"So what about the other report?" Yin Wuwang set down his camera and raised this world's biggest bug—the root of both Collapse Point One and Collapse Point Four: cyanide poisoning.
Xie Qingyan didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to the abdominal cavity, expertly ligating the cardiac and pyloric ends of the stomach before removing the entire organ intact and placing it in a clean stainless steel tray.
"Old Sun, bring the specimen bottles."
Xie Qingyan used scissors to cut open the stomach wall. A wave of sour stench—undigested food mixed with gastric acid—immediately hit them. He leaned in to smell it, and his brow relaxed almost imperceptibly.
"Stomach contents consist of semi-liquid food residue. No unusual chemical odor detected. No bitter almond scent." Xie Qingyan used a long spoon to transfer the stomach contents into specimen bottles. Then he turned to the heart on the dissection board beside him, inserting a syringe into the cardiac chamber to draw out dark purple-red blood.
He held the test tube of dark purple-red blood up to the shadowless light, observed it for a moment, then spoke: "Blood color is normal. In cases of cyanide poisoning, because cyanide ions block cellular oxygen utilization, venous blood remains full of oxygenated hemoglobin. The livor mortis, blood, and internal organs would all present an extremely vivid 'cherry red' color. But Chen Wan's organs and blood are all the dark purple color of oxygen deprivation."
Xie Qingyan set down the test tube and turned his head, his gaze calm as he looked at Yin Wuwang and Old Sun. His tone carried absolute scientific authority, as though he truly were this world's Shen Han delivering an ironclad verdict:
"The deceased's body shows no physical or chemical characteristics of cyanide whatsoever. The 'faint bitter almond odor' and 'suspected cyanide poisoning' conclusion in that preliminary report are completely erroneous."
Old Sun's jaw dropped in shock, nearly dropping his pen: "How could the district forensic examiner make such an outrageous mistake! They got even the most basic toxicological indicators wrong? This is a serious error!"
Xie Qingyan and Yin Wuwang exchanged another glance that only they understood. This was another bug disrupting the world's logic. And now, Xie Qingyan had used the most rigorous forensic pathological examination, the most irrefutable physical and chemical evidence, to forcibly erase this nonexistent "poisoning" setting from the world's underlying code.
"Don't worry about what the previous report said. Perhaps it was a template error during documentation." Xie Qingyan gave Old Sun a perfunctory explanation, then delivered the final conclusion in an unquestionable tone: "Cyanide poisoning and blunt force trauma are both ruled out as causes of death. Chen Wan died of mechanical asphyxiation. Old Sun, send the specimens to toxicology for routine drug and alcohol screening. I want to see the official autopsy report before end of shift today."
"Understood! I'll get on it immediately!" Old Sun carefully cradled the specimen bottles and hurried out of Autopsy Room One.
The heavy stainless steel door closed again.
The quiet autopsy room now held only the two of them. The hum of the climate control system seemed especially clear in this moment.
Yin Wuwang set down his camera and walked to the washing station. Watching Xie Qingyan remove his bloodied protective gear and prepare to wash his hands, he spoke in a voice low enough for only the two of them to hear: "Congratulations, Sword Sovereign. Five collapse points, and your blade just repaired two of them."
The cause-of-death conflict and report contradiction had been erased from this world.
"Mm." Xie Qingyan stepped on the foot pedal, and warm water flowed from the sensor faucet. He carefully washed his hands, his expression still calm and unruffled, though internally he felt a sense of "things returning to the right track." Using knowledge to defeat settings—that feeling wasn't bad at all.
Yin Wuwang leaned against the washing station, his posture lazy as he inquired: "In Forensic Doctor Shen's opinion, what was the murder weapon?"
Xie Qingyan considered for a moment: "Most likely a necktie or something similar."
"Now the physical evidence is clear. But Zhang Yunxiang's statement only mentions the bottle—never once mentions a necktie. The crime scene investigation report didn't find anything of that sort either."
"The weapon was probably taken by the killer." Xie Qingyan turned off the faucet and pulled out paper towels, carefully drying his fingertips. "Zhang Yunxiang turned himself in. Either he was too drunk and genuinely believed his single bottle blow killed the man, completely unaware that a second person existed. Or..."
"Or he's perfectly lucid. Either he continued strangling after knocking Chen Wan unconscious, or he's providing cover for the real killer." Yin Wuwang let out a cold laugh. He'd seen far too much of this sort of thing—the one wielding the blade in the open was often merely a pawn, while the true master of the deadly game always lurked in the shadows. Using another's blade to kill, substituting one sacrifice for another, weaving webs of lies and deceit... No matter what kind of scheme it was, the most masterful lies always contained a grain of truth, and the most sophisticated killings never required dirtying one's own hands.
"I'll go talk to him." Yin Wuwang straightened and turned toward the stainless steel door.
"Yin Wuwang."
Yin Wuwang stopped and looked back. The residual glow of the shadowless lights fell across his profile, tracing cold, hard contours.
"During the interrogation, watch his micro-expressions when Chen Wan's neck injury comes up." Xie Qingyan looked at him, those eyes as clear and bright as snow holding absolute rationality. "When humans hear unexpected information, their pupils and facial muscles have tiny involuntary reactions. If he truly didn't know, he'll show shock. If he's taking the fall for someone, he'll show fear."
The corner of Yin Wuwang's mouth curved into an arc of supreme confidence.
"Relax. When it comes to interrogation, this sov—ahem—I have yet to encounter a mouth I couldn't pry open."
Yin Wuwang pushed open the door and strode into the corridor.
His footsteps echoed through the empty passageway, one after another, steady and full of pressure.
The moment he walked out of the examination center's main entrance, he squinted slightly against the light. He stood on the steps and drew in a deep breath—air of the living, carrying the distant smell of car exhaust and the scent of sunlight baking asphalt. Rough, noisy, yet incredibly real.
Behind him in that building lay the ultimate silence of death and truth; before him stretched the clamorous world of the living and their lies. Two worlds, separated by nothing more than a stainless steel door.
Fuguang had already used the sharpest blade to cut open the truth. Now it was his turn to tear apart the lies of the living.
Yin Wuwang strode toward the police car and pulled open the door in one swift motion.
"Zhang Yunxiang, is it? Let this sovereign see just what role you're playing in this story."
[End of V2_Chapter 09]
Next: The suspect says he killed a man—but his eyes tell a different story. Time to see if three thousand years of reading people can crack a modern interrogation.