Zhou Ning’s words were very direct, but Mr. Pang didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed. Instead, he introduced the situation with enthusiasm:
"No need to beat around the bush, it’s outside the periter of the Qindao Xiaolong Mountain Han Dynasty Tomb Archaeological Site where a lot of human bones were discovered. The composition here is quite complex. There are scattered remains from the tombs, remains left by grave robbers from the past, and even victims’. Altogether, more than four hundred pieces have been found."
With the 2.21 special case team adding the second, fourth, and fifth groups’ as well, they have been toiling for nearly three months with still no inkling of a lead, not even the identity of the deceased could be confird."
Mr. Zhao was utterly confused, seemingly uncertain of where the site was, and with a tilted head, he leaned over with his plump face and asked:
"Where is Xiaolong Mountain? How do I not know about it?"
"It’s Xiaolong Mountain in Xinghua City, which is under Qindao’s jurisdiction, not far from Wenquan Town."
Zhou Ning was sowhat dumbfounded—was this how stimulating it was right from the start?
People from three groups, coupled with the special case team, had been searching for nearly three months without finding any clues. This case was in too much of a hurry to be handed over on day one, which suggested there was more to it than what Mr. Pang was saying—it wasn’t as straightforward.
He lifted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes as he looked toward Mr. Pang.
"It’s not just about the difficulty of distinguishing the bones, is it? With such urgency, there must be so hidden complications in the case. And so many pieces of bones... could it be they are all fragnts?"
Mr. Pang chuckled, seemingly pleased that Zhou Ning had shown up, taking him as a bona fide insider. With a bit more confidence, he heaved a sigh and then said:
"With observation skills like yours, I really have to admire them. Ah! Not to hide it from you, these bones, there are few intact pieces, all of them have cutting marks."
Moreover, while we were conducting the investigation, it just so happened that a reporter from Zhongtian News was there to cover the tomb excavation. When they went back to edit, they just made up a story of a vicious incident and reported it, generating significant dia pressure."
Zhongtian News?
Zhou Ning took a mont to react, seeming to rember reading about it online. It was a website in Chinese on the island, and not a dostic dia, so quite hard to control. They liked to take various dostic news out of context and slant it negatively, which was their usual tactic. As for who was behind it, it went without saying.
But as for this news, he seed to have never heard of it.
By now, Mr. Pang had already led Zhou Ning to office 302. As several of them walked in, they saw a young guy cleaning the office. Seeing Mr. Pang and Zhou Ning, he quickly nodded and greeted them.
"Hello to Mr. Pang, Doctor Zhou, and Mr. Zhao!"
This series of greetings clearly showed he knew Zhou Ning and others were due to report today. Zhou Ning slightly smiled and nodded in response, recalling Mr. Pang had ntioned him before; this was the intern, Mr. Sun, Sun Gaotie.
Since Cui Haibin was transferred away, it was natural for people from Group Two who could leave to seek other opportunities. They wouldn’t just stick around here for a month but would disperse to other groups.
"Hello, Mr. Sun, right?"
Sun Gaotie, a bit taken aback, but Mr. Pang seed especially pleased, introducing him once, Zhou Ning could actually rember his na; quite a sharp mind.
"Alright, get to know each other a bit. As for the case I ntioned, there’s no rush from the 2.21 special case team; you can get familiar with it. All the bone fragnts are upstairs in the forensic research room, as they are nurous and not categorized yet. If you want to get familiar, go take a look."
"Okay, Mr. Pang!"
Mr. Pang nodded.
"I will leave your mobile number with the command center. If there is a criminal case that requires your presence at the scene, assignnts will be distributed in rotation. Alright, I’m going to sort out your accommodation now, call if you need anything."
After seeing off Mr. Pang, Zhao Xinli patted Sun Gaotie on the shoulder.
"The na Sun Gaotie is so forward-looking, you’re an intern?"
"My dad’s surna is Sun, my mom’s surna is Gao, and my dad is a railway police officer. Then ca my na, purely coincidental."
Mr. Sun hurriedly explained, the nervousness still evident on his face, while Mr. Zhao grinned at him.
"Why so nervous; the best nas are the ones you can rember after one look. Co, tell about the work processes in the forensic office and about the different groups. We should get familiar quickly. But, why are there so few people in Group Two? I see other groups have four or five people, not counting the interns?"
Mr. Zhao’s friendly approach was a relief for Sun Gaotie, who then gave a brief introduction.
Indeed, as Zhou Ning had suspected, the three original forensic specialists from Group Two had all moved to other groups. Sun had been left bewildered since Cui Haibin’s transfer on his fifth day of internship, spending nearly a month just cleaning the office and reading, becoming a true ’left-behind child.’
Mr. Zhao patted his shoulder in consolation and said:
"Don’t fret; now that we’re here, the cases will co soon enough. But aren’t interns supposed to co over in September? How co you arrived so early?"
Sun Gaotie blushed a little, pointing to his leg and said:
"I had a car accident last September and broke my leg. I took six months off from school, so I ca over for an internship in April, but it requires at least ten months."
"So you’re doing a combined bachelor’s and master’s program?"
Sun Gaotie looked at Zhou Ning and nodded.
"Yes, I’m doing a combined program, but having been here a month, I still can’t do anything, which makes a bit anxious."
Mr. Zhao felt a pang of deflation, rubbing his nose.
