Qingshui Town, Mentougou District.
Deep in the mountains, inside a coal mine tunnel, in area A!
The leader of Group A just reported Shen Ting's location.
Shen Ting, leading the backup team of police officers, has arrived here.
The large, collapsed rocks completely blocked the passage in front of them.
All the officers held their breath and dared not make a sound.
A few minutes later, the officers suddenly erupted in excitement.
Several exhausted police officers almost jumped up, slamming their fists into their palms.
"Holy crap! There really was a knocking sound!"
"I counted them, and they really are three short, three long, and three short."
On the other side of the passage, someone was indeed calling for help.
"And that peculiar smell, I could also detect a hint of it."
I just looked it up, and it seems to be the smell of gunpowder coming from nitrogen-containing compounds inside the detonator after decomposition.
"The key point is that this mine has been abandoned for many years, so it shouldn't have any residual gunpowder smell from the detonators."
"It must have been caused by someone using detonators to blast here recently, which caused this section of the mine to collapse and block the passage."
"The murderer must have used this method to create a closed space that is isolated from the world."
"That's definitely it!"
...
"So, we've found where the suspect hid the missing persons?"
Holy crap, that was fast!
"Team Leader Shen, your selection of the suspicious areas is fucking accurate!"
"Nonsense, once Team Leader Shen has designated the location involved in the case, when is it forbidden to cross it?"
"Weren't the last snowy night disappearance case, and the previous girl's disappearance case, all locations designated by Team Leader Shen as hiding places for the bodies?"
"But there must be a difference between finding a hiding place for a living person and finding a place where a corpse is hidden, right?"
There are definitely differences!
But for Team Leader Shen, it was all a piece of cake!
"I knew it! Following Team Leader Shen is a promising career path!"
...
Shen Ting did not cheer with everyone. He frowned slightly and raised his hand to suppress the surrounding noise.
He shouted into a loudspeaker towards the blocked passage:
"Beibei~ Bear Beibei, can you hear me?"
But there was no response from the other side of the blocked passage.
"Xiong Beibei, are you over there?"
Is that you knocking?
Shen Ting frowned and called out twice more, but there was still no response.
Zheng Yuanqiao, standing to the side, exclaimed in surprise:
"No, although there is no response, the rhythm of the tapping has changed."
1, 2, 3... 6, 7, 8, pause!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, pause!
The striking pattern changed from three short strikes, three long strikes, and three short strikes to eight short strikes and one long strike!
This doesn't seem to be a standard Morse code signal.
What is Xiong Beibei or someone else trying to express?
Shen Ting thought for a moment:
"If it's not Morse code, perhaps Xiong Beibei simply wanted to emphasize the number 8?"
In the book he left under the passenger seat of the police car, wasn't there an 8 drawn with a circle around it?
Is he trying to get our attention to that symbol?
Or was he simply trying to tell us that he was the one making the knocking sound?
Perhaps he's injured, or too weak to speak?
"That's possible!"
The meaning of that symbol hasn't been determined yet.
The number 8 is surrounded by a circle; this element appears quite often in other cases.
But it has absolutely nothing to do with this case.
"Could it hurt Brother Xiong?"
The situation inside is probably not good!
Can the other six hold out?
That's right!
It would be best to clear this blockage as soon as possible.
"If we're too late, something unexpected might happen."
The officers suddenly seemed a little anxious.
They all knew Xiong Beibei's physique; for him to be unable to speak, the situation must be very bad.
...
Soon, the trace evidence team, fully equipped, arrived at the collapsed rock pile to conduct their inspection.
Shen Ting reminds you:
Be careful!
The suspect said in the video that if the location where the missing persons were hidden could not be found within three days, a bomb would be detonated.
Blow up all the missing people.
There might be a bomb here.
"Okay, we'll be careful."
Several forensic investigators stepped forward to conduct a preliminary examination of the area.
"hiss--"
Suddenly, the forensic investigator at the front, having just cleared away a few pieces of rubble, gasped in shock.
"What's wrong?"
Shen Ting quickly asked.
The forensic examiner didn't speak, but his body was clearly trembling.
He slowly moved aside to make room for everyone's view.
By the light from the overhead lamp, a blinding red light could be seen flashing continuously within the pile of rubble.
Everyone stared intently, their pupils suddenly contracting.
A metal device was seen embedded in the cracks of the gravel.
On the upper part of the device, red numbers silently pulsed in the darkness:
41:42:41……
41:42:40……
"Bomb...bomb!"
"There really was a bomb!"
"Fortunately, there are still more than 40 hours until it is detonated."
"Yes, there's still time."
"Wait, why is time jumping?"
"It was clearly over 40 hours left just now, how come there are only 6 hours left in the blink of an eye?"
"You jinx!"
"What happened?"
...
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