No one can prove it when they are dead.
“First, recount how you discovered him,” Zhang Chong asked, pointing at Chen Jian.
Taking a breath, Shan Hai recalled that after receiving the order, he went to scout alone in the mountains and forests. At first, he found nothing, but just an hour ago, he discovered a set of leather shoe footprints that disappeared near the rocks.
He could only investigate backwards, but instead of finding Shen Jian from the secret investigation team, he found Captain Jia in the bushes, his clothes stripped off and his hands tied behind his back. He immediately shook him awake and learned that Captain Jia had been drugged while urinating, with his mouth and nose covered.
However, Shan Hai had his own mission and dared not delay. He untied the restraints, fed Captain Jia some water, and before leaving, he instructed Captain Jia to walk straight ahead after recovering so that he could return to the initial cave.
Captain Jia, who was standing nearby, immediately said that he had woken up and seen a soldier, but he was still groggy at the time and only knew that he had drunk a few sips of water. The soldier reminded him to walk straight ahead.
Shan Hai wasn't carrying that conspicuous carbine, so Captain Jia didn't recognize him. It turned out Shan Hai had saved him! Captain Jia excitedly grabbed Shan Hai's hand, thanking him profusely. Shan Hai expressionlessly pulled his hand away from Captain Jia's, wiping his trouser leg with a hint of disdain.
The two matched up on the details, but Zhang Chong interrupted, "Wait a minute, a rifle is a soldier's life. If you go on a mission without a gun, where are you putting your life?"
Shan Hai blinked as if stumped by the question, and Gao Junxiao's heart tightened suddenly. He cursed Shan Hai for his chatter in his heart. He had wanted to prove himself and asked Bai to find another witness, but Zhang Chong had caught him red-handed instead.
"Nonsense! You've left your sidearm lying around again. I paid for the equipment, and you don't appreciate it at all." Gao Junxiao tapped Shan Hai's head and scolded loudly, "How many times have I told you, don't bring equipment when you're on a reconnaissance mission. Travel light. Can't you give the gun to someone else to keep?"
"No way, brother. These are such expensive imported goods. What if those few clumsy people break them or lose a few original bullets? I couldn't afford to pay for them even if I sold myself. It's better to find a cave to hide them in and retrieve them when I come back. Anyway, this is a deserted island." Shan Hai's eyes darted around and he found a reasonable explanation.
After a period of time, Zhang Chong had no objection to let Shan Hai continue.
He quickly glanced at Gao Junxiao out of the corner of his eye, then Shan Hai answered seriously. He conducted a net-like search within a three-kilometer radius, eventually finding his way to the sinkhole. Inside the sinkhole was a pool of water, its depth unfathomable, but cool and refreshing.
Just as Shan Hai was about to wash his face to relieve his fatigue, two loud noises came from the waterfall.
Then, without warning, the pool of water began to bubble with blood, and many messy chunks of flesh floated to the surface. This terrified Shan Hai, who turned tail and ran away, thinking he had accidentally entered a forbidden area and offended the Dragon God.
He had heard from a soldier who was a fisherman that there was a high probability that there was a dragon in such a hidden deep pool. The dragon usually moved around in the cave at the bottom of the pool, and when it got tired, it would coil up at the bottom of the pool to rest. When the dragon snored, it would fill the cave with water. When the dragon turned over, the vibration could be felt for miles around.
He ran for several miles and felt that he would be missing out if he didn't see the dragon with his own eyes. He thought that if he could catch the real dragon or pluck a scale, it would be worth a lot of money.
Oh my, how old are you to still believe in dragons? Gao Junxiao, who plays Shan Hai, is heartbroken. But it's all a script written by his wife, so no matter how outrageous it is, he still has to applaud. Sigh, the main purpose is just to support him.
The unreliable mountain legends made everyone laugh, but Zhang Chong didn't laugh; he seemed to be lost in thought.
After a long while, Zhang Chongcai finally showed a look of sudden realization. He explained to everyone that the presence of caves in this area indicated the existence of underground rivers. Water dripping on stone can wear it away, let alone the erosion of underground rivers over millions of years.
Almost all the underground caves and pools on this island are interconnected. With the ebb and flow of tides and underwater earthquakes, it is not surprising that fishermen would spread legends of dragons in the deep pools.
The tide just rose in the gourd cave, and there are pools of water inside. It's very likely that Chen Jian dived into the deep pool at the moment of the explosion to find another way out.
"Possibly," Shan Hai nodded vigorously. He returned to the sinkhole, glancing at the pool despite the stench of blood. Instead of seeing the dragon, he saw the mission target emerge from the pool.
