Chapter 61 Chapter 61 (Revised) Your daughter will like Wen...
It was raining heavily, and the beam of light from the helicopter made the falling rain clearly visible.
A group of eight police officers wearing orange-yellow jackets and leading police dogs searched on foot in the rain on Longqi Mountain.
The special investigation bureau members on the helicopter held tablets in their hands, and the image of the entire Longqi Mountain was rotating on the screen. The team member holding a small fist behind his head threw coins with one hand while looking down the dark mountain.
The command was transmitted to the ground via the intercom: "Search team, move to the northwest of the mountain as a whole."
The heavy rain washed away the soil in the mountains and forests, making the ground muddy and difficult to walk on, with large and small pieces of mud constantly falling down.
The search range continued to shrink as the air and ground searches continued, and finally after more than ten minutes, a burst of intense dog barking was heard.
It was as if the rainstorm in Longqi Mountain twenty years ago had washed away the mud and sand on the bones, making them clean and white.
…
"On May 21, 2006, someone called the police and reported that there was a body on Longqi Mountain. The body had signs of being tied up and looked abnormal."
"The person who reported the case called the police via mobile phone. The owner of the phone is Yu Huiting. She immigrated to Singapore with her family on June 1, 2006. We are unable to contact her and her parents for the time being."
"When Zou Wenhan's father was alive, he ran a dog farm in Xiaoqing Mountain. Both father and son lived and ate at the dog farm. It takes about an hour and forty minutes for a seven-year-old child to walk from the dog farm to Longqi Mountain."
“This is a photo of the dog farm at that time.”
"This is Yu Huiting's information. My colleagues are still in contact. I will reply as soon as I have news."
New information is constantly being sent to the monitoring room.
The police officer reported the information and handed over a stack of documents.
There is also a photo of Yu Huiting, a young girl wearing a red scarf, which is obviously from twenty years ago.
Duan Xuyao was looking at a photo of a dog farm from twenty years ago. The huge iron cages were rusty, and the thin iron mesh illuminated the incandescent bulbs, emitting a dim white light. The atmosphere of the whole photo was extremely depressing.
Bai Qingqing turned off the microphone and looked at the photo of Yu Huiting beside her: "This girl is dead. She should have died in 2011. Her mother is no longer alive, but her father is still alive. You can continue to contact her father."
"ah?"
The police officer who brought the information looked at Bai Qingqing, opened his mouth in a daze, and subconsciously looked at Duan Xuyao and Zi Wenbin who brought this temporary consultant.
Zi Wenbin looked at the photo of the girl on the table and calculated with his fingers her date of birth according to the text information.
Yu Huiting went abroad in 2006. This photo was taken 20 years ago. The girl's young and rosy face doesn't look dead at all. How could Bai Qingqing tell at a glance that she had died in 2011 through such an old photo?
Zi Wenbin calculated quickly, but he already believed Bai Qingqing in his heart. He unconsciously cast his eyes on her and said to the police officer, "It seems that Yu Huiting did not die in a foreign country. She should have been in China when she died, and she might have returned to her hometown. Xiao Liu, carefully check Yu Huiting's entry and exit records for 11 years and contact her father."
"Oh... okay." The police officer came back to his senses and quickly ran out of the monitoring room again.
Beyond a glass.
Zou Wenhan's expression finally changed. He folded his hands over his chest and leaned back in his chair, looking sleepy, irritable and impatient.
"Police comrade, you have brought me here since last night, and you have not allowed me to sleep or drink water. You have been asking me things I don't know, and now you are even blaming me for the dead on the mountain! You are forcing me to confess! Is this considered torture?
This, this dead man, murder is punishable by death, I cannot bear such a heavy crime! Police comrades, you are trying to force a confession out of me!"
The police officer pointed at the camera in the corner of the interrogation room with a pen and said, "It's recorded. We didn't hit you. You've finished your water, and you want another one? Wait, I'll pour it for you now."
The police officer who was interrogating him stood up and went to pour him some water.
Zou Wenhan licked his lips and sighed anxiously: "I am a law-abiding citizen and I have a child. My daughter is only three years old and I take care of her every day. You are detaining me here..."
Zou Wenhan spoke quickly.
The police officer opposite him had a calm expression. He put down his pen calmly and looked at Zou Wenhan calmly: "Take a break if you are tired."
