The group was overjoyed upon hearing this and hurriedly gathered by the water's edge.

The salvage boat slowly approached, and the item they retrieved finally came into view for everyone.

This time, they fished out a large suitcase big enough to hold an adult male, with a large rock tied onto it as usual.

Seeing this, Luo Fei felt a foreboding sensation.

If it's just used to hold the remaining torso and legs of the deceased, this suitcase seems too large.

Indeed, when the suitcase was opened, it confirmed his suspicion.

Unlike the pack of bones last time, this suitcase emanated a faint stench even before being opened.

The moment it was opened, a more intense stench instantly pervaded the entire area.

Everyone couldn't help but hold their breath, pinching their noses and stepping back two paces, with some severely affected nearly vomiting.

Throughout, only Zhao Tian and the team's forensic expert Guo Hua remained relatively composed.

After all, the two had been to many crime scenes over the years; this level of stench was hardly a big deal for them.

However, upon seeing the scene inside the suitcase, they couldn't help but take a cold breath.

The suitcase was filled with human body parts, rotting muscles immersed in water oozing copious viscous and disgusting liquids; hairs from two skulls were scattered everywhere, and a face in decay faced them directly.

"Wow!"

More people vomited this time, even the seasoned Zhao Donglai couldn't help but turn his head away.

Even Zhao Tian dared not casually conduct an autopsy anymore and quickly zipped up the suitcase.

"Zhao, these items may need to be taken to the technical lab for processing before further autopsy can proceed."

"Alright, then quickly take them back."

Zhao Donglai waved his hand and then said to Zhou Fan, "Tell them to continue dredging; I suspect there might be more bodies in there."

Zhou Fan thought similarly and immediately went to negotiate.

At this moment, the group was in an uproar.

"Three skulls, equating to three lives!"

"And judging by the degree of decay, the time of the victims' demise doesn't match, this is most likely a serial murder case!"

"They've treated this as a fixed dumping ground; who could be so insane?"

"If it weren't for Zhang Qiang, we probably wouldn't have discovered these bodies..."

Amid their discussions, another salvage boat quickly dredged up a bag of bodies.

After an entire night of dredging, they hauled up a total of six bags.

Each bag essentially contained parts of human organs.

Given the gravity of the situation, Zhao Donglai immediately instructed that all these fragments be sent to the technical lab, urging them to piece together all fragments in the shortest time possible to determine the number of victims.

After returning to the police department, they immediately convened a meeting.

"Although Zhang Qiang is already deceased, based on the clues we presently possess, he's confirmed as the murderer of Lin Qi. So after this meeting, Luo Fei, quickly write a crime analysis report for me."

"Once Zhao Tian has DNA comparison results, the case can be submitted."

After briefly discussing Zhang Qiang's case, Zhao Donglai immediately shifted focus to the human remains dredged from the river.

"Now let's concentrate on the dismembered bodies retrieved from the river. Liao Xingyu, later investigate missing persons lists in Jiangzhou City over recent years, especially focusing on missing females."

"Li Jun, tomorrow bring people to visit the crime scene to see if any witnesses can be found, and copy surveillance from nearby roads."

"Zhou Fan, tomorrow find a professional diving team, dive into that water area to see if anything was overlooked."

After the meeting, it was roughly past six in the morning.

Zhao Donglai asked everyone to go out for breakfast before continuing work.

But sitting at the breakfast stand, he had no appetite.

"Luo Fei, what do you think of this case?"

"Nothing, there's too little useful information at present, and I'm at a loss."

"Well, judging by the current situation, there must be numerous victims; this is already a severe major case... you wonder how we got entangled in such a mess."

This kind of case can easily cause immense panic in society, posing a huge pressure on investigators.

"Zhao, don't rush; I believe once we can identify the victims, starting from this point might yield clues leading to the perpetrator."

"And judging by the body from the later suitcase, the decay time isn't too long, making identification of the victims' identities maybe not that difficult."

"Let's hope so."

The two quickly finished their breakfast and returned to the police department to continue their work.

Approximately past eight in the morning, Zhao Tian finally had results.

"Zhao, through piecing back the fragments, we can currently ascertain that there are at least seven victims."

"However, some body pieces are missing, and six complete bodies were pieced together, among which two are fully skeletonized, and one lacks two legs."

"Plus, one body is soon to be skeletonized, while the remaining four bodies show varying levels of decay, with one having a death time roughly a month ago."

"Also, all these bodies are female, and we've checked all containers used to hold the bodies, finding no identity information-bearing items among them."

Zhao Donglai was shocked upon hearing at least seven victims, his heart sinking.

This turned out to be worse than he imagined.

No choice, this matter must immediately be reported to higher-ups.

"Zhao Tian, try facial reconstruction on these bodies first, and then extract DNA samples to facilitate future comparisons with family members identifying the bodies."

After Zhao Tian left, Zhao Donglai immediately called Director Zheng.

"Director Zheng, yesterday while dredging a suspect, who jumped into the river in guilt and committed suicide, we accidentally discovered a backpack containing human extremities and skulls."

"...Afterwards, we had boats continue dredging up several boxes and bags containing human organs. After the technical lab staff worked overtime to verify, we can basically confirm victims are seven or more."

Zheng Changjun listened attentively, immediately taking this seriously.

Generally, involving multiple murders, cases with over two victims are categorized as massive criminal offenses, let alone seven!

He busily advised Zhao Donglai to solve the case quickly.

After hanging up, Zhao Donglai was as restless as an ant on a hot pan.

Leadership speaks, subordinates act frantically.

While he spoke casually, now without confirming the victims' identity, where to find the perpetrator?

After some grumbling, Zhao Donglai went to the second team's office.

"Liao Xingyu, how's it going, have you found information on missing persons over the years?"

"No, Zhao; we've checked the missing person reports over the years received by the public bureau, none match."

"How is that possible?"

Zhao Donglai was puzzled, "Have you checked thoroughly? All counties, villages verified?"

"All verified, none... I'm wondering whether the victims came from other cities, killed by the perpetrator before being dumped here."

"Your guess isn't impossible. Okay, immediately send a collaborative investigation notice to police nationwide, asking them to help check the missing person list for recent years."

"Alright, I'm on it."

Such investigation work generally requires some time.

During the waiting process, Zhao Tian's side also made progress.

Using facial identification and reconstruction technology, Zhao Tian successfully reconstructed the appearance of the least decomposed body.

Getting the reconstructed photo, Zhao Donglai was thrilled, quickly asking Liao Xingyu to include this photo in the collaborative investigation notice.

Around three in the afternoon came more good news.

"Zhao, Huang Xu City just called, saying a masseuse went missing two months ago, age 25, disappeared mysteriously during the nightshift home at about 2 AM on March 25."

"At that time, after her family reported, the police immediately investigated her work route but found no clues."

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