Chapter 64.2: She Was Just a Frail Technical Specialist!
After reporting the measurements, Li crouched down and, without the slightest hesitation, grabbed a handful of soil from the ground beside him and squeezed it to assess its consistency.
“The soil here isn’t particularly hard, but digging through it still wouldn’t be quick. A hole this size would take at least an hour and a half.”
Jiang Xia crouched beside him as well. She shone her flashlight along the edges of the hole in the coffin lid and said, “Whether it’s a standard coffin or a cheaper one, the lid is always the thickest part. This family used a thin-walled coffin, but even so, the lid would be about five cun thick—roughly sixteen centimeters. Breaking a hole this large through wood that thick wouldn’t be easy. I’d say it would take at least two or three hours, and they’d need proper woodworking tools. A hammer alone wouldn’t be enough to smash through it.”
Trace Examiner Li nodded slightly. “Looks like they used a hand-cranked drill. A large one like that is usually only found in a carpenter’s possession.”
“They probably got one specifically for the job.”
Jiang Xia studied the exposed ridge of the coffin lid, then stood up and compared its alignment with the stones arranged to the south. She confirmed that the coffin lay perpendicular to the southern markers.
The stones hadn’t been placed randomly after all. The coffin had been buried facing south, with its head to the north.
The grave robber’s work was just too crude. They’d chosen a terrible spot to dig, going straight for the thickest part of the coffin lid.
Suppressing her disdain, Jiang Xia said, “This grave robber doesn’t seem to have much experience. The hole slopes inward, which suggests they intended to break through the side of the coffin. Instead, they ended up digging straight into the lid.”
“That’s what it looks like to me, too.”
Trace Examiner Li analyzed the scene. “This grave was probably one of the first to be robbed. The section of the coffin that was broken through has rotted quite badly, so it’s likely been some time.”
The exact rate of wood decay depended on numerous factors, including the type of wood, soil moisture, and temperature fluctuations. It was generally difficult to determine precisely how long the decay had taken, so they could only make a rough estimate.
Jiang Xia couldn’t do any better herself. Since she couldn’t establish an exact timeframe, she didn’t dwell on it and instead quickly began calculating.
“Digging up graves is something you can only do at night. It’s too easy to get caught during the day. And once you start, you can’t just stop halfway through. The whole job has to be finished in one night. Even if I give them the entire night, they’d only have from eight or nine in the evening until five the next morning—nine hours at most.”
Jiang Xia counted off the tasks on her fingers. “Digging the pit, breaking through the coffin lid, pulling out the body, then refilling the hole and making everything look old again—that would take at least six hours. And it’s all strenuous, heavy labor. I don’t think one person could manage it alone. The grave robber must have had help, at least one other person to take turns with.”
“They must also have been in good physical condition.”
Trace Examiner Li agreed. “I once… dug a pit myself. I was only in my early forties back then, but after half a day of work, my arms and legs were practically useless. The grave robber was probably younger, perhaps in their twenties or thirties, to manage this kind of work. Of course, if there were more people involved, that would change things.”
The extremely foul stench of the decomposing corpse continued to seep out of the coffin. Even with thick masks on, they couldn’t keep the smell from forcing its way into their nostrils. Jiang Xia covered her nose and spoke in a muffled voice.
“And then there are the bones. They can’t be sold immediately, so the grave robbers must have somewhere to store them. But the smell is so strong that even if it gets on your clothes or skin, you can’t get rid of it easily. I suspect these grave robbers either keep their distance from other people in their daily lives or use something else to mask the smell.”
“Old Sun would definitely have a lot to say about that.”
Trace Examiner Li stood up and took two steps back. An unpleasant memory surfaced in his mind.
“I remember one time he dissected a corpse that had turned green. It was covered in decomposition fluids. He washed and scrubbed himself three times until his skin was practically white, but when he walked into the office, he still had this weird smell all over him. Good grief, for the next few days, his wife wouldn’t even let him through the front door.”
