Chapter 457

Chapter 457

"But out of humanitarian considerations, we didn't disassemble or dissect the mummy. We could only rely on some sampling and comparative studies, while also holding occasional exhibitions at the museum."

"The problem lies with the exhibition."

Sienna's tone was icy.

"This pattern is wrong."

Kelvin chimed in, "This mummy has been reassembled by someone?"

Though phrased as a question, Kelvin's tone was certain—clearly he had already reached his conclusion.

The staff member showed a look of surprise. Sienna crossed her arms and glanced at him with a smile.

The mummy lay in the display case. At the break in the mummy's wrapping, the blurred patterns showed slight signs of misalignment, obviously caused by not lining them up properly during reassembly.

Not to mention that at this moment, dried red liquid was seeping from the gap, practically screaming "I'm a problem."

Sienna asked the staff member, "Did you stop the exhibition and call the police because you discovered the liquid seeping out?"

"Yes!" The staff member had never seen police like this before. With just a few words and a mummy lying in a display case that couldn't talk, they had deduced so many clues.

In the staff member's eyes, Sienna and Kelvin were already at master detective level.

"We discovered the liquid seeping out and immediately called the police. After all, it's been ten years. No matter how good the preservation techniques, there should only be a dried corpse inside the mummy."

Right—either a dried corpse or bare bones. But obviously, neither of those things should be bleeding.

Sienna put on her gloves and flashed Kelvin a smile, "Alright, Mr. Brown, I'm going to start the autopsy. Why don't you go investigate something else?"

Kelvin nodded.

The staff member opened the display case. Sienna and Sterling carefully unwrapped the mummy's outer shell.

What was exposed before everyone was a male corpse with a terrified expression.

The deceased's eyes were wide open, and his mouth was stuffed with a piece of dark fabric, apparently to muffle any sounds.

The body was covered in dense bloody marks from being bound by something, with blood slowly seeping from these wounds that were deep enough to show bone.

Sienna frowned, "Male victim, approximately 5.57 feet tall. Based on facial analysis, age should be around..."

Before Sienna could finish, the staff member beside her let out a cry, "This is—this is our security guard, Marlon Rojas!"

Well, identity confirmed just like that.

Sienna turned her head, "Are you sure? What about his age?"

The staff member's voice trembled, "Fifty-two, I think! I can look up his registered driver's license information for you!"

Sienna nodded in agreement, then turned back to continue the autopsy, "The museum's air conditioning is too cold, so body temperature can't be used as a reference. But based on rigor mortis, time of death should be no more than one hour ago."

No more than one hour—meaning when everyone saw blood seeping from the mummy, this person had only been dead for about half an hour.

At this thought, the staff member couldn't help but shudder.

Sienna's voice remained calm, "Based on the timeline, the victim was most likely killed during the exhibition. The murder weapon was fishing line."

Sienna paused, her gloved hand touching a section of transparent thin line.

"The killer wrapped the victim with fishing line, then sealed him inside the mummy. The victim couldn't break free, and with his mouth gagged, he couldn't call for help."

Sienna's tone grew even colder, "After that, the killer sealed the victim inside the mummy, replacing the original exhibit that was in the shell."

The staff member's voice trembled, "During the exhibition, was Marlon still alive?!"

Faced with the staff member's horrified expression, Sienna shook her head matter-of-factly, "He was dead. He'd been lying in that mummy longer than you think."

A colleague they worked with day and night had died just feet away from them. The staff member's face went deathly pale, unable to speak for a long time.

Sienna turned her head to see Kelvin standing in place, seemingly not having moved at all.

She walked up to him and asked, "Any findings?"

Kelvin looked at Arnold, "Go check the surveillance footage."

Soon, unexpected news came back.

"Mr. Brown, Sienna, we found evidence that the security room surveillance was destroyed. All footage from the past twenty-four hours has been formatted."

The officer ran up out of breath, his tone urgent, "We checked the master disk—everything's been deleted. We can't find anything!"

This killer had clearly come prepared.

Sienna furrowed her brow. Kelvin had already given a decisive order, "Go investigate the victim's social connections."

Social connections?

Several officers exchanged glances. Kelvin continued, "The killer's window of opportunity was fleeting. To subdue the victim so quickly without causing a disturbance, it must have been someone he knew."

Arnold snapped to attention with a salute and hurried off to work.

As soon as Arnold left, Kelvin turned around and began examining the scene.

Sienna raised an eyebrow at Sterling, "Take samples. I think something's off about the blood stains. Let's take them back for testing."

Having worked as a medical examiner for so long, Sienna had complete confidence in her eye for detail.

As soon as Sterling finished sampling, what had been fifty percent certainty became one hundred percent.

"Look here." Sienna crouched on the ground, explaining to Sterling.

"The blood stains seeping from the fabric are different from what the exhibition staff found at the scene. You can tell the difference just from the color."

Sienna's voice deepened, "Especially over time—from the coagulation state, we can also distinguish the time difference between the two."

Sterling showed a look of realization. Kelvin also slowly strolled over, glancing casually at the sampling results.

Kelvin said, "I examined the fingerprints remaining at the scene."

Kelvin's tone was completely flat, "A large portion of the fingerprints at the scene are incomplete. The killer must have cleaned the scene, but because of the exhibition hall..."

Kelvin pointed at the transparent display case. Under the lights, you could see densely overlapping fingerprint marks, "Many people left fingerprints on it. The killer had no way to pinpoint them precisely and could only wipe them away in broad strokes."

Kelvin suddenly changed direction, "I wonder what else you've noticed?"

"Overall assessment: the killer should be very familiar with the scene and had a fairly good relationship with the victim."

As she spoke, Sienna pointed at the display case in front of them, "The main reason fingerprints are left is dust, grease, and sweat from hands. To remove these contaminants, you'd typically use materials like alcohol."

"But now there's a problem."

Sienna analyzed the case methodically, "Alcohol is flammable and explosive, so there's no way it could be brought into the museum."

The museum staff member beside them quickly nodded in confirmation.