Chapter 42 Red Leaves 03

After dinner, Luo Siwei returned home and turned on the lights. She felt as if she were floating. Looking back now, the scene at the wedding banquet still seemed a little unreal.

She had just changed her shoes and collapsed on the sofa when messages from the small group kept popping up.

Su Ye Nan: "Si Wei! You didn't see how wonderful Liu Yunxi's expression was just now. She really was...his face was swollen after being hit by reality. She and Dou Chengzhi had a quarrel when she got home."

Mu Yuexin said in the tone of a relationship mentor: "I think this couple will fail."

Luo Siwei saw it and sent an emoji. She wasn't interested in what happened next, but thinking back, she felt pretty good about seeing that green tea girl get humiliated.

The group is still discussing this topic.

Mu Yuexin: "I finally understand why Luo Luo has never found a boyfriend. After meeting such a mature, steady, upright, handsome and handsome male police officer, those ordinary men are simply not attractive to her!"

Su Ye Nan: "Si Wei, when did you get together with that handsome leader? You actually abandoned me like that."

Luo Siwei said, "You misunderstood. He is really just my leader. He was on his way to the Municipal Bureau, so he came to give me a ride."

Mu Yuexin still refused to give up: "He could have left on his own, but after the meeting ended, he came to find you. He must be interested in you!"

Su Ye Nan also said, "Yes! He showed up just in time. I even suspect he knows something. Aren't the people at the next table from your system? Maybe they just happen to know him. I also think he has something to do with you."

"Impossible," Luo Siwei replied firmly. "He really had to go to a meeting, and he drove so fast on the way back that he didn't even bother talking to me. Besides, we never communicated outside of normal work. This is the first time I've met him outside of work."

Mu Yuexin asked: "So what do you usually talk about?"

Luo Siwei thought about it carefully: "It's just talking about work, work, and more work." She had just arrived at the Municipal Bureau and handling cases every day was already tiring enough. She basically had no time to think about other things.

Mu Yuexin analyzed: "Then, could it be that your leader has a crush on you?"

Luo Siwei replied firmly: "No, no, no, he will never like me. As long as I am in front of him, I will always have problems."

Then she recalled her behavior in front of Chi Li. Every single one of them made her socially frustrated. Even she herself didn't like herself like that.

"You? Impossible?" Su Ye Nan hesitated. "The Luo Luo I know is a cool and beautiful woman who always remains calm and rational."

Luo Siwei sighed as she held her phone. She had never discussed these things with anyone else, only revealing her true feelings to her high school bestie. "Maybe it's because I made a mistake the first time I met him. This feeling has only gotten stronger since then, to the point where I get nervous whenever he doesn't talk about work..."

The more she wanted to show off her intelligence in front of Chi Li, the more it seemed to backfire.

Mu Yuexin asked: "Does your heart beat faster? When you see his face, you can't take your eyes off him, you don't know what to say, and you don't know what to do with your hands and feet? These are also signs of secret love."

Luo Si smiled. "What kind of love-brain are you talking about? How can a police officer do his job if he thinks about this every day? Of course I wouldn't do that."

Everyone chatted about gossip for a while and finally ended the topic in the small group.

Meanwhile, Chi Li had already arrived at the Municipal Bureau and got off the car. He changed into a coat and looked at his phone. There was a message from an old friend: "Chi Li, you came to save the beauty just in time, without even saying hello to us brothers."

Chi Li simply replied: "There is a situation. The Municipal Bureau has notified me of a meeting. I will treat you next time."

He turned his phone to silent mode and entered the city bureau's conference room on time.

Today's meeting was convened at short notice, and he had just received the news.

The leaders of the Municipal Bureau and the person in charge of forensic evidence were all present. The usually affable Director Chen sat in the middle, looking down at the documents with a serious expression.

After Chi Li entered, he nodded and greeted several police officers, then sat in the back row of seats.

Today is the weekend and it is already evening, but the conference room is brightly lit and packed with people. The atmosphere is extremely serious.

When the time came, Director Chen raised his head. The cold white light of the conference room at night made him look a little haggard. Chi Li and Director Chen had only not seen each other for one day, but he felt that the person in front of him seemed to have aged a few years.

Director Chen cleared his throat and said, "This meeting is about today's emergency."

"Just this afternoon, in the outskirts of Lingkou District, west of Donglan City, several hikers accidentally opened an abandoned deep well. They used a drone to film the bottom of the well and discovered the decomposing remains of two male victims."

"The traveler then called the police, and the branch police learned about the situation and reported it to the city police. Due to the complex situation at the scene, the body needed to be recovered and examined."

