Decipher the Death Code

Images of blood-splattered crime scenes， dead bodies in significant states of decay， chambers full of repulsive odors—these are some of the scenes that Rao Huiying has encountered numerous times during her 25 years of forensic science service. She is political director in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Public Security Bureau of Xinping Yi and Dai Autonomous County in Yunnan Province.

Rao is a 47-year-old criminal investigator with an amiable personality. Small in size， with her long hair tied up neatly with a string， she definitely has a pair of sharp eyes for her job. In performing tasks usually featured with extremely shocking sights， she applies herself to discovering every tiny elusive trace， deciphering marks of death， and revealing truths about the crime scene.

As a female forensic investigator， Rao is a rare presence in Yuxi Public Security Bureau's history. But she's been in this job for 25 straight years. Though engaged in tasks that are generally frowned upon for dead bodies as well as bloody， nasty， and stressful situations， she loves her job passionately and has devoted herself to it with utter determination. Since joining the police force， she has participated in more than 4，200 crime scene investigations of all kinds and extracted more than 5，000 pieces of trace evidence on the scene. She has taken part in more than 800 post mortem examinations and performed more than 100 autopsies on those who died of unnatural causes. Moreover， she has collected more than 22，000 fingerprints and recorded them in the police system， including more than 12，000 fingerprints collected from crime scenes. She has solved more than 700 crimes through forensic evidence examination， including more than 200 cases solved directly using trace evidence. What's more， in solving homicide cases and during the  Campaign to Combat Organized Crime， she performed even better in cracking a large number of serious and major criminal cases using trace evidence and other physical evidence.

Cracking cases gives me the strongest

sense of fulfillment

"Cracking cases is my duty. It gives me the strongest sense of fulfillment，" said Rao at one of the nation's elite police speech tournaments. In her daily work， Rao is hardworking， always hungry for new knowledge and diligent in improving her professional skills. She sets the highest professional standards for herself， which do not pale in comparison with those for her male colleagues. Whether it is the case of extracting fingerprints at an indoor theft scene， or searching with her own hands in a septic tank for a piece of chopped-up human body tissue， she never shies away from gruesome tasks. And she is always ready to traverse mountains with her colleagues， rolling up her sleeves and burying her head in the work until the mission is accomplished.

At the beginning of 2022， two people were reported missing consecutively in Xinping County. Rao voluntarily took the lead in the case and worked enthusiastically with her colleagues on search and investigation missions. After careful investigation and attentive verification， police concluded that the two missing people used to know each other. Furthermore， they vanished one after another near a rental house in the downtown area. Later， when the police dug deeper into the case， a suspect surnamed Zhang appeared on the task force's radar. However， crucial evidence was still missing to make him spill the beans.

Crimes were committed in such a densely populated community， and the bodies were still not found. The two questions were preying on her mind： Where did the two missing people go？ Where was the primary crime scene？

Undaunted by the thorny situation， Rao brought her team members together. Again they showed up inside the suspect's rental house to start another round of thorough searching. The ceilings， the house sewers， and even cracks in the ceramic tiles on the floor were all swept for details. It was already three in the morning when Rao， showing no sign of discouragement， started to inspect the brown bathroom door for the third time. The door was tall; she had to adjust her positions， standing on her tiptoes one time and half squatting the next.

Suddenly， upon the door frame some distance above her head， she detected a tiny piece of dry substance in the shape of a dot， which was the same color as the door frame. Having witnessed car crash scenes with human body parts scattered everywhere， and explosion scenes where human bodies were blown into pieces， she was far too familiar with this kind of substance. It is a tiny piece of human soft tissue. Subsequently， the entire team focused on this direction and soon found another extremely small piece of human tissue nearby. The two samples were sent overnight to the Public Security Bureau's forensic science lab for further testing. The two substances proved to be pieces of human tissue belonging to two victims， respectively.

Faced with irrefutable evidence， the suspect eventually began to talk to police and gave a complete account of his crimes about killing and dismembering the two victims inside his rental house's bathroom. It transpired that the suspect chopped up the two victims' bodies with his own kitchen knife and flushed the remains down the sewer. Still， several days had already slipped away. The case came to a critical point ： collecting and searching for further criminal evidence.