Chapter 62: The deceased is most likely a worker at a nearby construction site...
Wuping Village is located in the south of Xingtai District, close to the newly developed Jiangdong District.
The person who reported the case was Tong Dagui. According to him, he wanted to drain the large pond at home today, clean it out, and then put some new fish fry in it. As a result, before the water in the pond reached the bottom, he found a piece of gray cloth on the edge of the pond. At first he thought someone's clothes had fallen in, but when he poked it with a bamboo pole, he found that it was hard to the touch. He felt something was wrong, and when the water level went down, he took another look and realized that it was not cloth at all, it was clearly a dead body!
Tong Dagui was so frightened at the time that he ran away and called the police. The local police station checked the case and reported it to higher authorities before it came to them.
Xiao Liu quickly explained the case as he walked: "Captain Qin and his men have already rushed to the scene. As for the rest, it's up to you, Captain Yue, to go over and take a look."
Yue Lingchuan responded with a "OK" and drove away quickly with three groups of people.
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Xingtai District is far away from the team, and it takes about two hours to drive there. When they arrived, the local village party secretary was already waiting on the roadside, with a man in his forties or fifties with a bitter face beside him.
The two sides introduced themselves to each other first, and the middle-aged man with a bitter face turned out to be the owner of the Datang.
As they rushed to the pond, they listened to him describe the details of the case:
"Police comrade, I am wronged, I am really wronged! I just wanted to clean the pond so that I could raise some fish, but who knew something like this would happen?"
"When the water in the pond was halfway drained, I vaguely saw something gray near the bottom of the pond. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. After all, who hasn't fallen into a fish pond? I took a bamboo pole to pick it up, but who would have thought that when I poked it, it was hard! I was wondering if some ignorant child had thrown a stone in it. As a result, when the water level dropped a little, I poked it again, and the clothes suddenly rolled down. Immediately, a person's face was revealed on the back, swollen by water, gray and white. I was so scared that I didn't dare to look at it any more. I ran away! Then I ran back to call the police."
He sighed, looking helpless: "Comrade police, what should I do? I'm still waiting to raise fish, how can I raise them?"
Even if he raised them, he wouldn't dare eat the fish in the short term.
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingye tilted his head to look at him and said soothingly, "After we find out the cause of death and the murderer, you should be able to ask for a certain amount of compensation for mental damages in your case."
Tong Dagui was a little happy at this moment: "Really?"
Shen Qingye smiled at him: "Really."
As they were talking, they had already reached the edge of the big pond. Qin Yilang and several forensic doctors were surrounding the body, examining the condition of the deceased attentively.
Yue Lingchuan took a step forward: "What's going on?"
Qin Yilang raised his eyes, stood up and said, "Based on the current observation of the body and the fact that the body will float to the surface about five days after death, it is estimated that the deceased died about three to four days ago. In addition, no sand or water plants were found in the hands or between the fingernails of the deceased, and no mushroom-shaped foam was found in the mouth and nose. However, there are traces of being hit by a sharp weapon behind his head. Judging from its shape, it should be something like a hammer. Preliminary judgment is that the deceased did not die of drowning. He was already dead before being thrown into the pond."
Shen Qingye also agreed with this statement. She didn't hear any sound here, so the possibility of this being a murder scene was low.
She looked at the corpse again. After being soaked in the water for three days, the corpse was swollen and the face was swollen and deformed, and it was grayish white. There was no trace of its appearance before death. She could only vaguely tell that the body was a man.
She frowned slightly, trying to suppress her discomfort, and asked the village party secretary beside her: "Has anyone gone missing in the village during this period?"
The village party secretary shook his head: "No."
Shen Qingye asked again: "Then...are there any migrant workers who have just left?"
The village party secretary smiled bitterly and shook his head: "No. When the dead body was first found, I went door to door to ask, and everyone in the village, big and small, was there, and no one was missing."
Shen Qingye exhaled slowly: "If that's the case, then we should be able to determine that it's not a nearby villager..."
Yue Lingchuan looked around, paused, and asked Tong Dagui: "Has your pond been neglected before? Is it rather desolate?"
Tong Dagui nodded: "Yes, my family didn't pay much attention to this pond before. Except for catching a few fish from it during the Chinese New Year, we usually just left it there. It was only this year that we wanted to raise more fish so that we could sell the ones we couldn't eat ourselves, so we decided to get rid of it."
He rubbed his face, feeling somewhat helpless. It was obvious that he had never expected to encounter such a thing.