Captain Zeng cautiously approached. Hearing that last part, he instinctively asked, “Whose wife wouldn’t let him come home?”
“Old Sun’s.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense.”
After all, working with corpses was enough to make any normal person uncomfortable. Old Sun had simply married early and already had two children. Divorce wasn’t really an option, so his wife had no choice but to put up with him. Poor Xiao Yang had it even worse. Rumor had it that three matchmaking arrangements had already fallen through because of his job.
“I’ve finished asking all eight families about their deceased relatives,” Captain Zeng said.
“Seven of them died of natural causes in old age. They were all over fifty: four men and three women. The remaining one was a man who died young, in his early forties, from a sudden illness. It doesn’t look like the grave robber deliberately selected their targets based on age or sex.”
“We’ve made some progress on our end, too.”
Jiang Xia briefly explained their analysis of the scene, then summarized their current suspicions.
“So, for now, we believe the grave robber is part of a group operation involving at least two people. They’re probably between twenty and forty years old. They may have access to a vehicle, regularly disappear during the day instead of doing manual labor, or carry a strong, unpleasant odor on their person. They may also have woodworking tools, such as a hand-cranked drill, at home.”
The scope of the investigation was already fairly well defined. Checking people against these criteria wouldn’t be too difficult, though it would involve quite a bit of walking.
Zeng Jun said, “How about we start investigating right now?”
“We’ve only examined one grave so far. We can’t be sure our conclusions are reliable yet,” Jiang Xia replied. “Why don’t we finish examining the remaining seven first?”
“I agree,” Trace Examiner Li said. “One isolated piece of evidence isn’t enough to establish anything.”
“All right, then.”
Since the two technical specialists wanted to examine the graves, Zeng Jun naturally had no reason to stop them.
Jiang Xia and Trace Examiner Li proceeded to examine the remaining looted graves one by one.
After completing the inspections, Jiang Xia immediately understood why these particular graves had been targeted.
It was simple: they were easy to dig up. Each had stones, trees, or other markers indicating its orientation, making it easier to locate the coffin buried underground.
And there was more than one hole in the coffin lids. In total, they found three. The others had been dug diagonally into the sides of the coffins, with the entry points positioned quite precisely. The excavation tunnels were almost as short as they could possibly be, clearly the work of experienced hands.
Unfortunately, the rotting coffins offered no reliable way to determine exactly when the digging had taken place. Based on the marks in the surrounding soil and the condition of the grass, Jiang Xia estimated that all the holes had been dug roughly three months earlier.
Even so, the evidence supported their earlier conclusions.
“This new grave fits the same pattern, too.”
After examining the final grave, Trace Examiner Li remarked, “The grass around it has been cleared, and the soil is freshly piled. I think the grave robber probably chose it for that very reason. It would be easier to disguise the excavation.”
“I think so, too.”
Jiang Xia sighed. Who would have thought that being too devoted to one’s ancestors could actually lead to trouble?
She put the thought aside and turned to Trace Examiner Li.
“Should we look for footprints again?”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
Li shook his head slightly. “There are far too many footprints here, and they’re all jumbled together. Even if the grave robber left any traces, they’ve probably been destroyed by now. Besides, we wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”
“At first, I thought carrying a corpse would affect a person’s weight and leave noticeably different footprints. But thinking it over, a corpse is heavy largely because of the water content in the body. After lying there for several months, much of that moisture evaporates, leaving it weighing only around ten or so kilograms. That’s too little extra weight to make a meaningful difference in the footprints. It would be very difficult to distinguish them.”
As he spoke, he gestured in a circle with his hand. “Look at all these footprints around the graves. Just examining them would take three whole days!”
“We’ve already narrowed down the scope of the investigation enough. Let’s have Captain Zeng start screening people directly.”
Listening to Trace Examiner Li dismiss the idea, Jiang Xia looked at the footprints scattered and overlapping across the ground like grains of rice, sinking into thought.
