Chapter 4: A Beautiful Corpse

  After the gas station incident was resolved, Lao Wei looked at the truck that had almost been dismantled into parts and couldn't figure it out - since it was a vehicle that could have passed normally, why did the driver make such an extreme move that cost him his life?

  The dead man can no longer speak, Peng Sizhe's shot accurately hit the brain stem, and for him, instant death may be the best result. Following the usual practice of investigation, Old Wei prepared to start from the social relationship of the deceased.

  However, as the investigation deepened, Lao Wei became increasingly perplexed - the deceased was 38 years old, unmarried, and his parents had passed away early. He didn't enter the truck driving industry until he was 30 years old, but he was introverted and rarely interacted with outsiders. The truck was bought on loan and the loan had not been fully repaid yet. Normally, he would hang out at a transportation company to haul goods for his boss. A year ago, due to commission issues, he had a falling out with his boss and went solo. According to a driver who knew him, he wanted to make a big deal. Was this big deal using the truck to transport drugs? Lao Wei looked at the retrieved bank statements, and a year ago, his bank account was mostly credited, with an average monthly income of 5,000-8,000 yuan, which is a relatively normal income for an ordinary truck driver. Then there was a period when the account only had withdrawals but no deposits, which coincided with the time he lost his job. However, from eight months ago, the bank card's income showed abnormal growth, with an average monthly income of 30,000-50,000 yuan, and one transaction even reached 56,000 yuan. Almost all the money was deposited through the counter or ATM.

  This is one of the characteristics of drug trafficking - in order not to let the police find any clues, they mostly trade in cash. Lao Wei judged that he was a transporter in the drug trafficking chain, but who handed over the drugs to him? And who would he hand them over to? With his death, it also became a mystery.

  Lao Wei tried to investigate the whereabouts of the wood, but ended up in a dead end, and the contacts on the transportation order were all untraceable!

  If it's using trucks to transport poison, it's absolutely not a private car carrying such small stuff. Old Wei's office desk was piled up with a large stack of various files, and the Mediterranean also had an expanding trend.

  " Wei Tou...... is he...... or is he......" Xiaobin seemed to think of something, but the words kept circling in his mind and couldn't be spoken.

  "What is..."

  "Is it possible that he's just a scout..." Xiaobin finally spoke out his speculation: "The drug trafficker is using him to test the customs inspection."

  "Ah..." Old Wei let out a disappointed sigh. This wasn't even an idea worth considering. It was an old trick for drug dealers to use a small-time operative to test the waters, but the key question was: if he was a scout, who was his backer? And who was his buyer? He couldn't just swallow tens of tons of wood by himself!

  But Lao Wei thought for a moment, Xiao Bin was a new policeman, perhaps the ingenious ideas of a newcomer could help open up his mind, and he asked again: "What if you were his superior, and he was your informant, what would you do next?"

  "If this road doesn't work and the inspection is strict, I will think of other channels." Xiaobin replied.

  "Now all checkpoints are strictly checked, what will you do?" Old Wei asked again.

  Xiao Bin was asked so intensely, he was momentarily speechless, scratched his head: "This... this... ant moving house... since the main goods can't be transported, can't we use the method of ants moving houses to secretly transport them? It's better than having no business at all..."

  Xiao Bin's words made Lao Wei burst out laughing: "You're even doing business now."

  "In this world, what isn't a business? The economy is bad, so if you can make some money, just make it." Xiaobin added a sentence to lighten the mood.

  Following Xiaobin's thinking, it's also a way of investigation. If the other party is moving ants, they need to find the path of the move and the time of the move.

  Xiao Bin scratched his head again, he just proposed an idea, as for the specifics, he really didn't know.

  ……

  The private room of the nightclub was filled with swirling smoke, and various objects were scattered on the tea table. A middle-aged man sat next to a scantily clad woman, indulging in an intoxicating pleasure.

