4 Bloated

 

Clearly Lee Chunzhuang was the cannibal but he was not the killer. According to the coroner’s result, the victim was raped before she died. Even though there was not enough semen to draw DNA, it did prove that the drifter was not the actual killer. Based on vaginal tearing, the victim was forcibly entered before she was killed and strung on the iron fence. For some unknown reason, after doing that, the killer left. Half an hour later, Lee Chunzhuang saw the body through flashes of lightning. He stood on the chair, sliced open the woman’s stomach and started to gorge. According to the man, he feasted for 10 minutes before he was full and left the crime scene. This whole process took less than 1 hour. In the next 10 minutes before the body was discovered by the electricians, the killer had to do 2 things, 1, clean up the mess left behind by Lee Chunzhuang and 2, wipe away Lee Chunzhuang’s footprints and eliminate the wooden board and chair. How did he manage that?

The world that you live in, do you really understand everything about it? You live in the light but there are always people working in the dark. In the unknown darkness, people take away the garbage from the dumpsters; people clean the public toilets; there are many things that happen in the dark corners of the world and you will be none the wiser about them because that is not your world. If someone was able to disappear without leaving behind much of a trace, then he lived not under the sun but in the dark.

“There has to be some kind of hidden passage near that stretch of train tracks,” I told Captain Zhao and the rest. “We should return to the crime scene and inspect it again.” Since the day was darkening, Captain Zhao decided to gather a big team. “Xiao Liu, call for some back-ups.” Captain Zhao told one of the officers.

Xiao Liu nodded and grumbled, “There are too many incidents that occur recently. We have a murder on one hand and a missing person case on another. There are also public disturbance complaints, our manpower is already stretched too thin as it is.”

“Well you know what they say, with great power comes great responsibility.” Captain Zhao patted Xiao Liu on his shoulder. Every law enforcement district had their own case clearance rate quota to fulfil. However, a murder definitely took precedence over the other cases. After gathering all the available officers, we departed for the crime scene again.

On the way there, Mary commented, “If we can find this hidden passage, then…” I finished for her, “It’ll help zero down the suspect a lot.” After the heavy rain yesterday night, it had been sunny the whole day. The ground at the crime scene had dried up and became a lot more compact. We discovered a strange footprint about several hundred metres away from the crime scene. There was a normal footprint accompanied by a circle hole. This verified Lee Chunzhuang’s story. Someone had cleaned up the drifter’s footprints around the dead body. In other words, if there was a secret passage, it would be within these several hundred metres.

After reassessing the crime scene, Captain Zhao observed, “Due to the time of day and rain, we had limited visibility yesterday night, but now looking at the crime scene again, it’s actually quite simple how the killer had left without leaving behind any footprint. We’ve spotted it easily if the crime was reported in daylight.” The trick was done with a simple wooden board. The killer dragged a wooden board behind him as he walked, that way the board would smooth out his footprints.

Once you looked closer, you would notice two indented tracks that led away from the fence. If you follow the track, it would lead you to a wooden lid that was buried underneath layers of mud and dirt. Once you open the lid, you would be greeted by an underground world.

Captain Zhao had people guard aboveground while the rest of us opened our flashlights and entered the hole. At the bottom was a dark corridor. Dampness was everywhere. The heavy rain last time turned this place into a storm drain. The water that was at knee level gave off a horrendous stench. Rat carcasses floated on the water. They were the size of a common house cat. If not for the rain, this place would continue to be their haven. A millipede about 10 cm long flitted across the water surface. Even though Mary had over a decade of experience, she still flinched when she saw that. Noticing this, Captain Zhao added, “Mary, why don’t you wait for us up here…”

Captain Zhao, Gu Chen and myself waded into the underground passage. Then we heard a splash behind us. Turning back, we saw that Mary had joined us. “What are you looking at?” Mary challenged, “Do you think some dirty water is going to stop me from doing my job?”

