Free Web NovelChapter 420: Chapter 397: Found_1
Mr. Zhao knelt on one knee and glanced back at Da Wang’er with irritation.
"Don’t make such a fuss."
Da Wang’er quickly covered his mouth, using his upper arm instead of his hand, since his hands were filled with the smell of the excavation. At this moment, Zhou Ning and Mr. Wang had already climbed down along the edge of the pit and come to Mr. Zhao’s side, clearly seeing the hand that was sticking out of the sand.
The fingers had partially skeletonized, with the index, middle finger, and thumb sticking straight up—it was a right hand.
Mr. Zhao continued working without a pause, and Mr. Wang joined in. The two worked from east to west, constantly clearing the sand. The deeper they dug, the more shocked their faces became as they discovered an arm with intact wrist and radius and ulna bones beneath the hand.
Zhou Ning frowned slightly, deeply shocked in his mind.
The victim, Fu Chunyu, had been hacked off at the wrists and ankles, and now they saw a hand that was still attached to a forearm.
Moreover, judging by the degree of decay and the conditions of the surrounding sand, the body was buried post-mortem without being moved. The infiltrated sand showed that the decay had advanced to this extent for at least two months, which didn’t match the timing of Fu Chunyu’s death.
Zhou Ning was filled with doubt. Could it be... there was another victim?
Without wasting words, the priority now was to clear out this area. Zhou Ning stood up, took off his coat, and donned a high-corrosion isolation suit. Mr. Zhao, seeing this, also stood up to change his gear. Da Wang’er blinked in confusion.
"What’s up?" ƒreewebɳovel.com
Zhou Ning was already signaling to Mr. Pang and the others to come down.
"I’m asking you, after retrieving the skull from the septic tank, did you find any other bones?"
Da Wang’er slapped his forehead as if he had just remembered, and hurriedly said:
"I was too busy digging the sand to report it. They’re still dredging outside. After finding the skull, we found another seven or eight small bones, almost the size of the ones in chicken claws. They’re being sieved slowly. I’m not sure if there have been any more findings. Want me to go check?"
Zhou Ning shook his head; it was fine as long as the procedure was followed there.
"No need, we’ll clean the nearby sand. It looks like there might be a complete corpse here. Once we’ve cleaned it up enough, we’ll have the body bags and stretchers ready. We’ll need an excavator to assist, and after we’ve cleared the body, we’ll proceed layer by layer, similar to an archaeological dig."
Da Wang’er didn’t talk back, simply nodding and quickly calling someone on his phone to make arrangements. The team dug around the skeletonized hand and quickly made progress. In less than half an hour, they could discern the general shape of the corpse.
At the same time, strands of white-mixed long hair appeared in the sand, the hair at the back of the head tied with a brown elastic band, not longer than ten centimeters. Zhou Ning squatted to the side, gently shifted the hair, and two black beetles crawled out of the earth.
Mr. Pang shuddered, dropping his camera. Mr. Zhao cast him a side glance.
"What are you doing? If you can’t handle it, stand back. Hang the camera around your neck."
Zhou Ning said nothing, and Mr. Pang quickly picked up the camera, wiped it clean, and hung it around his neck. In fact, Mr. Zhao’s reaction meant Zhou Ning wouldn’t say anything else; it was a kind of indirect protection.
Zhou Ning reached out, lifting the victim’s hair to reveal a hoop gold earring at the back of the ear. The style was quite old-fashioned, and some parts were tarnished black by the corrosive fluids.
However, it hadn’t been removed, indicating the burial had been hasty.
Moreover, from the overall view, the body was prone on the ground with its hands reaching up, especially the right arm, which was extended high above its head. This indicated that the victim might have been buried right there, perhaps even while still alive, as the position seemed more like a struggle.
The victim’s clothes were intact: a short-sleeved red shirt on the upper body, black long pants on the lower, and no shoes, although it’s possible they hadn’t been uncovered yet. Looking from the back, no wounds were found. The victim’s hands, feet, and head showed severe skeletonization, while the torso still retained some tissue.
"Take photos, clear the surrounding sand, bring down the body bag and stretcher, then turn it upside down on the back of the body, and pack the body along with the sand into the bag. Otherwise, the body will fall apart," Zhou Ning instructed.
Mr. Zhao nodded, walking over to Da Wang’er to discuss. Someone brought the required items, and Mr. Pang clicked away with his camera, seemingly worried he hadn’t taken enough photos from every angle, height, and close-ups. Zhou Ning threw an evidence bag to Mr. Wang.
"Put the earring into the evidence bag, and pick up the fallen fingernails too. Think you can handle it?"
Mr. Wang nodded, not daring to say a word, but soon turned and walked towards the body. Once the cleanup was done and the body bag prepared, Liu Yongxin stepped down the ladder and, upon inspecting the scene up close, had someone prepare a plank almost the same length as the body.
"Da Wang’er, you’re strong and thoughtful. You and Mr. Zhao stand on the left with the plank. You three stand on the right. After the body is completely wrapped in the body bag, push on the body’s back from your side to prevent it from sliding."
