Chapter 192

The small body of the deceased was laid flat on the cold autopsy table.

Mu Mian’s mood was heavier than usual, as this was the youngest human body she had ever dissected, and it was also a child with Down syndrome.

Mu Mian did not start by dissecting the head of the deceased. Instead, she first cut open the chest and abdominal cavities, removing the internal organs. She began by examining the heart, scrutinizing it carefully.

Chen Xue asked curiously, “Mu Mian, why didn’t you start with the head?”

“Because I need to determine the cause of death first.”

“The skull has been cut open, so shouldn’t we first confirm if the cause of death was mechanical injury? It’s possible the victim died from massive blood loss or brain tissue damage.”

Mu Mian emphasized again, “The wound on the scalp shows no signs of vital reaction. This means the scalp was cut after death. Additionally, the lividity on the body is quite pronounced. If the cause of death were massive blood loss, the lividity would be lighter. The deceased was a child with Down syndrome, who often suffer from various congenital diseases, the most common being congenital heart disease.”

Lividity is formed by the deposition of red blood cells after death. If the deceased had lost too much blood, resulting in a significant loss of red blood cells, the lividity would appear lighter.

Chen Xue said, “Do you suspect the child died suddenly from an illness?”

“It’s possible.”

Mu Mian noticed that the deceased’s ventricles were thicker than those of an average person, and one of the heart valves had an abnormal structure.

Further pathological testing of the heart would be needed to confirm whether there were any issues. Mu Mian sent the heart to a testing facility for pathological analysis.

Pathological testing is a tedious process and takes a considerable amount of time. This was why Mu Mian had chosen to dissect the internal organs first.

“Finally, it’s time to examine the brain,” Mu Mian said excitedly.

She carefully cut open the sutures on the head. The stitches were made with ordinary black thread, not medical-grade, but the knotting and sewing technique suggested the person who had stitched it had some clinical experience.

After removing the sutures, Mu Mian carefully peeled back the scalp, separating the subcutaneous tissue to reveal the skull.

The skull had already been sawed open with an electric saw. Mu Mian lifted the cranial bone and discovered that only half of the brain tissue remained inside the cranial cavity.

The perpetrator had severed the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain, splitting the brain into two parts. They had then taken the left hemisphere of the deceased’s brain.

Chen Xue was stunned.

“The perpetrator actually took the brain tissue, and only the left hemisphere? Why would someone take the brain of a deceased child?” Chen Xue exclaimed in shock.

Mu Mian replied, “It could be for research purposes. They could make brain slices to observe pathological changes.”

“Then why only take half?”

“Maybe ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‍the left hemisphere had some research value,” Mu Mian said as she removed the remaining half of the brain tissue, now deeply intrigued by it.

Chen Xue looked at the brain and said, “This reminds me of a famous medical experiment—the split-brain experiment. Sperry, in an attempt to treat epilepsy, severed the corpus callosum of a patient. While the patient’s seizures stopped, they lost the ability to control their behavior. This patient became known as the ‘split-brain person.’ Could the perpetrator be replicating this experiment?”

Sperry’s split-brain experiment demonstrated that the human brain is divided into two hemispheres: the left hemisphere receives sensory information from the right side of the body and controls movements on the right side, while the right hemisphere handles sensory information from the left side and controls movements on the left. Severing the connection between the two hemispheres renders a person unable to control their behavior.

“But what value would replicating this experiment have?” Mu Mian wondered. “The division of labor between the brain’s hemispheres has already been thoroughly studied. Moreover, the perpetrator removed the left hemisphere after the victim’s death. They wouldn’t be able to observe any behavioral changes in a dead person.”

“True. Taking the brain of a dead person would only be useful for pathological research,” Chen Xue agreed.

Mu Mian thought for a moment and said, “There’s another possibility: the perpetrator didn’t want us to know what pathological changes had occurred in the left hemisphere, so they took it.”

“Then why didn’t they destroy the entire body? The child’s body was so small; they could have disposed of it in many other ways,” Chen Xue analyzed.

Mu Mian looked at the cranial cavity, equally puzzled about the perpetrator’s motives.

She sent the right hemisphere of the brain for pathological testing as well, to determine if there were any abnormalities in the brain tissue.

**Case Analysis Meeting**

The pathological test results were not yet available, so Mu Mian simply reported the preliminary findings from the autopsy.

“Initial findings suggest two possible causes of death: first, sudden death due to illness. The child may have had congenital heart disease and died from a heart attack. Second, the brain may have developed a pathological condition that damaged vital centers. The pathological report isn’t ready yet, so I can’t determine the exact cause of death at this time.”

Mu Mian continued, “The perpetrator sawed open the skull and removed the left hemisphere of the brain. Both the suturing and the craniotomy were performed with precision, suggesting the perpetrator has extensive clinical experience. In fact, they might even be a neurosurgeon.”

Mu Mian displayed a photo of the cranial cavity on the screen.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the image of the skull, now missing half of its brain.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zhang asked, “Why did the perpetrator only take half of the brain? Wouldn’t it have been easier to take the whole brain?”

Mu Mian replied, “I find it strange too. The perpetrator’s actions are contradictory.”

“Could they be mentally unstable?”

Lin Sen said, “If that’s the case, they might strike again.”

Wang reported the forensic findings: “In the flowerbed, we found two sets of footprints. One belonged to the sanitation worker who reported the case, and the other was a size 41. The shoe print pattern doesn’t match any known brand. The child’s clothing only had the fingerprints of the person who reported the case.”

Fang Rui displayed a photo on the screen. In the soil of the flowerbed, the perpetrator had written a symbol, “დ,” in blood. The handwriting was neat, and the symbol was slightly larger than a thumb.

“Tests confirmed that the blood used to write the symbol belonged to the victim,” Chen Xue reported.

The team searched online for the symbol but found no specific explanation. It seemed to be a symbol created by the perpetrator, possibly meaningless.