The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

After speaking, he slightly raised his hand, pointing to a neatly arranged stack of case files on the right side of the meeting room, against the wall.

Director Hou listened with a calm expression and nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the pile of hefty dossiers.

At this moment, Director Lu began to speak slowly, his voice deep and heavy: "Director Hou, Mr. Jiang, we’ve already organized several special discussions on this case within our bureau. Director Hou has also personally provided guidance before, offering us many valuable suggestions."

"But to be honest, this case remains extremely tricky. The leads are numerous yet difficult to connect. We’ve invested a lot of manpower and resources but have yet to identify a clear suspect."

He paused, looking earnestly at the two of them, and continued, "Therefore, this time, we sincerely ask for both of your insights and guidance to help open up our investigative perspectives and direct our next steps."

As Director Lu’s words ended, the entire meeting room fell into a moment of silence.

Everyone’s attention unsurprisingly turned to Director Hou and Jiang An—especially Jiang An.

The young man sitting in the principal seat looked barely over thirty, but his eyes were bright and spirited. His demeanor exuded a composure and calmness that were not entirely in line with his age.

In the eyes of many present, apart from expectation, there was also a trace of scrutiny and curiosity.

Rather than waiting for him to speak, it was more as if they were secretly observing: this young captain, who suddenly appeared at the crucial case review meeting, does he truly have remarkable abilities, or is he just occupying the position?

Particularly some seasoned criminal investigators in attendance, every one of them an expert forged through numerous major cases and frontline experience, seeing a young peer in the upper seat while they sat below, felt a mix of complex emotions.

On one hand, they respect organizational arrangements and rank hierarchies.

On the other hand, the professional dignity and case-solving intuition built up over time instilled in them a slew of questions and intense curiosity about this "air-dropped" young member.

What exactly are his extraordinary points? Can he truly play a role in such a challenging case?

All gazes, especially those sharp and scrutinizing eyes, quietly focused on Jiang An’s face, awaiting his response.

After a brief pause, Director Hou turned his head, his gaze lingered on Jiang An’s face for a moment, and then he slowly spoke: "Mr. Jiang, the information just given is relatively brief. Some details may not have been fully expanded."

"I’ve also participated in discussions on this case numerous times before, so I have some understanding."

"How about this—you could thoroughly review the entire dossier first, and then we can delve into further exchanges?"

When Director Hou spoke, his tone was gentle and his wording cautious, evidently conveying respect.

Upon hearing this, Jiang An met his gaze and instantly understood: Director Hou was subtly giving him a way out, allowing him more time to digest materials and sort through the threads.

Indeed, the initial complexity of this case was extraordinary. Though Jiang An had received a preliminary array of the dossier on his way to the venue, its contents were not detailed.

From the moment he came into contact with the case until now, not even three full hours had passed.

Whether in terms of the dossier’s completeness or his personal study time, both seemed insufficient.

However, Jiang An did not take the easy way out as offered.

He leaned forward slightly and spoke, his voice clear and steady: "Thank you, Director Hou."

"Although the introduction was concise, all the key points were covered. I have also gained a preliminary grasp of the basic situation on the ground and the main findings of the autopsy."

"Time is limited, so I won’t wait to thoroughly read the entire file before speaking."

"Next, based on the information currently available to me, I will share three preliminary insights, which might be rather shallow and possibly flawed or biased. I kindly ask the leaders and colleagues present to provide corrections and criticisms."

As his words fell, the atmosphere in the meeting room seemed to freeze slightly.

The attention, initially somewhat scattered, now focused collectively on him.

Especially Director Lu and the veteran investigator Zhang Biao sitting in the front row, their gazes carried both scrutiny and professional skepticism.

The task force for this case had been established and then disbanded five times. Each time, months of manpower and resources had been poured in without a breakthrough. What could he possibly say after just an hour of introduction?

It indeed seemed beyond reason. Many young officers exchanged glances surreptitiously, finding it hard to believe alongside their surprise.

They were all peers of the same age, and to boldly voice opinions on such a complex case in such a short time—was it confidence or recklessness?

Yet Jiang An seemed unaware of the various implications in these gazes. He opened his notebook, his gaze calmly sweeping across the room, ready to begin his statement.

However, just as everyone looked at him with puzzled expressions, Jiang An remained composed and began to speak slowly: "Regarding this case, after some preliminary sorting and examination, what issues are evident?"

As soon as his words dropped, Zhang Biao immediately picked up the conversation, his tone heavy as he added: "Indeed."

"In the early discussions by the task force, our main confusions have consistently been concentrated on three fronts."

"First, the technical issue—why did the dead woman’s fetus emerge postmortem? Is there some medical or manmade factor behind this?"

"Second is the complex question of determining the case’s nature: does it classify as a vendetta, a crime of passion, or a murder stemming from theft activities?"

"Third, which is the current focus of the investigation, involves accurately defining the range of potential perpetrators to determine the next steps of inquiry."

Jiang An nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over those present, then he spoke gravely: "The three points raised by Mr. Zhang indeed touch upon the core doubts in the handling of the case."

"Next, I’ll discuss my initial analysis and perspective surrounding these three issues."

"Firstly, concerning the issue of the fetus emerging. From a forensic perspective, there are typically three possible scenarios for a fetus separating from its mother."

"The first possibility is natural childbirth, i.e., after a full ten-month term, the mother undergoes labor due to physiological mechanisms like uterine contractions."

"Yet, in this case, the female victim has been confirmed dead, clearly lacking the physiological conditions for natural childbirth, so this possibility can be ruled out first."

He paused briefly before continuing his explanation logically: "Secondly, there is postmortem birth phenomena."

"This is also a scenario sometimes encountered in forensic practice, especially prevalent in cases involving highly decomposed bodies."

"Among you, if there are forensic colleagues or experienced veteran detectives present, you might have encountered similar cases."

"Postmortem birth usually occurs due to a build-up of decomposition gases within the body, accumulating in abdominal organs such as the stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys, creating high pressure which then compresses the uterus, resulting in the fetus being expelled."

"However, in this case, the body is relatively intact with a low level of decomposition, lacking the conditions necessary for postmortem birth, allowing us to largely exclude this possibility."

Jiang An’s tone turned more serious as he continued: "Since that is the case, only the third possibility remains—that the fetus was expulsed due to human intervention."

"This situation can often be further subdivided into several scenarios: one being a cesarean section; however, we did not find any corresponding surgical incisions on the body’s surface."

"Another possibility is non-natural expulsion induced by external forces, such as violent compression or abdominal impact, causing a sudden increase in intrauterine pressure, forcing the fetus from the mother’s body."

"These kinds of circumstances are frequently observed at specific accident scenes, such as abdominal trauma in traffic collisions or blunt force trauma from heavy objects striking the abdomen."

"Correlating with the autopsy findings in this case, I discovered traces of contact from a blunt object on the victim’s abdomen, leading me to lean towards the conclusion that the fetus was expulsed due to this third scenario, being directly or indirectly caused by external violence."

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