arrest

The villagers who had been secretly following Wen Dai and Yong Zha overheard everything outside the village entrance. He shrank back and hurriedly went to report to the village chief.

This time, thanks to Chen Sizhe's silver tongue, the investigators also brought along forensic personnel. Wen Dai walked beside him, her body involuntarily shortening the distance between them, their arms brushing against each other unconsciously. She turned her head to look at him and whispered, "How did you persuade them? I didn't even tell you that Na Duo had left evidence."

The cool, soft skin that bumped against her arm made Chen Sizhe shift awkwardly. His muddy forearm tried to avoid her, and his fox-like eyes glanced down at her. "It's a matter of using your brain. Even if Nado didn't leave any evidence, the buried body itself can serve as evidence. Just because it's buried doesn't mean it can't be dug up and examined."

The carefree Wen Dai said "Oh" and ran to Yongzha, who was leading the way not far ahead. She strode ahead and followed him into the rice field, carefully stepping on the narrow path made of mud.

Several investigators positioned themselves in front of Chen Sizhe, creating a distance between him and Wen Dai. Taking advantage of his height, he could see the woman occasionally sway as if she were about to lose her balance, and her hand would instinctively reach forward and grab the clothes of the man in front of her.

At first glance, they really do look like a couple.

Yongza was exceptionally clear about the location of the incident. He walked to the spot where Nado's body had been found, his gaze sweeping across the yellow earth. When he noticed a spot piled with grass, he paused for a moment, his eyelids twitching. Then, as if nothing had happened, he raised his head and glanced at the investigator who had followed him.

“This is where my sister had the accident. When she was found, she wasn’t wearing anything; her clothes couldn’t be found nearby either. Her body was covered in bruises and red marks. The village chief and the others said that my sister most likely met her boyfriend at school and had premarital sex, which led to the tragedy. But my parents and I know her very well. She’s not that kind of person at all. Besides, she’s a high school freshman in town. Usually, my father or I would pick her up on weekends. How could a student from town get here without someone to guide them?”

He twitched his fingers, his dark eyes gleaming, then clenched his fist and spoke with a determined air: "Officers, it's not that we don't want to report this. Our remote village is practically isolated. We have little communication with the outside world; those who go out to work only send money back, and most are self-sufficient. In this situation, we've become like a small ancient kingdom, where the village chief is the king; whoever he likes, whoever pleases him, has power. It's not that we don't want to report this, it's that we dare not."

“My parents and I thought about reporting it to the police, but our village is remote, and it's difficult for investigators to get in. The village chief and his gang are watching us closely, and they'll stop us and threaten us if we show any sign that we want to go down the mountain. We still have to live in this village, so we have no choice. But my sister... I don't want her to be murdered and then have to bear the stigma.”

As soon as he thought of Nado's appearance, and heard the words Nado had spoken while she was inside Wen Dai's body, Yongzha's eyes involuntarily reddened; he turned his face away and raised his clenched fist to wipe away his tears.

The lead female investigator expressed her understanding, gesturing downwards with her raised hand to reassure him, "Okay, okay, we understand. But it's been so long, we don't know if we'll find any clues. Let's try our best, okay?"

The remaining investigators and forensic personnel were already bending or squatting down to examine the body. One investigator, squatting on the ground, looked up at Yongzha and asked, "Has your sister been buried? Cremated or buried? I hope you can be mentally prepared. If we don't find any usable clues, we will need the body for examination. If it's cremated, there's nothing we can do. If it's buried, then we can still open the coffin for an autopsy."

“It was a traditional burial.” Yongza wasn’t a particularly feudal person; if the evidence left by Shannado wasn’t enough, he could exhume the body for an autopsy.

Now, the important thing is no longer whether it's good or bad luck; he wants to avenge his sister. None of those who committed evil deeds in Kamu Village will escape.

He took a few steps back, his heel kicking away some of the grass covering the hard soil, carefully letting the sole of his shoe brush against the side. The grass covering the clues left by Nado was lifted up a bit.

Wen Dai glanced at it, her fingers twitched slightly, and a gust of wind swept across the ground, scattering the remaining blades of grass and revealing the two characters "Fu Yi" hidden underneath.

