Chapter 43 Red Leaves 04
Early in the morning, by the deep well on the outskirts of Donglan City.
Everyone on the well was in a panic: "No! Pull him up quickly!"
Captain Wu was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly directed his team members to pull the man up. The situation at the wellhead was more difficult than he had expected.
Shen Qing reached the mouth of the well. He tried hard to climb up, but his foot slipped and he fell down with the equipment. At the critical moment, two hands stretched out from above the well. One hand held Shen Qing's hand, and the other hand grabbed his clothes.
It was Guo Zhengyao and Luo Siwei who pulled him from both sides.
Shen Qing himself was frightened by this scene. He was pulled up by the two men and sat at the mouth of the well in shock. His face turned pale for a while before he recovered.
"No, you officers are too heavy and too dangerous. The loose soil at the wellhead can't support it." Captain Wu offered them a suggestion. "Or maybe you could mobilize another rescue team from the province? I know some have more advanced equipment, like drills that can drill into the ground and use half-meter-long spikes to further reinforce the wellhead. With that kind of specialized equipment, it'll definitely be safer."
It takes a certain amount of time to deploy personnel and other equipment, which can be as short as a few hours or as long as an unknown amount of time.
As the saying goes, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, and that is the last resort.
Luo Siwei asked, "I weigh less than 100 pounds. Can I go down and try?"
Captain Wu wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling somewhat relieved that a female captain was leading the team today. He glanced at Luo Siwei's figure and said, "Your height and weight are within the safe range."
Ni Xiang also raised her hand: "And me, I can go down too." She added, "I've learned rock climbing, so I have a certain foundation."
On the forensic side, forensic assistant Lan Anan also took the initiative to step forward.
Guo Zhengyao was still a little worried. He asked Captain Wu, "Even if we can land safely, will we encounter danger down there?"
Captain Wu said, "Well... I can only say that we will do our best to ensure their safety. Going down the mine is inherently dangerous, and there may be emergencies down there. The air quality also needs to be tested."
That's more than ten meters deep at the bottom of the well, and there's not even a cell phone signal. No one can predict what kind of situation they'll encounter once they go down.
"You haven't received professional training." Guo Zhengyao was a little worried. "When will Captain Chi come over? Should we report the situation to him?"
"Captain Chi has a meeting this morning. He will come over to check on the situation later. I'll send him a message." Luo Siwei quickly edited the message and clicked send. As she expected, Chi Li was probably still in a meeting with his leader and did not reply for a while.
Luo Siwei discussed with Guo Zhengyao: "Do you have a better plan?"
Guo Zhengyao shook his head.
The leaders are all paying attention to this case now. We can't just have a group of people standing there at the scene all day without making any progress.
Luo Siwei considered for a moment and decided, "There aren't many people with this expertise to begin with. Temporarily deploying additional manpower and tools would waste a lot of time. Since there are two bodies, I'll take two female team members and try. Let's hurry and salvage them as soon as possible."
After determining the personnel going down the well and the basic plan, Captain Wu called on several staff members to help the female police officers put on various protective gear and told them various key points.
To be on the safe side, Captain Wu discussed secret codes with them, such as how many times they would pull the connecting rope to represent what was happening underground.
The three female officers wrapped themselves in protective gear. Seeing them fully armed, the male officers sweated for them. It felt even more tense than if they had gone down there themselves.
Huo Cunsheng asked from the side: "Girls, are you scared?"
Luo Siwei said: "Don't worry, we will be careful."
Ni Xiang smiled and said, "I'm not afraid."
Lan Anan also said: "When I did bungee jumping, I jumped over the Grand Canyon."
Huo Cunsheng gave them a thumbs up and said, "When you return victorious, I'll treat you to some Ice City Sweet Honey."
Shen Qing snorted, "You're so stingy, I'll treat you later and upgrade it to Heytea."
Guo Zhengyao said, "Starbucks or Haagen-Dazs, it's up to you to choose."
All preparations were completed. Ni Xiang and Lan Anan hung cameras around their necks. Captain Wu also repeatedly reminded them to come up as soon as possible if something went wrong.
Luo Siwei was the first to go down.
Even though there was only a difference of several dozen kilograms in weight, as soon as she put it down, everyone could see that it looked much safer than when Shen Qing went down just now. The equipment was also operating very normally, and several supports were supporting the side of the well, making it stable and firm.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The rope slowly lowered, leaving Luo Siwei's feet suspended in the air, the abyss below her bottomless. Her entire weight was distributed across several safety ropes as she gradually descended, the searchlight above her head helping to illuminate her direction. As she continued to descend deeper into the well, the light above her head became increasingly distant, and she gradually fell into darkness.
