The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 982 Autopsy to Confirm Identity

After hanging up the phone, Xiao Wang continued to ask, "Sister, has Brother Song recently made any enemies or had any conflicts with anyone?"

The woman frowned and thought for a moment: "No, he's an honest and hardworking man who rarely gets into arguments. But..." She suddenly remembered something, "A few days ago, when he came back, he said he had a few words with someone at the freight station because of queuing to unload goods, but it wasn't a big deal."

Just as Xiao Wang was about to press further, Xiao Zhou arrived in a hurry. After a brief exchange in the courtyard, the two decided to split up. Xiao Zhou was responsible for investigating the people who had argued with Song Houdong at the freight station, while Xiao Wang stayed in the village to further understand Song Houdong's interpersonal relationships and check the village's surveillance footage to see if he could find any trace of Song Houdong's vehicle.

With the village head's help, Xiao Wang arrived at the village committee's monitoring room. The image on the screen was somewhat blurry, but the main roads were still clearly visible. He stared intently at the screen, reviewing frame by frame the footage of Song Houdong leaving the village yesterday. Finally, at 3:17 PM, he saw the blue Foton truck drive out of the village entrance, with a person inside. Although he couldn't see the face clearly, judging from the figure, it should be Song Houdong.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhou's investigation at the freight station also made progress. The person arguing with Song Houdong was a truck driver named Liu San. But according to people around him, although Liu San had a fiery temper, he would let things go after an argument and wouldn't do anything extreme. Moreover, Liu San hadn't appeared at the freight station at all in the past two days; it was said he had gone back to his hometown.

Meanwhile, inside the Criminal Investigation Division, forensic doctor Zhang Lin was preparing for an autopsy.

The operating lights in the autopsy room illuminated the worktable in a stark white light. Zhang Lin, wearing an N95 face shield and medical goggles, made a soft clattering sound as his rubber gloves collided with the stainless steel instruments. The carbonized eschar on the corpse's surface gleamed with an eerie metallic sheen under the cold light, and the "boxer's position" formed by the high-temperature contraction gave the entire body a twisted, defensive posture.

“Prepare to record.” Zhang Lin used a bone saw to cut open the charred skin on the chest and abdomen, sending up fine dust as the carbonized tissue disintegrated. His assistant quickly activated the smoke extraction system; the pungent smell of formaldehyde mixed with charred flesh was still nauseating even in the negative pressure environment. “The deceased’s chest wall shows extensive third-degree burns, with the epidermis completely charred, but about 3cm above the xiphoid process of the sternum,” he picked up a piece of eschar with tweezers, “there is a wound that was not completely destroyed by the flames, with roughly circular edges and a diameter of about 1.5cm.”

The moment the electric bone saw cut through the ribs, the putrefactive gases remaining in the chest cavity gushed out. Zhang Lin frowned slightly and placed the removed sternum on a tray: "The costal cartilage is a characteristic brick red color, consistent with high-temperature burning. But note the space between the fourth and fifth ribs," he pointed to the left side of the thoracic cavity with a probe, "there is an oblique fracture line, and the fracture ends are sharp, suggesting that it was caused by external force rather than high-temperature embrittlement."

When the pericardium was cut open, congealed blood clots mixed with grayish-black charcoal dust poured out. "Cardiac tamponade." Zhang Lin used a suction device to clear the accumulated blood, revealing a gruesome wound on the surface of the heart. "A penetrating wound is visible on the anterior wall of the left ventricle, about 8 cm long, with clean edges, consistent with the characteristics of a single-edged sharp weapon." He took out a deformed metal fragment and twirled it under the dissecting lamp. "This is the remnant of the murder weapon, presumably a dagger-like blade, the tip of which bent under the heartbeat."

An assistant handed over tissue forceps, and Zhang Lin began to dissect the pectoralis major muscle: "Reactive bleeding is visible in the deep muscle, indicating that the puncture occurred before the victim's death. Look here," he turned the cut muscle profile toward the camera, "The bleeding area is bright red, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding carbonized tissue, consistent with the characteristics of acute blood loss."

During the examination of the stomach, Zhang Lin found that the stomach contents were in a semi-digested state: "Undigested starch granules and meat fibers were visible. Combined with the degree of intestinal propulsion," he measured the distance the chyme moved in the small intestine. "Based on the Meiss method, the time of death was estimated to be 4-5 hours after the meal. The deceased's family said that their dinner time was 18:30, so the time of death was estimated to be around 23:30."

To verify the time of death, Zhang Lin took a bone sample from the pubic symphysis: "High temperatures can interfere with routine post-mortem temperature determination, but the degree of thermal denaturation of collagen fibers in bone tissue is relatively stable." He placed the sample under an electron microscope, and the screen showed broken collagen fiber bundles. "Based on the fiber breakage density and degree of disordered arrangement, the match rate with the 13-hour high-temperature exposure model in the database reached 92%."

When the autopsy reached the liver, Zhang Lin discovered an abnormality: "There were patchy hemorrhages in the right lobe of the liver, which were not caused by burning." He took tissue samples for pathological examination. "This distribution of bleeding is consistent with the stress response before cardiac arrest, indicating that the deceased survived for a period of time after being stabbed." When the liver cells under the microscope showed acute hypoxic changes, he emphasized: "This is ischemic damage caused by heart failure."

While examining the deceased's hands, Zhang Lin noticed black substance between the fingers: "Extract trace evidence for testing." Gas chromatography analysis revealed that the black substance was mainly composed of diesel fuel and engine oil—a highly consistent characteristic of Song Houdong, a truck driver. More importantly, there was a fresh resistance wound on the second joint of the deceased's right index finger, with blue fibers embedded in the wound.

“The deceased had hemorrhagic pulmonary edema in the lower lobe of his left lung,” Zhang Lin said, holding up the dissected lung tissue, the cut surface of which oozed a large amount of foamy fluid. “This is a typical manifestation of mechanical asphyxiation combined with acute heart failure. After the weapon pierced the heart, blood rapidly accumulated in the pericardial cavity, causing cardiac tamponade, while blood refluxed into the lungs, causing edema.”

As the autopsy neared its end, Zhang Lin discovered a hematoma under the victim's scalp: "There was a linear fracture of the occipital bone, and the fracture line did not extend to the base of the skull, indicating that it was a secondary injury." He compared the fracture morphology and, "combined with the charred wooden stick fragments found at the scene, speculated that the murderer had attempted to strike the head with a blunt object after committing the crime, but the spread of the flames interrupted this action."

Finally, Zhang Lin took the deceased's teeth and rib cartilage for DNA testing: "Although the high temperature destroyed the epidermal cells, the pulp cavity and bone marrow tissue may still preserve genetic material." He put the samples into a centrifuge and watched the test tubes separate into layers as they spun at high speed. "These will become key evidence to confirm the deceased's identity."

By the time the autopsy report was completed, the sky outside was already turning a pale white. Zhang Lin removed his protective gear and rubbed his aching shoulders. Every piece of data and every conclusion on the report silently told the truth of that bloody night—after suffering a fatal stab wound to the heart, the victim endured the agonizing process of his heart gradually stopping and his lungs being submerged in blood, and the killer's subsequent act of burning the body could not ultimately conceal these secrets hidden deep within the flesh.

Meanwhile, Zhang Lin compared the DNA information of the corpse with the DNA information about Song Hou that Xiao Wang and Zhang Hui had collected.

The deceased has been confirmed to be Song Houdong himself!