After watching the dashcam footage, Shen Ting proceeded to examine the crime scene photos taken by the investigation team.
On the pitch-black asphalt road, red and white substances were splattered outwards in an explosive pattern around the tires.
At the center of the red and white, beneath the tire, was long, dark hair stained with mud, withered leaves, and reddish-brown blood.
Many strands of hair were matted together due to the congealed blood.
Slightly further out from the red and white were fragmented bones with attached flesh!
It wasn't until he saw an eyeball in the concrete drainage ditch by the roadside, with the optic nerve still attached to its posterior end and its surface covered in mud particles, that its pupil seemed to be scrutinizing him through the photo…
Shen Ting's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly closed the photo, shut his eyes, and exhaled a long breath!
Tang Ren, however, was carefree:
"Tsk, tsk, splattered all over the place~~
Even when you crush a watermelon, it doesn't get squashed like this~~"
Qin Feng: "Xiao... Xiao Tang, say less, respect the deceased!"
Kiko: "O(╥﹏╥)o!
No way, I'm drinking strawberry yogurt, and then Group Leader you show me this?"
Guan Hongfeng frowned slightly:
"This scene is indeed gruesome!
I've been a criminal police officer for so many years, and honestly, this is the first time I've seen such a horrifying scene!
However, this National Highway should not be the primary crime scene.
No other body parts were found nearby, only the head. I speculate that after the murderer killed the victim, the head accidentally fell onto the National Highway during the process of transporting the body!"
"Agreed!"
Kiko: "So, this is actually a murder and beheading case?
Is the murderer transporting the body to dispose of it?"
Qin Feng: "This... for such a case, the most crucial task is to confirm the identity of the head's owner.
That is, the source of the body!
Once the source of the body is confirmed, we can investigate the victim's social relationships.
More than eighty percent of cases can be solved at this stage!"
Forensic Doctor Qin Ming: "The investigation team clearly knows that the source of the body is vital.
After they responded to the call, the Forensic Medicine found that the head was severely fragmented, making it impossible to identify the deceased through facial features.
Therefore, they immediately extracted blood and sent it back to the laboratory for DNA testing!
But unfortunately, the DNA did not match any recent missing persons!"
Hannibal: "Looking at the state of the blood and brain matter at the scene, the victim should have died last night.
There are two possibilities!
The deceased belongs to the homeless population, or lives in seclusion.
Or, the victim's family hasn't discovered her disappearance yet!
If it's the latter, there might be news today during the day!"
Guan Hongfeng: "Apart from starting with missing persons!
If the victim's body can be found, the source of the body can also be determined through features such as tattoos, birthmarks, age, height, and weight.
The investigation team is very professional!
They found scattered blood drops on the ground at a turn a thousand meters ahead of the accident site.
As well as electric tricycle tire tracks!
And following the turn inwards, there are mountains and a reservoir!
Therefore, it is suspected that the murderer drove a tricycle to the mountains to bury the body, or to the reservoir to dispose of it!
If they can find the body there, it would also be a major breakthrough in confirming the source of the body!
It just needs time!"
Jigsaw: "Cutting off the victim's head is a very cruel act, and an ordinary criminal would not be able to do it.
The murderer is clearly very cold-blooded and very calm!
Such a murderer is not easy to deal with!
It will probably not be easy to find the rest of the body!"
Clearly!
Regardless of how easy or difficult it is, everyone believes that determining the source of the body is the most important matter at present.
"Besides the source of the body, the victim's head pieced together by the Forensic Medicine also has a problem!
You can look at... the teeth!"
Shen Ting, using 【Photographic Memory】, had quickly finished reading all the information and left a message in the group.
Kiko: "Ah? Why didn't I see this part of the information?
Group Leader couldn't have finished reading all the case files already, could he?
That fast? 〣 〣"
Qin Feng also seemed very surprised: "The Forensic Medicine piecing together the skull is indeed the latest information.
Group Leader's reading speed is even faster than... faster than mine?
Could Group Leader also have Photographic Memory?"
Tang Ren: "Otherwise, he wouldn't be the Group Leader, he's definitely the best~~~"
The driver discovered his truck ran over a human head at 4:30 AM and immediately reported it.
By now, more than two hours had passed!
A lot of case file information had accumulated.
Pictures, surveillance footage, villagers' testimonies, and so on, filled several folders.
To review them one by one would take an ordinary person at least half a day.
