Chapter 4

Chapter 1

An Extra Finger

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……

Case: Ghost Mutilation.

Time: March 21st — April 13th.

Criminal: …XXX!

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March 21st. The tenth day of the third month in the lunar calendar, the first day after the Spring Equinox, a day when nothing should be done!

This was Lin Fei's eighth day at the North District Police Station, and the first day of the dismemberment case in Chengnan City.

That early morning, Lin Fei, who had just woken up and hadn't even had time to get dressed, received a call from the station, instructing him to immediately go to the morgue and wait for orders!

Lin Fei wasn't the only one who rushed to the morgue after receiving the notification. The earliest to arrive were his master, Old Hu, and Captain Zhang from the first team of the district police station. Even Captain Zhang's apprentice, Liu Yang, arrived before him.

By the time Lin Fei rushed to the morgue in the shortest time possible, he happened to see Liu Yang, his face pale and his eyes filled with indescribable fear, covering his mouth and fleeing from the morgue to the toilet. Seeing this, even without asking Liu Yang, Lin Fei already guessed that there was new "cargo" in the building, and it was something that could make even a police officer vomit.

The so-called "new cargo" here did not refer to a person, but to a new corpse that had been transported to the morgue. Old Hu had taught him, "In our line of work, we must always remember the four words 'Respect the Dead and Uphold the Way.' The most taboo thing is to say the word 'corpse' in the morgue."

Lin Fei had once asked Old Hu why it was taboo to say the word "corpse."

Old Hu told him, "The dead are the greatest! Every corpse was once a person, and every person has a temper! Just like calling a blind person a 'blind man' or a hunchback a 'hunchback' would make them unhappy!"

"So, you mean the dead have tempers too?"

"Exactly!" Old Hu said, "After death, a person is left with just a shell, but who can guarantee that there isn't something we can't explain scientifically hidden within that shell?"

It was hard to imagine that such superstitious words would come from the mouth of an experienced old forensic doctor who had been in the police force for many years. Although Lin Fei had great doubts about the existence of the "things that can't be explained scientifically" that Old Hu mentioned, he at least knew that Old Hu was a truly capable person! For example, Old Hu's skills in examining corpses were so good that Lin Fei could confidently say, "Even a professor in the forensic medicine department might not have half of Old Hu's skills!"

Lin Fei's eyes scanned Liu Yang. He was very curious about what kind of "new cargo" could make a formal detective like Liu Yang feel so nauseated. So, he unconsciously quickened his pace. When Lin Fei rushed into the morgue and saw the iron bed in the room, which was covered with a mess of bloody limbs, he finally understood Liu Yang's reaction!

"Ugh!" A sour and spicy sensation began to rise from his stomach into his mouth. Just as Lin Fei was about to vomit, a hand suddenly covered his mouth, blocking the contents from coming out. The taste was both spicy, sour, and bitter, making him extremely uncomfortable!

Lin Fei, with his eyes wide open, glared at the person covering his mouth, but immediately received a scolding, "What are you staring at! I've told you countless times! You must never do anything unclean in front of them! If you need to vomit, go outside and do it!"

The person who could say this to Lin Fei was none other than his master, Old Hu, with his peculiar temper! Only he would use this method to teach Lin Fei the importance of "Respect the Dead and Uphold the Way"...

In the next moment, Lin Fei, like Liu Yang, covered his mouth and rushed to the toilet.

After spitting out the contents in his mouth, he felt much better and hurriedly rinsed his mouth at the faucet. At this time, Liu Yang had just finished vomiting and was continuously sipping tap water, swishing it around in his mouth, and spitting it out, then sipping again, and spitting again...

When Liu Yang finally felt better, he said to Lin Fei with a tired expression, "This new cargo is really heavy on the stomach!"

"Indeed!" Lin Fei splashed some water on his face. After all, he was in this line of work, and his ability to accept such things was slightly better than Liu Yang's. When they both recovered somewhat and returned to the morgue, Liu Yang still looked ready to vomit at any moment. Lin Fei, on the other hand, had to put on a white coat, a mask, and white gloves, and stand next to his master, Old Hu, ready to assist him...

"Look at you, you're such a wimp!" This was a phrase Old Hu often used to mock Lin Fei, but this time he added a less obvious praise, "But, you're much better than a few days ago! At least you didn't faint!"

Lin Fei stood to the side, wanting to say something, but looking at the new cargo on the bed, he immediately dared not speak, for fear of vomiting again...

On the contrary, Old Hu, a seasoned veteran, not only showed no signs of disgust when looking at the new cargo, but his eyes even had a hint of excitement.

This kind of excitement was only something a person like him would have. A normal person couldn't possibly observe a corpse as if they were watching a woman take a bath, let alone a pile of limbs that had been chopped up by some sharp weapon...

Old Hu carefully examined the wounds on each piece and said, "The knife skills aren't very good!"

This comment immediately made Liu Yang mutter to Lin Fei, "Your master's old habits are back!"

Seeing Old Hu getting increasingly excited, Lin Fei simply smiled and said, "Get used to it!"

He watched as Old Hu carefully pieced together the chopped-up corpse, and out of curiosity, he bent down to examine the left arm that had already been assembled, silently counting: a total of five cuts, dividing the entire left arm into six pieces of varying sizes!

He was inwardly shocked: How much did the killer hate the victim to chop them up like this!

He then looked at the right arm, which was even more bloodied and mangled. He couldn't even count how many cuts the killer had made to leave it in such a terrible state!

He saw Old Hu constantly searching through the pile of limbs for the missing fingers of the right hand.

...

