Mu Mian and another girl, Chen Xue, were temporarily assigned as assistants to Forensic Doctor Qin to familiarize themselves with the work procedures.
Chen Xue had a sweet appearance and was very enthusiastic. She had graduated from the local medical university and had interned at the City Police Bureau earlier in the year, so everyone in the forensics department knew her. All morning, she kept talking to Forensic Doctor Qin and even bought coffee for all her colleagues in the forensics department.
Chen Xue was a very popular girl.
Mu Mian felt somewhat irritated. According to social guidelines, Chen Xue's behavior was normal and could help build relationships with other colleagues. However, Mu Mian couldn't interact with others as enthusiastically as Chen Xue did. She could only offer a polite smile to everyone she encountered.
However, the responses she received were strange looks.
Mu Mian had seen too many such looks before. She could only conclude that it was some kind of social behavior signal from "normal humans" that she couldn't understand yet.
"Mian Mian, have you heard? One of us will be transferred to the Special Crime Unit," Chen Xue said.
Mu Mian shook her head, "I haven't heard. Is it important?" Mu Mian didn't mind where she was assigned as long as she could keep her job.
"Did you come here in Captain Fang's car this morning?" Chen Xue pretended to be making casual conversation, but her expression was somewhat tense. "Did you know Captain Fang before? You two seemed quite familiar."
"He gave me a ride since we were going the same way. I didn't know him before, and we're not very close," Mu Mian thought for a moment and added, "He doesn't seem to like me. He's never smiled at me."
"I see..."
Chen Xue breathed a sigh of relief and was about to continue probing when Forensic Doctor Qin interrupted their chat.
"Little Mu, you were the one who reported the case in Ziweili, right? Come with me to the case analysis meeting later."
Mu Mian happily replied, "Okay."
"Forensic Doctor Qin, may I apply to come along too?" Chen Xue asked. "I'd like to learn as well."
"Alright, Little Xue can come too."
On the way to the conference room, Chen Xue continued chatting with Mu Mian: "Mian Mian, were you the one who reported that case about the pregnant woman being tortured with a cat? You were late for the welcome ceremony yesterday, was it because of the case?"
"Yes, the deceased was my neighbor. I was the first to discover her body."
"What a coincidence." Chen Xue looked at Mu Mian with a complex expression.
Originally, Chen Xue's position at the City Police Bureau was assured, but Mu Mian was a variable. Mu Mian's resume was impressive. She had heard internal news that the City Police Bureau only needed one forensic doctor, and the other two would be sent to various local branches after training at the City Police Bureau.
Mu Mian couldn't quite read Chen Xue's expression. It might have been sadness, or perhaps envy.
Mu Mian could only comfort her: "Chen Xue, you don't need to envy me for encountering such a special corpse. It's all about luck, and I've always been particularly lucky in this aspect."
Chen Xue: "..." What normal person would consider encountering such a horrifying corpse as lucky?
She suddenly felt that staying might not be so difficult after all.
This Mu Mian didn't seem very smart.
At the case analysis meeting.
The spacious conference room was full of people. Mu Mian sat in the back row with Forensic Doctor Qin and Chen Xue.
By this time, the meeting had already begun.
On the electronic screen was a photo of the deceased in life - she had a sexy figure and long, wine-red curly hair. Next to it was her autopsy photo.
The deceased was named Li Yan, twenty-eight years old, unmarried, and lived alone.
This case was originally being investigated by the Special Crime Unit led by Fang Rui, but considering the severity of the case and the urgency to solve it, it was transferred to the more experienced Major Crime Unit, with Fang Rui's team assisting in the investigation.
The head of the Major Crime Unit was Chen Dongyang. He briefly introduced the case: "Li Yan, a local, 28 years old this year, freelancer, worked as a shopping guide in a mall half a year ago. She was unmarried but eight months pregnant. According to the investigation, the father of the child is her former colleague - Zhu Minghui, the manager of a luxury goods store. At the time of the incident, he was at a drinking party and has an alibi."
Forensic Doctor Qin distributed the autopsy report to everyone and began to report the autopsy findings:
"A small amount of anesthetic was detected in the deceased's body; there were several bruises on her elbows and wrists, likely caused by intense struggle. Four cuts were made on the abdomen, two of which were very shallow, test cuts. The killer opened the deceased's abdomen, cut open the uterus, and removed the entire placenta. Then he put a live kitten into the deceased's uterus and sutured the belly."
Forensic Doctor Qin pulled up an autopsy photo on the electronic screen: the deceased's abdominal cavity was opened, and the internal organs were covered with claw marks.
"The incisions on the deceased's body are very uneven. Judging from the size of the incisions, the murder weapon was likely a Swiss Army knife. The wound sutures are crooked, and there are two test cuts, which indirectly proves that the killer might not be skilled in dissection and probably isn't a medical professional. We also found some plastic film in the deceased's abdominal cavity, on which we also detected traces of anesthetic."
Forensic Doctor Qin said, "That's all we found from the autopsy."
Everyone took a deep breath.
Someone speculated, "This killer must have really hated the victim. Could the killer be Zhu Minghui's wife?"
"We've already ruled out her suspicion. On the night of the incident, her son was hospitalized, and she stayed in the hospital all night. She had no time to commit the crime."
Zhang couldn't help but brainstorm, "Have you guys seen 'The Legend of Zhen Huan'? There's a cat torture in it, right? They put people in a bag full of live cats and let them be clawed to death. Ah, could the killer have gotten inspiration from this TV series?"
Li rolled his eyes at him, "You might as well say the inspiration came from the story of 'The Racoon for the Prince'."
"Oh right, the killer took away the victim's fetus. Could they really be reenacting 'The Racoon for the Prince'? But in the TV series, they switched babies to fight for the throne. What's the killer's purpose?"
"An 8-month-old fetus, if delivered through surgery, could it survive? Could the killer's purpose really be to switch the victim's child?"
Everyone was discussing animatedly, and the conference room suddenly became noisy.
The air was densely packed with different voices. Mu Mian felt irritated and wanted to cover her ears to block out their voices.
But she was worried that others would notice her abnormality, so she could only lower her head and draw in her notebook, trying to shift her attention elsewhere.
However, the noise became even more amplified.
"The killer designed a surgery. He wanted the deceased to give birth to a cat," Mu Mian suddenly stood up and said with certainty, "A living cat."
The previously noisy conference room instantly fell into dead silence.
