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墨書 Inktalez
Early on the twenty-first, the information about six individuals appeared on the desk of the City Public Security Bureau office.
Old Shao sipped his steaming green tea while reviewing the files of these six people.
The person in charge of the crematorium was Zhang De, a leader in an office under the Civil Affairs Bureau's administrative office. This office had a total of three staff members: Zhang De and two clerks. It was a completely idle position, with little work to do, primarily coordinating the transportation of unclaimed bodies in Dragon City.
The documents indicated that Zhang De was forty-two years old and had a five-year-old daughter. He had a relaxed job and enjoyed fishing with others during his free time, having no other notable hobbies. His work style was unremarkable, and he had a happy family life, making him seem unlikely to be a murderer capable of such heinous acts.
Zhang De had two clerks under him: one named Li Cun, thirty years old, nicknamed Bald Li due to his premature hair loss despite his young age. The other was Liu Yifen, who had just transferred to the office a few months ago and appeared somewhat naive in her early twenties.
Typically, it was Bald Li and Liu Yifen who managed the office while Zhang De casually checked his phone, sipped tea, and then went home after work. Liu Yifen mostly handled phone calls and arranged for body transport, only needing signatures from Bald Li or Zhang De.
Due to his light workload, Zhang De often skipped coming to the office, concentrating on paperwork about once a week to review the number of bodies transported in and out that week.
Old Shao tapped Liu Yifen's name twice with his finger. He understood that if Liu Yifen did not write reports, neither Bald Li nor Zhang De would ever verify the number of bodies in the refrigerator. This meant that Liu Yifen could be aware of the body admission situation immediately and act without being detected.
Liu Yifen's suspicion was greater than that of the other two.
These three were formal employees; the remaining three were akin to Jiang He’s status at the police bureau—non-staff personnel. Among these three non-staff members were two hearse drivers and one security guard.
The security guard was Old Wei, an eccentric old man. The two hearse drivers were both men in their forties: one named Li Erdan and the other Wang Da. Their job was to follow Liu Yifen's and Bald Li's instructions over the phone to transport bodies to the funeral home or move bodies from the funeral home to other crematoriums.
As a criminal investigator, Old Shao had dealt with these drivers frequently.
When a body is discovered and someone calls the police, the first responders are usually officers from the nearby precinct along with emergency medical personnel. If a doctor confirms that the deceased is beyond saving, they will notify the criminal investigation team to determine the cause of death. The investigators examine traces around the body and document the crime scene; sometimes, if conditions permit, forensic experts will conduct a preliminary examination on-site.
Simultaneously, the criminal investigation team contacts the funeral home to transport the body to a nearby facility for autopsy; some larger police departments have facilities that allow them to take bodies directly to their autopsy rooms.
The responsibility for transporting bodies falls to the hearse drivers from the funeral home.
These drivers are required to transport numerous bodies—some directly from crime scenes, others from police stations or hospitals to funeral homes. Like forensic experts, their work involves dealing with deceased individuals regularly.
Li Erdan and Wang Da were among those hearse drivers.
According to the information, Wang Da has been in this line of work for about five or six years and is still single. Li Erdan was previously a truck driver but switched to being a Hearse Driver a year ago. He has a wife who has since divorced him, and their ten-year-old daughter currently lives with her mother. The two of them rent an apartment in Dragon City and live a carefree life.
Aside from Zhang De, during their free time, Liu Yifen often watches the three older brothers play Fight the Landlord, which can go on from morning until quitting time, after which they each head home.
From just this file, it’s hard to tell who the murderer might be, which is why Old Shao needs to take people to investigate.
At eight in the morning, all members of the task force gathered and headed to the office of the civil affairs bureau.
Zhang De was already waiting at the office door, just waiting for Old Shao and the others to arrive.
“Have you all had breakfast?” Zhang De asked. “I’ve prepared some soy milk and fried dough sticks; feel free to have some.”
Old Shao shook his head and said, “Let’s skip the meal for now; the most important thing is to investigate the case. Is everyone here?”
As Zhang De welcomed everyone into the room, he replied, “Everyone is here except for Old Wei and Li Erdan. You’ve seen Old Wei yesterday; he doesn’t know the way, so we don’t want him getting lost halfway.”
As they entered the office, they saw a few people scattered around sitting down.
A young man quickly stood up and asked, “Who is this?”
Old Shao glanced at the young man and said, “You are Liu Yifen?”
“Yes,” Liu Yifen nodded and asked, “Leader, who is this?”