"Can’t really talk with you anymore. But aren’t you not much younger than Zhou Xiaozhou?"
"I’m 24. I never attended first grade but jumped to second grade."
Mr. Zhao lifted his hand in a stop gesture; the topic was just too upsetting.
"Stop, the case Director Pang ntioned earlier, do we have materials on that here?"
Sun Gaotie shook his head.
"All the skeletal fragnts collected from the scene are in the forensic teaching and research office upstairs. I followed them and took a glimpse; there was a table as big as a bed, completely covered with bones. As for other materials, I’m not sure."
Zhou Ning looked at Zhao Xinli and shook his head slightly, signaling him to refrain from asking more questions for the ti being.
Mr. Zhao tidied up the table; there wasn’t much to do that morning except for the two keys sent over by Director Pang’s staff. They had been assigned a dorm room, which they checked out after lunch.
Before arriving at the third-floor office, Zhou Ning’s phone rang. He pulled it out and saw Xu Da’s na displayed. He paused for a mont, realizing that Xu Dayuan was possibly also reporting for his first day. Why had he thought to call him?
He and Mr. Zhao exchanged glances, both clearly perplexed as Mr. Zhao kept shaking his head.
"Xu Da?"
"Zhou Xiaozhou, have you guys checked in?"
"We checked in first thing in the morning."
"Alright, I’ll co find you in a bit."
Zhou Ning was taken aback.
"What’s up, Xu Da? Got a case on your first day of check-in?"
Xu Dayuan laughed, then sighed.
"Ah, let’s talk when we et!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao looked at each other, with Mr. Zhao shaking his chubby face.
"Buddy, I’ve got a bad feeling; we’re about to get busy!"
Zhou Ning swatted away his plump face, expressing his disdain:
"Knock off the doom and gloom; this isn’t Qidong Sub-bureau. With so many forensic doctors around, and being the newbie, it wouldn’t be my turn even if there’s a case. And as for that case Director Pang ntioned, there’s no rush. Let’s wait and see!"
The two returned to their office and it wasn’t long before Xu Dayuan walked in, saw Zhao Xinli holding a cup, grabbed it, and drank. Zhou Ning was startled by this action. Was Xu Dayuan so busy that he didn’t even have ti to drink water?
"Have a seat, Xu Da. Mr. Sun, pour a cup of water for Xu Da."
Xu Dayuan waved his hand, and Mr. Sun brought over a chair. Xu Dayuan sat down, threw his hat onto the table, and rubbed his buzz-cut head, clearly facing a challenging problem.
"Boss... no, I can’t call you boss anymore. I’ll just follow Zhou Xiaozhou and call you Xu Da. Aren’t you reporting today? Why have you co here? Oh right, I still don’t know which departnt you were assigned to in the Criminal Police Brigade?"
Xu Dayuan sighed deeply.
"Captain of the first team of the Criminal Police Brigade, but I also got the title of head of a special task force."
Zhou Ning paused.
"It’s not the 2.21 case by any chance, is it?"
Xu Dayuan nodded, and Mr. Zhao leaned in with his small eyes wide in surprise.
"Well, I’ll be damned, this was planned! Director Pang ntioned this morning that our second group would be responsible for the 2.21 case, and before we could go upstairs and check, here you are, already the head of the special task force."
Xu Dayuan gave Mr. Zhao a weary glance, his entire deanor exuding irritation.
"I guessed as much. I just asked Director Pang, and as soon as I heard you two were taking over the 2.21 case from Cui Haibin, I knew my transfer must be related to this case. Enough chit-chat, let tell you about the case."
With that, he pulled out a stack of materials from his bag and tossed them in front of Zhou Ning.
He then opened his laptop, found a bunch of photos, and as Zhou Ning scanned them, Xu Dayuan continued.
"There’s quite a bit of data. At the 2.21 case scene, 473 skeletal fragnts were discovered, originating from three historical periods. Of these, 314 segnts are from within the past year, while the remaining 159 fragnts are from older tis, specifically the end of the Han Dynasty and the end of the Yuan to early Ming period.
Among these 314 recent skeletal fragnts, based on residual tissue testing, it was concluded that the decedent was the sa person, a male. In the DNA comparison of missing persons, no matching target has been found so far.
The cri scene investigation for the 2.21 case was done in collaboration with the ard police, given the wide dispersion of the skeletal remains. Mr. Hu, the head of criminal investigations, pooled resources from the district and city for assistance in the survey.
This photo is an aerial shot of the scene, the flags stuck into the ground indicate the locations where bone fragnts were found, all of which have been numbered and preserved. The red dots on the map mark the distribution of the 2.21 case victim’s bones.
Look, there’s a fan-shaped area halfway up the hill. I calculated a bit, based on this distribution, and conducted triangulation. The killer likely dumped the body from the southern side of this winding mountain road.
The area is quite large though, and considering the ti of death of the skeletal remains, we cannot rule out displacent caused by animals or rain wash. After all, a burly adult man couldn’t have thrown the bones over a distance of more than a hundred ters."
Zhou Ning focused on the photo with nurous red dots densely marking it. The distribution indeed ford a fan-shaped trajectory. This analysis of the body dumping location didn’t seem to have any issues.
"How was the death within a year determined? Is it because it’s close to the archaeological site and there’s been no entry for the past year? That doesn’t seem right though. As far as I know, even if an archaeological site is on hiatus, there’s still staff on guard to prevent tomb raiding."
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