National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1014 - 950 Survivors

Slap!

Bright little flames stretched upward, licking ardently from the center of the stone mill, overflowing with a thick heat that warmed the circle of police officers sitting around it.

An old police officer thrust a long iron skewer laden with thick cuts of beef into the gaps atop the stone mill, causing the beef to tremble weakly before being obediently licked by the flames.

A few dozen meters away by the railing, a dozen or so criminal suspects were shackled together, sniffing the enticing aroma below, their stomachs growling. Someone boldly said, "Murder isn’t worth more than one’s head. If you’re going to execute us by shooting, at least let us have a full meal first."

"Didn’t we just give you covered rice bowls?" The guards, who were not armed with guns but instead with stun sticks, sharply watched these suspects.

The police’s transportation capabilities were limited; every single person in the hundreds-strong stronghold needed to be cuffed and sent back. Regular police cars, which required too many escort officers, and even armed forces vehicles or command vehicles like the Warrior wouldn’t be bestowed upon these ’mushroom people.’ Therefore, specialized prisoner transport buses and the like had to be arranged. Moreover, the roads here were difficult to navigate, which caused many suspects to be held back.

However, the police investigations themselves required the interrogation of some suspects. Aside from the slightly heavier guarding duties, it wasn’t too troublesome.

Of course, the suspects were bound to feel aggrieved.

Once someone spoke up, the handcuffed suspects started clamoring, "The covered rice was too little, it had no meat. We want to eat BBQ too!"

"BBQ?" The watching officer really wanted to say that this might be the last BBQ meal of your life, but since they were still in the wilderness, provoking the suspects was usually forbidden. There was no need to infuriate these desperate people or cause them to feel deeper despair. Thinking it over, the guard gently tapped his stun stick and said, "Don’t shout, just stay quiet for a bit. I’ll ask for you, alright?"

The boisterous suspects, already prepared to be beaten, were momentarily stunned by the officer’s humane words.

The watching officer pressed the talk button on his radio and switched the channel: "Captain, captain, this is Li Gu. The prisoners want to eat BBQ, should we arrange a bit for them? Over."

"Even I don’t have BBQ to eat! That’s for Captain Jiang and his crew; the one roasting is a superintendent. Over!"

"This is Li Gu, well... how about we get a couple of third-class inspectors to grill some meat for them? The rest are just young people who will be eating prison meals when they get back, who knows how long it’ll be before they get to eat BBQ again. Over."

"Got it. You’re really pushing it, kid. Over."

The radio of the watching officer was amplified, and the supervised ’mushroom people’ heard the entire conversation, their spirits subsequently dampening.

The suspect who had started the uproar also lost interest, saying, "The BBQ isn’t all that great, don’t bother making it for us."

"If there is some, great; if not, never mind." The watching officer didn’t say much more; he couldn’t say he sympathized with the suspects, only that he treated them equally. And for people today, wanting a bit of meat wasn’t really an excessive demand.

For a moment, none of the ’mushroom people’ had any desire to speak.

"Damn!" Someone shouted loudly, as if trying to vent his feelings.

But the others nearby were too listless to agree with him.

"Wish I could have one more smoke. Then I wouldn’t think about all this," murmured a person at the back of the queue.

Suddenly.

Meng Chengbiao came over smiling, holding BBQ, and distributed some to everyone.

Some took and ate it; others didn’t want to and declined.

Meng Chengbiao didn’t mind; some people genuinely disliked food. Additionally, drug use can also reduce appetite. For many addicts, not only does appetite fade, but all desires vanish, leaving only the craving for drugs. Many religions have a history of using drugs for various purposes; the development history of cannabis, for example, can be seen as the history of a religion’s soul-binding medicine.

"Thank you," said someone who took the BBQ, as if they were momentarily reawakening a bit of morality and nature within them.

"You’re welcome. If you like it, I will have more sent over." Meng Chengbiao quietly noted the other party’s number. The interrogation work this time was extremely arduous and important; having more breakthroughs would certainly be better.

Jiang Yuan ate several skewers of grilled meat and then followed the evening convoy back to Chang Le City.

There was still much work to be done at Qi Mountain Stronghold, solely the search, excavation, and organization of evidence would require one or two months of time and the involvement of dozens of people to complete. However, these were not tasks that required Jiang Yuan’s continuous involvement.

