Chapter 297: Chapter 295: If These Locations Are Connected...

Su Miaoyi had taken a nap in her chair. By the time she woke up, the sun had set, and her surroundings had grown dark.

She got up and stretched her stiff neck.

She started to head out to find Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen.

But as she did, she realized her leg had fallen asleep.

She took a few steps to the doorway, and the pins and needles hit her.

She leaned against the doorframe, one leg stretched out as she waited for the tingling to subside.

Lu Zhishen came over just in time to see her: one hand on the doorframe, one leg extended, and her other arm stretched out mid-air, her gaze strangely resolute.

"Getting ready to fly away?" he asked.

Su Miaoyi stared at him for two seconds before deadpanning, "I am an eagle destined to soar the heavens. I belong to the vast sky. I am merely returning to my rightful place."

Lu Zhishen nodded. "So, what’s really going on is..."

"My leg fell asleep," Su Miaoyi said with a frown.

Lu Zhishen chuckled. "Feeling better?"

"I’m all better now. No symptoms at all," Su Miaoyi said. "Are the DNA results for the skeleton back yet?"

"Not yet," Lu Zhishen said. "It takes a good few hours to get from Yanjing Village to Chang City, and the DNA test itself takes time."

"It’s that far?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"You have to take mountain roads, and there are detours," Lu Zhishen explained.

"Oh." Su Miaoyi, feeling better, stomped her foot a couple of times. "The patrols are still on for tonight, right?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhishen looked at her. "You’re caught up?"

"I’ve synced up on the last few days’ events," Su Miaoyi said. "I still need to go over the case files and familiarize myself with the faces."

"You guys can sync that kind of information with each other?" Lu Zhishen found it incredible.

"Amazing, isn’t it?"

Lu Zhishen nodded.

"Where’s Xingrou?"

"She went to get us some food."

After dinner, Su Miaoyi went through all the case files, carefully studying every photo.

The sky had turned completely dark.

Outside, the patrols had already begun.

Chu Xingrou touched Su Miaoyi’s forehead.

Su Miaoyi looked up at her. "Am I running a fever?"

"Not anymore," Chu Xingrou said. "But you still have to take one more dose of this medicine."

"Do I have to?" Su Miaoyi asked.

She’d had a dose at noon, and the taste was just awful.

If she hadn’t been feeling so miserable, she never would have been able to get it down.

Now that she was better, she really didn’t want to drink it again.

"No." Chu Xingrou’s voice was gentle but firm. "You have to take it one more time."

Su Miaoyi looked at her and blinked.

"You have to," Chu Xingrou said, refusing to compromise.

Su Miaoyi kept looking at her.

"Nope." Chu Xingrou was resolute.

Su Miaoyi just kept staring at her.

Chu Xingrou stood while Su Miaoyi sat, looking up at her with pitiful eyes.

But Chu Xingrou wasn’t about to give in.

Lu Zhishen placed a handful of candy on the table and looked at Su Miaoyi. "The tension is getting a little thick here."

Su Miaoyi handed one to Chu Xingrou before popping one in her own mouth.

Chu Xingrou handed her the medicine. With the candy still in her mouth, Su Miaoyi gulped down the medicine, then didn’t forget to praise herself. "I’m such an obedient big sister."

Lu Zhishen: "..."

Chu Xingrou smiled and sat down beside her.

Su Miaoyi went back to the files in her hands, trying to find a breakthrough.

Chu Xingrou also looked over the files.

A little while later, a message came in from Duan Wenrui.

The DNA analysis from the city was complete.

The skeleton dug up on the mountain was confirmed to be Wu An.

"This afternoon, we did another deep dive into Wu An’s disappearance," Lu Zhishen said. "We spoke with Zhao Yongliang and a few other villagers."

Su Miaoyi listened.

"The exact time Wu An disappeared is unclear. At first, his two younger sisters’ families went searching for him. Then the local police got involved, and later, a large group of villagers joined the search. They covered the surrounding villages and the nearby mountains. They even searched the very same forest where we found the body."

"But they didn’t find any signs of disturbed soil."

"They’re that certain?" Su Miaoyi asked.

’Usually, when you’re searching for someone, your attention is on finding a person, not on the state of the ground.’

"A few villagers are positive. They say that almost no one ever goes into that forest," Lu Zhishen said. "For one, it’s technically in the territory of another village, pretty far from Yanjing Village. For another, it’s dense forest, and the mountain is steep and difficult to traverse. People rarely even go there to gather firewood in the winter."

"They said that in a place like that, any disturbed soil or rocks would be extremely obvious. Since they didn’t see anything at the time, they’re certain there were no signs of digging."

Su Miaoyi paused.

’Their only evidence that the soil hadn’t been disturbed was that they didn’t see it?’

"Sister Miaomiao, a dozen or so of them went into that forest to search back then. We’ve spoken to all but three of them," Chu Xingrou said. "One of them has passed away, and the other two left town yesterday because they felt the village wasn’t safe anymore. All the others are absolutely positive that if they didn’t see anything, it means no soil was disturbed and no pit was dug."

"They’re that certain?" Su Miaoyi said.

"They’re all positive," Chu Xingrou said.

"We confirmed with them several times. They said that because they’re farmers who spend all their time on these mountains, they can spot disturbed soil immediately," Lu Zhishen added.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

’That was a bit more convincing.’

’Every trade has its own expert eye.’

"Of course, it’s also possible that when they were searching the mountain, the killer hadn’t buried the body yet," Su Miaoyi said.

Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen both nodded in agreement.

"While the villagers and the police were searching, the victim could have already been dead and hidden somewhere, or even still alive and held captive," Su Miaoyi theorized. "Then, after the search wound down after several days, the killer dismembered the body and buried it. Since no one ever goes there, it naturally wouldn’t be found. And now, we can only estimate a rough time of death. Getting a precise one is..."

She shook her head as she spoke.

Chu Xingrou nodded, looking at the photos brought back from the mountain.

"That’s all the information we gathered from the villagers and Wu An’s two sisters. From the moment he was reported missing, through the entire search, there have been very few clues," Lu Zhishen said. "There’s no specific time of disappearance, no exact location. He was already gone by the time anyone noticed, which makes it very difficult to investigate."

Su Miaoyi fell silent for a moment before turning her attention back to the files.

’There were several victims. She needed to review all of their files.’

Lu Zhishen also began organizing the information he had.

The three of them reviewed the files in silence, none of them mentioning returning to town to rest.

As they worked, Chu Xingrou suddenly sat bolt upright.

Lu Zhishen and Su Miaoyi looked up at her.

Chu Xingrou held up several photos from the mountain for them to see. "Sister Miaomiao, Brother Lu, look... these eight burial pits. If you connect them... doesn’t it form the number ’3’?"

...

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