Yue Lingchuan understood what he said: "This pond is in a remote location, and it was probably overgrown with weeds before. The murderer might have taken advantage of this and thought that no one would touch the pond in the short term, so he chose to dump the body here."
Who would have thought that Tong Dagui would happen to want to clear the pond to raise fish.
Shen Qingye looked at the village party secretary again and asked, "How far is the nearest village here?"
The village party secretary thought for a moment and said, "The nearest village... is Linzhai Village, about five or six miles away."
Wei Zhengyi said: "So, the murderer is most likely from another village, and he deliberately threw the body far away after committing the crime?"
Yue Lingchuan said: "It may not be someone from another village."
Everyone looked back and saw him using a branch to fiddle with the dead man's palm. After observing carefully for a moment, he said, "There are obvious calluses on the dead man's palm. These are the marks left by long-term physical labor."
Luo Kaiyang said: "Isn't farming also physical labor?"
Yue Lingchuan shook his head: "The key point is the clothes he wears."
Zhou Qiming paused, then took a closer look, his eyes slowly narrowed: "This kind of clothes... looks like canvas fabric, which is often worn by workers in the construction industry."
Yue Lingchuan glanced at him and agreed, "Canvas is thick, wear-resistant and durable, and is indeed mostly used for work clothes in the construction industry."
Zhou Qiming said: "So the deceased is most likely a worker at a nearby construction site?"
Yue Lingchuan stood up and said, "It's very likely."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Having a clue was better than asking every village one by one.
Yue Lingchuan looked back at the village party secretary: "Is there any construction site near our village?"
The village party secretary hissed, thought for a long time, and shook his head, saying, "I really don't know. I haven't been out much recently."
Tong Dagui said: "I know there is a place that seems to be under construction."
Everyone turned to look at him, and he scratched his head: "I remember... the last time I went to Jiangdong District with my son, on the way back I saw a construction site not far from our village. It was surrounded by iron sheets, and you could see cranes and other things inside."
Yue Lingchuan asked: "Where exactly is it?"
Tong Dagui said, "Just head south, towards the downtown area of Jiangdong District, which is about... 30 miles away."
The village party secretary also reminded: "Our village is at the southernmost end of Xingtai District. Beyond us, further south is Jiangdong District. Jiangdong District has developed in recent years, and there are more and more facilities around it. Going back and forth, I often see a piece of land being fenced off for construction. I guess there should be more than one construction site nearby that Dagui just mentioned."
Yue Lingchuan nodded, and understood, and then instructed everyone: "Then let's split into three groups and look around. If there are other construction sites, we will also go in and take a look."
Everyone agreed, and in the end Yue Lingchuan was with Luo Kaiyang, Shen Qingye and Jiang Cheng were together, and Zhou Qiming was with Wei Zhengyi.
They only drove two cars, and Zhou Qiming temporarily borrowed a motorcycle in the village, and then they acted separately.
…
Along the way, Jiang Cheng introduced the situation to Shen Qingye: "Jiangdong District is a newly developed area, and it is developing very fast. The demand for various construction equipment is also gradually increasing. However, the development in the urban area has gradually become saturated in recent years, and the land has been almost used up, so it has begun to develop in the surrounding areas."
Shen Qingye nodded: "That's why the village party secretary just said that there are always many construction sites nearby."
Jiang Cheng looked out the window and said, "There should be quite a few workers around here."
I just don’t know which construction site the deceased belonged to.
Or to put it more complicatedly, it is possible that he was not from the surrounding area at all, and the murderer brought him from a faraway place and dumped his body here.
Then the area they have to search will be very large.
Shen Qingye also understood Jiang Cheng's concerns and currently just hoped that everything would go smoothly.
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But it obviously didn't go smoothly.
Shen Qingye discovered two construction sites along the way. After revealing their police identities and meeting the site leaders, they stated their purpose.
The other party was a little surprised, but still cooperated. After learning about the situation from the foremen below, they all said that no one had gone missing recently and no one had suddenly asked for leave.
Shen Qingye contacted Yue Lingchuan again, and felt disappointed when he learned that there was no result from their side. Just as I was thinking about whether to go further south, Zhou Qiming suddenly called me:
"Xiao Shen, come here quickly! Zhengyi and I found it!"
"There is a construction site at the intersection of Jinshan Road and Jianggang Road. Someone has disappeared there recently!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingye looked at Jiang Cheng, quickly turned the car around, and drove towards the place Zhou Qiming said!
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