Hearing this, Chi Li stared at the screen.

Director Chen projected a short video on a nearby projector. It was shot from a bird's-eye view. The well was about ten meters deep, dark and empty. After lowering the drone and turning on its light, a few human skeletons, dressed in men's clothing, were faintly visible amid the mud at the bottom.

Then, several drone photos appeared on the big screen. They were clearer than the video and showed the skeletons of two men intertwined.

Chi Li looked carefully and judged from the clothing styles that the bodies in the well were those who died in recent years. The bodies below were more severely decomposed. This might be the dumping site of a serial murder case.

Medical examiner Chu Shisui squinted at the photo and said, "The two bodies are in different stages of decay. The top one has been there for about a year, while the bottom one is mostly skeletonized, so it may have been dead for more than three years."

Director Chen said, "Currently, this news has not been made public to the media or the public. Such a vicious case hasn't occurred in Donglan for several years. We must investigate as quickly as possible to minimize any negative impact."

After the basic situation was introduced, the police officers present began to discuss the complex environment under the deep well and the sparse population nearby. The sudden appearance of multiple victims in such an unsurveilled area, with the bodies having been piled up for a long time, made it easy to imagine how difficult it would be to solve this case.

Everyone was discussing the salvage plan and the difficulties of the investigation. Director Chen added, "This case will be supervised as a key case."

Then he looked at Chi Li and said, "Captain Chi, this case is under the responsibility of your detachment. Please hand it over to the Criminal Investigation Captain who has no cases on hand. The case must be investigated and handled strictly. We must go all out and strive to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible and give an explanation to the victim's family, the people, and society."

After washing up late at night, Luo Siwei was still thinking about what happened that night. She denied it outright at the time, but now she was a little unsure.

Luo Siwei sat at the dining table, looking at the roses she had just bought. The roses, which symbolized love, were warm and their deep red petals looked like red velvet.

Now that she had some free time, she couldn't help but think of Chi Li again.

He is a good leader, handsome and a nice person.

After careful consideration, she realized that the feeling she had towards Chi Li was different from the feeling she had when she saw other male colleagues, and it was even more different from the disgust and fear she felt when she saw a strange man.

She didn't hate being with Chi Li.

Luo Siwei tried to use her psychology knowledge to explain her feelings towards Chi Li. Chi Li was a good leader with good judgment and work ability. His ability was even better than hers, and he could give her guidance on her work. She would unconsciously trust, admire, and even look up to such a person.

During that chance encounter in the bar, Chi Li's calmness in the face of danger also made her feel more favorable towards him.

The arrest operation on the mountain and his rescue at the critical moment of life and death made her have a suspension bridge effect on him.

But... the word "secret love" is too far away from her, and love is even further away from her, which she finds unimaginable.

Luo Siwei's mother died early, and her father was absent during her growth. She has always been indifferent to interpersonal relationships. She believes that she will not be deceived by appearances, nor will she easily open her heart to others.

She was courageous in everything except this one.

In particular, for some reason, every time she saw Chi Li, she would feel a strange dull pain in her heart, as if a part of her heart was twitching gently. It was this feeling that made her feel nervous.

Suddenly, the cell phone rang.

Luo Siwei was so frightened when she saw the name "Chi Li" on the screen that her phone felt like it was burning and she almost dropped it to the ground.

That was Chi Li's phone number that she had written down a few years ago. Just when she was thinking about him, the call came.

Luo Siwei quickly pressed the answer button and said, "Hello?"

You're calling so late, it must be something urgent.

Chi Li's cold and magnetic voice came over: "Luo Siwei, I have a very important case to hand over to you. I will send you the information later."

After hearing this, all the so-called emotions in Luo Siwei's mind were instantly wiped out.

She stood up skillfully and turned on the computer, her voice decisive and calm: "Okay, I'll take care of it right away!"

Chi Li said: "It's too late today, you guys study the materials first and arrange for the body salvage tomorrow morning."

In the land-scarce Donglan City, there are also places that no developers are interested in, and that is the remote suburbs on the west side of Donglan City.

The area is difficult to access, with vast expanses of wasteland. It's a vast expanse of flat land, lush with vegetation and sparsely populated. Not far away is the Donglan City landfill, and further north are rolling mountains.

The deep well where the body was found is located here.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the wilderness was covered with morning dew. The temperature here was lower than in the city, and the wind was much stronger.

Luo Siwei led a team of police officers, along with evidence and a forensic doctor, to the well. A nearby rescue team was already waiting for them. The auxiliary police began a spiral survey while the police officers began planning how to recover the body.

