Half an hour later.
A skull was retrieved by professional salvage personnel and placed on the riverbank.
Police officers gathered around the skull while the salvage team returned to the water to continue searching for the remaining bones. Where there was a skull in the reservoir, there would surely be other bones as well.
After the skull was brought ashore, Wang Dachuan took the opportunity to show off some knowledge he had recently learned from books about autopsy procedures.
"Compared to bodies exposed to air or buried in soil, bodies in water take the longest to skeletonize. The entire process takes about two years. This is likely an old case involving an adult, and solving it won't be easy."
As soon as he finished speaking, Han Fei looked at him with surprise: "You know about this?"
"Hehe, just a little bit..." Wang Dachuan chuckled, "I read it in books. I specifically bought some books about autopsies."
Han Fei patted Wang Dachuan's shoulder.
"Not bad, kid. You're starting to study."
"You're never too old to learn!" Wang Dachuan scratched his head and continued, "Judging by the skull's size, it's probably not an adult male. Most likely a female or a child..."
Wang Dachuan's interest in autopsy books was mainly because of Xu Mo.
According to Xu Mo, his autopsy skills and knowledge were self-taught from books.
If Xu Mo could teach himself these things, why couldn't he? Wang Dachuan, hoping to quietly improve himself and eventually impress everyone, had bought several relevant books and started studying.
He didn't expect it to come in handy so soon!
Having just started learning a few days ago, he managed to show off in front of his colleagues. Wang Dachuan had to admit... it felt really good!
After praising Wang Dachuan, the smile on Han Fei's face quickly disappeared.
He stared at the skull on the ground and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
As everyone knew, the longer the time between the crime and its discovery, the harder it would be to solve.
Because time could wash away many pieces of evidence.
According to Wang Dachuan's theory, this body had been in the water for about two years.
Starting to investigate a body-dumping case from two years ago would be extremely difficult. Even identifying the victim would be a major challenge...
Scratching his head, Han Fei instructed his officers: "Look into women and children who went missing within the last two years."
Just then, he heard Xu Mo, who was crouching next to the skull, make a questioning sound.
"What is it, Xu Mo? Did you find something?"
Xu Mo looked up at Han Fei.
"This body hasn't been dead that long, definitely not two years. Two weeks at most."
As soon as he said this, Wang Dachuan spoke up.
"Two weeks? Impossible, you must be mistaken. The books say it takes about two years for a body to skeletonize in water. Even if it's not two years, it should take at least a year, how could it be just two weeks?"
"What the books describe are natural conditions. Under natural circumstances, it does take a year or two for a body to skeletonize in water, but what if there was human intervention?" Xu Mo pointed at the skull and continued, "Look carefully, isn't the color of this skull a bit unusual? And these scratch marks..."
Hearing this, Wang Dachuan crouched down again to examine the skull more closely.
But he couldn't see anything unusual.
It couldn't be helped - he was just an amateur. He had only recently bought the autopsy books, and with his busy work schedule, he hadn't had time to read much. It would have been miraculous if he could spot any problems.
Wang Dachuan looked at the skull on the ground, then up at Xu Mo, and said weakly, "Is there something wrong? I don't see anything unusual..."
Han Fei was also confused by their exchange.
"So is it two weeks or two years?"
For body-dumping cases like this, time of death was crucial.
It would directly determine whether the police investigation was heading in the right direction.
There was a huge difference between a death that occurred two years ago versus two weeks ago!
If they got this wrong, they might not even be able to identify the victim correctly, let alone solve the case.
Wang Dachuan didn't answer Han Fei because he wasn't sure about his own judgment anymore.
He had believed the death occurred about two years ago because that's what the books said about skeletonization time in water.
But hearing Xu Mo speak with such certainty made him suddenly doubt whether he had been deceived and bought fake books.
Seeing Wang Dachuan's silence, Han Fei understood that he wasn't sure either.
So, was Xu Mo right about the victim having died just two weeks ago?
But that didn't make sense... A body couldn't possibly skeletonize in just two weeks - that was common knowledge.
Although Han Fei wasn't an autopsy expert, he was an experienced criminal investigator who had dealt with many body-dumping cases. He had never encountered a case where a body had completely skeletonized in just two weeks. It seemed completely illogical.
With doubt in his voice, Han Fei turned to Xu Mo again: "How did you reach the conclusion that the victim died no more than two weeks ago? What's your evidence?"
Xu Mo, who had already put on gloves, picked up the skull and held it up for everyone to see.
"A normal skull should be whitish or yellowish, but this one is different. It has brownish spots on it. Think about the color of cooked meat... And there are many scratch marks on the skull. If I'm not mistaken, these were probably made by something like a spoon. This skull has been processed."
Xu Mo opened his mouth and said something that shocked everyone present: "The body was cooked... This was probably done by the killer to process the body. Flesh attached to bones is very difficult to clean off unless it's boiled. Only after boiling can the meat be easily scraped off, which explains the spoon-like scratch marks on the skull. The brownish spots are from meat that wasn't completely scraped off."
Hearing this, everyone drew in a sharp breath.
Even Han Fei was not exempt.
"Cooked the body!?"
In all his years of service, he had seen many deranged killers, but this level of depravity was unprecedented.
Xu Mo nodded and added another point.
"My conclusion that the victim died no more than two weeks ago is also based on another observation. Think about it - if a bone had been submerged in water for two years, when retrieved it would have at least some algae or moss on it. But look at this skull... it's too clean."
"Therefore, this skull must have been thrown into the reservoir recently, and the victim's death definitely didn't occur two years ago."
After hearing Xu Mo's analysis, Wang Dachuan finally realized the vast difference between himself and Xu Mo.
True expertise really was different...
He could only make judgments based on what he read in books, completely unable to think flexibly.
Xu Mo, on the other hand, didn't confine himself to textbook knowledge during autopsies, but rather made judgments after observing various details.