In early March 2023, Qingcheng City.
After retiring, an old woman in her sixties found a house at the foot of Kulai Mountain. The strange thing was that there were no relatives or friends here, and there were no permanent residents. Gulai Mountain is just a famous scenic spot located to the east of Qingcheng City. There are many elegant artificial scenic spots in the scenic area, as well as many primitive woods. There are several dilapidated old houses at the foot of the mountain. I don’t know who abandoned the house.
After some visits and inquiries, the old lady finally found out that this was Orion's home. She found her daughter-in-law several times and explained her intention to rent this house. She readily agreed, saying that her father had passed away long ago and the house was abandoned. The old lady was wondering when the other party said she didn't want rent. The old lady was overjoyed, she really wanted it. After all, how much money can a retired official have?
On weekends, she went hiking in Kulai Mountain as usual. After entering the gate of the scenic spot, looking ahead you can see the rolling mountains. The mountains farther away are connected to the low clouds and mists, like ink paintings, with traces of light and alienation.
She set foot on the familiar mountain road with ease. The road was very steep and extended almost straight to the top of the mountain. This mountain road may be difficult for ordinary people, but it is not difficult for her, who was once an old detective captain. The old lady’s name is Sun Meifang, and she is affectionately called Lao Sun by people around her.
Halfway up the climb, the old dog following me was very tired. Don't look at it now, looking so sluggish and out of breath from exhaustion after just a few steps. But in the past, it was a loyal old police dog. It solved many serious cases with Lao Sun, made meritorious service, and won numerous medals of honor. It's just that it was in its prime when it followed Lao Sun. Now many years have passed, it has become old and frail, and it is no longer as brave and agile as it used to be.
Lao Sun was about to retire. Seeing that it was time for the old police dog to retire, he applied to his superiors to raise an old police dog. The superior leader immediately agreed and also asked her to take good care of the old dog. Having said that, all the detectives who had worked with Ah Huang were reluctant to let the old police dog leave like this. But the old grandson has to retire, and the old dog has to retire eventually. If you don't want to let go, you have to let it go.
At this moment, Lao Sun was not in a hurry and sat down to chat slowly with the old dog. One person and one dog were sitting on the steps, resting quietly. She murmured to herself: "Ah Huang, do you know? We have retired for a year, but I just can't accept it." Ah Huang is this thin old police dog with sparse hair and even his eyelashes are turning white. of aging and degeneration.
The old police dog seemed to understand this and nodded.
Lao Sun thought of the cases he encountered before retiring. There were two murders in Kulai Mountain and Serang Mountain, but the murderer has not yet been brought to justice. Lao Sun once said that he would not retire until the case was solved, and he even took Ah Huang to swear with him. The murder case is complex, with few clues and insufficient evidence.
Lao Sun slowly fell into memories, his expression as solemn as when he returned to the scene.
Early March 2022.
In the middle of the night, the police station received a call to report the crime. A young woman asked for help in a trembling voice: "Help me, help me——"
The police officer who responded asked: "Hello, please tell me where you are? What happened to you?"
"I'm... dizzy, dizzy..." The woman's voice became weaker and weaker.
"Hello... hello... where are you? Hello..." The police officer shouted several times, but soon the phone fell into nothingness. Only the echo of "beep--" was heard.
He found it strange but didn't take it seriously. But half an hour later, while he was sleeping, he heard another busy call. After picking up the call, he asked casually: "Hello? Hello -" but the call was cut off again, and he couldn't tell whether it was intentional or unintentional.
The more he thought about it, the more something was wrong, so he reported the matter.
Both calls came from the same number, starting with 147. According to the location of the mobile phone, it can be found that the place where the phone sound disappeared is Mount Serang, but the last call was separated by a mountain - Kulai Mountain. The mountain in the middle is called Lingfeng Mountain, and it covers a large area.
Not long after, the bureau sent five people, including the police officer, to Kulai Mountain to check. Slowly searching according to the positioning of the sky eye, the mountain is wide and the trees are densely packed. They are all common neem trees, pine trees and birch trees. They are half in shadow and half in light under the high-intensity illumination lamp.
The search lasted for a long time, and it was already late at night, but nothing unusual was found, let alone a woman.
So the team member asked the responding officer, "Besides the cry for help, is there anything else?"
"Others? None." He thought for a moment and shook his head decisively.
People continued to search the mountain, and finally found a gold bar with a strange luster under a big tree. When the team member measured it, the gold bar was actually as long as his index finger. In addition, a large area of weeds was trampled down and the footprints were messy.
He picked up the gold bar and continued his search.
There was no one on the ancient mountain, it was silent late at night, and the surrounding darkness was like being in hell. Thinking of that last weird phone call, his heart beat faster. The longer he stayed, the more scared he became. After the call was cut off, he had been feeling uneasy, and his intuition told him that something big was going to happen.
Sure enough, everyone found a female corpse in the depression between two Sentian ancient trees. The female corpse was lying on her back with her eyes open, her whole body was beaten and bleeding. Her clothes were lifted slightly, her stomach was torn by something unknown, and her intestines spilled out and was dragged for a long time.