Attracted by the sight, the surveyor quickly approached. He squatted down in front of the words that were clearly dug out with his fingers, first taking photos for record, and then using luminol spray for examination; fortunately, fluorescence was indeed visible in the deep soil that had been dug out.

"The girl is very smart." A muffled voice, muffled by a mask, rang out. The forensic personnel put away the luminol spray, and the investigators who had gathered around took out their cameras to record the scene.

After the reagents evaporated, the surveyors used sterile tools to extract soil from the bloodstains marked by luminol, and also extracted soil from the surrounding areas where there were no bloodstains.

Having been notified by the villagers, the village chief led a large group of people over. They were not intimidated by the group of law enforcement officers. The village chief, who was in the lead, even grabbed a stick and was about to pounce on one of the officers, saying, "This is our Kamu Village's land. No matter who you are, you have no right to come to our land!"

The reason was made up on the spot; the village chief was determined to drive this group away by force. He glared at the officers with his triangular eyes, his tightly clenched lips twisted downwards, and the veins on his arms bulging.

As a law enforcement officer, he naturally knew a thing or two. Having almost been hit by the stick, the officer instinctively swung his arm to defend himself, and then, with a few swift and fluid movements, snatched the stick from the village chief. He frowned and questioned, "Do you know what kind of behavior this is? This is assaulting a law enforcement officer, and you'll be detained!"

Other investigators, carrying the cordon tools they had prepared in their bags, immediately cordoned off the area where the incident occurred. Apart from the forensic personnel, all the investigators went up to confront the group of villagers.

"What are you trying to do? Some of you are carrying sticks and some are carrying shovels. Are you all trying to attack the investigators? Do you know what happens if you obstruct investigators from performing their duties? Do you really not know that attacking an investigator is a criminal offense?!" A deep male voice roared from a strained throat. The investigator who rushed to the front took out his investigator ID card and drew a 45-degree arc in the air.

Yongza, who had also stepped outside the cordon, no longer concealed his hatred for the village chief. He coldly glared at the chief, showing no fear even when their triangular eyes met. "Fuyi, you're not rich, but you're truly unjust. I already know you killed my sister. No wonder when she had her accident, you so confidently said you saw her dating another boy; and then you threatened us to stop pursuing the matter. It turns out you're the culprit!"

The village chief's lips twitched slightly. He raised his eyes, his gaze shifting between Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe beside her. Seeing their identical stillness, he suddenly chuckled coldly, nodding his chin as he said, "So that's how it is... Yongzha, I really underestimated you. Wen Dai isn't your girlfriend at all; she's just a reinforcement you brought in from outside, isn't she? Really..."

"So what? It's been tough getting out of our village, just like I told you, and it's the same for the investigators." The village chief, now free of his stick, grabbed a shovel from a villager behind him. He gripped the shovel tightly and charged forward, aiming at the nearest investigator, shouting, "Grab your weapons and smash them to death! If these guys die in the mountains, we'll be fine. But if they don't, we're all doomed!"

Wen Dai was standing on a sloping hill beside a field not far away. Seeing this, she couldn't help but click her tongue, her disgust evident in her expression. She shrank back, her neck and chin tucked in. "I really don't know what to say. He's so arrogant and ignorant. He's been in his closed-off world for so long that he really thinks anyone who enters his world has to obediently put up with his temper. The law doesn't work in front of him. He even dares to beat up the case officers."

"So I'm quite curious how you managed to escape unscathed from someone like that." Chen Sizhe's jade-like voice lowered as he slightly lowered his head and glanced at her.

Looking at the chaos not far away, Wen Dai crossed her arms, shrugged, and said, "Of course it's because of my intelligence. There's no way around it if you're too clever." The mask of a cunning old fox was put back on her face.

Suddenly, a loud "bang" rang out in the sky, and the fighting crowd finally stopped. Some of the villagers who had been deceived by the village chief were so frightened that they dropped the sticks they were holding.

