Free Web NovelChapter 1481: Chapter 263: Aren’t You Tired!
At 3:27 in the afternoon, the search was still ongoing.
Xiao001 drifted downstream along the south side of Zhuangming Island. Han Yu, observing the situation on the spot, asked Deputy Captain Liu of the Zhuangming Police Department’s Security Team, who boarded the ship in the morning, to contact the police on the shore to organize forces to assist in the search.
Zhuangming Island is large, with many rivers on the island and many waterways leading to the river along Yanjiang.
Every day, thousands of ships of various sizes traverse the river, and the waves created by the large ships can sweep the floating objects on the river to the shore and even into the river channels.
This meant that the search must not only be conducted on the river but also consider the river channels leading to the river.
Director Liu stood at the bow, finished his call, and turned around with a smile to say, "Salted Fish, I have arranged for five more small boats here. There are now twenty-three boats helping you search this section. We should be able to finish before nightfall."
All the boats found were small, and the people invited to assist were fishermen or local residents.
The cost, including fuel and wages, was eighty yuan a day for one boat.
Han Yu secretly calculated the expenses and said with appreciation, "Director Liu, I’m really causing you trouble."
"Just a small effort, not really trouble." Director Liu tucked away his phone, walked over, and asked, "You’ve invested so much. Have you thought about what to do if the search doesn’t find anything, given that it’s been twelve days since the crew member fell into the water?"
Han Yu raised his binoculars and explained while observing the distant reed-covered river beach, "Finding him is the best outcome. If we can’t find him, it doesn’t mean we’ve done useless work. At least we’ve organized efforts to search, which is better than doing nothing and presuming the crew member drowned."
Once there’s a murder case, if it’s unsolved with the killer uncaught, it makes life difficult for everyone involved.
If the case is solved and the killer is caught, it’s still problematic if the victim’s body can’t be found.
Director Liu understood the difficulties faced by the Changhang Binjiang Branch and nodded slightly in agreement: "That’s true, since it involves death certification."
Meanwhile, a farmer in his sixties, was busy on a small boat in Bai Gang River.
A mud barge approached from afar, and the ship captain recognized the old man busy on the riverside and called out while holding the rudder, "Old Wu, what are you working on?"
Old Wu looked back, straightened up, and smiled, "Helping the police station to retrieve a corpse!"
"Someone died?"
"Seems like it, but not from here; the police station said the body drifted from upstream."
"Caught anything yet?"
"Not yet, still searching."
"I wondered why there were so many small boats on the river suddenly; turns out it’s for retrieving a corpse." The ship captain leaned over to look around and then chuckled, "Does the police station pay you?"
"Yes, eighty a day!"
"Why don’t I come across such good fortune? A whole boatload of mud barely earns a few bucks."
"That’s because you weren’t at home. No time to chat, I need to hurry. The police’s speedboats will come to check. If they see me slacking off, they’ll dock my pay."
"Alright, alright, get busy now."
Watching his fellow villager leave, Old Wu continued his search.
This job was really easy, and the money was really good!
Maneuvering the empty boat along the riverside, the corpse was too large to hide among the dense river reeds, unlike fish. Just pay attention to dead trees likely to catch a corpse or small ports without reeds.
He searched two to three li towards the river entrance, spotting a small port on the riverbank with nets faintly visible inside.
Old Wu leaned over to look around, confirming no one was on the shore or other boats on the river, and immediately rowed the small boat over, dropping the bamboo pole and crouching down to grab the net, turning it slowly towards the end.
Whose net this was didn’t matter; what mattered was whether there were fish inside!
Just as Old Wu thought he had earned money and possibly caught a few kilos of fish, the net, which should have been getting lighter, suddenly wouldn’t budge.
It might have been caught on something below.
He adjusted his posture, pulling upwards forcefully.
Suddenly, a dark shadow emerged!
Could it be a woven bag?
As he wondered, the shadow surfaced, accompanied by an overwhelming stench.
