Chapter 27: Darkness Under the Lamp
That night, in addition to the first body seen by the task force, with the cooperation of the fire department, four other bodies were found throughout the night. Together with the first body, they were sent to the Shizi Township Public Security Bureau.
"Through DNA comparison, the identities of these deceased are exactly the missing directors of the Planning Bureau." Bai Ling took out the identification report that she had just completed and handed it to the people in front of her. "And just as Wang Zheng guessed, the scars on the deceased's neck and the scars on the back of his head were not the real cause of death."
"Was he really poisoned to death?" Gao Feng made a "tsk tsk" sound, finding it a little unbelievable.
From a normal person's perspective, when you see a bee, you will subconsciously avoid it, let alone a larger hornet. It is very rare for someone to be stung to death by a hornet. But in this case, there were five people involved, and their deaths were the same, which was obviously done by one person.
"What is that piece of skin tissue?" Wang Zheng suddenly remembered Gao Feng's question last night. This was also what he wanted to know.
"That's dried honey." Bai Ling swallowed her saliva. "There was a lot of honey on the clothes and body of the deceased. Coupled with the environment and climate of Lion Mountain, the honey dried and formed a layer of something similar to skin tissue on the body of the deceased."
Gao Feng was silent for a while, not knowing what he was thinking about. He quickly covered his mouth and ran out of the house. Soon the sound of vomiting could be heard throughout the corridor.
"What's wrong with him?" Huamei asked in confusion.
"Some people wanted to eat alone. They drove to KFC in the county town early in the morning and bought two pairs of honey-glazed chicken wings." Bai Ling had a gloating expression on her face.
"No wonder he is like this." Wang Zheng was a little amused. Gao Feng was the first one to discover the skin problem of the corpse, and it was Gao Feng who got the disease. It is estimated that this kid will not eat honey products for a while.
"Okay, let's talk about the motive for the murder." Gu Xia looked at the report carefully and said in a deep voice, "These people are innocent. I really can't find any reason to kill them. Moreover, according to the report sent by the Shizi Township police, the demolition matters were resolved long before they died. There is case of killing for compensation."
"Could it be that he is not satisfied with the location?" Bai Ling thought for a moment and continued, "The villagers have a lot to say about houses, and they are quite superstitious. If he is not satisfied with the location of the house, it is not impossible for him to contact the officials of the Planning Bureau privately."
"Not very likely." Wang Zheng shook his head.
"What do you think?" Gu Xia lit a cigarette and threw one to Wang Zheng. He asked, "The most critical issue now is not just the motive for the murder, but we need to first figure out why the dead died in Lion Mountain, and why they were all cadres of the Planning Bureau."
"I think what we should find out more clearly is where the first crime scene is." Wang Zheng said shockingly.
"What! You mean..., the place where we found the body isn't the first crime scene?" Gu Xia was a little surprised.
"I'm sure of this." Wang Zheng pondered for a while and said, "According to the report, the deceased did die from bee venom, but they were hit on the head with a blunt object before they died, and then stung by wasps. After that, they were hung on the tree to make a beehive. In other words, they were already dead before they were hung on the tree."
"Looks like I have a lot of work to do." Gu Xia stretched himself. He was not in a very good mood after not sleeping all night.
"We will split up. Gao Feng will go to the homes of the deceased to investigate. Hua Mei and I will go to the crime scene to see if we can find any clues." Wang Zheng stood up and picked up the coat that the fire department had prepared for him. He smiled and said, "Professor Gu, you and Bai Ling will stay in the Municipal Bureau."
Without waiting for the task force members to raise any objections, Wang Zheng sneaked away with Huamei. When everyone reacted, they found that the two had already left the Municipal Bureau.
…
"I put the noose around his neck and tightened the rope. He didn't struggle at all. Then I hung him on the tree. I watched the wasps in the mountains fly to him one by one. I suddenly felt that his body was a bit of a hindrance."
Wang Zheng exhaled dully, still walked to the tree with his eyes closed, stretched out his hand and rubbed the bark in front of him, wondering what he was thinking about.
"You have five minutes left." Huamei looked down at her watch and spoke in a very cold voice, as if the person standing in front of her was a stranger, making people feel uneasy and alert.
"I took the prepared tool, climbed up the tree, and then stabbed it into his stomach with force. I watched the tool sink in little by little, and then I used force to draw circles around his stomach, watching the contents of his stomach being broken into pieces bit by bit, and then I sprinkled pollen on the minced meat."
"Look, those are my children. They are cheering and celebrating that they have found a new home, a home that will never be moved away!"
Wang Zheng suddenly opened his eyes, looked at Huamei tiredly, and said, "That's how I killed him."
Huamei looked at Wang Zheng and felt a little cold. She no longer dared to look at him and quickly lowered her head. She saw that the color of the dead leaves under the tree was a little wrong. She squatted down unconsciously, picked up a leaf and observed it carefully.
"The color of the leaves should be dyed red by the blood of the deceased." Wang Zheng paused and continued: "The light was not good when we came that day so we didn't notice it, but now we can see some other problems."
As he spoke, Wang Zheng also squatted down, his eyes constantly scanning the ground. After determining a certain position, he gently turned over the leaves with his hands. Suddenly, both of them were stunned by the scene in front of them.
Countless ants gathered in a corner, scrambling to move through the dead leaves. One could even clearly see that many ants were coming out from the ground.
"What's going on?" The thrush opened his mouth in surprise. "Could it be that there were no leaves when the deceased died? How could the ants get underground?"
"Something's wrong." Wang Zheng frowned and quickly reached out to push the fallen leaves aside, revealing a piece of moist soil. "There's something underneath."
"What?" Huamei was suddenly shocked, and subconsciously stretched out his hand to dig up the soil, wanting to see what was under the ground.
"Don't touch it." Wang Zheng quickly stopped Huamei, "Stand far away, and then call Professor Gu and tell him that we have made a major discovery."
"Okay!" Huamei took a few steps back and picked up the phone nervously.
When Wang Zheng saw Huamei's actions, he felt a little more relaxed. He then reached out his hand and peeled off the slightly higher piece of soil bit by bit. Soon, a ball of something that looked like hair was dug out by him. At the same time, a foul smell came from the ground, making both of them want to vomit.
"It's dark under the lamp." Wang Zheng stood up with a sullen face, and he had no urge to continue digging. Based on what he had seen before, he could probably guess what was buried underground.
Huamei seemed to understand something as she listened to what was said. After the phone was connected, she quickly said to Gu Xia on the other end of the line, "Professor Gu, we are at the crime scene, and it seems that we are in a dark place..."
"It's dark under the lamp?" Gu Xia, who was on the other end of the phone, almost dropped the cigarette in his mouth and said quickly, "Don't act rashly. I'll be there right away!"
"Okay!" Huamei nodded. After hanging up the phone, she looked at Wang Zheng in confusion and asked, "What do you mean by 'darkness under the lamp'?"
"We, including the local police, were not the first to discover the scene, and we were not even the first to report the crime." Wang Zheng's face turned pale, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Someone arrived at the scene earlier than everyone else, and also left us a gift. It could be aimed at the local police, or it could be aimed at us."
Huamei was still confused by Wang Zheng's explanation. After Gu Xia arrived, the crime scene was excavated again. However, what was dug out this time was not a complete body, but... a human head!