The crime scene had indeed been badly contaminated. With so many footprints, there was no way to distinguish them all. It might be better to abandon that line of investigation and let Captain Zeng begin making inquiries.
But something about it still didn’t sit right with Jiang Xia.
The whole point of a crime scene investigation was that criminals left behind a wealth of firsthand evidence. Even though such traces would gradually fade under wind and sunlight or be contaminated by outside interference, some would always remain, like gold mixed in with sand. The only question was whether the investigators could recognize it.
If the footprints were useless, what about something else?
Based on the traces at the scene, Jiang Xia began reconstructing the grave robbers’ movements in her mind.
Digging through soil and smashing through wood required an enormous amount of physical effort. They had probably brought food with them…
No, that wouldn’t work. Food didn’t come in packaging these days. Even if they’d dropped crumbs, insects would have eaten them long ago.
What about taking a break halfway through and smoking a cigarette to relax?
That was possible, but people in the countryside used dry tobacco pouches. She’d already examined the area, and there were no cigarette butts. Besides, DNA testing didn’t exist yet.
That wouldn’t work either…
Wait! Digging through soil and smashing wood would make quite a bit of noise. There was always a chance someone might need to pass through the area in the middle of the night. What if they heard something? The grave robbers would definitely have posted a lookout to warn the others!
Jiang Xia immediately surveyed her surroundings. She followed the edge of the dense woods with her gaze, searching for suitable lookout positions. She soon spotted several promising locations…
Only to find villagers standing nearby.
Her heart sank all over again.
“I’m sure they had someone keeping watch,” Jiang Xia said weakly. “I’ll go check over there. If there’s nothing, we’ll leave.”
“Fine.”
Trace Examiner Li didn’t object. He simply looked at the villagers standing over there and shook his head helplessly to himself.
This was perfectly normal. Young people were always reluctant to give up, convinced they could uncover more evidence. But most of the time, they were just stubbornly pushing ahead. In his experience, with so many villagers crowding around the scene, there was no way many of the suspect’s footprints could have survived. Continuing to search would truly be a waste of effort.
They’d already narrowed down the search area so precisely. Why keep looking?
Oh, well. He might as well wait a little longer and let her finish looking.
Jiang Xia made her way to the edge of the woods.
There was an art to keeping watch. Ideally, a lookout needed to see in every direction and hear the slightest sound, all without attracting anyone else’s attention.
There weren’t that many spots that offered both a good vantage point and somewhere to hide. Jiang Xia wasn’t sure whether the grave robbers were clever enough to have considered all this, but she decided to start with the most suitable locations.
There were several more footprints on the ground. Some curious villagers watched Jiang Xia, while others even came over to ask what she was looking for. She gave them a couple of perfunctory answers and asked them to move farther away.
She searched the entire area but found nothing.
Jiang Xia hadn’t been particularly hopeful to begin with, so her mood remained calm. She simply continued searching.
The ground was covered in fresh, distinct footprints heading outward. They were clearly left by the villagers, and she repeatedly ruled them out one by one.
Then, suddenly, something yellowish, smaller than a pinky fingernail, caught her eye. It looked like a cigarette butt.
A cigarette butt?!
Jiang Xia’s spirits immediately lifted. She crouched down and examined it carefully.
Sure enough, it was a cigarette butt.
It was only about the size of a fingernail and was half-buried in the dirt. The white paper had already begun to yellow, making it difficult to identify. It looked as though it had been discarded quite some time ago.
Looking more closely, she realized there was more than one. About seventeen or eighteen centimeters to the left lay another four or five cigarette butts, all caked in dirt. They looked as though someone had ground them into the ground with their feet, pressing them deep into the soil.
Who would come here to smoke cigarettes for no reason—and smoke at least six of them?
Whoever it was had clearly spent a long time here!
