A hunting adventure [unlimited]

Dead bodies mean that there is a threat of death here.

Yu Zhen illuminated the skull with a flashlight and checked it from head to toe.

This corpse has been lying here for decades. It tilted its head and leaned against the corner of the wall as if resting. It sat cross-legged, with its hands resting on its abdomen. It was a hollow skeleton. The flesh and blood had been eaten up by rats. Chewed out spots of tooth marks.

"Can I touch it?" he asked.

After thinking about it, Du Yu said: "Yes, if there is any mechanism under the corpse, the rats crawling around it would have already touched it."

So Yu Zhen took off the corpse's coat, stripped off the rotten clothes that were torn into strips, and observed the skeleton's pelvis under the light; with his shallow knowledge of forensic pathology, he could only roughly judge from the depth of the pelvis and the height of the pubic bone the sex of the deceased.

But here comes a new problem -

In the empire, men give birth to children, so the male pelvis should evolve into a wide barrel shape according to the needs of body functions.However, according to his observation, the waist-to-hip ratio of most men in the empire is still normal, and they have not developed towards the female curve.

So he asked Du Yu for confirmation.

Du Yu said: "You think too much. Humans have been females since the ancient ape period and before, and Homo sapiens has a history of evolution for millions of years; the human skeleton that evolved only millions of years ago , How could it be changed by the empire’s short history of more than 1000 years.”

Yu Zhen praised: "Well, it's not unreasonable."

Du Yu: "So the one who died...?"

Yu Zhen: "Look at the pelvis, it's a woman."

Du Yu: "How old are you?"

Yu Zhen: "It's hard for me to say for sure. I need a more professional forensic doctor to identify it."

"I know." Du Yu turned his eyes away talking to himself, pointed to the cobweb-covered leather shoes on the corpse's feet, and said, "I know this brand. It started as a leather goods manufacturer in the last century, and began to make women's clothing after it was acquired in the 60s; This silhouette shoe is a limited edition for the 30th anniversary of his family, and it was once all the rage, very popular among 40- to [-]-year-old public servants."

"You really know fashion." Yu Zhen teased, "So the deceased was a woman in her thirties?"

"Well, I don't look at the part of the upper that was bitten by the mouse, but the degree of wear and tear on the heel. She should have bought it for a week or two? This pair of shoes was only on sale for three months, so according to the time Presumably..." Du Yu looked up at him, "She has been dead for at least 50 years."

"But what was the cause of her death?" Du Yu asked another question.

Yu Zhen spread his hands and said, "There was no murder weapon or blood on the scene, and there was no obvious trauma to the bones. I can't see anything else."

The best-preserved coat on the deceased was her coat. The color of the gray fabric could not be distinguished. Although the collar of the coat was broken, the pattern and pockets were still there.Yu Zhen reached into her pocket and found a cool, thin metal object.

Wipe off the dust with your fingers, and it is a golden square nameplate, engraved with the name of the deceased:

【Irene Eunomia Yexiu】

"Her last name is very familiar." Yu Zhen pointed out.

Du Yu took the metal piece from his hand, rubbed the engraving and said, "This is the pure gold nameplate of the Royal Academy. She is a member of the Yexiu family, a descendant of Benita Yexiu."

Benita Yexiu, the girl who was chosen by the sea god Sihanna in the book and given the knowledge of future medicine; became the first surgeon in the history of the empire because of her mastery of human body modification surgery.

Her descendants should be either rich or noble, with a prominent status, how could they die in such a place?

"The coat she is wearing is the overalls of the research institute." Du Yu pulled the coat and shook the ashes, and the light gray pattern covered by the left chest appeared, "The logo is a rose, and she works in the Feimin laboratory of the research institute." .”

Fei Min, one of the four laboratories of the Royal Academy, focuses on plastic surgery.

The status of men in the empire was low, and they faced the fate of being eliminated at birth, and the most important criterion for screening was appearance.In the capital, Yu Zhen has seen women of all kinds, tall, short, fat and thin, but he has never seen even mediocre men, yes, even mediocre men are not acceptable.

This country is extremely harsh on the appearance of men. Beards, body hair, exaggerated and large muscles, such masculine and aggressive features are never allowed to exist.What they want is a husband or pet who is docile, well-behaved, considerate, sensible and caring, not a man who is strong and aggressive and may endanger society.

The aesthetics of the Empire is the beauty of women, and men who are more feminine in the old era are more popular, such as feminine looks and voices, weak and deceitful personalities, and innocent and simple thoughts.Under such a trend, many parents will take their boys for plastic surgery when their facial features are just forming. The advanced cosmetic surgery in the empire is comparable to fertility surgery. Plastic surgery, can be restored as natural.

Men who don't pay attention to their appearance will be discriminated against in the empire, and they will not be favored by women.On the contrary, there are also many examples of men born at the bottom relying on their beauty to cross classes and cling to the powerful.Families without daughters send their sons to study for plastic surgery, carefully cultivate a perfect husband, and gossip news emerges endlessly in the end.

The research direction of Feimin Laboratory determines its high income. Those who can be admitted and stay in the post are all top talents in the imperial medical field.

Then the one who died before their eyes was a genuine elite woman.

Yu Zhen cast the light of the flashlight to the other end of the tunnel, then returned to the corpse, scanning back and forth.The shirt of the deceased was bitten to shreds with blood spots from rats gnawing at the skin, and there were no traces of dried blood or body dragging on the ground; coupled with the stable cross-legged sitting posture, it showed that she did not fall to the ground due to serious injuries, but died by her own choice. it's here.

