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墨書 Inktalez
Although it belonged to Yuzhou City, the distance from the urban area to Niulan Village was not short. After nearly two hours of travel, we finally arrived at the foot of the mountain. Driving along the winding Dirt Road towards Niulan Village, I looked around and saw steep cliffs and ravines on both sides, a typical highland mountainous terrain. Only a small section of the road was paved with concrete; most of it was yellow earth, and in narrow places, only one vehicle could pass through.
On my way here, I had encountered a minibus coming down from the mountain. According to the driver, the minibus only made two trips a day—one at nine in the morning and another at nine in the evening, each completing a loop. The rest of the time, it operated on different routes. Villagers from various villages in the mountains often spent three yuan to take the minibus into the city, usually elderly people going out for medical treatment, as there were not many young people among them. Some would ride bicycles to wait at the station, while more chose to wake up early and walk down to the foot of the mountain, which took at least an hour.
While the city was rapidly developing and people's living standards were significantly improving, many such villages still existed where villagers faced difficulties even in traveling. Perhaps as we witness rapid economic growth in cities, we should pause and consider whether we can direct some of that energy towards these villages, which are far more numerous.
As I pondered this, someone suddenly knocked on my head. I looked up to see Shi Huacheng, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team. Upon closer inspection, I realized that our vehicle had already stopped and that team members were getting out one after another. This time, a large team had been dispatched; including me as an "intern," there were only four of us.
Captain Shi Huacheng was a man nearing thirty with a bushy beard. Even while in the car, he was always ready with a razor. As he put it himself, his beard grew like mushrooms after rain—quickly and abundantly. If he didn't shave regularly, it would affect his appearance and leave a poor impression on the public. In the passenger seat was Wang Gang, a member of the Criminal Investigation Team whose name suited him well. I heard he had previously served in the armed police before transferring to the criminal police unit.
Sitting next to me was a forensic doctor named Yang Xiaojuan. She appeared to be about my age and looked quite delicate but had an icy demeanor that suggested she was detached from worldly affairs. However, her name felt very down-to-earth. Just thinking about her daily work in eerie and expansive places filled with corpses sent a chill down my spine; she had been in this profession for several years.
It is said that every day, the police department receives countless emergency calls—ninety percent of which report seeing corpses or homicides that turn out to be false alarms. When we arrive at these locations for careful examination, we often discover they are either false reports or cases of mistaken identity where something else was misidentified as a body. I once encountered someone who called in thinking an inflatable doll was a corpse.
However, there are strict orders from above that every homicide must be solved; police departments everywhere take such cases very seriously. Thus, upon receiving a report, we rushed to Niulan Village immediately. As soon as we got out of the car, we noticed many people gathering in the distance. Leading them was an old man in his fifties or sixties—the village chief of Niulan Village—who hurried over to us and said breathlessly, "Leaders! There’s a body in the dry well behind the village!"
Whether it was true or not would soon be revealed. We hurriedly made our way to the scene. The police flashlight had an extremely strong beam that illuminated the outline of the body clearly. The captain nodded at us; everyone realized that this time it was indeed a homicide case. However, whether it was suicide, murder, or accidental death would need to be determined by Xiaojuan's examination.
While I busied myself calling for reinforcements from our department and setting up a perimeter around the scene, it was evident that there were numerous footprints around the dry well on the Dirt Road nearby; weeds had been trampled down. Although we couldn't yet ascertain all details of what had happened, it was clear that evidence at the scene had been thoroughly disturbed.
As I worked on this task, I noticed Wang Gang had already descended into the well. His muscular build made movement difficult down there; aside from him, there were no other suitable candidates for this job. After some time passed, I heard Wang Gang's voice coming from deep within: "I found an adult male body at the bottom of the well; it's covered with many stones almost entirely! To get him out will require removing these stones first!"
Upon hearing this, Captain Shi pondered for a moment before saying decisively: "Then let's start by getting those stones up!"
A villager brought an Iron Barrel, tied it to a rope, and began transporting stones. Without going into unnecessary details, it took an immense amount of effort to move all the stones, which were then piled into a small heap. The body had not yet been removed when the captain, with his unique intuition, said to me, "Pay attention; this case is likely a murder."
As expected, Xiao Juan's examination later confirmed this. The body was found lying flat on a patch of ground next to a dry well. Honestly speaking, although I had seen many corpses during my time at the police academy, I still felt a sense of nervousness and panic upon seeing this one. In contrast, Xiao Juan had already begun a preliminary autopsy.
