Chapter 28: Heaven's principles cycle, retribution never fails

No matter what, Sun Zhenbang found it hard to believe this fact.

Not to mention how a soft serpent body could pierce a person's chest, and where would a snake come from with such power, capable of smashing a person's head to pieces.

A python might be possible, but the problem is, they only constrict prey to death by suffocation, and fundamentally they are not this kind of attack method.

"Li Fayi, you wouldn't be joking with me, would you?"

After reading the report, Sun Zhenbang tried to find signs of joking on Li Fayi's face.

If he really reported this upward, his superiors would likely think he had some mental problem.

Li Fayi adjusted his glasses, couldn't help sighing, "Although I also find it hard to believe this result, as of now I really can't find any other clues."

Not to mention Sun Zhenbang couldn't accept it, even they found it unbelievable.

The information revealed on the corpse is just this; if it weren't serpents, why could serpent scales be found at the scene, and even serpent DNA be detected in the victim's wound?

Little did they know, the reason these serpent scales could remain is because Ye Qin had been struck by lightning; these serpent scale fragments are similar to human keratin, and shedding is inevitable.

Sun Zhenbang stared at the test report in his hand, the creases between his brows almost able to pinch a mosquito to death.

"By the way, the damaged iron cage and the light bulb also showed traces of serpent crawling."

Sun Zhenbang's expression was completely speechless, his tone weird to the extreme.

"You wouldn't be suggesting that the snake released all the wildlife, then took revenge by killing those two poachers, would you?"

Li Fayi fell silent for a moment, his expression embarrassed as he coughed a few times, 'I don't mean that either; I'm just saying based on the current situation.'

Under Sun Zhenbang's gaze, Li Fayi's voice grew softer and softer.

Although many serpent corpses were indeed seen at the scene, the so-called "serpent vengeance" sounds utterly absurd.

That snake isn't a cultivated spirit, so how could it possibly do all that?

However, no other fingerprints were found at the scene; no matter how careful one is, they cannot escape detection by modern precision instruments.

"There's also another point that's very strange."

"Logically speaking, this season all snakes should be hibernating, whether activity or aggression would greatly decrease, so how could this snake appear at the scene."

"If it weren't for serpent hibernation, those two poachers wouldn't have so easily captured and killed so many snakes; they relied on rich experience to locate the fixed-point hibernating snakes, catching one with each grab."

Sun Zhenbang speculated, "Maybe it smelled blood? Or perhaps it was startled awake."

Li Fayi and the others aren't veterinarians, so they fundamentally can't understand the reasoning; after all, they're investigating a case, not studying serpents, which is outside their scope.

Sun Zhenbang asked aloud, "Do you know what kind of serpent it is?"

Li Fayi shook his head.

"I don't understand either, but it should be a medium-sized non-venomous snake."

"Although we don't know the breed, it's non-venomous, not a python or anything like that, and wouldn't cause much harm, so we just let it be."

Sun Zhenbang pondered for a moment, "I think the killer is someone else, possessing superb counter-investigation skills, and constantly creating doubtful formations to mislead us."

One could say this is a perfect murder case.

Put bluntly, someone is mystifying things; as for his purpose and motive, they remain unknown for now, possibly related to the poachers or not.

But now the two poachers are dead, their leads end here, and we temporarily can't get any useful information.

No matter what, Sun Zhenbang doesn't believe these things were done by a snake.

Anyone else would also not believe it.

"It seems we need to continue investigating and digging deeper; there must be something we don't know about this."

Who would have thought that originally just a poaching case would turn out so tangled and complex, even leading to a homicide criminal case.

Li Han's true identity was also uncovered by the police.

"What a fellow, this person turned out to be an escaped fugitive; he looks like no good person."

Sun Zhenbang took the data just investigated by his colleague; although the photo is somewhat dated, it's not hard to see that it matches the appearance of victim two.

"Li Min Guang, a native of Nan Province Hekou City Tianchong County, after accidentally killing a fellow townsman in a dispute, fled and changed his name to Li Han, wandering around, engaging in illegal poaching and wildlife trade."

The officer beside him looked at the materials and shook his head, "Even if Li Min Guang isn't dead now, with all these crimes combined he'd deserve a death by gunshot; nowadays it seems just a matter of moving up his death."

"Who says otherwise? We also followed the trail and found that he had conducted multiple illegal wildlife trade transactions before; the number of wild animals dead at his hands is countless."

"He's truly a scumbag, his hands stained with blood; indeed heaven still has eyes, it's not that it doesn't repay, just that the time hasn't come."

"It seems this person still shouldn't do too many evil deeds, otherwise who knows, he might soon face great calamity."

Hearing the surrounding colleagues' discussion, Sun Zhenbang glanced out the window at the heavy snow, recalling the piles of serpent corpses he had once seen in the forest cabin.

Could it really be that heavenly principles cycle, and retribution never fails?

If one does not treat nature well, in the end they will meet a bad end.

Sun Zhenbang smiled, feeling he had overthought it, and muttered to himself:

"How could that be? That snake probably just accidentally crawled over the corpse, leaving these traces; after all those animals aren't demons, the idea of serpent vengeance is pure nonsense."

"Or perhaps there's another possibility: the killer deliberately caught it and placed it at the scene, aiming to confuse their senses and divert attention."

With the deaths of the two poachers, however, this case is far from over; they have found neither the killer nor the weapon.

There's still one point that leaves Sun Zhenbang unable to make heads or tails of it.

What exactly is the sharp instrument that could leave identical marks on both the poachers' chests and the wooden board, with such a smooth cut surface?

Perhaps all this will only be solved once the killer is caught.

Those buyers also received appropriate punishment: for minor cases, verbal education plus detention and fines; for serious ones, they were all sentenced.

Worth mentioning is, pulling out the radish brings up the mud.

Based on Li Min Guang's lead, the police continued investigating and actually busted a wildlife smuggling organization, rescuing many wild animals, which counts as a great merit.

And in order to catch the real killer, police set up an ambush at the mountain base, blocking all downhill roads, and also set up checkpoints on the nearby highway.

Although Li Min Guang deserved death, the law can punish and convict him; one matter is one matter, and malicious killing is not permitted.

Therefore the police must catch the killer.

Unfortunately, goose-feather snow began to fall again in the sky, causing them considerable trouble, so they planned to wait until the snow stopped before conducting the Mountain Search.

However, before that, the police had already implemented Mountain Closure and were ready at the Mountain Foot, ready to set out at any moment.

(End of Chapter)