Wang Shen and Liang Zichen waited by the fishpond for a while. A dozen minutes later, they saw two police officers running towards them carrying a pile of salvage equipment. The rain showed no signs of letting up, greatly hindering the salvage operation.
"Captain Wang, what do you think we'll find in this fishpond?" Liang Zichen called out to Wang Shen, who was standing next to him.
Wang Shen shook his head, already having made many different guesses in his mind. Just then, the police officer who was fishing in the pond shouted, "There's something there!"
Those on the shore heard this and saw the deputy captain standing on the bank wave his hand, and then two police officers rushed into the fishpond to help.
"There's someone down in this fishpond!" a police officer who was retrieving fish from the pond shouted to the people on the shore.
Upon hearing this, Wang Shen took another step forward and shouted, "Quickly pull him up!"
"No way, it looks like there's something tied to this person, we can't pull him up!" the police officer in the fishpond shouted in response.
Upon hearing the officer's words, the deputy captain standing on the shore shouted at the policeman, "Then remove the things from the person's body!"
It's true what they say, a local official is more powerful than a distant one; the deputy captain's words were indeed effective. After hearing the deputy captain's words, two of the three policemen in the fishpond dived down to check the situation. A while later, the two policemen poked their heads out of the pond again.
A policeman swam toward the shore, glanced at the deputy captain, and said, "There's a large rock tied to the body. I'll get a pair of scissors."
After speaking, the police officer took a pair of scissors from his toolbox, turned around, and dived back into the fishpond. A moment later, the officer popped his head out of the water again and gave Wang Shen and the others an OK sign.
"Throw another rope over!" a policeman standing in the fishpond shouted.
Liang Zichen immediately rummaged through his tool bag on the ground, found a bundle of rope, and threw it towards the direction of the police officers in the fishpond.
One of the police officers took the rope and dived into the fishpond again. A moment later, he emerged from the water, still holding one end of the rope. He then gestured to the two officers beside him. The two officers nodded and simultaneously pulled on one end of the rope.
Three police officers walked slowly towards the shore. Raindrops pounded the water's surface, splashing up droplets. As the officers approached the bank, the rope at the other end behind them began to slowly rise to the surface.
A large wave surged on the water's surface, and suddenly, a long, thin object was pulled out of the water. Seeing this, Liang Zichen immediately rushed to the edge of the fishpond and, together with the other three police officers, pulled the object ashore.
Everyone understood what the long, narrow object in front of them was. The body was wrapped in several layers of plastic, which looked like the material of a disposable tablecloth.
"Hello, are you wearing plastic gloves?" Wang Shen glanced at the deputy captain standing next to him and then asked.
The deputy captain's gaze remained fixed on the corpse on the ground. After hearing Wang Shen's words, he paused briefly, then nodded and took out several pairs of plastic gloves from his toolbox.
Wang Shen quickly put on plastic gloves, took a deep breath, and then squatted down beside the body. Just as Wang Shen was about to unwrap the plastic wrap, Liang Zichen squatted down next to him and asked, "Captain Wang, judging from the body shape, this is very likely Dean Fu Ju's body."
Upon hearing Liang Zichen's words, Wang Shen paused for a moment, but did not respond.
Seeing that Wang Shen did not answer, Liang Zichen asked to himself, "But where is Han Lin's body?"
Filled with questions, Wang Shen decided to peel back the layers of plastic covering the corpse. The plastic sheets pattered against the raindrops. With each layer he removed, the answer seemed to draw closer to him.
When he reached the last few layers of plastic wrap, Wang Shen suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Liang Zichen, an expression of disbelief on his face.
Liang Zichen had witnessed Wang Shen's actions throughout. Like Wang Shen, he was also filled with great doubt and surprise at the shadowy corpse in front of him.
After a brief moment of shock, Liang Zichen looked at Wang Shen and said, "Captain Wang, it seems we were all wrong."
Wang Shen still didn't answer Liang Zichen's question. He turned his head, staring at the corpse before him, and his hands suddenly moved faster. The last few layers of plastic covering the body were quickly peeled off by Wang Shen's nimble movements.
Staring at the corpse on the ground, Wang Shen and Liang Zichen were stunned. What went wrong? How could it be him?
"Captain Wang, is this man the victim?" the deputy captain asked Wang Shen, looking at the body lying on the ground.
That's right. The body just pulled from the fishpond wasn't Dean Fu Ju's, nor was it Han Lin's child's. The body before us was clearly that of an adult male. Who exactly is he? And what role does he play in Han Lin's case?
In an instant, all the questions flooded Wang Shen and Liang Zichen's minds. Only then did they realize that their assumptions were seriously flawed.
“In Han Lin’s case, the only male characters we can confirm so far are Han Lin and the murderer. If we follow this logic, is the man in front of us the murderer?” After a period of silence, Liang Zichen stared at the corpse in front of him and voiced his guess.
“Unlikely,” Wang Shen shook his head. “Look at the corpse’s head,” Wang Shen pointed to the corpse’s head and gestured to Liang Zichen.
After crouching down and carefully examining the corpse's head, Liang Zichen said, "The upper half of the back of the head suffered a crushing blow, while the lower half is intact. Based on the initial examination, there don't seem to be any other fatal wounds on the body. Therefore, the upper half of the back of the head, near the crown of the head, is very likely the cause of death." After speaking, Liang Zichen withdrew his hands from the corpse.
After listening to Liang Zichen's analysis, Wang Shen nodded and then asked, "How tall do you think the deceased was?"
After taking a few small steps from the deceased's head to his heels, Liang Zichen returned and said, "I estimate he should be over 1.8 meters tall."
“Although I don’t know Dean Fu Ju’s exact height, it’s generally true that an old woman’s height rarely exceeds 1.7 meters,” Wang Shen added after frowning.
Liang Zichen immediately understood Wang Shen's meaning and explained it in the same way. "That makes sense. To cause such a blow wound, the murderer would have to be taller than the victim, or at least the same height. If the murderer is much shorter than the victim, given the location of the wound on the victim's head, the murderer wouldn't be able to inflict a very strong blow."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
