Murder

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...