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

Chapter 131 Swifts!

The heavy rain outside the window poured down, pattering against the windowsill.

A swift spreads its wings and swoops down from the sky!

Behind it, dark clouds rolled in, and lightning flashed through the gaps in the clouds, leaving a dazzling white streak!

Standing by the window, Zhang Wen quickly raised the camera hanging around her neck, waiting for the second flash of lightning, and immediately pressed the shutter.

"Crack!"

A photograph of a swift flying through a thunderstorm was captured on film.

A slight smile appeared on Zhang Wen's lips.

She prefers this vibrant, upward-moving life force to photographing livestock waiting to be slaughtered in slaughterhouses.

The swift is an extreme flight miracle forged by biological evolution.

Its physiological structure and survival mode break through the life logic of terrestrial animals.

Because its leg muscles are very weak, the structure of its feet is not suitable for standing on the ground and taking off.

Swifts have all four toes pointing forward, which makes it difficult for them to maintain balance on the ground and to effectively use their feet for takeoff.

Therefore, swifts usually do not land on their own initiative, and their longest flight record is two years!
They choose to hunt, drink, sleep, and reproduce in the air.

Swifts are prisoners of absolute freedom; their cage is the sky!
However, as Zhang Wen moved her camera away, she suddenly saw the swift flying straight towards her.

Immediately, its body slammed straight into the window glass on the other side.

"Oh!"

The window shook, and the swift's body fell out.

Zhang Wen was startled, her heart pounding. She rushed to the windowsill, only to find the swift's body lying on the concrete ground below.

The rain washed its feathers, making it look like a plush toy.

Raindrops streamed down Zhang Wen's face as she sat up, her mind uneasy.

Just then, she heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned around.

Upon seeing that it was a female worker from the slaughterhouse, she let out a soft sigh of relief.

She and Hu Aihua have been taking photos at the slaughterhouse since they arrived this morning.

She thought it was just a simple matter of filming layoffs at state-run slaughterhouses for a news feature.

After all, the slaughterhouse was poorly managed, which led to a large-scale layoff of employees at the neighboring meat processing plant.

Given the current economic situation, this is happening in all state-owned factories in Annam.

But when I arrived, it was completely different.

This was Hu Aihua's private action, not a special report by the TV station about laid-off workers.

Furthermore, when it comes to reporting, we select large enterprises with a large number of employees and factories that have the characteristics of the times, such as Annam Steel Plant.

Annan Steel Plant has been shut down for more than a month, and the plant office is already arranging a list of laid-off workers for the second half of the year, causing widespread anxiety among the workers.

Zhang Wen discovered that Hu Aihua had a great interest in taking photos of livestock being slaughtered.

In the morning at the factory, Hu Aihua kept pressing the shutter button to photograph the scene of pigs being bled, seemingly obsessed with this bloody scene.

I've heard that when slaughtering cattle, the workers responsible for the killing will use a large hammer to strike the cow's skull.

The workers herded the cattle into a specially constructed, cramped space.

Once the cattle are driven in, they cannot turn around, let alone escape; even turning their horns is difficult.

At this moment, the one standing on top would raise an eight-pound iron hammer and smash it with all his might against the cow's skull.

The cow's skull was collapsed, but it was not dead yet, and its body was struggling.

It will take a full half hour for the cow to die.

During this process, the cow's spine was severed, and a long knife was inserted into the spinal cord in its neck. Some of the cow's nerves were not completely severed, causing its lower body to twitch wildly.

Finally, they cut off the throat and bled the patient out, damaging the cerebellum.

Hu Aihua told Zhang Wen that even if the cow is bled, its consciousness will remain for 150 seconds.

Zhang Wen asked him how he knew, and Hu Aihua said he had seen a report about it in a science magazine.

Zhang Wen couldn't stand the environment of the slaughterhouse and didn't want to see the livestock being slaughtered alive. She said she wasn't feeling well, so she went to the slaughterhouse's office to rest.

Hu Aihua remained in the factory to gather materials.

A female employee brought over a cup of tea and said with a smile, "Reporter Zhang, please have some water."

"Thank you." Zhang Wen took the money and asked, "Where's Reporter Hu? Is he still in the factory?"

“He’s still here. Our director is showing him around the meat processing plant next door. He’ll be here in a bit.”

Zhang Wen nodded.

The female employee said solicitously, "If you need anything, just call me. I'll be outside."

"Row."

Zhang Wen smiled, picked up her tea, sat on the sofa, and looked out at the rain.

The image of the swift that crashed into the windowpane remained etched in her mind, lingering there for a long time, and she became increasingly restless.

She placed the teacup on the coffee table, glanced at her watch on her left wrist, and saw that it was already six o'clock in the evening.

If it weren't for this sudden downpour, she would have called Hu Aihua back to the TV station long ago.

Zhang Wen sighed softly. Just then, her handbag, which was placed next to the sofa, suddenly beeped.

She unzipped her handbag and took out her Motorola pager.

After holding it in her hand, she pressed a button, and dozens of words popped up on the green screen, catching her eye.

