Chapter 26: Hornet's Nest
"Don't have any excessive contact with that person. He is not a good person. Not only will he harm you, but even everyone around you will not be spared." Looking at the three people chatting excitedly by the campfire, Gu Xia once again advised Wang Zheng: "If I really have to give a metaphor, he is a ghost."
"This is the thirtieth time." Wang Zheng rolled his eyes helplessly, stretched out his hand to take out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, opened it, took out a cigarette and lit it, and then handed the rest to Gu Xia, "Professor, when we go out to play, shouldn't we act like we're out to play?"
"You are trying to murder me." Gu Xia stared at the cigarette box but never made a move.
"Come on, Master's wife called me in advance and told me that it's okay to smoke outside, but you have to control yourself. It was Master's wife who asked me to give you this box of cigarettes." Wang Zheng was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"Really?" Gu Xia was overjoyed and quickly snatched the cigarette box. After confirming that this was the brand he usually smoked, he gladly accepted it, lit a cigarette and took a deep puff, "You owe me two dollars and twenty-five cents."
Wang Zheng shook his head and rolled his eyes. He couldn't understand why his master's wife, who had a gentle personality and good looks even though they had only met a few times, would fall for this stingy and unsophisticated old man.
"Is it the power of love?" Wang Zheng couldn't explain it.
Although Master Wang Zheng and his apprentice were competing secretly, it did not prevent the other three from chatting. Gao Feng was the most excited among the three, pointing at the surrounding mountains and highways and talking with an air of dictating the world. Hua Mei sat on the side and basically smiled without saying a word. On the contrary, Bai Ling, the youngest, had countless little stars in her eyes, just like a girl chasing stars.
"The place we are standing on is called Lion Township." Gao Feng took a puff of his cigarette and pointed to the distance in a pretentious manner, "Look at that mountain. Does it look like a big lion?"
"Really!" Bai Ling exclaimed excitedly.
Looking at the two of them singing the same tune, Huamei and Wang Zheng rolled their eyes at the same time, and Gu Xia sighed inwardly.
" And let me tell you, a lot of strange things have happened in this place!" Gao Feng pretended to be mysterious and said, "In just three years, no less than five people have disappeared, and all of them worked in the Planning Bureau of Shizi Township."
"Then how did you know?" Wang Zheng asked with a smile.
"Don't forget what I did before." Gao Feng said proudly, "I was once assigned to conduct a search. Hundreds of people went into the mountains, with weapons and military dogs in place. But guess what? The military dogs' noses didn't work. Not only did they not find anything after three days, they almost lost a squad member."
"The terrain in the mountains is very complicated?" Wang Zheng became interested.
"It's so complicated!" Gao Feng curled his lips. "There are only two main roads leading up the mountain. Of course, you can find some small roads at the foot of the mountain, but those roads are occupied by that thing. Several soldiers were hospitalized before they even got halfway in. Later, when the higher-ups saw the situation, they realized that we couldn't get up, and those officials couldn't get up by themselves, so they gave up taking the small roads and headed straight for the main road."
"That's a bit weird." Wang Zheng nodded, "Why did the officials come here?"
"I don't know?" Gao Feng shook his head and said helplessly, "We originally thought that he might have done something dishonest, so he went to the mountains to seek refuge. But when we checked the accounts, there was no problem. There was no suspicion of absconding, so it was finally listed as an unsolved case by the Ministry of Public Security."
"Oh! So it's an unsolved case."
Wang Zheng seemed to understand something. He turned around and blinked at Gu Xia. Soon Huamei seemed to have noticed something as well and also looked at Gu Xia with a smile.
"Why are you looking at me?" Gu Xia touched his nose guiltily and quickly changed the subject: "Gao Feng, what is that thing you are talking about?"
"Wasp." Gao Feng gritted his teeth, obviously hating this species.
No wonder, the soldiers he personally trained did not fall on the battlefield, but instead died at the hands of such insignificant little animals. How can he seek justice?
Wang Zheng looked at Huamei without changing his expression, then looked at Gu Xia again.
