Chapter 730: Buried AliveTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Although the south wind was mild, it made Zhao Yu and the others feel chilly.
“What a surprise…” Dou Zili said. “The film crew’s cameraman is a peeping Tom who has done so many shameless tricks! I suppose that he was the one who shot all of these indecent scenes?”
“It seems to me that this case is no accident!” Wu Xiumin nodded and said.
Zhao Yu asked in a hurry, “Captain Dou, do you remember if any other deceased victims had tape wrapped around their mouths?”
“Um… I remember no such thing.” As Captain Dou dumped his cigarette b.u.t.t off the cliff, he said in embarra.s.sment, “I was so frightened, I didn’t notice…”
Zhao Yu then turned to Zeng Ke. “You can contact the forensic pathologist and ask him to check the other deceased victims to see if there are any other USBs.”
“Okay!” Zeng Ke said before hurrying to follow his orders.
Zhao Yu and Wu Xiumin looked at each other and said nothing, but they were both thinking the same thing. Since the USB was stuffed into the dead man’s mouth by the murderer, this showed that the murderer was trying to tell them something.
From this point of view, this Yongjin Island’s case was likely to be a well-planned murder scheme! And, if that was so, they had to wonder…
Would “And Then There Were None” really have just happened in reality?
“Officer Zhao,” said Captain Dou, while he pointed to the distant sea, “the fifth one was a woman, who was discovered by the water by our men! She must have drowned!”
Because of the distance, Zhao Yu and the others couldn’t see clearly where he was pointing, even with flashlights.
“There’s a path on the left of the cliff that leads straight to the sea!” Captain Dou said as he led the crowd forward. “The corpse was soaked in a large puddle of seawater that was surrounded by reefs. That was why the body was not washed out to sea!”
Under the guidance of Captain Dou, the group made its way down to the rocky seaside and saw the puddle that was surrounded by the reefs. But, because the corpse had already been taken away, there was nothing left to see there.
Zeng Ke then turned to Zhao Yu and said, “There is another woman in the crew besides Li Qian, the lead actress. Her name is Qin Hao, and she is 42 years old. She is the makeup artist and the a.s.sistant director. Um… Also, I just asked the forensic pathologist Gao, who said that he had sent someone to examine the mouths of the other corpses, but they didn’t find anything.”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu nodded.
After the had finished inspecting the seaside crime scene, Captain Dou took the group back by the crew’s tents before walking into the depths of the island.
“Six people died!” Wu Xiumin said. “We have only seen five of them. Where is the last one?”
“On the other side of the lighthouse,” answered Captain Dou. “But, there’s a place that I need to show you before we go to the lighthouse! There is a garden that is just northwest of the tents, where the surviving cook was buried alive!”
“A garden? Isn’t this an uninhabited island? Where did the garden come from?” Wu Xiumin asked curiously.
“Hmm…” Captain Dou hesitated for a moment, then said, “Well, during the War of Liberation, naval forces were stationed on this island. There were many wooden shacks and huts on the island, all of which were left by soldiers. I think they built that garden, too.”
“You must be joking!” Zeng Ke shook his head and asked, “When do soldiers have time to build gardens?”
Captain Dou, as if he suddenly remembered something, hastily corrected his words, “My terrible memory! How could I have forgotten that there were lighthouses on this island in the 1970s and the 1980s? There were people living on the island at that time as well!”
He rushed to explain further, “Perhaps they were the ones who planted this garden! In fact, for so many years, no one cared about that garden, so it has already become a place filled with mostly wildflowers and weeds! You’ll see what I mean later!”
Just as Captain Dou finished talking, they arrived at the garden. Perhaps because it was winter, but the only flowers that they could see in the garden were some residual chrysanthemums. Other than that, there were only withered trees and weeds.
The garden was not big, and it had a few clear traces of man-made repairs that had been made somewhat recently. As such, it was clear that this small garden had indeed been built by a person.
After entering the garden, Captain Dou pointed to a pit. “This is where the cook from the crew said that he was buried alive! However, although the murderer buried him alive, he still left his face above the ground.”
Although it was not a deep pit, it was terrible to imagine such a things as being buried alive! When the cook woke up to find himself buried, and he realized that he couldn’t move, he must have been terrified!
“The cook’s name is Zhang Yong.” Zeng Ke said. “He was on the daily production team. Daily producers and real producers are not the same thing at all. To put it simply, daily producers are responsible for the living arrangements and culinary provisions of the production team, including the management of logistics, handling cooking, and so on. As this man was 51 years old, he was a senior among this crew.”
“If the cook was unconscious before he was buried alive…” Zhao Yu squatted down and examined the pit carefully.
He then wondered aloud doubtfully, “Well… How did he get here? Did the murderer come with him, carrying him on his shoulders or back?”
“Yes, maybe!” Captain Dou said. “The soil near the garden is soft, and during the day’s search, we saw many deep footprints. Maybe the murderer left those when he carried people here!”
“If he really carried this victim on his shoulders, it means that the murderer is quite strong!” Zeng Ke reached out and pinched the soil, then said, “The soil here is soft, which means that it would be easy to dig holes here. So, that explains why the murderer made such an effort to get him here!”
“But, I don’t understand…” Wu Xiumin said. “The murderer made such an effort to bring the cook over and dig the pit. Why didn’t he kill him?”
“Yes, we are quite puzzled by that as well,” Captain Dou echoed her confusion. “It would require only one last step. Why did the murderer stop? If he didn’t want to kill him, why even bother bringing him all the way up here? Plus, digging such a big pit is not an easy job!”
“Hey!” Suddenly, Wu Xiumin thought of a possibility and turned to Zhao Yu in excitement. “Leader, I want to see those two survivors now!”
“Oh?” Zhao Yu couldn’t imagine why she had gotten so excited all of a sudden.
“The actress was hanging, but did not die, and the cook was buried alive, yet also survived!” As Wu Xiumin was speaking, she was waving her hands around wildly. “Don’t you think there’s something fishy about these two people?”