Chapter 452: Burial Ground
The length of the Lion Mountain Bridge is approximately 1 kilometer. Lu Chuan’s team determined the search area based on research, centering on the Lion Mountain Bridge and searching from east to west, extending 500 meters to the south and 700 meters to the north.
This range is provisional because the service road on the east side of Lion Mountain Bridge runs along the shore for 1,200 meters under the bridge.
After extending 500 meters to the south, the service road moves away from the shore due to the terrain. To the north, the terrain also causes the road to move away from the shore after 700 meters.
If someone wanted to bury a body under the Lion Mountain Bridge, then this 1,200-meter area on the east side, relatively convenient in terms of traffic, would be an ideal location for the act.
"Brother Bai, Brother Yang, I’ve adjusted the frequency of these two variable-frequency laser spectrometers. Just turn them on and use them as they are."
"If a faint green light appears, it most likely indicates something significant underneath that needs to be checked out."
"However, the green light appears briefly and very faintly, so there should be no strong light exposure."
"Don’t worry, we followed you yesterday and saw how to use it. We also brought spare batteries this time, so there’s no need to worry about running out of power; we can continue until tomorrow morning without any problem."
"Okay," Lu Chuan nodded, realizing he didn’t need to say more. "Let’s start from where we left off yesterday."
Last night, in the search for Wang Mingshan’s remains, the Crime Scene Investigation office had searched approximately 10,000 square meters of the northern area.
Since those areas have been searched, there’s no need to search them again. The three didn’t separate but instead began in yesterday’s area, sweeping the northern region side by side.
The three proceeded in a line, with each person covering an area of about 20 meters.
In this formation, the group could search a width of 60 meters at a time.
Since the weeds had been cleared during the day, the search process was much faster than yesterday, and visibility was improved.
"Over there!"
Soon, a faint green light flickered in the direction Old Bai was searching.
"Right there, right there, just 10 meters away."
Despite being weak, the green glow was still visible in the night but disappeared quickly after flashing once.
This brief flash sufficed for everyone to pinpoint the location of the green light.
A few detectives following Old Bai rushed in with shovels upon identifying the spot.
This location wasn’t far from where Wang Mingshan’s remains were found yesterday, only about 50 meters away.
What followed was relatively straightforward. Lu Chuan and his team continued scanning with the variable-frequency laser spectrometers, while four or five police officers began digging at the newly discovered green light location.
"I’ve got something here too!"
Just as they broke the surface at one site, there was a new discovery at another.
The detectives following Yang Sen identified the spot and began digging as well.
Lu Guodong, who was overseeing the entire search operation, was observing keenly from the back of the group.
Compared to yesterday, today’s search speed was visibly faster.
As a result, more leads were discovered early on, finding two suspected burial sites within the first hour.
Of course, just because green light is found doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a human body underneath; it could also be animals whose decomposed remains cause phosphorus reactions with the laser.
After the two discoveries, Lu Chuan and his team didn’t find anything else, searching from the east all the way to the west side of the Lion Mountain Bridge, coming up empty.
"Boss, I think we should search along the east bank within a 300 to 500-meter range. There’s low likelihood of burials on the west side."
The west bank is close to farmland, with the nearest road being another kilometer beyond that.
In yesterday’s analysis, it was considered unlikely that the suspect would bury bodies on the west bank. Today’s search circle confirmed this assumption.
Lu Guodong nodded, recognizing that today’s progress was much faster than yesterday, having almost completed the north bank by now.
"Alright, when we search the south bank, we’ll start within a 300-meter range from the east bank."
"How’s the excavation going?"
"Beneath the site Old Bai found is a dog’s skeleton. They’ve dug a little deeper but found nothing else. The second site hasn’t revealed anything yet; they’re still... "
As he spoke, a detective at the second site shouted, "Brother Liu, Brother Liu, there’s something!"
Lu Guodong rushed over, while Lu Chuan and the others, inconvenienced by their instruments, left them in place to return to later and joined the scene.
"Brother Liu, it’s bones."
Lu Guodong looked into the pit, which was dug deeper than where Wang Mingshan’s bones had been buried yesterday, about two meters deep.
Visible at the surface was half a skull, with the rest still buried in the soil.
"Brother Liu, should we keep digging or leave it to Crime Scene Investigation?"
"Since it’s already bones, keep digging, but be careful not to damage them. We’ll take the bones back to the task force headquarters for forensic analysis. Lu Chuan’s team will continue searching the southern region. We aim to complete the scan of both areas by midnight."
"Alright, we’ll dig here while you take care of your tasks."
Even for detective teams, uncovering bones was a relatively rare task.
In comparison to previous crime scenes, digging up bones was not particularly unsettling.
There wasn’t any blood, nothing grotesque, and no smell.
Just some bleached bones, easily excavated.
Lu Chuan had no objections to Lu Guodong’s decision. Yesterday’s concern with Wang Mingshan’s remains was because Lu Chuan hoped to find evidence around the bones that could point to a suspect.
It was a slim chance, but possible.
Yet, after five years, everything buried had mostly decomposed, leaving no directional evidence.
The new unidentified skeleton appeared, based on its color, to have been buried longer than Wang Mingshan’s remains.
Thus, no on-scene investigation was necessary; retrieving the bones was sufficient.
The forensic team didn’t participate in tonight’s search; Wang Changjiang and Shen Yan had returned home to rest. Though Wang Mingshan’s remains had been identified this morning, the corresponding reports weren’t ready yet, so the forensic team was tasked with preparing the necessary documentation.
At 10:30 PM, the entire northern area, along with Wang Mingshan’s remains, was thoroughly searched, with two sets of bones found in total.
"The southern area seems smaller, shorter by 200 meters than the north, so the search should be faster."
"This spectrometer is great; it’s not particularly tiring. Let’s give it our all and aim to finish in two hours."
"Alright then!"