At first glance, the body was in a terrible state of decay. Despite wearing a mask, the stench was overwhelming. I couldn't fathom how Wang Gang had managed to retrieve the body from the well. The head was half-rotted, and maggots crawled all over it, their white bodies wriggling through the remains. It appeared to have multiple fractures, twisted in such a way that it resembled a soft creature without bones.
"It can be confirmed: this is murder," Xiao Juan said as she stood up and surveyed the surroundings. She leaned closer to us and whispered, "There are multiple signs of fractures on the body, but they seem to have occurred post-mortem. There are several stab wounds on the abdomen and chest, with the one on the chest likely being fatal. Recently, there hasn't been any rain in Yuzhou City; based on the temperature and humidity over the past few days, the estimated time of death is between three to seven days. The rest will need to be clarified back at the autopsy room."
"Now it's our turn to take action!" Captain Shi nodded, his eyes flickering toward the pile of stones. Many of them were stained dark red with blood, but some pieces bore fresh blood that looked like it had just dripped down. The captain called for the village chief to inquire about the specific circumstances surrounding the discovery of the body.
After receiving various responses, we pieced together what happened. The discovery of the body was purely coincidental; if not for a child accidentally falling into the well while playing, it might have remained hidden forever. This meant that the fresh blood likely belonged to Er Mao Donkey, who fell into the well while playing and disturbed the stones at the bottom, revealing the buried body that Tall and Thin Person eventually spotted. That was essentially what happened; now we needed to determine who this person was when they were alive.
While we were asking questions about the identity of the corpse, Wang Gang had already begun his inquiries among the villagers. Many villagers attempted to identify it, but with only half a head remaining and significant decay, recognition was difficult. At that moment, one Villager spoke up: "Isn't this man from Wang Guihua's family at the west end of the village? I recognize that piece of clothing!"
Upon hearing this, more villagers began to agree as they looked closer. Eventually, they unanimously identified the deceased as Wang Guihua's husband, whose name was Zhang Fushun. The captain exchanged glances with Wang Gang, signaling him to verify the identity of the deceased. Wang Gang nodded in acknowledgment before Captain Shi asked, "So where is Wang Guihua now?"
In such a small village, news travels quickly; within three minutes, word could spread from one end to another. Given such a significant event had occurred, villagers gathered around in droves to witness what was happening. However, Wang Guihua was nowhere to be seen. When Captain Shi asked for her for the third time, someone shouted from afar: "Wang Guihua is here!"
Though her name sounded pleasant, there was no resemblance between her and osmanthus flowers. She appeared to weigh around 140-150 pounds and wore autumn pants on her lower half while only donning a tank top on top—seemingly without any undergarments underneath. From the front view, her sagging chest made it quite uncomfortable to look at.
Wang Guihua pushed through the crowd and saw the body on the ground; she immediately collapsed and began wailing uncontrollably. Her cries were heart-wrenching as she repeatedly threatened to faint while shouting things like "What will we do now that you're dead?" or "I don't want to live anymore."
Several times she attempted to throw herself against the dry well but was stopped by those around her. In such circumstances, Captain Shi found it difficult to say anything and could only try to calm down the grieving family member's emotions. Over an hour later, additional personnel from the police station arrived—some took photographs while others provided comfort and support.
Finally, the crowd had dispersed, and the body along with the family members had been taken away. Only the three of us remained at the scene. Captain Shi instructed me to investigate the area on my own, while he and Wang Gang retreated to a distance to smoke. After a while, they returned and asked me, "What did you find?"
I gathered my thoughts and replied, "This is definitely not the primary crime scene. I took a close look at the weeds by the dry well. You see this patch of grass? It’s leaning to one side. Although many parts are trampled and messy, you can still make out some details. Also, look at this broken edge; it’s dried out and starting to heal. This area is clearly older than the rest!"
After saying this, I looked up at Captain Shi, only to find him smiling at me. He then said, "Good observation. If you also notice the slight green stains on the back of the victim's clothing, you'll be even more certain that someone dragged the body through this patch of grass."
It dawned on me that Captain Shi had already picked up on many subtle details without saying much. He wanted me to deduce things for myself. He nodded at me and gestured for me to continue.
I went on, "The sequence of events likely unfolded like this: after the victim was killed, they were dragged to the dry well for disposal. Although the killer knew there wouldn’t be anyone around this area, they still moved several stones from nearby for safety and buried the body under them. The fractures and breaks in the bones probably resulted from this."
Captain Shi nodded in agreement and said, "From your words, we can analyze quite a bit of information!"
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