Chapter 528: The Strange Corpses

Chapter 528: The Strange Corpses (Update 1)

It was a pair of hands that sent shivers down one’s spine.

The outer muscle tissue of the hands had been completely charred.

Only the ashen, blackened finger bones remained, clenched in a tight fist.

From the way the fist was held, one could tell that each hand was grasping something.

Xiao Yu slowly extended his left hand, clad in latex gloves, and gently placed it on one of the dead man’s fists.

Just a slight touch.

Crack—the charred arm of the corpse emitted a brittle sound.

It snapped and fell…

Yet Xiao Yu caught it firmly in his hand.

He carefully lifted the dead man’s small arm, bringing it before him.

Xiao Yu examined the fist closely, his eyes fixed on the glimmering crystalline object between the fingers.

It was a miniature experimental glass tube, scientifically known as a conduit.

These conduits came in straight, bent, and T-shaped varieties—all made from heat-resistant material.

It made sense; without heat resistance, the conduit would explode or melt during heating experiments.

Thus, even if the corpse was burned, this tiny conduit remained intact within the clenched fist.

Extending his right latex-gloved hand under He Li’s astonished gaze,

Xiao Yu carefully pried apart and snapped each finger bone from the dead man’s clenched fist.

He Li was shocked.

As the foremost expert on human anatomy and postmortem conditions,

she gazed in disbelief at the severed fingers.

It wasn’t that she was horrified by Xiao Yu’s desecration of the corpse,

but rather for the sake of solving the case and uncovering the truth.

Only a true forensic expert would dare to defile a body in pursuit of evidence.

What left He Li astonished was that

after death—especially after a body is burned—

how many people truly know how stiff a corpse becomes?

In such an inflexible state, prying it apart by hand was nearly impossible;

even using metal tools to lever it open would be an enormous task.

How did he manage it? Was it science…? He Li stared at Xiao Yu in dumbfounded silence; everyone was left speechless.

Then her eyes began to sparkle as she looked at Xiao Yu, as if examining a bizarre specimen.

For a forensic expert, encountering a strange corpse was a tantalizing puzzle.

For example, the cutting fragments…

“He Li, that look is a bit much, don’t you think?”

A chill ran down Xiao Yu’s spine as his expression darkened.

If only the other party weren’t already middle-aged,

he might have suspected that He Li had ulterior motives.

That gaze was just too damn unsettling…

“Hehe…” He Li chuckled softly, remaining silent afterward.

Forensic experts normally detested such frivolity… Xiao Yu rolled his eyes as he snapped off the last finger bone.

There, before him, lay the intact glass conduit.

Thanks to its heat-resistant properties and the protection of a hand’s grip,

it remained completely undamaged.

Thus… it contained something inside.

A grayish-white, powdery substance.

It appeared to be some kind of chemical powder.

“What is it?”

Xiao Yu frowned. “Something worth guarding even in one’s final moments must be very important, right?”

Without hesitation, Xiao Yu handed the glass conduit to He Li.

After all, carrying out chemical analyses was a forensic expert’s specialty.

The two then moved toward the third corpse.

“This body is even more intriguing,”

He Li said coolly. “Although it appears to have been burned, the corpse already had several fatal wounds before the flames took hold. For instance…”

She pointed to an area under the corpse’s armpit. “Here, there is a distinctly fatal wound that penetrates deep into the body.”

Xiao Yu fixed his gaze on the wound.

It displayed everted folds and signs of charring.

One could tell that the wound existed before the raging fire consumed the body.

Only after burning did it take on such an abnormal appearance.

The wound measured roughly two centimeters in length.

Of course, that was only an approximation.

Due to the body’s natural shrinkage when exposed to fire, the original wound in life must have been larger.

Xiao Yu had discovered four such wounds on the body—

one in the armpit and three across the chest and abdomen.

With an expression as cold as ice, Xiao Yu understood why He Li referred to these corpses as… victims.

Because this wasn’t a mere experimental mishap.

Someone had deliberately committed murder… a homicide!

“Chief, the scene has been fully examined.”

Guo Qiang approached solemnly. “There were two explosions in total. The cause of the first remains unclear, but the second explosion was clearly deliberate. Someone opened the gas valve in the third-floor kitchen, triggering a fire with the first explosion that led to the lab’s second detonation.”

“Master, although the three corpses on the third floor don’t show massive abnormalities, there is something certainly amiss,”

Wang Cheng rushed over, exclaiming, “I found signs of a struggle at the scene.”

Xiao Yu said nothing as he surveyed the basement, noting the arrangement of the five corpses.

Setting aside the three anomalous bodies,

the remaining two clearly exhibited irregular post-mortem conditions.

At that moment, these two corpses lay at the entrance of the basement.

They were entangled with one another.

One corpse clutched the thigh of the other.

It was as if the one behind refused to let the one in front leave.

Xiao Yu thought of two words… never letting go, perishing together!

On the lab’s third floor,

Xiao Yu inspected the death scene of the three corpses.

It was exactly as Guo Qiang and Wang Cheng had described.

First, someone deliberately opened the kitchen’s gas valve;

then, evidence of a struggle was apparent.

Two individuals had attacked one person.

Judging by both the basement and third-floor scenes,

it appeared that before the lab explosion,

some incident had already occurred…

(Li De’s) Xiao Yu’s mind raced at lightning speed.

A vivid scene flashed before him.

Amid heated arguments,

someone had fled while two others pursued, climbing up to the third floor.

Later, something else transpired in the basement.

Someone had been stabbed—was it caused by the explosion?

Did one person seize another, preventing their escape?

After the lab explosion, a massive fire erupted… a massacre?

Coincidentally,

someone had opened the gas valve on the third floor.

The lab fire spread to the third floor,

triggering yet another explosion?

A massacre on the third floor?

Coming back to his senses, Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes.

This theory was merely a hypothesis; the exact truth was still shrouded in mystery.

He ordered his subordinates to continue the investigation and report any new findings immediately.

Then he proceeded to the Detention Center to interrogate the lab manager!