The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective-Chapter 605 - 338: A Peculiar Type of Back Injury

Zhang Yean adjusted the professional camera, checking the memory card and battery.

Wan said while tying the strap on his protective suit, "Captain, I’ll assist you."

.....

Lying on the autopsy table was a corpse that had already undergone a preliminary autopsy.

The prominent T-shaped suture in the deceased’s neck, chest, and abdomen had black sutures that appeared particularly glaring under the shadowless lamp.

Jiang An examined the suture site carefully.

Zhang Yean asked, "Do we need to remove all the sutures?"

"No need."

Jiang An shook his head, "This time we have specific areas to focus on."

"Forensic Doctor Wu should have completed the internal organ sampling work last time, opening it now won’t reveal anything."

"What we need to focus on is..."

His gaze shifted to the deceased’s lower limbs.

"Brother, help me out."

Jiang An gestured.

Wan immediately understood, the two tacitly stood on either side of the corpse.

They cautiously brought the deceased’s legs together, then slowly spread them into the autopsy position.

Jiang An bent down, almost touching the corpse, inspecting the inner thigh skin inch by inch with a magnifying glass.

Surprisingly, despite being frozen for three years, the corpse’s skin tissue was perfectly preserved, with pores and fine textures clearly visible.

For a whole 10 minutes, the only sounds in the autopsy room were the camera shutter clicks and breathing.

Finally, Jiang An straightened up, "Senior sister, please photograph these specific areas."

He pointed to certain areas on the inner thigh.

"This skin looks undamaged."

Zhang Yean was somewhat puzzled.

Jiang An explained, "Absence of damage is also a significant finding."

"Negative results also hold reference value."

"Ah, I see," Zhang Yean realized, "Your way of thinking always gives me new insights."

"Indeed, negative findings can explain a lot of issues."

Then, Jiang An put on rubber gloves, adjusted his mask, and spoke steadily, "Brother, we need to completely turn the deceased’s back over and examine it thoroughly."

Wan nodded, the two tacitly cooperated, carefully lifting the corpse, turning it 180 degrees.

When the back was fully exposed under the shadowless lamp, patches of dark red spots stood out in front of everyone.

"Damn, why haven’t the livor mortis spots faded after so long?"

Wan leaned in to observe, couldn’t help but express his amazement, his brows furrowed in confusion at this phenomenon.

Jiang An didn’t immediately respond but bent over, studying carefully, his gaze sweeping back and forth over the dark red area, then slowly shook his head.

"Judging by the distribution and morphology, these areas don’t align with typical livor mortis characteristics."

"Huh? Not livor mortis?"

Wan surprisedly widened his eyes, his voice involuntarily rising a few notches, "What else could be on the back if not livor mortis?"

Jiang An didn’t directly answer, he turned and picked a sharp scalpel from the nearby instrument tray.

He steadily gripped the handle, his wrist sank, and the blade smoothly cut through the deceased’s back skin from top to bottom, clean and swift, in one go.

Then, he made a precise incision from left to right across the deceased’s shoulders, the two knife marks perfectly intersecting, forming a standard T-shaped incision.

As the scalpel moved, Jiang An gently lifted the edge of the incision with his other hand and began meticulously separating the subcutaneous tissue.

Surprisingly, within a minute, the skin on both sides was completely peeled away.

What lay beneath the skin was a large mass of dark red solid material, tightly adhered to the muscle tissue.

Confronted with this unexpected discovery, Wan and Zhang Yean exchanged glances, confusion etched on their faces.

Zhang Yean instinctively adjusted her glasses, her voice trembling, "What... What is happening?"

"In all my years of practice, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a phenomenon."

Jiang An nodded gravely, "The situation is more complex than we imagined."

"Could you bring me a few large pieces of gauze?"

"Gauze? Okay, right away."

Wan quickly retrieved two stacks of sterilized gauze from the instrument table, handed them to Jiang An, unable to resist inquiring.

