red moscow

Chapter 2693 Unexpected Discovery

Victoria stared at the manhole cover with a six-pointed star in front of her and said thoughtfully: "Even if there is a secret, it is probably a secret from many years ago."

"Why do you say that?" Sokov asked puzzledly.

But Victoria did not directly answer Sokov's question, but asked: "Misha, don't you think that your friends went down from here?"

"Isn't it?" As soon as Sokov said these words, he immediately realized that something was wrong. The fallen leaves covering the manhole cover were more or less covered with mud, which obviously did not fall in the past two days. If Baharov and his men really went down here, these leaves should have been cleaned up. He quickly changed his words and said, "Vika, you are right. Judging from the fallen leaves covering the manhole cover, they obviously did not fall in the past two days, which means they did not enter the sewer from here yesterday."

Seeing that Sokov understood what she meant, Victoria smiled and nodded, pointing at the manhole cover and continued, "Also, there are usually two small holes on the manhole cover, which are used by maintenance workers to hook the manhole cover with a grappling hook and lift it up. But you see, both holes are blocked by silt, so I said that even if there is a secret hidden under the manhole cover, it should be a secret from many years ago."

"Do we need to open the cover and see what's underneath?" Sokov asked tentatively. "It is said that many people have gone missing since this building was abandoned. Maybe there are remains of missing people under this manhole cover."

"Let's go find the lieutenant first and ask him to bring some people over." Victoria said, "I don't think we can open this manhole cover without tools."

Sokov looked at the manhole cover carefully. It might weigh fifty or sixty kilograms and didn't even have a handle. He couldn't pry it open without tools. So he shook his head and followed Victoria to find the lieutenant.

The two men left the building and found the lieutenant where the police car was parked. He was standing next to the car smoking with several of his subordinates.

Seeing Victoria and Sokov coming out, he quickly threw the pipe in his hand to the ground, walked over quickly, and asked with concern: "Major, did you find anything?"

"Lieutenant," Victoria said to the lieutenant, "We found a manhole cover with a six-pointed star in the lobby on the first floor. Can you send a few people to help open the manhole cover? I suspect there are a lot of things hidden underneath."

Hearing what Victoria said, the lieutenant did not hesitate. He turned around and called a few uniformed police officers over and told them, "The major found something in the lobby on the first floor. Let's follow him over and take a look."

Victoria reminded the other party, "You'd better bring tools. I see that the manhole cover hasn't been opened for many years. You can't pry it open with your hands alone."

Fortunately, the lieutenant and his men had brought some necessary tools with them when they went out on duty. Hearing what Victoria said, the lieutenant immediately ordered one of his men, "Go take the crowbar and rope from the trunk, and get a few more high-intensity flashlights. They might be useful later."

After preparing the tools, everyone came to the lobby on the first floor.

Seeing the six-pointed star pattern on the manhole cover, the lieutenant showed a look of astonishment on his face. Victoria saw his expression and asked curiously: "Lieutenant, what's wrong with you? Have you seen this pattern before?"

"Yes, major." The lieutenant nodded, but did not immediately explain to Victoria. Instead, he ordered his men: "Use a crowbar to pry open the manhole cover. Remember, when the cover is opened, there may be a bad smell. Remember to hold your breath."

A burly policeman in uniform responded and started prying the manhole cover with a crowbar.

It didn't take long for the manhole cover to be pried open.

Just as the lieutenant had said, there came from inside a sickening stench.

Although Sokov was standing five or six steps away from the manhole cover, the stench still made him almost vomit. He hurriedly stepped back a few steps and covered his nose with his hand, and the stench was slightly reduced.

"Lieutenant!" The uniformed policeman who had pried open the manhole cover coughed violently for a while, and said breathlessly: "It stinks in here. Is there a body hidden there?"

"That's possible." Victoria said solemnly, "Lieutenant, if I were you, I would immediately contact the forensic and technical departments and ask them to come over immediately. Maybe you will find a lot of things in the well."

