You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 128 The Bloody Photographer!

Located in the southern suburbs of the city, near a ditch and citrus grove, in a sunny location.

It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was blazing, shining brightly on the citrus grove.

The cat took a blue stone and smashed the lock a dozen times, but it couldn't break it no matter what it did.

Jiang Bala and Fu Yun circled the bungalow and found a window at the back, but the window frame was welded shut with steel bars and could not be easily damaged.

Yang Jinwen stood at the front door, wondering whether he should fire a bullet. Although it was dangerous and shrapnel could ricochet and injure someone, there was no other way at the moment.

According to Yong Hong, the director of the news department, Hu Aihua's home was in Yanbiangou, a suburb in the south of the city. He guessed that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this would definitely be the final resting place for those missing women.

If they are still alive, this is where they are imprisoned; if they are dead, the citrus grove is the best place to bury them.

Just as Yang Jinwen drew his gun, looked for an angle, and prepared to fire, a countryman wearing a straw hat strolled out from beside the bungalow, holding a wood-chopping knife in his hand.

"Who are you looking for?"

Yang Jinwen quickly put the pistol behind his back. Maozi blinked and said, "Grandpa, we're looking for Hu Shusheng. Does he live here?"

"Yes, why are you banging on people's doors? Where are you from?"

Yang Jinwen didn't want to waste any more words. He stepped forward and, from a distance of a few meters, showed him his identification: "We're police officers. We need to talk to Hu Aihua about something. You're his neighbor, right? Do you have a key to this place?"

Upon hearing the word "police" and seeing the identification, the old farmer's face relaxed a little.

“I don’t have a key to his house, but I’m the one who takes care of his citrus grove.”

"May I borrow your knife?" Yang Jinwen held out his hand.

The old farmer pursed his lips and very honestly handed him the knife.

After taking it, Yang Jinwen stepped onto the bluestone steps, walked to the door, and slammed it down on the padlock.

"Oh!"

The padlock wobbled a few times, and then the lock cylinder popped open.

Yang Jinwen handed the machete to Maozi: "You stay here and keep watch, we're going in."

Jiang Bala and Fu Yun glanced at the old farmer standing in the threshing ground and followed Yang Jinwen into the house.

The room was dimly lit and filled with a musty smell, clearly indicating that it had been uninhabited for a long time.

A portrait hangs in the center of the main room, flanked by four rooms containing old furniture such as beds and wardrobes. The cement ceiling is covered with cobwebs.

In addition, Yang Jinwen found traces of life in the room inside.

This room has been lived in before, and the bedding is complete. The winter quilt is folded neatly and placed against the wall, which is covered with newspapers.

There was a pull-out cabinet at the head of the bed, on which were a flashlight, a hammer, and two round mirrors with red borders, each about the size of a palm.

Jiang pulled open the bottom three drawers and found a box of opened condoms, two boxes of film negatives, and a mooncake box.

Upon opening the mooncake box, I found some needles and thread inside, but nothing else.

These findings prove nothing. Yang Jinwen walked out of the house and saw that several villagers, young and old, as well as a middle-aged woman holding a child, had gathered in the open space outside. They looked at Yang Jinwen and his group with wary eyes and curious gazes.

Yang Jinwen ignored them, but Maozi seemed a little guilty.

"Keep an eye on them and don't let them into the house."

"Yes," the cat replied.

Yang Jinwen took the machete from his hand and went to the side door.

This is a separate room with a single door. It is in the shade, so the sunlight doesn't reach it, but the brass lock on the door has been newly replaced.

Yang Jinwen had already checked before and found that there was no door in the main house leading to this place.

He raised his machete and slashed at the copper lock, breaking it open in just a few blows.

Jiang Bala and Fu Yun stood behind Yang Jinwen, watching him push the door open.

The room was completely dark and had a slightly chilly feel, along with a musty smell.

This smells like moldy citrus; the musty and bitter smells are mixed together, making it very unpleasant.

After his eyes adjusted to the light, Yang Jiwen saw a traditional earthen stove inside. There was a window on the back wall, but it had been blocked by red bricks. Apart from this large red brick, the four walls were all plastered with cement.

This is clearly a kitchen, but unlike a kitchen, there are no pots, pans, or utensils inside.

Furthermore, there is a door on the right side against the wall, which is also locked.

In rural houses, the kitchen and pigsty are usually next to each other.

However, Jiang Bala had just walked around and couldn't find the pigsty at all.

In other words, this door leads to a dark room, or perhaps a room used for storing miscellaneous items.

Yang Jinwen pursed his lips, stepped forward, raised his machete again, and chopped off the copper lock hanging on the door.

"Oh!"

The sound of metal clashing against stone filled my ears, accompanied by a few sparks.

The lock opened easily. Yang Jinwen gripped the machete in his hand and pushed the door open.

But the room was dark and smelled of chemicals.

Yang Jinwen was very familiar with this smell; it was the acidic smell of sodium thiosulfate, the kind used in photo developing rooms, commonly known as darkrooms.

"be careful."

Jiang Bala didn't let Yang Jinwen go in first. Instead, he smelled the air inside, then took out his copper lighter, flicked the flame, and stood in front of the door.