The female investigator who fired the warning shot heaved violently. She exhaled, suppressing her anger, and pushed her way to the front, coldly scrutinizing each of the villagers who had just used sticks. She raised an arm and pointed at Chen Sizhe, who stood on the earthen slope watching helplessly. "See that man? He's the lawyer. Should I call him to explain to you what the punishment is for assaulting an investigator?! I warned you beforehand, but you wouldn't listen. You only behaved after I fired a warning shot, didn't you? You're all so ignorant in this village. Do you really think investigators are just sitting around doing nothing?"

"You're the village chief... Ha! We now believe you're involved in a murder case. Come with us later. And the others, don't think you're safe. Anyone who used a stick won't get away! Not to mention the crime of assaulting an investigator, I also heard the victim's family mention 'threats.' Do you know what the crime of harboring a criminal is?" She never expected that this notoriously remote village would actually have set up a mini-state on the mountaintop, acting with such arrogance and lawlessness.

The charges were incomprehensible to them, yet they understood the meaning of "crime." The villagers, who had just been armed and siding with the village chief, tossed their weapons aside, a belated fear gripping their hearts. In their thick local accents, they pleaded, "Officer, we were wrong! Please forgive us! We were forced by the village chief! He's the village chief; whatever he says goes. Who knows what he might do if we don't comply?"

"Officer, I didn't hit anyone. I just raised it up and swung it a couple of times as a show. Can you please let me go?"

"..."

Each one of them was now adept at shirking responsibility, and one even slammed his shovel against the village chief's shoulder, his trembling voice sounding like he was about to cry: "I don't want to go to jail, Officer, look, I'm helping you, I'm helping you!"

It was a ridiculous situation, absurd to the point of being laughable.

Finally, the village chief and his entourage of villagers were taken away by the investigators, and the arduous mountain road was traversed once more. Nearly half of the people in Kamu Village were gone. The children who were left behind stood blankly at the village entrance, some still holding the stones they had been playing with earlier; the wild monkey that had smashed Wen Dai's phone and pried open the door stood there like a paper effigy, its whole body hollow.

Sparse raindrops pattered down, and the sweltering air mixed with moisture, damp and stuffy, seeping into people's noses and arousing an itchy sensation on their skin.

Dark clouds pressed down heavily, threatening to flatten the mountain into a pancake shape. The people inside were like fillings, each with its own unique flavor.

Within the cordon, where the fallen leaves had been lifted, beneath the tarpaulin and metal cover, lay the name that Nado had painstakingly dug out. Wasn't this a blood oath, the only spice in the pie?

...

Outside the station in Plett, the smell of cement filled the air; umbrellas were pelted by raindrops, and only when the people under them crawled under the eaves of the platform did the umbrellas get a chance to rest.

Duolan, who had followed, handed Wen Dai a bag of her own farm eggs. Wen Dai sniffled and wiped away tears, her tightly pressed lips trembling uncontrollably. After a long while, she finally spoke, "Thank you, thank you all, really. I really didn't expect it to succeed, I didn't expect my Naduo wouldn't have to be scolded anymore. Even after she died, those people wouldn't let her have a peaceful life! I thank you—" Her legs went weak, and her knees buckled forward, as if she was about to kneel down before Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe.

Fortunately, Wen Dai reacted quickly and helped Duo Lan up. She held Duo Lan's arm and advised, "Aunt Duo Lan, you don't need to do this. Doing this can also help me accumulate merit, so it's a win-win situation for us. I will also benefit. Yong Zha, stop her quickly!"

However, instead of helping her, the silent Yongzha knelt down and solemnly kowtowed three times to her and Chen Sizhe. When he looked up again, his face was wet with tears. He choked out, "I will remember your kindness." He clenched his fist and punched his chest.

“My family doesn’t have much money, so we can’t give you much in return. I’m very grateful that you came to help us without hesitation. I want you to believe that if I, Yongzha, can make something of myself in the future, I will repay you many times over. For now… for now, I can only owe you, but I will pay you back slowly.”

Zha Gang, who was about to kneel and kowtow as Yong Zha came over, was stopped in time by Chen Sizhe. He had a headache. "...Uncle, you don't need to do this. We are all adults. What we do is naturally based on our conscience. We just do what we feel. We can't accept your grand gestures. We understand your gratitude, but kneeling and kowtowing is really unnecessary."