SFTD -Chapter 64 Who’s Next? (Part 2)

Zhou Hai’s words made Chu Menghan sigh. It looked like they would be climbing into the sewers today.

Zhou Hai handed the molar to Fengzi.

“The root of the molar is intact. Judging by the wear pattern, the cusp is flattened with slight depressions and punctate dentin exposure. This is considered fourth-degree wear. I estimate the victim was between twenty-five and thirty-five years old.”

Fengzi nodded and crouched down, carefully measuring the length and diameter of each bone before applying several formulas. Not long after, he arrived at a result.

“The victim’s estimated height was between 155 and 160 centimeters!”

“A woman?”

Zhou Hai nodded and glanced at the somewhat shocked Chu Menghan.

“Yes. Alright, we need to go down there and inspect the site ourselves. Ask that worker to guide us.”

Chu Menghan nodded, turned to make arrangements, then walked back and snatched the full-body investigation suit from Xiao Liang’s hands.

“I’m going down with you.”

Zhou Hai did not stop her. After all, personally observing the crime scene would help with the investigation.

“Xu Biao, your pharyngitis is bad enough already, so stay up here with Fengzi and wait for updates. Also, contact the municipal department and get the sewer maps for this area. I need to know where this water is coming from. Xiao Liang can tolerate bad smells, so he’s coming down with Chu and me.”

Xiao Liang’s mouth twitched. Being resistant to foul odors counted as an advantage now?

Seeing Zhou Hai already dressed in the full-body investigation suit, boots, and latex gloves, Xiao Liang quickly grabbed another set from Fengzi and put it on.

Once the three finished preparing, they put on gas masks, switched on their headlamps, and began descending into the manhole.

The ladder inside the vertical shaft was damp and sticky. After squeezing through the narrowest section of the entrance, the underground tunnel unexpectedly opened up into a much wider space. Once they landed at the bottom, the investigation kit and the basket used for retrieving bones were lowered down as well.

Following the worker, the three headed toward a fork in the passageway.

This was Zhou Hai’s first time beneath Dongnan City. He never expected the underground sewer system to resemble an overpass, with multiple separate channels.

The central waterway was extremely wide, while on either side there were elevated one-meter-wide maintenance paths for workers to walk along.

Under the beams of their headlamps, the tunnel was not completely dark, but the stench of decay remained overpowering.

Ahead lay a three-way intersection. At that junction, a large mass of clogged debris had accumulated in the drainage ditch.

The worker pointed toward it, his muffled voice echoing through the mask.

“The bones were found right here! On the side that’s already been cleaned out.”

Zhou Hai nodded and examined the direction of the water flow.

“Based on your experience, which direction do you think this debris was washed in from?”

The worker crouched down to observe the current before pointing at the two tunnels directly ahead and to the right.

“Either of these branch channels could’ve carried debris here.”

“And do you know where these two branches lead?”

“The one straight ahead comes from the pedestrian street. We only need to clear sludge there once every spring. Too many restaurants dump grease into the drains, so the sludge builds up faster. The tunnel on the right comes from the three residential compounds across the road. When the systems were connected, that section was built slightly higher than the main line. So sometimes the sewage backs up into the pedestrian street side. Those two areas are always arguing over it, and we’ve gotten plenty of complaints because of it.”

“Then based on your experience, how long do you think those bones had been there after being washed in?”

“You mean that pile?”

“Yes.”

“The bones along the edges probably got here less than a week ago. Look around—there’s barely any sludge on them. They just got stuck because the bones are relatively long.”

Zhou Hai nodded.

Xiao Liang had already begun searching through the excavated area, and before long he found several ribs.

Zhou Hai gave him a thumbs-up, then glanced at Chu Menghan.

“Looks like we’ll need to sift through all the sludge in both tunnels. Arrange for more people to come down and help. Fengzi still has more than a dozen full-body investigation suits in the car.”

Chu Menghan did not try to act tough. She knew the workload would be enormous, so she immediately took out her phone to make arrangements.

All the sludge from both branch tunnels had to be sifted manually. More than a dozen workers and police officers joined Zhou Hai’s group in the initial search.

The branch passages were extremely narrow. The elevated side paths disappeared completely, forcing everyone to wade directly through the water.

Calling it “water” was generous—the smell was barely any better than a bloated corpse. Many of the officers behind them were already gagging.

Zhou Hai walked at the front. Perhaps because this tunnel led toward the residential compounds, the sludge contained less grease, making it slightly more tolerable. Hearing the constant sounds of vomiting echoing from the pedestrian street tunnel in the distance somehow made the people here feel a little better.

The sludge was astonishingly thick. Twice, it felt as though his boots were about to be sucked off. Every step required effort.

After advancing roughly one hundred and fifty meters, Zhou Hai suddenly stumbled. His entire body lurched toward the wall, but fortunately Xiao Liang reacted quickly and grabbed him.

Chu Menghan cried out from behind.

“Brother Hai, watch your footing!”

Only then did Zhou Hai lower his head. The beam of his headlamp instantly illuminated the area beneath him.

His movement had stirred up several floating intestines, but beneath them he could clearly see part of a corpse.

Zhou Hai carefully lifted his foot off the chunk of flesh and steadied himself against the wall.

Xiao Liang stepped forward to help. Together, the two men pulled the corpse fragment out of the sludge with great effort.

Using the relatively cleaner water near the surface, they rinsed away the mud.

Zhou Hai’s eyes lit up as the full shape of the remains emerged.

It was part of a female corpse, consisting only of the pelvic section—from four finger-widths above the navel down through the entire perineal region. The femoral heads had not been hacked apart violently; every separation point had occurred at the joints.

The organs that had fallen out had slipped from the cut section at the top of the torso. The intestines had swollen to nearly twice their normal size and turned pale green.

Xiao Liang held up the largest evidence bag available, but it was obviously still too small.

“Bring over that basket. Line the bottom with the evidence bag and give us a hand.”

A male officer behind Chu Menghan steadied himself against the wall and waded over.

“I’ll help!”

Zhou Hai glanced at him.

“If you feel like vomiting, don’t do it on the corpse.”

The man nodded.

Working together, the three carefully loaded the body fragment and the exposed internal organs into the basket.

Chu Menghan looked hopefully at Zhou Hai. He knew she was anxious, but this was not a problem that impatience could solve.

“The victim is female. Estimated time of death is between seventy-two and one hundred twenty hours ago. The temperature in the sewer is lower than outside, and the remains have been submerged in water the entire time, which slows decomposition. The body fragment is large, so it couldn’t have drifted very far. We’ll continue searching carefully ahead, especially near any manhole covers. The bad news is that the skeletal remains we found earlier did not come from the same victim.”

“Two victims?”

Zhou Hai nodded and nudged his glasses upward with his right arm.

“The earlier remains have been there for over a month. This one is only three to five days old. Alright, send this up first. Then we continue searching.”

After speaking, Zhou Hai continued forward. But after only seven or eight steps, he suddenly stopped and slightly raised his head.

The people behind him instinctively halted as well, stretching their necks to look at the ground beneath his feet.

They found nothing.

Chu Menghan quickly walked up beside him and patted his shoulder.

“Why’d you stop?”

Zhou Hai slowly raised a hand and pointed toward the manhole cover overhead.

“Look… what’s that?”