Li Xiang put on a white lab coat, grabbed the toolbox placed at the office door, and followed the man out of the office.

They walked together to the parking lot and got into a police car.

"The mentor's on a business trip. We're counting on you this time!"

In the car, the man looked at Li Xiang for help.

"Don't, don't count on me. I can't do it."

"If not you, then who? I'm even less reliable! I'm a forensic assistant. I can lift bodies, but when it comes to handling a scalpel, my hands shake."

"Your hands shake? It's not surgery—are you afraid of complaints or something?"

"..."

As they chatted in the car, Li Xiang learned some things about the man in front of him.

His name was Zhang Yongliang, a forensic assistant, not a full-fledged forensic scientist, but striving in this direction.

Li Xiang thought to himself, Now we're in trouble.

In the last case, he had experts guiding his gun skills. Now, it's like the blind leading the blind. No, his own bucket is completely empty.

But Zhang Yongliang seemed to think his bucket was quite full!

The police car quickly reached National Highway 339, drove a bit further, and Li Xiang saw a small grove beside which several police cars were parked. Officers had cordoned off the grove with police lines.

"The forensic team is here."

"Please come in quickly!"

After getting out of the car, Li Xiang carried the toolbox into the cordoned area.

"Hello, I'm Detective Captain Wang Tianjun. Since Elder Qin isn't here, we'll be counting on you a lot."

"No problem, it's my duty!"

Li Xiang appeared calm on the outside but was actually very nervous inside.

You could ask him to fight or catch thieves, he would have no hesitation.

But dissecting a corpse made him uneasy.

The June weather was somewhat hot, and Li Xiang was nervous with a slight sweat on his forehead. He silently bolstered his courage and followed Zhang Yongliang into the dense woods.

As they got closer, Li Xiang could already smell an extremely foul odor of rot. In the hot weather, the smell was suffocating. Even with a mask on, he wanted a breath of fresh air to ease it.

But reality didn't allow for that, so he held his breath, and when he couldn't take it anymore, he would quietly inhale a bit, hoping to catch a whiff of oxygen before the stench hit him again.

Red-headed flies buzzed throughout the woods, quite numerous. Ahead, several police officers were squatting on the ground, carefully inspecting the crime scene.

Modern criminal investigation has become quite detailed. Solving cases no longer relies on a detective's reasoning alone but on the cooperation of various police departments, analyzing and summarizing all clues to solve the case.

Li Xiang used his gloved index finger to press down on the bridge of his nose over the mask, the smell here was more pungent. He admired how these officers could endure such a smell while working here.

Though he had participated in a few cases, the corpses were either freshly dead or just skeletons. This was the first time he encountered such a highly decomposed body and didn't expect to have to dissect it on his first encounter.

Isn't this just making things difficult for an honest person~

With a nervous heart, Li Xiang finally saw the target of their trip.

It was a highly decomposed corpse. The deceased was either male or female.

Judging by the hair, the deceased should be female, lying prone on the ground, nearly naked except for socks on her feet.

The body was crawling with maggots, and the skin was variously ulcerated. Maggots burrowed in and out of her skin, making even Li Xiang, who isn't afraid of dense clusters, feel his scalp tingle and his stomach churn, wanting to vomit but suppressing the urge, awkwardly swallowing it down.

"My gosh, this body must have been here for quite some time. The maggots are so large."

The maggots on the body weren't the usual white ones but had turned somewhat black, making it even more disgusting. Compared to the black ones, Li Xiang found the white maggots almost cute.

Apart from the maggots, there were many other insects, like a feast for bugs.

"You can take the body now; we've pretty much finished examining the scene."

The technical and on-site investigation was mostly done, so Zhang Yongliang prepared a body bag to pack up the corpse and take it back to the forensic lab.

"Li Xiang, lend a hand."

Li Xiang looked at his pristine gloves, he really didn't want to lay a hand on it, but seeing Zhang Yongliang's expectant eyes, he gritted his teeth: in any case, he'd have to dissect it later, so what harm in moving it now?

With this thought, he forced down his discomfort and helped Zhang Yongliang lift the body into the body bag.

"Let's go back to work."

Li Xiang truly wanted to quit; being a forensic scientist was really not something for everyone. It was bad enough dealing with corpses daily, but the overwhelming stench was just unbearable!

After moving the body, Li Xiang took off his gloves, and still felt as if his hands carried a faint smell of corpse, a scent not easily removed.

To avoid getting stuck at this level, he had to pass it, continuously reminding himself that acquiring more skills would not be a burden—completing this case would grant him another professional skill.

In the dissection room,

With Zhang Yongliang's help, they lifted the body onto the dissection table.

"Li Xiang, let's begin!"

"Begin?"

Looking at the corpse in front of him, Li Xiang had no idea where to start—how was he supposed to begin?

"Yes, start."

"I don't know how!"

"No kidding, you're a bona fide forensic scientist. If you don't know, do you think I would?"

"You don't know either?"

"Uh, I know a little bit."

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