He had no time to report, and he didn't bring any firearms, so he simply took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, knocked the target unconscious with a rock, and carried him back. Truly, hard work pays off!
Suddenly called out, Chen Jian jumped up in anger: "Hey~ you country bumpkin, so it was you who hit me. If you have the guts, fight me one-on-one, and I'll smash your head in too."
Shan Hai glanced at Chen Jian and said in a dismissive tone, "Sorry, we have rules. We can't spar with random people. Otherwise, a fight will turn into an assault, and people will think I'm bullying you."
Having probably never been treated like this before, Young Master Shen was furious and raised his leg to kick someone, hurling insults and profanities at them. Shan Hai, also in the prime of his life, was practically overflowing with murderous intent in his eyes.
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Gao Junxiao slapped Chen Jian on the back of the head and gritted his teeth as he continued, "If you keep making trouble, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the fish. Don't you have a mother or sisters? What would they think if they heard you talking so filthy?"
Even the wicked fear being tormented by another wicked person; the sword fell silent instantly, its eyes filled with resentment.
"Captain Shen, I have one last question for you. How did you contact your men on your ship after you ran away?" Zhang Chong asked.
"What nonsense, I don't know." Shen Jian stubbornly refused to cooperate. He was a trained elite agent, and no amount of force could pry his mouth open if he refused to speak.
The air seemed to freeze. Zhang Chong looked at Shan Hai and then at Gao Junxiao with a complicated expression. After a long while, he finally managed to say, "Shen Jian doesn't need to be interrogated anymore, but I still have a few questions for Lei Shan Hai."
Sunlight illuminated half of the cave. Zhang Chong's eyes were cold as he cut to the chase, asking Shan Hai when he boarded the ship, which cabin he was in, and what time the ship departed.
He was assembled during morning exercises and taken to the dock with other soldiers. After boarding the ship, he was put in the cargo hold on the lower deck. He didn't know what time the ship would depart because he wasn't wearing a watch, he only knew that it was dawn.
The smooth and natural answer did not dispel Zhang Chong's suspicions. He then questioned who sent the ginger tea after the storm and how many soldiers drank it. Judging from Shan Hai's appearance, he probably didn't drink it. Why didn't he drink it?
The pointed question directly concerned the headquarters' reputation. Director Yan could no longer sit still and almost jumped up, pointing at Zhang Chong's nose and cursing, "What do you mean by that? Is it necessary to make such a big deal out of whether our soldiers drank ginger tea or not? They didn't get caught in the rain. If they want to drink it, they can; if they don't, they can leave it."
"Director Yan, don't interrupt me. I need to find out who he is. What if he's a hidden member of the Communist Party or part of the secret investigation team..."
"His name is Lei Shanhai, the squad leader of our headquarters' reconnaissance platoon. You were too greedy and didn't get any benefits yourself, so don't use our soldiers as bait..."
The two spoke almost simultaneously, but their conversation was completely disconnected.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, causing Shen Jianxu to burst into laughter. Director Yan glared fiercely at Shen Jianxu, stepped forward and kicked him in the chest, threatening to dislocate his jaw if he dared to laugh again.
Yan Chu was furious at Zhang Chong's "unreasonable behavior." He bent down and accused Zhang Chong of not knowing when to stop, which led to the deaths of all the Communist Party members without leaving a single survivor. He said it would have been better to have detained Secretary Yu as soon as he showed his face, so that those desperados would not have any time to prepare.
Upon hearing that the entire G Party was dead, Chen Jian frowned, then sneered gloatingly: "CC is nothing special. They made such a big fuss, but didn't get a single thing. Hehehe, they really disgraced your Manager Xu."
"You have no sense of propriety!" Gao Junxiao slapped Shen Jian on the back of the head: "Shut up! You don't speak when you should, but when you're told not to, your little mouth is like it's made of steel cannons, you can talk a lot. The Communist Party is dead, what are you happy about? Don't forget you've worked for nothing too."
Perhaps stunned by the slap, or perhaps touched on a sore spot, Chen Jian pouted, his face full of grievance. Gao Junxiao then stated the facts: they had cast such a long line, finally waiting for the big fish to bite, only to have them all turn into dead fish. Section Chief Zhang must be more anxious than anyone else. Now everyone, calm down!
Yan Chu snorted coldly at the obviously biased words, seemingly blaming Gao Junxiao for siding with outsiders. Gao Junxiao smiled and didn't take it to heart. He even gave Shan Hai a direct order: answer whatever Section Chief Zhang asked him, without hiding anything. As for things he couldn't remember, he should be frank and say he didn't know.