At first, Luo Siwei was not used to these equipments, and her knees hit the wall of the well several times. But as she went deeper, she became more and more adept at controlling the lifting and lowering, adjusting her direction and body balance.
Hanging on the safety rope, she felt a bit like the swing she played on as a child.
In just a few minutes, Luo Siwei landed at the bottom of the well. She first shook the rope to show that she was safe. Then she took off the safety buckle on her body and carefully observed the surrounding environment.
Underground, Luo Siwei's most obvious feeling was quietness. The place was about five square meters in size and so quiet that it seemed as if it was isolated from the world.
Compared to outside the well, the humidity and temperature here are obviously much higher, and it is damp and stuffy.
Looking up from below, the wellhead was a tiny speck of light. Almost all the light down there came from the searchlight above her head, leaving areas unlit, a thick, inky black. The protective mask served to isolate the air and increase oxygen, but Luo Siwei still detected a faint odor.
This place may be connected to groundwater, or perhaps because the rainy season is approaching, there is some water on the ground. The water and the corpses soaked together to form a thick corpse water.
I don’t know if there are stones or something in the mud, but it’s a bit scratchy.
Luo Siwei put the equipment for detecting oxygen content aside, and the results soon showed that the oxygen content in the well was within a safe range.
Luo Siwei once again pulled the rope to let people know that it was safe underground, and then she met Lan Anan and Ni Xiang.
The three female police officers stepped into the mud and quickly began their criminal investigation work in the cramped environment.
In this kind of field environment, the first priority is to sample the water and soil.
There were quite a few insects in the dark environment underground. There were crawling maggots and flying flies on the rotten bones.
Lan Anan took out the bottle and worked with Ni Xiang to collect some environmental samples. They also caught a few insects and raised them up in a hanging basket.
Afterwards, Luo Siwei squatted down and began to observe the first corpse with a flashlight, while Ni Xiang and Lan Anan took pictures on the side.
Judging by the clothing and hairstyle, the body at the top was that of a middle-aged man, extensively decomposed. A patch of dark red flesh clung to the bones on his face, his teeth protruding, and his cheeks sunken. Lan Anan performed a simple examination of the body: "The remains of an unidentified male, approximately fifty years old. The cause of death was likely a stab wound. Significant bloodstains can be seen on the clothing on his chest and abdomen."
It was very quiet down there, and her voice was muffled with reverberation.
Lan Anan looked at the position of the belt and the size of the clothes: "Most of the flesh has rotted away. When he was alive, he must have weighed around 150 kilograms."
Ni Xiang asked, "Will it be overweight when it's transported up later?"
Lan Anan shook her head. "Now there's only rotten flesh and bones left. I estimate it weighs around 80 kilograms."
Luo Siwei began to search the body.
"There were no keys, cell phones, or ID cards. There was a pen in the pocket," she said, pulling one of the deceased's shoes from the water and examining it carefully. "The clothing, belt, and shoes were all well-made. The deceased had a comfortable life and must have been quite wealthy."
It is dark and the space is too small underground, and on-site investigation is a delicate job.
They were busy in the well for about dozens of minutes before they completed the inspection of the first body. The three of them worked together to put the body into the basket, carefully hid aside, and waited for the basket to be pulled up.
Then the three of them went up the well one after another.
With the first successful experience, everyone was obviously more relaxed and even joked with each other.
Luo Siwei also said: "If everything goes well, we can finish work in the morning."
After a short rest, the three female police officers stood up and went into the well again. This time they were more skilled and the descent was faster.
Soon they began to investigate the second body.
This body was pressed underneath and had turned into bones over a large area. From the remaining hair and features, it can be seen that the deceased was also a male, and his age may be slightly older than the previous body.
Judging from the clothes, the time of death was spring or autumn. The same clothes and items were very expensive, and there were no personal belongings on the body that could prove his identity.
Because the body had been soaked in water for a long time, some of its bones had fallen off, and it took them some time to find the bones.
"The neck is severely rotten, and I suspect it may have been strangled." Lan Anan felt the corpse's chest and abdomen again in the dim light from above. "The sternum is clearly fractured, likely from a fall."
A bone fragment pierced the skin. Lan Anan lowered her head to examine it carefully. Then she looked up in surprise and revealed a shocking fact: "Judging from the fracture, this person might have been still alive when he was thrown down..."
Ni Xiang shuddered when she heard this and blurted out, "How cruel."
