Free Web NovelChapter 582: Chapter 552 Scent_1
Mr. Zhao paused, but without any unnecessary words, he called everyone together to start grouping up. After donning their equipment, they split up and set off immediately.
Zhou Ning didn’t go to check the patrol car since Zhao Xinli was there, and he was quite confident in him.
Approaching the truck, he could see that the missing front end was not due to a collision, but because of an emergency stop. The cargo on the truck surged towards the driver’s cabin, compressing the front into that shape. From a distance, it looked almost as though there was no front end at all.
He recalled something Liu Yongxin had mentioned before: on the Qindao Bay Expressway, there were specialized checks for container truck drivers. The flatbeds of these trucks had holes at the corners that matched up with containers, which could be secured with locking devices.
However, during actual transport, the truck drivers were reluctant to insert the locking devices. The straightforward reason for not locking them was so that in the face of danger, the containers could detach quickly, because if an accident occurred, having the container in the tow made the truck much more prone to tipping over.
But not locking them meant putting other vehicles and pedestrians on the road at risk. And for trucks carrying heavy items or special goods like steel bars, accidents were more likely to happen. With an overweight load, braking would cause everything to lunge forward, and few could escape unscathed.
Putting aside his thoughts, Zhou Ning walked to the side of the vehicle. The left side of the truck had taken a heavy hit, which was consistent with a person’s subconscious reaction to danger – to instinctively swerve to avoid an accident. It was the impact on the left that had caused the patrol car to roll away, and unfortunately, it was also where he met his end.
"Mr. Zou, go up and take a look at what cargo it’s carrying. The rest of you, start measuring the beginning and endpoints where the braking marks start. If it’s hard to determine, just take pictures and send them to me, I’ll take a look for you," he said. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Everyone nodded and quickly began their work.
Zhou Ning stood with the traffic police, and after waiting around twenty minutes, a guy came over on a tricycle. The cart was tossed with several transfer boxes, some electronic scales, and things of the like. Of course, at the bottom, there were also a few giant winter melons. He was some distance from the crime scene when he jumped off and waved to the traffic police.
The traffic cop quickly nodded and had the interceptor let him through. As he approached, the traffic cop quickly introduced him to Zhou Ning:
"This is the informant, Wang Weili. Looks like he closed up shop early," he said.
Wang Weili walked up to the traffic cop and Zhou Ning, nodding with a smile.
"Comrade, what else would you like to ask?" he inquired.
"This is Director Zhou from our municipal bureau’s technical department. He’s here to take a look at the scene and has some questions for you. Don’t be nervous, just speak up about whatever you know," the traffic cop explained.
Zhou Ning nodded apologetically.
"Sorry for affecting your business today. Let me know how much you’ve lost, and I’ll arrange for you to be compensated later. Thank you for calling the police; it allowed us to rescue our colleague and the suspect. If the call had come any later, who knows what the outcome could have been," he said.
Wang Weili hurriedly waved his hands, with a simple and honest smile on his face.
"What are you talking about? It doesn’t matter if it’s a cop or not, if I see something I can’t just ignore it. I thought to myself, what if the one lying injured on the ground were me? If someone came by, I’d hope they’d lend a hand, right? If we can’t handle the rescue, then we find professionals to come over. Ask me whatever you want," Wang Weili said.
Zhou Ning pointed towards the traffic police’s law enforcement recorder, then spoke:
"Looking at the law enforcement recorder, after the police arrived at the scene, you were still holding your phone up, recording the process. I’d like to know whether you started recording when you noticed the accident, or just to document your call for help. Could we take a look at it?" he asked.
Wang Weili chuckled twice and hurriedly fished out his phone. After wiping it clean with the inside of his shirt, he handed it to Zhou Ning.
"The first time I came back from the market to load up the truck, the accident hadn’t happened yet. When I just turned onto the small road from the village, I heard a loud ’bang’ and saw sparks flying everywhere. It gave me quite a scare. I immediately took out my phone and started recording.
"The accident site was too far away; at first, I didn’t even notice the patrol car in the cornfield, just the frightening look of this truck and its flattened driver’s cabin. Blood was oozing out through the cracks. I thought someone had caused an accident and fled, so I made sure to check the road heading east. Then, I heard moaning from the cornfield and found them," he continued.
At that moment, Zhou Ning waved Mr. Qu over. He had already come over to copy the video. A moment later, he returned, and the quality on the notebook looked much clearer, although it was still a dark expanse where only the areas illuminated by the flashlight were visible.
However, at the start of the video, a fleeting light shone in the distance. Zhou Ning thought his eyes were playing tricks on him and raised his hand to have Mr. Qu pause the footage.
"Did you see the light in the distance?" he asked.
Mr. Qu nodded.
"I vaguely saw a light flash for a moment, but it disappeared quickly. I’m not sure if it was actually a light," he said.
Zhou Ning turned to Wang Weili.
"Brother, think carefully. When you heard the sound and saw the accident here, was there a car leaving in the distance? Or, coming in the same direction as you, was there any car approaching?" he inquired.
Wang Weili thought for a while and then shook his head slightly.
"Police comrade, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. That noise was so loud it really startled me. I immediately rushed over on the tricycle. Wait a minute..." he said.