"Then, Da Wang’er and Mr. Zhao, push the plank underneath from the bottom. Work together to flip the body and the bag clockwise. Got it?
You must coordinate well, or it’ll fall apart, and we’ll have to pick up the pieces. It’s getting dark, and I don’t want to be picking bones out of the sand late into the night," he warned.
With those words, everyone braced themselves for action.
But it was the truth, Da Wang’er also found gloves to wear, and everyone donned their high corrosion isolation suits. Once everyone was prepared, the three newcomers put the body bag on and checked it several times over. The surrounding police officers, holding high-beam flashlights, illuminated the area below where the lighting was somewhat poor.
Mr. Zhao and Da Wang’er approached closer, holding up a wooden board to check on the three people opposite them.
"Let’s do this, we have to get it right in one try, otherwise it’s just as Mr. Liu said, we’ll extend the work time by five or six hours. After all, I’m really hungry,"
Mr. Pang had a bitter look on his face.
"Mr. Zhao, can we not talk about food?"
"If you cooperate well, I won’t mention it. Brace yourselves, we’re going to insert the boards now. One—two—three!"
Following the countdown, the two men directly inserted the wooden boards beneath the corpse. The sand wasn’t very compact, but there was a significant weight on top. Gasping for breath, they took a short break, then with renewed effort, they slightly lifted the board.
Seeing the two men appear to be exhausted, several police officers jumped down to help. Following Liu Yongxin’s commands, they quickly flipped the body over, laid the body bag flat, and removed the boards, while Liu Yongxin carefully checked the area beneath the body.
Noticing nothing was missing and that there was still quite a bit of sand underneath, Liu Yongxin felt puzzled.
"I find this strange. Could this person have jumped into a pile of sand and then got buried? Bags of sand were poured in; how long would that take?"
Zhou Ning shook his head; he couldn’t understand it right now.
"I can’t make sense of it either. The victim’s time of death is around two months ago. Later, we’ll take it back for scanning, and then use the software to reconstruct the image for investigation."
"Judging by the clothing, the victim’s age is between 40-50. The attire is quite ordinary, and the jewelry has a vintage feel. The body was discovered here, buried by Yang Liang, so it might be related to him. However, we need to wait for a more detailed autopsy for specifics.
Da Wang’er, leave someone to continue sifting through the septic tank. Get someone to take over the lighting here; we need to carry out further cleaning. Once the sand on top of the body is cleared, send it back for freezing. We’ll continue digging. We haven’t found the murder weapon or the tools used for dismemberment yet; we must keep looking,"
Da Wang’er came over and wiped the sweat from his face with a tissue.
"Director Zhou, you haven’t had lunch, and you’re working continuously. Can you handle it? Why don’t we have someone watch over this place, and once the body is cleaned up, send it back, and you all can go rest for a bit? We’ll keep cleaning out the septic tank. What do you think? Anyway, the things inside the cellar can’t run away. I’ll find some high-wattage floodlights to brighten up this area,"
Liu Yongxin nudged Zhou Ning; he knew his prized apprentice was excellent in many ways, but tended to be stubborn when working. It wasn’t just him—everyone else was tired too.
Not to mention, the local officers were carting loads of sand out, each working as hard as a dog with their individual wheelbarrows.
"Heeding advice fills the belly: cleaning the sand off the body will take a long while, and a full excavation and investigation underneath will likely take most of the day. It’s indeed difficult to see at night, and any oversight is worse than waiting. Besides, we’ve discovered another body; I need to talk with Mr. Huang. The previous interrogation techniques are useless now,"
Zhou Ning sighed with this thought.
"Alright then, Master, you guys go up first. I’ll stay with Mr. Zhao and the others to clean the sand off the body, then we’ll leave. Da Wang’er, how much longer until the septic tank is sifted through?"
Liu Yongxin turned and walked away. Da Wang’er gestured.
"I think it’ll be quick, only about ten centimeters deep left. But the bottom is uneven, and the outside lighting is poor—they’re pulling in lamps. I guess the progress is about the same as ours!"
Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief and gestured for Da Wang’er to go check it out. He then walked over to the body bag. The three had heard their conversation and were carefully clearing away the sand. Zhou Ning went straight for the victim’s head, and as the sand was cleared, the victim’s lower jaw and neck area were revealed.
The victim’s lower jaw was elevated, mouth agape, filled with sand. Facial tissue was missing, and the eye sockets were hollow. This state looked truly horrifying.
Zhou Ning scooped out the sand. As he cleared the neck area, he noticed that there was almost no tissue left, but a double-folded, bent piece of wire appeared below the neck. The wire was semi-circular, with spiral traces at both ends.
Seeing this, Zhou Ning thought of the state of the victim’s left hand; it was raised high while the right hand was down. Initially, he thought it was an attempt to call for help or struggle, but now it seemed possible the victim was trying to loosen the restraint around the neck, attempting to escape, but ultimately suffocating to death.
Mr. Zhao approached and handed over an evidence bag.
"How’s it going, did you find the cause of death?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Yes, I’ve found it!"
As he was speaking, a police officer’s shout came.
"Director Zhou, come take a look, we’ve found something in the septic tank!"