"It's so strange..." Yu Zhen muttered, frowning deeply, "The place where she died was only 100 meters away from the entrance where we came in. Didn't she try to call for help and escape?"

Du Yu speculated: "Could it be murder and abandonment?"

Yu Zhen met his deep eyes, "She was wearing overalls, let's assume she was killed on the way to and from get off work, how far is the research institute from the palace?"

"Three hours on foot, one hour, four and 10 minutes by car."

"If it were you, after killing someone, would you transport the body to a place that is more than an hour's journey away and throw the body away?"

"No, maybe that person is what we think." Du Yu said calmly, "He also transported the corpse through the sewer."

"The drainage system on the map covers six blocks around the palace, including Dandy Avenue where the research institute is located. After killing someone, it goes underground, and walks to the inside of the palace to throw the body without anyone noticing; if it weren't for us, this body would The body will not be found for another 200 years."

"It's possible. The distance of the underground tunnel is shorter than the distance on the ground, but the footsteps will be slower when carrying a dead body, so it still takes three hours to walk. Although the dead body is not stiff yet, why did the murderer take the effort to help her put it in a pose to promote blood circulation?" Sitting posture?" Yu Zhen's legs went numb, and she stood up and relaxed, "It would be best to throw the corpse, since she was not killed by a strange creature or infected by a special virus, it will not affect our progress, let's go."

"Wait a minute, if, as you said, she died here, what would be the reason?" Du Yu raised another possibility, "Suicide?"

Yu Zhen's palms were dirty, so she buried her head and rubbed the tip of her nose with the back of her hand, and laughed softly, "You're quite humorous."

Fantastic, who would commit suicide in the sewer.

In addition, suicide must have tools or poison; the deceased was empty-handed, dignified, and the scene was clean, which completely ruled out the possibility of suicide.

Du Yu seemed to know what he was thinking, and said unexpectedly: "Is it possible that she starved herself to death?"

"Who is so perverted!" Yu Zhen said frantically, "Let's go."

He absolutely cannot accept this method of death, absolutely not!

***

The two bypassed the bones and continued on their way, walking through the 300-meter-long pipeline in silence.

The tunnel without light is gloomy and cold, with no bottom, and the further you go down, the more you seem to have entered the center of the earth.

"Go another 50 meters and turn left." Du Yu guided.

"You should bring some chocolate." Yu Zhen said.It's not that he's hungry, he craves food when he's anxious.

Du Yu said: "It's a pity that you can still think of eating."

"Food is the most important thing for the people." Yu Zhen opened his mouth to talk nonsense.

The 50 meters were finished in a few words, and a T-shaped fork appeared in front of them.They are located on the right side of the ditch, and the water flow and the road under their feet diverge to the drainage branch channel on the right; the opposite walkway across a ditch turns to the left.

According to the pre-planned route, they should turn left and need to cross a one-meter-wide ditch.

However, there is one more thing in front of him that is not on the map——

A mermaid sculpture standing gracefully in the smelly ditch.

Its mottled stone body is covered with scale, its fish scales are covered by moss, and its face is covered with black spots.

The mermaid twisted its slender neck and looked to the left. Its slender arms stretched out. The two fins at the elbow joints were as thin as butterfly wings. Each wrist wore a gold ring. The ten fingers stretched loosely, like a god standing in the sky. Dirty dark corners.

Yu Zhen asked in surprise: "What's going on? Your house even has decorations in the sewer?"

Du Yu: "I haven't seen it before."

Mermaid statues can be seen everywhere in the empire. It is a bit rare to appear in the sewers, but it is still a reasonable category.So they only took a few more glances and didn't stop at their feet.

Yu Zhen easily crossed the ditch and turned into the drainage channel branched on the left—he was stunned for a moment.

A steel mesh blocked the way ahead, and it fit perfectly with the cross-section of the tunnel. Cement was cast into the corners of the partition, and the sewage overflowed the steel mesh and flowed freely to a distant place, but they became prisoners who walked into a dead end.

The light is cut into pieces by the grid, lighting up the dark and dark passage.

Yu Zhen grasped the iron net. Compared with the 3 cm thick steel bar, his fingers were no more than a few pieces of cotton; he cursed: "I hit a ghost."

He turned his head and looked at Du Yu eagerly. The latter looked at the mark on the lower right corner of the map, shook his head and said, "There will be a protective net at the intersection that is not marked."

"What should I do?" Yu Zhen tapped the steel bar with his fingers, making a "dang dang" sound, "How likely is it to move the cutting machine here for construction?"

"The possibility is zero." Du Yu said without raising his head, "There is no power."

Because Yu Zhen was turning his head, all he could see was the lighting range of the headlights; he noticed that the branch road on the other side symmetrical to this road was unobstructed, and there was no iron net blocking the road.

"Your Highness, where does that lead?"

Du Yu gave him a cold look, "Calling me by my name is enough."

"Oh, look at the map quickly." Yu Zhen didn't bother to tangle with the address, he was a casual person.

Du Yu only lowered his eyes for half a second, then his forehead tightened, "No..."

Yu Zhen: "What do you mean?"

Du Yu turned the map over and pinched the edge of the paper with his fingers, letting him see for himself.

"There is no passage on the right on the map."

Yu Zhen took the map half-believingly, took a closer look, and his heart sank suddenly——

On the map, at their current location, there is only the pipeline map on the left, and there is no T-shaped fork at all!

Now, the original road on the left cannot go through, so where does the road that does not exist on the map on the right lead to?

Yu Zhen closed the map and returned it to Du Yu: "Shall we go back the same way?"

The author has something to say:

Yu Zhen: Please forgive me!