Chapter 136 - 86 Set on Winning_2
Afterward, she used the same method to examine the hair.
Most people believe that if someone dies from arsenic poisoning, most of the toxin remains in the body, but this is not the case. After death from arsenic poisoning, the part of the body with an extremely high concentration of toxins is the hair.
Having preserved many arsenic compounds, Ran Yan continued to study the crack on the spine, which was near the second and third thoracic vertebrae, close to the heart and lungs. The fracture was on the right side, quite neat, and showed no signs of healing, suggesting it was most likely inflicted post-mortem.
Ran Yan suspected that after poisoning the victim, the murderer had stabbed through their heart and lungs with a sword or knife to confuse the forensic doctor’s judgment of the cause of death. Therefore, she meticulously examined the ribs corresponding to these vertebrae, turning them over again and again until she finally discovered a tiny scratch on the upper side of the fourth rib on the left. Such a scratch might be obvious on fresher bones, but these bones had been slightly weathered and the tiny scratch would not have been noticed without speculation.
This discovery confirmed Ran Yan’s theory that the victim had been stabbed after death. The reasons could be many: perhaps it was out of spite; or the killer was not satisfied and decided to make sure the victim was undoubtedly dead; perhaps to confuse the forensic doctor’s judgment; or maybe the weapon inserted into the heart was coated with a large amount of arsenic...
Ran Yan was more inclined to the last two possibilities. If it was out of spite, how could the killer only stab once? At least two or three strikes would be needed to fulfill such a purpose, wouldn’t they? She had carefully examined the skeleton earlier and found no other injuries.
Ran Yan splashed strong vinegar on the atractylodes and soapnut burning before the coffin, causing a whiff of light smoke. She pulled Su Fu over it and gestured for the others to step over as well.
Only then did Ran Yan kneel in front of the table and begin to write down the results of her autopsy in detail on paper, not forgetting to change her writing style as Su Fu had instructed, so she intentionally used her left hand. Ran Yan had specifically practiced writing with her left hand before; the handwriting was quite ugly, but not slow.