HLM -Chapter 836 A Skeleton

The beehive hadn’t been destroyed — at last, some good news for Wang Bo. Compared with the Birth Flowers, this was what he worried about the most.

The Birth Flowers hadn’t gone extinct; their petals were merely damaged. With the spirit spring nourishing them this season, they would bloom again after some time to recover. But if the hive had been blown away by the cyclone, if the swarm had been wiped out, then he would never get to taste that delicious honey again.

Tatak brought good news. During the storm, he had taken shelter inside the tent that housed the hive. The tent hadn’t been fully occupied by the bees; a small space remained. When the rain poured in, his presence saved part of the swarm. Bees have a strict hierarchy — worker bees live in the lower layers of the hive. When floodwater surged in, they couldn’t fly up to escape. At that moment, Tatak’s body became their refuge. The bees crawled all over him, and he crouched on high ground, avoiding the rising water.

As he spoke about this, Tatak grinned. “It was good — I didn’t feel cold.”

Wang Bo patted his shoulder. “I’ll add a chicken leg to your meal every day — but honestly, why are you still so skinny even though you eat so much?”

Tatak still looked like an African indigenous tribesman: dark-skinned, thin, and wiry. But compared to when he first arrived, there was one change — his skin now had a healthy sheen.

As they chatted, his phone rang.

Wang Bo answered, and Conely’s voice came through: “Chief, where are you? Come to the Cosmos Road section — about a hundred meters south. We’ve found a skeleton.”

The news nearly made Wang Bo lose it. How many bad surprises was this cyclone going to throw at him? And now a skeleton?

But he quickly realized that the skeleton shouldn’t be related to the storm — the dead from the past two days couldn’t possibly have decayed into bare bones. Still, no matter how you looked at it, the appearance of a skeleton definitely had something to do with the cyclone.

Strictly speaking, Sunset Town had never had a serious criminal case, let alone the discovery of a corpse. At most, there had been some false alarms involving supposed murderers. Finding skeletal remains was a major incident.

According to the Birth Flower bloom calendar, cosmos flowers bloom in mid-April. Police cars were already parked there, and people — officers and townsfolk — had gathered on the south side of the road.

“What’s going on?”

Hearing his voice, Conely came over and handed him a pair of white gloves. “Mr. Marshall was driving by and saw several kauri trees toppled by the wind. He got out to take a look and found a skeleton inside one of the uprooted pits.”

It was a grim sight — some large trees lay scattered on the ground. From the roots of one tree hung a set of yellowish-brown bones, with half a skull exposed, its expression twisted and eerie.

Sunset Town had no forensic department, so this case had to be reported to the Oak City Police Bureau.

Sheriff Smith was extremely busy, leading a huge team of officers patrolling the city. Oak City wasn’t Sunset Town — it was a real city, full of people of all kinds. During the storm, some had ventured out to steal or rob, and after the disaster, traffic collapsed. Everything depended on the police.

But compared with finding a corpse, all of that became secondary.

Sheriff Smith personally came with a forensic team. Wang Bo shook hands with them while the forensic doctor and assistant began cleaning the bones, and he and Smith chatted aside.

Wang Bo had prepared coffee — premium coffee from the Great Qin Café. When in Rome, do as the Romans do; every time he visited the Oak City police station, he was served coffee.

“Damn it, when will tropical cyclones disappear from this planet?” the sheriff grumbled the moment they met.

Wang Bo nodded. The disaster had caused huge damage to Sunset Town as well.

Smith was full of complaints — ones he couldn’t vent at his subordinates. Away from his turf, he let loose:

“The moment the winds picked up, a group of Māori youths looted a convenience store! The security footage shows them disappearing right after they ran out. We still haven’t found them. Don’t know if the wind blew them away!”

Of course not. Wang Bo figured they’d just fled.

He felt grateful for Sunset Town’s simple folk. All new residents had been screened before moving in, and the good security meant no crimes had occurred, even during the disaster.

Stormy weather was a golden opportunity for crime — the police couldn’t respond, and evidence was washed away. Unless the criminals reoffended elsewhere and got caught, New Zealand police would never crack such a case.

Sheriff Smith continued ranting: “With weather this bad, isn’t it normal for traffic lights to break? But if the lights are broken, can’t drivers just slow down? I know everyone’s busy — but you can’t be so busy that you crash your cars!”

Wang Bo looked at him sympathetically. Being a police chief in the city was exhausting.

While complaining, the sheriff took a sip of the coffee and finally smiled. “Wow. Every time I drink coffee here, it tastes different. What’s your secret?”

Wang Bo shrugged. “It’s the water. I suggest you take a bucket with you when you leave — perfect for brewing coffee.”

While they chatted, the forensic team finished cleaning and conducting a preliminary check.

As the local police lead, Wang Bo had to hear the report.

The Oak City forensic doctor, Ramon — well-known to them — gave a casual summary: “This has nothing to do with us. It won’t be a criminal case. Based on microelement loss in the bones, they’re about 500 to 600 years old.”

“The deceased was male, very young — around 20. Height was about 1.8 meters. Five or six hundred years ago, that would’ve been very tall.”

“What does that suggest?” Wang Bo asked.

Before Ramon could reply, Sheriff Smith answered: “It means he was Māori. And a person of some status within the tribe — he must have had access to plenty of food and good nutrition to grow that tall.”

Wang Bo glanced at Atulu not far away, yelling loudly as always, and nodded with understanding.

Current research suggested that New Zealand’s earliest indigenous population arrived around the 10th century, from the Cook Islands and Tahiti — Polynesians traveling by canoe.  Europeans first contacted New Zealand in 1642, when Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman arrived. But they never landed — they were driven away by Māori warriors.

A skeleton from 500–600 years ago could only have belonged to a Māori.

More information would require lab analysis. After giving the brief report, Ramon packed up the bones and prepared to leave.

Just then, Atulu ran over, panting. “Chief, come quick — look at this!”

Sheriff Smith, being a good-natured man, joked: “Buddy, you really need to lose weight. A police officer shouldn’t be gasping after fifty meters… Oh, damn! Is this a relic?!”