This deep well was left over from geological exploration in the early years.

The well was dug in the 1990s, several decades ago.

The wellhead, over a meter in diameter, was crudely drilled, leaving numerous gullies and grooves visible below. Exploration of the well yielded some discoveries, but due to limited technology, immediate mining was not possible. The decision was made to temporarily seal the well, allowing for future development, rather than landfill. However, this project has been delayed until now.

At that time, the entrance to the cave had been sealed, but perhaps due to years of disrepair, the entrance was damaged and was discovered by the murderer and used as a place to dump bodies.

The murderer was afraid of being discovered, so he simply covered the well with a few thin wooden boards.

The recent heavy rain had caused the thin wooden planks to rot and break. The travelers, noticing a foul odor emanating from the well, decided to use a drone to investigate. They unexpectedly discovered an unidentified body.

This discovery was very accidental. Perhaps it was God's will that led the police to intervene and investigate the cause of death of these deceased people.

After the police from the precinct arrived yesterday, all the coverings on the well had been removed, completely exposing the wellhead. A cordon was set up around the well, and someone was on duty nearby last night.

Huo Cunsheng walked to the unprotected well and looked down, then quickly stepped back: "Oh my god, I'm afraid of heights. I can't see such a high place. My legs... my legs are weak."

Guo Zhengyao looked at him with disdain and strode forward, but when he walked to the well and felt it himself, he also hissed.

The dark, deep well was bottomless, and a foul stench emanated from below. The well had no rim, and the mud at the mouth looked slippery, with a downward slope. If one wasn't careful, one could fall in.

If you fall from such a height, you will either die or be injured.

"Everyone be careful." Luo Siwei reminded. She stood twenty centimeters away from the edge of the well and cooperated with Ni Xiang to measure the diameter of the well mouth.

Guo Zhengyao also retreated half a step and stood in a safe place.

Professional matters require professionals. Captain Wu, who leads the rescue team, is a short man with a dark face. Today they will assist the police in completing the on-site investigation and the collection of bones.

Several people began to discuss with the forensic doctor how to transport the remains intact.

Chu Shisui stood by the well and sighed, "The well mouth is very small, so it must be very difficult."

Guo Zhengyao raised his head and asked, "Captain Wu, how do we get down from here?"

Captain Wu said, "We've discovered that this well is over ten meters deep. It's bottle-shaped, with a narrow opening, but there's still some space underneath. Large equipment can't get in, so we'll have to rely on manual labor. We'll build a simple scaffold and use some special cables for this type of rescue to lower people down. We'll also have a hanging basket to pull up bodies and other evidence."

Guo Zhengyao took the initiative and said, "Then let me go down and see the situation."

"Well..." Captain Wu looked at him and hesitated to speak.

Luo Siwei heard his embarrassment and turned to ask, "Any other concerns?"

Captain Wu said, "To be honest, we have never encountered such a complicated situation."

He then explained in detail: "This well is very deep, the air is thin, and the situation is unclear. We need to wear full protective suits and oxygen filter masks. We have three sets of equipment in total, which means only three people can work at the same time. Also, the environment around the well is not good. There has been a lot of rain recently, and the soil is loose, making it difficult to set up equipment. Simply put, the wellhead has a limited load-bearing capacity. If the person lowered is too heavy, it may cause the wellhead to collapse. From a safety perspective, the lighter the person working, the safer it is. Take me for example, I weigh 130 kilograms, and I may not be able to go down such a deep well."

Luo Siwei asked: "What is the recommended weight?"

Captain Wu: "It's best to be around 100 jin."

Luo Siwei looked at the tall and strong young men in the team, the lightest of whom weighed about 150 kilograms.

Guo Zhengyao and several male criminal police officers also looked at each other in confusion. They had never expected that their height and weight would become a burden and that there would be a day when they would be despised and unable to fight on the front line.

Captain Wu has several thin team members under his command, but they don't know how to investigate and may even damage the scene. Naturally, it is more appropriate for the criminal investigation team members and forensic doctors to go down to the bottom of the well.

Shen Qing said: "I am probably the thinnest among the male team members, let me try."

Luo Siwei and Guo Zhengyao discussed it for a while and decided to lower Shen Qing down to explore the situation. Captain Wu and his men set up the equipment at the edge of the well and lowered him down. Just after reaching a depth of more than three meters below the wellhead, Shen Qing's body swayed and he felt like he was about to fall.

The base of the device erected on the well began to bear the weight, making a squeaking sound and pieces of mud falling. It seemed that it might collapse at any time. If someone fell down, it would be very dangerous!