Old Yang’s tea set is indeed quite novel, with the teacup and teapot both carved from whole stone.

"Let me tell you, my tea table heats this slate directly, then transfers the heat to the teapot, and the water boils."

"Hmm," Old Bai appreciated Yang Sen’s tea set quite a lot.

Maybe it’s an age thing, but Old Bai was the one in the office most enthusiastic about tinkering with new gadgets.

Yang Sen used to mock Old Bai for his age, but this year he himself started tinkering with some novel items.

"Your stone tea table is indeed quite good, I should get a set as well."

Yang Sen waved his hand: "Why bother? I’m not taking this tea table home, it’s just for use in our office. Why not just use it here?"

"I want to bring a set home for drinking tea. By the way, how much did your tea table cost?"

"This type of tea set is made in my classmate’s village, not expensive, just three hundred yuan at cost price."

"Three hundred yuan?"

Liu Guodong was slightly surprised. This stone tea set looked quite nice, and yet it only cost a few hundred yuan, which seemed quite cheap.

Just the craftsmanship of making the teapot and teacup alone, Liu Guodong thought, would cost more.

"That’s impossible. Over 300 yuan, and they make such a fine teapot? This is all stone, not clay, where you can just mold it. It must be carved."

Old Bai was obviously skeptical too.

Lu Chuan had not seen stone-carved teacups and teapots, nor other tea sets, though his own home had a set made of jade.

That was indeed exquisite and was Comrade Lu’s cherished possession, usually unwilling to use it.

But this stone tea set, though not as exquisite as the jade, couldn’t possibly be just three hundred yuan, right?

As Old Bai mentioned, perhaps the labor cost alone isn’t covered.

"It’s really only 300 yuan. When my classmate told me, I also found it hard to believe, but it’s indeed that cheap."

Yang Sen picked up a teacup, turned it over, and showed it to everyone.

"Look inside this teacup, it’s very smooth, with no chisel marks at all."

"The reason is these teacups and teapots weren’t hand-chiseled, but formed by chemical corrosion."

Chemical corrosion?

"What’s chemical corrosion?"

"I’m not quite sure, but they say it’s some kind of fossil agent that can erode stone, making the stone softer for easier carving."

"Is there such a thing?"

"As the saying goes, different trades are worlds apart. Since we’re not in the stone carving business, who knows all their tricks? Come on, let’s forget about that and have some tea."

Yang Sen organized the tea drinking. In the past, they used enamel mugs, but now with a tea table, it felt like they had moved from just drinking tea to savoring it.

"This thing..." Old Bai tasted the tea from the stone teacup, savoring it: "This tea seems to taste a lot better."

Liu Guodong tugged at the corners of his mouth: "Why wouldn’t it? Today we brewed with Lu’s Da Hong Pao..."

The group chatted and sipped tea, quite at ease.

"By the way, about this case we discovered at the East Sea Camping Area, the stone statue didn’t seem to have many carving marks, right?"

Old Bai nodded at Yang Sen who spoke: "Yes, not many marks at all. Initially, we thought perhaps the carving technique was excellent, but it seems they also used that stone softener you mentioned."

"Old Yang, this tea table is great in every way except for the exposed, heated slate. It’s too hot. I just waved my hand over it and almost got burned."

"Why don’t you just keep your distance from it?"

"..."

Old Bai pondered a bit and realized that might indeed be the solution.

"Hey, Lu, why are you daydreaming? Come have some tea!"

But Lu Chuan didn’t respond to Old Bai, instead frowning while staring at the heated slate on the stone table.

Heated stone slab...

A thought suddenly flashed in Lu Chuan’s mind.

Corn dehydration, a standard drying apparatus typically wouldn’t dehydrate corn to the extent of 10%.

Just a moment ago, the group had been discussing whether the body could have been dehydrated in a corn dryer tower, forming a mummy, as they received the data on corn dehydration results.

The Crime Scene Investigation’s way of thinking about the problem differed from that of the action group advancing the investigation.

The action group had focused mainly on the stone statue.

Due to the statue’s height and weight, making it difficult to tamper with, the killer hid the body inside it. Tracking the statue’s origin easily could lead to the culprit with this sequence of actions.

And currently, the action group had made some progress considering this approach.

Through the stone statue park’s investigation, the stone mason who carved the statue back then was identified.

This individual had the highest chance of tampering with the statue.

Zhang Hui had already begun an investigation in this regard.

Once this person is found, it’s highly likely that the case will breakthrough.

However, Lu Chuan and his team had been perplexed about how the mummy was formed.

This illustrates the difference in problem-solving approaches and thinking methods between technical detectives and frontline police.

In fact, the direction explored by Lu Chuan’s team wasn’t misguided.

Because the area surrounding Haizhou City didn’t present natural conditions to form a mummy.

Thus, locating the mummy’s original location, or its initial position, is crucial, as it allows deducing the suspect’s related information in reverse.

Originally, discovering corn kernels inside the statue led Lu Chuan’s team to think of finding the corn’s origin to determine the mummy’s original location.

Therefore, a corn drying tower was the most likely installation capable of mummifying the body, as a large-scale drying apparatus of that kind could achieve such results.

However, the high dehydration proportion of the corn kernels meant regular drying towers could not achieve such levels.

Even if it were possible, economic reasons rule out this possibility.

Thus, this line of investigation hit a bottleneck.

But now, Lu Chuan seemed to uncover a new direction.

Who said that corn must necessarily originate from the drying tower, or that its drying must be through the drying tower?

If the tea table’s slate could be heated, would heating the stone statue containing the corpse transform it into another slate?

Or perhaps the statue itself functioned as a drying tower?

Lu Chuan looked at the heated stone kettle on the slate, his conviction of this possibility growing stronger!

"Lu, what’s up?"

Liu Guodong also noticed something off about Lu Chuan.

With Lu Chuan’s family background, it’s unlikely he would be captivated by this stone kettle, so why was he daydreaming?

"Ah, Master, I think I’ve found a possibility..."

Following this, Lu Chuan detailed his recent speculations.

"The stone itself is an excellent thermal conductor. Could the murderer have concealed the body inside the statue before heating the statue? Is this possible?"

The other three exchanged glances at the possibility...

Although not easy to execute, given that heating a statue, unlike a teapot, would be rather taxing due to its size.

Nevertheless, it’s a plausible method.