Jiang Xia continued surveying her surroundings. The cigarette butts were right beside a tree, about forty or fifty centimeters from its trunk. A little farther ahead, the tips of some grass blades had been flattened, as though someone had plucked them off.
Looking at these traces, she could practically imagine just how bored the person had been.
This was most likely the lookout.
Keeping watch really was a grueling job.
After all, a person’s attention span could only last for a few dozen minutes at most. Anything longer was practically a prison sentence. When people had to stay in one place for a long time, they would inevitably find little things to occupy themselves and pass the time. It was just like students fiddling with erasers, rulers, pencils, and whatever else they could get their hands on during class.
After tracing the complete set of footprints backward, Jiang Xia straightened up and called out to Zeng Jun.
“Captain Zeng! I’ve found some footprints!”
Footprints?!
The moment he heard that, Zeng Jun immediately ran over.
“Where? Can you tell their height, age, and weight?”
She’d actually found something?!
Trace Examiner Li stood stunned for two seconds before finally walking over as well.
“I can. The person was probably around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, between 1.78 and 1.80 meters tall, and weighed roughly seventy-five kilograms, give or take one kilogram.”
Jiang Xia quickly reported the person’s estimated height and weight.
“The owner of these footprints sat here smoking six cigarettes and plucked at the grass to pass the time. They clearly had to stay here for a while and couldn’t leave, which fits the behavioral pattern of a lookout perfectly.”
Trace Examiner Li came over and examined the traces in silence.
If he hadn’t come over to look, he could have blamed his initial skepticism on relying too heavily on past experience. But now that he was standing here himself, he had to admit that these traces were incredibly difficult to find. The broken grass stems were practically invisible among the surrounding vegetation, while the cigarette butts were even less conspicuous than soybeans. They were scattered across a large patch of similarly colored dirt. Without sharp eyes and meticulous attention to detail, who could possibly have spotted them?
She was on a completely different level.
Zeng Jun still wasn’t entirely reassured. He turned to ask once more, “What do you think, Trace Examiner Li?”
“No problem.”
Li crouched down, took out his measuring tape, and carefully examined the footprints before confirming, “Those figures are correct.”
There was one more thing he left unsaid.
Jiang Xia’s assessment had been even more precise than his. She hadn’t even needed a measuring tape to help her, and her ability to analyze footprints was clearly superior to his.
He’d underestimated her.
“That settles it!”
With so many clues, Zeng Jun felt increasingly confident that they would crack the case. His expression relaxed, and he said cheerfully, “I’ll go ask the villagers right now if they know anyone who matches the suspect’s description!”
Meanwhile, Jiang Xia called Photographer Zhao over to take pictures of the evidence for the record.
It wasn’t long before Zeng Jun returned.
“I found someone. There’s a person in Bashang Village, not far from here, who matches the description almost perfectly. It’s only about four or five li away.”
Zeng Jun tried hard to keep his expression perfectly natural as he continued, “There’s been quite a commotion during our investigation, and I’m worried the suspect might run away. Since we haven’t eaten yet anyway, we might as well head straight over and arrest him first.”
Hm?
A question mark suddenly popped up in Jiang Xia’s mind.
Why bring up the fact that they hadn’t eaten yet?
She immediately had a bad feeling about this.
Half an hour later, Jiang Xia’s premonition came true.
The farmhouse in front of them was enclosed by nothing more than a fence made of branches. Through the gaps, Jiang Xia could clearly see two pigs being raised inside. Huge piles of pig manure were fermenting right there in the yard, producing an aroma that could waft for miles. Anyone caught in its path would want to flee at least a hundred yards in the opposite direction.
No wonder nobody had suspected him! With a biological weapon like that sitting in his own backyard, how could anyone expect him to smell normal?
Jiang Xia immediately retreated to the very back of the group, putting everyone else between herself and the farmhouse.
She was just a frail, helpless technical specialist who couldn’t fight! There was nothing she could do! The arrest was best left to Captain Zeng and Brother Chen. Those two could definitely handle it!