The dim street lights flickered, emitting a faint light, and fireflies were constantly flying around.
The night was dark, without any light, and something seemed to be gestating under the black curtain.
At the corner of the street, a drunken man staggered, his face flushed, walking on the empty street, singing loudly from time to time.
His voice was intertwined with the patter of footsteps, which was continuously stretched in the dark night, and seemed to have a strange change of tone.
"belch!"
The drunk man let out a loud belch, and the surrounding area was suddenly filled with a strong smell of alcohol. The drunk man smacked his lips, rolled his eyes out of the corner of his eye, and froze in place.
"Huh."
He rubbed his eyes and couldn't help but mutter, "What is that?"
I saw a hazy white light floating in the air not far away.
The drunk man subconsciously moved closer to the white light, and then he realized that he was dazzled and that it was not a white light at all.
In the dark night, the fog is so thick that it seems to be moving, shuttling through the corners of the city. It is like a ghost constantly floating under the black curtain.
It turned out to be an elusive fog that enveloped the street!
"I'm afraid I didn't drink too much, and I was all blinded."
The drunkard grinned. He was so drunk that he didn't notice that the surrounding area seemed to be extremely quiet, as if all life had been swallowed up by the mist.
Even this mist gave people a very strange feeling. However, he had drunk too much and was not aware of the hidden danger, so he walked over blankly.
"Why does it feel like this white mist is moving on its own?"
He thought to himself, and even wanted to stretch out his foot and step on it a few times.
But in an instant, a chill suddenly hit him, as if he was being targeted by some giant creature. Goosebumps all over the drunk man's body popped out. His whole body trembled, and he became much more alert.
The drunk man had a lot of blue veins on his forehead, his eyes were wide open, and he was breathing loudly in his throat.
In this mist, he actually saw a pair of green eyes, like two will-o'-the-wisps floating in the air.
Those eyes stared at him without blinking, and the coldness in them seemed to be able to form substance, freezing his bones and blood into ice cubes.
The drunk man shivered. For a moment, he even thought he had a close encounter with the God of Death.
It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an hour had passed, and all the drunkenness had flown out of the sky.
By the time the drunk man came back to his senses, the mist had spread into the distance, and he fell to the ground with a pale face, his back already soaked with cold sweat.
"Ghost!"
A scream resounded through the night streets, waking up countless sleeping people.
The drunkard ran into the distance in a hurry, using all his speed, for fear that the mist would come back again.
The next day, when the sky had just cleared up and the whole city had not yet fully woken up, the sanitation workers had already started a busy day.
Looking at the fragments of empty wine bottles rolling down on the ground, the sanitation worker looked a little dissatisfied and couldn't help complaining: "Who is so unethical, throwing drunken bottles here?"
Cleaning all the way along the roadside, I finally came to a park within my responsibility.
At this time, the sun had just emerged from the ground, and the gorgeous morning glow illuminated the earth red. The morning breeze blew slightly, and the leaves were rustling.
This is the only park with good greening in the old city, so many people usually choose to run here in the morning.
When the sanitation worker was preparing to clean with a broom, he suddenly saw a person lying on the ground not far away.
I thought I was drunk and accidentally slept here.
Thinking back to the empty wine bottle fragments I saw on the roadside before, I think this possibility is quite high.
"Young man, wake up, you may get sick if you sleep here."
The sanitation worker patiently called out several times but received no response. He couldn't help but stretched out his hand to push, but his tentacles were completely cold. The old lady suddenly felt suspicious and had a bad premonition.
"Young man, are you okay-"
Turning the person over, he saw that his face was pale and distorted. It was the face of a dead person!
Under the close impact, the sanitation worker suddenly fell to the ground, only to feel that his hands were extremely sticky, and an inexplicable fishy smell rushed to the tip of his nose.
When he raised his hands, he saw dark traces covering his entire hands. He suddenly felt nauseated and felt like vomiting out his breakfast.
The sanitation worker ran to the side and vomited loudly. After vomiting, he dialed the number with a trembling voice, "Hello, 110? This is Dongjiao Park, and a body was found!"
After the report, the police quickly dispatched police.
Within a moment, piercing sirens were heard on the street. Sanitation workers waited nervously on the roadside and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when the police arrived.
The car door was opened, and what came into view was a pair of straight and slender legs. They were obviously in the same navy blue uniform, but they had a bit more special flavor when they were worn on her body.