The receiving officer immediately vomited. This was the first time he saw a dead body.
However, the mobile phone used to make the call was missing, probably taken by the murderer.
When human lives were involved, Lao Sun took Ah Huang to the scene overnight, had people collect evidence on the spot, and then rushed to the location where the first call appeared.
A Huang was sniffing around at the top of Xilang Mountain when he suddenly stopped and barked under a huge old tree. Lao Sun rushed over and found that the soil under Ah Huang's feet was loose and fresh.
She asked someone to dig up the soil, and nothing happened until halfway through. But Ah Huang walked around in the dirt, sniffing around with his nose. As the excavation progressed to a depth of two meters underground, a male corpse was finally revealed. The male corpse was covered in blood, with many stabs in the heart and abdomen. There were blood holes everywhere and he was stabbed like a hedgehog.
But no murder weapon was found at the scene, so she asked Zhu Lan to pay attention.
In addition, there was a powered off cell phone next to the male corpse. After turning it on, it was found that there were missed calls from the material dealer and his father.
Lao Sun left detectives Zhu Lan, Tong Ge and Xiao Li from the trace examination department to continue collecting evidence at the scene. He and forensic doctor Xiao Cao took the body back to the police station for an autopsy to examine the cause of death.
She had a severe stomachache and sat on the sofa, but her mind unconsciously thought of the tragedy of the two corpses.
The deceased was about thirty years old, with average clothing and average financial status. Kulai Mountain is a scenic spot, and people come and go, so the entrance door is usually closed at night. People who can break in at night may be staff of the scenic area, or know the staff of the scenic area, or people who stay in the scenic area before closing and refuse to leave.
However, since the scenic spot is so big, will there be other entrances where one can freely enter and exit?
So did the dead know each other? What is their relationship? And why did they die on different mountains?
The identity of the deceased must be determined first.
Xiao Feng found out the identity of the deceased man based on his mobile phone. The deceased man was named Zhang Zhen, 35 years old, and lived in a remote Zhuyu Village in Qingcheng City. His wife's name was Huang Min, and looking at the photo album, it was exactly the face of the deceased woman. The deceased woman's name was Huang Min, 28 years old, and her household registration was in the old town of Nanhua City. His father's name is Zhang Jinli, and he is sixty-seven years old. And his mother is no longer alive.
At five o'clock in the morning, Xiao Cao brought over the autopsy report. The male victim died due to a knife. The female deceased was deformed due to beating and her intestines were damaged and she died. There was a lot of blood at the death scene and the smell of blood was strong. It was the scene of the first crime.
I don’t know if the murderer is the same person. But what is certain is that at both scenes there were only the footprints of the deceased and the murderer, and no third party was present.
Lao Sun and Xiao Cao rushed to Zhuyu Village in Qingcheng City at dawn. It was almost noon when they got there. I asked a passing woman and found Zhang Zhen's house. After showing his identity, Zhang Lao vaguely had a bad feeling.
Lao Sun asked Lao Zhang: "Is your son named Zhang Zhen?"
"Yes! Where did you find my son?" Mr. Zhang asked excitedly.
"No, I regret to tell you that he and your daughter-in-law Huang Min both passed away unfortunately." Lao Sun didn't want to tell the old man such a cruel fact, but he couldn't find the murderer without telling him.
Mr. Zhang's face turned pale, he was so frightened that he slumped down on the sofa, speaking incoherently: "What, they, they, how could they do that?"
"Someone killed them." Xiao Cao added to the master.
Mr. Zhang burst into tears, and an old man burst into tears, "No wonder, no wonder..."
It turned out that he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night last night, his heart was very blocked, and he couldn't fall asleep no matter how he turned over. He felt bad, so he called Zhang Zhen and Huang Min, but he couldn't get through. He was worried and hesitant to call the police.
Lao Sun and Xiao Cao looked at each other tacitly and said nothing.
"Why do you have this premonition?" Lao Sun asked.
"My intuition tells me. Besides, they have been traveling for a week." Mr. Zhang recalled.
Lao Sun asked: "Did they say where they went to travel?"
"No, don't tell me at all!" Mr. Zhang said, "It's all Huang Min's fault, what a disaster!"
Xiao Cao was about to ask if their family had offended anyone, but Mr. Zhang was already completely immersed in sadness and anger. He spoke to himself, and the regret in his tone was hard to describe.
"My son and daughter-in-law often quarrel, but I usually can't control it. I live in the east courtyard and they live in the west courtyard. We all have our own lives to live." Mr. Zhang slowly talked about family affairs.
Xiao Cao shouted: "Aren't you going to have dinner with them?"
Mr. Zhang lowered his head in embarrassment, with a sad expression, "My son is unfilial, and my wife dislikes my love for eating salted fish, saying that the smell of salted fish can kill her."
Lao Sun showed a trace of sympathy and opened his mouth to comfort. Mr. Zhang waved his hand and said, "You don't have to sympathize with me, I deserve it all."