Or rather, the Changler City Bureau was reluctant to commit Jiang Yuan, a valuable asset, to such mundane tasks. They also could not afford such a luxury.

Jiang Yuan himself didn’t need to worry about these matters; upon returning to the guest house at Changler City Bureau, he went straight to sleep. It wasn’t until he woke up the next day that he realized he was still in a suite.

After checking WeChat upon waking up and tidying up a bit, he quickly went downstairs.

Lang Heng, the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, and others were in the restaurant, drinking tea, chatting, and waiting for Jiang Yuan.

"Commissar, Director Lang..." Jiang Yuan, not very emotionally savvy early in the morning, said: "Is there another case? There seem to be quite a few cases in Chang Le City."

Lang Heng laughed heartily: "Captain Jiang does have a sense of humor. However, the issues at Qi Mountain Stronghold were indeed unexpected; we thank Captain Jiang for uncovering this for us. Going forward, both the city and county levels will take substantial actions."

"What substantial actions?" Jiang Yuan was genuinely curious; the problems revealed by Qi Mountain Stronghold were not something a few police visits could solve.

Once the reputation of these mushrooms gets out, there will always be people wanting to try, and to talk about eradication—it’s not so simple to comb through every inch of the forest without missing anything.

Lang Heng chuckled twice and said, "In this regard, we actually have experience, including lessons from our predecessors."

"Oh? Can you talk about it?"

"Talking about it is no problem. Frankly, it’s not worth much." Lang Heng paused for a moment, capturing Jiang Yuan’s full attention before continuing, "The plan is to build roads; this year we want to pave the roads in these remote towns and villages, especially for some natural villages far from administrative villages—we’re going to build asphalt roads there."

Jiang Yuan was surprised: "What’s the reasoning behind this?"

"Those who cultivate these hallucinogenic mushrooms have an average monthly income of about three to four thousand yuan," Lang Heng looked at Huang Qiangmin and then continued, "By improving the roads and solving the transportation problems in the mountains, the variety of cultivable products increases, and mushrooms aren’t the only valuable things in the mountains."

Jiang Yuan nodded, seemingly understanding.

Lang Heng coughed twice: "We can’t just arrest everyone."

This is part of social governance. Huang Qiangmin, quite interested, asked, "The expenses for road construction, does your police department have to cover them?" freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"No, before the roads are repaired, our task becomes even more important," Lang Heng said as he grabbed Huang Qiangmin’s hand earnestly, "That’s why we need more help from our brother units."

Huang Qiangmin forcefully pulled his hand out of Lang Heng’s grasp, saying, "Let’s talk about the cases, otherwise, we might have to start charging a consultation fee."

"We already have that," Lang Heng said calmly.

"Oh, there’s already a consultation fee?" Huang Qiangmin’s tone changed: "I’ll check later and see if we need to change the name."

Lang Heng couldn’t help but laugh, knowing although Huang Qiangmin was quite blunt, he was still reasonable. Otherwise, he would have taken Jiang Yuan to Beijing a long time ago; there was no need to keep him in Shannan Province for so long.

As the thought passed, Lang Heng turned and handed a tablet to Jiang Yuan, then said: "Case 430, we actually reopened it once before, it’s a 10-year-old cold case. The victims were a mother and daughter, found dead at home, the forensic doctor determined the cause of death was strangulation. There were no signs of rape. Valuable items were stolen from the home, and there were signs of damage to the door lock. Uniquely, there was another victim at the scene, an 8-year-old boy, the youngest child at home, who was hidden by his mother in the wardrobe and survived the ordeal."

As Jiang Yuan listened, he browsed the scene photos on the tablet, furrowing his brows: "So, the survivor is 18 now?"

"Yes, the child of that year has now come of age. He came to us, and I feel a sense of guilt," Lang Heng said as he took a sip of tea, shook his head, and continued: "The initial suspect was actually the victims’ husband, who had a history of domestic violence. His alibi for the day of the incident was not very solid, however, the trace evidence at the scene does not support this judgment. Moreover, the surviving child stated that there were two perpetrators on the day of the incident. Various signs indicate that there is another person involved..."