Free Web NovelChapter 206: Chapter 205: The Case of the Body Dumped Down the Well_1
January 3, 2012
The sky had cleared.
Following the previous night’s snow.
A thin layer of untouched white had covered the world, but the temperature had also dropped a few degrees. Several little boys were constantly shuttling and sprinting along the ridges of agricultural fields, laughing and shouting, enjoying the last moments of fun before the final exams.
One of the boys, dressed in red and carrying a bamboo fishing rod, pointed at a pond nearby and yelled,
"Let’s go, let’s go to Sanquan Bay. My dad went fishing there on Labor Day, and the fish there are really plump."
"Are you guys going?"
"Jinjin said we shouldn’t play by the water."
"The teacher also said that kids shouldn’t go to the pond or river by themselves. If I go back, my mom will beat me." freēwebnovel.com
The two younger ones were somewhat timid at this point. They looked around and realized they were blocked by a row of withered trees and couldn’t see the village; emboldened, they grew braver.
"Shall we go and take a look?"
The boy with the fishing rod waved his hand dismissively, putting on airs like a little grown-up:
"Relax, I’m a good swimmer. You guys just sit by the side while I fish. The fish have been hungry these cold days, and with the bait my brother gave me, I’ll be able to catch them easily. If there are too many, we can share, or we could just go to my house and grill them. How about that?"
The hesitation that the children had felt earlier vanished. They followed the boy with the fishing rod down the stone steps to a corner of Sanquan Bay, close to the spring’s source, where steam gently arose.
The water a bit further out seemed to have a thin layer of ice, and occasionally fish could be seen flipping around. The children all looked on with interest as the boy in red readied his bait and cast his line.
The boys squatted by the water and began to wait, but when nothing happened, they grew bored.
They started to skip stones by the steps, which, of course, meant that they wouldn’t be catching any fish.
The boy in red, seeing no fish had been caught, got up and wandered to the edge of the steps. On the west side, along the ridge of the field, was a winding path with a stone slab beside it that seemed to be covering a well.
Several of the younger boys had already gathered around the slab, lying on top of it, apparently peering into something.
The boy in red went over, full of curiosity.
"What are you guys looking at?"
One of the boys, with a gap in his teeth, looked at the boy in red.
"Yuhuan, it looks like there are piglets inside here, and it smells like pig poop, all stinky!"
The boy in red moved closer, and the others gave him space only to find that there was a hole in the stone slab, and the children had been looking down through it.
He waved his hand, signaling for them to move aside.
"Don’t block the light. The morning sun is already slanting, how can you see anything if you’re all crowding around?"
Once the children moved away from the stone slab, the boy in red crouched on the ground and saw that the mouth of the well was indeed built of brick and stone. The hole wasn’t very big, but after adjusting his angle slightly, he made out something white. Upon closer inspection, it seemed not to be piglets but rather someone’s back.
The boy in red trembled all over and sat down on the ground, startled. The other boys came closer.
"Yuhan, what’s wrong with you?"
Trying to appear calm and driven by curiosity, the boy in red waved his hand to get up and motioned for the children to gather around.
"Let’s lift the stone slab together. We’ll count two by two, and I’ll count to three," he said. "This hole is too small to see whether there are piglets inside, and I can’t smell any stench. Let’s open it and see, and if someone lost something, we can tell them, right?"
The children agreed, laughing, then formed a circle around the stone. The boy in red grasped the edge of the slab and strained his voice as he counted:
"One, two, three!"
With a clang, the stone slab was lifted halfway, and the children all peered down to see a sprawled mess of white bodies directly below them, accompanied by a sticky stench. The children weren’t frightened, though.
They called down a couple of times, but none of the figures moved. The boy in red mustered his courage and threw a stone down the well, where it clattered against the walls before hitting the bottom. They could clearly see the stone strike the back of one of those down there, yet still, there was no movement.
The boy in red stood up, not bothering about the dirt on his clothes, and stepped backwards, fear spreading in his heart.
"There are dead people down here... dead people..."
Having said that, he didn’t bother with his fishing rod anymore; he started running towards the village. The younger ones, seeing everyone else running, also began crying and running back, one of them even losing his shoes in the process.
After rushing back to the village, the boy who lost his shoes was the first to encounter an adult, who kicked the child’s rear.
"Who have you been running wild with? Where are your shoes?"
The child started crying even harder.
"It was Yuhan, Yuhan took us fishing at Sanquan Bay."
When the old lady heard this, she got angry.
Grabbing the child with one hand, she ran towards a nearby courtyard. The boy in red had already rushed into his room, not bothering to take off his shoes and diving straight into his warm bed as if it were the only way to shake off the bone-chilling terror.
An old man glanced over and just shook his head, laughing.
"Is this kid freezing crazy?"
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw an old lady carrying a child who had lost a shoe and was continually crying and screaming.