Zou Wenhan: “…”
Zou Wenhan held his head with both hands, inserted his fingers in his hair and sighed.
It wasn't until a glass of water was gently placed in front of him again that someone continued to speak: "Let's start over."
A huge mud pit was discovered on the mountain, with dozens of skeletons buried there, piled up haphazardly at the bottom of the pit.
The police and forensic doctors stood in silence around the mud pit, and the soaked police dog also panted quietly with its tongue hanging out.
The heavy rain kept brushing past their faces and falling into the deep pit.
A photo of a pit of messy bones was placed in front of Zou Wenhan. He still held his head with his hands, raised his eyes, and looked at the photo indifferently.
The police observed his calm expression and started to tell the story again: "You lived with your father at the Xiaoqingshan Dog Farm since you were four years old. It was not until you were nine that your father accidentally fell down the mountain. The dog farm was closed and you were taken over by the local welfare home."
"According to the teacher in the orphanage, you were different from other children in the first six months after you entered the orphanage."
"When eating, he would grab the food and squat in the corner to eat. He couldn't use chopsticks or spoons. He would tremble when he heard loud noises. At night, he would often hide under the bed and sleep on his stomach."
"You were raised like a dog by your biological father. He has a bad temper and would beat you so hard that your bones would be broken."
After becoming an adult, Zou Wenhan entered society and learned some carpentry skills from a master craftsman at the foot of the mountain. A few years later, he went to work in a machinery factory in a big city and often took on some private jobs.
I have always been a loner, never making friends, never falling in love, and never interacting with anyone.
The interrogating police's voice was transmitted into the monitoring room, recounting his experiences from childhood to youth.
"The dog farm in Xiaoqingshan has been abandoned until now, but eight years ago, some people saw people raising dogs on the mountain."
"There are fractures and bite marks on the bones of these people. What did you do before they died?"
"You said you didn't know Zhang An, but her red cell phone was found here!"
“It’s less than an hour and a half from Xiaoqing Mountain to Longqi Mountain. You are completely familiar with Longqi Mountain!”
"On August 10, 2011, Yu Huiting returned to China by flying from Singapore to Beijing, and then bought a train ticket from Beijing back to her hometown, Shaoyang. What a coincidence, on August 13, you also bought a train ticket to Shaoyang, and Yu Huiting disappeared!"
"You have no relatives or friends, why did you go to Shaoyang for no reason?"
"The evidence is right in front of us, Zou Wenhan. As long as we have a complete chain of evidence, we can convict you without your confession!" The interrogating police officer spoke in an intense tone, faster and faster, slamming the table and pointing at Zou Wenhan who was lowering his head opposite him.
After the loud bang of slamming the table, there was even quieter silence.
Duan Xuyao and several policemen in the monitoring room became nervous.
The colleague who interrogated Zou Wenhan was deceiving him.
Their chain of evidence is incomplete now, and it is difficult for them to complete the materials within 24 hours and submit an application to the higher authorities to continue detaining the person.
Zou Wenhan: “…I.”
He took his hands off his hair, his eyes reddened at some point, and his cheeks trembled as he forced out a smile: "I don't know, I don't know them."
"My childhood was not very good, but I worked hard and saved some money. Now I have a happy family. My wife is very virtuous and loves me very much. My daughter is the most attached to me. If she can't see me, she will keep calling me daddy."
Zou Wenhan smiled and pointed to his heart, "I believe that the scars here will be healed."
"I feel very sorry for them."
He burst into tears.
There are less than four hours left until Zou Wenhan is released.
In the monitoring room, Bai Qingqing sat slumped in a chair, watching several police officers around her sighing and bending their bodies at the same time.
There are more than three hours left, and everyone would take a chance as long as they can hold on.
The interrogating police officer looked disappointed.
Bai Qingqing grabbed the edge of the table, used the force to slide the chair forward, bent the microphone down, and pressed the intercom button: "I say, you repeat."
"Is it fun to chase people like dogs? Have you ever tied up your daughter like a dog?"
The interrogating police officer glanced at the black glass.
The other side was dark and silent.
Bai Qingqing: "In the first photo on the left, the man in the blue windbreaker, you don't know his name, do you? But when he was lying on the rock begging you to save him, did you feel like you were seeing yourself? Is it you who can't escape, or is it everyone else who can't escape? Why not try with him?"
