Who on earth would do such a thing?
A perverted serial killer?
Simply seeking thrills?
Retaliation against society?
This wasn't a TV show, but something truly happening before his eyes. The shocking scene, the impact it caused, surged in Aki Tomoya's heart like a wave.
His brain started to have trouble processing it, and his mind was even harder to calm.
With the care and reminders from his two seniors in the San Cheng Class, Aki Tomoya recovered after a while and began to help.
Time spent at a murder scene is hard to endure. If it were a normal body, it would be fine, but with an abnormal one, it's unavoidable to be affected.
However, for Misumi Mikoto and Dr. Toukairin, who had been through many battles and were already tempered, they were used to it.
So, the word 'habit' is really powerful...
Helping with the on-site work and recording, Aki Tomoya couldn't remember how much time they spent.
When they returned to the car, the sun was at its peak.
The earth was being baked, and the scorching heat was also an ordeal for people.
He sniffed, still able to smell some odor.
"The bones, muscles, and skin flaps at the severed ends of the body parts roughly match, but we still need to go back for further identification. The killer's method was very crude."
Misumi Mikoto said from the passenger seat, looking up at Aki Tomoya in the rearview mirror who was still deep in thought.
He didn't seem scared stiff, just having difficulty understanding.
When the simple reassembly and matching were done on site, his expression was even less calm than it was now.
"Scared stiff?"
"...No, I was just thinking, what kind of person could be so cruel?"
To kill someone, dismember them, and then discard the body parts like trash, it's terrifying just thinking about it.
In any case, this job, besides dissection and investigation, really does temper one's mindset.
Just look at Misumi Mikoto and Dr. Toukairin, they are much calmer.
"We are forensic doctors, we don't need to understand the killer's feelings. The body is here, and it can tell us a lot."
Misumi Mikoto replied calmly.
Never try to understand the killer's feelings. Some killers are simply insane, beyond reason. To understand them, only a lunatic can understand a lunatic.
Furthermore, finding the killer is the police's job. What they need to do is find the cause of death, find evidence, and meticulously extract the last information left by the deceased.
After returning to UDI, Dr. Toukairin, the clinical laboratory technician, began extracting DNA from the tissue of each body part for STR typing and comparison.
After Detective Mori from Nishi-Musashino Police Station arrived with his team, they also began further examination in the autopsy room.
Dr. Toukairin, dressed in protective clothing, was the last to enter.
"The deceased is about seventy years old. The head and torso were severed at the fourth cervical vertebra. Both forearms were also partially severed and matched. The matching degree of each body part and the bone ends, muscles, and skin flaps is high. Additionally, two tumors found in the neck area of the body parts are highly consistent in size, color, and corresponding skin color. Although the data is not out yet, it can basically be confirmed to be from the same individual."
Aki Tomoya took out the notes he had taken at the crime scene beforehand and continued his work.
"So there's only one deceased person?"
Mauri Tadaharu mumbled, covering his nose.
The severed ends of the body parts had uneven skin surfaces. The head had a small amount of grey hair and six teeth in total in the upper and lower jaws. There were over ten wounds visible on the head, and a localized swelling on the neck.
On the torso, in addition to the severed end, a white tumor and adhesive material were also found under the skin on the right side of the neck.
"As expected, these two identical swellings are very concerning."
Looking at the body that had been reassembled on the autopsy table, Aki Tomoya mumbled.
Besides the trauma to the deceased's head, the tumorous parts in the same location on the two body parts were concerning.
"Hmm... it's probably a tumor."
Misumi Mikoto cut off the grayish-white tumor tissue from the subcutaneous section of the head and the same tumor tissue from the subcutaneous section of the torso.
"Let's use frozen sections."
Dr. Toukairin mumbled, carefully preserving the two pieces of tumor tissue. Using frozen section technology would allow for rapid histopathological examination and comparison.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Misumi Mikoto was continuing her examination.
"Corresponding skull fracture at the head trauma site is depressed comminuted fracture... cerebral contusion, hemorrhage... can be inferred to be caused by strikes from hammer-like or baseball bat-like tools... struck multiple times, and the force of the strikes was not great..."
"Yes."
Aki Tomoya recorded at the side and took photos of the fracture site.
The investigation was still ongoing, and the people working were incredibly focused.
"The adhesive material on the neck and both forearms of the torso is medical transparent tape."
"Yes... If Dr. Toukairin's examination is without surprise, the deceased will be a cancer patient."
After Misumi Mikoto confirmed the adhesive material on the neck was medical transparent tape, the identity of the deceased was further revealed.
Not only was he brutally dismembered, but the victim might also have been a cancer patient.
"The tongue is deviated to the right, with partial defect visible on the right side of the tongue body, possibly due to surgery... The tumor is severely adhered to the carotid sheath, and caseous necrosis tissue is visible within the tumor..."
"Yes."
This suggests that the identity of the deceased is increasingly likely to be a cancer patient.
And the medical transparent tape on the body suggests that he may have been undergoing treatment recently.
While recording, he analyzed the case. Who would attack such an elderly patient?
After Misumi Mikoto finished her examination, they waited for the results of Dr. Toukairin's frozen section examination and comparison.
"I performed rapid histopathological examination and comparison on the raised tumor tissue from both body parts using frozen section technology. It is late-stage well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, and the two body parts can be inferred to be from the same individual."
This basically confirms it.
The deceased, who was killed, dismembered, and abandoned, was a patient with late-stage cancer.
"Seventy years old, suffering from late-stage cancer, had surgery, and possibly still undergoing treatment recently. In that case, we can start checking the hospitals near the scene one by one."
Aki Tomoya mumbled to himself, marveling inwardly. To attack a seventy-year-old cancer patient, such an elderly person, the killer was truly capable of such cruelty.
All that remained was for the police to confirm the identity of the deceased. UDI had already narrowed down the scope for them.
After Detective Mori and his team left, Misumi Mikoto began to stitch the body of the deceased back together.
"Enduring the torment of illness, and then having his life taken by someone else..."
He looked at the body and shook his head.
The cause of death was not cancer, but cerebral contusion and hemorrhage.
"Yes, let's hope the killer is found soon. Maybe it's some perverted serial killer."
Misumi Mikoto sighed.
"A perverted serial killer with crude methods..."
Aki Tomoya recalled what Misumi Mikoto had said in the car before they returned, and couldn't help but look at the section about the head trauma on the notepad in his hand.
"Dr. Misumi, you said earlier that the deceased's head had a depressed comminuted fracture, inferred to be caused by strikes from hammer-like or baseball bat-like tools, struck multiple times, and the force of the strikes was not great. If he's a repeat offender, this is too cruel, it's practically torture!"
There were over ten wounds on the head, indicating multiple blows.
At this moment, Misumi Mikoto paused her movements and leaned towards Aki Tomoya, looking closely.
"It's also possible that it's the first time they've committed a crime, and the killer themselves isn't strong. It could even be a woman."
Misumi Mikoto offered another possibility.
However, until the real killer was caught, her analysis was just providing an opinion.
"But to target someone as old as seventy, the killer is truly cruel."
"There are always one or two psychologically twisted people in the world."
As the two chatted, they began to analyze what kind of person the killer might be.
Seeing this, Dr. Toukairin at the side sighed, "Are you two going to be detectives? Detective Mori just left. If you want to be Conan, you need to hurry up and follow him."
Aki Tomoya and Misumi Mikoto exchanged glances, then silently continued their work.
After stitching the body back together and reassembling it properly, they temporarily stored it in the body cooler until someone came to claim it.
"Hope someone can come and claim him soon."
The three of them prayed that the deceased could return home smoothly.
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