Chapter 716: Corpse Cluster

The air-raid shelter where the bodies were discovered is located in the far eastern suburbs, far from the hustle and bustle.

Here, there are birdsong and fragrant flowers, as well as two-lane asphalt roads; here, there are dense forests and tall trees, as well as level lawns and old-fashioned buildings; here, there are high walls and surveillance, as well as thick air-defense facilities and spaces.

When Jiang Yuan arrived at the destination, the front of this "Jianxing Crystal Green Food Co., Ltd." was not only filled with police cars, but there was also a wheeled armored vehicle, its two small, thin, and long gun turrets—which didn't look much like cannons—swiveling alertly.

"So, our initial thought was correct. The other party is not only an independent building constructed in the suburbs, but just like before, it has perimeter walls and surveillance." Jiang Yuan got out of the car and took a look, feeling quite surprised.

Actually, thinking about it, it wasn't surprising. They might have been a bit hurried when they moved, but the place they moved to was likely prepared in advance. Even if it wasn't ready at the time, it had now recovered its original requirements. The building they created looked similar to the previous ones, with excellent security measures, defending both inside and out, while also staying far away from the prying eyes of others.

Liu Jinghui had gotten into the car halfway and arrived with him. Looking at the courtyard, he also felt a sense of helplessness: "This factory must have been marked and noted. It might not have been conspicuous before, and it was only because of the air-raid shelter element that it stood out. However, just because you're full after the eighth pancake doesn't mean the ones you ate before were useless..."

"That is the logic." Jiang Yuan knew he was talking about the screening process.

At this moment, Xu Taining also walked over, nodded to the two of them, and said: "This place used to be a repair shop, built specifically in the mountains, supposedly to prevent bombing. Later, it switched to producing several different things, all of which were just barely hanging on. In its most glorious days, it had hundreds of employees, mainly to solve employment issues. A few years ago, the property rights were clarified, and it was sold to a private individual."

Xu Taining pointed at the gate and continued: "They claimed to be making food and even obtained licenses, saying they were using the old air-raid shelter to set up a cold storage and grow mushrooms. They started construction the year before last, but actual production and sales were close to zero, yet they kept purchasing supplies."

"Under the guise of building a factory?" Liu Jinghui understood as soon as he heard it.

"Yes, it was actually just that religious stuff." Xu Taining took a deep breath and said: "Logically speaking, this building met the screening criteria, but it was never screened out. When the police officers responsible for the screening came by before, they hid the people in the air-raid shelter. It wasn't until we started checking the air-raid shelters that they were suddenly exposed."

"Without prior suspicion and verification, it would have been impossible to expose it immediately just by checking the air-raid shelter." Liu Jinghui understood and helped Xu Taining explain.

Xu Taining said "En": "They can't run, it just depends on which round it is."

After all, this was a normally constructed factory, so its concealment was still very strong.

However, the elements accumulated by this factory were also very complete. Besides the structure similar to the residences discovered previously, it was built right outside an air-raid shelter. The entrance to the air-raid shelter was adjacent to the courtyard wall, and a small door had been built inside for entry and exit.

Given its appearance, if Xu Taining's first round of screening hadn't yielded results, the second round would have checked it thoroughly. However, the fact that the first round hadn't caught it still made Xu Taining a bit unhappy, and even a bit embarrassed, saying: "Actually, I didn't expect them to be so arrogant, and with all their licenses in order, after all, it's a place I wasn't familiar with..."

Liu Jinghui smiled and patted Xu Taining, comforting him: "In total, it's only been a few days, and we haven't even used half the budget. If you let the Beijing Bureau handle it, it would cost several times more. Besides, screening is just sifting; there's no reason to get the finished product after just one pass. That would only mean the sieve is too fine."

Xu Taining was cheered up, waved his hand, and said: "No need to comfort me. Once the screening yields results, there will be plenty of 'so that's why' and 'it should have been this way' moments. You two go look at the bodies. We have experience now; next time, we'll know how to handle it."

