Free Web NovelChapter 207: Chapter 206 Wrench Mark_1
"Xiao Ning, you should head back to the city earlier. Don’t leave tomorrow morning, there’s a lot of traffic on the road."
Zhou Ning handed the teacup to the old man and sat beside him.
"I want to spend more time with you since I won’t be coming back until the New Year."
"You little rascal, today’s already the third, and the New Year’s Eve is early this year, just about two weeks away, you’d better go now!"
At that moment, Zhou Ning’s phone rang. Seeing the name of the caller, Zhou Ning quickly answered with a puzzled look on his face.
"Hello, Zhou Xiaozhou!"
"Mr. Hu, hello. Is there a case?"
The person on the other end of the call was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"You little bugger, can’t you just wish me a Happy New Year first? Opening with ’Is there a case?’ What kind of greeting is that?"
Zhou Ning felt somewhat embarrassed, paused for a moment, and quickly said.
"Sorry, boss, I’m at my hometown. The moment I saw the call from the leader, my first thought was that there must be a case, it’s really a bit of a Pavlovian response."
"Alright, let’s get down to business. Since you haven’t come back, prepare to go downstairs. Someone from the Qidong Sub-bureau will pick you up soon. There’s a case there—a child found a body in a well by Sanquan Bay. The team went down for a check, and at first glance, there are at least seven or eight bodies, probably even more below.
I’ve already notified Mr. Pang, and he has called your second group’s people, they should arrive at the scene in half an hour. You go with them to survey the site. From the headquarters side, Mr. Xu is leading the team. It’s just before New Year, and suddenly such a big case has come up. I have no other demands on you, just solve it before the Spring Festival."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ning was somewhat stunned and quickly stood up, knowing that making excuses or delaying was out of the question. He also realized that the reason for the call was indeed a case—hard to admit as he was.
"Yes, I will go have a look. I’ll report back as soon as we have any leads."
After hanging up the phone, the old man also stood up. Since Zhou Ning had answered on speakerphone, he had heard everything clearly. He quickly grabbed Zhou Ning’s thickest police coat from the bedroom and handed it to Zhou Ning.
"Hurry up and go, dress warmly. It’s particularly cold standing outside for a long time."
Zhou Ning took it with a smile, put it on, and comforted him:
"There’s no need to worry about me leaving early this time. I guess I’ll be in Qidong for the next few days. If I can come back for dinner, I’ll give you a call."
The old man waved his hand.
"Go on, be careful on the road."
Holding the cotton coat, Zhou Ning went downstairs. Just as he was about to take out his phone, he saw Liu Yong grinning and standing beside the police car, frantically waving to Zhou Ning; obviously, he had been waiting there for a while.
"Why didn’t you come up when you arrived?"
Mr. Liu looked embarrassed and quickly opened the car door. Zhou Ning wasn’t in a hurry to get in but instead went to his own car to grab the investigation kit before sighing.
It seems this habit needed to change; he used to think that carrying the investigation kit made it convenient if there were any cases wherever he went, but now he realized it was like praying for rain during a drought—making things uncomfortable for himself.
Liu Yong came over to help Zhou Ning carry the kit, explaining:
"Mr. He said that the case was too big and it would be better to go through official channels and have the city bureau inform us."
Zhou Ning nodded, said nothing more, and got into the car.
In fact, He Chunyang did the right thing. With such a big case, the city bureau would definitely pay attention. With so many dead, having only Zhang Haohao go down and disturb the scene would be less advantageous than asking for help.
During the drive, Liu Yong briefed Zhou Ning on the situation at Sanquan Bay. freeweɓnøvel.com
"Doctor Zhou, do you remember the Zhujiazhuang from the last Red Dress Serial Murder Case, where Cheng Chunyan, the twelfth victim, lived? Sanquan Bay is next to Huangshi Village, which is adjacent to Zhujiazhuang. Mr. He’s hometown is this village, and his son was the one who found the body." ƒrēewebnovel.com
Zhou Ning was startled, finding the coincidence a bit too much, as Liu Yong continued to say:
"There are hardly any young people in Huangshi Village; mostly old people are farming the land. Being close to the sea, the soil is compacted, so the yield is low, and the younger population either works in the city or goes out to work. The village is quite desolate.
As for Sanquan Bay, it is environmentally friendly, but since there isn’t a proper road nearby, some people who came to look into developing it eventually gave up. The place is rarely visited by people, and there aren’t any surveillance cameras around either. It really is the perfect place for someone to kill and dump bodies."
When they arrived at Sanquan Bay, half an hour had passed. He Chunyang saw Zhou Ning getting out of the car and quickly went up to greet him. As he approached, Zhou Ning noticed that Xu Dayuan was already standing there, obviously having arrived earlier.
"Who would have thought that it would be because of this that you’d end up staying."
Zhou Ning nodded and then joined He Chunyang and Xu Dayuan.
"Good timing. Doctor Zhang was just talking about that unidentified female corpse; let’s investigate that together. What’s the situation here, Mr. He? Can you fill us in?"
He Chunyang nodded and hastily said:
"My son and a group of kids were playing here and, out of curiosity, saw something under the well cover. When they opened it, they discovered the body. They ran back and called me, and I came over with Zhang Haohao and the others to take a look.
Once we arrived, we discovered that the situation was even more serious than we thought. A cursory look revealed seven or eight complete bodies, all of whom appear to be young people. As for the lower part, there seem to be bones too. After seeing this, I immediately requested reinforcements."
After all, there’s no surveillance around here, the bodies are without clothes, and we dared not let them destroy the surroundings. Additionally, I looked up missing persons information, and, let alone Qindong District, even within the entirety of Qindao City there aren’t many missing persons, and those who are reported missing are mostly elderly."