The finely carved facial features immediately attracted the attention of the sanitation workers, and even their nervousness dissipated a lot.
"This girl is so pretty."
The aunt commented in her heart.
"Hello, was it you who discovered the body?"
Looking at the policewoman standing in front of him, the sanitation worker nodded quickly, "Yes, it's me."
The policewoman showed a kind smile, like a spring breeze blowing through a willow, subconsciously calming the sanitation worker's inner panic.
"Okay, please don't be nervous. Please tell me what happened."
"I went to work this morning, and then I found a man lying on the road. I thought he was drunk, and then I called him, but there was no response, and then I found out."
The policewoman was taking simple notes, nodding from time to time, as if she was listening attentively. Her handwriting was beautiful and smooth.
"This is what happened."
The policewoman closed the book in her hand and said, "Before you arrived, did you see any suspicious people nearby?"
The sanitation worker thought carefully, then shook his head and said, "No, most of the people around here are morning joggers, so there shouldn't be anyone suspicious."
He had a frightened expression on his face, which made it uncomfortable for anyone to see the corpse so early in the morning.
"Okay, thank you for giving us this information."
The policewoman thanked her softly.
Looking at the bright smile on the policewoman's face, it seemed that even the haze of seeing the dead body had dissipated a lot, and the sanitation worker's tone had returned to calmness.
"You're welcome, you should."
At this time, many police officers passed by.
The old policeman next to him looked very senior and was directing everyone to carry out their work in an orderly manner. However, his face was heavy and he had realized the seriousness.
"There is more than one corpse, and several male corpses were found nearby just now."
"Zhang Lin, you are responsible for the on-site investigation work. Qian Bai, you maintain order, evacuate the crowd, and don't let too many people get close to the scene, so as not to destroy the evidence. By the way, Bai Yanfei, come with me."
The policewoman whose name was called ran over quickly, a thin layer of sweat forming on her forehead and rolling down her snow-white cheeks.
"Team Zhou, what's going on?"
Officer Zhou carefully instructed: "As I was told above, although I am leading the team this time, you are also the deputy team. If you do your job well, it will not be long before you can lead the team independently."
Bai Yanfei was very calm, not complacent, but solemnly promised: "Don't worry, Team Zhou, I will not let you down and the bureau's expectations of me."
The police set up a cordon around the area and began on-site investigation and clearance work.
Many runners came over curiously when they saw it.
People have a herd mentality and like to join in the fun. Seeing that all the green belts here are cordoned off, and there are many police here, there are a lot of discussions about this.
"What happened? Why are there so many police?"
"It seems that a few people died."
"What? There was a murder here. Was it a robbery? If that's the case, I won't dare to run here anymore."
"I don't know. I just came here too. He seems to have died last night. It's probably not robbery. It feels like a vendetta. There's a lot of blood."
"Oh my god, wouldn't it be very dangerous here? Could there be some kind of perverted murderer? I'd better take a walk somewhere else in the future."
"Don't believe or spread rumors. The police haven't even issued a notice yet. Let's not spread panic here by talking nonsense."
Everyone was talking about this and stretched their necks to see the scene clearly, but the yellow line blocked their view.
Seeing that the crowd was getting bigger and bigger, the police came out to disperse the crowd to avoid inconvenience and impact on subsequent work.
The crowd was quickly evacuated, and the police were still taking pictures and collecting relevant evidence from the surrounding area.
Bai Yan's expression did not change when she saw these corpses, and she was obviously of high mental quality. Although she was young, she had been on missions for a long time and had accumulated a lot of experience.
She took a general look at the body, and from time to time took a pen to record something in the notebook. She quickly wrote more than half a page, which showed that she was serious and responsible for her work. No wonder Team Zhou valued it so much.
"Okay, please send the body back for forensic examination to find out the specific time of death. Once the death examination report comes out, we will send it over as soon as possible."
The body has been transported back by a special vehicle. White human-shaped outlines are drawn on the ground. The police responsible for collecting evidence are reporting the situation to Team Zhou.
"No relevant documents were found on them. We don't know where they are from or what their identities are for the time being. We will need to conduct a DNA database comparison later. Then there were a lot of tools scattered on the ground. There was an empty car not far away. It might be They drove here."
Looking at the backpack found at the scene, Captain Zhou frowned slightly, his eyes falling on these tools with a bit of confusion.