"Brother, what testing are you performing?"

"Are you distinguishing whether it’s livor mortis or hemorrhage marks?"

"Is there a difference?"

Zhang Yean interjected, her gaze darting between Jiang An and the cluster of dark red substance.

"There’s a big difference."

As Jiang An carefully dissected those dark red masses with the scalpel, he explained, "If it’s livor mortis formed after death, that’s normal."

"But if it’s hemorrhage marks, it indicates the deceased suffered external force while alive."

"Consider this: if, as reported, he rode a motorcycle and fell into the river, then the back wouldn’t suffer a collision nor be hit by water, why would such damage appear?"

"So theoretically, the livor mortis explanation is more plausible, but..."

He paused, shaking his head, "Morphologically, this doesn’t quite resemble typical livor mortis; it should be hemorrhage."

"Livor mortis? Hemorrhage?"

These medical terms swirled in Zhang Yean and Wan’s minds like a spell. Though they understood the literal meaning, the underlying medical principles puzzled them.

Wan unconsciously bit his lower lip, his typical action when thinking.

After 2 minutes of detailed operation, Jiang An had dissected most of the dark red masses.

He carefully wrapped the material in gauze, went to the sink, turned on the faucet, and began rinsing.

Under the clear water flow, a substantial amount of dark red liquid seeped from the gauze and drained away.

This washing process lasted a full five minutes, with the material’s volume significantly reduced, yet walnut-sized solid remnants remained.

Finally, Jiang An laid the gauze flat on the autopsy table and said to the two, "Please take photos for the record."

"What... what is this? Really not livor mortis?"

Zhang Yean asked, holding the camera, her voice filled with doubt.

"No, these are blood clots."

Jiang An confirmed, simultaneously using his fingers to gently open the gauze, revealing the material inside.

"Blood clots? What do you mean?"

Zhang Yean pursued further.

"These are clots formed after subcutaneous tissue hemorrhaging."

Jiang An explained, "Under normal circumstances, the body doesn’t spontaneously form such large coagulations unless subjected to intense external impact."

"The deceased’s back showing such extensive coagulation indicates severe blunt force trauma to the back prior to death, causing large-scale subcutaneous muscle hemorrhage."

Upon hearing this explanation, Wan nodded thoughtfully.

"Though some professional terms I didn’t fully grasp, I get the gist."

"You’re saying the deceased’s back suffered serious impact before death?"

"Exactly."

Jiang An gave Wan an approving look, "These coagulations are the most compelling evidence.

Wan’s eyes showed a hint of admiration, casting a respectful gaze at Jiang An involuntarily.

Jiang An continued to explain in depth, "From a pathological perspective, the formation of such clots indicates the deceased activated the coagulation mechanism while alive."

"It consists of red blood cells, platelets and various inflammatory exudates."

"With ordinary livor mortis, the principle is entirely different—livor mortis is formed postmortem by blood pooling due to gravity."

"After death, the body’s coagulation system ceases functioning, and it’s merely blood accumulating in the vessels."

"If it was vessel-contained livor mortis, such water flow would rinse it away entirely, but coagulations are different."

"I see!" Wan suddenly slapped his forehead, a look of realization spreading across his face.

"So, the deceased’s back definitely endured external force?"

Jiang An nodded solemnly, "Not just that, based on the coagulation’s distribution and thickness, the impact area is large, with considerable force."

Then, Zhang Yean, who had remained silent, suddenly raised a question, "Wait, there’s something I can’t figure out."

"If the back suffered such serious external impact, why, upon our inspection earlier, was the deceased’s back skin intact, without even the slightest abrasion?"

"Logically, such force should leave obvious marks on the skin surface, right?"

Upon hearing this question, Jiang An lifted his head slightly, a knowing look appearing in his eyes, "There’s a special circumstance that perfectly explains this phenomenon."