Chapter 140: I Have a Name Now!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
By the time the higher-ups finally ordered for everybody to return, it was already 10:30 in the morning. The forensics departments had dug out numerous sets of human bones that night. Due to the bones being buried deeply within the rocks, and completely scattered, not to mention the water build up, the search job had been extremely difficult.
At the moment, the squads outside were gradually leaving, but Department Leader Wang Fei still made part of the collectors remain on scene to continue working, not leaving any evidence behind if possible.
Zhao Yu heard from Hu Bin that the bones at the scene were scattered and damaged badly. According to the experts, the corpses must have encountered some strong impact. The experienced engineers also mentioned that the cave clearly had evidence of an explosion! It was very possible that this tunnel collapse had been caused intentionally.
Also, Hu Bin told Zhao Yu secretly that even though the cleanup and identification of the bones would take a long time, the skulls were very complete. Using the skulls, they figured out that there were at least five people inside the cave.
Five people?! Could…could it be…
"Sigh!" Hu Bin could not help but sigh. "Out of those five skulls, some of them were children’s judging by the size! So…" Hu Bin stopped.
Everyone was already prepared, but it still felt hard to swallow this sort of disastrous news. Five children tragically died inside of the cavern, then were buried away for a whole twenty-six years. Such tragedy was unbelievable.
At the same time, the investigators could not help but be angry. Who would kill these children? To do something so inhumane and cruel? During that moment, everyone secretly promised to themselves that they would definitely close this twentysix-year-old case, and persecute the inhumane kidnappers!
But no matter how agitated the investigators were, the majority of the responsibility was still on the shoulders of the forensic scientists! Only after they identified the corpses could the investigators begin the follow-up work. Thus, the higher-ups decided to temporarily allow the Key Case Investigation Unit’s investigators to leave, and let the police station first plan out their initial investigation, then move out together after getting the results from the forensics department.
Indeed, this case was very complicated. Even though they may have found what seemed like the bodies of the kidnapped children, if they did not have the forensic reports, it was impossible to be sure. Everything had to be planned properly! Since people had already waited twenty-six years, they could wait a bit longer. Maybe it would not be not far from when the truth would be revealed!
Zhao Yu, of course, followed the police team back. But on the way back, he kept considering a strange question, and the bag of ransom money he found inside the cave.
"That’s not right?! If the five bodies in the cave were indeed the students who were kidnapped then murdered. Then…what’s with this bag of random money?" he thought.
"Was the kidnapper an idiot? The people were already killed, but this guy threw the money away. That’s completely nonsensical, right?
"Why would they leave the money at the murder scene? Was it their conscience?
Or did an accident occur? Could it be, there was a driver who was also kidnapped? Then where was the driver?
"Including him, there should be six people, but at the scene there were only five bodies. Could it be, just like the information on the case, the driver, Niu Weiguang, was cooperating with the kidnappers and joined in the kidnapping?!
"Truly perplexing. This case doesn’t betray its name of Qinshan’s first cold case. We haven’t even officially started the investigation, but the puzzle just keeps getting more complicated."
By the time they got back to the police station, it was already time to get off work. Originally, Zhao Yu was supposed to go and eat with the provincial official, Su Yang, but Department Leader Su had sent him a message that morning telling him that he had to go out of town for work so they could not eat together. He said he would invite him out again to make it up to Zhao Yu later.
It was good he could not eat Zhao Yu thought. Firstly, he was already exhausted and wanted to rest, and secondly, Department Leader Su had a strange temper. If Zhao Yu said something wrong and ended up angering the other, then he would be in serious trouble.
It was almost time for dinner, so there were not many people outside on Shunfeng Street. Below his building, Zhao Yu ran into Jiang Xiaoqing who was taking care of the stand. The girl was holding a bowl of instant noodles and was eating as she read. Zhao Yu remembered that it was Sunday. Jiang Xiaoqing was enjoying her weekend.
"Girly, where’d your dad go?" Zhao Yu grinned as he asked.
Jiang Xiaoqing raised her head. When she saw Zhao Yu and his dog, she asked curiously, "You…how did you get a dog? Also, my dad went to the hospital!"
