Liu Yuning saw our reactions and said impatiently, "Every time something like this happens, you all seem particularly happy. Stop gloating!"
"No, it's just that the case itself is bizarre enough for us to want to solve it. Besides, aren't these victims pitiful? Even the brilliant Sherlock Holmes makes mistakes."
"What mistakes?"
I tightened my clothes and looked towards a city not far from the sea, where dim lights were still scattered. It was rumored to be called Dongyu Town, but I had never been there. "Actually, Sherlock Holmes is very smart, that's true. No one in the world can surpass his intellect. However, when he investigates cases, he never lets emotions sway him. While this certainly makes him more rational and composed in his thinking, it's also precisely because of this that he doesn't commit himself wholeheartedly to a task driven by emotion. Once he loses interest in something, or if it's merely to pursue the truth..."
This logic was the same as that of my own parents. If they weren't my parents, I would never have been so determined to pursue this case. What I had just said was Sherlock Holmes' greatest strength and his greatest weakness.
Liu Yuning ordered the body to be taken back first. But at that moment, for some unknown reason, something else seemed to be drifting from the sea not far away. I had noticed it floating on the water earlier, but I couldn't see clearly and thought it was just waves.
The object was curled up like the male corpse, but as it drifted closer, it turned out to be a female corpse!
This female corpse had even more scales, and its body was incredibly strange. Except for its head, everything from the neck down was shaped like a Dilophosaurus!!
It seemed things were developing as I had imagined. Most of the members of the Punishing Sin Squad were dumbfounded.
A Dilophosaurus had drifted from the sea to the shore, yet Xie Chuchu and Zhang Keying didn't seem overly surprised.
We placed the bodies on the sandy beach. Upon examining the female corpse's head, I found that her face also had some scales. Though not many, they covered parts of her face. Her greedy eyes were wide open. When I used a speculum to open her mouth, I found pieces of flesh and tissue caught between her teeth.
Upon re-examining the male corpse, I discovered a gap at his neck, as if he had been bitten.
This immediately brought to mind an image: the man was bitten to death by the woman, and then the woman committed suicide. They had been at sea, and it was only due to the influence of the currents that they had washed ashore one after another. I checked the man and found him to be even thinner than the woman, so it was reasonable for him to have been washed ashore first.
Aside from the more numerous scales and the Dilophosaurus-like body, the female corpse was largely indistinguishable from the male corpse. At that moment, I couldn't help but wonder if the male corpse would also turn into a Dilophosaurus.
However, I quickly dismissed this absurd thought. At this point, Zhang Keying spoke up again, "Did you notice that the deceased's skin has marks of cutting and stretching? It's likely from plastic surgery."
"Someone who was surgically altered to look like a dragon?" Xiahou exclaimed.
Zhang Keying nodded. "With current technology, it's not impossible. I once heard of a perverted killer who surgically altered girls who had offended him in college into various animals and sent them to a slaughterhouse. In the end, these girls were ground into various meats and sold. If it weren't for one of the sheep-like girls speaking human words and attracting the attention of the slaughterhouse workers, that sheep constantly saying, 'I'm human, don't kill me! I'm human!' the factory workers would have collapsed on the spot in fear. Fortunately, a manager with more courage quickly shut down the cutting machine. Otherwise, that girl's body would have been cut into pieces. The manager immediately found the police, and if not for that, this matter probably would have remained unknown."
I had heard of this case before; it was the sensational 310 Cosmetic Surgery Serial Murder Case in our Guangming City. The killer was later identified as a highly skilled cosmetic surgeon. But I felt this case wouldn't be so simple. After tidying up, we searched the entire scene, and more staff from the beach were brought in. The person in charge also appeared before us.
I asked him a few questions, but he said he didn't know what was happening. There were no surveillance cameras here, so the information obtained was very limited. I estimated this case would be truly troublesome.
After the bodies were taken away, I asked Xiahou and Xiao Yuande to go to Dongyu Town on the opposite shore. This was a route I had devised based on the direction of the current. Xiahou then asked me, "Team leader, do you think the bodies drifted from Dongyu Town?"
"Yes, that's right. If you're not sure, you can find some experts to test it."
"That would take too much time. Let's go to Dongyu Town first. If we don't find any clues, then we'll find someone!"
"No, Dongyu Town is quite large. If you just go there blindly, it will be difficult to pinpoint the disposal site, and it will take even more time to check their surveillance. Find some geographical experts to help simulate the situation and determine the disposal area!"
"Alright!"
Xiahou picked up his phone and dialed the provincial department. We were not lacking in talent here, so experts soon arrived and began using drones and underwater robots for investigation. I and the others returned to the provincial department first.
In the forensic laboratory, facing these two bizarre corpses with their purplish-green scales, for a moment, I felt a sense of helplessness.
Zhang Keying suddenly suggested, "Let's separate the scales one by one, otherwise we won't be able to examine them at all! We can't even extract blood!"
"That's right, Chuchu, Xiao Dong, let's do it together!"
With a command, the four forensic doctors began their work. We were like playing with building blocks, forcefully pulling scales off the deceased. After they were all removed, the male corpse was covered in wounds. One must understand that these scales were attached to his body, so forcefully pulling them off would naturally tear his skin and flesh.
Xie Chuchu first drew blood and urine. Then we straightened the deceased's spine and placed his body flat on the iron examination table, making it convenient for us to inspect all parts of the corpse.
I used a scalpel to cut open the deceased's chest, then his abdomen and other areas, taking out all the organs for weighing. When examining the deceased's lungs, I found that they had been consistently contaminated by some turbid gas. Perhaps he worked in some kind of workshop. No food residue was found in his stomach. Judging by the stomach contents, this person had not eaten for about four days.
This person was already quite thin, weighing less than 90 catties. For a male, this is very thin. Checking the area below his waist, there was nothing special. At this point, Xie Chuchu had returned with the blood and urine reports.