Chapter Forty: A Body Hidden in the SUV!

Tang Jingjing analyzed the situation for us, noting that there was a faint, peculiar scent lingering in the air around us. It was hard to describe, but it bore a strong resemblance to the smell of blood. In a rural village like this, the scent of blood was hardly normal. In the end, we came up with two possibilities: either someone was slaughtering chickens, or there had been a murder.

Moreover, Tang Jingjing told us she could sense the presence of death—a strange feeling, not within the range of ordinary senses, yet unmistakably clear.

She sniffed around, moving here and there, until her gaze settled on the small creek. The bloody scent seemed to be coming from there.

I was genuinely impressed by Tang Jingjing’s “special ability,” so I followed her suggestion without hesitation, hurrying down to the creek to search.

The creek had long since been partially filled in; there was no water left. The villagers had converted it into vegetable plots. I searched all around but found nothing.

Tang Jingjing said, “Forget it, let me try.” She came down herself, sniffing to the left and right, until finally she found a patch of freshly turned earth—obviously recently dug. “There’s something underneath. Dig it up.”

Li Hong didn’t hesitate and started digging immediately. To our surprise, he unearthed a bloodstained hammer.

It was the first time Li Hong had witnessed Tang Jingjing’s “special ability,” and he was left speechless with astonishment.

I picked up the hammer and noticed that the blood on it was still mingled with fresh soil—clearly less than twenty-four hours old.

“Is this human blood?” I asked Tang Jingjing, puzzled.

She replied that she wasn’t sure; she’d only ever smelled animal blood before. Her mother had never allowed her to smell human blood, but this didn’t seem like animal blood.

The three of us immediately began searching the creek bed. Logically, if the culprit had tossed the murder weapon in here, it was highly likely the victim’s body was here as well.

Even though we weren’t certain if this weapon was related to the case we were investigating, as police officers, we felt obliged to search thoroughly.

But after combing through the area, we found nothing useful—let alone a corpse. I was growing increasingly despondent.

I asked Tang Jingjing, if she could smell blood on a hammer buried in the earth, shouldn’t she be able to detect the scent from the victim’s body as well?

She shook her head. Not at all, she said, unless the victim was completely sealed within a special environment.

I asked, “Could it be that the body’s buried too deep?”

Tang Jingjing said that was unlikely. No matter how thick the soil, at least a drop of blood would seep out, and she would be able to smell it.

A completely sealed environment—what could that be? A refrigerator, perhaps, could be sealed well enough, but who would go so far as to refrigerate a corpse in a fridge?

Suddenly, Li Hong poked me in the back.

I immediately turned to look at him. “What is it?”

Li Hong said, “That car... it just moved.”

The car—of course, the car.

The SUV parked by the bank was sealed tight. People said that even if it fell into the river, water wouldn’t easily get in. Could the body be sealed inside the car?

But if a corpse was inside, how could the car have moved? Unless the person inside wasn’t completely dead.

With that chilling possibility in mind, I quickly called Tang Jingjing and dashed for the SUV with Li Hong. I banged hard on the car door.

There was no response, and the doors wouldn’t open.

I pressed my face to the front windshield and peered inside, but the tinted film made it too dark to see what was on the back seat.

In the end, we had no choice but to let Li Hong try smashing the windshield.

Li Hong pulled a baton from his belt and struck the windshield with force. With a loud crash, the glass shattered. At the same moment, Tang Jingjing clapped her hand over her mouth and nose, crying out, “Such a strong smell of blood!”

Without hesitation, I climbed inside and craned my neck to look at the back seat. At that moment, my limbs seized up in a spasm; I nearly cramped up right there in the car.

In the end, it was Li Hong who pulled me out.

I had seen countless dead bodies before, but never one so brutally killed. I was truly shaken, gasping for breath, and said to Li Hong, “Hurry, call Old Lin and have him come to the scene. And tell that brat Li Xingchen to come too.”

Tang Jingjing’s face was pale. She hadn’t even seen what was inside, but the sheer amount of blood was enough to terrify her.

Trembling, she called Director Wang and asked him to notify Old Lin and Li Xingchen. As for Mouse, he was still in the hospital, so we’d leave him out of this for now.

Li Hong asked me what the situation was inside the car.

I told him to wait, not to look just yet. Once there were more people around, we could steel ourselves and then take another look.

The more I said this, the more curious Li Hong became. In the end, he couldn’t resist sneaking a peek. Instantly, his face changed, and he fell silent. I asked if he was all right; he shook his head, his mouth twitching.

Old Lin and Li Xingchen soon arrived. Li Xingchen saw the look on our faces and asked what was going on.

Tang Jingjing told him there was a recently deceased beautiful woman in the car, and she was naked. Li Xingchen glared at Tang Youyou with disdain. “Trying to fool me again? I’m not as easy to trick as before.”

The noise from smashing the car had attracted the villagers, and more and more of them clustered around us. I noticed their faces showed fear and suspicion, and their eyes were full of hostility.

Seeing the situation, I realized things were about to get ugly. I tugged at Li Hong’s sleeve. He caught on quickly and rested his hand on his baton, sensing that the villagers meant trouble.

I glanced at Li Xingchen, who edged closer and asked what I wanted. I whispered, “Ever heard the saying ‘in wretched mountains and turbulent waters, you find cunning folk’? Tell Director Wang to dispatch the SWAT team as backup—there are too many people here.”

Hearing this, Li Xingchen grew nervous and asked quietly if things were really that bad.

“Cut the nonsense. Don’t you see the whole row behind us is holding hoes?”

“Who are you people?” demanded the village elder, Chen Da’s neighbor, whom I had questioned before.

I quickly explained, “Sir, we’re police officers. We suspect Chen Da is involved in a theft case and are trying to reach him.”

At this point, there was no point in hiding the truth.

During our training, Director Wang had told us that in a crisis, we should reveal our identities right away. If a fight broke out and we only announced ourselves afterward, any injuries would be for nothing.

“You say you’re police? Anyone can claim that,” the elder snorted coldly. “You’d better get out of here. Things have been going missing in our village lately—who knows if you’re thieves pretending to be police?”

“Go on, get out! If you don’t leave, we won’t be polite!”

“Hmph, I’ve had my eye on you all along, sneaking around the village.”

“And now you’ve smashed up a car. What else would you be but thieves?”

“Let’s deal with them. No use wasting words. They look decent, but who knows what filth is in their hearts.”

It seemed these villagers were indeed “guilty consciences at work.” I suspected Chen Da’s death was definitely connected to them. But what exactly the relationship was, I couldn’t figure out. An entire village killing a single man? I’d never heard of such a thing in all my years.

I glanced at Old Lin, silently pleading for help. If things got out of hand, a mass brawl could break out, and Director Wang would have harsh words for us. The mere thought of his tirades gave me a psychological shadow.

But Old Lin just looked at the villagers with serene composure, not the slightest hint of anxiety. In fact, he wore a faint smile, exuding complete calm.

I thought to myself: the older, the wiser!