I am a necromancer, and I absolutely love America.

Chapter 82 Feet Under the Dining Table

Richard spent two days dealing with all the miscellaneous tasks.

After that, his time will be divided into two main parts.

Most of the time, he studied at home using the textbooks and materials provided by Christina, a mountain of books worth over $2.

I work part-time at OCME at night, dissecting corpses.

Besides that, there are a bunch of other miscellaneous tasks.

I also have to go to Francis Lewis High School to take exams from time to time.

Go to St. Carlisle Church to check on the growth of the Soul-Eating Vine, and maybe even improve your relationship with Father Calvin; you might even be able to recover some mana.

If the cell lab obtains a special corpse, or Christina makes some breakthrough, he will have to go to Princeton.

I'll also go to the Katerina Aesthetic Clinic for a hyaluronic acid injection when I have time, to see if I can gain any knowledge from it.

Too busy.

As for Alex, Richard had already told him not to go and collect the body.

That guy was too reckless; he almost got himself into trouble that night at the Stinger bar.

Alex learned his lesson and became much more cautious, no longer accepting particularly dangerous orders.

However, Alex often streams on the platform near Dongda University, and his influence is growing. He even invented the term "kill line".

Richard felt that Alex was being a bit too reckless.

"Dinner's ready, Richard," Catherine's voice came from downstairs.

Richard arrived at the restaurant.

Debbie had already rolled her eyes and set the table:

"Hey! Just sit there and wait to eat!"

Richard calmly picked up his chopsticks:

"I paid for my accommodation."

Catherine came over with the food:

"If you pay, you can do nothing."

Debbie pouted:

"I have no money."

"Shut up if you don't have money."

"This isn't fair, Mom!"

Nobody paid any attention to her.

Catherine chatted about business matters while eating:

"I found a cosmetic surgery clinic. The owner is Russian. He has been running it for two years but it hasn't taken off. He's short on funds and wants to sell the business. He needs $120 million."

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name 12199.99]

"It's so expensive," Richard said casually.

"It's on the edge of the Upper East Side, a good location."

"That explains it." The Upper East Side is New York's affluent area, and the surrounding commercial facilities are very expensive.

"The decor is quite nice. That Russian guy probably wanted to target the high-end market, but he's limited by his budget and equipment. I went to the store, and sales are a big problem; he hasn't been able to find enough customers. You know how the socialites on the Upper East Side are; they're very... how should I put it? Going to a Slavic salon for a beauty treatment would make my girlfriends laugh at me."

"What a pitiful fellow." Richard was eating when he suddenly felt someone hooking his calf with their foot under the table.

He looked up and saw Catherine talking seriously about business matters, while Debbie was grinning mischievously.

It's Debbie.

Catherine wasn't that bold.

Richard stomped on it hard.

Debbie was still grinning mischievously.

Richard put down his chopsticks:

"What are you laughing at?"

Debbie pouted:

"I can't even laugh in my own home? Humph! I'm not used to using chopsticks!"

She got up angrily and went to the kitchen to get a knife and fork.

Richard glanced down at it.

The feet are still there.

Catherine was still talking in a serious tone.

......

Richard's night shift starts at midnight.

First, I went to the morgue to check the list of bodies that had been brought in during the day. Then, I put on protective clothing, double gloves, and a mask and worked with Irving.

Since Richard had just started working part-time, Irving would work with him a few times until he became proficient enough to assist the forensic pathologist on his own.

The medical examiner on duty tonight is Simon Wells.

Richard couldn't help but glance at him again, recalling the memory extracted from Mike's body; Mike and this forensic doctor knew each other.

Simon paid no attention to the junior technician, focusing solely on his work.

With his eyes lowered, his fingertips moved with practiced ease as he precisely cut open the body tissues with a scalpel, quickly examining fatal wounds.

Irving was already used to this kind of scene. He steadily held the body in place with one hand and orderly handed over professional instruments such as tweezers and probes with the other.

When necessary, he also needs to do some manual work to assist Simon in examining subcutaneous tissue, bone damage, and traces inside the body layer by layer.

Simon said as he examined the items:

"The fatal wound was in the chest cavity. The weapon's blade was relatively narrow, and the force was very steady; it wasn't a hasty stab..."

"The deceased had multiple lacerations on his arms, suggesting a violent resistance before death..."

"There were no obvious drag marks on the body, so this scene should be the primary crime scene."

"Check for minor injuries and collect any remaining fibrous evidence..."

Richard quickly jotted it down.

An hour and a half later, the thoracic and abdominal cavities had been opened, and the internal organs were laid out one by one for examination.

"Ding! You have closely observed the analysis of flesh and blood. Knowledge of [Flesh and Blood]: 42% -> 43%." Richard's lips curled up slightly.

really!

