Yutian County sent a total of four files, including two brawls, one theft and one homicide. Pei Xia took a cursory look through the file, the first three cases were complete, but the last one was a little strange.

"This case is judged to be an accidental fall off a cliff, why didn't I see the autopsy list?" Pei Xia asked strangely.

According to Dayu's regulations, all unnatural deaths within the jurisdiction of each county, whether it is an accident or not, must be reported to the state's criminal prison department, which will review it. Since it is necessary to review, this autopsy list must be indispensable, but there is no coroner in this file, only the place where the body was found and the confession of the informant.

The person who came to deliver the file was a catcher from Yutian County, who was not very old, in his early twenties, and not long after he was arrested, his face turned pale when he mentioned this case, and he could not forget the disgusting smell and scene at the scene that day.

"Girl, it's not that we don't want to test it, it's just too rotten to be tested!"

"Even if it was rotten, who was the deceased, to what extent, and what was the situation at the scene? How can you determine that it was an accidental fall from a cliff if there is nothing? ”

"This ......" catches quickly and can't tell, he has never encountered this situation, he doesn't know what to do, he stands here helplessly, obviously taller than Pei Xia, he just feels that he is a little shorter in front of Pei Xia, and he looks like a student who has been reprimanded by Mr.

Pei Xia didn't really want to discipline him, but such an unclear file was reported to the Criminal Prison Department and could not be reviewed. The reluctance of the boss to go for the examination of the decomposed corpse is one reason, and the poor examination is another, and it may be the main reason.

Although Lu Fang confessed that the suspicious cases would wait for Lord Cao to come back, it was not clear how long Lord Cao would come back, and the more the corpse decomposed, the less evidence remained, and I was afraid that it would not be delayed.

Pei Xia asked Yutian County's catcher to wait a while, and he went to knock on the door of the guard house. The snoring of Lu Fang in the room was earth-shattering, and it was completely useless to knock on the door.

Helplessly, Pei Xia instructed Zheng Wu and the others to wake up and explain to him after a while, and she and the catcher went to Yutian County to have a look.

Yutian County is not close, and it was already midnight when Pei Xia arrived in the county seat, and the accident site was still half a day's way away from the county seat. Due to the serious decomposition of the corpse, no one in the county government officials was willing to touch it, and the corpse remained in place to this day, only a straw mat was covered, and it was buried on the spot after the review of the criminal prison department.

It is not easy to walk at night in the wilderness, and besides, the black light is blind for fear of missing any important clues, Pei Xia has to stay in the post house for a while, and wait for tomorrow morning to go to the autopsy.

Early in the morning of the second day, Pei Xia was about to go to the county government to report that he didn't want the magistrate of Yutian County to bring someone over in person.

"Miss Pei." Yutian Zhixian greeted first, Pei Xia was taken aback, and hurriedly returned the salute: "Lord Qian is polite." ”

Although Pei Xia is now serving in the Qiuzhou Criminal Prison Department, she actually has no official character, and the Yutian Governor sent a county or the chief bookkeeper to the post house to greet her, even if the etiquette is very thoughtful, he personally took the initiative to pick her up and go to the scene with him, which can be said to be quite important.

"Miss Pei, I heard the arrest early this morning, and I am very sorry that the case was my poor thinking." Although this Qian Zhixian is inexperienced, he is fortunately very humble and humble, and as soon as he heard that someone from the Criminal Prison Department was going to re-investigate the scene, he immediately asked people to prepare carriages and horses.

Yutian Zhixian took the initiative to admit his mistake, and Pei Xia didn't intend to hold on to it, not to mention that he hadn't seen the corpse and the scene yet, and he couldn't conclude that Lord Qian's inference must be wrong.

"Do you think there's anything else to prepare?" Qian Zhixian asked.

Pei Xia didn't answer immediately, but asked rhetorically: "To what extent is the corpse decomposed?" Are there almost no bones left, or are the teeth falling out and the flesh rotten? ”

If it is a bad corpse, she has all her things, and if she examines the bones, she has to prepare some more things.

That Yutian Zhixian scholar, this is the first time he has encountered a homicide, and he has seen such a disgusting scene, he has been wanting to vomit when he sees meat for a few days, and he can't describe it in such a clear and calm tone like Pei Xia: "It's not just bones, it's full of maggots and flies, and the hair is good, it seems to be still ...... I really didn't pay attention to the nails......"

He didn't say it clearly, but Pei Xia already had a rough idea in his heart, and nodded: "I know, let people bring two wooden barrels, and I will prepare everything else." ”

Yutian Zhixian hurriedly instructed, and the group left after a short time.

There are three villages under the jurisdiction of Yutian County, and the accident site is relatively close to Liujia Village. That mountain was rarely visited in the past, if it weren't for a medicine picker who hadn't picked a few good medicines in the place he frequented recently, and wanted to try his luck there, I am afraid that no one would find it in another half a year or a year.

Pei Xia was led by Qian Zhixian to the vicinity of the location of the corpse.