"I say, Mr. He, your grandson hasn’t come back for ages, and now when he comes back, he brings these troublemakers with him. He actually led my grandson to Sanquan Bay to fish. What if something untoward happens? Will you compensate us with your life?
Don’t think we’re scared of you just because your son is a policeman. I’m not afraid at all. Go find my grandson’s shoe quickly, and when your grandson comes again, don’t let him play with mine. If he comes to my house, I’ll hit him each time."
Mr. He’s face was filled with displeasure as he shouted into the room.
"Yuhuan, come out and tell me what exactly happened? Yuhuan?"
After calling several times, the boy in red clothes inside the room still didn’t come out. When Mr. He entered, he found the boy on the bed trembling all over, still in the same position.
Mr. He was stunned and quickly pulled the child out to give him a thorough look. He noted the child’s face was deathly pale and his teeth were chattering.
"Tell Grandpa what happened, my dear grandson."
He Yuhan burst into tears, shaking uncontrollably, and pointed towards the direction of the door, unable to speak.
The old lady who had come to argue had, unbeknownst to her, followed them inside. Seeing He Yuhan’s state, she seemed to have lost her previous fury.
"What’s happened here?"
It seemed like seeing Chunyang cry, the shoeless kid also started crying. Mr. He signaled the old lady to come in, poured some hot water for the children, and after a good while of comforting, He Yuhuan finally stopped crying.
"Tell Grandpa what happened. Did someone bully you?"
He Yuhuan shook his head.
"At a well near Sanquan Bay, we saw lots of dead people, all naked and dead. I threw stones into it, and they didn’t react, I was terrified. I led them back, and I felt like so many people were chasing us from behind. I didn’t dare to look back, nor to speak."
The shoeless kid also nodded in agreement.
"The bottom of the well was a mass of white, bare buttocks and breasts exposed."
The old lady was shocked, smacking the child’s back with a slap that wasn’t too hard.
"Don’t spout nonsense, did you really see it?"
He Yuhuan clutched Mr. He’s arm and gave it a vigorous shake.
"Grandpa, call my dad. If my dad comes, he can catch the bad guys. There are so many people down there, not just one or two, and it smells sour and stinky, just like pig manure."
Mr. He nodded and shakily took out his phone.
Usually, children who visit him cling and don’t want to leave, crying wolf if he even mentions calling their dad. For him to actively ask to call meant that he was truly frightened today.
And he was more inclined to believe the child’s words. Sanquan Bay isn’t far from their village, a small area with hot springs where people go fishing in the summer, and almost no one goes there in the winter.
And the well the children mentioned, he knew exactly the place.
At that moment, the phone call He Yuhuan dialed was connected, and a familiar voice came through.
"Hello Dad, is Yuhuan causing trouble?"
"Dad, come quickly, there are bad guys to catch, dead people were found in the village, lots and lots of dead people, and we have to report to the police..."
...
Half an hour later. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Seven or eight police cars were lined up in a row, stopping at the edge of Sanquan Bay in Huangshi Village. He Chunyang held his pale-faced son He Yuhuan, who, now that his dad had arrived, no longer seemed to fear as he did before, pointing to a well cover that was half open and shouting:
"Dad, look fast! It’s that well."
He Chunyang waved to Zhang Haohao and instructed him:
"Go take a look first and see what the situation is."
Zhang Haohao nearly cried, but still gritted his teeth and approached the well. When a powerful flashlight illuminated the entire bottom of the well, the officers peering behind all started to retch.
Seeing this reaction, He Chunyang hurriedly passed his son to his father, gesturing for him to go.
"Dad, take the kid and go quickly."
He Yuhuan twisted about as if he wanted to look, but Mr. He smacked his bottom and gave him a fierce glare, a far cry from his usual kindly expression.
"There are times when Grandpa spoils you, but this isn’t ordinary business. Let’s go home with Grandpa. I’ll send you back to the city in a bit."
With a mix of scaring, coaxing, and deception, the grandfather and grandson left. Zhang Haohao checked the surrounding officers and got up from the ground with a wave of his hand.
"Mr. He, you can’t smell it from the outside, but once you lean over, the stench is overpowering. I took a quick look and there are at least seven or eight people that can be seen, similar to the previous case, all naked. It looks like there are bones further down, and there’s decaying fluid around them.
I think there’s no insignificant number of bodies here, definitely more than ten that’s for sure. With such a big case, I can’t handle it alone. Maybe we should ask the city bureau for reinforcements?"
He Chunyang nodded his head. Not just Zhang Haohao, but even he felt out of his depth. Seeing that white mass, the sheer number of bodies was enough to give anyone a headache. With such a significant case and having no leads on the previous one, the best course of action was to ask for help.
"Send the photos to Xu Da and I’ll contact the city bureau now. By the way, is Zhou Xiaozhou around for the holidays and hasn’t left yet?"