[Message from the Municipal Criminal Investigation Team: Hu Aihua is a serious criminal offender. Please take precautions and call back immediately! Please call 908 XXXX] Upon seeing this message, Zhang Wen's pupils dilated, and her mind went blank for a moment.

Is Hu Aihua a serious criminal offender? What exactly happened?

This sudden news caught Zhang Wen completely off guard.

She rolled her eyes, quickly stood up, picked up her handbag, and walked out of the reception room.

"Hello, can I borrow your phone for a moment?" Zhang Wen said, pulling the female employee who had been there earlier.

"Okay, please follow me."

The female employee responded and led her to the office next door.

The slaughterhouse's office building has only two floors, and the offices are very basic.

There was a landline phone on the desk. Zhang Wen glanced at the female employee.

The latter nodded: "Please go ahead."

Then she left the room.

Zhang Wen closed the door, returned to her desk, picked up the receiver, and dialed the number left on her pager.

The Motorola she was using had a Chinese character capacity of 4 lines x 14 characters, or 56 characters in total.

Clearly, the other party didn't even dare to use punctuation marks in order to leave their number.

"Da da da da da da."

After dialing the number, Zhang Wen held the receiver to her ear and listened to the static.

The other party answered the phone almost instantly: "Hello?"

Zhang Wen pursed her lips and said, "You just left a message on my pager, who are you...?"

The other person exclaimed in surprise, "Zhang Wen? You're Zhang Wen?"

"it's me……"

"Don't speak, listen to me. Where are you now?"

Zhang Wen's heart pounded in fright at the other person's tone. She replied, "The slaughterhouse in the north of the city, on Huaiyang Road. I'm in the factory office."

After she finished speaking, she heard a rough voice shouting at someone on the other end of the phone.

"Get in the car, quick! Destination: Huaiyang Road Slaughterhouse!"

Then, all I could hear on the other end of the phone was the patter of rain and the sound of footsteps splashing in the rain.

"Zhang Wen, we are from the criminal investigation team. Is Hu Aihua with you?"

Zhang Wen swallowed hard, looked around the office, which was empty and the door was closed.

"It's just me."

"Listen, Hu Aihua is a murderer! Don't go near him! We're coming right now!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wen's heart clenched. Just as she was about to speak, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

Startled, she dropped the phone receiver she was holding, knocking over the pen holder on the edge of her desk. The pen, staples, and scissors inside were scattered on the floor.

The tangled telephone cord bounced incessantly before her eyes.

Hu Aihua's face appeared outside the door. He smiled, revealing his snow-white teeth: "Zhang Wen, let's go, we should go back."

----------

The An'nan City Television Station building, on the road leading to Huaiyang Road.

Three vehicles from the Chengbei Criminal Police Team sped through the torrential rain, leaving the road flooded with water that was being squeezed by the tires and sprayed onto both sides of the road.

Normally, it would still be bright outside at this time, but because of the torrential rain, the sky is getting darker and darker, and the rain is so heavy that it is difficult to see the road conditions ahead.

In the lead Beijing Jeep, Zheng Kang sat in the passenger seat and found a magnetic hazard light.

He rolled down the car window, then pressed the switch and placed it on the roof.

The two following vehicles also did not have police lights installed on their roofs.

Their cars were going too fast and they weren't using their flashing lights, which made a collision very likely.

He Jinbo was holding the steering wheel with one hand and his mobile phone with the other when he suddenly heard static on the other end of the line. He frowned slightly.

Then, a man's voice came faintly, but He Jinbo couldn't hear it clearly because of the sound of rain outside the window.

A few seconds later, Zhang Wen's voice came from the other end of the phone, sounding hurried and flustered.

"Sister Deng, okay, please tell the director that Hu Aihua and I will be back soon. Okay, that's all, I'll hang up now."

The ambiguous words were like a bombshell that hit He Jinbo's heart.

Hu Aihua suddenly appeared beside Zhang Wen, and she is now in danger!

He Jinbo stepped on the gas and looked at Zheng Kang in the passenger seat: "Tell Lao Jiang and the others to hurry up. We must get to the slaughterhouse within fifteen minutes!"

Without asking why, Zheng Kang picked up the walkie-talkie and notified Jiang Jianguo and Xu Guoliang, who were driving behind.

After the call ended, Zheng Kang looked at the rain falling in front of him and the windshield wipers scraping against the windshield.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Ten minutes earlier, He Jinbo and Zheng Kang had received news that seven body pits had been found in the citrus grove by the Chengbei Yanbiangou, and the scene was horrific.

All the leaders from the Municipal Public Security Bureau rushed there, which shows how important this case is.

The pressure is now entirely on them. If Hu Aihua were to kill another person or escape, the North City Criminal Police Brigade would have no way to explain themselves to their superiors.

In recent years, serious homicides have occurred frequently, and major criminal cases happen every year. Hu Aihua lured several female students from Chengnan Health School, murdered them, and buried their bodies. She can be described as utterly depraved and inhuman.

Everyone in the North City Criminal Investigation Brigade was seething with anger. Three police cars sped towards the slaughterhouse through the rain, their rooftop lights flashing a dazzling red and blue...

(End of this chapter)