Several policemen in the monitoring room stared at Bai Qingqing in shock.
Her tone was too indifferent. She was flipping through the photos of the relics of the owner of the bones in the mud pit on the table. Her eyes were even colder than her tone.
"The one with the yellow sneakers should have left the deepest impression on you. Was he the eighteenth? You couldn't remember how many there were at first, but for him, you dug up the pit and counted how many bodies were inside. Oh...it turned out to be the eighteenth.
He almost survived and killed your dog, which is awesome!
"Yes, you were just not strong enough when you were little. If you were older, you would definitely be able to tie up your dad instead of simply pushing him down."
Bai Qingqing: "How did the police know?"
In the interrogation room, the police officer who was slowly repeating the strange consultant paused for a moment and continued to follow her, even unconsciously imitating Bai Qingqing's tone: "...How did the police know?"
The style of the interrogation suddenly changed.
Zou Wenhan looked sharply in the direction of the monitoring room, staring at the dark glass.
"Of course Zhang An saw it." The interrogating police officer's hands on the documents clenched nervously unconsciously. Fortunately, Zou Wenhan stared at the glass and didn't notice, "... She is the only person who appeared in your dreams after her death. She stared at you every night, making you unable to sleep and making you angry.
You want to sleep so badly that you have no choice but to dig her out of the dirt and smash her face so hard that you will never see her again."
*
April 29, 2006. I heard it will rain on May Day this year.
Zhang An, a sophomore in the journalism department at Cannes, and his club friend Yu Huiting went to climb Mount Longqi to avoid the date when it was about to rain and the holiday crowds.
Longqi Mountain is a well-known mountain with many hiking routes. The two girls chose a safer route to climb the mountain, but they encountered heavy rain halfway.
The heavy rain that was supposed to come on May 1st arrived ahead of schedule.
The other groups of tourists who had climbed the mountain together gradually disappeared, and the two had no choice but to find a place to temporarily take shelter from the rain. The mountain road was muddy, and Zhang An fell and slid down the hillside, losing his cell phone. While he and Yu Huiting were looking for the phone, they touched a body rushing down the mountain.
The two female students were trembling with fear.
They had heard that many people had died while climbing the mountain. They thought it was a hiker who had accidentally fallen and were about to call the police, but they saw a bruise on the body's neck.
Zhang An borrowed Yu Huiting's mobile phone and somehow took pictures of the corpse and bruises.
When Yu Huiting was helping Zhang An find his cell phone, she touched the dead man's fingers, which were cold from being washed by the rain. She was so scared that she didn't dare to call the police. She cried and wanted to leave, and even advised Zhang An to pretend he didn't see anything.
"There is no signal now anyway. Even if we need to call the police, we have to wait until we get down the mountain. Let's go back to the main road first and see if we can meet anyone and hide from the rain or go down the mountain together." Zhang An comforted.
Yu Huiting was so frightened that she lost her mind. She followed Zhang An's instructions and the two of them supported each other and walked towards the main road. However, after they had taken a few steps, they saw a big, wet wolfdog appear in front of them.
Dozens of meters away, a figure appeared behind the bushes. His eyes under the hat were cold, staring at their direction, and he opened his mouth as if saying something to them.
The two girls inexplicably sensed a crisis and started running. After they had run a few steps, the dog chased them, scaring them so much that they screamed and scattered, which also attracted the attention of another mountaineering team.
Yu Huiting rushed towards the crowd, and a group of hikers took Zhang An into the team with trekking poles. After the rain stopped, they went down the mountain safely together.
It was so smooth and peaceful.
After Zhang An and Yu Huiting came down the mountain, they had a meal with the group of hikers.
The danger they encountered before seemed to be a misunderstanding, and even the gaze of that figure seemed to be their over-suspicion.
If I didn't have the photo in my hand, then...it might be like this.
The two argued over whether to call the police.
Yu Huiting thought the photos of dead people were unlucky, so she even threw away her cell phone, ended her trip early and went home instead. Zhang An also had no choice but to end his trip early and return to Cannes.
Neither of them contacted each other until more than half a month later, when Yu Huiting felt that someone was following her and she felt she was being watched. Her father had been sent abroad on business for more than two years, and she had been separated from her family for a long time. She had originally wanted to move the whole family over, and now was the perfect time to leave.
Zhang An struggled internally for more than half a month.
