Five hundred and sixteenth inspection.
In the early hours of the morning, in a suite in a hotel in the foreigner’s district of Kankdar, Dorothy, dressed in her nightclothes, sat on the sofa in the suite, her attention focused on the edge of the local residential area where she had just conducted a toxin test experiment. Although the test was successful and the snake venom was detected, many doubts prevented Dorothy from feeling happy.
‘Based on my long experience controlling zombie puppets, since zombie puppets are essentially living corpses sustained by some extraordinary force through a cup, the fresher the corpse controlled by a puppet, the better. The less damage or injury on the body, the better. Natural decay after just one hour post-d*ath would reduce the puppet’s control. It has been four days since the assassination attempt. According to this, Mazale’s body should have decomposed to the point of being completely uncontrollable. For it still to be movable is quite unbelievable.’
Dorothy pondered this, then decided to verify the time of Mazale’s d*ath. Given that the puppet’s control diminishes linearly with time since d*ath, Dorothy estimated based on the puppet’s control level and combined with traditional autopsy methods like checking lividity, quickly deducing that Mazale’s correct time of d*ath was two days ago. This result left Dorothy deeply contemplative.
‘Two days ago? Not four days ago? How could this happen? Did Mazale not d*e immediately during the assassination but instead was kept alive for two days before being killed? Or is this simply not Mazale’s body at all?’
After deducing the time of d*ath, Dorothy furrowed her brows, filled with doubt. Amidst her confusion, she resolved to conduct further examination of Mazale’s body.
Manipulating other zombie puppets in the basement, Dorothy stripped Mazale’s body bare and began the autopsy. During the process, she concentrated on the gunshot wound on the chest.
Recalling the day of the assassination, Dorothy noted that when the attendant shot Mazale, the location of the gunshot aligned perfectly with the position on the body, seemingly confirming this was indeed Mazale’s body. However, she also noticed another suspicious detail: the gunshot wound showed signs of healing. Clearly, this body hadn’t died from the gunshot and had survived for a considerable period before dying, by which time the wound had begun to heal.
So, what was the true cause of d*ath? Was it really from poisoning?
After observing the various anomalies on the body, Dorothy questioned the actual cause of d*ath. During her examination, she found signs of bleeding under the eyelids and cyanosis around the lips. When she pressed near the jaw with the puppet, she discovered a fracture in the hyoid bone, which immediately caught her attention.
‘A fractured hyoid bone… why would this corpse show signs of a fractured hyoid bone? Neither d*ath by gunshot nor poison should cause such a fracture. Generally, only strangulation or choking can lead to such a fracture due to the powerful external force.’
After re-examining the body, Dorothy thought, suspecting that the corpse might have died from strangulation. The bleeding under the eyelids seemed to support this. But if the corpse truly died from strangulation, there was another unexplained issue.
‘If someone dies from strangulation, there should be clear bruising on the neck. This is caused by bl**d pooling and subcutaneous bleeding when the neck is compressed. After d*ath, bl**d flow stops, making such bruises hard to dissipate, and the marks should be easily visible. Yet, there are no obvious marks on this corpse’s exterior. What could be the reason?’
Observing the body, Dorothy pondered seriously. To confirm if there were signs of strangulation, she dissected the neck directly, examining the interior. From the extensive necrosis of bl**d vessels and traces on the trachea, it was clear the person had been severely strangled to the point of d*ath. However, the bruises had almost completely disappeared, an odd phenomenon that puzzled Dorothy.
‘It’s strange. This person was clearly strangled, more so than poisoned, yet the bruises mysteriously vanished… How could this happen? bl**d doesn’t start flowing again after d*ath, does it? And the body shouldn’t have the ability to naturally dissipate bruises. Could it be that the bl**d started flowing again after d*ath?’
‘So, after d*ath, the bl**d starts flowing again!’
Suddenly, Dorothy realized a crucial point. If someone is strangled and their bl**d starts flowing again, bodily functions partially recover, and the neck bruises would slowly fade.
While this is impossible in her original world, it is entirely feasible here, and she frequently performs this on dozens of “dead” people daily to maintain normal bl**d circulation.
Yes, zombie puppetry is the simplest method to make bl**d flow again after d*ath. Since zombies are living beings with the ability to self-dissolve clots, turning a corpse into a zombie quickly allows the bl**d to circulate and the bruises to dissipate.
Thus, Dorothy concluded that the current corpse of Mazale was first strangled to d*ath, then reanimated as a zombie to eliminate the bruising marks.
‘This means Mazale didn’t actually d*e on the day of the assassination but was revived, then strangled to d*ath two days later, and the zombie process was used to remove the marks.’
‘But… why did they choose to strangle Mazale instead of letting him d*e from poison as originally planned? If Mazale was strangled, how did he end up with so much poison in his body? Did they want Mazale to d*e from strangulation or poisoning?’
After initially unraveling the mystery of Mazale’s d*ath, Dorothy remained perplexed. There were too many uncertainties about this body, and she dared not present it as evidence to Evi until these questions were answered.
‘On the day of the assassination, Vania treated two victims who were seen by the public. The perpetrators knew their victims, injected with poison, were in Vania’s hands, and Vania discovered the toxins during treatment.
Since they knew Vania was aware of the poisoning, they must have known the toxins in Mazale’s body could not be exposed, as it would become incriminating evidence against them. They would have taken precautions against Vania obtaining Mazale’s body secretly.
