As the police officers suspected, Xu Mo had indeed discovered something suspicious.
Due to his "Detective Conan" intuition, Xu Mo had initially believed this was likely an arson case rather than an accidental fire. Even though various signs at the scene suggested it could have been an accident, he persisted in his belief and began searching for clues as soon as he entered.
A waste bin catching fire, a fan accelerating the spread, a gas explosion further intensifying the blaze, a cleaning cart full of flammable materials at the scene... Han Fei's analysis of these factors made sense.
But were these analyses and so-called clues they observed necessarily true?
Not necessarily!
If Xu Mo were the arsonist and wanted people to believe this was an accidental fire, he would also choose to place a fan in the bathroom to accelerate the fire's spread and put a cleaning cart full of flammable materials in the bathroom.
Making everything appear so reasonable would be a way to deceive everyone.
Therefore, up to this point, the series of so-called clues they had noticed could all be fake, deliberately arranged to mislead them into classifying this fire as accidental.
Everything at the scene could potentially be artificially arranged and false.
But there was one thing that wouldn't "lie" - the corpse!
Fortunately, Xu Mo was well-versed in forensic knowledge and could perform autopsies.
Xu Mo pointed at the corpse and said, "This person wasn't burned to death."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Dachuan raised an objection.
"If he wasn't burned to death, how else could he have died? He died in the fire scene, so he must have been burned to death."
"Let Xu Mo finish speaking. Why are you interrupting?" Han Fei frowned, then turned to Xu Mo and said, "Continue."
Xu Mo then gave a brief explanation.
"People who are burned to death will assume a pugilistic posture due to full-body muscle contraction, with their limbs flexed, like a boxer. But look at this corpse - its limbs are clearly stretched out. He was obviously thrown into the bathroom after death. The fire in the bathroom was set by the killer to cover up evidence and destroy the body."
"People burned to death have flexed limbs... I see, like how fresh shrimp curl up when put in a hot pot?" Chen Ke said, rubbing his chin.
"Correct," Xu Mo nodded. "That's basically the idea. Although this corpse has been burned beyond recognition, you can tell from its posture that it definitely wasn't burned to death but was already dead before the fire."
Hearing this, Han Fei's expression grew serious.
If what Xu Mo said was true, and this corpse wasn't burned to death but had died before the fire started, then this fire was certainly not an accident but a deliberate arson.
As for the reason, it was undoubtedly to destroy evidence.
The killer wanted to burn down the scene, making people believe it was just an ordinary accidental fire.
"Are you sure he wasn't burned to death? Is there any possibility... that you've misjudged?" Han Fei asked Xu Mo, pointing at the corpse.
Han Fei knew that the cause of death for this corpse was crucial.
If it was death by burning, then this could very likely be an accidental fire.
But if not, then this was murder!
Moreover, they were dealing with a meticulous killer.
Xu Mo nodded seriously, "I'm certain."
Although Xu Mo wasn't an official forensic expert, his expertise in this area was undeniable.
In fact, in terms of professional knowledge, even the police department's forensic experts might not be as skilled as Xu Mo.
Han Fei knew about Xu Mo's forensic expertise, and seeing him so certain that this person wasn't burned to death, Han Fei's expression became even more grave. "So this is murder. The fan and the cleaning cart were all arranged by the killer to make the fire spread faster and bigger, in order to destroy evidence."
"Looks like we've got a busy night ahead of us," Chen Ke said, glancing at the corpse.
Of course, the police wouldn't normally handle ordinary fires.
But when it involved murder, they had to take charge!
They needed to catch this killer and bring them to justice.
Han Fei first turned to the firefighter who had brought them here.
"Comrade, well..."
Before he could finish, the firefighter smiled and nodded, "I understand. I've finished my work here, so I'll take my leave. Don't worry, I can keep a secret. I won't leak any of the sensitive information I've just heard."
"Thank you for understanding!" Han Fei said.
"No need for thanks. We're all serving the people. Carry on with your work. If you need any information from me, feel free to ask anytime. As long as I'm not out on a call, I'll be available whenever you need me." With that, the firefighter turned and left.
It was a regulation that uninvolved personnel couldn't stay around during police investigations.
After the firefighter left, only police officers remained at the scene.
Han Fei began giving instructions to the officers one by one.
"Call the forensic expert and tell them to standby at the station. We've got a case."
"Confirm the victim's identity."
"Get the evidence technicians to check for any useful clues. As usual, remember to photograph the scene."
"Then transport the body back for the forensic expert to perform an autopsy, to determine the exact cause of death and look for any new findings. Also, notify the family."
"Copy all the surveillance footage from this floor, including the elevator cameras."
"..."
In this murder case, although the killer's method of concealing the crime was quite sophisticated, if the fire department had arrived later, causing the body to be completely incinerated, or if the police hadn't noticed anything unusual, the murderer might have gotten away with it.
It would have been close to a perfect crime.
But what the killer hadn't anticipated was that the fire department arrived before the body was completely burned, and extinguished the fire.
This allowed the police to discover the anomaly - that the victim wasn't burned to death but was thrown into the fire scene after death.
This was a premeditated murder case!
Of course, they also had to thank Xu Mo for this.
Otherwise, the police and firefighters might have classified this fire as accidental.
After all, not every body discovered is sent for a forensic examination to determine the cause of death.
The police quickly sprang into action.
After cleaning up and photographing the scene, they immediately cordoned it off with police tape.
The corpse was transported back to the station for the forensic expert to perform an autopsy and determine the true cause of death.
It's worth noting that in criminal cases, an autopsy can be performed without the consent of the family. In criminal cases where family members refuse to allow the police to perform an autopsy, the police have the right to forcibly conduct one and perform a post-mortem examination. They only need to notify the family.
After all, there have been cases where the immediate family members turned out to be the killers...
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
