Free Web NovelChapter 895: Chapter 468: Determining the Nature of Death
Jiang An slowly stood up and began to pace around.
He carefully observed every blade of grass and every tree around him, as if he wanted to etch every detail of this land into his mind.
Director Hou, Political Commissioner Li, and Mr. Qin unconsciously followed behind him, exchanging a knowing glance with one another.
Within this task force, without anyone quite noticing, Jiang An had quietly become the core and soul of the investigation.
After circling once, Jiang An stopped, pointed at a sudden patch of open ground in the distance, and asked, "Look, up ahead the trees suddenly break off, forming a clear boundary line. What is that place?"
Mr. Qin immediately stepped forward, his expression grave, and replied, "Mr. Jiang, that’s a cliff, bottomless."
He paused, then added, "According to the county annals, this cliff formed in the late Ming and early Qing, so it’s been there for over three hundred years."
"From here to the edge of the cliff, roughly how far is it in a straight line?" Jiang An pressed.
"The straight-line distance is about one kilometer," Mr. Qin answered precisely. "It’s not very far, but the terrain along the way is complicated and overgrown with weeds."
"One kilometer..."
Jiang An repeated the number thoughtfully, his brows slightly knitted.
A key point of doubt was gradually taking shape in his mind: if the killer chose to dump the body here, why didn’t he throw it directly into that more concealed cliff?
Was there a deeper motive hidden behind this abnormal move?
Just then, Director Hou keenly noticed Jiang An’s contemplation and asked softly, "Mr. Jiang, have you found anything unusual?"
Jiang An shook his head slightly. His tone was calm but meaningful: "Not exactly unusual. I’m just thinking from the killer’s perspective: if he knew this terrain well, he should have chosen the cliff as the place to dispose of the body."
"It’s deeper and more hidden there; the chance of the body being found would be extremely small."
"This choice really runs counter to common sense."
Hearing this, Mr. Qin nodded and said, "That’s true!"
"That cliff is several hundred meters deep. If a body were thrown in, it might never be discovered."
"How did we not think of this earlier?"
Political Commissioner Li and Mr. Qin looked at each other, each seeing shock and dawning realization in the other’s eyes.
"At the beginning, we focused our investigation on the surrounding villagers," Political Commissioner Li said with feeling. "Now it seems that line of inquiry might need to be adjusted."
"If it really was done by a local, he should have chosen the more concealed cliff to dump the body."
Mr. Qin added ruefully, "Based on that assumption, we organized officers to conduct a full two weeks of blanket checks in five nearby villages, which consumed a lot of manpower and resources. If only we had realized this earlier..."
Director Hou analyzed calmly, "We can’t completely deny the value of the preliminary work."
"But now, it does cast doubt on how well the killer actually knew the terrain."
"Perhaps he’s not the ’local expert’ we imagined."
"Could it have been a hasty decision made in a moment of panic?"
Mr. Qin sighed, "At the time, we thought this place was secluded enough, and we overlooked the option of that even more concealed cliff."
Jiang An did not pursue this question further.
He knew well that with the current clues still insufficient, any premature conclusion could easily lead their thinking astray.
After a long moment, Mr. Qin spoke up: "The body was found here."
"That was also one of the reasons some of us believed it was a suicide."
"After all, if it was body disposal, this spot isn’t exactly the most suitable."
As soon as he finished, Political Commissioner Li frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Exactly!"
"Back then, some of us believed it was suicide, while others believed it was homicide!"
"The argument for suicide was that the characteristics of body disposal weren’t obvious. A killer wouldn’t just leave the body here without burying it in the ground."
"And with that cliff in the distance, looking at it now, the likelihood of death by suicide seems even higher."
"Indeed, this isn’t a typical presentation of homicide."
After a while, Director Hou turned around, brow tightly furrowed, clear hesitation in his expression.
He muttered to himself, "If it really was body disposal, this is clearly not the best choice—there are obviously more concealed spots nearby that are harder to discover."
"If we say it was burial, the way the body is buried in front of us is far too careless. The soil layer is so shallow it barely conceals anything."
"No matter how I think about it, it seems there’s only one scenario that explains this best: the deceased came here of his own accord and ended his life here.
"However, aside from suicide, there’s also the possibility of an accidental death."
"For example, suddenly falling ill in the mountains and dying because he didn’t get timely treatment."
Hearing this, Political Commissioner Li and Mr. Qin both nodded at the same time.
Political Commissioner Li said, "Director Hou, to be honest, that was one of the possibilities we considered back then as well."
"We even saw that the deceased’s ribs were fractured and suspected he might have fallen, which caused lung damage and ultimately led to his death."
After a brief pause, he sighed. "Of course, that was only a theoretical hypothesis."
"We couldn’t find enough evidence to support it."
......
As the discussion went deeper, everyone’s gaze unconsciously shifted to Jiang An, hoping he could provide a clearer direction.
Jiang An’s expression grew even more serious as he turned his attention once again to the photos taken at the scene.
He studied them closely for a moment before slowly saying, "Based on the various details of the scene’s environment, I’m now inclined to believe that the deceased neither committed suicide nor died by accident, but was dumped here by someone."
As soon as he said this, Mr. Qin responded, "But if it really was body disposal, why didn’t they choose the more concealed cliff edge?"
