Chapter 43, Case 2, Part 2: Is this something a human being could do? ...

Qiu Xiaoman got off the truck near the crash site.

Firstly, they were afraid of disturbing the scene, and secondly, the trees on the mountainside where the car crashed were scratched, with broken branches and twigs that could easily scratch themselves and the dust on their backs.

So after landing, she took her trekking poles and walked to her right. She quickly noticed some scattered truck parts and electronic components. Because of the considerable height from which she fell, and because the boxes were made of cardboard and were quite fragile, only two boxes remained intact at the scene.

You can clearly see the six large characters "Beidu Electron Tube Factory" printed on the packaging box.

She had already learned about this factory in detail with Captain Meng. It was the cradle of my country's electronics industry. Not only was it the production site for components of the first atomic bomb and artificial satellite, but it also manufactured my country's first electronic computer, first automatic telephone exchange, and first ATM machine, among other important instruments.

Even the color LCD screens used in color televisions today were developed by this factory.

Such an important factory has been infested with corrupt officials; no wonder the system is offering such a high bonus.

After all, compared to the losses caused by termites, that's nothing.

She quickly went over and looked around. Surprisingly, the car hadn't exploded, so it seemed it had run out of fuel.

But strangely, there was no one inside? It seems these people were quite lucky; the car scraped off several large trees halfway up the mountain, which acted as a buffer, so they didn't die.

But after one night, it's hard to say now.

There were many bloodstains on the ground, dripping and stretching into the distance, but soon the bloodstains disappeared.

They must have taken measures to stop the bleeding, but strangely, even the footprints have disappeared.

Near where the footprints disappeared, dense sets of wild animal footprints appeared. Judging from their shapes, it seems a group of wild boars had run past.

Clearly, some of the suspects are skilled at erasing traces and hiding their tracks, and they even use the footprints of wild animals to completely "disappear" from the forest.

Watching Captain Meng land a step behind, Qiu Xiaoman said with certainty, "Captain, there must be someone among the suspects who has lived in the mountains and forests, and is very experienced."

Team Leader Meng thought the same thing. Last night and this morning, the arresting team had already searched the area twice, but each time they returned empty-handed. As a last resort, they went to the police dog base.

He quickly caught up, squatted down to observe for a moment, and asked, "Without the help of police dogs, can you find their tracks on your own?"

"It will definitely take more time." But it's definitely not as fast as a dog's nose tracking scents.

Team Leader Meng nodded: "Let's go into the woods and take a look."

Qiu Xiaoman stood up. A faint smell of urine lingered in the air. Qiu Xiaoman looked at Huihui and asked, "Is it the smell of wild boar urine?"

"Not only wild boars, but also deer and badgers!" After all, Grey had grown up in a mountain village and had seen plenty of these animals.

She started sniffing around as soon as she landed, very certain: "Only one badger appeared, but several deer passed by. Each one smelled different. The wild boar's urine smelled the strongest, and there was also the smell of wild boar droppings..."

As she spoke, Grey circled the area again. Now she knew what was going on. She wagged her tail and barked a few times towards the west: "Master, there must be someone in this group with smelly feet! I can smell it, even wild boar poop can't cover it up, Master, quick! This way!"

Grey instinctively tried to rush forward, but luckily Qiu Xiaoman had put a leash on her and quickly reminded her, "Wait, Lin Zishen, let's not leave the others behind."

If they get separated, it won't be easy to find them. Even with the help of dogs, human strength is limited. Besides, there are definitely forest experts among the suspects. If they are hiding in the shadows and specifically targeting lone individuals, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Having grown accustomed to a carefree life, Gray never considered these things and immediately obediently squatted down to wait for everyone to arrive.

Team Leader Meng quickly called for Tiger and the others to follow, leaving two people behind to wait for orders.

