Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1479: Chapter 262: Handling Two Matters as One

The shoreline is more crucial than the river in the ongoing search operation.

Because the victim’s body is likely to be washed ashore, entwined in water weeds, floating among reeds, or trapped in the nooks of the Tong River waterway, Cha Port, or wharves.

After searching several mid-river shoals, the Yangtze Police 110, 111, Binjiang Police 001, 002, 003, and law enforcement vessels from Marine, Fishery Administration, Water Administration, transformed into "Command Boats" to guide personnel onshore and temporarily recruited traffic boats and iron dinghies in their search.

Late into the night, the radio and walkie-talkie calls in the command cabin of Xiao 001 were incessant, even the air was filled with a tense atmosphere.

"Salted Fish, Salted Fish, I asked Director Yang to help search from the anchorage with six more iron dinghies, equipped with flashlights. We estimate the search will be complete in about three hours."

"Thanks, Chief Pei, sorry for keeping you up all night."

"No need for thanks, just remember to settle the labor cost afterward."

"You can count on it, I’ll contact Director Chen at Guzhou Branch to ask him to cover it for now."

"Our brigade also dispatched three small boats," joked Chief Pei of the Coast Guard Brigade.

Requesting help from friends on the South Bank is different from asking friends on the North Bank.

Their local connections aren’t as good as our North Bank ones, and they don’t have as many vessels to deploy for the search, often relying on civilians for help.

Civilians contribute their boats and efforts, and they must be compensated.

Director Qi provided fifty thousand in funds, and Han Yu had long decided to use all of it on the South Bank.

As time ticked away, police responsible for each segment continuously reported their findings, with marked coastlines being connected, tentatively estimating over a hundred kilometers searched by five minutes ago.

Han Yu contemplated deeply over the waterway map before picking up the radio transmitter to continue calls.

"Director Li, Director Li, it’s Han Yu, any progress on your side?"

"Not as of yet."

From 2 PM till now, the Maritime Bureau has issued four "Body Search Notices", audible to all vessels navigating or anchored in Binjiang Waters, with Deputy Director Li Mingsheng from the Changhang Bureau stationed at the Marine Traffic Control Center, awaiting possible feedback from river vessels.

Han Yu took a deep breath, holding the transmitter and said, "At the latest by 12 AM, we should have searched all developed coastlines. If we haven’t found it by 12 AM, tomorrow’s workload will be even greater."

The ongoing search operation is prioritized, with a clear focus on searching the coastlines most likely to retain the body.

According to the search strategy formulated in the afternoon, if the body isn’t found by midnight, tomorrow will require a blanket search of undeveloped coastlines.

Undeveloped coastlines are long, full of reeds and weeds as far as the eye can see, usually desolate, even if money is available, it may not be possible to find enough people and vessels to participate.

Li Mingsheng can empathize with Han Yu’s current emotions.

It’s said that a homicide case must be solved.

Now, the case is cracked, with the suspect apprehended, yet the absence of the victim’s body, a direct piece of evidence, hinders further investigation.

This is a test for the Changhang Bureau, in the midst of transition.

Whether they can solve this case, or rather turn this case into an ironclad one, directly affects the perception of both the Superior and Local Police colleagues towards the Changhang Bureau.

Li Mingsheng, taking several deep breaths, tightly grasped the transmitter and said, "Director Han, I just called Director Qi, he said if fifty thousand isn’t enough, he’ll find a way to squeeze out another fifty thousand."

"That’s great, truly can’t do anything without money."

They searched till midnight yet found nothing.

Human energy is finite, searching the riverbank late at night inherently carries certain risks.

As per the plan, Han Yu contacted various law enforcement boats and helpful friends, asking them to halt the search, rest quickly, and continue at daylight.

A blast of the horn costs a fortune.

Xiao 001 is a fuel guzzler, having burned a lot of fuel navigating to the Dacang Waters, and with plans to continue searching after dawn, Han Yu naturally wouldn’t return in the middle of the night; thus, he let Zhang Ping and Old Zhu dock Xiao 001 at the nearest wharf during the night at Dacang.

After a midnight snack, they rested in the crew cabin beneath the command cabin.

To Han Yu and Xiao Yu, Xiao 001 feels almost like home.

Though conditions on board are not as good as Da 001 and vessel 825, this sleep was particularly sweet.

At 6:45 AM, the phone rang abruptly.

Han Yu woke from his slumber in surprise, quickly got up to answer.

"Director Li, is there a discovery?"

"A floating corpse was discovered in the Shuzhou Waters, severely decomposed, Chen Zikun personally led a team to retrieve it!"

"Specific location, where was it found, who discovered it?" Han Yu was wide awake.

Li Mingsheng also just got up, looking at phone records said, "It was discovered by a downstream freighter, about 1.5 kilometers downstream of buoy 36 in the dedicated waterway at Shuzhou Port, the body was floating in the middle of the waterway, likely not the one we’re searching for."

The crew had been lost to water for twelve days, the body could only appear among the grass on either shore, within Cha Port or in reeds, unlikely to be found mid-river, else it would have long drifted to the estuary.

Han Yu realized and murmured, "It must have drifted down from upstream, no matter where it’s from, Guzhou Branch now has work to do."

"They must be frustrated, had it not been for helping us, they wouldn’t have encountered this hot potato."

"That’s correct in principle, but we shouldn’t phrase it that way."

"Indeed, let’s set that aside for now, I’ll ask the Traffic Control Center to issue another notice."

The body, severely decomposed, suggests it’s almost unrecognizable.