A person!
It was actually a dead body!
The belly was massively swollen, visibly bulging, filled with either water or air. Face down, the facial features were not discernible.
Despite being asked by the police station to search for a body, this river was so long, and the Yangtze River was right outside. Old Wu never truly expected to find a body.
Terrified, he screamed.
Yet, there was no one on the shore and no other boats on the river beside him.
He dared not linger here, forgetting about the net, hastily grabbing the bamboo pole and frantically rowing towards someplace he could dock...
At 4:45, Xiao001 arrived at the waterway where the body was discovered.
The comrades from the police station and several villagers recruited to assist in the search by the police station had arrived earlier and were waving frantically upon seeing Xiao001.
From afar, Han Yu raised his hand to greet them and then walked to the engine room, apologetically saying, "Uncle Zhu, sorry for the trouble."
Retrieving the body was Zhu Baogen’s expertise.
As he motioned for Han Yu to help lower Xiao001’s Iron Dinghy, he casually said, "It’s not troublesome; it’s not my first time. I used to do this work."
Han Yu noticed that Old Zhu was well prepared, with ropes, hooks, gloves, and other necessary equipment for retrieving a body already placed on the Iron Dinghy.
The water was shallow by the riverbank, and Zhang Ping dared not steer closer to the shore.
With Han Yu’s help, Zhu Baogen carefully jumped onto the Iron Dinghy, picking up the small paddle, and rowed over.
Han Yu and Xiao Yu’s student, Xiao Chen, hurriedly helped drop the anchor. After their task, they rushed to the port side, witnessing Old Zhu drag the floating corpse onto the Iron Dinghy under everyone’s watchful eyes.
"Uncle Zhu, is it a man or a woman?"
"A man."
"Is it the crew member we are looking for?"
Even from such a distance, the stench remained overpowering.
Han Yu was disgusted, instinctively covering his mouth and nose.
Old Zhu inspected the recently dragged-up corpse carefully, then raised his head and said, "The face has collapsed, the skin is rotten and falls off at a touch, can’t tell what it looks like."
Han Yu urgently asked, "What about the clothes?"
When a person has been dead for a long time, the body will "bloat."
The previous clothes have become ill-fitting, and the buttons have popped off, like an adult wearing children’s clothes.
Old Zhu lifted the clothes for a look, then raised his head and said, "He’s wearing those work clothes you mentioned, should be the person we’re looking for."
"Check the pockets, see if there’s anything?"
"Checked, nothing, there’s nothing but mud."
Director Liu was overwhelmed by the stench, moved to an upwind spot, took several breaths of fresh air, turned around, and asked, "Salted Fish, what do we do now?"
Han Yu didn’t mind the corpse smell, ran to the Iron Dinghy to verify the deceased’s clothes matched the previously gathered characteristics, then turned back and said, "I’ll take the body back first and ask the City Bureau Criminal Investigation Team’s forensic experts to identify it."
"With such decay, can the forensic experts determine who it is?"
"We can extract biological evidence and find a judicial institution with the right conditions to compare DNA."
"That’s indeed a solution, but I’ve heard DNA testing costs quite a bit."
"Confirming the identity of the deceased is the priority, as for the testing expenses, that’s not something we can worry about now."
"Should we continue the search?"
This morning, a floating corpse was discovered in the river, but it wasn’t the sailor who fell overboard.
The newly discovered corpse only matches the clothing characteristics of the drowned victim, but we can’t confirm if it is the victim, since most sailors on the river wear similar work clothes, even myself and Xiao Yu have several sets.
Han Yu was hesitating whether to continue searching when Old Zhu commented unexpectedly, "With this much decay, it’s likely been soaking in the water for over ten days."
"Uncle Zhu, can you be sure?"
"I’m sure, I’ve seen plenty of dead people."
In estimating time of death, Old Zhu might be more experienced than many forensic experts new to the field.