"A little further up." Qian Zhixian stood up as soon as he finished speaking, obviously he didn't want to look at it again, Pei Xia didn't want to make it difficult for others, but she really needed two helpers.

"I'm tired of the two eldest brothers going to the nearby river to fetch buckets of water, I'll go over and see the situation first." Pei Xia ordered two older catchers, in the reports received in the general county, there are definitely not as many rotting corpses as just dead, but they will not be particularly rare, these hunting fasts with more years are likely not to be seen for the first time, and the reaction is not as strong as a few newcomers.

Sure enough, the two listened to Pei Xia's arrangement, although there was a bit of bitterness on their faces, they didn't say anything, and honestly carried the bucket.

The others stayed in place and watched from afar, Pei Xia stepped forward by himself, walked two steps, and could already faintly smell the stench, and then went forward The corpse covered with a straw mat appeared in sight, and the stench became more and more obvious.

Pei Xia took out atractylodes and soaphorn from the box and lit it, smeared sesame oil on his nose, and put another piece of ginger into his mouth. After doing this, she put on her gloves and walked over to the corpse.

The moment the straw mat was lifted, mosquitoes and flies buzzed and flew out of a large area. Pei Xia frowned and waved, drove away a little, and fixed his eyes on the corpse.

The deceased was a male, the body was so swollen that it was impossible to distinguish the face of the deceased, part of the skin and flesh had turned from green to red, some of the hair had fallen off, most of the nails had fallen off, and a large number of maggots had gathered on the belly.

While waiting for the water to come, Pei Xia looked at the surrounding environment. There was some sand scattered around the body, and the grass around it was growing intact, with no strange indentations or pulls out. Not far from the corpse was a cliff, about forty feet high, Pei Xia went around to it to take a look, the part of the cliff near the outside was soft, and there was an obvious collapse.

There is sand on the corpse, and there is a collapse here, no wonder Qian Zhixian would regard this as an accidental fall from the cliff.

Pei Xia watched it in a circle, and the two fast catchers also called. Pei Xia gave each of them ginger slices and sesame oil, and after they were ready to do the same as her, they went to the corpse and rinsed the corpse with clean water.

After several rinses, the maggots on the corpse were all cleaned, revealing the flesh underneath. Pei Xia squatted down to take a closer look, while the two catchers retreated.

"I'm about to vomit when I smell this, how can she be so calm as a big girl......"

"How many corpses have you seen......

"What's wrong with this girl?"

In the distance, Qian Zhixian and his subordinates were curious to see what was going on, but they were disgusted and refused to step forward, covering their mouths and noses and stretching their necks one by one and whispering.

Pei Xia focused on the corpse in front of him and didn't listen to these discussions.

The male corpse in front of him was around forty years old, and the cause of death was a broken neck, in addition to several fractures in the spine. The corpse was bitten and damaged by maggots in many places, and it is difficult to judge whether the corpse had been beaten before death in terms of the degree of decay, but it can be determined that there is no knife and axe wound, and it is indeed very similar to falling off a cliff and dying.

According to the degree of decay of the corpse, the time of death is calculated, and the deceased should have been dead for about half a month. Half a month ago, the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, and the weather was not too hot, and the temperature in the deep mountains would only be lower. In this case, it is strange for someone to come to this deserted place alone, shirtless.

After inspecting the corpse, Pei Xia took off his gloves, washed his hands in clean water, spit out the ginger slices in his mouth, and walked to Qian Zhixian and his party.

"Don't bury the body for the time being, leave two people here to guard it, and wait until the case is confirmed."

Hearing Pei Xia say this, Qian Zhixian panicked: "What? Is it really murder? ”

Pei Xia waved her hand, although she was a little far away from the rotting corpse now, but she had just stayed with the rotting corpse for too long, and her body was inevitably stained with a lot of foul smells, her sense of smell was sensitive, and she still felt the smell surround when she spoke at this time.

Pei Xia is not afraid of the stench, and can even touch the carrion without changing her face, but it doesn't mean that she likes these, now she just wants to go back to bathe and change clothes quickly, but this case is quite suspicious and sloppy, so she has to patiently explain it to Qian Zhixian.

"Indeed, as you judged, he fell off a cliff and died. But it's hard to say whether it was an accident or a murder, have you searched the neighborhood? Did you find his clothes? ”

"No, I searched around here last time, but I didn't find anything."

Pei Xia nodded: "That's it." This person died half a month ago, and now the weather is cold, there is no reason to run around naked, and it is very likely that someone wanted to hide his identity and deliberately took away his clothes. Has anyone come to the county government to report the disappearance during this time? ”

"Nope." Qian Zhixian replied.

"The deceased was a man, about forty years old, with a broken little finger on his left hand and a very old wound on his bone, at least ten years old. You can ask in the nearby villages, and if there is no result, send someone to other counties to ask. You have to find out the identity of the deceased first, and then you can judge whether there is a hidden secret. ”

Qian Zhixian listened to Pei Xia's words and immediately ordered his subordinates to do it, while Pei Xia went back to the post house and waited for further news.