  "Brother Cheng, how is it? Is this batch of goods good enough?" The middle-aged man asked hastily as he turned his head.

  "The goods are fine, it's just this price...hmm?"

  "Cheng Ge, this price is already very favorable, we've been friends for so many years."

  That picky guy called Cheng Ge flipped through a few packages of samples on the tea table: "Isn't there anything cheaper?"

  "Cheng Ge, take a look at this. It's a new species with a very shocking and attractive name - Zombie Poison!"

  "Oh? This name is indeed attractive to those young people." Cheng Ge took a strong interest in this "Zombie Poison".

  "New variety, strong and cheap, anyone can afford it, if you don't believe me, you can ask someone to try..."

  "Never mind, after all these years of friendship, let's just leave it like this. I'll put the samples here and notify you in a few days."

  "Then thank you, Brother Cheng." The man couldn't help but feel delighted, this deal was done.

  After a half-month-long investigation, Lao Wei still had no leads. The cold body lay in the funeral home, waiting for the police to reach a conclusion before it could be cremated.

  "Xiao Bin, go with me to the funeral parlor tonight."

  "What? At night?" Xiaobin was startled.

  "Yes, at night." Old Wei didn't allow any argument, and Xiao Bin could only mutter: "Can't go during the day? Going to look for ghosts at night?"

  Lao Wei really went to find the ghost, Lao Wei is not an atheist, he thinks that people must have a soul, as long as the body is still there, the soul will not go far, the corpse can speak, but it needs to find a way to communicate with it.

  It was already gloomy at the funeral home by 9 o'clock. Lao Wei drove with Xiao Bin, showed his ID to the gatekeeper, and went straight to the morgue. The old man in the morgue was familiar with him and joked: "Lao Wei, here again to discuss life with someone?"

  Lao Wei smiled and handed the old man a cigarette. The old man tucked the cigarette behind his ear, took out the key to unlock the door, and led the two of them into the cold storage room. He walked with ease to a refrigerated box, pulled it out, and inside was a corpse covered in white cloth. After finishing, he put the cigarette in his mouth and said: "When you're done, call me and I'll lock the door."

  "Alright." Old Wei pulled over a chair and sat down, saying to Xiao Bin: "Lift the cloth."

  "My god..." Xiaobin muttered to himself, this place was terrifying just by walking in, and the corpse under the white cloth was something he didn't want to look at again no matter what!

  Xiao Bin tucked his head to one side, lifted up the white cloth, and immediately ran far away to stand.

  Lao Wei sat beside the corpse, his eyes fixed on the face that had already lost all expression...

  Several hours passed, and Xiao Bin could no longer bear the cold and gloomy atmosphere of the morgue. The image of the corpse suddenly sitting up kept replaying in his mind, so he ran outside to chat with Old Wei. Old Wei stood silently staring at the corpse until the phone rang, and he picked it up to answer: "Hello, what's going on?"

  "Hey Wei Tou, when the police came out of the Yangpai station, they didn't understand the situation. Are you going over there?"

  "Where?" Old Wei asked.

  "The First People's Hospital."

  "Alright, I'll be right there." Old Wei hung up the phone, stood up and covered the white cloth again, sighing: "What's the point of this?"

  Lao Wei walked out of the cold storage room, and it seemed like a pair of eyes was watching him from behind.

  "Let's go to the hospital." Lao Wei interrupted Xiao Bin, who was chatting with the old man, and handed him a cigarette: "Lao Shifu, you've worked hard."

  "It's nothing, I'm used to it." The old man took the cigarette and pinched it behind his ear: "Finished talking? Finished talking, I'll send her home."

  The car drove out of the funeral home, and Xiao Bin asked with a pretended ease: "Wei Tou, what result did you get from talking to it?"

  "There is one thing."

  "Huh? Can dead people really talk?" Xiao Bin's interest was piqued.

  "He said he was wronged." Old Wei took out his phone and dialed the team's number: "What's the situation at the hospital?"

