Mu Mian got along very well with Forensic Doctor Cheng. With Mu Mian's assistance, Forensic Doctor Cheng performed another autopsy on the body and reached the same conclusion as Mu Mian.
"Forensic Doctor Cheng, did you find this kind of dry, gelatinous substance on the four bodies you autopsied?" Mu Mian took a dandruff-like object from the deceased's scalp, "Like this?"
"What is this?" Forensic Doctor Cheng examined it carefully for a moment, then muttered, "This seems to be some kind of gel, in its dried state. When the bodies were discovered, there was sand and mud in their hair. We cleaned it, but my assistant did the cleaning work, so I'm not sure if there was any."
"I see." Mu Mian was a bit disappointed. How she wished she could have autopsied those four decomposed bodies herself. She was certain she would have found some clues.
"Why did you let them cremate those four bodies?" Mu Mian asked, displeased.
"The families came to my office every day, crying and making a fuss, demanding to cremate the bodies. I had no choice!" Forensic Doctor Cheng held out his hand, showing several healed scars on the back, "Look, they even scratched my hand trying to snatch the bodies away."
"What a coincidence, I've been scratched by a victim's family member too," Mu Mian showed her own scar from Ye Zeling's scratch, "But my scar isn't as deep as yours. I only have three marks, you have four."
Chen Xue, who was recording the autopsy, felt speechless. Why were they talking about such things? They were even comparing their scars.
"Yes, being a forensic doctor can be quite dangerous."
Once the conversation started, Forensic Doctor Cheng began sharing his experiences with Mu Mian, such as how to avoid occupational exposure when dealing with AIDS-infected bodies, the need to wear gas masks when autopsying highly decomposed bodies to avoid poisoning, and how to dodge attacks from victims' family members...
Mu Mian frequently showed expressions of "Wow, I learned something new again!"
"Did you notice that three of the four bodies from Linzhou had rose-colored teeth?" Mu Mian asked.
"Yes, I did. But that alone can't determine the exact cause of death. We can only guess that the deceased went through a process of suffocation."
"I suspect those three victims also died from electric shock."
"Your guess is very reasonable. Indeed, there have been cases where electrocution victims showed rose-colored teeth," Forensic Doctor Cheng agreed.
After the autopsy, Forensic Doctor Cheng left the autopsy room.
Chen Xue whispered, "Mian Mian, you shouldn't tell Forensic Doctor Cheng all the clues. He's on Captain Sun's side. We're in competition now."
"Why? I was just having an academic exchange with him. We had a very pleasant discussion," Mu Mian replied. Although she had a lot of theoretical knowledge, she didn't have as much practical experience as Forensic Doctor Cheng. She felt she had learned a lot.
For instance, she learned that if a victim's family member tries to attack a forensic doctor, one should immediately crouch down, protect their head, and shout for help. This way, they're less likely to get injured if they do get hit.
"Um... never mind." Chen Xue decided it was better not to force those workplace rules on Mu Mian. After all, as long as the case gets solved, does it really matter who solves it?
No, it actually does matter a lot!
During lunch, Mu Mian noticed that Zhang looked dejected, and Chen Xue seemed down as well.
Today's lunch was Kung Pao Chicken. Mu Mian secretly transferred the carrots, cucumbers, and peanuts from her bowl to Fang Rui's, then scooped all the chicken pieces Fang Rui didn't like into her own bowl.
Fang Rui was already used to her little maneuvers and waited patiently for her to finish before starting to eat.
When Mu Mian began to use her chopsticks, Zhang and Chen Xue were still looking unhappy.
Mu Mian finally realized she should say something.
"Officer Zhang, Chen Xue, why are you unhappy?"
"Ah, we've been working hard these past few days for nothing. We thought we had found a suspect, but it turns out he has an alibi." Zhang sighed heavily and lowered his voice, "What's worse, I heard that Captain Sun's team has made progress and seems to have found a suspect."
"Don't worry, I've found a clue too," Mu Mian said confidently, tilting her head up.
Fang Rui looked at Mu Mian, "Did the autopsy reveal anything new?"
"Let's eat first. I'll report to you when the results come out this afternoon. Today's Kung Pao Chicken is delicious."
Chen Xue glanced at the bowl full of chicken in front of Mu Mian, then at the vegetable medley in Fang Rui's bowl, and couldn't help but say, "Um... what's in your bowl can only be called 'chicken pieces'."
"..."
At around 3 PM, the test results finally came out. Fang Rui called another case analysis meeting.
"I suspect the killer is conducting an experiment," Mu Mian held up her drawing, "He's likely doing an experiment about love."
The drawing showed two people sitting opposite each other, with electrodes attached to their arms, connected to long wires. Most importantly, their heads were covered. They were wearing black caps with many holes, each hole connected to a black wire.
"Are those black caps electrode caps?" Lin Sen was a bit surprised, "Are you saying that while testing these couples, he's also collecting their brain wave data?"
"Their hair shows signs of being washed, and the same shampoo was used. It was probably the killer who washed it," Mu Mian explained, "But I still found small amounts of a gelatinous substance on their scalps. After testing, it turned out to be dried conductive gel."
"Conductive gel? What's that?"
Everyone looked confused. Only Lin Sen knew what Mu Mian was talking about. EEG equipment is the most common equipment in psychology labs.
"When conducting EEG experiments, to reduce scalp resistance, a large amount of conductive gel is applied to the scalp where the electrodes are connected," Mu Mian explained, "That substance is very difficult to clean off. You have to wash your hair for a very long time, and even then, you can't get it all off."
Li asked curiously, "Dr. Mu, do you often do these experiments? You seem very experienced."
"I've never been the experimenter for EEG tests. But I've often been a subject. My dad says I'm a genius and my brain is very valuable for research. So I'm often his research subject," Mu Mian said, sounding a bit proud.
Everyone was speechless. No wonder Mu Mian was so fond of studying the human body - it was a family tradition.
Lin Sen said, "Professional EEG equipment is very expensive. Usually, only university labs or hospitals would purchase them. We can start investigating through the purchasing channels for EEG equipment."
"Based on the distribution of the conductive gel residue, I deduce that his electrode cap has 20 leads, meaning only 20 electrode pads. Such equipment is too outdated and should have been phased out. The latest equipment has 128 leads. So I suspect he's using equipment discarded by labs," Mu Mian continued.
Lin Sen frowned, "That makes it harder to trace."
Mu Mian continued, "But fortunately, based on the component analysis, the conductive gel used on the victims should be an imported brand. Moreover, it's not sold separately, only provided to customers who purchase their EEG equipment. The brand of that equipment is called NeurOne."
"Does this equipment have a distributor in China?" Fang Rui asked.
"Yes, it does. It only has one distributor in China, which belongs to the Jiangmiao Group."