After all, he wasn’t just involved in the collection of normally deceased people but also specialized in salvaging and collecting floating corpses in rivers. During the 1998 flood relief efforts, he even salvaged bodies in Jingjiang.
The expenses incurred by the bureau have been substantial already, searching further would be unsustainable, and the bureau has other work too.
Han Yu weighed the options, then turned back and said, "Director Liu, stop searching, for the expenses on your side, I’ll have Instructor Zhang settle them with your team tomorrow."
"Expenses aren’t urgent."
"A promise must be fulfilled; you really helped us a lot this time, we can’t delay your wages nor break our word."
"Alright, I’ll disembark here then."
...
After thanking colleagues from the Zhuangming Police Department and the assisting Zhuangming citizens in the search operation, Han Yu quickly used the radio and cellphone to notify the substation police involved in the search to end the operation. He also contacted Director Qi, requesting him to promptly get in touch with the City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Team, asking them to prepare forensic personnel.
On the return trip, the corpse wasn’t lifted onto the Xiao001.
Old Zhu worried that the Xiao001 would be contaminated with the stench. He left the corpse in the Iron Dinghy, and the Xiao001 towed the Iron Dinghy.
To ensure safe transport of the corpse, Old Zhu also stayed in the Iron Dinghy with the body.
The "Mother Port" of Xiao001 is Bailong Port, it couldn’t reroute to Binjiang Port just for corpse transport.
Around 9:30 PM, they docked in Linghai Port, where Jiang Youwei and Liu Guixiang, who had returned from capturing suspects, had been waiting for a while, even fetching a hearse from the funeral home.
With the help of funeral home staff, the corpse was lifted onto the shore and placed onto the vehicle, first sent to Binjiang Funeral Home, and tomorrow morning the relatives of the drowned sailor would identify the body, then the City Bureau’s forensic experts would examine it.
After nearly two days of ordeal, Han Yu returned home well past two in the morning.
No matter how he smelled, there was an odor on him, he quickly ran the water for a shower.
The noise might have been a bit much, waking up his senior, who walked to the bathroom door yawning and asked, "When did you get back?"
"Just got home, you go back to sleep, I’ll go to bed once I’ve washed up."
"Did you have dinner, are you hungry?"
Not hungry.
Feeling nauseous, even if hungry, he couldn’t eat.
"Not hungry." Han Yu didn’t want his senior to dislike him, hurriedly changed the topic: "Where are Mom, Dad, and Han Han?"
"They left," Xiang Ning, no longer as tired as before, leaned against the door frame and smiled as she said, "Left in the afternoon, caught a ride with the Linghai Development Zone Management Committee’s investment promotion office. Han Han didn’t want to go to the East Sea, said this time she didn’t get to see Dad, but the truth is, she just doesn’t want to go to school."
"Did she cry when leaving?"
"At first she cried and made a fuss, but then Mom said she’d take her for KFC, and she stopped crying."
"We’re neither gluttonous nor lazy, how come Han Han is both?"
"Spoiled, Dad spoils her too much." Xiang Ning helped fetch clean clothes, curiously asking, "Did you find the drowned sailor’s body?"
"Found one, but whether it’s the drowned sailor, we’ll know tomorrow." Han Yu really didn’t want to discuss these things at home, worrying that talking too much would cause nightmares for his senior, so he switched topics again: "Ningning, last night I didn’t go to the dinner, did Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang get upset?"
"He knows you’re busy with work, how could he be upset?"
"Good if he’s not upset."
After drying off, putting on underwear, and brushing his teeth, he walked into the bedroom to lay down, his senior came over and snuggled against him.
Han Yu was fatigued, weakly said, "I’m kind of tired today."
"When aren’t you tired? Are we really husband and wife?"
"We are, but I’m really tired today."
"Xiao Yu swam seventeen kilometers armed without feeling tired, you only spent two days searching for corpses on the river, how could you be tired, always finding excuses!"
"Alright, alright, I’m not tired."
"That’s more like it."
