Free Web NovelChapter 540: Chapter 510: Found Someone, Guess Who?_1
"Slap!"
Mr. Zhao smacked Sun Gaotie’s head. Completely puzzled, Sun Gaotie glanced at Mr. Zhao and saw him grinding his teeth, which calmed his anger.
"What’s wrong, Mr. Zhao?" freēwebnovel.com
"What’s wrong? Can’t you think before you speak? Quickly spit, spit, spit, and then touch the wall, saying ’bad luck won’t come, good luck will come.’ Have you forgotten our traditional beliefs? Are you really in this profession? Don’t you know some things should not be said? You want to go diving? Can you go down and salvage? Are you a frogman?"
Sun Gaotie immediately kept silent and, following Mr. Zhao’s instructions, spat three times, touched the inner wall of the car, and solemnly repeated that phrase three times.
After finishing, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At this point, the vehicle also came to a stop; everyone got out, except for Mr. Qu, who remained to check the driving route of Liu Tiesong’s car.
Standing at the edge of the cliff, the danger of the area was indeed prominent. Zhou Ning had heard from his grandfather that hundreds of years ago, when pirates attacked Qindao, this place was a critical stronghold, impenetrable by thousands.
Along this section of the cliff, there were two guardrails, and a convex mirror had been installed, considering that the edge of the cliff was also at a bend. With that mirror, it was possible to see the oncoming road conditions. The only pity was that there was no surveillance; of course, if there were, no one would choose this place to dump a body.
Clinging to the railing, Zhou Ning looked down. It hadn’t seemed windy in the city, but here, if you didn’t hold on to something, the wind seemed strong enough to blow you away.
Below, one could see waves crashing against the rocks. The cliff edge wasn’t a sheer drop-off but an incline at an angle of about 70 degrees, with large boulders strewn across it. The cliff was over thirty meters above the water, and as the waves broke, a fine spray could be felt on the face.
Amidst such complex terrain, Zhou Ning looked out but didn’t see any box. His eyebrows furrowed slightly. Could it be true, as Sun Gaotie suggested, that they’d have to go down to the seaside to dredge? Even if they found the body, there wouldn’t be much evidence left, especially since the luggage appeared to be made of canvas, not a highly sealed type of suitcase.
As he pondered, Mr. Zhao had already pushed through the crowd and squatted down, looking toward the edge of the guardrail.
"Stand back, all of you, move away!"
Hearing the shout, Zhou Ning quickly moved closer.
It was only upon approaching that he saw the footprints that Mr. Zhao was photographing. They were much larger than those of an average person, at least size 46 to begin with, and the prints were deep; the gravel had been pushed to one side, exposing the finer gravel underneath.
"Someone has forcefully stomped here, it looks like a size 46-47 to me. With this depth and the force applied, look at the marks I make when I stomp."
Mr. Zhao stepped back, took a running start, and forcefully kicked the gravel at the edge of the guardrail. Even though some stones were dislodged, it didn’t leave a clear impression like that footprint, which showed a distinctive twist and a sideways movement.
"I weigh 220 pounds, and even with a running start, I couldn’t leave such a clear mark. And with this kind of twist, and the lateral kicking marks, I think someone stood on the edge of the guardrail and swung their upper body to push the gravel underneath their feet.
Moreover, this person must weigh much more than I do. I suspect it was Ma Decai. Holding the suitcase, his weight combined with that of the suitcase would be at least over three hundred pounds, which could create such an impression. Mr. Yang, take the sample."
This analysis was quite reliable. Zhou Ning stepped beside Mr. Zhao and carefully observed the impression, performing a leftward twist and then a rightward twist. Mr. Zhao snapped his fingers at the side.
"Stop, it’s that leftward twisting motion. Could this person be left-handed? A high toss with such rotation means the strength in the left arm must be stronger than the right."
Zhou Ning nodded without saying a word, his gaze following under his feet, looking down the steep slope to the left, just as his gaze was about to reach the waves, a small piece of navy blue caught his eye. Excitedly pulling out a laser pointer, he pointed and said:
"Look down there, isn’t that a bit of dark blue peeking out? Mr. Qu, in the control room, what color is the suitcase? Can you see it clearly?"
Mr. Qu had already stuck his head out from the car, holding up a notebook for everyone to see.
"It appears black, but compared with a black garbage bag, it’s a bit lighter. I think it’s dark blue."
Zhou Ning waved his hand and took a deep breath, not smelling the familiar scent of advanced decomposition; however, having found this spot, it was certain they would need to go down for a look, but this was a cliff and they lacked professional equipment.
"Zhang Ping, contact the fire brigade for support. Explain the situation. As for the K-9 unit..."
Before Zhou Ning could finish, Zhang Ping smiled and said:
"Director Zhou, I know what you mean, but the K-9 unit’s team will be here soon. They’ll first gather at the villa. Besides, the deceased’s suitcase hasn’t been found yet. If there’s a body below, they might as well search for the suitcase too, right?"
Mr. Qu nodded.
"I just checked, Liu Liwei went straight home on the night of the 28th, and the suitcase was left in his car. It was only on the afternoon of the 29th that he made a trip to Mashan Scenic Area. Judging the speed between surveillance cameras, he didn’t stop at the edge of the cliff."
Zhou Ning sighed deeply and got back into the car to wait. About an hour later, the fire brigade team arrived.
Mr. Zhao and the others had gone to inspect the villa, leaving only Zhou Ning and Zhang Ping to wait by the cliff. Zhou Ning didn’t recognize the newcomers, but seeing how familiar Zhang Ping was with them, it was clear they knew each other well.
