Chapter 1

A glossy, mummified corpse was placed in a kneeling position on the dissection table.

Since it was heavily dehydrated, the edges of the skin that was flipped over inside out due to it being cut had become stiff. Even the gender of the body was hard to discern.

There was nothing left that resembled the person I once was.

“Well, Jim?”

When Zephyr Howard, a police captain, walked in, his face was grim.

“The victim’s face and skin have been horribly mangled. Without a doubt, this is intentional homicide.

“Also, the victim’s entire body is covered in pine resin that has unique properties, which is why it’s abnormally stiff. I can’t dissect it by normal methods. For now, I can’t determine the time of death.”

Jim Lewis did not look up because he was holding a small electric saw right then and measuring it against my body.

“I was just about to talk to you about that.” Zephyr nodded. “We just figured out that the warehouse was abandoned five years ago. The victim’s time of death might have been around that time, too.”

Jim froze for a moment before the electric saw started buzzing.

But in the next moment, he regained his composure and calmly turned off the saw.

My soul levitated in the air, and I felt a bitterness settle in my heart.

So, I had been dead for five years?

After I turned into a ghost, I was stuck in a dark basement. Every day, I watched cockroaches and rats climb all over me, but they were unable to bite into my flesh.

Then, one day, a livestreamer who proclaimed himself to be a nighttime explorer opened the basement.

I was finally discovered!

But to think that the person in charge of dissecting me would be Jim…

Buzz!

He turned on the electric saw again.

The center of my torso was the best place to cut into.

When the saw sank into my body, a strong stench of decay wafted out and filled the entire dissection room.

“Ugh!”

As a police officer with years of experience, Zephyr had seen plenty of gruesome things, but his face paled, and he threw up so badly that he almost fell into the trash can.

Even Jim frowned and took a step back. He grabbed the edge of his mask.

After a long pause, he suddenly asked Zephyr, “Grace didn’t come today, did she?”

“Don’t worry. Your sister-in-law went with her to the hospital for a pregnancy routine check.”

Zephyr wiped his mouth awkwardly in a disheveled state. “I’ll make another call later and have them go straight to try out the wedding gowns. I’ll tell them they don’t have to wait for you for lunch.

“After all, she’s pregnant, and this smell is unbearable.

“But you have to hurry up with the wedding. She’s starting to show her baby bump a little. If she does, she won’t be able to wear a beautiful wedding gown.”

“I know.”

Jim’s voice was gentle, and his eyes crinkled as he smiled in happiness.

I stared at him in disbelief.

My husband once loved me dearly, but he was about to marry my murderer?

He even got her pregnant?