Luo Siwei shone her flashlight high up on the well wall. There was a place sheltered from the water with several obvious bloodstains. She said, "He should be alive. These might be bloodstains left by his fingers."
This man had been strangled unconscious and then left, still breathing, to wait for his death in this darkness. Standing at the bottom of the well, filled with mud and sewage, Ni Xiang seemed to feel that deep despair.
After conducting an external examination of the body, Lan Anan went to the wall of the well to collect a blood sample.
Afterwards, the three policewomen worked together to place the second body in the basket. They then went up the well a second time.
As soon as they arrived at the well, Guo Zhengyao stepped forward and pulled them up one by one.
At this time, the female police officers had been working continuously for nearly three hours, and the weather was gradually getting hotter.
After spending so much time underground, her protective suit was already soaked with sweat. Once on the surface, Ni Xiang removed her mask and gasped for air. Her face was pale, and her lips had lost their color. Luo Siwei and Lan Anan were also exhausted, and they sat on the ground and drank some water before they recovered.
Guo Zhengyao asked, "Is there more stuff down there?"
Luo Siwei nodded: "There are quite a lot, some broken bones, and some clues to identity. Anyway, we have to go down again." The complexity of the well far exceeded their initial expectations.
Then Luo Siwei stood up and asked Ni Xiang: "How do you feel?"
Ni Xiang: "Maybe it's due to lack of oxygen. I feel a little dizzy."
Luo Siwei said: "Then you can rest up there for a while."
Guo Zhengyao suggested: "Why don't you take a break for a while, or have lunch before continuing? I think Captain Chi will be here soon."
Luo Siwei thought for a moment and said, "With so many people on site, we can finish the work earlier and go back earlier."
The leaders were all very concerned about this case, and she didn't want to delay too long on the first step of recovering the body.
After resting, Luo Siwei took Lan Anan back to the well for the third time.
Both bodies have been salvaged, and since there are only two people this time, the bottom of the well seems a lot more empty.
Soon, Luo Siwei picked up a bunch of heavy keys, but didn't know which corpse belonged to it.
Later, Lan Anan also made some discoveries and fished out a small wallet.
This should be the final inspection. Luo Siwei originally thought that he was about to finish the work, but he didn't expect that more and more things were fished out from the well, and it seemed that some old things were buried under the mud.
As she spent more and more time underground, wearing a mask and having her breathing restricted, Lan Anan felt that her movements were getting slower and slower. She was a little anxious, but she was too hasty.
Luo Siwei dug out a few more bones from the knee-deep mud and handed them to Lan Anan.
Lan Anan saw a bone and was stunned: "Captain Luo, this... this is the tibia of the right calf."
Luo Siwei asked, "Did they just fall apart?"
Lan Anan lowered her head and carefully identified: "But... I have already found all the tibias... Two bodies, four legs..." She felt that there was a lack of oxygen in the well, which slowed down her brain's functioning.
So whose is this extra tibia?
Lan Anan looked at the bones in her hand and said, "Maybe it's too dark here and I'm mistaken, or maybe there are animal bones mixed in. Let's go upstairs and ask Forensic Doctor Chu to identify them."
At this moment, Luo Siwei frowned as her hand touched something underwater. She felt something hard, half-buried in the mud, and it seemed to be something like bone or stone. Furthermore, it was round in shape...
Luo Siwei, who had always been calm, couldn't help but feel her heart beating faster. She said, "There seems to be something underneath!"
Lan An squatted down and helped her clean up.
Luo Siwei had a bad feeling in her heart. She quickly cleared the mud around it with her hands and picked up the thing from the water. Luo Siwei panted and used the light reflected above her head to see clearly what she was holding in her hand.
It was a completely bony human skull.
There are more than two people dead in this well!
Luo Siwei finally understood why the ground felt uneven when they first went down the well. It was because they were stepping on those corpses.
Who are these people and why were they thrown here?
The moment she saw the skull, Lan Anan suddenly stood up in surprise. She had just squatted for a while and felt that her discomfort had eased. Unexpectedly, when she stood up in a hurry, her vision suddenly went dark. It felt like someone suddenly turned off the searchlight above her head.
She wanted to hold onto the wall of the well and tried to stand up straight, but it went against her wishes. The next second, her body collapsed.
After inhaling the air underground for a long time, she could no longer hold on.
Luo Siwei called Lan Anan's name, stepped forward and hugged the girl's falling body.
It was just a simple movement, but she felt her limbs getting heavy, and the scene before her seemed to be sucked into a spiral, twisting and spinning.
This dark well seemed to have turned into a giant mouth that could suck out life, wanting to swallow them all...
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