Necromancers have to play with corpses!

Irving handed over the sampling tube.

Simon asked:

"The blood, urine, and liver tissue samples are all packaged according to their numbers?"

Irving said:

"Yes. The lab is very busy; toxicology takes six weeks."

"Okay, the cause of death for this body is fairly certain, no further problems. Rookie, you sew up the body. Owen, let's move on to the next one."

A new corpse has been placed on the autopsy table in the next room.

In principle, suturing should be done by a licensed forensic assistant, but OCME doesn't have that many forensic assistants.

Rules are rules, and reality is reality.

For bodies with a relatively certain cause of death and simple cases, or when they are busy, forensic doctors often ask morgue technicians to sew them up, since the body won't complain about the stitching being too bad.

With Christmas approaching and the weather getting colder, the number of bodies delivered each day reached an astonishing 75, making OCME's work extremely busy, especially at night.

During peak hours, Simon, a forensic pathologist, handled five bodies in two hours, ranging from gunshot wounds and knife wounds to burns, decomposition, and dismemberment.

Richard witnessed all sorts of ways to die.

With so many corpses, if the assistant forensic doctor were to stitch them all up, no one would get any rest all night.

Simon wasted no time. He thoroughly washed his entire body and hands, changed into a new disposable protective suit, and replaced all his goggles, face shield, and mask with new ones. After drying them, he began to dissect the second body.

Irving looked at Richard with concern.

Newcomers to OCME often experience difficulties adjusting and typically need several weeks before they can participate in suturing.

Richard has only been learning for a day or two, is he brave enough to take the plunge?

Dare to make a move? Your concern is that I might get too excited! Richard has been waiting for this day for a long time; finally, he can openly play with... oh no, stitch it up!

He began operating the machine without changing his expression.

Simon didn't cut open the skull, so this time there's no need to mess with the brain.

Richard silently recalled the contents of the OCME Standard Suture Manual.

First, the tested organs are placed into a special plastic bag and then put back into the body cavity.

Then fill it with absorbent cotton to prevent leakage of bodily fluids and to maintain its shape.

The incision is a simple straight line, from the jaw to the sternum, then to the navel and pubic bone, making suturing much simpler.

The tools include large curved dissecting needles, thick sutures, and tissue forceps.

The sutures are made in layers, from deep to shallow.

First, use interrupted sutures to suture the muscle layer.

Then, use continuous sutures to suture the subcutaneous fat layer.

A system notification sounded:

"Ding! You have personally analyzed flesh and blood. Knowledge of [Flesh and Blood]: 43% -> 45%"

Richard was in a great mood.

Finally, the skin is sutured using continuous overlock stitches.

Irving relaxed a lot after watching for a while. Richard learned very quickly, his hands were very steady, and he was also very bold.

"You're a natural forensic pathologist!" he exclaimed, then hurried away to assist Simon with another body.

After suturing, the entire body is thoroughly cleaned with warm water and disinfectant, dried, and its appearance tidied. The subsequent storage and documentation work is then taken over by other morgue technicians.

Rex, a Latino morgue technician, laughed:

"45 minutes! It only took 45 minutes for my first time! Well done! My first time suturing took me an hour and a half!"

Richard smiled.

James, the black man, worked with a resentful expression, seemingly angry about something. Rex could sense that he was very unfriendly to Richard.

Rex didn't care. Anyway, he really liked Richard. With Richard around, he wouldn't have to deal with disgusting chunks of meat and fat anymore.

Less work, but the same salary—who wouldn't be happy?

Richard finished his work and immediately went to the next room without wasting a minute.

Simon and Irving both looked at him with surprise:

"So fast? Excellent!"

Richard was even more skilled with this body, and finished stitching it up in just 38 minutes.

Irving was increasingly surprised.

too fast!

Simon was displeased; this speed was highly unusual for a newcomer.

"Young man, don't just think about showing off quickly. You need to sew it up properly. If a family member comes to claim the body, it might cause trouble."

Richard stared intently at the corpses of Simon's men:

"Don't worry, Dr. Simon, it's fine."

Simon glanced at him and pursed his lips.

The sky gradually brightened.

Overnight, Richard observed and learned from Simon dissecting four corpses, and then personally stitched up the four corpses.

On the last suture, he was even able to keep the speed under 30 minutes.

[Flesh and Bone] Knowledge increased by 8%!

The progress bar for the quest "Secret of Flesh and Blood" jumped twice in a row!

At this rate, it will take at most two weeks for [Flesh and Bone] to reach level 3.

The quest "Secrets of Flesh and Blood" shouldn't take too long.

OCME is truly a treasure trove!

Simon's expression grew increasingly grim. After dissecting the last corpse, he said with a stern face: