Chapter 34

Chapter 34 3. panic room-08

Mees’ lines are white transverse lines on fingernails and toenails, usually about one to two centimeters wide, parallel to the nail’s growth curve. They can be caused by heavy metal poisoning, severe thalassemia, and other blood disorders.

The Mees’ lines on fake Yu Ping’s nails were pale and partially obscured by nail fungus, so they could easily be overlooked if not carefully observed.

But now that they were discovered, the cause needed to be determined.

Although the nail changes alone couldn’t confirm the cause, Liu Yi could easily investigate. He turned to his student Jiang Xiaoyuan, lifting his chin: “Take a blood sample to the lab and have them test for common heavy metals.”

If the Mees’ lines were caused by blood disorders, a blood smear under a microscope would suffice. Jiang Xiaoyuan, experienced, could handle it without needing other departments’ help.

While Jiang Xiaoyuan hurried to the blood lab, the autopsy continued.

After examining the nails, they turned attention to the burn on the back of the right hand.

Liu Yi used a magnifying glass to study the scar’s edges, touched it gently to gauge hardness, then pointed to a faded white old scar on the right elbow.

“The victim is not scar-prone. Old scars flatten over time. From color and texture, this burn is recent.”

“Dr. Feng just told me it occurred three to six months ago,” Qi Shanyu said, shaking his head. “Still a wide range, checking it will take effort.”

“Scar formation varies by person; there’s no particularly reliable standard,” Liu Yi said, smiling under his mask at Qi Shanyu.

“Based on experience, most scars reach this stage in three to six months. If the wound wasn’t well-treated or got infected, it could extend to a year or two.”

Qi Shanyu sighed lightly, feeling slightly disappointed that Liu Yi widened the time span.

“But I find this burn shape rather interesting…”

Liu Yi pointed to the scar’s edge: “The scar is a slanted ‘concave’ shape, starting on the back of the hand, angling toward the outer upper arm, barely affecting the palm or inner wrist…”

He looked around, eyes landing on a teaching model outside the autopsy room.

“Go get the right forearm part of that model.”

He casually named a young forensic officer, adding, “And bring a bottle of Sudan red.”

The officer, though confused, complied, removing the model’s hand and forearm and fetching the dye.

Liu Yi took the model hand, compared it to the corpse’s hand back, stood by the sink, opened the dye, and carefully poured it on the slanted model hand.

“About like this.”

He shook off excess dye, flipped the hand to show the back and outer forearm.

The group saw a light red layer covering the model’s back, roughly matching the burn scar’s shape and area.

Flipping it over, the inner side was clean, barely touched by dye.

“So this burn was from hot water?”

The gathered forensic officers understood the experiment’s purpose. One asked.

“No. I mean, judging by shape and area, it was likely a liquid burn, but whether it was hot water is questionable.”

Liu Yi tossed the model hand into the sink, washed his hands, returned to the autopsy table, put on gloves, and used a probe to trace the scar’s edge.

“See, the boundary between the scar and normal skin is very clear.”

Feng Ling immediately understood: “This should be… an acid chemical burn.”

“Yes,” Liu Yi nodded.

“Hot water burns usually mix second- and third-degree damage; edges aren’t so clear. Strong alkali burns require extensive debridement and grafting, and edges rarely appear so defined. As for other chemicals…”

Qi Shanyu, listening, considered that focusing on acid burns might narrow the search for the victim’s identity.

At that moment, Liu Yi’s phone in his pocket rang.

He gestured to Qi Shanyu, the only officer with a free hand, to retrieve it.

Qi Shanyu reached into Liu Yi’s pocket, felt around, pulled out the ringing phone, showing a local landline marked “Evidence Department.”

He pressed it to Liu Yi’s ear.

“Boss!” Jiang Xiaoyuan’s voice came through. “The heavy metal blood test results are out!”

Loud enough for Qi Shanyu to hear: “Lead! The victim had high lead levels!”

“Good, got it.”

Liu Yi hung up, staring at the right hand scar, whispering to himself: “Lead poisoning… acid burn…”

He turned to Qi Shanyu: “Have your people check Xinhai City’s battery and paint factories. Ask if any worker suffered an acid burn in the past year.”

Qi Shanyu hurried back to the police station with the tip.

Xinhai City, a well-developed industrial city, had many battery and paint factories, fewer than hospitals, making investigation easier.

Meanwhile, Liu Yi noticed another anomaly on the corpse.

“Here, look at this.”

Feng Ling moved the left foot aside, revealing the lower leg and ankle skin.

Liu Yi circled to the table’s foot end, examining the area Feng Ling pointed out.

On the left leg’s lateral and posterior sides and ankle, there was a continuous reddish area about two palms in size, pinker than livor mortis, with unclear borders, raised by local edema.

The skin had tiny, pinhead-like bumps. On the ankle, a few small blisters, one broken, oozed pale yellow fluid, now dried, exposing bright red tissue.

“Scratching marks on the skin.”

Liu Yi pointed with tweezers inside the rash.

There were several scattered scratches, some old with thin scabs.

“Looks self-inflicted.”

Feng Ling thought: “Seems like an allergy-induced rash.”

Liu Yi moved the other leg, examining the right heel: “No similar rash here.”

He carefully inspected the neck, chest, back, groin, and inner thighs.

“Except for the left lower leg and heel, no similar rashes elsewhere.”

Liu Yi tapped his fingers on the table, a habitual gesture when thinking.

“Most allergies start centrally—head, neck, chest, back, groin—and spread outward, often symmetrically…”

The young forensic officers didn’t understand why Liu Yi focused on this rash, staring in confusion.

They thought better to continue autopsy, such as cutting open the stomach to see the last meal, to trace the kidnappers’ location.

Jiang Xiaoyuan returned, not alone but with the tall Evidence Department director Yuan Lan.

“Hehe.”

Seeing Yuan Lan swagger in, Liu Yi rolled his eyes, sarcastically: “What wind blew Director Yuan, who hasn’t been in an autopsy room for eight hundred years, here?”

“Hehehe!” Yuan Lan responded with three scoffs.

“This case is important. ‘The higher-ups’ called several times. The director told me to come oversee, coordinate with you, and save you from sending Xiao Jiang back and forth.”

He emphasized “coordinate” with a grudge, dragged a chair to the corner, sat cross-legged, exuding authority like a top supervisor.

Liu Yi ignored him, turning back to study fake Yu Ping’s corpse.

Author’s note: In reality, heavy metal blood tests don’t produce results so quickly, but for plot convenience, it was accelerated. Don’t overthink it.