The lieutenant nodded, took out his cell phone and walked aside to make a call.

"Vika," Sokov whispered to Victoria, "Did you notice the look of shock on the lieutenant's face when he saw the six-pointed star symbol on the manhole cover?"

"I see." Victoria nodded, and then asked, "Why, have you thought of anything?"

"Maybe he has seen a similar sign somewhere before, and in a major case." After Sokov said this, he saw Victoria's eyebrows raised, as if she was surprised by what he said, and quickly added: "This is just my judgment, for reference only. You need to ask the lieutenant himself if it is true or not."

The lieutenant came over after the call and said to Victoria, "I've called the bureau, and they'll send someone as soon as possible."

"Lieutenant, I have a question for you." Victoria looked at the lieutenant and asked, "I wonder if you are willing to answer the question in my mind."

"Major, if you have any questions, just ask," the lieutenant said. "I will tell you as soon as I know."

Victoria pointed to the manhole cover that had been moved aside and asked tentatively, "Lieutenant, have you seen the six-pointed star symbol on the manhole cover before?"

The lieutenant stared at the hexagram symbol, nodded slowly, and replied expressionlessly: "I have seen it!"

"Can you tell me where you saw it?"

"In the underground garage." After the lieutenant said this, perhaps worried that Victoria didn't know which underground garage he was talking about, he added: "It's the underground garage in this building."

"The underground garage here?" Victoria asked in surprise, "Isn't it flooded? When have you ever seen it?"

"About seven or eight years ago," the lieutenant continued, "at that time, an evil organization occupied the underground garage of the hospital building. They often held various bloody rituals in the underground garage with up to three floors. We received orders from our superiors to arrest these people and eliminate their base.

But in the process of taking action, we were arrested and exchanged fire with members of these organizations. During the exchange of fire, the grenades thrown by the police caused the floor of some sections of the garage to collapse when they exploded, and the fallen floor happened to block the escape route of the organization members. " "What happened later?" Victoria said somewhat embarrassedly: "Lieutenant, seven or eight years ago, I was still studying at the police academy in St. Petersburg and knew nothing about this matter. Can you tell me what happened to the members of the evil organization after they were trapped in the underground garage. Did they surrender or escape from other exits?"

The lieutenant shook his head and continued, "No, they didn't make it out. When the police were still clearing the rubble, they suddenly discovered that water began to accumulate on the ground, and the depth of the water was rising rapidly. In order to avoid any accidents, the commander in charge of the operation issued an order for everyone to evacuate the underground garage. Not long after we evacuated, we found that the water had flooded to the basement level, and the second and third floors where the organization members were hiding were completely submerged by water."

"Where is the water coming from?" Victoria continued, "You know, the construction of the building was stopped before it was completed, so the water supply must not have been turned on."

"It's groundwater." The lieutenant said with a serious expression, "It should be the groundwater under the building that gushed out and flooded the underground parking lot. Those surviving members of the organization didn't even have time to escape in the end."

"It's been so many years since the incident happened. Have you never thought about draining the water from the underground parking lot and then going down to check it out?"

"No." The lieutenant shook his head and said, "After all, it is an abandoned building, and everyone thought that less trouble is worse than more, so no one ever mentioned this matter. Over time, it was gradually forgotten by everyone." After a pause, he continued, "More importantly, it is said that the souls of the drowned organization members are wandering in the hospital, coming out to do evil every night, making this place a place that brings fear to people."

When Sokov heard what the lieutenant said, he muttered to himself, "It is said that there are five legendary stories in Hovlin's hospital. This ghost story should be one of them."

After the lieutenant chatted with Victoria for a while, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, said something to Victoria, and walked aside to answer the phone.

But Sokov pulled Victoria aside and asked in a low voice: "Vika, when can we leave here?"

"Why, you don't want to look for the whereabouts of your friends?"

