Chapter 13 Discovery of Female Corpse: Investigation Conducted in Village
"Can."
The system gave her a positive answer.
"Han Yi's favorability towards the host is 50%, a value that allows for both offense and defense, but I think the favorability value is a bit too high."
Gu Yiliu: "How did you get such a high number?"
Dian Dian: "...Maybe it's a self-conquest strategy? Every time he interacts with you, his stats increase by 2%-10%." Actually, the system thinks there's another possibility: after Gu Yiliu forcibly kissed him and ran away, Han Yi went to look for him afterwards but couldn't find him. They already had a history, and after their reunion, due to various reasons, their relationship deepened. It's normal for their affection level to reach 50%.
Gu Yiliu thought about it and realized that she and Han Yi did have frequent contact.
"Host, please don't let the value rise to 80%!"
Gu Yiliu asked in confusion, "What would happen if it rose to 80%?"
Dian Dian: "Once you reach 80% favorability, the remaining 20% can often be achieved with just one action or a few moments. By then, he's committed to you, but you don't love him back, which is a terrible fate."
Gu Yiliu understood. "Don't worry."
The next day, Gu Yiliu and Hu Dahu said a nice goodbye and returned to the Hongbuya outpost.
On the way back to the outpost, both the main roads and the paths were muddy. Judging from how muddy it was, it must have rained heavily in the mountains for several days.
It was always sunny in the county town.
When they returned to the outpost, their feet were covered in yellow mud, and their shoes were no longer recognizable as their original color. Upon entering the courtyard, they were surprised to find Ma Quan and Min Songyue there.
Gu Yiliu saw the two men carrying bricks back and forth between the front and back yards and asked, "What are you doing?"
Min Songyue: "It's been raining in the mountains lately. Two nights ago, a landslide suddenly occurred in the backyard of the outpost, which washed away the wall. Now we need to repair the wall."
Gu Yiliu followed them to the backyard, where half of a wall had collapsed, and mud mixed with trees had rushed down from the mountain and into the small backyard.
The downside of having a post near the mountains is that it's very dangerous in the event of a landslide.
As Ma Quan moved bricks, he said, "I heard that this wall was built in the 1950s. Now, more than 30 years have passed. It can't be entirely blamed on the landslide for it to collapse due to disrepair. This time, we can rebuild it."
Gu Yiliu said nothing and joined the ranks of bricklayers.
The bricks were all bought from the brick kiln. After moving all the bricks from the front yard to the back yard, Ma Quan began the work of building the wall.
It took him an afternoon to rebuild the collapsed half of the wall, and he also reinforced the old wall with a few dozen bricks left. Gu Yiliu secretly used his supernatural ability to reinforce it again, so that the wall wouldn't collapse again in the event of another landslide.
The last few dozen bricks were used by Ma Quan to build nests for the chickens and ducks he kept at the outpost.
Gu Yiliu then noticed that there were a few more ducks at the outpost.
"The Yellow-bellied Horned Chickens have actually hatched the duck eggs," Min Songyue said with a smile. "Now they've started laying eggs again, and I estimate that it won't be long before chicks hatch, and then there will be flocks of chickens and ducks."
"..." Just thinking about that scene, Gu Yiliu dared not imagine it.
"Then you'll be responsible for feeding them from now on, and I'll take care of their food."
Min Songyue opened his mouth, wanting to refuse, but Gu Yiliu didn't give him a chance to refuse at all, leaving him with a departing back view.
Because Gu Yiliu was back, dinner was very plentiful. Ma Quan specially killed a chicken and made a chicken and bamboo shoot soup, which tasted especially delicious.
"Uncle Ma, you've prepared such a lavish feast for Gu Yiliu as soon as he returned. Are you treating him differently?"
Ma Quan chuckled, “A full stomach will make you better at work tomorrow. Tomorrow you will go to the township to help the town health center promote wildlife protection and disease prevention. I will go on patrol myself tomorrow.”
Gu Yiliu and Min Songyue exchanged a glance and nodded.
The next day, Gu Yiliu and Min Songyue went down the mountain and met up with the staff of the town health center in Qingshi Village, the village at the foot of the outpost.
The main purpose of this campaign is to discourage people from hunting wild animals, in order to protect wildlife and prevent the spread of disease.
The propaganda was carried out door-to-door.
Gu Yiliu was working with a clinic worker to promote awareness. They had just left one house and were heading to the next when they heard a terrified scream.
"Someone's dead! Someone's dead! There's a dead body on the mountain!"
