National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 972 - 908: Skeletons

Shannan University.

At the entrance, members of the Archaeology Club gathered, waiting for Jiang Yuan’s arrival.

The Archaeology Club mainly consists of active members from the Archaeology Department, but a few were from other departments, all fairly professional hobbyists. They had all heard of Jiang Yuan’s name and were quietly chatting and exchanging information in low voices.

President Wang Weiqing, who was leading the group, laughed and tried to lighten the mood: "When Jiang Yuan arrives, everyone could ask some juicy gossip. By the way, shall we think about the questions we want to ask once he is here? What does everyone want to know?"

The club members present today were all interested and curious folks. A few of them immediately began brainstorming:

"Can he talk about their cases? I saw the news, the recent explosion case seems to have been handled by them."

"That’s the explosion case in Meiyang City, right? That case wasn’t too interesting. They solved it by searching the floorboards, just using criminal investigation methods. They didn’t even properly conduct an autopsy, not to mention using forensic anthropology techniques, which were barely utilized."

"Why wouldn’t they use them? That’s such a waste. Maybe the case could have been cracked if they had just focused on the bodies."

"It’s probably because forensic anthropology is too complex and exhausting to use. The explosion in Meiyang City killed a lot of people, right? The bodies must have been shattered, scattered everywhere. Using forensic anthropology on each one, who knows how much time it would take."

"And in the Yong King’s Great Tomb, there are even more bodies. Does Jiang Yuan want to spend time on this? He has already solved several cases in just a few months; is he really going to spend time with us excavating a large tomb?"

This last statement silenced the group from the Archaeology Club.

Still, Wang Weiqing coughed twice and said, "Since Jiang Yuan is willing to come, he must be interested, right?"

He directed this question at Jiang Qiansi.

Jiang Qiansi had been staring at Wang Weiqing all this while, especially admiring his long legs, clean face, and especially his clean fingers, which were fascinating to watch.

Yet, Wang Weiqing’s sudden question was something Jiang Qiansi found difficult to answer.

After thinking for a while, she replied in a soft voice, "Jiang Yuan is usually very busy. This time he is returning from Dama, and it’s the Dama Police Station that arranged a government jet for him, just to save time. So, I’m not sure if he will have time to examine the Yong King’s Great Tomb, but he probably would like to know a bit about it."

Then, another girl, also staring at Wang Weiqing, said with a hint of sarcasm, "A government jet won’t arrive any earlier than an economy seat, though."

"It’s a government jet, not a business class," Jiang Qiansi, the child of a displaced family, and thus not fond of such comments, replied calmly: "Separate security check, flying on its own, multiple routes to choose from, of course, it can arrive earlier than economy class."

The girl from the Archaeology Club grimaced and said, "The police should just stick to policing; indulging in such luxuries, sooner or later..."

"Zhang Jiao." Wang Weiqing interrupted her, "He is from Jiang Village, and it was the Dama Police Station that provided the government jet, not for his personal enjoyment..."

"I know. I’m just saying, it’s because Dama Police Station has money, which makes him seem so precious." Zhang Jiao was even more spirited now. She disliked Jiang Qiansi, who was just a rich lady who didn’t know the hardships of life, just dependent on her family’s displacement compensation, and she didn’t see a need to pamper her.

Wang Weiqing frowned, about to say something, when an MPV pulled up in front.

Following the first MPV was another MPV and a sedan; passengers started alighting from the vehicles.

"Brother!" Jiang Qiansi shouted, running to a tall young man who appeared from the leading car.

"Hey, am I late?" Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile.

"Not at all. We came early," Wang Weiqing said as he rushed forward to greet him traditionally, introducing himself, "Jiang, I am Wang Weiqing, a graduate student from the Archaeology Department of Shannan University, under Professor Tao Yajie. Welcome to Shannan University."

"Oh, hello," Jiang Yuan shook hands with Wang Weiqing and said, "I brought some colleagues and friends with me. We’ve recently solved some cases involving drug trafficking, organized crime, and slant crimes. Worried about potential retaliation, our leaders instructed us to travel together as much as possible. This is Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia, and Gao Yuyan."

Jiang Yuan introduced the police officers accompanying him.

Students from the Archaeology Department, who were initially just casually listening, suddenly began to show respect as terms like "drug trafficking," "organized crime," and "slant crimes" passed through their minds.

