American forensics, but the gourmet system

[Forensic Anthropology: Outperforming 74% of competitors with this skill]

Russell stood in the morgue, carefully examining a female corpse that had been dissected and then stitched back together.

This is the body of Vera Kubaeva.

The Major Crimes Unit hadn't received any new information for two hours. After leaving Dr. Beckman, Russell went straight to the morgue and began to re-examine Vera's body.

With the help of the two skill upgrade points, Russell's ranking in forensic anthropology improved by 10%, and he gained a lot of useful experience and knowledge.

However, forensic anthropology mainly answers questions related to the deceased, such as their identity, experiences, and living environment.

It was not used to identify the murderer.

Even if Russell's forensic anthropology were upgraded to the best in the universe, he probably wouldn't be able to pinpoint the killer at a glance from Vera's body.

He had another reason for re-examining Vera's body, besides wanting to keep himself occupied.

Russell firmly believed that even with the most meticulous and cautious methods, the murderer would likely have left clues and evidence on the body to kill Vera, change her clothes, and hoist the body to the rooftop…

Finding these clues is not something that can be done overnight; it requires careful and repeated examination.

Russell examined Vera's body inch by inch, and suddenly, he found some transparent, gelatinous substance under Vera's fingernails.

Sure enough, we found something!

A feeling of excitement rose from the soles of Russell's feet and rushed all the way to his head.

Logically, the deceased's fingernails should be a key focus of forensic examination.

Because when there is a significant difference in strength, scratching and biting are often the most effective means of attack that humans can make.

If Vera had fought back desperately before she died, there would likely have been traces of the killer's skin and blood under her fingernails.

NYPD field investigation technicians did indeed collect samples from Vera's fingernails.

However, Russell did not find any information about this small amount of transparent, viscous substance in the forensic report.

Russell took out a box of cotton swabs from his pocket, carefully stuck the small amount of transparent, viscous substance onto the swabs, and then took out an evidence bag and put the cotton swabs inside.

He pushed Vera's body back into the freezer, turned around, and walked out of the morgue.

  

……

Brooklyn Forensic Center, biological laboratory.

"Hey, Dr. Smith," Russell said, finding a middle-aged man examining a sample under a microscope. "I have some physical evidence here. Could you help me analyze what it is?"

Russell took out the evidence bag and placed it on the table.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Russell," Dr. Smith's voice was deep. He shook his head and declined, "There are two other cases ahead of me with biological samples in the queue, I'm afraid I can't help you right now..."

"What about the other doctors?" Russell looked around the lab somewhat awkwardly; everyone else was busy with their own tasks.

"I'm afraid they're just as busy as I am," Dr. Smith shrugged. "Perhaps you could leave your things with me, and I'll come and take a look at them once I've finished what I'm doing."

"Approximately how long will it take?"

"Hmm..." Dr. Smith hesitated for a moment, glancing at his watch. "It's 3 PM now, so I'll try to get it done before 9 PM tonight..."

Russell knew that Dr. Smith and Dr. Beckman were on good terms, and if he could only finish the swab in six hours, then anyone else would only take even longer.

"Thank you, Dr. Smith." Russell nodded his thanks and turned to leave the laboratory.

This is the current state of the forensic bureau: cross-departmental cooperation always involves a damn process, and you never know what the other party might have up their sleeve.

For solving homicide cases, such cross-departmental cooperation is far too inefficient.

In fact, Russell also minored in forensic biology in college, and in the system's rankings, his forensic biology skills outperformed 58% of his competitors.

But even if Russell had such technology, it wouldn't have mattered.

Because he lacked the necessary equipment and reagents, he couldn't perform the procedure himself and could only wait for the biology lab to provide the results...

Russell was increasingly able to understand Dr. Beckman's desire to establish a comprehensive laboratory.

At least for ongoing murder cases, a comprehensive laboratory can streamline countless cumbersome collaborative processes and steps, saving a lot of time and making it more conducive to the police's work in solving cases.

If Dr. Beckman had successfully established such a comprehensive laboratory, it would have greatly improved Russell's work efficiency, which would have been extremely beneficial to his career development...

Just as Russell was determined to help Dr. Beckman establish a laboratory, his phone rang.

"Russell," Jesse's voice came through the receiver, "I think you should come to the interrogation room, wherever you are right now... We've caught a suspect who confessed to taking that strangely named drug Vera took—"

"Flunitrazepam?"

“Right, it’s that weird name… He admitted he sold the drug to Vera. He was a regular customer of Vera’s, and he’s a doctor,” Jesse continued. “But he just won’t admit he killed Vera… We need to interrogate him properly…”

……

Marty and Diaz had just stepped out of the police car when they encountered Russell walking hurriedly.

"Hi, Dr. Lasso." The cold wind seemed to make Marty's tongue even stiffer. "Any new leads?"

Russell tightened his trench coat:

"No... what about you?"

Marty sighed and muttered to himself as he walked into the criminal investigation center building:

"We went to the hotel Isaac mentioned, checked the security footage, and found that Vera got into a taxi. We found the taxi driver and asked him about Vera's whereabouts... Guess where she finally got out of the taxi?"

"Where?" Russell asked immediately.

"Ballet Theatre"

Diaz replied simply.

"That's where our investigation ends," Marty said, shrugging. "At least two cleaners and three prop masters at the theater claim to have seen Vera return that night... supposedly to retrieve something from her locker. But nobody knows where Vera went after leaving the theater again. In short, the trail has gone cold again."

"Aren't there security cameras in the theater?"

Russell frowned and asked.

The three of them had already reached the elevator lobby. Marty pressed the elevator button and said:

"Only the performance hall and ticket gates in the entire theater have surveillance cameras installed... It's an old building from the 40s, God bless it, it's as big as my grandfather..."

The elevator came down.

"Fortunately, we haven't come away empty-handed, have we?" Russell said as he stepped into the elevator. "At least Captain Hansen and Jesse caught a suspect..."

But Russell was thinking about the strange residue he found under Vera's fingernails, but whether that stuff could be considered important evidence would only be known after the test results came out.

"It wasn't a wasted effort."

Diaz shrugged and commented as such.