Divine Level Witch Doctor

”An autopsy?”

Zhao Yuan was stunned for a moment. Only then did he remember that Yu Ke wasn’t just an anatomy teacher, but also a top graduate in forensic medicine who held a position at the forensic science center.

When she didn’t have classes, Yu Ke was either holed up in the university’s anatomy building or hanging around the forensic science center. She was more interested in the dead than the living. Otherwise, with her beautiful face and graceful figure, how could she possibly have no pursuers?

Even the bravest man would probably get the creeps thinking about a pair of hands that regularly touched corpses touching his own body.

”What, you don’t want to go?” Yu Ke raised an eyebrow slightly.

”Of course I want to,” Zhao Yuan said hurriedly.

How could he possibly pass up such a learning opportunity? Even though he was majoring in integrated Chinese and Western medicine, not forensics, seeing and learning more was always a good thing.

The other assistants were incredibly envious. Someone even pleaded, ”Teacher Yu, take us with you, too.”

Yu Ke glanced at them and said coldly, ”I’m taking Zhao Yuan because he can actually help me. He can be my assistant. Are any of you capable of that?”

The assistants fell silent.

Yu Ke snorted coldly, grabbed Zhao Yuan, and went straight to the university parking lot. They got in her car and left.

On the way, Zhao Yuan was a little excited. After all, he had performed dissections, but this was his first time at an autopsy. He couldn’t help but ask, ”Are we going to the forensic science center? What kind of case is it? Suicide? Homicide? Or a crime of passion?”

Yu Ke was cold to others, but her attitude toward Zhao Yuan, the man who had saved her life, was much gentler.

If anyone else had asked her these questions, she would have absolutely given them a nasty look and no answer. But with Zhao Yuan, she patiently explained, ”We’re going directly to the crime scene. The body is still there. We can’t determine the specifics of the case just yet. We’ll have to wait for the investigation results to draw a conclusion.”

”Oh, okay.” Zhao Yuan nodded. After a moment of silence, he asked again, ”So what will I be doing?”

Yu Ke answered, ”The same thing you do as my dissection assistant.” She glanced at him and chuckled. ”What, are you nervous?”

”A little,” Zhao Yuan said, embarrassed.

Yu Ke said, ”Don’t worry. Once we get to the scene and start the examination, you won’t be nervous anymore.”

”Why?” Zhao Yuan was a bit confused.

”Because by then, you’ll be too busy feeling sick to your stomach,” Yu Ke said with a straight face. Zhao Yuan couldn’t tell if she was joking or stating a fact.

Twenty-some minutes later, the car pulled into a residential complex and stopped in front of an apartment building.

At the moment, a large crowd had gathered outside the thirty-odd-story building. They looked like residents of the complex, clustered in small groups, discussing the murder that had taken place inside.

After getting out of the car, Zhao Yuan carried the toolbox and followed Yu Ke into the elevator up to the twenty-first floor. When they stepped out, they saw police tape cordoning off the doorway of an apartment to their left. A police officer stood at the door, shouting at the onlookers who had come to gawk, ”Nothing to see here! Break it up and go back to your homes!”

Yu Ke led Zhao Yuan over. The officer was about to yell at them when Yu Ke took out her medical examiner’s ID and showed it to him.

After the officer checked and confirmed her identity, he lifted the police tape to let Yu Ke and Zhao Yuan in.

Stepping inside, Zhao Yuan curiously scanned his surroundings. The furnishings were all in order, with no signs of a struggle. A few police officers were present; some were taking pictures everywhere with cameras, while others, wearing gloves and holding tweezers, searched for any possible evidence.

A middle-aged police officer, around forty years old, saw Yu Ke arrive and immediately greeted her, ”Dr. Yu, you’re here.” His gaze then fell on Zhao Yuan, and he paused for a moment before asking, ”And this is?”

Yu Ke introduced him, ”This is my student, Zhao Yuan. He’s here to be my assistant.”

”Zhao Yuan? That name sounds a little familiar...” The middle-aged officer tilted his head in thought, then it suddenly dawned on him. ”Ah, I remember now! You’re the one who saved Lu Qing’s life, healed the old director’s leg, and helped Xian Hong and the others crack several major cases!”

The middle-aged officer’s attitude immediately became much warmer. He introduced himself, ”My name is Wen Ji. I’m the captain of the municipal criminal investigation team. Like Xian Hong, I also used to work under the old director back in the day.”

After the brief introduction, Yu Ke asked, ”Where is the deceased?”

Wen Ji pointed a hand toward the living room sofa. ”There, sitting right over there.”

Zhao Yuan and Yu Ke turned to look. A woman in her twenties was sitting propped up on the sofa, positioned as if she were watching TV. In fact, Zhao Yuan had seen her when he first entered the room, but he hadn’t given it a second thought, assuming she was a family member of the deceased. He never expected she was the deceased herself.

The two walked over to the deceased. After examining her, they found nothing unusual about the body—no wounds, no signs of a struggle. Everything was normal, so normal it was hair-raisingly bizarre.

Wen Ji stood beside them and said, ”The person who called the police was a food delivery guy. According to him, he got an order to deliver here. When he arrived, he found the door open. He knocked, but no one answered, so he came inside. He saw the woman here, but she didn’t react when he spoke to her. He got suspicious, checked, and found she wasn’t breathing, so he called the police.”

Yu Ke frowned and said, ”Could she have died from a sudden illness? No, if that were the case, the local precinct would have handled it. There would be no need for your criminal investigation team to be deployed.”

Wen Ji replied, ”We’re here because this is the third death like this! And they all happened this month!”

Yu Ke asked, ”Are you saying this is a serial murder case?”

”I can’t be sure either.” Wen Ji sighed. ”The deceased in the other two cases were just like this woman, with no injuries whatsoever. Their surroundings also showed no signs of a struggle.”

”That’s strange.”

At that moment, it wasn’t just Yu Ke and Wen Ji; even Zhao Yuan felt that there was something strange about this case.

If it were just one incident, it could be explained away as an accident. But for three almost identical deaths to occur within a single month, ’accident’ probably wasn’t going to cover it.

Yu Ke asked again, ”Were the bodies of the other two victims autopsied? Could they have died from poisoning or something similar?”

”No.” Wen Ji shook his head. ”At the time, no one was suspicious. They thought the deaths were from sudden illnesses. After taking a statement, the local precinct returned the bodies to the families, and they’ve long since been cremated. It wasn’t until today’s case that we felt something was wrong, took over the investigation, and notified the forensic science center to send a medical examiner to assist.”