"These tools seem to be related to archeology?"
He seemed to have thought of something, "Where is the murder weapon? Did you see the murder weapon at the scene?"
The policeman next to him shook his head, "Judging from the large amount of blood stains at the scene, it can be initially determined that this is the scene of the first crime. There was no transfer of the body. However, the murder weapon was not found and may have been taken away by the murderer."
The security in this jurisdiction has always been pretty good, with some petty theft at most. This is the first time a murder has occurred, and more than one person died this time.
The key is that the identity of this group of people seems to be quite suspicious.
"This group of people has cash and other things on them. Robbery is unlikely. They are leaning toward vendetta. There should be surveillance cameras nearby. Go check it out and see if you can capture anything useful."
"In addition, go to the surrounding stores to investigate and see if anyone saw the incident."
The body was carried back to the police station. Since several people died at once this time, the higher-ups took it seriously and quickly set up a task force to investigate.
Officer Zhou was in charge of the command, and Bai Yanfei, as the deputy team, also faced a lot of pressure. After all, it was rare to encounter such a case, and several people died at once.
Bai Yanfei's main job is to carry out investigation work centered on Dongjiao Park.
This work is neither big nor small, and it still requires a little patience.
Bai Yanfei knocked on the door from door to door and showed her ID, "Hello, did you hear anything special yesterday?"
"No, I went to bed very early yesterday."
"OK, thanks."
Afterwards, Bai Yanfei continued to visit and investigate, but did not get any clues along the way. She knocked on several houses in succession, but they all said they heard nothing.
The other policemen accompanying him couldn't help but look confused, "It's really strange. Several people died yesterday. It's impossible that people living nearby didn't hear any movement."
"That said, this is a bit unusual."
Everyone kept walking until they came to a house and unexpectedly heard a special news.
"I was in a daze last night, and I thought I heard someone yelling on the roadside, saying that he saw a ghost or something. He must have drunk too much."
Bai Yanfei was a little surprised, "Did you see a ghost?"
The man nodded, showing a look of disgust.
"The family who lives in the east end of the opposite door is a drunkard. He comes home late every day without saying a word. When he gets drunk, he goes crazy. It almost annoys us to death."
It was not difficult to hear the great disgust in his tone.
Bai Yanfei nodded, "Okay, thank you for your cooperation."
At this time, the residents were still at home and did not go out, and did not know that a murder occurred not far away.
When Bai Yanfei asked this question, her expression immediately became nervous, "Police officer, is something happening around here?"
Bai Yanfei showed a gentle smile and reassured them, "The police handle cases routinely, don't worry."
After leaving this place, Bai Yanfei looked at the team members beside her: "There are still a few houses that have not been visited and investigated. Maybe there will be any new clues, and there is also the drunk man mentioned in the first house, which might be a breakthrough. .”
Soon after, a group of people quickly arrived at the location of the drunkard.
"Knock knock knock——"
This family knocked for a long time before someone came to open the door, just when everyone thought there was no one inside.
With a creak, the door was finally slowly opened. The owner seemed to have just woken up, disheveled and yawning.
There was also a strong smell of alcohol that hit her nostrils, which made Bai Yanfei couldn't help but take a small step back. In line with her good professionalism, the smile on her face did not change.
"Hello, I'm a police officer. I heard that you encountered something last night. We want to ask you-"
Before Bai Yanfei finished speaking, the man thought of something and his expression suddenly changed slightly.
Naturally, such a change in demeanor could not escape the sharp eyes of Bai Yanfei and others. When everyone saw that there was something going on, their expressions became a little excited.
Finally a clue!
Who would have thought about what the man said later, but they were disappointed.
"Officer, on my way back from drinking yesterday, I encountered a ghost! The green eyes scared me to death, just inside the mist."
The man's expression was still full of panic and fear, which showed how much psychological shadow the scene last night had on him.
Seeing the lingering smell of alcohol on the man's body and the countless empty bottles of wine on the floor of the house, Bai Yanfei and others shook their heads and did not stay here for long.
Others were a little helpless, "I originally thought there were some new clues."
The investigation work here has come to an end, and there are not many clues obtained. On the other side, other police officers have also investigated the identity of this group of people.
Xiao Zhang, who was in charge of this matter, handed the information to Team Zhou in a hurry.