However, with 【Photographic Memory】 from the Newbie Gift Pack , Shen Ting was surprised to find that he could read information incredibly fast.
He only needed to glance at a page of information to grasp its core content.
"The system's rewards are indeed good things!"
Shen Ting was very pleased.
Forensic Doctor Qin Ming: "Group Leader is right, there is indeed a problem!
I just looked through the head that the Forensic Medicine barely pieced together from the fragmented bones at the scene, and found that there wasn't a single tooth.
This is absolutely not normal!
Is this what Group Leader was referring to?"
"That's right!" Shen Ting replied.
The head pieced together by the investigating Forensic Medicine was extremely gruesome, making people more uncomfortable than a Frankenstein's monster.
The key was that the victim's face could not be restored at all. Shen Ting initially didn't look closely, only briefly glancing at it.
But it was that one glance that made him realize something was amiss.
The investigating Forensic Medicine found a fractured mandible and a section of cervical vertebra at the scene.
Combined with the truck's dashcam footage!
Before being run over, it was clearly a complete head!
Logically, there must have been teeth in the mouth!
Even if it was crushed, and the teeth scattered, it's impossible that not a single one could be found.
Yet!
On the 245 National Highway, the investigators truly found not a single tooth.
Therefore, there is only one possibility!
Before it was run over, the teeth were not in the head's mouth!
But why is that?
Guan Hongfeng: "Perhaps the victim was older, or for some other reason, had no teeth?
Or!
Did the murderer intentionally knock out the victim's teeth?
For collection?
Or were the teeth special and would expose the source of the body?
Or did the murderer, for some reason, hate the deceased's teeth?"
"Being old and losing all teeth, that can be ruled out."
Qin Ming: "Looking at the state of the skin and hair remnants at the scene, the victim is very young, estimated to be around 25 years old!"
Hannibal, who is skilled in human behavior, also agreed:
"The victim's age is indeed not old, at most not exceeding thirty years old!
It's absolutely impossible for all teeth to have fallen out naturally!"
However, no one could currently explain why the teeth were missing!
Seeing that no one else was speaking, Shen Ting summarized briefly:
"The current case information we have is that the murderer killed the victim, then beheaded her!
Carried her on an electric tricycle to dispose of the body in the reservoir or mountains inside the turn!
The victim's head accidentally fell off and was run over by a truck!"
"And now, there are two major points of doubt—
First, the source of the body is uncertain!
And second, what is the reason for the teeth being missing?"
"The latter is hard to say right now!
As for the source of the body, there are two investigative approaches!
First, wait until daytime to see if anyone reports a missing person!
Or, find the victim's body and look for unique physical characteristics, ID cards, student cards, etc.!"
"That's all!
Does anyone have anything to add?"
No one spoke!
Shen Ting thought for a moment; there was indeed very little they could do for this case at the moment.
"Perhaps I can go to the crime scene and that reservoir?
Maybe I'll find something!"
Thinking this, Shen Ting lifted his right leg and rolled the comforter aside.
With a swift carp jump, he sprang out of bed!
He ate, washed up, and took his sister to kindergarten!
Then he rode his delivery vehicle to the 245 National Highway.
Perhaps fearing panic, the affected road section had been sealed off and thoroughly cleaned.
It was impossible to tell what had happened there in the early hours of the morning!
And no one knew how terrifying it had been there before!
Shen Ting also quickly glanced at the drainage ditch by the roadside.
Hmm, that eyeball was indeed gone!
Phew~~
Shen Ting swallowed with difficulty and arrived at the intersection a thousand meters ahead where blood drops and tricycle marks were found.
This area had also been cordoned off with caution tape!
However!
The 245 National Highway is flanked by villages, orchards, and farmlands, with roads extending in all directions.
Shen Ting went to a further intersection, circled around, and came to the edge of a rather large reservoir.
From here, he could clearly see more than a dozen police cars parked on the opposite side of the reservoir.
On the dam, frogmen were entering and exiting the water!
Police officers were also on small boats, using nets to dredge the water!
And police officers were searching the surrounding mountains with police dogs, with loud barks continuously echoing!
However, the expressions of the police officers were all very serious.
They seemed to have found nothing!
Shen Ting stepped forward, flattening the half-human-high withered grass, intending to walk around the unguarded areas nearby.
But at this moment!
His phone vibrated!
In the Case Solving Group, Hannibal left a message:
"The body should not be in the reservoir!"