  "It's not very clear, when all the police officers from Yangzuo went out on patrol, it's said that someone was causing trouble at the hospital."

  "Alright, I understand, I'll be right there."

  Xiao Bin drove the car and said in a daze: "Isn't making trouble under the jurisdiction of public security? Why do we still need to go there?"

  "If it's a case of drug-related disturbance, then we'll take care of it." Old Wei said, and muttered to himself: "He was indeed wronged. Now let's go find some clues."

  "What? Wei Tou?" Xiaobin didn't quite catch it for a moment.

  "You'll know soon enough."

  Lao Wei rushed to the hospital, where the lobby was in an uproar. Several police officers and security guards were trying to subdue a patient, who had blood all over his face, clutching a surgical knife to his neck and shouting incoherently at the police: "Don't come any closer! None of you come any closer...!"

  Lao Wei was clearly showing typical symptoms of a drug overdose, and he was now in a semi-conscious state. The police were afraid that he might harm himself, so they didn't dare to approach him, and could only try to persuade him from a distance.

  "How is it?" Old Wei directly found the director of the police station.

  "It was like this, late at night, a few people came and sent two patients to the hospital. One of them had blood all over his face, uh, it was him." The director pointed to the person in the corner: "The other one was foaming at the mouth, but was excited and seemed to be having an epileptic seizure. When the nurse was treating the patient, the people who sent them quickly ran away. The hospital felt that something was not right, so they reported it to the police. By the time we arrived, it was like this." The director briefly introduced the situation: "I think it's due to a drug overdose. I heard that you've been investigating a drug case recently, and I think it's necessary to inform you about this."

  "Thanks for your hard work, where is the other person?" Old Wei asked.

  "Another one is being rescued now, the doctor said the situation isn't very good."

  "You guys control the scene first, I'll go find a doctor to take a look." Old Wei took a glance at the addict in the corner of the wall who was wailing, he wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. Once the effect of the drug wore off, he would collapse like a puddle of mud.

  When Lao Wei arrived at the emergency room, the doctor happened to be coming out. Lao Wei asked: "How is the patient's condition?"

  The doctor looked at him and asked: "Are you her family member?"

  "Not." Old Wei took out his police ID and showed it to the doctor for a moment.

  The doctor shook his head: "Such a young and beautiful girl... Ah..."

  "Shall we take a look?" Old Wei already understood that another life had passed away.

  In the emergency room, two nurses were gathering medical equipment, and on the hospital bed lay a stiff corpse, its face still uncovered. Old Wei walked closer to the bed, looking at the delicate features of the face, which could be described as beautiful. The face was lightly made up, with bright lip gloss still visible on the lips. Just hours before, she had been a lively and vibrant young woman who would have attracted countless admiring glances on the street, but now she was slowly growing cold and stiff.

  Lao Wei pulled over a chair and sat down in front of the bed. A nurse looked at him with some surprise, asking: "Are you her family?"

  Xiao Bin stepped forward, took out his police badge, and the nurse said "oh" and continued: "Don't take too long, we'll have the funeral home come over later."

  Lao Wei propped his hands under his chin, gazing at the exquisite and beautiful face from a very close distance, without saying a word. Xiao Bin followed suit, dragging over a chair to sit opposite Lao Wei, staring straight at that face.

  The two of them sat silently for five or six minutes without speaking. Old Wei raised his head and looked at Xiao Bin's straight gaze, asking: "What are you looking at?"

  "Huh? Oh? I'll look wherever you're looking......" Xiaobin felt a bit embarrassed.

  "Are you looking at the same thing as me?" Old Wei couldn't help but chuckle.

  "Not all...not all of her?" Xiaobin didn't understand what Lao Wei was saying.

  "Let's go and see how things are going downstairs."

  Xiao Bin stood up, took another two glances at that beautiful face, stretched out his hand to cover the quilt, and sighed with regret: "What a pity, such a pretty girl."