If it weren't for witnessing it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed such a scene could exist in this world. Everyone picked up their tools again. The special police officers all carried multi-functional hammers, and with a single strike, the eyes inside were collected by us into evidence bags.
Calculating a total of three pairs, it meant there were three more victims. Adding the previous two, there were at least five victims. Zhang Keying gritted her teeth and said, "This reminds me of scenes where people killed each other over treasure, but what's the meaning of digging out eyes?"
"Exactly, it seems this case is truly baffling. We haven't even figured out some of its details yet, but I suddenly feel even more interested. Let's go!" Liu Yuning brushed the dust off his body, his long eyelashes fluttering, and led us forward.
We passed the position of the [Shen Hou] (Monkey). Because it had been smashed open by us, a new entrance appeared. The key was that there was a path behind it, proving our previous deduction was correct.
"After a thousand layers of mountains, wandering within, the Central Plains' gold is like a peck of rice, hidden from view."
Finally, it was time to decipher this line of poetry. The few of us arrived at the end of a secret chamber and, unable to proceed further, could only stand still and continue our research.
Before us lay a massive obstacle, which must have a connection to the "thousand layers of mountains." If the obstacle were a metaphor for it, it would make perfect sense.
Before that, it said "after." Looking at the height, how could we get past? Furthermore, what did "wandering within" refer to?
Everyone looked at each other, deep in thought, but I was the first to speak: "Look over here, there's a high platform, and there seems to be something above!"
At this moment, everyone's attention shifted. Indeed, not far above my head, in the direction of about one o'clock, there was a strange groove. In the center stood a conical pillar, and on either side were trays holding weights. As we watched, these two trays tilted unnaturally from side to side, as if they would lose balance at any moment.
After an unknown amount of time, we finally came back to our senses. Zhang Keying said, "Brother He Sheng, those weights are like the gold nuggets wandering within. Did you see clearly? The other tray holds many grains of rice. Isn't this the 'Central Plains' gold is like a peck of rice' from the poem? But what's the meaning of this?"
"There's something behind the pillar!" At this moment, I suddenly asked a special police officer to come over. He cooperated by throwing a grappling hook, and we climbed up using the rope.
Once on top, we indeed found a crack on a wall. However, instead of eyes, it concealed many seeds.
We smashed open the wall at that time and took out all the seeds, which were about the size of walnuts.
These seeds looked quite strange. I had never seen such seeds before, and I didn't know what kind of plant they would produce. For now, we had to keep them. I planned to try growing them at home and leave some at the provincial department.
After we smashed open the wall, we moved from this side and quickly emerged. We never expected that the end of this passage would be an exit. Seeing the light of day again, we all felt exceptionally excited, and our nostrils felt much more comfortable. We stretched our limbs. Although we hadn't found the suspect, not far from where we emerged, in a forest, we found a considerable number of bones. Although these people had been dead for some time, they still wore miner's work clothes.
Near their bodies, something remained. I squatted down to observe. I picked up a portion from the ground and placed it in my palm. Only then did I discover they were sniper rifle bullets. This was the same as what we had found before. It seemed these people were all killed by sniper rifles. Originally, the bullets had entered their bodies, but due to ossification, they had fallen out.
For such a phenomenon to occur, with the action of maggots and decay, ossification could happen in about 2 weeks.
Buried corpses ossifying took about 1 year to ossify in southern regions, about 1-1.5 years in Shanghai, and about 4-5 years in northern China. Any factor that promotes the growth and reproduction of decay bacteria can accelerate the decomposition of a corpse. Conversely, it slows down or stops the decomposition process. The main factors are: temperatures between 25-35 degrees Celsius are suitable for decomposition. Below 5 degrees Celsius or above 55-60 degrees Celsius, the growth and reproduction of decay bacteria are inhibited or killed, and the decomposition of the corpse can slow down or stop.
Given the current environment, these people must have died at least a year ago. I called He Xin and asked her about her previous investigation into the mine owner. She told me that this incident happened in 2021, which was last year.
This indeed matched the time of the miners' deaths.
Zhang Keying and Liu Yuning had the same thought as me. They asked the surrounding personnel to help collect these bones and put them into evidence bags. Now we were certain that the person who used the sniper rifle was likely the murderer. He not only killed the recent victims but also people like Du Zhiming, the former miner, met their end at his hands.
I wonder who this person is?
We didn't find any treasure in the underground level. Could it be that the treasure has already been taken away by the murderer?
Then he must be trying to fence it off everywhere now, otherwise, the treasure would be useless.
Did they know some secret back then and all ran to this place intending to escape, but suddenly gunshots rang out from behind? The murderer acted quickly and had a high hit rate. Although these miners were strong, they all met their fate one by one. He killed them, and then this person could have the treasure all to himself, right?
Even if he didn't find it at that time, he probably already had some clues. He didn't want to share it with others?
This person used to work at the mine, but his purpose for working there was definitely the treasure. I wonder where he got the information?
There would be no surveillance in this area, so we would have to investigate the roads near the village again.
Actually, I am quite curious about this treasure. It's not that I'm greedy, I'm just thinking, if Du Zhiming also had a conflict with the murderer over this treasure back then...
The deaths of these people are likely all related to this treasure.
Upon returning to the provincial department, the bones began to be subjected to laboratory analysis for DNA extraction. Meanwhile, I started studying these seeds. After a long period of effort, I still couldn't figure out what kind of plant seeds they were. The best way to verify it would be to plant them. Then, when they grew, we would know.
Although this method would take some time, there was no other way.
I planted five seeds. Three of them are at the provincial department, and the other two are one at the courtyard house and the other at the police dormitory.