"Team Zhou, their identities have been found. This group of people is engaged in illegal excavation and tomb robbing activities, reselling various cultural relics, and an overseas group that specializes in reselling is involved behind the scenes. Since this group is based abroad, it is difficult to trace the source, so The clue ends here.”
As the police had guessed before, the identity of the deceased was indeed not simple, and Captain Zhou frowned.
"It looks like this. It's not just a simple robbery and murder case. It may also involve the distribution of benefits and uneven distribution of stolen goods."
As for why no cultural relics were found at the scene, it was either that they did not have time to take action, or that the things were taken away.
But judging from the footprints and fingerprints at the scene, it was only theirs and no one else's.
Someone speculated: "Could someone have cleaned up the scene and erased their own existence?"
Team Zhou nodded, "We can't rule out this possibility."
He then seemed to think of something, "Have you found any useful clues about that car?"
"This car is from another province. We found out that they drove here from Wudu and then settled at No. 178 Nan'an Street Hutong Alley."
Nowadays, there are electronic eyes everywhere, and it is easy to trace their movements by following the license plate number, so it is not difficult to find this place.
"Go and see this place. Bring some people and come with me right away."
Immediately after receiving the news, Team Zhou immediately led people to No. 178 Nan'an Street Hutong Alley, but unfortunately the building was empty and no new clues were found there.
There was a lot of dust in the room, which probably wasn't very inhabited. Apart from some messy footprints and animal hair, there was nothing else found on the ground.
"It seems that this is just their temporary foothold. This kind of place is a mixed bag of people, and everyone is there. It is a very good cover."
Moreover, there are many similar alleys nearby, which are winding and interconnected like a maze. If there is any disturbance, it can delay their departure.
"It seems there is nothing to gain from this trip."
Captain Zhou sighed. Just when he found nothing, two pieces of news came from the police station.
The good news is that there is surveillance nearby. The bad news is that there is something wrong with the surveillance. Now technicians are repairing it to see if they can export last night's surveillance.
At this time, the forensic autopsy report finally came out.
"The cause of death of Team Zhou's people is very strange. Their bodies were hit hard, but no fingerprints were detected on their bodies, and the murder weapon was not analyzed, so the tools used to commit the crime are not yet known."
Hearing this, everyone looked surprised. Team Zhou was puzzled, "How come we can't find the tools to commit the crime."
Just when everyone was confused, good news finally came from the technical department, and all the surveillance images were copied.
Captain Zhou and others hurried over after hearing the news, eager to see the surveillance footage, but did not notice the strange expressions on the technical department staff's faces.
"Well, Team Zhou, you have to be mentally prepared."
Officer Zhou didn't take it seriously, "I've never seen any big storms, no matter how bloody the scene is, I won't blink an eye."
However, soon after watching the video, others understood what the technical staff's expression meant.
There was a constant buzzing sound from the surveillance camera, as if it had been affected by something, and the picture was a little blurry.
Everyone subconsciously got closer and found that the picture was not blurry, but that there was a thin layer of fog shrouding the surroundings, so they looked like they were separated by a hazy veil.
Bai Yanfei couldn't help but frown and muttered, "Our place rarely gets foggy at night."
Then his eyes continued to fall on the surveillance screen.
Not long after, a beam of car lights came over, and it was the deceased's vehicle.
There is only one park nearby, and there is not much traffic at night, not to mention it is still late at night.
Bai Yanfei carefully observed the surveillance screen, and at the same time kept taking notes, writing down all the key points in the notebook to prevent any mistakes.
It can be seen from the surveillance screen that the car stopped quickly. It seemed that there was something wrong. People got out of the car and checked it to no avail. Then other people got out of the car one after another.
Team Zhou counted and found that there were five people in total, exactly opposite the five corpses. Could it be that there was no one else present at the scene?
Previous speculation was that there might be another person, the murderer, who ran away after killing the people.
However, judging from the surveillance footage, this establishment does not seem to exist.
It's strange to say that although there is a bit of fog, you can still see clearly. Not long after the five people came down, the fog became thicker.
To be more precise, the white mist seemed to be purposeful, centered on these people, and then spread to the surroundings.
It gave them the illusion that the mist had a life of its own, or that it was being manipulated.
One policeman couldn't help but said at a loss for words, "These white mist...why do they feel like they are alive!"
(End of chapter)