At this point, Wang Weili paused for a moment. Zhou Ning and the others didn’t prompt him, quietly waiting for Wang Weili to gather his thoughts. As time ticked by, second by second, Wang Weili walked to the middle of the road, gestured to indicate a direction, and then spoke.
"In recent months, they’ve been constructing an overpass around here. Many vehicles, in an attempt to take a shortcut, have been passing by our village. This road isn’t wide at all. When I approached it with my tricycle, I didn’t see the lights.
But I smelled a fragrance, can’t exactly describe what it was, just that it was special and nice, not the kind of smell that stings the nose. It was subtle and elusive. Ah, I’m just a simple man without much experience with these things, certainly not like the kind of perfumes my wife buys for ten or eight yuan." frёeωebɳovel.com
A fragrance?
Zhou Ning pondered for a moment. The truck driver had died on the spot, and the smell of blood and other odors squeezed out was quite intense. Although the distance was somewhat far, the odor was very pungent, capable of covering it up, the perfume must be quite potent.
As for the police car, with four officers inside, it was an achievement that it didn’t stink. After a day and night of toil, in this weather, even their feet could kill with the stench. Only Xu Qingquan, the artist, might spray perfume. But to leave a scent on the road, how much perfume would have to be sprayed?
Could it be that this scent was related to the lights Zhou Ning saw?
However, that seemed a stretch. If the lights in the video flashed for just a moment and then disappeared, according to the map, that would mean the car had already turned at a point more than five hundred meters away. To leave a scent trail after traveling five hundred meters, it wasn’t a car, it would be more like a bottle of perfume.
Though doubtful, Zhou Ning didn’t express his thoughts because when people are tense, their senses tend to amplify infinitely. How to put it, seeing someone carrying a stick, in their perception, it could be Sun Wukong wielding his golden staff to clear them out, some kind of sensory distortion.
"This scent, if you smelled it again, could you recognize it?"
Wang Weili nodded.
"I should be able to. It was quite a unique scent. I was really scared at the time, but the smell somehow made me less afraid."
Just then, Mr. Zhao emerged from the cornfield, holding up a piece of luggage that wasn’t small. Old Wang quickly went over to lend a hand and helped pull Mr. Zhao out of the field. His shoe covers were nowhere to be seen.
"Pah, a fly flew into my mouth. Was it trying to commit suicide, offering itself to the tiger? Zhou Xiaozhou, come quick, we’ve found some things by the trunk of the car; this suitcase is really good quality. It was crushed out of shape, but as soon as I lifted it, it sprang back into form. It looks similar to the one we saw in the surveillance footage, the one Xu Qingquan was carrying."
Zhou Ning nodded. He had noticed as well, though it seemed slightly larger than the one shown in the surveillance. But then he let it go, considering Xu Qingquan’s physique didn’t exactly match the stereotype of a fine arts student; he looked more like an athlete, albeit with a particularly delicate and handsome face.
Old Wang had already spread a large piece of plastic sheet on the ground and placed the suitcase on it.
Mr. Zhao was squatting by the side. From the suitcase, he retrieved a pair of pliers. Sun Gao Tie was collecting DNA from the zipper pulls. Then Mr. Zhao cut the combination lock and opened the suitcase.
On one side of the suitcase were several articles of clothing in an organizer bag, a toiletry kit, and little things like razors hanging in protruding spots. The other side was blocked by a soft partition.
Mr. Zhao and the others didn’t rush; they first collected fingerprints and DNA, then each pulled on one side of the partition’s hooks, opening it. As the partition lifted, the items inside came into view: a grey lump of fur, resembling a cushion, but everyone realized what it actually was.
"Jiao Tai Wolf?"
Mr. Zhao exclaimed.
"Don’t take it out; just pack it up again in the organizer box as is and send it for inspection. It seems to be identical to the Jiao Tai Wolf that Li Li was holding in the surveillance, but we will need DNA testing to confirm. Did you find any other information in the car?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"The car is totaled. Judging by the condition, it must have been hit by the truck right at the driver’s seat, causing a fishtail and subsequent rollovers. The remains of the roof and the seats are all covered in blood. The rescuers from the fire department had to cut it open to extract the body—no need to say the traces are complicated; we’ll need to go back for comparison to find out."
Sun Gao Tie squatted beside the suitcase, looking perplexed.
"I just don’t get it; this Xu Qingquan is a cellist in a symphony orchestra, wealthy, good-looking, with a beautiful and capable fiancée, so why would he get involved with Li Li?"
Zhou Ning didn’t answer this question but instead turned to Mr. Qu.
"Retrieve the WeChat and QQ chat records for Xu Qingquan, Li Li, and this truck driver. Right, look into the call records too. The timing of this car accident is too coincidental. How could something this opportune happen? Also, didn’t they say we could check the phone’s location through Xu Qingquan’s computer? Let’s go back now, and head over to Xu Qingquan’s house to take a look."
Mr. Zhao looked up, shaking his head slightly.
"I think it’ll be difficult to get cooperation from Xu Qingquan’s sister, seeing as Xu Qingquan is still in critical condition. But the position of this truck is a bit strange. Could it be driver fatigue?"
Zhou Ning stood up and waved to Mr. Zou not far away.
"Have the brake marks been measured? Have the traces been collected?"