Gu Xia couldn't bear it any longer, and just when he was about to speak, two beams of strong light shot over from a distance. Upon closer inspection, he could easily see that it was a convoy, and the leading car was particularly familiar to everyone. It was a police car used exclusively by local police officers, followed by several private cars.
"Professor Gu , you're here early." After the police car stopped, a middle-aged man got out of the car and walked straight towards Gu Xia and the others. He introduced himself, "I'm Xun Huo, the director of the Shizi Township Branch."
"How's the situation?" After the two men simply shook hands, Gu Xia did not exchange any extra greetings and went straight to the point.
Xun Huo shook his head and said, "It's the same as when we first talked. There's still no progress."
"Let's go to the scene first." Gu Xia's expression was very serious. He took Wang Zheng and others directly to the car prepared by the police and headed towards Lion Rock.
Since the place where they were camping was still some distance away from Lion Rock, Xun Huo did not hesitate to introduce the situation to everyone along the way.
The body was discovered by several children from the village three days ago. After receiving the alarm, the local police quickly cordoned off the scene. However, due to the complex terrain and environment, no police officer was able to get close to the body during the three days of the cordon.
"Why?" Bai Ling looked puzzled.
“This…” Xun Huo scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “There are a lot of wasps on the corpse. They have a strong sense of territory and will attack us if they get close to us.”
"Wasp." Gao Feng gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He felt familiar with this scene.
"So what's going on now?" Gu Xia asked, "We can't stop investigating a case just because it's a little dangerous. If the police act like this, the people won't be able to sleep well, right?"
"Hey, who said it wasn't?" Xun Huo sighed and said, "We temporarily mobilized the fire brigade. They have been cleaning up the scene for three whole days. We have barely made a safe place for you to handle the case. Fortunately, there are no signs of rain recently , otherwise it will be more difficult."
Everyone fell silent, and soon the car drove to a forest. Led by Xun Huo, everyone quickly entered a huge mosquito net, which was obviously temporarily built by the local police to avoid hornets.
"The body is right there." Xun Huo pointed at a tree above his head.
Everyone looked in the direction of Xun Huo's finger and couldn't help but smack their lips in amazement. No one could have imagined that there was a person with an unclear face clinging to the bark, and his abdomen was a dark honeycomb-shaped body, with a translucent light yellow liquid flowing out.
"How did he get up there?" Gu Xia looked a little surprised.
"He must have been hung there." Wang Zheng walked around the tree, was silent for a while, and then said, "He must have been hung there by someone with a rope, similar to the rope used to hang animals."
"What you said is true." Xun Huo looked at Wang Zheng in shock. "After cleaning up the scene, our veteran police officers also confirmed that this person was indeed hung on the tree."
"Although I can't be sure." Wang Zheng pondered for a while and said, "But in fact, this person should have been hung on a tree first, and then someone used some method to transform his body into a honeycomb."
"What a pervert." Bai Ling couldn't help but tremble.
"Put it down first." Gu Xia ordered.
With the help of local firefighters, the first body was quickly taken down from the tree. However, in the process, due to the violent shaking of the body, several hornets as big as thumbs crawled out of its stomach. Fortunately, there were not many of them, and they were cleaned up without much effort.
"The deceased was hit on the back of his head with a blunt object." Bai Ling paused and continued, "But he should have only been temporarily unconscious at the time. Although there were rope marks on his neck, it cannot be determined that they were the cause of his death."
"It's bee venom." Wang Zheng thought for a moment and continued, "If I'm not mistaken, this person must have been hung on the tree after he died."
"I reserve my opinion." Bai Ling nodded. As a forensic doctor, any evidence on the deceased must be carefully examined before it can be confirmed.
"Then what are these things on his body..." Gao Feng walked to the dead man, pinched a piece of skin-like tissue on his body, and asked in confusion.
"Have you noticed that there is no smell on the body of the deceased...?" Huamei showed a shocked expression on her face.
"It is basically certain." Wang Zheng was silent for a while, then said, "This is a carefully planned murder!"
