The sea wind howled through the crevices of the rocks, and the waves crashed unceasingly against them, stirring up layers of spray.
Zhong Li and Lu Wuxie traversed areas of rugged stones, and following the village chief's directions, they finally found the small fishing village's mortuary in a hollow formed by many piled rocks.
In truth, calling it a mortuary was a stretch; it was more like a dilapidated shack. The roof had several holes from the sea wind, and the surrounding walls were so broken that one could clearly see the interior.
This place was indeed a bit better than the cave, but not by much.
Zhong Li thought as she and Lu Wuxie entered the mortuary.
Youyou's body had been placed here earlier. The mortuary seemed rarely used. Glancing around, besides two mummified corpses lying in a corner, the splintered wooden planks were covered in dust.
"You focus on the autopsy; I'll tidy up." Lu Wuxie placed some commonly used items brought from the cave on the ground, then quickly began searching the mortuary for useful things.
Zhong Li nodded, walked to where Youyou's body was laid, pulled off the white sheet, and began her work.
As this misfortune was unexpected, her small, always-carried box was not with her. To her dismay, she had to ask the village chief for a few fish bladders to attach to her hands, then she temporarily sewed a pair of gloves from limited cloth to wear over them before starting the autopsy.
Youyou had been missing for some time, and since the small fishing village was perpetually spring-like, the lividity on the body was no longer shifting, and rigor mortis was beginning to show signs of dissipation.
"The time of death should be about two days ago," Zhong Li said, looking at Youyou's shoulders and back where lividity was most prominent. According to her estimation, Youyou was killed and then thrown into the well before her body temperature had fully dissipated, with her back hitting the bottom of the dry well.
Afterward, she examined the body's external appearance. As she had seen the last time she applied medicine to Youyou, there were many old and new wounds of varying degrees on Youyou's body. Judging by the age of the wounds, a long, linear burn mark on her back appeared to be about three to four years old.
As for the rest...
From her limbs to her chest and back, there were over a hundred wounds, all caused by sticks, knives, or scorching.
Zhong Li looked at these wounds with a pang of heartache, her fingertips unconsciously tracing over the cold corpse.
She could not imagine how a mere seven or eight-year-old girl could have offended someone so much, or what karma she had to endure to live such a painful life.
After examining her front and back, Zhong Li turned her attention to Youyou's head. As she had predicted earlier, Youyou's true cause of death was shock due to severe head trauma. As for the wound, she shaved off Youyou's hair and traced the shape on the skull with Xuan paper.
Lu Wuxie, having finished his tasks, came to Zhong Li's side to assist.
When he saw the battered Youyou, his brow furrowed unconsciously.
"So horrific?" He had not seen it before, only heard Zhong Li mention it. He had not expected this little girl to have suffered such inhumane torture in her life.
Zhong Li nodded, suppressing the sadness in her eyes, and picked up the drawn Xuan paper to blow it dry.
Lu Wuxie took it and examined it through the sunlight streaming in from outside the mortuary. He then looked at the fatal injury on Youyou's head and said, "A circular object, about the size of a child's fist, and the force required to smash a person's skull to this extent cannot be ignored."
Zhong Li nodded upon hearing Lu Wuxie's analysis. "Yes, that's what puzzles me too. I initially thought it might have been a bowl, but judging by the formation of the wound, an ordinary ceramic bowl could not have caused this."
"Circular..." Lu Wuxie mused, placing a hand on his lips.
Zhong Li knew that the murder weapon would not be determined easily. She glanced at the setting sun outside the window, casually picked up the oil lamp Lu Wuxie had prepared, lit it, took out the dissection knife, and began to examine Youyou's internal organs.
An unknown amount of time passed. By the time the outside world was consumed by darkness, and the sky was filled with stars illuminating the surroundings of the mortuary, an indignant voice rang out from within.
"Scoundrel!"
Hearing this, Lu Wuxie put down the ladle he was using to stir the porridge and walked to her side, asking, "Did you find something?"
As Zhong Li covered Youyou with the white sheet, she handed him the autopsy report she had written.
Lu Wuxie looked at it under the lamplight. Upon seeing the words "congestion and tearing in the golden meridian area" on the report, his expression darkened. "Youyou suffered humiliation before her death?"
Zhong Li nodded emphatically, her hand gripping the brush tightening involuntarily. "Actually, examining a woman's lower body is a routine procedure, but I never expected Youyou to have suffered such abuse during her lifetime, and..."
She paused, her voice choked with emotion. "Moreover... Youyou's *fengji* area also had old injuries."
"*Fengji*..." Lu Wuxie murmured, his expression becoming extremely grim. Although he was not a coroner, he had worked in the Judicial Inspection Office and was familiar with different parts of the human body. Based on Zhong Li's description, if Youyou's *fengji* area had old injuries, it indicated that the torment this young girl suffered was continuous.
How could anyone be so heartless to such a young girl?
He thought about it, then lowered his gaze to the autopsy report in his hand. Another line of text further ignited his anger. "Youyou's liver was bleeding?"
Zhong Li nodded, looking at the little girl whose head was the only visible part on the wooden plank bed. "Yes, based on her condition, it appears she was beaten, causing internal bleeding. Fortunately, the liver rupture was relatively minor. But even if she had survived this, given the extent of her injuries, she would have eventually died from other causes."
She spoke with a hint of pity in her eyes.
Suddenly, Zhong Li remembered the last time she saw Youyou a few days prior, the two clear red marks on her neck. She had already felt something was wrong then, but due to Youyou's innocent smile and her own complacent thought that she would ask after getting to know Youyou better, it had led to today's tragedy.
"It's all my fault!" she thought, covering her face with her hands, unable to stop blaming herself. "If only I had chased after Youyou when she left, perhaps... perhaps... she wouldn't have..."
"Li'er." Lu Wuxie walked to her side, seeing her distressed expression, and tenderly pulled her into an embrace. "No one could have predicted Youyou would suffer such a fate. The only thing we can do now is to find the real killer, isn't it?"
Hearing Lu Wuxie's words, Zhong Li suddenly paused, her gaze drifting past the window towards the direction of the small fishing village to the east.
"Li'er." Lu Wuxie looked at the woman whose eyes had turned cold in his arms. "Actually, you already knew who the killer was from the beginning, didn't you?"
Zhong Li nodded and said, "Yes, I will definitely send those two fiends to hell!"