American forensics, but the gourmet system

When the portly police officer Rick Seth drove his old, panting Chevrolet police car alongside the hearse into the parking lot of the Kingston Health Union Hospital, Russell and Aina were already waiting for them.

A Cybertruck with a distinctly cyberpunk style was parked nearby, looking quite out of place with the 60s-style hospital building.

It's a 40-minute drive from Highland Farm to Kingston, and Russell didn't want to be bouncing around in the old Chevrolet from the Highland Police Department.

Although Russell didn't like using his private car for official business, he couldn't let Miss Aina suffer with him.

Only after the hearse drove into the parking lot did the county police officer in charge of receiving the vehicle push the hearse out of the hospital.

"Good evening, Rick. Dr. Simmons is such a good man, isn't he? It's such a shame..."

The person who picked up the car greeted the chubby policeman very familiarly, and said with a regretful expression.

The two men opened the door of the hearse and began to lift the stretcher out.

While loading Dr. Simmons into the car, Russell casually inquired with Chief Hunter about the Ulster County Medical Examiner's Office.

Forensic pathologist Simons has offices in the police department and the county health department, while the county’s only forensic autopsy room and forensic morgue are attached to the largest hospital in Ulster County.

Russell couldn't help but marvel at the strange twists of fate. Both were first-degree forensic pathologists, yet while Russell was still struggling to secure a private office at the Brooklyn Medical Center, Dr. Simmons already had two offices in a small county town…

The overweight policeman and the officer who received the body lifted Simmons' body off the hearse and placed it on a handcart.

Russell then walked over.

"Andre, this is Dr. Russell, the forensic pathologist from Brooklyn who's here to help." The portly policeman introduced them to each other. "Dr. Russell, this is Detective Andre Udoh. He's very familiar with this place... and he's also the county police officer in charge of crime scene investigation."

"A forensic pathologist from Brooklyn?" Andrei was quite surprised. "They arrived so quickly? The Cybertruck is indeed fast..."

Russell didn't explain, he just asked:

"Agent Yudu, where is the autopsy room?"

  

"It's on the basement level." Seeing that Russell wasn't interested in small talk, Andrei deftly pushed the morgue cart and led them into the hospital. "A section of the basement level has been partitioned off as a forensic operating area. There's an autopsy room, a refrigerated morgue, and a laboratory..."

Aina and Russell followed Andrei side by side into the elevator downstairs.

The fat policeman squeezed in, sucking in his stomach to avoid touching Simmons's body.

Ding.

The elevator has arrived.

Andrei skillfully pushed the cart out of the elevator, into the autopsy room, and opened the body bag.

"Give me a hand, Rick."

Andrei beckoned the fat policeman to help him undress the forensic pathologist, Simmons.

"Gloves."

Russell offered a reminder.

"Oh, oh..." Andrei chuckled awkwardly, withdrew his hand, took two pairs of nitrile gloves from the nearby locker, tossed one pair to the chubby policeman, and explained as he put on the gloves:

"I'm used to handling accidental deaths... I almost forgot this is a murder case, we need evidence..."

Russell also walked to the locker, rummaged through it for a while, pulled out a few evidence bags and tossed them to Andrei, casually asking:

Are there many unnatural deaths in Ulster County?

"Not bad." Andrei shrugged, fully opening the body bag, and said, "One or two a month, car accidents, falls, food poisoning are the most common... During peak tourist season, there might be three or four a month."

Russell rummaged through the locker and pulled out two unopened disposable protective suits, handing one to Aina.

Upon hearing Andrei's words, Russell paused for a moment:

"Peak tourist season? Why do there seem to be more unnatural deaths during peak tourist season? Are there any dangerous activities here?"

While asking questions, Russell took the opportunity to mentally review all the activities he had experienced that day.

Horse riding, shooting, American barbecue...

Excluding membership-based shooting clubs with high barriers to entry, even if the feng shui here is bad, increasing the possibility of falling off a horse and choking to death while eating barbecue, the death toll would never increase by 100% or more during the peak tourist season.

Andrei sighed:

"Many people secretly go swimming in the Hudson River and drown; others go to take pictures on steep slopes and fall to their deaths on the pebbles of the riverbank; this summer, someone was riding a balance bike in the woods when they crashed into a tree branch, fell off, and suffered a fatal head injury..."

Russell scratched his head.

It's no surprise that it's related to the Hudson River.

People who happen to live near rivers, lakes, seas, or even reservoirs know that finding a body in the water is a very normal thing.

Russell once saw a statistic that the number of deaths related to the Mississippi River system each year is around 200.

Even though the Hudson River is just a small Karami compared to the Mississippi River, it still provides more than a dozen bodies to Ulster County every year.

Russell and Aina began putting on disposable protective suits.

Andrei and the fat policeman began to undress Simmons.

The fat policeman claimed to be worldly-wise, but his hands were still trembling a bit when he was taking off Simmons' clothes, and he almost threw Simmons off the hearse.

Simmons' leather jacket, shirt, trousers, undershirt, underwear, and watch were placed into different sized evidence bags.

"When collecting biometric information and fingerprints, pay special attention to the right shoulder area of ​​the deceased's clothing..."

Russell put on his protective suit and stood next to Andrei, saying this.

"Right shoulder?"

Andrei was a little confused.

"Judging from the shape of the wound, the weapon pierced here." Russell pointed to the area near the nipple on the left chest of the corpse, but the original shape was no longer visible. Large pieces of flesh were torn upwards, revealing bright red muscle, yellow fat, and white rib fragments.

Russell paused for a moment, then continued:

"To create this wound shape, it's highly likely that the murderer lifted the weapon upwards after it was inserted... Try this upward lifting motion after insertion; to generate force smoothly, the murderer's left hand would likely be pressing on the victim's right shoulder."

Andrei gestured on the spot.

"Indeed." He looked at Russell with admiration. "Is there anything else we should be aware of, Dr. Russell?"

Actually, this is not a particularly difficult judgment; it is just a slight extension of the application of forensic pathology.

But in Ulster County, where murders are rare, this is considered a very advanced level of forensic knowledge.

"That's all for now. If I discover any other problems during the autopsy, I will let you know immediately."

Russell took a tray of gleaming silver dissection equipment from the locker and placed it next to the autopsy table.

"Come on, you two, help me lift Dr. Simmons onto the autopsy table."

A semi-transparent light screen popped up in front of Russell:

[Host detected that it is about to process the ingredients]

[Task: Use the "Butcher's Skill" to process a portion of ingredients]

[Quest Reward: Skill Upgrade Points *2]