Although the Kunming Dog and the German Shepherd had received very rigorous training, they were not as knowledgeable as Grey Grey when they were in the mountains and forests. The Kunming Dog was experienced and had seen badgers and wild boars, but he did not know what the roe deer Grey Grey mentioned tasted like. The German Shepherd only knew about wild boars, since he had encountered them in the suburbs near Beidu.

As for the foot odor, they could smell it too. Mingming quickly chimed in, "There really is a foot odor, mixed with wild boar urine and poop. Huihui is really something!"

The German Shepherd was a little unhappy. Why didn't he bring it up first? He was the king of quick answers! This time, his owner definitely wouldn't praise him. Waaah, his big bones...

Forget it, let's catch the bad guys first!

He quickly barked at Meng Heping a few times, "Come on, Huihui is right, this is the way!"

Wild animals in the mountains and forests often have fixed foraging routes, which, over the years, will create small paths, also known as animal trails.

The three dogs led the criminal police team along the animal trail into the depths of the forest. Soon, they stopped at a fork in the road.

Mingming and the German Shepherd insisted on heading west, but Huihui insisted on going forward to take a look.

She barked at Qiu Xiaoman, "Master, did you hear the sound of flowing water? If it were me, I would definitely deliberately walk to the west and east to mislead the police, and then circle back, wade through the water, and walk to the other side."

Qiu Xiaoman nodded. Feng Shengnan had indeed told her that they had used the stream to sever the connection of scents quite often last time.

After all, using animal urine and feces to mask odors cannot completely block out human scents; if someone has a particularly sensitive nose, they can still distinguish them.

However, where there is water, there must be strong air movement. People walking in water don't leave clear footprints and scents like they do on land. The water washes away the scents, leaving only a little bit of air floating around. The stream in front is located in a canyon, so the scents are easily dispersed by the wind. Besides, there are many animals nearby, making it an excellent odor barrier.

Qiu Xiaoman turned to Meng Heping and said, "Captain Meng, I'm going with Huihui. You can arrange for two men to follow me. As for the others, it's up to you."

Meng Heping frowned: "But based on Mingming and Xiaodezi's reactions, that group of people should have gone west."

Qiu Xiaoman explained, and Meng Heping pondered for a moment before deciding to trust his longtime friend.

After discussing it with Tiger, he divided the men into two teams, leaving three armed young policemen to follow Qiu Xiaoman. This way, Qiu Xiaoman could focus on moving forward while the other three directions were guarded.

The rest of the men followed him and Tiger westward. Before leaving, he left Qiu Xiaoman two walkie-talkies and a signal gun: "Take these. Contact us immediately if anything happens. If you get too far and lose signal, use the signal gun."

Meng Heping and the others walked quite a distance. As they walked, the two dogs began to hesitate. Not only did they slow their pace, but they also stopped and began sniffing around more frequently.

Meng Heping thought to himself, "This is bad. Could it be that I've really been tricked?"

Just as he was about to crouch down to help observe and make a judgment, a gunshot rang out in the distance, startling him and Tiger into exchanging a glance. They quickly ordered a retreat!

Meng Heping was very worried: "We absolutely can't let anything happen to him! That kid just arrived. If anything happens to him, Director Wen will definitely kill me!"

Tiger, a man of few words, frowned and charged ahead. He never expected that even an experienced police dog could make a mistake. It seems there's a formidable suspect among them, perhaps even…

It's important to know that the electron tube factory is a military enterprise and has a national defense designation.

Many of the factory workers inside were veterans, and he really didn't want people like that to be on his opposite side.

Otherwise, he would be heartbroken when the moment actually comes to raise his gun.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his pace, and rushed to the stream. The water wasn't deep, but with Old Man Winter still raging, stepping in would definitely be painful.

Fortunately, Qiu Xiaoman was very knowledgeable. She didn't go directly across, but instead found some stones nearby and used them to cross the water. This made it easier for the reinforcements who arrived later. Everyone jumped on the stones at different intervals. The two dogs, however, didn't think much of it. They had just made a mistake and were eager to prove their professionalism, so they walked directly into the water. Meng Heping tried to pick them up, but they refused.

