Chapter 65: Crime Scene

"……I'm sorry, we will investigate and clarify as soon as possible!" The operator lady forced a smile as she hung up the phone and sighed.

Her colleague nearby was a bit curious, "Another complaint about the sewer problem?"

The operator lady nodded while recording the complaint in her notebook. When she finished writing the last word, she realized that on this page alone, there were already no fewer than twenty complaint entries.

She felt a bit strange. While answering her colleague, it was as if she were speaking to herself, "Yes, although there are these complaints every year, but……"

"These past two days, they have been too concentrated, and they are all focused on Berlinken Road in the Imperial District."

Her colleague curled her lip, "Maybe some cats or dogs died in the sewer. Things like this have happened before."

The operator lady nodded, acknowledging this possibility.

It is now mid-to-late September, the hottest time of the year. Not only can people not stand it, but animals can't either.

The sewers of Jincheng are very cool. Cats and dogs won't pick abandoned, dry culverts like people do; they will crawl directly into the nearest sewer.

Some cats and dogs get caught on things in the sewer, such as wires or hooks, and then die inside.

The weather is so hot, and combined with the damp air, the microbial population in the sewer explodes. It won't take a day before they start to rot.

In two or three days at most, a foul stench will emerge.

They have encountered this situation before, and then they would ask municipal workers to go and fish out those dead cats and dogs to dispose of them.

According to the requirements in the work manual, if a public complaint incident has no more than five complainants, it can be ignored.

If there are no more than ten, it can be considered at one's discretion to be written into a work report and submitted to superiors.

If it exceeds ten, it needs to be written separately in a report, placed at the very top, and sent to the office.

And if it exceeds twenty, one needs to call the competent department.

She counted; it had already exceeded twenty. She then made a shushing gesture to her colleague, and then, corresponding to a phone list on the desk, she dialed a number.

"This is the City Hall Urban Service Complaint Office. I have a complaint here that needs immediate handling. It's at 72 Berlinken Avenue. Over twenty people have complained about a foul stench in the vicinity. It should be the rotting carcass of some animal……"

A very rude cursing voice came from the receiver. It wasn't necessarily cursing anyone in particular; it was like a catchphrase, a way to vent emotions.

"Okay, ma'am, I know. I will go over to check immediately." Before the receiver was put down, the operator heard some more cursing. She shook her head.

"Are they cursing again?" Her colleague leaned back, looking at her, "Actually, you could tell him to shut up."

The operator smiled, "In such hot weather, they still have to go out and work in the sewers. If it were me, I would curse too."

"But you couldn't curse such ugly words. I heard it all……"

The two operators agreed to go shopping together after work and soon forgot about this matter. This is their job; every day, every month, every year is roughly the same.

Two municipal workers, while wiping sweat, drove away from the cool office in a pickup truck, cursing as they went.

Ever since the Secretary of State stated in public that "decent attire is a person's most basic respect for society," the entire federal government system has been required to dress decently.

Even when it is hot as hell in the summer, they must wear summer uniforms and cannot expose their bodies, otherwise, they will be fined.

If they didn't belong to the "civil servants," they would have quit long ago, but precisely because they are civil servants, they must follow the rules.

Civil servants are very comfortable, no matter the time, the world, or the country.

Federal government civil servants have high wages, many subsidies, and enjoy all the benefits they should have—social security, medical insurance, accident insurance, and various welfare benefits. These are things that ordinary people cannot enjoy.

The two drove on the hot road. The wind blowing in from the car window carried the salty taste of the sea, which not only made people feel hot from the inside out but also made their skin sting.

The exposed skin of these working-class people was almost red; this is actually a state of injury, but no one cares about it.

Because those who care about this don't work outdoors, and those who work outdoors have long since become numb.

The car soon arrived at 72 Berlinken Avenue. Before they even got out, they smelled the foul stench. They were very familiar with it; they had handled it many times.

According to the work manual, they needed to put on some clothes and wear rubber gloves, but they didn't care about that at all.

The two found the place where the smell was strongest, set up a "No Entry" sign, and then recorded the work time in their notebook.