I shrugged as we wade deeper into the rancid water. The water was mixed with mud and trash. It was too muddy to tell what we were stepping on. Each of my steps felt slippery like I was stepping on balls of cotton or some rotting meat. The further we went from the hole, the darker the world became. A roaring sound suddenly came from above us. It echoed endlessly inside the small space, the whole world appeared to be shaking. Mary suddenly screamed and she fell into the pool of dirty water. I quickly reached back to grab her arms and pull her up from under the surface. Seeing how flustered she was, I couldn’t help myself with a jibe. “It was just the train passing, what’s so scary about that?”

Mary though was not in the mood to argue with me. She widened her eyes and said, “There’s someone underwater, I felt someone pull at my feet!” That sent tremors through my body. Someone had been hiding under this pool of murky water while we were treading through it? While I was thinking about what this meant, Gu Chen already plunged headfirst into the water. Moments later, he surfaced while carrying a human hand. It was an extremely fat and fair hand. It was hard to tell how long it had been soaked in the water. The fingers and palm were wrinkled from being in the water for too long. The hand was connected to an equally fair and wrinkled arm. I aimed my flashlight towards it and a human head surfaced into view. The head was half-submerged in water.

Although calling it a head human was quite a stretch. The head was about the size of a bull’s head. The cheeks were puffed up and the singular eye was bulging from the socket. The lips were white and folded outwards. The swollen tongue was lolling from his chin…

A bloated corpse. It was not often one would come across such a unique corpse. The heavy rain yesterday and the warm, highly contaminated as well as enclosed space contributed to this unique formation. It would take only one day to turn a fresh corpse into this grotesque being. The body was so bloated that it appeared like it could explode with a little squeeze.

“Did you choke on the water when you fell earlier…” Seeing how tense the situation was, I tried to lighten it with a joke. Mary was already holding her hand over her mouth and when she heard my question, she instantly threw up…

The body was carried out by Gu Chen. In the daylight, we finally could see the whole body. The body had grown at least twice its usual size. His limbs were expanded and his skin had a green hue. The vessels under the skin were clearly visible, they were purplish green in color. The clothes were wrapped tightly around the body. The man wore a uniform and it allowed us to identify him quite easily. This was a railroad worker.

While a team was sent to the body for autopsy, another team went to the railroad company to verify the dead man’s identity. While we waited for the report, Captain Zhao mobilized a water pump truck. Since the body was found inside the underground tunnel, there might be other evidence down there. After Mary vomited 2 more times, the water was finally drained. The 3 of us entered it again but this time, Mary couldn’t be persuaded to join us. Without the pool of water, we soon reached the end of the tunnel. Opening the wooden board above us, we exited on the other side of the iron fence, the side without the tracks.

At that moment, another train whistled past and soon disappeared from our sight. I caught something in my mind but the fragments were not strong enough to form actual useful information. Soon the coroner’s report arrived. The railroad worker died around yesterday midnight, 2 hours after the woman was killed. The cause of death was drowning. There was a large amount of alcohol residue in his bloodstream. He had drunk a lot before he died. In conclusion, the worker died from an accident or suicide. In confirmation, we did encounter many empty alcohol bottles in the underground tunnel. Based on the timeline, we could confirm this fact, when we were here scanning the crime scene yesterday night, there was a railroad worker underneath us, drinking in the dark. He drank until he passed out. The rising water submerged his hands, his face, his nose and eventually his whole body. He died in his sleep, right underneath us, not making even a single sound.

“Bag everything in the underground passage and go over them one by one.” Captain Zhao ordered.

“Captain, we’ve already confirmed the man’s identity.” One of the officers rushed over to report.

Luo Yongjun, 45 years old, railroad worker, he was responsible for maintenance of this stretch of the train track where the woman’s body was found. His daily schedule required him to walk along this stretch of tracks until he reached a tunnel that was not far ahead. He had worked this job for about 20 years. By listening to the metallic echo of the tracks underneath his feet, he could tell whether the track was safe or not.

“The company has provided him with a simple wooden hut for his work not far from here. We were told we can find Luo Yongjun’s work records there.”