Chapter 26: Buyers Caught, Heavy Snow Combs the Mountain

Police comrade, I really am not a poacher; I just bought a few animals, and I haven't even got them yet—can you let me go?

Exactly, since the deal didn't go through, we probably aren't breaking the law, right?

Police comrade, please show some leniency; we promise we won't dare do it again—give us another chance.

Several buyers there shouted their grievances; the people they were waiting for never showed up, but the police did—in the end each was slapped with a pair of silver handcuffs, and they still tried to argue their way out of guilt.

The police didn't buy their excuse: "You're illegally purchasing wildlife, which is also a criminal act! Those with serious circumstances will still be sentenced!"

The police won't mistakenly arrest good people, nor will they let bad ones go—just wait for the notice.

Who knows if these people are habitual offenders; maybe they've traded wildlife before.

According to what these buyers said, they had arranged a time with the poachers to meet and deliver the goods today, but when the time came, they still hadn't seen anyone.

So the poachers are very likely still deep in the mountains.

In the deep mountains and old forests, especially in this terrible weather, trying to search for people is no easy task.

This matter even alerted the local Criminal Investigation Brigade, which dispatched personnel to help search the mountains and capture the poachers.

The team leaders are all veteran police with rich experience.

Now it's winter, and with the heavy snow closing the mountains, if the poachers really want to hide, finding those two people in the vast mountain ranges is still quite difficult.

Police led a black police dog, wearing thick, warm uniforms; from afar they looked like a brown bear, trudging difficultly through the snow, forming a special sight.

Even someone with superb agility, wearing so much and walking in the snow, becomes somewhat cumbersome.

Sigh, searching like this is like looking for a needle in a haystack—how could we possibly find anything? The mission difficulty is too high.

Maybe those poachers already know we're coming and have hidden in some remote corner—who could find them?

If the weather were better, it'd be fine, but this wind is like a knife—nothing different.

When the police spoke, a puff of white vapor escaped, and the north wind rushed into their throat, taking away much of their body heat.

Several young police couldn't stand such cold, harsh weather, and there they complained.

The veteran police, who is also their captain, Sun Zhenbang, comforted them from the side: "Alright, say a few less words, conserve your energy, and cheer up."

Fortunately the snow has stopped now; even so, the mountain road remains difficult to travel.

This mountain is completely undeveloped, still in its most primitive state; the soft heavy snow covers most of the difficult mountain paths, and as long as one doesn't misstep, there's basically no danger.

Everyone walked with one deep step and one shallow step.

Woof woof woof—

The police dog's nose kept sniffing the snow nonstop; suddenly it seemed to have found something, and it barked furiously toward the northeast.

Sun Zhenbang was instantly overjoyed: "Could it be that Two Black has found something?"

He quickly unfastened the rope on Two Black's collar: "Good boy, go help me check it out."

Two Black, together with the other police dogs, shot off like an arrow from a bow, quickly becoming a tiny black dot that vanished into the vast snow.

Even an old horse can find the way, let alone these trained police dogs, so Sun Zhenbang wasn't worried that Two Black would get lost.

Soon, Two Black came running back, its mouth seeming to hold something.

Sun Zhenbang took it and looked; his expression changed slightly—good grief, it turned out to be a piece of wildlife fur.

Sure enough, there's something ahead!

Hearing this news, everyone's spirits lifted; following the police dog's lead, they quickly found that abandoned building.

As the forest ranger had said before, there indeed is a house on the mountain, but it's already abandoned—could the poachers be hiding in here?

The police approached cautiously, entered one room, and indeed it was the very room where wildlife had been confined earlier; inside they found countless pieces of precious animal pelts, as well as partial carcasses.

Sun Zhenbang felt somewhat heartbroken; if they had discovered this earlier, perhaps those animals could have escaped disaster.

It looks like this place was the poachers' main base before—only, where did the people go?

Could it be that they really got the news and fled?

It's clear they must have fled in a hurry; otherwise they wouldn't have left these pelts uncollected. Sun Zhenbang's eyes narrowed, as if he had noticed something.

He quickly moved in for a closer look; the broken cage came into view—the lock was intact, but a strong force had pried open a passage between two bars.

Inside the cage there were many claw prints and animal droppings; previously, animals must have been confined here.

Captain, come over here quickly—there's something going on.

Just as Sun Zhenbang was examining it, a teammate's shout came from the next room, and he hurried over.

Other police in another room found a burnt-out campfire, plus a pot; the red oil inside had frozen into a lump, and several empty liquor bottles lay around.

Moreover, the room had fur coats hanging up, likely the poachers' clothing.

Judging by these signs, the poachers were still active here not long ago; logically they shouldn't have fled in such a rush—what could have made them so panicked?

Sun Zhenbang was lost in thought when another discovery turned up outside.

All that could be seen was the police dogs digging at something in the snow, and they actually uncovered a human hand; the other police realized something was wrong and also fetched tools to help.

Soon two ice corpses were dug out.

The temperature on the mountain was already low, and with last night's heavy snow, these two had frozen solid into ice blocks, blue ice crystals clinging to their bodies, so only a rough outline could be made out.

They're already dead.

If I'm not mistaken, these two are probably the poachers.

This is also why, at the appointed time, the poachers didn't meet the buyers—not because they got wind of something and hid, but because they were already dead.

But why did they die for no apparent reason?

Sun Zhenbang vaguely felt this wasn't simple; he quickly had people protect the scene and transport the bodies down the mountain for autopsy.

Finding two living people is hard, but finding two dead ones is easy. Nobody expected to locate the poachers' trail so quickly.

Why did they die? Could it be because of uneven spoils, leading to a quarrel between the two? In the struggle, one might have killed the other.

As things stand, this possibility seems quite large.

But Sun Zhenbang thought of the broken cage—the wildlife inside had also vanished; who let them out? Could there be a third person present?

Sun Zhenbang felt various doubts arise in his mind; everything might have to wait for the autopsy results to be known.

To get the report immediately, Sun Zhenbang also submitted a report to his superiors, expressing his wish to participate in the autopsy.

Originally it was merely a poaching case, but if there were casualties, its nature would change.

(End of chapter)