106: Chapter 104 Tomb 106: Chapter 104 Tomb Noon.

Only when the sun was shining high did a sliver of light peak through the thickets, warming one’s entire body.

A squirrel leaped from the treetops, caught a glimpse of the people below, and immediately halted, using its bushy tail to firmly cover its face.

At the same time, on the other side, a wild pheasant fluttered its wings, making a sound that drew attention, transitioning through a series of steps to a higher point on the slope, trying to hide itself.

Jiang Yuan heard the commotion but only glanced over, too lazy to locate the exact source.

The terrain and landscape of Pingzhou were quite different from Shan Nan, which was only dozens of miles away.

The forests here were relatively dry, and the higher elevation harbored different wildlife.

Creatures like squirrels and pheasants were commonly seen, making the environment feel somewhat more cheerful than the forests on the Shan Nan side.

“If I weren’t so sick of chicken soup, I’d shoot that stupid thing,” the technician trailing behind Jiang Yuan remarked, even mimicking the gesture of holding and firing a gun.

“I think you’re the one who is sick of living,” Liu Jinghui, who had fallen two steps behind from the front, said: “In Mount Wulong, there are ‘pheasant assassins’ you know.”

“What’s that?”

“White-crowned Long-tailed Pheasant, it’s a kind of wild pheasant, a national first-class protected animal, on the same level as the giant panda,” Liu Jinghui mimicked the motion of firing a gun and said, “You think you’re shooting a common pheasant, at worst you’d get fined, but then a White-crowned Long-tailed Pheasant flies up…

Bang, 5 years.

Bang Bang, 10 years.

Pheasant assassins.”

The technician, as if plunged into the scenario, suddenly felt anxious.

The search team pressed on, enduring and slow.

Previously they had followed a hunting trail, where at least there was a path.

But now, to carry out a search, even just expanding the territory slightly, became significantly more difficult.

Fortunately, Liu Jinghui swiftly adjusted the strategy, exploring only those places passable by normal people.

Assuming the desperate fugitive would also stick to paths meant for humans.

With this modification, the search was able to proceed in an orderly fashion.

Beginning from where they discovered Su Qin’s body, the team members gradually spread out.

This area was still close to human settlements, where road conditions were passable and several paths meandered through the dense woods.

Occasionally, they came across various discarded items like plastic water bottles, which were now being collected as evidence.

After trudging for most of the day, the remaining search party members were visibly growing impatient.

Jiang Yuan and others like Liu Jinghui who’d traversed the old hunting path had grown accustomed to the darkness and depth of the thick woods, but the newly recruited searchers, despite some experience, weren’t necessarily adept in dealing with deep forest wilderness, which bred grumbling.

Just as Liu Jinghui pondered how to reorganize the team, the police dog at the forefront began barking excitedly.

Woof, woof, woof woof…

Liu Jinghui, as eager as if he were responding to a leader’s call, quickened his pace, taking small, brisk steps and not forgetting to pull Jiang Yuan along.

Jiang Yuan too, as if about to meet a leader, grabbed his investigation box and followed quickly, weaving through the row of people to the front.

Today’s mission included local cadre dogs and police from Pingzhou, and now it was a German Shepherd—the black and tan, full of energy and promise, younger than Heizi, more capable than Dazhuang—whose stance suggested it might at any moment earn a second-class merit and feast on an infinite buffet; it was growling low at a collapsed bank beside the road.

The bank, just beside the road, was two to three meters high and extended for about ten meters.

It was a cliff on the slope above, which would turn into a small waterfall during rainy days.

The area that the Shepherd had found was in the middle section of the bank, and there were clear signs of human-induced collapse.

Upon closer inspection, a few large trees stood between the bank and the trail, easily overlooked if one wasn’t paying attention.

But with so many people in the search team, they wouldn’t possibly neglect such a conspicuous man-made feature.

“Photograph it, record it, dig it up,” Liu Jinghui ordered with a somber expression.

He already had a guess as to what was inside.

He knew that he was pursuing desperate outlaws, aware that they acted boldly to the point of outrageousness, with no considerations at all, but the sight of one body after another was still hard to stomach.

