant as he gave a wooden nod.

“The breakfast you had was egg, salted vegetables, and rice porridge — correct?”

At this, Mister Wang’s expression finally shifted slightly. “How did you know?”

“Do you remember what time you had breakfast that morning?”