Apart from the village chief deep in the mountains, no one knew that Wang Ji was actually the most promising child to co out of those mountains.
His luck was also good; in his teens, after coming down from the mountain, he was adopted by a family in the county town.
After completing college, he returned to his hotown and was fortunate enough to enter the police departnt.
Many years passed, and he mixed himself up with a title to put after his na.
He never ntioned anything about what happened in the village.
Over the years, there were won who had fled the mountain to report to the police, but each ti, he would kindly persuade them and send them back to the village.
The village was so poor, and it was hard for the n there to get a wife; how could he let them run away?
This could be considered his contribution to the village.
As for the lives of the won in the village, Wang Ji was very clear.
His own mother and grandmother had also been bought back from the base of the mountain.
If they could endure it, why couldn’t the other won?
With ti, they would surely get used to it and then gradually beco a part of the mountain.
However, this ti, he felt an unprecedented difficulty, constantly on edge, with a bad feeling looming over him.
Su Li watched the phone in his hand being hung up again, a visible layer of dark clouds gathering on his face.
Damn it...
The next day, near the mountain, suddenly a disfigured corpse appeared on the road.
The body lay right in the middle of the road.
The truck driver, who set out early in the morning, was so frightened that he almost drove his truck off the cliff.
Wang Ji was still in bed when the phone calls from the departnt kept coming incessantly, and he hurriedly got dressed and rushed over.
Upon arrival, he was pulled aside by the deputy captain of his own team.
"Captain Wang, hurry, there has been a murder on Panlong Mountain Road, it could be an accident, suicide, or deliberate... Xiao Li and the others have already gone to seal off the scene, and Director An wants us to hurry over there too."
As soon as Wang Ji heard the words "Panlong Mountain Road," the furrows between his brows seed almost enough to kill a fly.
The bad feeling inside him intensified.
Panlong Mountain Road was the closest to the village in the mountains.
Although the mountain roads were steep and treacherous and you couldn’t walk up from the main road, it was still possible if the villagers decided to lower a basket.
A long ti ago, before the construction of the village’s suspension bridge, the villagers would exchange necessities with the outside world by using a basket to lower and raise goods.
But, that was for exchanging light items; a full-grown human being wouldn’t survive the weight.
Could it be that another woman had tried to run away and fell to her death?
The thought made Wang Ji restless.
He inquired in a seemingly casual tone, "Deputy captain, it’s just a murder case, why such a big fuss? Normally, just a few of us would handle this kind of scene, but this ti..."
The deputy captain looked around and whispered, "I heard... it just so happened that the authorities were down here for an inspection, that’s why Director An is taking it so seriously."
"This morning, I even heard Director An scolding Xiao Li and the others, saying that such an issue has arisen at a critical ti..."
Wang Ji felt a sinking feeling in his stomach; he really wanted to rush up to the mountain imdiately, grab the village chief by the collar, and get so answers.
With an anxious heart, Wang Ji followed the deputy captain and drove to the already sealed-off Panlong Mountain Road Entrance.
The so-called Panlong Mountain Road was constructed by circling around the large mountain.
From a bird’s-eye view, it looked like a dragon coiled around itself, hence the na Panlong Mountain Road.
Panlong Mountain itself represented danger and steepness.
Normally, apart from the large trucks transporting goods back and forth, it was rarely frequented by people.
But it was these very trucks that transported goods north and south that caused deadly accidents.
Truck drivers often had their own special channels of information.
An incident had just occurred, and although the local police quickly detained the driver for questioning and reminded him that confidentiality was a must, it didn’t take long before news of the accident on Panlong Mountain Road leaked to many people.
When Wang Ji and the others arrived, so people in white hazmat suits were walking back and forth at the scene, collecting samples with their tools.
From a distance, Wang Ji saw a body sprawled out in the shape of a cross on the ground.
He wanted to move forward to see the face of the deceased, but a hand stopped him in place.
"Sorry, this case has already been taken over by the city authorities."
Wang Ji’s heart skipped a beat, and he looked up, puzzled, at the stranger stopping him, asking, "Why? I wasn’t notified..."
Wang Ji’s face fell, and just as he was about to speak, Director An pulled him away.
"This matter is no longer under our jurisdiction. We just need to assist them as needed, based on their requirents."
"But..."
"There is no ’but.’ This case is being handled by the City Epidemic Prevention Center and the police..." The director, looking at his normally reliable subordinate, whispered a hint, "The manner of the deceased’s death is very strange. His body is riddled with holes from ant bites, as if his entire body were an ant nest. The forensic pathologist determined that the victim suffered to death while alive."
"Furthermore, the species of ant found in his body has never been seen before. There is suspicion that the victim may have been carrying a contagious disease. Until the test results are back, we don’t need to get involved..."
As the director spoke, he rubbed his bald head and muttered to himself with a worried frown, "How could such an incident occur? It’s just our luck that it happened to be seen by the higher-ups, and it will cause the end of many..."
Wang Ji couldn’t hear what the Director was saying; the hustle and bustle around him couldn’t reach his ears either.
He stood there, dazed, as cold sweat quickly beaded on his forehead.
A chill crept up from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his skull.
He was enveloped by fear, staring wide-eyed at the body now covered with a white cloth in the distance.
Ants, bitten to death...
He had experienced the sa thing in a dream the night before.
Even now, he could more vividly feel the pain of being bitten in the dream.
He had thought it was a nightmare triggered by excessive stress and hadn’t taken it seriously when he woke up this morning.
But now, he was overco by escalating fear...
Was the dream a warning of sothing? Or was it reminding him that he would be the next victim?
And just near the village, an incident occurred on Panlong Mountain Road; perhaps the person lying on the ground was from the village...
Wang Ji nearly scared himself witless with his own thoughts, panicking.
"Captain Wang... what’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell? You look so pale..."
Wang Ji waved his hand without responding and quickly got into the car and left.
He couldn’t stay here any longer. It would be his end.
From a distance, a beautiful figure hid in the shadows of the trees, her gaze fixed on the site of the accident.
Nobody noticed that there was another pair of eyes observing the scene.
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