SFTD -Chapter 73 Who’s Next? (Part 11)

Xu Biao didn’t disturb Zhou Hai. He quickly took photos to preserve the scene as it was.

But when he turned around, at eye level inside the U-shaped iron ladder, there was a black triangular, leather-like fragment hanging there, swaying slightly with the airflow in the passage.

Xu Biao hung the camera behind his back and used tweezers to pick up the black piece, placing it into an evidence bag.

Only after removing it did he notice that the simple iron ladder had a defect at that spot—an exposed sharp metal protrusion forming a pointed edge.

If something scraped against the inner side while climbing upward from below, it would easily catch there. Otherwise, this spot would be very hard to touch.

“Zhou Hai, look at this—found on the side of the ladder!” Xu Biao called out.

Zhou Hai looked up and took the evidence bag.

“A waterproof apron?”

Xu Biao nodded. “Yes. An apron.”

Zhou Hai crouched again and looked up at the height of the shaft entrance. It was at least six meters above here, but the corpse fragments had no mud or sewage splatter on them. Did that mean the body parts hadn’t been thrown down?

“If the body parts weren’t thrown down, but placed here instead… then the victim’s head must have been hung there after climbing up the ladder. That’s why the apron got scraped.”

Xu Biao nodded hard. “But what about the blood outside the shaft entrance? How do we explain that?”

Zhou Hai shook his head. He couldn’t explain it either. Was someone supposed to tie a head up and then open the manhole cover and swing it around?

“The blood at the shaft entrance is high-velocity spatter. That could also happen if the cover was opened after hanging the head.”

“Check below the shaft opening—on the third and fourth metal ladder sections. See if there are any traces of rope being tied.”

“If there are, then our initial investigative direction is wrong.”

Xu Biao quickly climbed up. Soon, he found two hemp fibers above the third and fourth ladder sections, and also saw two drops of blood on the inner wall of the shaft.

“Found it!”

“That bastard really tied himself here and opened the manhole cover. This is insane. What was he trying to do?”

Zhou Hai didn’t answer. He looked at the pile of bones.

Previously, the first two bodies had been exposed to a period of groundwater erosion, making it hard to determine whether the remaining tissue had been cut or decomposed.

But now, with freshly dissected bones in front of him, Zhou Hai was even more surprised by the killer’s knife skills. The bones had not been boiled.

Only a small amount of residual muscle tissue remained, and there were no repeated scraping marks—everything had been removed along the natural curves of the bone.

Like an extremely high-end cured ham, the meat had been stripped off with extreme precision. This could not have been done with a single knife; at least a convex blade and a hooked blade were required. Otherwise, areas like the surgical neck of the humerus could not be cleaned in one pass.

At first glance, the bones looked randomly stacked.

But upon closer inspection, all the bones were neatly arranged upright beside the remains. On a thin ulna bone, there was a folded yellow paper wrapped around it, faintly showing writing.

Zhou Hai picked up the bone, pinched an edge, and slowly unfolded the paper.

It actually contained red patterns—like characters, yet not characters.

Was this a talisman?

He quickly rolled it back up and placed it into an evidence bag. The ulna that had been wrapped in the talisman was already stained with red pigment.

Zhou Hai rubbed a little of it between his fingers and brought it to his nose.

Extremely fine cinnabar, with a slight metallic sheen and a strong smell of blood. It seemed to have been mixed with blood.

So what did this talisman mean?

Xu Biao climbed back down again.

“Are we collecting the remains of victim C now?”

Zhou Hai nodded. They first packed the limb bones into a box. Then the two of them worked together to lift the body fragments and place them into a container, which was hoisted up by people above.

But Zhou Hai had no intention of going up.

Xu Biao looked puzzled.

“What are you planning to do?”

Zhou Hai looked in both directions. To the south was the direction toward the residential area; to the north was the path they had taken earlier when entering the site.

“Let’s head south and take a look. If the killer didn’t come down from here, then there must be another hidden entry point.”

Xu Biao looked at the pitch-black passage ahead and sighed.

“Alright. I’ll go with you.”

He turned and shouted toward the shaft opening:

“We’re heading south to see if we find anything.”

Chu Menghan was worried.

“Wait, I’ll send more people down.”

“No need. You already know the drainage direction. Keep up with us via radio. We’ll report back if we find any suspicious vertical shafts.”

“Also, have Fengzi take a photo of that talisman just sent up and send it to Dr. Nan Wudao to identify what kind it is.”

“Okay.”

At that moment, Xiao Liang, wearing forensic gear and rubber boots, climbed down. He was quite nimble.

Xu Biao rolled his eyes in annoyance, as if Xiao Liang had come to steal attention.

“What are you doing down here?”

“I’m not afraid of the smell. I’m here to lead the way!”

Xu Biao rubbed his head, irritated by the tight mask.

“Why is it that my pharyngitis makes the smell unbearable, but your rhinitis feels nothing—and you’re even proud of it?”

Xiao Liang spread his hands innocently. “I can’t smell anything!”

Zhou Hai looked at them speechlessly and waved.

“Enough arguing. Move.”

Xiao Liang rushed forward but nearly lost his boot on the first step.

After struggling for a moment, he finally regained balance.

Xu Biao laughed loudly. “Don’t cause trouble. I’m not going to help you up unless you’re a beauty.”

Xiao Liang had already become immune to Xu Biao’s sarcasm and didn’t care. He bent down, pulled his rubber boot out of the mud, and moved forward more carefully.

The radio occasionally emitted crackling interference, showing that the team above was still following them. They passed four vertical shafts without finding anything unusual.

By now, all three were completely soaked. Sweat ran down their hair into their eyes, and they kept shaking their heads.

Chu Menghan’s voice came through the radio:

“Have you reached the fifth shaft?”

Xu Biao looked up. “Yes. We see it, but haven’t checked it yet.”

“Don’t open the cover yet. It’s blocked—we’re sending people to clear it.”

Zhou Hai grabbed the radio. “What’s blocking it?”

“Oh, there’s an extremely old street food cart—very large, with wheels, but they’re all flat. It’s blocking the sidewalk. The manhole cover should be underneath it.”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t move it yet. Check if there’s a window. Look inside first—see if it’s empty or if there’s something in it.”

Chu Menghan responded “Okay,” then went silent.

The three of them approached the shaft. The area near the ladder edge was slightly drier than the surroundings, with some dust accumulated, forming a small island.

Xu Biao shone his headlamp and leaned in.

“Footprints. There are footprints here!”

“But they’re rubber boots. Repeated stepping, overlapping in the same spot.”

He quickly took photos with a measuring scale. The ladder here was no different from the others—still sticky and damp.

Zhou Hai climbed up. But when he reached the top, he pushed hard several times and the manhole cover didn’t move at all.

Suddenly, he froze, staring at one spot.

Xu Biao shouted anxiously,

“Zhou Hai, what is it?”