Herbivorous, gentle animals are rarely seen in the territory of ferocious beasts. The group of about thirty people searched around and managed to find a few scraps of cloth in some nooks and crannies that were still recognizable in color.
Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli were certain that they were on the right track.
"Everyone be alert, watch your surroundings!"
Several militia captains warned the people surrounding them.
The group cautiously walked inside.
Sheep bones, wild boar bones—as they went on, they found bones of different kinds of animals.
"Let's search around here. If we go any further in, we'll probably run into a pack of wolves."
The experienced hunter stopped them from going any further.
Thirty or so people could handle a pack of wolves, but it wasn't necessary.
Not to mention that wolves are incredibly fast, possessing the strength and speed of wild beasts, these animals are also extremely vengeful. If you were to be wounded, they would likely pursue you relentlessly for a long time.
If anyone were to accidentally wander into the edge of their territory again, these vengeful wolves would likely not let it go.
Secretary Zhao then looked at Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci nodded, "We cannot risk the lives of the living for the sake of those who have already passed away."
"Let's look around here," Jiang Ci said, glancing at her watch. "If we can't find it by 3 p.m., we'll leave."
"good."
The group of about thirty people scattered in pairs, not too far apart, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings while keeping an eye on the bones on the ground.
Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli walked together, and she basically stayed in Zhou Mingli's sight, never separating from him by more than two meters.
If anything unexpected happens, Zhou Mingli will be able to grab Jiang Ci immediately and pull her away.
The light in the forest was dim, and the path was difficult to walk on. Jiang Ci occasionally lost her balance and before she could adjust herself, Zhou Mingli supported her arm.
"You stepped on a bone." Zhou Mingli grabbed her arm to help Jiang Ci steady herself.
Jiang Ci steadied herself with the force of his hand, looked down, and sure enough, it was a piece of bone.
It looks like the thigh bone of some kind of animal.
The meat had been devoured by wolves, and occasionally crows would come down to peck at it; now only bare bones remained.
"This really is a wolf's den, full of bones from all sorts of animals," Jiang Ci said in a low voice. "If they were to catch a rabbit, it probably wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth."
“You still have time to pity the rabbit at a time like this?” Zhou Mingli held her arm tightly, not intending to let go, and said, “You’d better watch where you’re going.”
"I'm watching... Uh—that."
Jiang Ci had just given Zhou Mingli a perfunctory answer when she suddenly saw something, pointed to something not far away, and said in surprise, "Is that a human spine?"
From the neck to the pelvis, the curved ribs also connect to the spine.
"It seems so."
Zhou Mingli also saw it, turned his head and shouted to the people who were still searching in other places, "There's a situation here."
The crowd gathered around and, sure enough, found the bones of the upper body where Jiang Ci pointed.
Among them are skulls that have already been buried in the soil.
Immediately, someone took out a pre-prepared box and put the bone inside.
They found the arm bones nearby, but the hand was nowhere to be found. It's unknown whether the wolf swallowed it whole, bones and all.
"We've found something here too!"
There was also some noise coming from the other side.
Over there, too, was the spine connected to the skull; the hands and feet were nowhere to be found, only relatively large bones remained.
The militiamen were rough too; they packed everything up regardless of whether it was from the same person or not.
The remains of the two men were found, and before the group of about thirty people could even rejoice, a sudden noise rang in their ears.
"Awooo—"
Everyone broke out in a cold sweat.
The hunter immediately said, "Don't panic, let's go."
The old hunter knew these animals well; even a single call, though distant, meant the wolf pack hadn't arrived yet.
They need to leave quickly.
No one dared to say anything more and immediately followed the hunter, retreating from the wolf pack's territory.
In the bushes not far from here, two wolves, their eyes glowing green, were scouting the area and staring at the departing figures of the group, letting out low growls.
Not long after Jiang Ci and the others left, a pack of wolves appeared at the spot where they had just been.
The wolf king, the leader, sniffed around, making a low growling sound in its throat.
I don't know if it smelled human scent or gunpowder.
The group of about thirty people, having escaped unharmed, retrieved the remains of two people and hurriedly descended the mountain. Nothing they encountered along the way could attract their attention.
It wasn't until they saw farmland that they realized they had come out of the mountains.
Looking further back at the endless mountains, everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"We're finally out."
"What are we afraid of? We have weapons, why would we be afraid of those beasts?"
Some militiamen and police officers were relieved, while others, still holding their guns, realized they were armed and had no reason to fear the wolves.
"Idiot!" the leader scolded. "Can you guarantee you can blow those wolves' heads off with one shot? If you can't, they'll fight back."
"There are only about thirty of us, we can't go head-to-head with the wolves."
"Well, we've already found what we needed to find, so there's no need to talk about anything else."
Amidst the murmurs and discussions, the veteran hunters, on the other hand, were alert. They approached Jiang Ci, Zhou Mingli, and Secretary Zhao, offering their suggestions: "Hang a warning sign over there so that nearby villagers can avoid it if they see wolves."
It was just a matter of a few signs. Secretary Zhao didn't want any wolf attacks to happen in the area he was in charge of, so he readily agreed and moved the warning signs up another hill.
With the human bones found, the militiamen finished their work and returned to their militia regiment, while the police returned to town with Zhou Mingli and others.
The bones were sent to the hospital morgue, where the people in charge were quite capable. They managed to reassemble the bones of the two bodies, and apart from the limbs and other small bones that could not be found, the large bones were still there.
After they found the bodies of Huang Zhiyuan and his colleagues, they were supposed to cremate them directly and then put their ashes in urns to take them away.
We can't be so reckless now.
Because they simply couldn't tell which of the two bodies belonged to whom, besides Huang Zhiyuan.
If we wait a few more years until DNA testing technology is introduced in China, we might be able to identify them using this method. But since we don't have this technology now, it means we can't cremate their bodies.
Not only Secretary Zhao, but even Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli were at a loss for what to do.
Just when the group was at their wits' end, the police arrived. Upon hearing that they couldn't distinguish between the two sets of human skeletons, he scratched his head and said, "Sister Tao can make a picture by looking at the skull."
"Who?" Jiang Ci was puzzled for a moment, but when she saw who it was, she exclaimed, "Aren't you that police officer who's so close to Tao Susu?!"
"It's me, it's me!" The police officer nodded immediately.
Jiang Ci then asked him for details.
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