Subsequently, they pulled open the sewer manhole cover, but to their surprise, the expected foul stench did not appear.

The two looked at each other, feeling that this matter was unusual, and then one of them went down into the sewer.

About ten minutes later, he climbed out, "There is nothing inside except for dead rats."

There are always some dead rats in the sewer. Every time there is a thunderstorm, it might look like just a small shower on the ground, but for the rats in the sewer, it is a flood disaster.

But the stench emitted by a few dead rats is far less pungent than what they can smell now.

"This stench…… it doesn't seem to be coming from the sewer." Although it was strongest here and there was a sewer manhole cover, the sewer really wasn't that smelly.

This is their job; they must figure out if it is their responsibility. The two, regardless of the intense stench, sniffed around everywhere. Finally, they discovered that the smell was seeping out from the cracks in the basement window of the old building in front of them.

For the sake of lighting and ventilation, basements usually have a window facing the main street, about ten to fifteen centimeters high. People can't get in anyway, but there is a small window that can also provide lighting.

After the two found the source of the smell, they put their things back on the truck and dusted off their hands, preparing to leave. This matter had nothing to do with them.

Soon, the matter was transferred to the branch bureau. The branch bureau notified the patrol police via radio. A police car suddenly drove out from the cool shade of an alley and headed toward this side.

Seven or eight minutes later, two police officers got out of the car and immediately covered their mouths and noses.

They didn't curse; instead, their expressions were somewhat solemn.

One of them lay on the ground, looking inside through the gray glass, but saw nothing.

It was just that being so close to the glass, the pungent stench became even worse, and he had already confirmed it was the smell of a rotting corpse.

The other police officer knocked on the door of the first-floor resident. This was that kind of old-fashioned house where the main doors all faced the street. The person who opened the door was an old woman.

The old woman didn't seem to be in a very good mood, "Have you taken care of that stench?"

The officer's thumb pressed against his police badge and gestured forward. The old woman turned her head and waved her hand, "I'm not blind, so what do you want to do?"

"…Uh, ma'am, may I ask if you know who lives in the basement?"

"Can you contact the landlord now?"

The old woman seemed to realize something too. She gave the officer a phone number. Soon, the officer found the landlord and opened the door.

That strong foul stench rushed out along with the door, stinging their eyes.

The two immediately called for support. Twenty minutes later, four police cars and one hearse arrived here. The city bureau's forensic doctor was used to all kinds of corpses, but he was still overwhelmed by this smell!

Half an hour later, the city bureau's support arrived. They brought a full set of biochemical suits, and only then did they enter the scene.

Eight corpses were lying on the ground in a mess. Seven of them had been shot to death, but one person's state of death was very strange.

After the scene was photographed, all the corpses were taken away. There were also some police officers waiting for the stench here to dissipate before entering to collect evidence.

The forensic doctor said that having been stored in a sealed, high-temperature space for at least four days, the whole house was full of bacteria, so it was best to wait for the smell to dissipate before going in.

After returning to the police station, the case was directly transferred to the Criminal Investigation Unit. Today, Officer Lukaer was on the day shift, and this case was assigned to him.

He went directly to the forensic side. Looking at so many highly decomposed corpses, even though he was used to all kinds of corpses, he still felt like vomiting.

"Seven people died from gunshot wounds, one of whom was shot six times."

"There is also one person…… he was stuffed to death."

"Stuffed to death?" Lukaer stood outside the autopsy room, not wanting to go in again. He held the autopsy report, but his gaze remained on the forensic doctor's face, "Are you saying he was stuffed to death by eating?"

"Yes, his stomach ruptured, causing hemorrhagic shock."

Officer Lukaer curled his lip, "Do you know what the most interesting thing about being a criminal police officer is?"

He answered his own question, "It's being able to witness all kinds of bizarre ways to die."

Only then did he start flipping through the report, "Is there any information regarding their identities?"

The forensic doctor shook his head, "That's not my job, but judging from the scene, there are some gambling tables. That should be an underground casino……" ===== CHAPTER 66 =====