Gu Yiliu looked toward the source of the sound and saw an old woman running toward him from a distance with a terrified expression.
Gu Yiliu and his companion exchanged a glance; neither of them looked too good.
When the old woman saw her uniform, it was as if she had found her pillar of support. She rushed over and grabbed Gu Yisu's hand, trembling uncontrollably. "Officer, someone's dead! There's someone in the pit, their head's been severed!"
After speaking, the old woman's body went limp and she collapsed to the ground. She had only managed to run down the mountain by sheer willpower fueled by fear, but now that she had seen living people, that willpower was gone, and she collapsed.
The old woman's body trembled uncontrollably, but her hands still clung tightly to Gu Yiliu.
Gu Yiliu looked around and said, "Someone, take the old lady back and have some hot water to calm her nerves."
Someone came and took the old lady away.
Forestry police are still police, and Gu Yiliu couldn't just leave. She found Min Songyue, who already knew the situation, and Gu Yiliu told him to go to the town and report to the police station.
Min Songyue nodded.
Gu Yiliu then went up the mountain with the villagers to check the situation.
The deceased was buried in a shallow pit, and now the soil covering the pit has disappeared, revealing the body.
And all that was showing was a pale, swollen head, which was severed.
"ah!"
"Whoosh!"
The villagers who followed were all startled and screamed when they saw it.
Gu Yiliu was also frightened when she saw it. She had seen zombies before, but the dead person in front of her looked more miserable and terrifying than a zombie. She could also tell that it was a young woman.
"Those who are timid should go back quickly, and everyone else should stay away from the area," Gu Yiliu said. "Don't move around, protect the scene, and wait for the police from the local station to arrive."
The villagers watching from a distance listened to her and began to discuss it quietly.
"It seems to be Xu Lao Er's daughter, the one who went to vocational school and works as a primary school teacher in the next town."
"I've never seen her have any enemies with anyone!"
"Was she killed by someone from the village or someone from outside the village?"
"Who knows? It's dangerous anyway."
As soon as he said this, the crowd fell silent. The villagers looked at each other and remained silent.
Police officers from the town's police station arrived at the scene quickly. Gu Yiliu informed them of the situation, and after investigating the scene, the two officers from the town's police station dug the female corpse out of the pit.
Upon seeing the entire female corpse, some couldn't bear it and vomited on the spot. Gu Yiliu also didn't dare to look.
The woman's head was completely severed, and she had many bruises on her body. Even her left ring finger was cut off, but the severed finger could not be found during the search of the scene.
The police at the town police station cannot yet determine whether the bruises on the woman's body were caused by beating or other reasons; they must wait for the forensic doctor's confirmation.
"Does anyone know the deceased's name?" the police officer from the local police station asked the villagers.
"Her name used to be Xu Xiaohua, but she changed it after she was admitted to a vocational school. I think her name was Xu Hua," a villager replied.
Have the family members been notified?
"Her family informed her that she was married and had moved to the house next door, but no one informed her husband."
The police officer at the local police station nodded and arranged for someone to go and notify them.
In the end, the female corpse, Xu Hua, was put into a body bag and taken down the mountain.
Before leaving, the police officers from the town police station approached Gu Yiliu and said, “Because the town police station does not have a forensic doctor, we need to go to the county to coordinate and ask the county to send someone to help with the autopsy. I’m leaving two colleagues here to handle the follow-up matters. We might need you to help look after them. We are short-handed, and I’m afraid the family members might get emotional and something might happen, so… I hope you won’t find us troublesome.”
Gu Yiliu nodded, indicating that he agreed to help her with a small favor without any problem.
"My name is Lin Shuhui, what's your name, comrade?"
"Gu Yiliu".
Lin Shuhui smiled, stopped chatting, and left with a colleague, carrying the body away.
The villagers had no animosity toward the two police officers who stayed behind, and they listened to their advice not to panic or spread rumors.
After calming the villagers down, the two policemen returned to the mountain. They had another task: to find the woman's severed finger.
After Gu Yiliu confirmed that the two policemen were alright, she and Min Songyue returned to the outpost.
"Gu Yiliu, who do you think the murderer might be?"
"I don't know." Gu Yiliu didn't want to discuss it further.
But Min Songyue was clearly eager to talk about it. "I suspect that the murderer was provoked into a fit of rage after the argument and then killed the person."
Gu Yiliu: "Then tell me why you cut off your finger?"
"The finger was wearing a ring, right? The severed ring finger was wearing a ring, wasn't it? A crime of passion? How much hatred must one have felt to do that?"
