Chapter 671: Examination
The corpse was with the authorities now.
An autopsy would usually be carried out on those who went through an unnatural death to gain a deeper insight into the fatal wounds.
For this case, the cause of death was undeniable. Hence, the forensic doctors did not need to perform an autopsy on Bai Qing’s mother. Even after the examination was completed, family members were not allowed to retrieve the corpse immediately. It would be placed at the funeral home temporarily.
Since Bai Qing’s mother’s death fell under criminal investigation, even her family members could not see her anytime they wanted. And Zhang Heng did not want other people to be around when he examined the corpse. So Bai Qing and Zhang Heng waited until the funeral home closed in the evening before they headed over there.
Zhang Heng then said to Bai Qing, “Wait for me outside the funeral home.”
The latter bit her lip when he heard Zhang Heng’s instruction. “I want to go with you because I want to see her again.”
“I don’t think it’s wise to traumatize yourself again. Let alone the fact that we have to sneak in this time,” Zhang Heng said.
“I have changed into my sport shoes,” Bai Qing said.
Zhang Heng turned around, only to see how determined Bai Qing looked.
“I have to see it with my own eyes to believe what you just told me,” the girl added.
Zhang Heng thought for a bit before agreeing. “Okay. Follow me closely.”
The two had already checked out the place once during the day. Due to the nature of this business, thieves would usually not target funeral homes, and security here was average. Although some CCTV was being installed in the funeral house, they were mainly located in the columbarium. That was because some family members liked to place items that were once belonged to the deceased in that particular room, including necklaces, rings, and bracelets.
Besides that, the funeral home also hired some security guards to look after the place at night.
Zhang Heng climbed over the lower wall and landed at the back of the green zone. Then he reached out and caught Bai Qing, who just jumped off the wall. The two pa.s.sed through a small flower bed, and the funeral home’s main building was right in front of them. The hall facing the flower bed was a high-end memorial hall, and behind it was the mourning hall. The door to the memorial hall, however, was now locked.
Zhang Heng and Bai Qing went to the side corridor, pried a window from there, and slipped into the memorial hall. From there, they could walk to the cremation room, where only a broken CCTV greeted them along the way.
At midnight, the funeral home was extremely quiet.
The funeral home’s busiest time started at 7 a.m. The two high-end halls, six mid-range halls, and two ordinary halls would hold memorial services continuously throughout the day. Some said that whether the deceased was rich or poor, they all looked the same after they died.
Actually, this statement was not entirely correct.
On average, hundreds of people usually attended a high-end memorial service, and the high-end memorial hall would not fit all of them. Whether the people who came for the memorial service were close to the deceased or not, they would still come to pay their respects with flowers. Some funeral services would be held at the ordinary halls where it was attended by only a few of the closest relatives.
Other than that, from renting the mourning hall to the funeral vehicle, the shroud, and the cemetery slot all came with different price tags. Other than that, their customers were also given options to pick the type of funeral service. It implied that not even the dead could escape the hierarchy so deeply rooted in our society.
This made people believe that we had to expect that we would never be treated fairly when we were born into this world. And this applied to the dead as well.
Zhang Heng and Bai Qing walked through the corridor as quietly as possible.
When they heard the sound of footsteps coming from a distance, the two stopped and temporarily hid in the dressing room on the side, a spot where the morticians worked. Usually, they would clean and do some makeup for the corpse before they were sent for cremation. Bereaved family members would want their loved ones to look as beautiful as possible before sending them away on their final journey.
There was no one inside now; only a few iron racks were placed in it. Zhang Heng and Bai Qing hid behind a rack against the wall, waiting for the sound of footsteps from the outside to approach them. Zhang Heng could feel Bai Qing’s breathing becoming more rapid. She probably thought of something that caused her mood to become a little unstable, and she began to tremble again.
Hearing that the footsteps were getting closer and closer to them, Zhang Heng hesitated and had to stretch out a hand to pat her back.
Zhang Heng could see that Bai Qing was trying her best to stop herself from crying. She buried her face into Zhang Heng’s embrace, and her shoulders heaved slightly. Zhang Heng gently stroked Bai Qing’s back to calm her down.
The light from the flashlight shone through the window into the dressing room. Fortunately, the security guard had no intention to enter the room. The people who chose to work as security guards here were usually quite bold. However, they would not deliberately look for things that they were not supposed to do. After they checked out the place briefly, they would quickly take their leave to inspect another place.
When the footsteps moved to the end of the corridor, Bai Qing’s body finally stopped shaking.
After that, Zhang Heng felt that his chest was wet. When he lowered his head to look at it, he saw snot and tears on his s.h.i.+rt. Bai Qing raised her head and quickly apologized to Zhang Heng in a low voice. She then promptly wiped them away.
Zhang Heng handed her a tissue and said to her, “It’s okay. Let’s carry on.”
Bai Qing nodded and followed Zhang Heng to leave the dressing room.
She sniffled and said, “I’m sorry, I thought about how my mother’s body would be pushed into the room, and she’s lying there all alone… It makes me really sad.”
“That might not be the case,” Zhang Heng comforted.
The two then walked through the cremation room, pa.s.sed the empty forensic room next to it, walked through another corridor, and finally reached the morgue. It was a place where the funeral home temporarily stored the corpses and was probably the largest area on the grounds. All the freezers were neatly arranged in the morgue.
Zhang Heng looked at Bai Qing beside him and asked, “Are you sure you want to watch what happens next? You have been very brave so far, but if you want, you can just stay outside and let me do the work.”
“We are here now. Let’s get over it.” Although Bai Qing’s face had turned pale, she still insisted on staying with Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng then opened his backpack and took out two pairs of rubber gloves. He put on one of them and handed the other to Bai Qing.
During the afternoon, Zhang Heng had already found out where Bai Qing’s mother was located. It was easy for them to find her since there was a number written on each freezer. Once Zhang Heng opened the freezer, he could feel the chill hitting on him.
Although the security guards had just patrolled this area and would not return until the next s.h.i.+ft, Zhang Heng wasted no time, pulling out the body bag and placing it on the flatbed trolley beside him.
After that, Zhang Heng proceeded to open the body bag. Although Bai Qing tried her best to control her emotions, she still could not help but cry when she saw her mother’s body.
Zhang Heng did not pay too much attention to the body’s surface because he knew that the forensic doctor had done a thorough examination on her before. So he did not waste his time checking the apparent wound. The police would generally not send the body for an X-ray and CT scan for such obvious injuries.
Zhang Heng then took out the Lego bricks in his backpack and a.s.sembled a small CT scanner as fast as possible.
After that, he inserted the Infinite Building Block into the Lego CT scanner. While Bai Qing was looking at him in surprise, a fully functional Lego CT scanner was presented in front of her.
Zhang Heng and the forensic doctor focussed on completely different aspects. He did not care about the fatal injuries on the corpse. What he was interested in was its internal structure. In short, what he wanted to know was whether the corpse and a real human had any differences. From there, he wished to figure out how those aliens took into human forms at will.