Noon.

At the time when the sun was shining brightly, there was only a faint light shining through the trees, making people feel warm all over.

A squirrel leaped from the treetops and, upon seeing the crowd below, quickly stopped and covered its face with its big tail. At the same time, a pheasant on the other side flapped its wings, making a noticeable sound, and went up the hill, trying to hide itself.

Jiang Yuan heard the noise but didn't bother to find the exact location.

The terrain and topography on this side of Pingzhou were different from the mountains several dozen miles away in the south. The forest here was relatively dry, and the higher altitude nurtured different wild animals, such as squirrels and pheasants, which could be seen everywhere. It felt more joyful than the forest on the southern side of the mountains.

"If I hadn't gotten tired of chicken soup, I would have shot this stupid thing." The technician behind Jiang Yuan said, making a gesture of holding a gun.

"I think you're just tired of living." Liu Jinghui, who was two steps behind in front, said, "In the Wulong Mountains, there are pheasant assassins."

"What is that?"

"The white-crowned long-tailed pheasant, a type of pheasant, is a national first-class protected animal, on the same level as the giant panda." Liu Jinghui made a shooting gesture and said, "You think you shot an ordinary pheasant, and if caught, you'll be fined at most. But when a white-crowned long-tailed pheasant flies up, bang, it's 5 years. Bang bang, it's 10 years. Pheasant assassin."

The technician felt anxious as if he were there.

The search team was progressing slowly and with difficulty.

They had followed a hunting trail before, and there was always a path, but now, even if they wanted to expand the search area a little, it became much more difficult. Fortunately, Liu Jinghui quickly adjusted the strategy and only explored the areas that normal people could pass through. Even fugitives would take the same paths as ordinary people.

In this way, the search proceeded in an orderly manner.

Starting from where Su Qin's body was found, the group gradually spread out.

This area was closer to human habitation, and the road conditions were still acceptable. There were also several small paths winding through the dense forest, and occasionally, some plastic bottles and other garbage could be seen, which had been collected as evidence.

After walking for most of the day, the remaining search team members began to grow impatient. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui had come all the way from the old hunting trail and had already become accustomed to the dark and deep forest. Although the newly assigned search team members had some experience, it might not be the same as the experience in such deep mountains and old forests, so they began to complain.

Just as Liu Jinghui was thinking about how to reorganize the team, the police dog at the front barked.

Woof, woof, woof.

Liu Jinghui, as if hearing the leader's call, became active and took small steps, pulling Jiang Yuan along.

Jiang Yuan also followed quickly, as if he were going to meet the leader, carrying his forensic case and passing through a row of people to the front.

The ones on the mission today were cadaver dogs and police officers from Pingzhou Province. The one barking lowly was a German Shepherd, energetic and promising, younger than Heizi and Strong. It seemed like it could get a second-class merit at any time and eat at the buffet for 96 yuan until the end of time. It was barking lowly at a collapsed slope on the side of the road.

The slope was about two to three meters high and more than ten meters long, a cliff on the slope above. If it rained, it would form a small waterfall.

The German Shepherd had found this spot, which was the middle section of the slope, and there were obvious signs of being artificially collapsed.

Upon closer inspection, there were several large trees between the slope and the path, which could easily be overlooked if one wasn't paying attention.

But with so many members of the search team, it was impossible to ignore such an obvious man-made structure.

"Take photos, videos, and dig it up." Liu Jinghui ordered with a gloomy expression.

He already had a guess as to what was inside.

He knew that he was investigating fugitives, and he knew that they were bold and reckless, without any regard for consequences. But these bodies were still difficult to accept.

Jiang Yuan and a few other forensic personnel went forward and started digging.

Even if it was just a mound of soil that had collapsed from the slope, it could still reveal a lot of information.

In just a few shovels, a body was exposed.

As a forensic expert, Jiang Yuan took the lead and used a small shovel and brush to carefully dig.

"It's a female body." Although the body had already turned into bones, Jiang Yuan easily distinguished the gender.

Liu Jinghui nodded, confirming that the time and gender matched, and ordered the idle search team members, "Look around for a campsite for resting and any discarded equipment."

"Okay." The Pingzhou side also sent a cadre from the provincial department to coordinate.

Although the criminal police at the provincial department level had already moved away from the front line, there were still interactions between neighboring provincial departments. In terms of work alone, they could still help each other.

And the details involved in this case were indeed chilling.

Jiang Yuan and the other two forensic personnel carefully retrieved the skeletal remains and made necessary records. For example, the depth and method of burial indicated that there was likely only one person burying the body.

Instead of digging a hole, the person had shoveled down the soil slope, which also indicated the attitude and "earth-moving ability" of the person burying the body.

But no matter what, this was the first buried body encountered in this case. If it was an exception, then they needed to consider why it was an exception. If it wasn't an exception, then were there more bodies that had been buried in the bushes using similar methods?Jiang Yuan's mind was uncontrollably filled with these questions, causing him to stand up straight and stretch his back.

Liu Jinghui happened to come over to look at the body and asked, "Any thoughts?"

"In these soil conditions, the body would have completely decomposed in about 20 years," Jiang Yuan glanced at Liu Jinghui without turning his head.

Liu Jinghui asked, "Even the bones would be gone?"

"If it was buried like this," Jiang Yuan gestured to the ground with his eyes, "In at most 20 years, even the bones would be gone."

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"I see."

"If they started killing people at the beginning of this century, by now, the earliest bodies would have completely disappeared," Jiang Yuan sighed, squatted down again, and started collecting bones.

Liu Jinghui paused before saying, "That seems unlikely. A group like this couldn't possibly last for 20 years. Internal strife, generational changes, these would naturally lead to their dissolution. It's not that simple for a group to survive for 20 years."

"Criminal groups naturally dissolving? That's overly optimistic."

"You're right," Liu Jinghui fell silent, then added, "This time, we just need to catch them."

"Right." Jiang Yuan lowered his head and continued his work. This time, he planned to extract all the soil and insects from the "grave".

It was a tedious task. In fact, many detectives have the habit of bagging all the evidence at once, but this is meaningless once it reaches the lab. For example, if there's evidence in a trash can, bagging the entire trash can is not practical. You can't expect the lab technicians to examine every single item in the trash can. We all work in the same police station, you're a casual detective, I'm a casual technician, high demands from either side are unrealistic.

Therefore, if you really want to examine everything in a trash can, the correct approach is to sort the items into the appropriate evidence bags.

If a crime scene investigator can sort the trash from a single can into 100 evidence bags, he will receive 100 analysis reports. But if he dumps all the trash into a single black plastic bag, all he will get is a bag of garbage.

Jiang Yuan was even more meticulous, especially when dealing with the area around the body. In his crime scene investigation, not a single detail was overlooked.

While Jiang Yuan was engrossed in the "grave", the search team continued to move forward until the scheduled time, then they regrouped and returned, with some continuing forward to find a place to camp.

Most of the search team members would return to Pingzhou, with only a few continuing the search.

Although Liu Jinghui's initial request had been fulfilled - they had found a body - since the team was already assembled, it would be a waste to disband after just one day. It was better to continue the search.

The reason was simple, the body they found couldn't yet be confirmed as Sun Jingyi, Su Qin's companion. Searching for another day or two was just a precaution.

Before nightfall, Jiang Yuan returned to Langgu County and headed straight for the autopsy room at the funeral home.

The evidence he carried was registered and stored, and the bones were placed on the autopsy table.

Li Zhen, despite his tired face, followed him in.