Chapter 31: The Truth in the Hot Pot Restaurant

Although the customers had already been cleared out of the hotpot restaurant, a large crowd of onlookers had still gathered near the police cordon outside.

People who love to watch a spectacle are never in short supply, no matter where you go.

It was much like how men in ancient times enjoyed visiting pleasure quarters to listen to music or watching dances at the Imperial Music Bureau.

Only the era had changed; nowadays, everyone prefers listening to crosstalk.

However, considering the potential impact of this case, Qin Yong called Ren Qiang over: "Clear out all the onlookers outside."

"No one is allowed to take photos or videos."

Qin Yong was actually doing it for their own good; one had to realize that many of these people had just been eating in the hotpot restaurant moments ago.

Unlike Lu Chuan and Shen Yan, who hadn't even picked up their chopsticks, these people were nearly full.

"Seal off the scene," Qin Yong began directing the field operations. "Old Liu, Old Wang, you forensic technicians and medical examiners enter first."

At this moment, Lu Chuan and Shen Yan had already put on gloves and masks and begun inspecting all the soup pots inside the restaurant.

Although this was not a murder scene, the forensic technicians and medical examiners were clearly more experienced when it came to the identification of human bones.

On the medical examiner side, it was Wang Changjiang and Shen Yan; on the forensic technician side, Yang Sen had not come, so Liu Guodong was leading Lu Chuan and Old Bai.

The scene that followed caused all the criminal police present to frown involuntarily.

The sound of retching began to rise in waves.

"A partial tibia."

"A rib segment, and a vertebra."

"This... should be a sacrum, right?"

Everyone was dead silent, with only the voices of Lu Chuan and the other four reporting the large bones suspected to be human remains.

Every report felt like a heavy hammer striking at the hearts of everyone present.

Two criminal police officers had already gone outside to vomit.

They were not rookies, but core members of Action Group Two; Lu Chuan was even familiar with one of them, Zhang Hui.

The two of them had come to this hotpot restaurant to eat just the day before yesterday.

And now...

There were a total of thirty-six tables in the main hall, twenty-five of which had been used.

Lu Chuan and the others inspected all the soup pots and discovered bones suspected to be human in twelve of them.

As the investigation deepened, the expressions on Lu Chuan and the others' faces grew increasingly grim.

This was especially true during the inspection of the kitchen.

"Captain Qin," Liu Guodong reported to Qin Yong after completing the entire inspection. "We found eighteen pieces of human bone in the soup pots in the main hall."

"In the kitchen storage room, we also found a bag of skeletal remains containing pig bones, beef bones, and human bones."

"The specific count is sixty-two pieces, but whether they all belong to one person... it is difficult to determine at this moment."

The bones had all been cut into small pieces suitable for simmering in soup pots; for some bones, it was already difficult to distinguish their specific anatomical locations.

Qin Yong's face turned ashen. "Immediately seal the restaurant! Take everyone in for questioning!"

Finding human bones being simmered in soup in a hotpot restaurant.

This was destined to be another sleepless night.

Thirty-one people, including the restaurant owner, were currently undergoing questioning.

And this time, the medical examiners and forensic technicians were going to be very busy.

And they would be working in close cooperation.

In the autopsy room, Lu Chuan and Shen Yan were organizing all the bone fragments.

"This should be a scapula fragment... this is a radius..."

"And this... is a clavicle..."

Wang Changjiang had specifically requested Lu Chuan from Liu Guodong to help.

While at the hotpot restaurant, Wang Changjiang had noticed that Lu Chuan's knowledge of the human skeleton was incredibly profound.

Because the bones had been cut into small pieces, even as a senior medical examiner, he often couldn't be certain of the bone's original position.

Yet, Lu Chuan could tell at a glance.

"I studied this back in university. Even though these bones have been cut, you can still determine the specific parts by extending from the curvature and texture of the bone," Lu Chuan had answered when Wang Changjiang asked for the reason.

"Lu Chuan, thank goodness you're here. Otherwise, I don't know how long it would have taken to piece this pile of bones together."

"By the way, how did you study human bones? You know more than a professional medical examiner like me."

As Shen Yan stretched her waist, the sight of her looking at Lu Chuan carried a certain feeling.

No one dislikes a man who is good at his work.

Shen Yan and Lu Chuan interacted quite a bit.

Lu Chuan also felt quite comfortable; working alongside a beauty like Shen Yan made the human bones seem not so terrifying.

"I've just read more books. As you know, we forensic technicians sometimes have to analyze skeletal remains; I learned it during that time..."

"Ahem!"

Wang Changjiang cleared his throat twice, interrupting the two.

They still had a case to solve.

"So, Xiao Lu, how are things going on Old Liu's end?"

Lu Chuan looked at the quartz clock on the wall. "They should have just finished the pre-treatment of the specimens. It will probably be about two hours before the DNA results are out."

Regarding these skeletal remains, there actually wasn't much information that could be discovered right now.

First, DNA information would be extracted from all the bones to determine if they all belonged to the same person. Simultaneously, they would attempt to identify the remains through DNA matching.

In fact, Lu Chuan already had some preliminary judgments on this.

The remains found in the kitchen had not been simmered at high temperatures; based on their color, shape, and size, Lu Chuan could basically judge that these bones were formed during the same period under the same external conditions, making it highly probable that they belonged to one person.

Second, the bones would be tested to determine their existence time and bone age to establish the age of the deceased.

This point was extremely important; determining bone age is a crucial factor in determining the nature of a case.

For example, if the final bone age assessment was two hundred years, then it would have nothing to do with a murder case.

If the person died too long ago, the hotpot eaters could only blame their own bad luck.

The likelihood of food safety issues or grave robbing would be higher.

In short, the pressure on the Criminal Investigation Detachment would be much lower.

Wang Changjiang nodded and looked at Lu Chuan. "Since the sorting of the bones is complete, I will apply to Captain Qin to take some samples and send them to the Provincial Department for testing."

Sending them to the Provincial Department?

Lu Chuan was slightly stunned. "Forensic Examiner Wang, we seem to have bone testing equipment here. Can't we do the testing ourselves?"

"If we send them to the Provincial Department... the information won't come back anytime soon."

*Ding!*

[Basic Task: Complete one qualified skeletal identification and analysis, and issue an identification report.]

Speaking of this, Wang Changjiang's expression turned somewhat helpless. "We do have the equipment. A few years ago, the Provincial Department provided a full set of bone testing instruments to the municipal criminal investigation detachments below."

"We know how to use them, but we are quite lacking in the analysis stage."

Beside him, Shen Yan nodded. "Operating these instruments isn't difficult; I had contact with them in school."

"But skeletal identification and analysis are quite difficult. The Provincial Department stipulates that all identification reports must undergo review by experts at the Provincial Department before they can be used as judicial evidence."

"But their requirements are very strict. We tried a few times and didn't pass; we were even audited several times."

"It's not just us; it's the same for the surrounding detachments that are equipped with the instruments."

"Later, we stopped bothering with it and just sent them directly to the Provincial Department for testing, claiming our instruments were broken..."

Lu Chuan: "..."

Having already acquired the Intermediate Skeletal Identification and Analysis skill, Lu Chuan naturally knew that skeletal identification was easy, but analysis was difficult.

However, he hadn't expected it to be difficult to this extent.

But since that was the case, Lu Chuan naturally wouldn't say, "I can do it. You don't need to ask the Provincial Department anymore."

In matters like this, one should have two plans ready.