"Yes!" Shan Hai replied loudly.
Gao Junxiao turned to Zhang Chong and said, "Section Chief Zhang is a man who can distinguish right from wrong. I trust you. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have."
Their cooperative attitude, devoid of any guilt, dispelled the gloom that had shrouded Zhang Chong's eyes, replacing it with a faint sense of remorse. His tone softened: "I'm fine now."
With the crisis temporarily averted, Shan Hai swallowed hard, while Gao Junxiao smiled at him. When dealing with a master, one must be frank and use retreat as a strategy to advance.
“Section Chief Zhang, we’d better understand this: we came to the island to arrest the CCP, but now the CCP has self-destructed and their bodies are nowhere to be found. Instead, we’ve turned on each other. This is truly regrettable.” Gao Junxiao sighed sadly and pulled Shen Jian aside. “Captain Shen, you’re also a member of the Kuomintang. Under normal circumstances, how should we handle this?”
Shen Jian froze, looking Gao Junxiao up and down with the eyes of someone looking at a freak: "You drove someone to their death, and now you want me to take the blame? Do you think I'm stupid?"
“The G Party’s arrest and self-destruction are no one’s fault. I just want to offer a small suggestion,” Gao Junxiao said with a smile. “As far as I know, the secret investigation team and the CC have been following this case for a long time. Both sides must have a lot of evidence. Why don’t we gather what we have and combine it into one case for investigation?”
"Impossible!" Zhang Chong and Shen Jian said in unison.
Their denial was expected. Gao Junxiao feigned regret and then invited Zhang Chong to join him in searching for any remaining clues in the sinkhole where the sword had sunk.
"I want to go too!" Shen Jian's bold statement displeased Zhang Chong.
CC's agents immediately launched into a tirade, saying that Chen Jian, a prisoner, had no right to make demands, and that he was only spared because of the high-ranking councilor's intercession.
"Let him go. What if he can recall some useful clues?" Gao Junxiao picked up Chen Jian like a chick. At the same time, he threatened Chen Jian with his eyes, telling him to shut up or he'd beat him up. Chen Jian lowered his head, his previous arrogance gone.
After much deliberation, Zhang Chong finally agreed to let Shen Jian accompany him.
A chilling wind blew through the sinkhole, and a putrid stench filled the air. Soon, flies swarmed over the corpse, a large, dark swarm flying about randomly, like a whistling whirlwind.
Everyone who saw it got goosebumps, but Gao Junxiao was used to it. He ordered his men to collect all the body parts, and then found two soldiers who were good swimmers to go into the water and check again to see if there was anything they had missed.
Time passed second by second. Gao Junxiao looked at the pile of minced flesh on the ground and started piecing it together. In a short while, he managed to piece together three incomplete corpses by using the remaining clothing and the size of the bones.
The tall one is definitely CC's "Bear" agent, the medium-sized one is an agent from the secret investigation team, and the last one, slender, is undoubtedly Secretary Yu.
"Has the head been found?" Zhang Chong asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, a ball-shaped object wrapped in water plants was thrown out of the pool by a soldier, and the ball rolled with a thud to the lower side of the ground.
Upon closer inspection, Gao Junxiao realized it wasn't Secretary Yu, but rather the little spy from the secret investigation team whose eyes had been pecked out by fish, leaving two large, dark holes.
Zhang Chong turned his head away in disappointment, but when Shen Jian saw the head, he burst into tears. Gao Junxiao patted him on the shoulder and told him to take it easy.
The next second, the soldier flung out a foot wearing a cloth shoe. The ankle was still intact, and the severed end revealed the stark white bone, as if it had been torn off alive by a ferocious beast.
Chen Jian became interested in what seemed like a useless item. He glanced at it several times and then whispered to Gao Junxiao that the shoes should belong to Secretary Yu, size 41. Gao Junxiao took off the cloth shoes and found that the size was indeed marked inside.
"Hey, they even have sizes for cloth shoes now!" Gao Junxiao examined the shoes in disbelief.
"He bought it at a shoe store in Rolling Dragon. The G Party members are all poor bastards; they can't afford good shoes," Chen Jian said disdainfully.
"Huh, a pawn ticket! The Communist Party is really poor, but what kind of thing can be pawned for thirty silver dollars?" Gao Junxiao pulled out an insole from his wet shoes. There was a pawn ticket from Harvest Pawnshop stuck to the insole, dated 9 p.m. last night.
Upon hearing about the new clue, Zhang Chong rushed over to check and excitedly said, "Secretary Yu met with someone last night."
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