Not only the bodies, but the people in this factory were all hiding in the depths of the air-raid shelter, putting up resistance. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan went inside first.

The bodies were also inside the air-raid shelter.

Led by a police officer who had arrived earlier, the two entered from the factory's dormitory building, passed through a courtyard covered by a black canopy, and then entered a row of single-story houses near the mountain, where they saw that the air-raid shelter had already been connected to the inside.

The entrance to the air-raid shelter was slightly narrow. Inside, there was an assembly hall of about a hundred square meters, which then branched off into several functional areas.

At this moment, the assembly hall was filled with weapons and armor, fortified as if in wartime, tightly locking the two paths to the east.

Several police officers were whispering to each other at the intersection near the west side.

As they got closer, they heard the few whispering:

"To be able to screen out such a place, I heard they insisted on coming in to see the air-raid shelter, which is how they poked it out. The local people really have wild methods."

"Actually, it should be like the local people. If you search, search thoroughly. We took one look at their licenses and everything was compliant, so we left after walking around. It was equivalent to looking for nothing. The places they don't want to show you are the ones you should be looking at most."

"That's why I say their methods are wild. If we did that, we'd be complained to death."

"I heard the first pass was also just looking at the licenses and leaving. This time, because it involved the air-raid shelter, they insisted on coming in."

"That Xu Taining is also pushing hard. The way he spot-checked so many people and body cameras, an ordinary person couldn't do it."

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui didn't expect anyone to be discussing Xu Taining here. After hearing a few sentences, they felt it wasn't good to keep listening, so they couldn't help but cough twice, pretending to be doing something else.

"Team Leader Jiang."

"Director Liu."

The police officers from the Zhengguang Bureau recognized the two at a glance, smiled at each other, and didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed about discussing the people from Shannan.

"Are the bodies inside?" Liu Jinghui asked.

"En, they haven't been moved. Branch Chief Tao specifically said to wait for Jiang Yuan to decide after he's seen them," a police officer said.

"Thank you." Jiang Yuan didn't say anything more, started dressing at the entrance, and then entered the air-raid shelter inside.

This place used to be a storage room or something. Along one wall, there was a row of structures similar to bay windows, and four skeletons were sitting on them at this moment.

And below the bay windows were four jars, which clearly contained bones. Besides that, a pile of bones was stacked in the corner of the room, with two skulls placed on either side of the bone pile.

At this point, Jiang Yuan understood why they said there were at least six bodies, because there were definitely six skulls. As everyone knows, if a person loses four long bones, or takes a few extra ribs for some religious reason, it's not fatal, so you can't be 100% sure that someone has died. But if the head is gone, current technology really has no way.

"Is this some kind of religious ritual?" Jiang Yuan looked at the bones one by one.

"It's definitely not a proper one." Liu Jinghui exhaled and added: "So many bodies, this really is a major event. More than six, right?"

Jiang Yuan nodded and said: "I don't know what the situation is in the jars, but for the rest, at a rough glance, there are at least 7 bodies. There are quite a few extra bones here, but..."

"But what?" Liu Jinghui was inexplicably nervous.

"Of the four bodies on the platform, at least two suffered from bone cancer during their lifetime and had been treated. Looking at the extent of the spread, these patients didn't need to be killed; they could die at any time, and they had to be cared for well." Jiang Yuan instructed Mu Zhiyang to take a few photos and added: "The bone quality is basically gone. At this stage, the patients couldn't leave painkillers, and even while taking medicine, they would be in great pain, making it very difficult to stay conscious."

Liu Jinghui didn't find it surprising; instead, he felt relieved and said: "Nothing special, just using serious illness and death as an excuse again. In that case, the skeletons in this room are also divided into different grades."

"It's not just the skeletons in the room." Tao Lu heard they had arrived and came over specifically, standing at the door, saying: "More bodies have been dug up in the factory area." ===== CHAPTER 717 =====