After about half an hour, Old Hu had managed to piece together the roughly dismembered corpse, but the head, which had been chopped to pieces, could no longer reveal the victim's appearance in life!

"Female, 1.65 meters tall, approximately 21 years old! The time of death was around 1:00 AM today..." Listening to Old Hu report his preliminary findings to Captain Zhang.

Lin Fei, standing to the side, looked at the dismembered corpse and sighed, "To die at 21, what a pity!"

At this moment, Liu Yang seemed to have recovered somewhat from his earlier state. Although he still dared not look directly at the female corpse, he could joke with Lin Fei as usual, "Hey, Xiao Fei! Let's make a bet!"

"A bet?"

"I bet this case is a crime of passion!" Liu Yang whispered, "It must be a breakup between a couple, and the man, out of love and hate, chopped the girl up in a fit of rage!"

It had to be said that not only did Liu Yang think this, but Lin Fei had also thought the same at first. There had been many such cases in society, and it was easy to associate the dismemberment of a young girl with a crime of passion.

"If you two have nothing better to do, go clean the floor!" Hearing Lin Fei and Liu Yang chatting as if nothing had happened, Old Hu immediately got angry.

In the next moment, Lin Fei and Liu Yang quickly grabbed rags and squatted under the bed, pretending to clean the floor...

"Xiao Fei, look at that?" Liu Yang whispered, apparently having found something under the bed. He reached in and pulled out a severed finger!

Liu Yang was instantly terrified, his face turning pale, and he sat down on the ground, his body stiff.

Even Lin Fei was startled, but it was just a finger, and seeing such things in the morgue was quite common!

After a moment, Lin Fei quickly picked it up and examined it closely. He noticed a ring on the finger and initially thought it belonged to the female corpse on the bed. He stood up and carefully compared it to the fingers on the corpse's hands...

"That's not right! Her fingers are all there! Whose is this?"

Lin Fei's body trembled. He saw that the ten fingers on the corpse's hands were all intact! In the next moment, he realized that this severed finger must have come from somewhere else... He hurriedly took the finger to Old Hu, "Master, there's an extra finger here!"

"?!" When Old Hu heard this, his face first showed surprise, then turned serious. He took the finger from Lin Fei, examined it, and immediately scanned the entire body of the female corpse with Captain Zhang.

When they were certain, Captain Zhang said, "Why is there an extra finger?"

"This must belong to someone else!" Old Hu's face turned extremely grim, and he seemed to have an idea.

He urgently said to Captain Zhang, "Go to the scene immediately, there might be another body nearby!"

...

Another body?

Lin Fei didn't know what this meant.

He only remembered that at the time, Old Hu, looking like a storm was about to break, quickly changed his clothes and personally went to the scene with Captain Zhang. Before leaving, he instructed Lin Fei to re-examine the details of the corpse that he might have missed. Captain Zhang, on the other hand, generously left Liu Yang to assist Lin Fei.

When the others had left, and only Lin Fei and Liu Yang remained in the morgue, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became eerie.

Liu Yang, looking pitiful, said to Lin Fei, "Brother Xiao Fei, I'm a bit scared! Why don't you study here, and I'll wait for you at the door?"

"No way!" Lin Fei firmly refused.

First, he really needed someone to assist him; second, facing a corpse that had been chopped up, Lin Fei was also scared! Let alone being alone!

But when it came to saving face, one had to put fear aside!

He turned on the surgical lamp hanging above the bed, shining the light on the female corpse. The feeling of "dismemberment" suddenly became more pronounced.

Lin Fei inwardly cursed, thinking: Old Hu is really inhumane! I've only been here for eight days, and he's already making me examine a corpse. Not being scared to death would be a good thing! Not to mention, how long it will take for me to return to normal eating habits is what's important...

For Lin Fei, who didn't even have a formal license and was a complete novice, the relationship between him and the bloodied and mangled female corpse was like that between Di Renjie and Conan... They had no common ground! It was impossible for Di Renjie to ask Conan, "Conan, what do you think of this female corpse?"

Lin Fei felt like crying but couldn't. After pondering for a while, he finally decided to just do a cursory examination and pretend to do his job. After all, the important details, such as the time of death, the age of the victim, and the gender, had already been checked by Old Hu, so there wouldn't be much to miss...

As for the final part...

After Lin Fei finished his cursory examination and was about to stretch his limbs, his eyes inexplicably fell on the extra finger on the tool table in the morgue.

He walked over, took out the finger that Old Hu had already sealed in a container, and returned to the side of the female corpse...

"What are you doing?" Liu Yang, seeing Lin Fei with the finger, was very puzzled.

Lin Fei explained, "I'm just checking to see if this finger belongs to the girl."

"But it's extra, right?" Liu Yang said.

"Extra, definitely extra! But it's possible that one of the fingers was put in the wrong place by my master. This one might belong to the girl, and the other one is the extra one!" As Lin Fei spoke, he held the finger and compared it to the hands of the female corpse. After confirming that the finger did not belong to the corpse and was indeed extra, he planned to put it back in the container and seal it again...

But at this moment, something flashed in Lin Fei's mind.

It was a smell!

A pungent, foul odor!

It was similar to the smell of a dead fish that had been left out too long and had rotted.

To confirm that his nose wasn't malfunctioning, Lin Fei quickly asked Liu Yang, "Do you smell anything strange?"

Liu Yang just shook his head, looking like he really hadn't smelled anything.

Strange! But he clearly smelled it, and the smell was becoming clearer and clearer... as if it was coming from his own hand.

He hurriedly looked down and saw only the severed finger in his hand!

Could... it be the smell of the finger?

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