We had some surveillance footage that captured the front of the person driving the vehicle. However, they were wearing a mask and a hood, exposing only their eyes. It was difficult to determine their specific appearance.
Regarding their build, we could only see their upper body. We had a few colleagues compare themselves, and although it was just the upper body, considering the width of the driver's seat, we estimated their height to be around 1.75 meters and their weight approximately 60 kilograms.
Compared to the little girl beside them, they were indeed much more robust. This caused Fan Tianyun to be almost entirely covered by the front of the car when she sat in the passenger seat.
Ultimately, we could only track the police car they had driven to the location where the dashcam footage last showed them. The car had stopped on Jiao Shi Road in Fuming City. The person, carrying Fan Tianyun's body, tumbled out of the car and disappeared into a patch of grass.
Our first priority was to find Jiao Shi Road and then delve into the grass in the direction the person had rolled. We wondered what connection this person had to the case and why they would steal a body from the Public Security Bureau. If they were the killer, they wouldn't have done this.
After all, they had already killed the person and left them there. If they didn't want us to find the body, they wouldn't have abandoned it in the first place. There was no need for them to risk coming back to steal it after we had brought it to the Public Security Bureau. It was too risky and served no purpose.
The grass showed numerous footprints extending in a northeast direction. We followed them for a while and discovered a large lake nearby that covered the surrounding road. If the culprit wanted to leave with Fan Tianyun from here, they would have to cross the lake, or it would take them several times longer to go around it.
I reached the lakeside and found no signs of anyone having used a boat. However, I did notice footprints with shallow heels. "This guy jumped in!"
"How do you know?" Gao Mingqiang asked me.
"When people jump into water, they make a preparatory motion, lifting their heels, much like diving athletes. At this point, the footprints will show deeper toe marks and shallower heel marks."
Gao Mingqiang took some photos, scratching his head. When would this guy ever make some progress? Such not-so-complicated problems should have been learned in his trace evidence studies at university.
We all gave him a look of disdain, then began observing the lake. Xiao Yuande, however, jumped in without a word. I remembered he was a very fast swimmer and was very familiar with water. If we let him pursue the suspect, we wouldn't have to go into the water ourselves. He alone could handle the task of several of us.
After a combination of backstroke and breaststroke, Xiao Yuande disappeared. We waited by the lake, but Xiahou also seemed impatient and jumped in. The rest of us didn't stand idle either, heading in our respective directions. Even if it took longer to go around, it was better than staying put.
Liu Yuning and I were a team, while Gao Mingqiang and some officers headed in another direction. If we didn't jump into the lake, going around would have taken at least an extra half hour. We had all assumed he wouldn't appear here, but as we walked, I suddenly noticed similar footprints under a tree not far away. I immediately understood.
Liu Yuning also said, "It seems we were fooled. That guy never jumped into the lake. He probably deliberately made a diving pose by the lake to make us think he jumped in, so..."
Before Liu Yuning could finish her sentence, there was a thud not far away, and she collapsed directly in front of me. Just as I was about to pull her up, her back of the head was struck by something, causing some bruising, as if hit by a stone-like object.
Then, a sharp pain suddenly struck the back of my head. As I was about to turn around, my limbs suddenly lost all strength. I tilted and fell to the ground, lying next to Liu Yuning.
The attacker had managed to incapacitate us with two rocks. Then, in a daze, I heard the sound of someone jumping down from a tree. I knew he was here, but I couldn't resist. The person clapped their hands behind our backs, a look of extreme ease on their face. "So you saw through it. But it's only two of you. If I take you away, they won't find you in time."
Saying that, the person tied ropes around us and dragged us up like animals, pulling us in one direction. At that moment, we were like lambs to the slaughter, completely unable to resist. We were dragged for an unknown amount of time. He seemed to have taken us to a house by the sea, opened the door of a wooden hut, and dragged us inside. Upon entering, I saw numerous skeletons of infants hanging on the walls. Most of their flesh had been cut away, while some appeared to have been corroded by a substance like sulfuric acid. Their flesh emitted a sour stench, their bodies were riddled with holes, uneven, and presented a grayish-yellow hue.
"You should still be able to see, right? These are all my masterpieces. Now, to prevent you from escaping, I'm going to inject you with something!" It was then that I saw the person's appearance. He was a strange figure dressed in a grey robe, with no hair and unusually long arms that reached down to his knees, rather like Liu Bei. His shaggy thighs were exposed without any attempt to cover them. He wore very simple shorts and slippers, looking quite casual. I had never encountered such a bizarre person who dared to drive to the Public Security Bureau in such attire and take away a body.
He bound us to pillars on the wall with chains, tightening them forcefully around our bodies. Then, he injected us with some blue-green, unknown liquid from two syringes. After that, my mind went completely blank. Gradually, a realization dawned upon me. In my eyes, the strange man no longer seemed so strange; instead, he appeared incredibly endearing. How could this be? Had my consciousness undergone such a significant change?
I remembered that in the past, I would never have had such thoughts. I glanced at Liu Yuning's face and found her as vacant as I was, looking at the person before us as if he were a close relative, without any defensiveness.
At that moment, I knew we had been mesmerized, but we had no intention of resisting. All we felt was an unconditional desire to obey. Even seeing the things hanging on the wall, we had no desire to report them, nor did we think Gao Mingqiang and the others would come looking for us here.