"Old comrade, we need your help again this time. We need your cooperation to check if what’s wedged between the rocks below is a suitcase. But it’s too steep—we don’t have the equipment to go down. You also need to be careful."
"Why so polite? Alright, you all step back; I’ll send someone down to take a look."
Zhou Ning found a corner to stand in while the firefighters barricaded both sides of the road. After inspecting the guardrail, they began to secure it and then lowered the rope to investigate the slope. To the eye, the steep incline was barely distinguishable from a vertical drop, especially with the large, jutting rocks giving the scene a hair-raising intensity.
It took nearly ten minutes for the small firefighter who was scouting ahead to reach the designated spot. Standing on a rock, he lifted his cellphone and took a photo. The head of the fire brigade quickly handed the photo over to Zhou Ning and Zhang Ping for them to look at. Indeed, it was a huge navy blue canvas suitcase, looking to be around 29 inches in size.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Ping couldn’t contain his excitement and exclaimed,
"Fantastic, that’s the one. But the suitcase needs to be carefully packaged before bringing it up; if our guess is right, there should be a female corpse inside."
That person shuddered, remained stunned for three seconds, then waved back toward his comrades.
"Come on, old comrade, why didn’t you tell us all at once? My little soldiers had no idea what this was about."
Zhang Ping bared his teeth in a smile.
"At first, we weren’t certain; besides, saying it earlier would have scared you more. Get to work quickly."
The person didn’t dally, promptly calling over another heavy-set individual. This time, having learned the lay of the path, the descent was much quicker. Once at the bottom, they tied the suitcase with ropes and then pulled the small firefighter back up first.
Upon surfacing, the man was still full of bewilderment, anxiously saying,
"What’s the rush to pull me up? The suitcase isn’t light—I reckon it’s nearly 180 pounds. If it gets stuck on the way up, we could provide some assistance."
The head of the brigade glared.
"Get out of the way, and hurry to pull up the suitcase. Be careful not to knock it against the rocks. The path up has some distance from old Cheng’s, pay attention to adjusting the direction." frёewebηovel.cѳm
Seeing that he did not offer further explanation, Zhou Ning and Zhang Ping naturally refrained from saying more.
With so many people around, even the driver Mr. Wang went up to help, and they eventually managed to pull the suitcase up. When it reached the edge, Mr. Wang had already crossed the guardrail, his legs fixed in place, and with gloves on, he lifted the suitcase. Others reached out to help, but he stopped them.
"That’s fine, everyone hands off the suitcase. Let’s pull up the others first. There’s a corpse inside this."
With that one sentence, it was as if a mute button had been hit; everyone fell silent. Old Cheng was hauled up, panting heavily.
Mr. Wang glanced over and checked that both men who went down were wearing lined gloves, as they could increase friction. Only then did he relax a bit and placed the suitcase on plastic sheeting to load it into the vehicle.
Zhou Ning walked over to the rear of the vehicle, inserted a pen into the zipper of the suitcase, and lightly poked it open just a bit. Through the gap, he could clearly see a white bedsheet with a pattern of dark stripes and traces of transparent tape. This sight was unmistakably that of a corpse. Zhou Ning also breathed a sigh of relief; at last, they had found the body.
Zhang Ping began handing out bottles of mineral water; some opened them immediately and started drinking. Zhang Ping’s cheeks twitched slightly.
Zhou Ning suppressed a laugh and quickly waved over to Mr. Wang, who was already carrying over a large barrel of water, telling everyone to stand where there were no footprints before saying,
"Line up one by one to wash your hands. Given the emergency just now, we weren’t entirely sure this suitcase contained a corpse. Let’s dispel the bad luck!"
The person in charge smiled and gave Zhang Ping a friendly punch.
"Enough with the fuss, isn’t the suitcase going to be opened for a look?"
Zhang Ping glanced at Zhou Ning; seeing him shake his head, he said,
"The deceased has been dead for several days now. We can’t perform an autopsy here, and the situation is unclear. Let’s discuss everything back at the station. I won’t say thank you too much. Do you want a banner or a letter of commendation?"
The man laughed even more heartily, showing an understanding as he gestured to the people behind him.
"A banner will do. Just make sure it’s properly labeled for us at the Tongshan Fire Brigade. We’ll be on our way; you’ve still got work to do, so let’s not stand on ceremony."
The man was straightforward, leading the firefighters away quickly. Mr. Wang tidied up the large barrel of water and then joined Zhou Ning and the others.
"Director Zhou, shall we head to the villa?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Let’s go, Mr. Zhao and the others might have made a discovery. There’s been no phone call, which at least means everything is going smoothly. I also wonder if Mr. Qu has found out where Liu Liwei dumped the suitcase?"
The group got into their car and sped off to the villa, which was not just a single building but a cluster of villas built along the mountainside. At the entrance to the villa complex, hung a sign that read, "Mashan Scenic Area Villas."
No need for directions; several police cars were already parked in front of the largest stone villa. Speaking of Mr. Fang’s aesthetic taste, it seems he has a particular fondness for stone houses.
The car had barely stopped when Mr. Zhao came running out, beaming with glee, one could tell there had been a discovery.
"Did you find the suitcase, or did you find Liu Tiesong’s fingerprints?"
Surprisingly, Mr. Zhao didn’t nod but gave a proud shake of his head, wearing an incredibly smug expression.
"We found a person—guess who?"