By the dim light of the fire, he took a quick look at the layout of the room, which was about 20 square meters in size and contained various tools.

He turned around and said, "It's a darkroom."

Yang Jinwen found a pull rope on the inside of the door and reached out to pull it down.

The dim light suddenly came on. Three light bulbs mounted side by side on the ceiling illuminated the dark room.

Jiang Bala led the way inside and looked at the furnishings. He was so stunned that he froze on the spot, his mind went blank, and his eyes could no longer leave the photos on the wall.

When Fu Yun entered, he saw the wall full of photos and his eyes widened, his blood running cold.

The opposite wall was covered with newspapers, which almost took up the entire wall.

The newspaper was covered with no fewer than a hundred photos, all of them of missing women.

And they are all black and white photos.

Yang Jinwen and the other two were originally sweating profusely from the heat, but after seeing these photos, his heart turned ice-cold, and the sweat on his body became icy cold!

In the photo, Zhang Qian, who disappeared in 92, is completely naked, hugging her chest, curled up in a dark mud cave, her eyes filled with fear and despair, like a tormented puppy.

Next to this photo, she is suspended from a beam, her hands and feet tied together, with a rope running through her back, more than a meter off the ground.

This is a photo taken from a low angle, exposing her entire body to the camera.

Then, photos of her urinary incontinence were taken, and compared to the previous photos, her body was much thinner, and her cheeks were sunken.

In addition, Wang Lin, who disappeared in 93, is also in the photo.

She was also completely naked, with iron rings around her ankles and neck, huddled next to a pile of bright orange tangerines.

Liao Dongmei and Jia Chun, who disappeared in 95, and Qin Xuelan and her daughter Zhang Huiqun, who disappeared in 96.

They're all in the photos!
In addition to photos of them while they were alive, there are also photos of them after they died.

In one set of photos, Jia Chun is lying on a plastic sheet with her eyes closed and her mouth sealed with yellow tape.

Although these photos are all the same, livor mortis begins to appear from the second photo, followed by photos of blood deposits behind the livor mortis, photos of the body turning from white to bluish, until the body decomposes, the subcutaneous blood vessels turn black and appear under the skin like a spider web, and finally maggots begin to appear.

Fu Yun was the first to lose his temper and shouted, "Damn it!"

He left the dark room and began to breathe heavily, feeling a wave of nausea in his stomach.

Jiang Bala couldn't hold on any longer and ran outside, shouting, "Make a call! Quickly call the Municipal Bureau! It was this bastard who did it! It was him!"

Yang Jinwen stood still and quickly selected the photos.

His eyes searched constantly, looking for a photo of Ma Weiwei.

Zhang Qian, Wang Lin, Liao Dongmei, Jia Chun, Qin Xuelan, Zhang Huiqun, and two other women outside the scope of their investigation, but Ma Weiwei was not among them.

Yang Jinwen suppressed his emotions and searched for answers once again.

But Ma Weiwei is definitely not there!

cellar!

A cellar for storing citrus fruits!
These photos were all taken in the cellar!
Yang Jinwen turned around and looked at the floor of the dark room.

A rectangular wooden table was placed against the wall on the side, with a plastic sink for developing and printing photos on it.

Underneath the table was a large bluestone slab.

The bluestone slab looked out of place, and its edges were slightly curled up.

Yang Jinwen looked behind him and saw Maozi standing in the darkroom, staring at the photos on the wall as if he were in a daze.

"Stop looking at this, you'll have nightmares tonight! Help me out!"

The cat was startled, its face turned pale, and its throat bobbed uncontrollably.

"Oh my God!"

He saw Yang Jinwen squatting on the ground, moving the bluestone slabs.

The cat quickly ran to help. The stone slab wasn't heavy, but it was obvious that something was blocking it in the middle, like there was a protrusion.

After the stone slab was removed, Yang Jinwen saw the wooden plank inside, with an iron ring in the middle. The one-meter square plank was not locked.

"Bring me a flashlight."

"Where should we look?" the cat asked.

"On the bedside table in the next room!"

The cat scrambled out, and when it returned, Yang Jinwen had already moved the door panel away.

A one-meter square hole was exposed in the ground, and the ceiling light could only illuminate the yellow mud wall, not the inside.

Moreover, a foul stench and the bitter smell of moldy citrus emanated from the cave entrance.

Yang Jinwen took the flashlight from Maozi, turned it on, and the light shone down.

The cellar below is gourd-shaped, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a height of just over three meters. A wooden beam runs horizontally in the middle, and straw and moldy citrus fruits are scattered underneath.

Besides that, he couldn't see anything.

Yang Jinwen pricked up his ears, but heard nothing.

"You hold me down, I'll reach down and take a look."

"it is good."

Cat responded, and as Yang Jinwen lay down, Cat tightly gripped the leather belt around his waist.

Yang Jinwen stuffed his entire head into the hole and then shone a flashlight inside.

In the darkness, in the halo of a flashlight, a woman lay in a straw nest, her hands, feet and neck chained together. She struggled to support her upper body and raised her face toward the cave entrance.

Yang Jinwen got a clear look at that face.

She is Ma Weiwei, who has been missing for twelve days!!!

(End of this chapter)