Jiang Yuan and several forensic investigators stepped forward and began to dig.

Even if it was just a mound of earth collapsed from the embankment, it could reveal a great deal.

If there was a body…

It took only a few shovels for a body to be uncovered.

Jiang Yuan, as a forensic doctor, naturally stepped forward and switched to a small shovel and brush to diligently excavate.

“Female body.” Although the body had been reduced to bones, Jiang Yuan easily discerned its gender.

Liu Jinghui nodded, the time and gender matched, so he ordered the idle search personnel, “Look around and see if there’s a campsite that could’ve been used for rest, or any abandoned equipment.”

“Okay.” An official from the provincial office in Pingzhou was also dispatched to liaise.

Even though criminal police at the provincial office level had moved on from frontline work, interactions between neighboring offices were inevitable.

In terms of work, there was still a display of mutual assistance.

And the details involved in this case were indeed chilling.

Jiang Yuan and two other crime scene technicians gradually recovered the skeleton, making necessary records as they did so.

For instance, the depth and manner of burial suggested that there may have been only one person who buried the body.

The fact that no pit was dug but rather a slope was shoveled down also indicated the attitude of the buryer and their “earth-moving capabilities.”

But regardless, this was the first buried body that they had come across in this case.

If it were an isolated incident, the question would be why; if not, were there more bodies that had been similarly concealed in the underbrush?

Jiang Yuan’s mind uncontrollably drifted to these questions, causing him to stand up straight and stretch his back.

Liu Jinghui came over to check the body and asked, “Any thoughts?”

“Under these soil conditions, the body would return to dust in about 20 years or so,” Jiang Yuan said without turning his head, glancing at Liu Jinghui.

Liu Jinghui said, “Without even the bones remaining?”

“If it’s buried like this,” Jiang Yuan gestured toward the ground.

“In 20 years, not even the bones would remain.”

“In that case…”

“If they started killing at the beginning of this century, the earliest bodies would have disappeared by now,” Jiang Yuan sighed and squatted down to begin collecting the bones.

Liu Jinghui paused before saying, “It’s unlikely, such a group could not have operated for 20 years.

Even internal strife and changes in leadership would lead to their natural dissolution.

It’s not so easy for a criminal group to survive 20 years.”

“Criminal groups naturally dissolving?

That’s too optimistic.”

“You have a point,” Liu Jinghui fell silent, then said, “This time, we should be able to catch them.”

“Mm,” Jiang Yuan replied, his head down as he continued his work.

This time, he was prepared to extract soil and insects from the “grave” as well.

It was a tedious job.

In fact, many criminal police officers have a habit of sweeping up everything indiscriminately when collecting evidence, but this becomes meaningless once it reaches the lab.

For instance, if there is evidence in a trash can and they bag the entire can, it’s unreasonable to expect lab technicians to examine every single item inside—the police officers and technicians work in the same department, and any extreme expectations from either side would be unrealistic.

Therefore, the proper way to process the contents of a trash can is to sort the items into the appropriately labeled garbage bags.

If a crime scene technician sorts the contents of a trash can into 100 evidence bags, they end up with 100 test reports.

But if they dump everything into one black plastic bag, they end up with just a pile of trash.

Jiang Yuan was even more meticulous, especially when dealing with the area surrounding the body.

During a Level 4 crime scene investigation, not a single small item was overlooked.

As Jiang Yuan was engrossed in the “grave,” the search team continued forward until the planned time, then regrouped to return.

A portion of them moved on to find a place to camp.

From the many search team members, most would return to Pingzhou, with only a few continuing the search.

Although Liu Jinghui’s initial request had been met with the discovery of the body, the team had already been assembled, and it would be a waste to end the search within a day.

It was better to keep searching.

The reasoning was easy to justify, as the body they found could not yet confirm whether it was Sun Jingyi, Su Qin’s travel companion.

Searching for another day or two was just a matter of caution.

Jiang Yuan made it back to Langgu County before dark, heading straight for the mortuary’s dissecting room.

The evidence he carried was logged into inventory, and the bones were laid out on the dissecting table.

Li Zhen also arrived, her face showing signs of fatigue.