Chapter 56: Strange Traces, Doubts Piled Up

The villagers are full of curiosity, but first let's not discuss whether what Hu Xiaocao said is true or false.

But one thing is certain: there are indeed human traffickers here, and the corpse the village chief and others found is very likely one of them.

But why would the human traffickers voluntarily report themselves to the police?

Zhuzi and a few other villagers took the police up the mountain, while the others each went home.

Watching the police's retreating backs, the villagers exchanged glances, recalling Hu Xiaocao's words, feeling as if countless cat claws were scratching their hearts.

They wished they could also follow the police up the mountain to see what was happening.

Could there be that mystical white mist, and the Mountain God?

It's a pity that, to prevent the crime scene from being destroyed and the remaining human traffickers from escaping, the police set up a cordon, allowing only the few villagers who showed them the way to enter, while everyone else is forbidden.

A gossipmonger sidled up to the village chief to fish for information.

"Village chief, is what that little girl Hu Xiaocao saying true or false? It sounds too mystical."

The village chief shook his head. "Who knows, but this little girl Hu Xiaocao is definitely blessed."

No matter how you say it, Hu Xiaocao was taken by the human traffickers and later returned safe and sound—these are facts they witnessed with their own eyes.

Although we don't know the exact circumstances, this proves that Hu Xiaocao is a blessed child.

A villager scratched his head, saying, "We've lived here so long and gone into the mountains countless times, yet we've never seen any Mountain God."

The village chief gave him a sideways glance, saying, "Look at you like that—maybe the Mountain God just doesn't take a liking to you."

"Village chief, you haven't seen it either, so what are you saying?"

Under the village chief's gaze, the speaker's voice grew softer, and he gave a hehe laugh, "I'm just joking, Village Chief, please don't take it to heart."

The village chief looked at the mountain shrouded in darkness, his expression full of curiosity and inquiry.

After all, who isn't curious about this? "Forget it, saying anything now is useless; let's wait until tomorrow to see what the police have to say."

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for everyone.

Meanwhile, on another front, Sun Zhenbang and his team also found Liu Siming's corpse.

Sun Zhenbang's pupils contracted sharply, as if he had discovered something, and he hurried over.

A large bloody hole in the corpse's chest came into view.

A clean, neat incision, as if pierced straight through by a sharp instrument, exactly matching the wound on the smugglers from before!

"How could this be?"

Sun Zhenbang couldn't help blurting out, and he hurriedly searched everywhere, but still found no suspicious weapon.

Could it be that the person who killed Li Han and the others, and the one who killed these human traffickers, is the same individual?

Otherwise, how could this strange wound be explained, now appearing again?

Sun Zhenbang looked up at the landslide spot; the branches there showed signs of being broken under pressure.

That means this person rolled down from above; this is not the first crime scene, the real crime scene is at a higher elevation.

"Take the bodies back, the rest of you continue searching with me. Remember to protect the scene and hurry up so the forensics team can come collect evidence."

According to Hu Xiaocao, there were four human traffickers in total; one is already dead—what about the other three?

Did they run away, or are they also dead?

For some reason, Sun Zhenbang had a vague premonition.

I'm afraid those three human traffickers may have met with misfortune!

The facts proved his premonition correct; after a night of searching, the remaining three were also found.

More precisely, they were three corpses, all found together in the northwest direction, not far from here at all.

A night passed quietly; the sky showed a hint of fish‑belly white, the first ray of dawn light fell on the mountaintop, clouds misted and steamed, blending into a blue sky, amidst the vast glow of the sunrise, the red sun rose slowly.

All this looks exceedingly peaceful and tranquil, yet not long ago a heinous murder took place here!

Morning dew soaked Sun Zhenbang's pant legs, but at this moment he had no time to worry about that; his gaze fell on a spot not far away.

Bloodstains speckled the grass, chaotic footprints everywhere—it was clear that a fierce struggle had taken place here.

The three corpses on the ground were exactly those three human traffickers.

This time they did not show that strange bloody hole on their bodies, but their surfaces bore obvious injuries.

A blood‑stained dagger lay not far away, clearly the murder weapon.

Just like last time, none survived, but this time the three seemed to have killed each other.

But whether they truly killed each other or it was staged this way remains to be seen, pending the autopsy results and the forensics team's investigation of the scene.

DNA samples were taken, and the information of these individuals was soon matched.

The first corpse found was Liu Siming; the other three were Yang Cheng, Ma Tian, and Wu Liangxin, respectively.

By the time Sun Zhenbang returned to the police station, it was already noon; he didn't even have time to eat, because Liu Siming's autopsy report had already come out.

Sitting in the case‑review meeting room, looking at the report in his hands, he fell into silence.

"Victim one, Liu Siming, male, 35 years old, time of death 10–11 p. m., cause of death: pierced through the chest by a sharp instrument, death from excessive blood loss."

The coroner is an old acquaintance of Sun Zhenbang; he also performed the autopsy on the poachers last time.

"Officer Sun, this victim is exactly the same as last time."

Sun Zhenbang sighed, his face growing graver: "And the other three?"

"Their causes of death are relatively normal: Yang Cheng had his artery slashed by a dagger, Ma Tian suffered a heavy blow to the head, and Wu Liangxin died from severe injuries."

"At the scene there were only their traces, no one else, and the dagger bore only Yang Cheng's fingerprints."

Sun Zhenbang found it hard to believe: "So you're saying they killed each other? No one else was involved."

The coroner nodded: "That's one way to understand it."

His tone paused, his expression somewhat bewildered.

"But there's one thing that's especially strange—look at their expressions."

Sun Zhenbang looked over; aside from their somewhat ferocious expressions, he found nothing else particularly unusual.

The forensic doctor, seeming to notice his confusion, spoke up to explain:

"Their pupils are dilated, their facial muscles stiff and ferocious, and this state has persisted until now—that is, they must have seen something extremely terrifying before death, which caused this phenomenon."

"Under normal circumstances, their expressions and demeanor shouldn't be like this, so I suspect these people were frightened shortly before death."

"Moreover, according to feedback from the forensics team, judging from their activity traces at the crime scene, the cause of their mutual slaughter is also related to this fright. In other words, the fright is the cause, and the mutual slaughter is the effect."

This result left Sun Zhenbang utterly shocked.

There are simply too many doubtful points.

Why did four human traffickers, one of whom was Liu Siming, die of the same cause as the earlier poacher Li Han, yet no weapon was found at the scene?

The remaining three human traffickers, however, died by mutual slaughter, and according to the forensic doctor's description, they saw something extremely terrifying before death and suffered immense fright.

"You mean that although their cause of death was fatal wounds, fundamentally it was due to being frightened to excess?"

According to big data analysis, these people were not first-time offenders; they were clearly veterans, committing crimes in an organized and disciplined manner.

They had clear division of labor, had cooperated many times, and there had been no prior interest disputes, so there was no internal conflict.

Mutual slaughter is impossible, because the traces at the scene can clearly show that if it were an internal fight, it could not have resulted in all three dying.

All we can say is that they might have been scared out of their wits at the time, to the point of not distinguishing friend from foe?

But if someone had killed them separately and then staged it to look like mutual slaughter, the scene could not possibly have left no clues or traces.

Yet, dying from excessive fright is even less realistic.

Under these circumstances, what exactly did they see that provoked this bloody conflict, ending in everyone's death?

For a moment, all the officers present fell into deep thought, their faces blank.

(End of chapter)