Chapter 233: The Second Corpse

What emitted the smell was some rotten matter formed by trash.

Unlike a normal reservoir, which had a large number of fish, shrimp, algae, and various microorganisms, in such a coal mine seepage tunnel, living things were very few and exceptionally monotonous.

Occasionally there would be fish and such, but they lived very reluctantly and were even harder to form an ecological system like a reservoir.

The trash dumped into it was decomposed exceptionally slowly.

When large machinery began to work, some rotten matter that had already been exposed began to emit a smell under the scorching sun.

The faces of the Mining Bureau leaders became even worse.

Landfilling wasn't disallowed, but there were certain rules. Like the Tuanjie Coal Mine at the foot of the mountain here, because it was a shallow open-pit coal mine, after being jointly created by several communes, it was quickly mined out, and the exposed mining area eventually became Zifeng Town's landfill.

That was a landfill approved in compliance with regulations; it required money, responsibility, and waterproofing at the bottom.

The landfilling of the mine pit here had much harsher requirements; not just any household trash could be dumped inside.

The Mining Bureau's illegal operations would definitely be dragged out for trouble later...

Xu Taining and the others couldn't manage that much; they just stretched their necks, waiting for the large machinery to push aside some of the upper concrete, and ordered, "Forensic experts go down first. Police dogs wait a moment."

The police dogs' feet were very delicate; if there were too many concrete bricks, broken cables, wires, and steel bars below, they would easily be injured.

It didn't matter for the forensic experts.

Jiang Yuan didn't say a word, dressed neatly, and descended from the rock wall nearby using a hanging basket.

There were plenty of such things in the Mining Bureau's warehouse, but they were in disrepair, and it was unknown if they would drop someone to their death.

The mine tunnel, nearly 50 meters deep, was equivalent to the height of a 13-story building; looking down from above, there was still a bit of a terror index.

Of course, the terror index at the bottom of the pit was higher. Slushy silt, sticky foot feel, steel bars, iron wires, abandoned equipment, and coal blocks popping out from time to time...

And various huge concrete blocks stood beside him, and it was unknown if they were stable or not.

"I hate handling this kind of scene the most. We haven't even seen the corpse, shouldn't the scene investigation team come first?" The forensic expert Wang Lan, wrapped tightly beside him, was already muttering.

Jiang Yuan had already greeted her just now, and there was also the forensic expert Niu beside her; both were forensic experts who had only come to support today.

The case occurred in Qinghe Town, and although the provincial department had dispatched many people to support, the main force was still the police from Qinghe City itself.

Several forensic experts checked each other's equipment and began to get busy.

Complaining was complaining, but Wang Lan didn't drag her feet in her work. She first tentatively stepped where she could step, then slowly expanded the scope of the investigation. She had to insert marker flags in places that were too deep, and she used her hands when she had to turn things over.

Before long, everyone's legs and feet had sunk into the mud to the point where they couldn't move. The forensic expert Niu, who was at a height disadvantage, had his thighs buried in, making it even more difficult.

"Should we use a machine to dig a bit?" Wang Lan moved to the front of forensic expert Niu.

Forensic expert Niu hesitated for a moment and said, "Better not, I smell something wrong."

"Is it a bit like the feeling of corpse stench?" Wang Lan confirmed with forensic expert Niu.

"I feel like there is." Forensic expert Niu simply unmasked his mask, took two breaths, and nodded affirmatively.

For forensic experts, the sense of smell itself was a very important judgment standard. For the more obvious ones, such as corpse stench carrying a sweet, greasy smell, one had to consider the deceased was poisoned.

However, because it was relatively difficult to express the sense of smell in film and television works, coupled with ordinary people's fear of corpse stench, there were relatively few descriptions of smells.

And as far as reality was concerned, humans' sensitivity to corpse stench was innate.

The biggest obstacle to corpse disposal was also the smell.

Many people died at home, or when they were disposed of on the sides of the road, the reason they were most easily discovered was the smell.

The silt under the water originally had no smell, but under the scorching sun, it gradually emitted all kinds of smells.

Jiang Yuan and the other two young forensic experts were all wearing activated carbon masks, filtering out most of the smell. Listening to the conversation between forensic expert Wang and forensic expert Niu, they had no intention of sniffing specifically.

Jiang Yuan had lv4 crime scene investigation; for him, the information he could observe would be more.

As for other bonuses brought by the smell, they could also be fully realized by other means.

For example... touch.

Jiang Yuan bent down, reached out, and slowly pulled up an... arm.

Crime scene investigation, at such times, could always exert some special investigative effects.

"It's human." Jiang Yuan took a look and shouted.