"Oh, to the hospital!" Upon hearing that Jiang Dafeng was not around, Zhao Yu let down his guard and nabbed a tangerine off the stand and started peeling it.
"That’s…" Jiang Xiaoqing was used to Zhao Yu’s shamelessness and did not mind it, but she was interested in Zhao Yu’s dog and asked, "Hey, this…isn’t this a police dog?"
"Yep, police hound!" Zhao Yu feigned seriousness and started commanding the dog, "Go, greet your sister!"
"Off, off! Be more serious!" Jiang Xiaoqing stuck out her tongue at Zhao Yu and asked, "Why did you bring a dog home? If my Dad knew, he’d go crazy! He hate dogs!"
"That has nothing to do with me. This dog follows me, and he’ll live with me starting now!" Zhao Yu could not care less about Jiang Dafeng.
"Follows you? What kind of wording is that?" Jiang Xiaoqing giggled, but extended her hand to pat the dog. Sherlock Holmes was quite obedient, and happily nuzzled its way in front of the girl and wagged its tail non-stop, as if trying to gain her favor.
"Indeed, a police hound. So obedient!" Jiang Xiaoqing was even happier and asked, "Doesn’t your police team have places just for police dogs? Why do you take it home?"
"Mm…that’s…" Zhao Yu rolled his eyes, then started making up a story, "I won’t lie to you. This police dog has nowhere to go. A few days ago, it helped me catch a murderer! But its leg was injured, so the police team wanted to send it away, but I couldn’t bear to do that so I took it home! If I can’t keep it, then…"
"Oh, so it’s like that!" Jiang Xiaoqing was especially loving. She spoke after she pondered, "Okay! If my dad gets angry at you, I’ll go tell him! I should be able to convince him!"
"Oh? That’s great! So loyal of you!" Zhao Yu spoke, and then immediately finished off the tangerine leaving the peel.
"Mm, right." Jiang Xiaoqing petted the dog’s head and spoke, "What’s its name?"
Zhao Yu originally wanted to say Sh*tlock Holmes, but felt like it was an inappropriate name. Xiaoqing was still eating after all! So, he just decided to make it up, "The police team only has serial numbers. Now that it lives with me, I really don’t know what to call it. Why don’t you give it a name?"
"Really? I can?" Jiang Xiaoqing’s eyes lit up and she spoke excitedly, "Then…that’s great! Actually, I really love dogs. When I was younger we had one, but it died! Can we call it my old dog’s name, call it Daheng?!"
Daheng?! Zhao Yu’s brows furrowed, what kind of name is this?
"Actually, it’s like this!" Jiang Xiaoqing looked a little downcast as she spoke, "My dad originally had a younger brother. Grandma named him Jiang Daheng, but he died not long after he was born! So I named the dog after him to memorialize him! If you call it that, my dad might allow you to keep the dog then!"
Jiang Dafeng! Jiang Daheng? Blood siblings too? Wahaha…
Zhao Yu could not help himself and immediately clapped his hand and laughed. "Good, good! This name is the best!" As he spoke, he kicked the hound on the butt. "Alright boy, that’s your name now, you’re now Jiang da…oh…no, you’re now Daheng!" It was hard to tell if it understood or not, but the dog still barked twice in response.
"Daheng…" Jiang Xiaoqing spoke affectionately to the dog, "Did you eat yet? I’ll get you something to eat…"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoqing liking his own dog so much, Zhao Yu also felt happy. He originally wanted to speak a bit more with the girl, but suddenly saw three rather aggressive people heading towards them.
When the three arrived at the crosswalk beside the fruit stand, they stopped and looked at the building. The tall, skinny man to the right of the fat, pale man spoke, "Bro, I searched. That chick should live here! Above Yang’s Hair Salon!" As he spoke, he held a woman’s bag under his arm.
The fat man in the middle looked rather fierce. Around his neck dangled a noticeably large gold necklace. He was cracking nuts in his hand. There was a cobra tattoo right under his ear. He clearly looked like a fierce guy!
"Hehe, let’s go!" The fatty turned his head, and the three immediately entered the building, heading up stairs.