Zhang De patted someone who was sleeping with his head on the table and said, “Bald Li, Bald Li, wake up; the police are here.”
“What’s wrong with the police coming?” Bald Li was jolted awake by Zhang De’s pat and seemed a bit grumpy. “When can the police manage our department?”
Old Shao looked around the office; there were just a few simple desks, several computers, a tea table next to a long sofa, a few boxes of cigarettes, and a stack of playing cards scattered on the table. It seemed they had played cards last night and hadn’t cleaned up yet. Old Shao understood that working in such a place was basically no different from retirement; there wasn’t much authority involved—most matters concerned dead people.
On the sofa lay another person who was also fast asleep. Since Li Erdan hadn’t arrived, this person must be Wang Da.
"I indeed cannot manage you all," Old Shao said slowly. "However, once the case involving the people arises, I can control you. Bring me the recent paperwork and records related to the body transport."
After Old Shao finished speaking, several people remained unresponsive.
Old Shao furrowed his brow, glancing at Bald Li, who was still slumped over the table asleep, and then at Wang Da, who was sprawled on the sofa. He turned to Zhang De and said, "Leader Zhang, do I need to ask you to cooperate?"
Upon hearing Old Shao's tone turn unfriendly, Zhang De realized he was getting angry. He picked up a nearby teapot and smashed it on the floor, producing a loud "Ding Ling Guo Lang" sound. Bald Li jumped up from his chair, while Wang Da tumbled off the sofa in surprise.
"Get back to work!" Zhang De shouted. "Immediately bring out all the recent documents for Old Shao to review! None of you have any skills; all you do is hide here and sleep."
Before Zhang De could say more, Liu Yifen had already brought various documents over.
As Liu Yifen handed the files to Old Shao, she explained, "These are the details of the bodies from the past few months. The funeral home currently has a total of eleven bodies: six females and five males, including a boy around ten years old."
Old Shao looked at Liu Yifen and asked, "You know this without looking at the documents?"
Liu Yifen pointed to her head and replied, "Actually, we don't have many bodies here; I've kept track of them all. Over the past few months, we've stored a total of fifteen bodies. Four of them have been claimed by relatives, while others were sent to the medical school due to being unclaimed for too long. We've sent out four bodies; that's the current situation."
Finally, Liu Yifen asked, "What happened? You all seem so rushed as if something major has occurred."
Old Shao nodded and said, "You guessed right. An additional body has appeared in the funeral home. After police investigation, it was discovered that this body was murdered and hidden inside your funeral home's body refrigerator."
"What?" Upon hearing Old Shao's words, Bald Li and Wang Da exclaimed in shock.
"Don't you check after transporting bodies?" Old Shao inquired.
Liu Yifen shook her head. "Because most of the bodies sent here are unclaimed. They are primarily used as a temporary holding space when other funeral homes are full. Since no one cares about them, who would bother checking? At most, we just discard a body if needed. But how could there be an extra one?"
"That's exactly the problem," Old Shao replied. "Therefore, you need to cooperate with our investigation. Among you six who are familiar with the funeral home situation, you are the most suspicious."
"That's not true," Bald Li protested. "Officer, you can't wrongfully accuse me!"
"I am just the one who transports the bodies; how can you blame me?" Wang Da said.
Jiang He frowned and looked at Wang Da, asking, "Did you two arrive at the scene together, or did one of you go alone to transport the body?"
Wang Da scratched his head and replied, "Most of the time, we go together because it's really difficult to put a body into the freezer by yourself. But sometimes, like when I take a day off or he does, one of us has to handle it alone."
At this point, Wang Da added, "It's really tough to do it alone. When you're alive, you can use your strength to help out, but when it's a corpse, you have to lift it by yourself. Sometimes the body is stiff, sometimes it's limp; it's really hard to get it in there. I tried it once, and it was exhausting."
"Is this vehicle from your unit?" Jiang He asked.
"Yes," Wang Da answered.
Jiang He stared into Wang Da's eyes and asked, "Do you usually drive this vehicle around?"
Wang Da shook his head and said, "It's not that unlucky; there's no way we would drive it around. Besides, this hearse is covered in markings and has been modified for transporting bodies. Would we use it for personal errands? I definitely wouldn't admit to that."
Jiang He nodded and then asked, "Where did Li Erdan go?"
"Yeah?" Wang Da rubbed his chin and said, "He should usually be here organizing our game of Fight the Landlord. Why hasn't he shown up today?"
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