With this, not only the forensic experts at the bottom of the tunnel, but the crowd above the mine tunnel was also in a stir.

"Confirmed human remains." Wang Lan hurried over to take a look and gave an affirmative answer.

Having remains wasn't a good thing, but at least it proved that this long-lasting operation wasn't a joke.

The white-shirted people at the top also breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Taining immediately took out his mobile phone and began to make a call.

Although thousands of people were dispatched, consuming huge human and material resources, being able to solve a homicide case was still justifiable.

Of course, finding the living Liu Jinghui was still very important, if he was still alive.

Xu Taining whispered a few words to the person beside him, and then someone asked via walkie-talkie: "How long has the corpse been dead? Is it more than a week?"

This was asking if it was Liu Jinghui without asking explicitly.

Wang Lan poked the walkie-talkie and said: "There is corpse wax, it's a corpse of at least 10 months or more."

Corpse wax was a relatively rare corpse phenomenon, generally only in water, or in damp soil, where the corpse's fat denatured, or rather, saponified, before corpse wax would form.

A corpse that formed corpse wax was called a preserved corpse. Similar relatively famous ones were mummies, such as mummies, or the Loulan female corpse.

The requirements for forming a preserved corpse were relatively harsh, and the time was also relatively long. But once formed, it could be preserved for a relatively long time. It was also referring to mummies and the Loulan female corpse; those had a history of thousands of years, and they still hadn't rotted and skeletonized like traditional corpses.

However, exactly how long, that was another complex task.

Xu Taining knew it wasn't Liu Jinghui's corpse, so he said: "Continue searching."

Following that, he further discussed with the several white-shirted people at the top.

The atmosphere near the mine shaft clearly became better.

On this point, the police dogs felt it most clearly; Heizi and Dazhuang both sat down obediently, not anxious at all, looking like steady township civil servants.

More technicians were sent down by the hanging basket.

Those who usually sat in offices, at such times, had to lower their heads and dig mud.

Everyone surrounded the place where Jiang Yuan found the arm and began to expand downward continuously.

Now there was no need to grope; in the silt one leg deep, everyone had an iron tray to hold the mud slurry they scooped up.

The iron tray was used by the large canteen to hold dishes and rice; it was over a meter long and half a meter wide, and could hold a large amount of mud slurry. When it was almost full, it was pushed to the edge of the cliff and poured into a bucket to be taken out.

Soon, a Komatsu micro-excavator began to join the on-site excavation.

The small digging bucket half a meter wide looked like a toy, but it was still very hardworking when working, and besides, it was also a serious production tool.

"Leg."

Someone else found a treasure.

Immediately after, other scattered parts of the corpse were also appearing one after another.

Only the head was not seen.

If it wasn't seen, they kept groping. Those who were tired from groping were sent up by the hanging basket to rest, and when they were rested, they were sent down again.

At this time, no one talked about overtime pay or such topics; anyway, there was none. It was just searching downward and around continuously.

It was also under this meticulous work that the other hand and toes could be found.

Things were constantly being fished out, and the mine tunnel became bustling with noise.

Jiang Yuan was hung up again, and he was also exhausted.

The silt below wasn't like flat ground; walking required pulling one's legs. The degree of fatigue increased greatly.

Fishing for things also required bending over, and from time to time, one had to carry weight.

Plus, one had to constantly identify the types of things fished out... Honestly, the appearance of some trash was truly trash.

Jiang Yuan rested for a long while before washing his clothes, hands, and legs with water, and then went to the RV over a hundred meters away to take a shower.

The RV was dispatched by Xu Taining, specifically for everyone to take showers and change clothes.

Honestly, this time's logistical support was truly in place, so although everyone was tired, there wasn't much complaining.

Jiang Yuan washed clean, came out, sat down, and drank a cup of tea, and only then did his nose tip normally smell the stench.

At this time, there was a slight pleasure instead.

After resting for about two hours like this, Jiang Yuan opened his mobile phone again and saw that in the small work group, they had already begun to discuss the corpse.

"The corpse was sawed off, it should still be equipment like a chainsaw. It's very similar to the corpse in the reservoir case last time."

"Dismemberment should also be for the convenience of transport; it looks like they don't know anatomy very well."

"That might be an act. After dismembering many times, those who don't know will also know."

Just as the scene was about to turn into a large-scale scene investigation field teaching, another burst of noise came from below.

Several forensic experts who were resting all ran out from their hiding places.

Below the mine shaft, there was another commotion, accompanied by very rapid commands.

Jiang Yuan went to the edge of the mine tunnel to look and saw a gray travel bag being dug out from below.

"The second corpse." The voice below came up muffled. ===== CHAPTER 234 =====