I am a super cop

The cave is of various shapes, like a mine, with some large and some small, some high and some low. This gives Gu Chen a headache.

At the very least, it is very difficult to move forward in such a cave. If the murderer is hiding inside, it will obviously not be conducive to the police's arrest.

But the current situation is that this is the only place where traces of the murderer have been found. If we don’t go in to search, we may never know where the murderer escaped from.

So the hole is here, and there is no choice but to go in or not.

"Junior Brother Gu, be careful." Lu Weiwei stood behind Gu Chen and provided shield for Gu Chen with the light.

There are also various sharp rocks above the cave here, which can easily cause head injuries if you are not careful.

Gu Chen also nodded silently and responded: "I know, Senior Sister Lu, you just need to follow me closely."

"I understand." Lu Weiwei nodded silently, began to bend down, and followed behind Gu Chen.

After passing through a narrow space, everyone came to an open area.

This place can accommodate dozens of people, but it is empty, giving people a very weird feeling.

The police officers began shining their flashlights everywhere, and they were all frightened by this kind of place.

Especially the various strange-shaped rocks, which have always been in the dark space before being illuminated by light.

But when illuminated by light, its shape becomes strange and even a little scary.

So the police officers began to move toward the center and formed a defensive formation.

"Director Gu...Chief Gu, this place is a bit weird." When a young police officer saw this, he felt a little uneasy and couldn't help but complain.

"Don't be nervous, it's just a little dark, it's nothing." Gu Chen knew that the police officer was panicking, but he still wanted to comfort him.

At this time, Officer Wang also approached Gu Chen and reminded him with a flashlight: "Gu Chen, there are two roads here, which one do you take?"

"Go left. Our people are guarding the cave exit. Let's search from the left first and then go to the right." Gu Chen said.

"I'll do as you say." There is actually no better way at the moment, we can only use the process of elimination, and Officer Wang is very clear about this.

So everyone started to take action immediately.

Since there is almost no light source in the cave, we can only use flashlights to make everyone feel better.

In such a closed space, it was hard for Gu Chen to imagine what these two people were doing in here?
Gu Chen took the lead and after searching the cave, he found an exit in front of him, so he quickly led everyone out.

But when Gu Chen crawled out of the branch cave, he was surprised to find that he was back to the starting point.

Just now I entered from the left, but later I came out from the right.

This made Gu Chen feel very strange.

"It seems that we have gone around in a circle and have reached the end. The two people are not inside." Gu Chen was still a little disappointed. After all, the cave was only this big.

Moreover, Gu Chen had asked everyone to use flashlights to check many gaps around, but no trace of any suspects was found.

Obviously, this was a failed search.

The moment everyone came out of the cave, they felt a little better.

Only then did everyone realize that breathing fresh air is a luxury.

"Hey, Director Gu, where are these two guys going? There are clearly footprints at the entrance of the cave."

A police officer complained.

Gu Chen said: "It may be a trick to prevent tracking."

"Anti-tracking, no way?" another police officer also exclaimed.

Lu Weiwei rolled her eyes at him and said unhappily, "Don't you know that people can create footprints by walking backwards?"

"Walk backwards?" When everyone heard this, many young police officers began to take it seriously.

But when everyone observed the footprints at the entrance of the cave, they did find that the footprints were somewhat unusual.

"When a normal person walks, the depth of their footprints definitely won't be like this. Senior Sister Lu is right." A young police officer couldn't help but give a thumbs up and began to flatter Lu Weiwei.

Lu Weiwei waved her hand and said disdainfully, "Don't give me that."

Seeing Gu Chen standing there in a daze, Lu Weiwei quickly walked over and asked, "Junior Brother Gu, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm looking at this." While Gu Chen was speaking, he had already put on white gloves and took out a badge from the crack of a rock.

"Huh? What is this?" Lu Weiwei's eyes lit up when she saw it, and she quickly came over to find out what it was.

"It's a badge, the badge of Jiaxiang Coal Mine." said Gu Chen.

"But, I remember that Jiaxiang Coal Mine had gone bankrupt a long time ago, and all the mines were closed." Officer Wang also shared what he knew.

Gu Chen nodded silently: "I know this, the mine is indeed closed. A friend of my father used to work in Jiaxiang Coal Mine."

"The current business of Jiaxiang Group has been transferred to other provinces, and there are already very few people in the Jiaxiang mining area. Just like the previous mining park, it is said that it will be developed into a tourist attraction."

"Yeah, I've heard about that." Upon hearing this, Yuan Shasha quickly replied, "I heard that the Cultural Tourism Department of Yuan Group is planning to develop a mining park there."

"Because there is a ready-made railway in the Jiaxiang mining area, it is a narrow railway that runs through the entire mining area."

"The idea of ​​the Cultural Tourism Department of Yuan Group is to transform this mine car into a tourist train, and then build some tourist attractions at each stop."

"Finally, the train will drive to the mine, allowing tourists to experience what it's like to go down into the mine and dig coal."

"There is such a thing? It's so cool, right?" Lu Weiwei became interested when she heard it.

Officer Wang also crossed his arms and said without hesitation: "Indeed, if this project can be carried out, it is indeed quite interesting. No wonder the Yuan Group can make money."

"To be honest, there are indeed many outstanding planning talents in the Yuan Group."

After a pause, Officer Wang continued, "But what's the matter with this badge? Why is it stuck in the crack of this rock?"

"Someone put it in there on purpose." said Gu Chen.

"Could it be Zhang He?" Lu Weiwei said.

"It's probably him. He seems to have been providing us with clues." Gu Chen also vaguely felt that Zhang He had been helping him find clues.

It can be seen that Zhang He and the murderer suspected to be Zhang Li are not on the same page at all.