Logically, if Mazale truly died from poisoning, they should have strictly guarded his body to prevent it from being stolen and used as evidence. Yet, the security measures at the Citizens’ Mansion suggest there was little supernatural protection, indicating they wanted the body to be stolen.
The critical point is that the stolen body, without toxins, is still suspicious. Was it intentionally placed there as evidence for the opposition?’
Dorothy pondered, growing increasingly skeptical about the possibility of sand-scale yellow-banded snake venom in Mazale’s body.
‘I need to do an experiment…’
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy had an idea. She immediately controlled several zombie puppets to leave the basement, running outside to catch a few mice in the disordered local residential area. These were her experimental subjects.
Back in the basement, Dorothy started her experiment. She injected one mouse with sand-scale yellow-banded snake venom, watched it d*e in agony, and then proceeded to the second mouse.
For the second mouse, Dorothy chose to strangle it first, waited for some time, then injected venom. The third mouse followed the same procedure—strangled, waited, and injected with venom. Afterward, she used her zombie puppet ability to manipulate the third mouse briefly before releasing it.
Two hours later, Dorothy drew bl**d from each mouse separately for testing. She obtained three different results.
The first mouse, normally killed by the venom, had its bl**d fully mixed with toxins. Many bl**d cells died, clotting function was disrupted, and only trace amounts of the original venom were detectable, most of the venom having combined with bl**d cells.
The second mouse’s bl**d showed almost no toxins, only thick, almost congealed bl**d. Since the mouse was dead, the injected toxins couldn’t spread throughout the body and remained localized, making it impossible to detect toxins elsewhere.
The most intriguing was the third mouse. Dorothy detected the original snake venom in its bl**d, far more than the first mouse. This was because the third mouse was strangled, and after d*ath, bl**d cells began to d*e rapidly. The once living bl**d turned into dead bl**d mixed with many dead cells, leaving few surviving bl**d cells, resulting in incomplete combination with toxins.
In the third mouse, bl**d cells dying in large numbers were reactivated by zombie puppetry, carrying the injected toxins throughout the body. A few surviving bl**d cells combined with toxins to form toxic bl**d, while some uncombined bl**d cells remained unchanged, along with many naturally dead bl**d cells. Dead bl**d, toxic bl**d, and toxins coexisted in the third mouse’s bl**d, showing a significant difference from the first mouse and similar to the results from extracting Mazale’s bl**d earlier.
Experiment complete, summarizing the results, Dorothy’s main discovery was that the bl**d of a normally venom-killed organism differed significantly from that of a body injected with toxins after d*ath and reactivated by zombie puppetry. This distinction could be detected through testing.
‘Sigh… almost fell into a trap…’
With this conclusion, Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief. Now she roughly understood the perpetrators’ scheme. In short, Mazale’s body was a trap; presenting it as evidence to Evi would only lead to disaster.
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy rubbed her temples, beginning to piece together the key points of her deductions to reconstruct the opponents’ operations on Mazale.
‘Initially, the perpetrators planned to poison the gunshot victims to ensure no survivors. However, this plan was thwarted by me and Vania. Two victims were saved, and Vania uncovered their intention to k*ll through poison.
Therefore, they worried that if Mazale died from poisoning, the toxins would become leverage for Vania. At the last moment, they decided to save Mazale, treating his wounds and removing the toxins. Although Mazale was saved, they publicly announced his d*ath, keeping him confined.
However, Vania knew about their poison plot and held a grudge.
After two days of confinement, the perpetrators devised a new strategy against Vania. They strangled Mazale, quickly zombified him, and removed the bruising marks, except for the unresolved hyoid bone fracture.
They then de-zombified Mazale, waited for some time, allowing bl**d cells to d*e naturally. Afterward, they reactivated him, injecting the sand-scale yellow-banded snake venom, ensuring insufficient mixing of half-dead bl**d and toxins. This created the illusion that Mazale was poisoned post-mortem.
They publicly held a memorial ceremony, displaying his body in the Citizens’ Mansion with minimal guards to entice Vania’s side to steal the body.
They anticipated that Vania, knowing the victims were poisoned, would assume Mazale died from toxins. They would steal Mazale’s body, extract bl**d for testing, and easily detect toxins. If Vania used Mazale’s body and the extracted toxins as evidence, it would be problematic.
Normal bl**d from a venom-killed person differs significantly from bl**d after post-mortem injection and zombie reactivation. If Vania claimed Mazale’s body had residual toxins, the opposition could counterclaim it was a false accusation.
They could argue Vania stole Mazale’s body and injected it with toxins to frame them, using the distinct differences in bl**d composition between normal venom deaths and post-mortem injections as proof. With biased judges, Vania would be speechless. The judges could then accuse Vania of false accusations, deepening the charges.
This could jeopardize Evi’s protection of Vania.
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy massaged her temples, contemplating the enemy’s plan. The more she thought, the more fearful she became. If she had rushed to use the toxins in the body as evidence, she would have been countered and lost everything. They anticipated she would steal the body, and Mazale’s body was a carefully prepared trap!
But… a trap is only effective if undetected. Now that Dorothy had uncovered the deception, the situation had changed.
‘What a clever ploy… But once the conspiracy is exposed, it poses no threat to me. Instead, the exposure reveals much about your situation…’
Muttering to herself, Dorothy stood from the sofa and slowly walked to the balcony, gazing at the rising sun, beginning a new round of contemplation.
This exposed conspiracy not only failed to be a decisive advantage but became a fatal flaw.