Yu Huiting didn't dare touch her red cell phone and kept it locked in a drawer. But she never forgot what happened that day. Especially when she heard her classmates say they were preparing for the press card exam, her heart became uneasy.
Zhang An decided to call the police.
On May 21, 2006, Zhang An called the police.
On May 22, the police went up the mountain to search for the body but found nothing.
On May 24, at eight o'clock in the evening, it was raining again. Zhang An saw the mountain man with the hat again in the alley downstairs from his home. He opened his mouth and put it close to his ear.
Zhang An now knew what the man in the hat said on the mountain.
"—be quiet."
He asked her not to call the police.
Also ask her to shut up now, be quiet, and not attract passers-by.
Amid the sound of heavy rain, Zhang An opened his mouth and nodded silently, too frightened to utter a word. He dropped to his knees, tightly grasping the corner of his clothes, and knelt down facing the tip of his knife.
I was wrong.
——The tip of the knife pierced the center of her throat, and blood gushed out, flowing warmly through Zou Wenhan's fingers.
…
"But she's been watching you."
"...But she's been looking at you." The interrogating police officer's throat was dry. He twisted his fingertips and clenched his palms: "She's here today too. Do you want to see her?"
Zou Wenhan's throat trembled.
It has been twenty years. From the first time he saw the two female students on the mountain to the scene of Zhang An kneeling in front of him, he still remembers it clearly. It is still vivid in his mind. Now, following the words of the police, he can recall Zhang An's appearance effortlessly.
Zou Wenhan's eyes unconsciously fell on one of the photos on the table.
Bai Qingqing smiled and said, "It seems that after all these years, you still remember her face very clearly."
"You've killed so many people. It's strange. Why does Zhang An always appear in your dream?"
Zou Wenhan's breathing was trembling, and his eyes could not leave Zhang An's photo: "I... don't know any Zhang An."
The two voices from the monitoring room and the interrogation room overlapped one after the other:
"She was actually a very gentle person and she didn't talk much, but after you cut her throat, she couldn't speak anymore.
Unlike your daughter, who chirps like a little sparrow every day, Zou Wenhan, do you think your daughter will like this gentle and quiet elder sister?"
"What are you going to do!" Zou Wenhan stood up suddenly, looked towards the monitoring room, and met Bai Qingqing's eyes without realizing it.
"It's already twelve forty-three. Guoguo must be asleep by now." Bai Qingqing said softly.
Although the glass in front of him was completely dark and he couldn't see anything, there seemed to be a suction force. Cold sweat ran down Zou Wenhan's temples and he muttered:
"I... don't know Zhang An, I don't know these people, I don't understand what you are talking about."
The lights in the interrogation room had become extremely dim at some point. Zou Wenhan saw his own reflection in the black glass, staggered back two steps, and fell down in the black rain.
The cold rain water that had accumulated on the ground soaked his pants.
There was a dead body of a woman in front of him, with her eyes wide open and rolled up, as if she was looking at someone. Zou Wenhan saw the woman's face clearly and was startled by her eyes. He quickly reacted, put the body of the woman into a sack, moved it into the cargo compartment, and drove to the surrounding barren mountains overnight.
Zou Wenhan had lived in the mountains for many years and was familiar with the places where few people went. He dug a pit in the rain and opened the mouth of the sack. Without noticing, he met her eyes again. He cursed inwardly, poured the person out, and threw him into the pit.
The moment he was thrown down, he felt an inexplicable force on his wrist, pulling him down as well.
Zou Wenhan closed his eyes.
After a brief darkness, cold rain hit his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw the dark blue sky and tall treetops, and the rain fell vertically into his eyes.
Zou Wenhan felt severe pain all over his body. He turned his face to the side and saw himself lying among a pile of white bones.
Hyenas suddenly appeared on the high mud pit, as if they had suddenly smelled the breath of a living person, looked down accurately, and barked at him. More and more hyenas appeared, surrounded the mud pit and looked at him.
The heavy rain left only black and white between heaven and earth.
Zou Wenhan was sitting in a pool of bones, feeling inexplicably panicked. Suddenly, he heard a sound, followed by a flash of light.
The little girl in a pink skirt and white tights stood on a high mud pit, skipped and ran to his front again, squeezed in among the hyenas, pointed a camera at him, and the strong white flash flashed:
"Dad! Smile!"
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