"Anyway, since it's a clue, we have to go investigate it. Jiaxiang Coal Mine, let's go now."

"What should we do here?" Officer Wang asked Gu Chen.

Gu Chen continued, "Leave the drone team behind to continue searching this area, and as for the rest of the people, transfer some to follow me to Jiaxiang Coal Mine." "Okay, let's do it." Seeing that Gu Chen had already made arrangements, Officer Wang immediately began to arrange manpower.

Everyone quickly set off for Jiaxiang Coal Mine.

In the car, Lu Weiwei searched online for some information about Jiaxiang Coal Mine and gave everyone a brief report:
"This Jiaxiang coal mine used to be very profitable. The originally desolate place suddenly became lively."

"There are many residents in the mountains who are family members of the mining community."

“Everyone built houses along the railway, and soon a mining community was formed.”

"The largest community in the Jiaxiang mining area is the Jiaxiang community. The community is not large, but the buildings are densely packed and it has its own hospital and school."

"In addition, buses were used between the mining areas. However, as the coal mining was exhausted, the population in the mining areas gradually decreased. Eventually, the mining areas were closed due to environmental and economic issues."

“It has been in a state of desolation ever since.”

Turning to look at Gu Chen, Lu Weiwei also reminded him, "Junior Brother Gu, this place has been abandoned for nearly ten years."

"Well, so are there still people living there now?" Gu Chen asked.

"Well, yes, but very few," said Lu Weiwei.

"Yeah." Gu Chen simply hummed and continued driving.

When everyone came to Jiaxiang Community, they found that there were many densely packed buildings, but they all looked old.

There are still some elderly people in the community exercising in the square, but there are no young people here at all.

In addition, many ecological environments here have been destroyed, so it looks very desolate.

Seeing many vehicles parked in the square, many elderly people quickly gathered around to watch the fun.

"Old man." Gu Chen walked up to one of the old men, took out the badge in his hand, and asked in front of the old man:

"Do you recognize this badge?"

"Jiaxiang Coal Mine? Yes, I know it. Only people who work in the mine are issued this badge. However, this badge is not usually worn. It is usually worn symbolically when the mining company holds an event."

"Well, I have several of these at home." Another old man complained.

"It seems like everyone has it." After hearing that old man start to brag, another old man who was playing chess said.

Gu Chen nodded silently and asked without hesitation: "How many people still live in the mining area now?"

“I haven’t counted them.” An old man shook his head and complained, “Basically, they have all moved away. Most of those who can’t move away are lonely elderly people like us.”

"Even if I move away, I'll still be alone, so I have to stay here so that everyone can have company."

"Besides, many residents of the mining area here have worked in the mines before, so they are all colleagues."

"Everyone can chat with each other here, and it's actually quite comfortable to live here with a pension."

"That's right. At least we have a pension. It doesn't matter where we live. We just feel more accustomed to living here." said a fat old man.

Yuan Shasha nodded slightly, and then asked everyone: "Do you know that two strangers from other places have been here recently?"

After a pause, Yuan Shasha immediately continued to add: "Oh, by the way, they are from Beijing and speak with a Beijing accent."

"A stranger from the capital?"

When several old men heard this, they also felt a little confused.

One of the uncles quickly said, "We don't have many outsiders coming here, but some time ago, people from the Yuan Group came to inspect."

"They say they plan to develop this place into a mining theme park. Of course, I heard they are still evaluating the project because the investment and construction is a big deal and they need to conduct research from multiple sources."

At this point, the old man sighed and said:

"But there has been no movement so far."

"If this place where I live is developed into a theme park, it will definitely be very lively and many tourists from other places will come here."

"In this way, we can open restaurants and shops, sell things to these tourists, and make money sitting at our doorstep. It feels great."

"But now they are just investigating, and they keep saying they need to prove it. I don't know when they will finish proving it."

"If the demonstration is completed, various investments and constructions will also require on-site inspections by the development department, so our Jiaxiang community will be a little more lively in the next few months."

After he finished speaking, the old man pointed to a car on the side of the road and said, "Look, there is a car parked in the square of our mining area, and it is driven by a community worker."

"Our place will only get busy when there are more and more vehicles in this parking lot."

"So, has anyone come here to investigate recently?" asked Officer Wang.

"Yes, it was the people from Yuan's Group. They said they wanted to conduct an inspection. Then our community secretary drove the inspection team from Yuan's Group to the mining area station."

"In order to leave a good impression on the inspection team, we pulled out the old-fashioned steam trucks. The inspectors rode the steam trucks all the way and finally arrived at the entrance of Jiaxiang Coal Mine."

"They feel that it is a pity for the coal mines in this area to be abandoned here."

"So we want to develop it a little bit according to local conditions."

"Can we go to the mine?" Lu Weiwei asked after hearing this.

The old man nodded silently: "Sure, but that place still retains the appearance it had before the mine."

"It's quite scary inside. If you have a phobia of darkness, I suggest you don't go down there."

"We just want to know if the owner of this badge is where you said."

Gu Chen also said jokingly.

Then I had a brief discussion with a few uncles about the traffic issue.

Only then did I realize that to get to the mine, I needed to go to the old station and take a train.

But this old-fashioned train has long been eliminated. Even the Yuan Group’s inspection team has to take the wobbly train to the mining area.

But now, due to the small population and the fact that the mining area has long been closed, the current situation is that no one runs trains at the old train station.

"What should we do?" Officer Wang felt mixed emotions as he looked at the crisscrossing old-fashioned railroad tracks in front of him.

Gu Chen said calmly: "Those old people said that we can get to the station by train, and there are still a few platforms, so we can try to walk along the tracks."

"Walk along the railway tracks? Gu Chen, are you crazy? Even taking the train takes about an hour, and you want to walk there?" Officer Wang was a little incredulous.

...(End of chapter)