Chapter 236: Chapter 236

Crime Scene Investigation Laboratory.

Shen Yan was visiting Lu Chuan’s work from the past six days.

"Are these what you cultivated?"

The laboratory now had more than fifty petri dishes arranged on the table.

Some of them seemed empty, with nothing inside.

In some, flies were buzzing, and in others, there were fly larvae crawling.

Lu Chuan nodded: "There’s one more experiment that’s not finished, results should be out by tomorrow morning."

Even though Shen Yan was a Forensic Doctor and had studied the basic theory of forensic entomology.

This was her first time seeing someone like Lu Chuan raise and cultivate fly larvae using petri dishes.

Lu Chuan shook his head: "Through this cultivation of fly larvae, we can more accurately determine the timing of the first batch of flies that infested the body."

"However, from the current results, some things don’t seem logical, these eggs seem to have taken too long to hatch, as if..."

Lu Chuan opened one of the petri dishes, inside was a pupa, a larva about to hatch.

"As if they had been refrigerated for a period of time!"

While cultivating the fly larvae, Lu Chuan discovered a strange phenomenon.

The generational relationship of these fly larvae was very simple, with all being first-generation larvae.

In other words, there was no phenomenon of flies that emerged on the body laying eggs again.

This posed a problem.

Lu Chuan collected DNA information from the fly larvae gathered.

He found some larvae shared homologous DNA, meaning they came from the same fly.

But their development was different; some were large, and some were small.

This is not common among parasites on bodies.

Unless in closed conditions, flies would typically find a body within a few minutes of death.

This means the time of egg-laying by flies almost equals the time of death.

That’s a key reason for the importance of forensic entomology.

However, the homologous larvae found on this body showed a vast developmental gap.

The first batch Lu Chuan cultivated had pupated and turned into flies two days ago.

But the smaller larvae were only over a centimeter long, with a week or so until pupation.

Lu Chuan was now waiting for an intermediate result, which would allow him to determine the exact timing.

With several larvae currently pupating, analyzing their pupation time could uncover vital information.

Shen Yan didn’t understand this field too well; she only knew some basic theoretical knowledge.

"I heard my mentor say that Team Leader Ren Qiang and Team Leader Sun Jun faced some difficulties?"

Lu Chuan nodded; he had heard as well.

"Brother Hui and his team found the first site where the body was dumped early the day after the crime. I went to do the Crime Scene Investigation."

"But there were very few traces left on site, as heavy rain had washed everything away. There were only signs suggesting the body had been dragged, and a shoe left behind."

"Some hair samples we collected were confirmed to be the victim’s, but beyond that, there were no significant findings."

"Group Leader Sun’s team conducted a careful investigation based on your discovery that the clothing size of the victim didn’t match their body."

"They’re currently holding a crime analysis meeting, likely reporting the situation."

"However, earlier this morning, I heard from Group Leader Sun that the outlook wasn’t very optimistic."

Lu Chuan and Shen Yan arrived early this morning.

On their way to the office, they bumped into Sun Jun, chatted briefly, but didn’t delve into specifics.

The only thing they knew was the search for that expensive piece of lingerie had hit a snag.

"Is it possible to contact the headquarters of the lingerie company and check the nationwide consumer information for this specific piece?"

Since it’s been confirmed that in Haizhou City there’s no issue with people purchasing this model and size of bra, they should expand the search nationwide.

Given that only thirteen pieces were sold in Haizhou City, the national quantity shouldn’t be particularly large either.

Besides, not all cities have sales outlets for this luxury store.

So investigating it shouldn’t be too difficult.

"I’ll give it a try, the company’s headquarters isn’t located in Haizhou. I’ll get in touch with the Criminal Investigation Team on their side to see if they can assist."

Sun Jun had actually thought of this method too, but he was unsure if it would succeed.

However, it’s hard to say if they’ll find anything because this lingerie wasn’t sold under real-name registration.

The reason the Haizhou City Criminal Investigation Team conducted such a thorough check was that this is their jurisdiction.

But despite this, it took a week to get clarity.

If this scope were expanded nationwide...

Sun Jun had little confidence.

In the past, they’d had similar experiences, and they invariably failed.

Qin Yong actually understood this situation too.

He worked his way up from the front line and had encountered similar cases where the investigational scope had to be expanded.

But success in those situations was rare, though the challenge didn’t mean they should abandon the search.

Of all the current clues, this one was the most apparent, and they couldn’t let it go.

Of course, Sun Jun and others can’t rely solely on a bra to pinpoint the killer.

After all, even if they identify all individuals who bought this D-cup bra, they can’t simply accuse the person who lost theirs of being the murderer.

Otherwise, Sun Jun needn’t have led a team of over twenty people checking around Haizhou for a week.

The meeting concluded quickly.

Crime Scene Investigation Office.

"How is it, any progress?"

Old Bai handed Liu Guodong a cup of hot tea, inquiring about the crime analysis meeting that just concluded.

Liu Guodong shook his head.

"Ren Qiang’s team has checked all the surrounding villages and found no missing persons or witnesses; the place where the perpetrator dumped the body was too remote, not even visited by fishermen."

Old Bai could understand that.

If not even fishermen visit the place, it’s indeed a desolate area.

"What about Sun Jun’s side?"

"Nothing either; the thirteen people who purchased that D-cup bra in Haizhou City have been thoroughly investigated, and nothing was discovered."

"Old Qin plans to extend the search nationwide to see if there are any leads for the bra."

Old Bai shook his head upon hearing that.

Over the years, talk of nationwide investigations was nothing more than just talk.

A single life doesn’t warrant the mobilization of national resources.

Moreover, Crime Scene Investigation had examined that bra.

There were no distinctive substances, no hair, nothing found on it.

Some skin flakes were found, but they belonged to the deceased.

"I think they still need to focus on the surrounding area first; the perpetrator couldn’t have dumped the body without a trace. Though it’s remote, it can’t be completely deserted, right?"

Yang Sen believed they should start from the scene.

"It’s not like you haven’t been to the scene; no one lives nearby, Ren Qiang’s team has been checking for almost a week there, and found nothing either?"