Once they reached the other side, the two dogs shook the water off their paws and barked, "Woof woof woof, this way!"

Meng Heping made sure to count the number of people, and only after confirming that no one was missing did he continue forward. He had only taken a few steps when gunshots rang out in the distance again, five shots in quick succession!

This isn't right! If the suspect didn't have a gun, and we needed to fire a warning shot, one shot would have been enough. Why were five shots fired in a row?

Including the previous one, that's six!

There's a high chance the other side also has guns, and they're exchanging fire!

Oh no, Qiu Xiaoman doesn't have a gun! Meng Heping quickly urged everyone to run faster.

Just then, the walkie-talkie crackled to life. Qiu Xiaoman, panting heavily, said, "Team Leader Meng, you went too far just now and lost signal. Can you hear me now? When you see the second stream, stop and don't come over. Just wait on the other side. There are animal traps here. Zhao Gang is injured."

"Where are the others? Where is the suspect?" Meng Heping wasn't about to listen to her nonsense; he was determined to go and check.

Qiu Xiaoman gasped, "Everyone else is fine. We killed one, captured two, and another suffered severe internal injuries when he fell from the vehicle and was killed by their accomplices..." Qiu Xiaoman couldn't continue; it was too disgusting, too heinous.

In short, she instructed, "Don't come any closer. Zhao Gang didn't listen to me and rushed ahead, and he got caught. There's a pattern to how these things are arranged. If you don't understand, you'll get caught. Be patient and wait for me to come over."

Meng Heping turned to look at Tiger. In terms of rank, he was one level higher than Tiger, but Tiger was the person in charge of this operation and the powerful captain of the criminal police team. It was not necessarily possible for Meng Heping, the captain of an obscure department, to command Tiger.

In the end, Tiger decided not to risk the lives of others and waited in front of the second stream.

Soon, Qiu Xiaoman arrived, leading Huihui and supporting the injured Zhao Gang. The other two, each escorting a surviving suspect, lagged behind a few steps.

One of them was particularly short, thin, and dark-skinned, and didn't look Chinese. Moreover, this guy smelled awful; you could smell it even across the stream. Looking at him, he had vomited a lot of wild boar droppings. It was really a pity for our criminal police officers; they had to get so smelly themselves while escorting them.

Meng Heping and Tiger breathed a sigh of relief. The two reached out to help support the injured Zhao Gang, not quite understanding where the animal trap came from.

Qiu Xiaoman explained, “One of them spoke Vietnamese, and I suspect he smuggled himself in to steal valuable equipment from our military factory. Didn’t you tell me on the way here that semiconductors are gradually replacing vacuum tubes, so vacuum tube factories are facing a severe transformation crisis? As far as I know, Vietnam’s technology is not as advanced as ours, and vacuum tubes are exactly what they need.”

Tiger suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that this mountain expert was not a veteran, but someone from Vietnam.

That's not surprising, but where did the animal traps come from? Judging from Qiu Xiaoman's words, there are quite a few.

Qiu Xiaoman wasn't sure either: "I guess it was this Vietnamese guy who planted it. They like to bury landmines along the border, but that's all in the past. Now they're scared of us, and if they use landmines again, it will definitely alarm the national level. After all, in our country, it's not something that private individuals can get their hands on. So I guess the animal trap was brought by this Vietnamese guy. Anyway, they need to use it to play hide-and-seek with the border police when they're smuggling across the border. I guess they didn't finish using it, so they just took it out."

Tiger and Captain Meng exchanged glances, realizing they had underestimated Qiu; she even knew this much.

The two asked in unison, "Have you encountered Vietnamese people in Yunnan?"

