Led by the two reception officers, the group entered the church.
It was a small church that looked to be nearly a century old. The worn chairs, mottled aisles, stained-glass windows set into the two walls, and the statue of the Mother of Light resting on the white stone altar at the front all gave off a reassuring air.
Unfortunately, all of that was quickly ruined by the corpses lying on the floor.
There were seven in total. Though covered with white sheets, they were not completely concealed, and the exposed parts showed clothing clearly out of step with modern fashion.
The Forensic Examiner was the first to voice her displeasure upon seeing the bodies. Following her professional instincts, she crouched to examine them while questioning the two reception officers. "Why are the victims' bodies here? Shouldn't they be in cold storage? Have you abandoned even basic professional ethics just to shirk responsibility?"
Usually mild-mannered, Renee immediately became far more imposing whenever her field of expertise was involved.
The two reception officers were clearly low-ranking. Suddenly being rebuked by people from headquarters, they instinctively shrank back. The officer from the Lopez District was the first to react and explained, "We originally planned to send them to cold storage, but later discovered that these bodies have remained in a low-temperature rigid state and won't undergo any changes. To make your investigation easier, we brought them all here."
"How could that be... huh?"
Before Renee could finish questioning them, she noticed something was wrong as well.
She took a small hammer from her toolkit and cautiously tapped the first victim's arm. At once, a series of dull thuds rang out. It sounded as though she were striking a block of ice.
"Try a scalpel."
Tang Qi's voice suddenly came from beside her.