Cat Footprints

"He... he moved!" Luo WeiWei covered her mouth in fright and kept backing away.

"It's a zombie! A zombie!"

"How is this possible, his head is clearly missing."

The entire room was filled with panicked screams. Some of the police were so frightened they were jumping around and desperately running outside.

Wang Dali loudly cried for help. He knocked over a chair clumsily and nearly fell to the ground. Huang Xiaotao's almond eyes were wide open, her mouth gaping wide enough to fit a walnut. I also noticed Wang Yuanchao's pupils shrink slightly, despite his expressionless face.

At that moment, the corpse kneeling on the table slowly raised its right hand, as if holding an invisible knife, constantly hacking at its own neck!

At first the movements were small, with only the wrist shaking. But with the elasticity of the tendons, the entire arm started moving, repeatedly hacking at its own neck.

Human muscles can remember actions, just like someone who has ridden a bike for years can pedal without thinking. When the human body dies, the central nervous system necroses instantly, and the magnetic field inside the body collapses immediately. But it's like a record player, preserving a short snippet of muscle memory.

Of course, muscle memory varies between people. Some severely decomposed corpses, or those with broken spines, cannot be revived with the "corpse revival technique". However, this corpse's muscles were still stiff after death, maintaining a delicate tension - it was nearly the perfect specimen for demonstrating the "corpse revival technique"!

Thinking this, I actually felt a hint of pride, as if I had completed a perfect work of art.

I know this kind of mentality is perverted, but people in my line of work are always a little different from normal people, otherwise we couldn't do this job!

I was about to explain the principle to Luo WeiWei, but when I turned around, she had disappeared. The door was wide open, and many of the police had been frightened away, shouting and screaming in the hallway.

I asked, "Did Luo WeiWei go outside?"

Wang Dali pointed at the floor. I looked down and nearly laughed out loud. Luo WeiWei had actually fainted from fright, sprawled on the ground with her eyes rolled back. None of her previous aloof demeanor remained.

"With that weak mentality, she still wants to be a forensic examiner?" I said disdainfully.

"I know right..." Huang Xiaotao's face was pale from fright, but she hadn't lost her senses like the others. "Song Yang, make the corpse stop, it's too scary!"

"Wait, let me record it to avoid her denying it later."

I recorded a short clip on my phone. If I uploaded this to some supernatural website, it would probably scare countless people.

After I was done, I pulled out one of the magnetic needles in the corpse. It immediately stopped moving, with only one arm still suspended in the air.

"F*ck, that scared the sh*t out of me!" Wang Dali breathed a sigh of relief. "Song Yang, you should have warned me earlier about something so terrifying."

"Didn't I warn you already?"

"How would I know it would be such a shocking scene..." As Wang Dali spoke, he let out a loud sneeze. The three of us were wearing coats, but he was only wearing a T-shirt. I said, "Be careful or you'll catch a cold, go get a coat from the car."

"It's fine, I have a strong constitution." Wang Dali rubbed his shoulders with his palms.

I woke Luo WeiWei up. She was still frightened and kept scrambling backwards on the floor, saying in panic, "Don't come near me! Don't come near me!"

"It's me!" I said reassuringly.

Luo WeiWei glanced at the corpse behind me. Her lips were trembling as she said, "Are you...do you know some kind of witchcraft?"

I laughed and briefly explained the principle. Finally I said, "If you don't believe me, you get to handle corpses all the time. Try it yourself next time."

"No no!" She hurriedly waved her hands. "I believe you, I believe you."

"The deceased cut off his own head, you admit that now right?" I asked.

She nodded, then looked at me doubtfully, "But that's not right. There are many nerves in the neck. He was just using an ordinary kitchen knife, there's no way he could have severed his neck completely. Logically he should have stopped midway through."

"You're right. And that's the significance of me demonstrating this!" I looked around at everyone in the room and slowly enunciated, "The deceased was being controlled by someone at the time."

Huang Xiaotao turned pale with shock. "You mean...hypnosis?"

"Not hypnosis. I suspect it was some kind of sorcery that could control his body, forcing the deceased to do these things involuntarily." After speaking, I flipped off the white sheet. "Look at the agonized expressions on the male and female corpses before they died."

Luo WeiWei crawled over to take a look. "You're right, the expressions on the corpses are extremely agonized."

Huang Xiaotao glanced at the door. Many of the police had fled after witnessing the earlier scene. Only four or five remained. She said, "Should we examine the evidence then?"

"No rush, I have one more thing to check." I asked Luo WeiWei, "Did you examine the fingerprints?"

Luo WeiWei nodded. "My colleague from the forensics department checked them. There were only the victims' own fingerprints on the bodies and clothes, no one else's."

"Then let's check again. Go get me an alcohol burner." I instructed.

Luo WeiWei agreed and left to fetch one. Huang Xiaotao chuckled, "Song Yang, your tactic of overawing with authority is too amazing. That girl doesn't have any rebuttals now."

"Serves her right for looking down on us earlier. It's good to scare her a bit."

I took out olive oil, wooden butterflies, and a wok from my bag. I poured a lot of oil in the wok, added the wooden butterflies, and Wang Dali asked, "Song Yang, your order of cooking is wrong. You're supposed to heat the oil first before adding the ingredients."

"Shut up! Come help me." I said.

"How do I help?" Wang Dali asked.

"Hold this wok for me."

Luo WeiWei brought over the alcohol burner. I placed it under the wok to heat it up. Soon the oil was simmering, and the wooden butterflies were sizzling loudly. Plumes of smoke continuously rose up and adhered to the wok walls.

After about five or six minutes, I saw Wang Dali's hands were tired and numb, so I said it was enough and extinguished the alcohol burner's flame.

I found a small knife to scrape out the oily soot that had accumulated on the wok walls, about two ounces in total.

Huang Xiaotao said, "Song Yang, watching you examine corpses is truly enjoyable, every step is so interesting."

"Of course it's interesting just watching." I said indifferently.

"You're so heartless. Didn't I help out too?"

"Did you help at all?"

Huang Xiaotao hesitated, "Didn't I pass you things earlier?"

"You call that helping?" I couldn't help laughing.

Huang Xiaotao glared at me resentfully.

I had Wang Yuanchao carry the male corpse back to the iron bed. Then I gently blew the oily soot onto the corpse's chest. Wang Dali asked, "What's this for?"

"Wooden butterflies and olive oil are very lightweight substances. The soot produced from simmering them is even lighter than the aluminum powder the police use. It can detect more subtle things." I explained.

That's why I didn't even dare breathe during the whole process, afraid of blowing away the soot in my hands.

After a layer of soot covered the chest, I gently blew it away. There were no discoveries.

Then I did the same thing on the female corpse's chest and abdomen. This time, after blowing the soot off the skin surface, a row of footprints appeared underneath - cat prints!

"This is..." Huang Xiaotao said in surprise, "A cat's pawprint?"