Sokov smiled awkwardly and said a little embarrassedly: "I suddenly feel that this place is a bit gloomy. Are there really ghosts?"

"Misha, it's hard to say." Victoria looked at the manhole cover not far away again, and said solemnly: "According to Russian legend, the manhole cover is a passage connecting two worlds. Although it is just a legend, whether it will become true or not is something that no one can tell."

"So we're going to stay here forever?"

"Misha, today's matter is a bit complicated. Now that you are involved, it may not be easy to get out." Victoria sighed and continued, "Just wait and see how capable the people sent by the police are. If they are all elite soldiers, they may be able to finish the work before dark; if they are ordinary people, I am afraid we will have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Ah, you have to wait so long?" Sokov asked in surprise, "If you don't go back, what will happen to Lida? She is so old, she can't cook for herself. What if she gets hungry?"

Victoria poked Sokov's chest twice with her finger and said unhappily, "If you really starve my great-grandmother, I will settle the score with you. I could have left work on time today, but you asked me to accompany you to the Hovlin Hospital. Now we can't go back for a while."

Sokov scratched the back of his head and laughed dryly, "I was afraid that the police would cause trouble for me after I came here, so I called you for help, but I didn't expect that you couldn't leave."

A police officer in military uniform covered his face with his sleeves, cautiously came to the manhole entrance, and raised a high-intensity flashlight to shine inside.

The lieutenant who had just finished a phone call happened to see this scene and asked the other party, "How is it, did you see anything?"

The uniformed police officer took two steps back, took a few deep breaths, and then shook his head and said to the lieutenant: "Lieutenant, the well is full of mud, and I can't see anything clearly."

"Lieutenant," Victoria saw the lieutenant staring at the manhole in a daze, walked up to him and said, "Do you smell the stench of a corpse in the stench coming from the well?"

"The stench of a corpse?" The lieutenant turned to look at Victoria and asked in surprise, "Major, how did you smell it?"

"Although your men only saw mud in the well, I can guarantee that there must be human remains in the mud."

After waiting for about half an hour, sirens were heard outside and it seemed that a large number of police cars were rushing over.

When the lieutenant heard the voice, a look of surprise appeared on his face: "The people sent by the bureau have arrived."

Victoria and Sokov followed the lieutenant to the outside of the building and saw many more police vehicles. A police officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel was giving orders to a large group of uniformed police officers.

The lieutenant turned to Victoria and said, "Major, that's the deputy director of our bureau, specializing in criminal investigation."

When Victoria followed the lieutenant to meet the deputy director, Sokov stood still tactfully. As a civilian, he should not get involved in other people's police affairs.

Soon, the deputy director led Victoria and the lieutenant into the building. When he passed by Sokov, he stopped and asked the lieutenant beside him in dissatisfaction: "Where did this civilian come from?"

The lieutenant quickly explained to him: "Deputy Chief, we received news today that a group of young people who came here to explore have disappeared. During the search, we found a mobile phone, and the last two calls on this phone were made to him, so I notified him to come over to assist in the investigation."

"Deputy Director," Victoria also said, "He is my friend. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly here, so he asked me to come with him."

"So that's how it is." The deputy director waved his hand and said, "Then let's go over and see if the remains in the manhole are your friends."

The stench in the manhole could not be dissipated in a short time. In order to find out what was down there as soon as possible, the deputy director sent a police officer wearing protective clothing down the manhole. In order to ensure that the other party would not suffocate down there, there was a tube of more than 20 meters on the gas mask, and the other end of the tube was connected to an air pressure pump to continuously supply oxygen to the police officer in the manhole.

The officer who went down the well stayed in there for more than ten minutes before climbing out with difficulty. After removing his gas mask, he reported to the deputy chief: "Deputy chief, I felt the shape of human skeletons in the mud below. After careful exploration, I found at least four or five bodies."

After hearing this, the deputy chief's eyes widened in shock, and then he ordered the police officer: "Go down again and get all the bones out."

(End of this chapter)