Chapter 248: Xue Ge's Aunt's House
When the sound of the wind outside the cave gradually died down, the Snow Wolf King ran to Xu Ying with vigorous steps, with unmelted snow still on his silver-gray fur.
It lowered its head and gently rubbed the back of Xu Ying's hand, a hint of tenderness flashing in its golden eyes: "Master Xu, the wind and snow have died down. We can set off now."
The four people followed the brown bear leading the way, leaving a series of footprints of varying depths on the snow.
The brown bear's broad back was like a moving wall, blocking the cold wind for Xu Ying and the others along the way.
When he arrived in front of the steep snow cliff, Xu Ying couldn't help but gasp - the cliff was almost vertical, and a crooked cedar was vaguely visible in the white snow fog.
[That’s it!] The brown bear pointed in the direction with its paw.
Chen Su had already neatly taken off his backpack and taken out the drone equipment.
He knelt on one knee in the snow, his slender fingers moving flexibly on the control panel with skillful movements.
The drone made a low humming sound, and its propellers rolled up fine snow particles and slowly moved down the snow cliff.
Xu Ying stood next to him, and the two of them watched the real-time images uploaded on the display screen side by side.
"Brown Bear said to move a little further to the left..."
Xu Ying reminded softly, Chen Su nodded slightly, and gently moved the control lever with his fingers.
The drone's camera slowly turned, and the entire view of the snow cliff gradually became clear on the screen.
On the steep snow cliff, a crooked cedar grows tenaciously in the cracks of the rock.
On its branches, there was a human silhouette hanging - it was a figure completely wrapped in ice and snow, like a cruel ice sculpture.
Xu Ying covered her mouth. It was her first time seeing a close-up of a corpse, and it was truly horrifying.
The corpse's arms were tightly wrapped around the tree trunk, as if it was still seeking support in the last moment of its life.
A thick layer of ice covered his entire body, and only the outline of his dark mountaineering suit could be vaguely discerned.
The ice crystals reflected a strange light in the sunlight, freezing the corpse and the tree trunk into one, making them indistinguishable from each other.
Ji Xuehui squatted behind them and said, "Zoom in on the facial area."
The picture zooms in, and a distorted face is vaguely visible under the ice - eyes wide open, mouth slightly open, as if shouting silently.
Ice and snow filled his features, forming a translucent death mask.
The helicopter circled to the side and captured an even more shocking scene: a broken trekking pole was stuck in the back of the corpse, and the metal tip was shining coldly in the ice.
The surrounding ice surface was an unnatural dark red, as if it had been stained with blood and then frozen again.
"Facial features cannot be discerned."
Chen Su reported calmly, "We need to break the ice to confirm the identity."
"The body's current position is quite troublesome, and breaking the ice is difficult."
Ji Xuehui sighed, "Unless we send a helicopter, but the wind and snow conditions are unpredictable right now. I'm afraid the wind and snow will intensify after the helicopter arrives, threatening the safety of the crew."
Just when they were at a loss as to what to do facing the cliff, the sound of flapping wings broke the silence.
[Stationmaster Xiao Xu, what are you looking at in front of my aunt's house?]
Three chubby snow pigeons landed on a nearby rock. Their fluffy belly feathers trembled slightly with their breathing, making them look like three moving glutinous rice balls.
Xu Ying's eyes lit up, and she squatted down to look them in the eye. "Hello, what is 'Aunt's House'?"
[That’s the cedar tree!] The leading snow pigeon tilted its head.
Xu Ying suddenly understood that snow pigeons have always been accustomed to building nests on the cliffs of snow-capped mountains.
“My aunt is in such bad luck,” the second snow pigeon interrupted. “She came back from visiting a friend and found that a two-legged beast had collapsed her nest!”
"That's right!" the third snow pigeon flapped its wings. "Both the people and the trees are frozen solid, leaving my aunt homeless! She can only rely on us for support."
[We have a lot of pigeons and a lot of strength, so we have already built a new home for my aunt nearby.]
The three snow pigeons were talking to each other, just like they were performing a group crosstalk.
Xu Ying couldn't help but laugh, but she quickly grasped the key information: "Wait, you said 'took away his bag'? Is the bag still there?"
"Of course we are!" the snow pigeon puffed out its chest proudly. "We've transformed our bag into a new nest. It's so warm!"
Xu Ying immediately took off her cashmere scarf and said, "Can I exchange this for your bag? This one is warmer."
The snow pigeons came over and rubbed the scarf. "Wow! More comfortable than down!" They whispered to each other, "Let's go ask Auntie!"
"etc!"
Xu Ying hurriedly called out to them, "Can you help me again? See if there's anything else on that biped, like" she gestured, "a small card or a small bag in its pocket?"
“Leave it to us!” the snow pigeons responded in unison, flapping their wings and flying towards the cliff.
The few minutes of waiting seemed particularly long.
Guan Lin, the male police officer accompanying Ji Xuehui, couldn't help but ask Xu Ying, "Chief Xu, do you think the waist bags brought up by the pigeons will be covered in bird droppings?"
Xu Ying shook her head and explained seriously, "Birds will try their best to avoid defecating in their own nests. It's their instinct, just like humans won't urinate or defecate in their beds."
"However, like human babies, young birds are incapable of self-care and will defecate in the nest, while their parents will clean up their droppings."
Finally, three snow pigeons came back with two things in their mouths - a plastic-sealed mountain guide certificate and a waist bag that smelled of pigeon droppings.
Xu Ying felt a little slapped in the face.
The leading snow pigeon tilted its head awkwardly, its claws tucked together awkwardly: "Excuse me, Station Master Xiao Xu, my aunt has been having diarrhea lately, and I accidentally soiled her bag."
Xu Ying quickly explained to Guan Lin, "It said its aunt has had some loose stools these past few days."
The other three burst out laughing.
Chen Su took it carefully with gloves on. The three words "Luo Zhiqiang" were clearly printed on the work ID. The man in the photo had a very honest smile.
In the waist bag was a cell phone that had been frozen into an ice cube and a pack of unopened energy gel.
"It's Luo Zhiqiang."
Chen Su's voice tightened, "It seems we have found the fourth missing person."
Ji Xuehui took the work permit, her eyes sharp. "The body was pinned to the tree, with injuries on the back. Now that we've found these, it's basically confirmed to be homicide."
Xu Ying frowned. "All four are dead. Could the murderer have escaped? But various investigations show that only four of them went up the mountain."
"unless……"
Chen Su slowly revealed a horrifying possibility, "The murderer is among those three kneeling corpses."
The cold wind howled past, and everyone shivered.
Xu Ying stared at the frozen phone and asked, "Can this phone be restored?"
Guan Lin is a technician. He took the phone and said, "We have to take it to the technical department for repair. There's little hope."
Ji Xuehui encouraged the morale: "It's okay, finding the fourth body is a great success."
"Once the helicopter is in a position to fly over, we'll de-ice this fourth body. After the autopsy, based on clues from the murder weapon, we might be able to identify the killer."
When Xu Ying heard Ji Xuehui's words, she glanced at the time on her mobile phone. It was 9:45 in the morning when she went up the mountain, and now it was 5:30 in the afternoon.
There are only more than thirty hours left until the original broadcast time of "Rules of Desert Survival".
I don’t know if we can identify the murderer in these thirty hours.
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