Wang Weiqing continuously nodded his head in agreement.

Then, Wu Jun, Wang Zhong, and Miao Ruixiang dismounted from another car, followed by detectives from the Changyang City Bureau from the last vehicle.

It was no small feat for Jiang Yuan to come to Changyang City, so Yu Wenshu naturally arranged for someone to accompany him.

Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to introduce, "These here are my master and my brothers, all forensic doctors. They also came to have a look..."

Wu Jun and the others nodded and smiled, all wearing the genial faces typical of seasoned detectives.

The students present actively responded under the aura of the seasoned detectives: "Welcome, welcome."

Wang Weiqing praised, "Doctor Jiang’s mentors and brothers are indeed a rare immediate combat force, the professors will certainly be delighted to hear this. Oh right, my teacher has booked a private room here, let’s go have a meal together first..."

Jiang Yuan and the others did not decline, forming a grand procession, heading directly to the restaurant next door.

Wang Weiqing urgently sent a text message to inform his teacher about the number of arrivals and then mentioned @Little Junior Brother in the group chat, asking to add another table in the large private room urgently.

Wang Weiqing’s mentor, Tao Yajie from Shannan Province, is known as the top female archaeologist. This year, she just turned 50, elegantly dressed, exuding a chic aura that can be considered both elegant and noble.

After some interactions and a few drinks, getting to know each other’s personalities, Tao Yajie smiled and said, "I have brought some photos of skeletal remains from Yong King’s Great Tomb, is it appropriate to look at them over dinner?"

"I can." Jiang Yuan smiled, pushing aside the dishes in front of him.

Tao Yajie then passed the photos to Jiang Yuan.

There were several photos, not only full-body images but also some close-ups of skulls, sternums, pelvises, and leg bones. Only a few photos were of the excavation process; the rest were of cleaned bones placed on dissecting tables, most of which were accompanied by a scale ruler.

This was a very academic approach, theoretically, other scholars could also understand most of the information about the skeletal remains from these photos.

Jiang Yuan looked at them one by one, slowly laying them out in front of himself, and eventually counted, totaling seventeen.

Jiang Yuan picked up a large pork knuckle and ate it, then raised his glass to drink with Tao Yajie, asking, "Professor Tao, which part of the work would you like me to handle?"

Tao Yajie spoke seriously, "Jiang Yuan, the Yong King’s Great Tomb we discovered this time is likely the biggest archaeological project in Shannan Province in the last decade. Particularly, there are multiple skeletons inside, including possible sacrificial victims... I think, for anthropology, this is also a rare opportunity. If possible, I hope you could take over some of the skeletal identification work, which may take a few months, but we could likely produce a very good paper..."

"Have all the skeletons been excavated?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"They have mostly been excavated, we estimate there are about 23 bodies."

Jiang Yuan chuckled: "Then it shouldn’t take a few months..."

"Eh?" Tao Yajie did not quite understand.

Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "Alright, then I’ll join."

Jiang Yuan is now a Level 3 forensic anthropologist, which is already at a provincial expert level, and not just in a weaker archaeological province like Shannan. If needed, Jiang Yuan can also increase his forensic anthropology skills by +1. Considering the high difficulty of learning and practicing forensic anthropology, Level 4 should already be at a top national expert level.

But given Jiang Yuan’s understanding of anthropology, combined with the photos in front of him, he didn’t think the work related to Yong King’s Great Tomb would take several months—doing so would mean there were significant discoveries!

Seeing Jiang Yuan agree so promptly, Tao Yajie was quite pleased.

She often collaborated with experts within and outside the province, and this time, due to the rare opportunity presented by the Yong King’s Great Tomb, she hoped to lead the project to the maximum extent, thereby preferring to look for young scholars or outsiders like Jiang Yuan.

Of course, a young and outsider like Jiang Yuan was just perfect.

Regarding the technical aspect...

Tao Yajie directly asked, "Doctor Jiang, if you were to determine the age-at-death for these skeletons, how long would you need?"

Jiang Yuan pondered for a few seconds and replied, "20."

"20 days?"

"19, 17, 35, 21..." Jiang Yuan continued, gesturing for Mu Zhiyang to record, then told Tao Yajie, "What I mentioned are the ages-at-death of the skeletons, from left to right..."