Gu Yiliu thought his analysis made a lot of sense, "It could be a crime of passion." But they weren't investigating, so they could only wait for the police station to investigate.
For the next few days, the sound of weeping filled Qing Shi Village, and Gu Yiliu could hear it even from his outpost. Xu Hua's in-laws came to her parents' house every day to cry, and with both families crying together, the village children became much quieter.
That day, Gu Yiliu returned from the mountain and saw Han Yi standing at the gate of the outpost.
Holding two big watermelons.
Gu Yiliu was taken aback for a moment, then walked over and asked, "Why are you here?" He opened the iron gate of the outpost and let him into the courtyard.
Han Yi stepped inside. "I came to help out, and I also brought you a watermelon. It was a gift from Boss Qian."
Han Yi said, "Xu Hua's case has made no progress. Now we've expanded the scope to investigate people in the village. The town's police station only has four people, which is not enough, so I came to help."
"Who do you suspect? Have you questioned Xu Hua's in-laws and her own family? When did Xu Hua die?" Gu Yiliu asked.
Han Yi nodded. "The forensic doctor said that Xu Hua had been dead for three days. They questioned her four times, with different people asking the same questions. Her family and in-laws gave similar answers: she had no enemies. Moreover, according to Xu Hua's husband, she had already been back to her parents' home for two days on the day she was killed. But Xu Hua's father said that she went back to her in-laws' home early on the day she was killed."
"What a coincidence."
Han Yi nodded. "Where's the fruit knife? I'll cut the watermelon for you."
Before Gu Yiliu could speak, he saw Han Yi already heading to the kitchen on his own.
She wanted to say something, but when she lifted her foot, she saw Ma Quan and Min Songyue walking in from outside. She sighed and decided to give up.
"Watermelon? Who's here?"
Gu Yiliu listened to Min Songyue's loud and boisterous voice and gestured for him to look at the kitchen.
Min Songyue looked towards the kitchen, "...Han Yi? What's he doing here?"
He turned to look at Gu Yiliu, "What's going on between you two? Are you together?"
Gu Yiliu frowned. "No, don't talk nonsense. And you know him? Is he your classmate? I don't know him."
Min Songyue shook his head, "I'm just from the dorm next to his. It's normal that you don't know me at school."
"How did he end up here?" Min Songyue muttered to himself.
Han Yi came out carrying a sliced watermelon, just in time to hear his words, "He's here to work on a case, to discuss it with her."
Han Yi handed Gu Yiliu a slice of watermelon. "There's nothing we can do about coincidences. There's no direct evidence to prove suspicion, so I suggest we investigate the people in both villages first."
Gu Yiliu hesitated to take the watermelon, and Min Songyue, seeing this scene, felt his teeth ache. He reached out and snatched it, ending the strange stalemate. "Thank you, Brother Yi! Ah! The watermelon is so sweet!"
Han Yi smiled at him, but the smile didn't reach his eyes; his eyes gestured for him to get lost.
With a pout, Min Songyue wanted to take another slice of watermelon, but Han Yi kicked him, so he had no choice but to leave.
After everyone left, Han Yi looked at Gu Yiliu and smiled, "I'm in charge of investigating Qingshi Village, so I might stay there for a few days."
A note from the author:
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Pre-order "The Live-in Son-in-Law from Ancient Times [1970s]" and please add it to your favorites.
Synopsis: He Xiaocui is 20 years old. Her parents told her that they are getting old and it should be her turn to be the head of the family as their only daughter.
The first major thing He Xiaocui did after taking charge of the household was to find a son-in-law who was willing to move in with her family.
Just as she was looking for someone, the village secretary heard about it and approached her.
He Xiaocui thought the village party secretary, this old-fashioned man, was going to lecture her, but it turned out he was there to introduce her to a son-in-law.
"Xiao Cui, what do you think of this man as your son-in-law?" The village secretary pushed the man forward.
“I found this man in the mountains. He is strong and hardworking, so he is perfect to be your son-in-law.”
The man was dressed strangely, but he was handsome. He Xiaocui was particularly attracted to his well-developed biceps, so she asked him to demonstrate his strength. The next second, the man easily lifted a cow with both hands.
He Xiaocui's eyes lit up, and she immediately took him home. With him, how could she not become rich!
——
Meng Zhangzhang was seriously injured and fell into a coma. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a country called Huaguo.
Upon his arrival, he was packaged up like a piece of merchandise and handed over to a woman, "..."
A general who commands the three armies, when has he ever been so wronged!
Later, Meng Zhangzhang actually fell in love with it.
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