After hearing this, Xu Dayuan frowned deeply, indeed, it was difficult to identify bodies without personal belongings in such a remote wilderness, and the case investigation would also plunge into an awkward situation.
Zhou Ning rubbed his hands together and wrapped his coat tighter.
"Mr. Hu called me, he said he doesn’t want this case lingering over the new year."
Xu Dayuan grunted.
"Today’s the third, and till the twenty-second, the eve of the new year, we only have nineteen days left, and with such a case, what wishful thinking."
Zhou Ning knew it wasn’t the time to complain, moreover Xu Dayuan and the others could grumble, but he didn’t have the privilege; the most important task now was to survey the crime scene.
"I don’t know where Mr. Zhao and the others are, I’m going to make a call, Mr. He you call for the car, and get the excavator and the crane ready, we need to get the bodies up first."
"Mr. Zhao and the others will be here soon, the cars too, they just called, they took the wrong route, the GPS location isn’t accurate here."
As he was speaking, the roar of vehicles approached. Zhou Ning took a few steps upward; Mr. Zhao and his team had arrived, naturally followed by a group of four forensic technicians. It was clear that Mr. Pang also recognized the gravity of the situation, and, sure enough, the crane and excavator were all trailing behind.
"Happy 2012 to the leaders!"
Mr. Zhao eagerly wanted to come up to greet them, but Zhou Ning stopped him with his hand.
"Get to work quickly, don’t you see everyone’s faces are grim? Mr. Hu gave the order, we must solve the case before the New Year, we don’t have much time."
Mr. Zhao’s mouth fell open, swallowing all his words back down, and with a huff strode over to Yang Xuetong and the others, waving his hands.
"Hurry hurry, call the crane and the excavator over here, we’re pressed for time. Get ready the rope for safety, the soft stretcher for lifting bodies, and the body bags. Mr. Yang, let’s go change, the equipment for highly decayed bodies?"
The last four words, Mr. Zhao directed at Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning nodded, indeed, since there were bones below, it was clear that the bodies had not been dumped all at once but had been accumulating over a longer period, and there could indeed be highly decayed bodies at the bottom.
"The well’s mouth is narrow, but it’s bigger underneath. I’ll go down with you. Keep people up here to conduct the investigation concurrently."
Mr. Zhao nodded and quickly organized with Mr. Feng and the others. Those were people used to dealing with traffic cases, and it wouldn’t be much help to go down, but they could conduct a more detailed investigation from above.
After a round of arrangements, everyone cleared the wellhead, and Zhang Haohao, who had already checked, said while squatting on one side:
"Around the well cover are pebbles, and not a single footprint is left. There’s just one south-north path passing by here. Our vehicles drove over the field ridges, this path leads to the north side of Zhujiazhuang, and if you walk south, you can reach the logistics park via the Binhai Highway.
Of course, walking north through the woods on the east side of Huangshi Village, it directly connects to Jiulong Town. The distance to reach the bustling sections from each direction is both well over fifteen kilometers."
Zhou Ning nodded, and indeed noted that the vicinity revealed no signs of blood or dropped items.
"Have the crane come over, set up the A-frame at the wellhead, and get ready to hoist the bodies."
After making arrangements, Zhou Ning put on the crime scene suit, the kind with a face mask, because just leaning over the wellhead, he could smell the stench emanating from below.
By now, the crane was in place; firefighters, summoned by someone, began setting up the lifting gear beside the wellhead—quite a professional job. Yang Xuetong was already sent down, given Mr. Zhao’s weighty presence.
Leaning over the wellhead, as Yang Xuetong reached the bottom, the space below was fully illuminated; just as Zhou Ning had suspected, the well was indeed narrow at the mouth but broadened below. There was a platform at the bottom where several bodies were piled up, with Yang Xuetong standing on a stone, raising his hand to show an OK sign.
"Is it difficult to breathe down there, Mr. Yang?"
Yang Xuetong waved his hands, with his facial expressions indiscernible due to the breathing mask. However, a voice came through the earpiece.
"It’s manageable, I see a lot of skeletons; there aren’t any excessively decomposed bodies, but there’s a significant number. I’ll take pictures first, then you guys come down."
After speaking, Yang Xuetong began taking photos. Soon he gestured, and Mr. Zhao and Zhou Ning were each dispatched down. Zhu Xingxing and Sun Gaotie were barred from descending—given the limited space below, more people would just get in the way.
Zhou Ning landed on his feet, placed on a higher rock by Mr. Zhao. He looked around then squatted down, pinching the arm of one of the bodies. The limbs of the deceased were stiff, rigor mortis was present, and on the side, clear livor mortis could be seen.
He waved at Mr. Zhao, indicating that Mr. Zhao should lift the hair of the deceased.
Mr. Zhao got the hint, leaned over to lift the hair to one side, and just as the deceased’s face was revealed, Zhou Ning signaled with a stop gesture.
On the right temple of the deceased, there was a blunt force injury with torn flesh.
"Mr. Zhao, let’s switch places. I want to examine the wound on the deceased."
Mr. Zhao held Zhou Ning’s arm, yanking him up, and with a jump, they switched places. Adjusting his position, Zhou Ning pressed on the deceased’s temple wound, noting the distinct sound of bone scraping.
Looking down at another body, the female deceased also had a blunt force injury on the temple, with the same distinct sound of bone scraping, and of course, this one looked more severe because there was another injury in the middle of the face, with the features damaged. The shape of this wound was very distinctive; following the direction of Zhou Ning’s finger, Mr. Zhao quickly took a photo.
After photographing, Mr. Zhao pulled down his mask and said in confusion:
"Zhou Xiaozhou, doesn’t this shape look like a wrench?"