“I’ve encountered him before. I know a little Vietnamese, so I can act as a translator when we go back for interrogation.” Qiu Xiaoman remembered there was another person and instructed, “Who wants to come in with me again? There’s another dead person, just… remains.”

"Wreckage?" The two elders were bewildered. How could something have turned into wreckage out of nowhere?

Qiu Xiaoman shrugged: "Wild boars are omnivores, they even eat human flesh. Why did the wild boars appear exactly where their tracks disappeared? Because they used their dead companions as bait, and the wild boars followed them. They cleared the tracks in front, and the wild boars followed behind to gnaw on the corpses. Didn't you see any human remains on the west side? Maybe they were all eaten? Anyway, there's only one set of remains here, and a litter of baby wild boars are gnawing on it."

Team Leader Meng: ? ? ?

Tiger: ? ? ?

Who am I? Where am I? What did I hear? Is this something a human being could do?

ah! ! ! ! ! !

Both of them wanted to go and take a look, but when they got to the wild boar's den, they couldn't help but clutch their chests, turn their backs, and dry heave.

Qiu Xiaoman explained, "Wild boars won't easily attack humans once they've eaten their fill, especially since they chose a sow that needed to nurse. They wouldn't abandon food to cause trouble for humans. This way, they can use the scent of wild boars to evade police dogs and wait for their accomplices outside to come and rescue them. Unfortunately, they ran into our Grey Grey, and even more unfortunately, that Vietnamese guy had smelly feet."

As she spoke, she kicked a dirty old-fashioned mobile phone out of the weeds: "This should be the one they use to contact the outside world. Check with the telecommunications bureau to see who is registered as the owner."

It's unlikely to be some organized and disciplined gang, otherwise this matter would be much more serious.

*

At the same time, in a large penthouse on the top floor of a building in Beidu.

The businessman, speaking Cantonese, hung up the phone, looked at his son Liang Zhihao on the sofa, and said with a look of disdain, "What's wrong? I just bought you a mobile phone last month, why do you need money to buy another one?"

Liang Zhihao is nineteen years old this year. He has blond hair, likes to go to bars and nightclubs, dresses fashionably, and spends money like water.

Everyone thought he was very happy, but only he knew that his money was not his own at all, but belonged to his father. Every time he wanted to buy something, he had to ask for it.

Other families are rich too; they all put a card on their sons so he can swipe it and spend it however he wants.

What about him? He had no choice but to cooperate with others and even lent them his mobile phone.

But he just started dating a pretty girl yesterday and wants to have long phone conversations with her anytime, anywhere, so he can only ask his dad for another one.

He grinned and said, "Let's buy another one. Wouldn't it be great if I worked hard and you could hold your grandson this year?"

Old Liang squinted at him, then sighed silently, "Alright, alright, I'm really scared of you. Let me ask your uncle if one person can get two cards."

Shen Qinghuai, who was recuperating in the hospital, received a phone call, not out of concern for him, but to ask him for a favor.

He found it annoying and too lazy to ask Old Wang at the telecommunications bureau, so he simply replied that it was impossible.

Old Liang shrugged: "It's impossible to do. Go ask your friend to get the old one back."

"It's so embarrassing to ask for things back after giving them away!" Liang Zhihao was furious. What a stingy old man! He wished the old man would just die; all that money in the house would be his! His!

But Lao Liang was determined and refused to process another one for him, which made him so angry that he immediately jumped up from the sofa and roared, "You bastard, you'll regret this!"

After yelling, he slammed the door shut and left.

Old Liang didn't take it seriously. Kids are all like that; they want everything and throw a tantrum if they don't get it. We can't spoil them anymore, or this huge family fortune will be ruined.

On the street, Liang Zhihao, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, was furious. After thinking it over, he could only ask if the operation over there was going smoothly. Once they gave him his share of the money, he would go and buy it himself.

He put coins in a public phone booth, but couldn't get through. Frustrated, he kicked the phone booth, intending to borrow some money from Shen Qinghuai.