Chapter 232: Chapter 232

The meeting continued, with everyone having their own opinions.

Ren Qiang only proposed two possibilities, but what the reality is, no one knows.

Some people feel that although there are blood stains on the dagger, and the blood type matches that of the deceased, it's impossible to use it as evidence in court because the traces cannot extract DNA.

Therefore, whether the weapon is the murder weapon remains a subject of debate.

After all, the idea that the murderer is provoking seems far-fetched; such fools are rare domestically.

Due to differences between domestic and foreign judicial systems, foreign criminal cases pay attention to evidence and also include the presence of juries.

Evidence that can be used domestically may not necessarily be valid abroad.

Thus, while provoking the police is often heard of abroad, it is rare domestically, and those who do so don't end well.

Moreover, for the murderer to abandon the weapon and have the body float downstream to be discovered right where the weapon was abandoned seems overly coincidental.

Even TV dramas wouldn't depict such a scenario.

Crime Scene Investigation Laboratory.

Old Bai curiously stared at the little creatures in the bottle, crawling here and there, quite amusing.

"What are these things?"

To be honest, when these little creatures crawl in and out of the body, it is somewhat disgusting.

But when they're in the bottle, wriggling individually, it's hard to tell where they came from if not mentioned.

"They are larvae of a common dipteran insect in life."

Lu Chuan observed Old Bai closely examining the larvae in the bottle and chose not to offer a simple explanation.

"What dipteran? Larvae?"

Liu Guodong rolled his eyes, "They're fly larvae."

"Where did you get these things?"

Old Bai and Yang Sen only caught a glimpse while helping with the body by the river.

Because it was pouring rain, the stench of the corpse was masked, and the maggots on the body didn't surface.

When they were examining the corpse in the dissection room, Yang Sen and Old Bai were focused on testing the dagger, unaware of where these things came from.

"Of course, from the body; Lu Chuan is using them for the experiment."

Old Bai's expression instantly turned sour.

Lu Chuan had selected the most vigorous, plump larvae, which on the surface didn't directly relate to the corpse.

"Not very considerate…"

With a low grumble, Old Bai left, feeling a bit down.

Liu Guodong shook his head with a wry smile; he'd advised Old Bai against it, but Old Bai insisted on tagging along.

Yang Sen didn't go down there either, naturally avoiding the discomfort.

"Lu, you proceed with the cultivation experiment. If you need any assistance, let me know, and I'll come down."

Liu Guodong clearly had no desire to stay there.

He's part of the Crime Scene Investigation Team, without a forensic doctor's insights, and didn't fancy taking on another role. Forensic work... he'd rather not.

The criminal police from the Criminal Investigation Team are human too.

Cracking a case is essentially a job, though more thrilling than a typical one.

It's also more arduous and dangerous.

Given a choice, who wouldn't want a stable life? Facing burdens head-on... is tough.

Only Lu Chuan was left in the laboratory.

Using the eggs of insects parasitizing a corpse to determine the time of death isn't something that can be easily concluded by merely measuring the larvae's length.

Lu Chuan first needed to identify the species of the larvae.

There are many species of flies, and numerous types that prefer to parasitize corpses.

The most common ones are houseflies, blowflies, fruit flies, and metallic green bottle flies.

While different species of fly larvae have subtle differences, their incubation cycles and optimal incubation conditions also vary slightly.

However, these differences aren't significant, and Lu Chuan was in the process of making a distinction.

First, blowflies can be ruled out. These flies have small branches, such as the commonly seen green bottle fly, which is a type of blowfly.

Blowflies favor eating the excrement of humans and animals but don't like breeding on carrion.

Additionally, blowfly larvae are generally darker in color, typically gray, unlike the white larvae collected from the body, which shows a distinct difference.

Though externally similar, the larvae of houseflies, fruit flies, or metallic green bottle flies have slight differences in their response to specific food stimuli.

After several experiments, Lu Chuan could basically determine that the flies parasitizing the body were flesh flies.

Compared to houseflies and metallic green bottle flies, flesh flies prefer surviving in an outdoor natural environment.

In most cases, if a body was killed indoors then left to decay, the parasitic flies would primarily be houseflies or metallic green bottle flies.

But if the killing occurred outdoors and the body began to decay there, the parasitic flies would mostly be flesh flies.

Of course, this is only a general scenario; some special cases are exceptions.

After confirming the species of the parasite, the next step is simulating the external environment around the corpse and then cultivating the larvae of the cadaveric flies.

This isn't something that can conclude in merely a day or two.

Lu Chuan needed to cultivate the existing larvae, comparing the growth rates of larvae of different sizes, after which he could simulate the external temperature and humidity around the corpse.

These two factors are the most crucial determinants of larvae growth speed.

Only by mastering this could he use the standard flesh fly growth cycle as a basis to compare the parasitic time of the flesh flies on the corpse, thereby determining the time of death.

"Basic Task: By cultivating the maggots parasitizing a rotting corpse, complete a forensic entomology experiment to determine the time of death."

Lu Chuan, while cleaning the Petri dish, was momentarily stunned.

It had been a long time since he last received a basic task from the system.

When Lu Chuan initially received the system, he had undertaken basic tasks issued by the system several times.

Compared to advanced tasks, basic tasks are much simpler and primarily aimed at further mastering acquired skills.

However, completing them yields no corresponding rewards.

Speaking of tasks, what ever happened to that fraud case involving Lu Yao?

It's said that in Qinzhou City, the man who scammed Sun Yuting has been apprehended.

This implies there's a chance, however slim it may be, that the million yuan Lu Yao was defrauded of might be fully recovered.

Shaking his head, Lu Chuan resumed his work.

Investigating financial crimes differs from criminal investigation.

Criminal investigation is more like a game of hide and seek; once you catch the criminal, the case is 90% solved.

However, financial crime investigation is different and places emphasis on the investigation process, tracking the flow of funds, and securing evidence, which often proves more challenging than criminal investigation.

For instance, in common fraud cases, suspects may be caught, but the embezzled money is often unrecovered.

Either suspects deliberately hide it, or it's genuinely squandered.

But regardless of the reason, it's often extremely difficult for victims to recover defrauded money, and even more so to recover it wholly.

In the Economic Investigation Team of Qinzhou City, Wang Haiyi was very busy these past two days.

In the case involving Sun Yuting, many other shocking secrets were unearthed.

Like Sun Yuting, there were several other victims, and the amount she was scammed for wasn't the largest either.

The suspect didn't act alone; behind them is a network with an extremely sophisticated organization!