About ten minutes later, we stopped before a mountain cave. Da Hei barked wildly into the dark interior.
I patted its head and walked ahead of it, turning on my police flashlight and drawing my gun as I explored inside.
Da Hei followed me closely. As we ventured deeper into the cave, we discovered a patch of wall from which something like quicksand was falling with a rustling sound. Out of curiosity, I cautiously approached. I hadn't seen clearly before, but when I was less than half a meter away, I saw that the falling sand was mixed with muddy water. There must be a water source behind it, though I didn't know where it came from. I really wished I had a hammer to just smash through here, but I didn't have any tools.
The police car had tools, but everything was left outside the valley, which was sealed off by rocks.
I had no choice but to try to bypass this wall, hoping to find another way out. But there was only this one path. I was about to give up, when Da Hei suddenly sniffed the ground and seemed to have discovered something. It suddenly bolted.
This guy always makes a sudden move, nearly tripping me again. After all, the dog leash was tied to my wrist.
Pulled by it, we quickly arrived at another section of the cave wall. There was indeed a crack, and there were signs of it having been broken open by someone. I was puzzled, took a few steps back, and rammed it with my shoulder. To my surprise, the wall remained completely intact, but my shoulder ached terribly, causing immense discomfort.
It seemed brute force wouldn't work, or I would have done it earlier. However, this spot was indeed more fragile than the previous one, likely tampered with. I couldn't use my phone now, but my wireless communicator was functional. I called Gao Mingqiang over and asked another female officer to stay with He Xin. When Gao Mingqiang arrived and found me, he said, "Team leader, what are you doing? Aren't you trying to create opportunities for me?"
"There's a serious matter that needs your attention first. Since you've built a good relationship with your future father-in-law, won't it be easier to get closer to He Xin later?"
Gao Mingqiang quickly gave a thumbs-up and then asked what I needed him to do. I pointed to the cave wall not far away. Gao Mingqiang seemed to understand immediately, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work. He was quite capable, with exceptionally strong forearms and considerable strength. With a single push, the cave wall was broken open.
I looked back at his shoulder, and there wasn't even a scratch. It really proved the saying, thick skin and tough flesh.
He and I, with Da Hei in tow, walked into a hidden area behind the cave. We discovered a secret chamber deep within. However, we didn't find any bodies or anything of that sort. The ceiling here seemed to have been deliberately sealed with cement, and there was a sense of flowing water on the ground. I wondered at the time, what was this for? So strange?
We searched everywhere but couldn't figure out the purpose of this secret chamber. After hours of fruitless effort, we couldn't stand it anymore and rushed out. Otherwise, staying in such a place would drive us mad.
Upon exiting, even Da Hei stuck out its tongue and panted heavily. It took a while for us to recover a little. Then we returned to the altar. Zhang Keying had already returned. She told us that the girl had also found a place similar to the cave we discovered just now.
This meant that Ossiri Village likely harbored many such caves. But what was their purpose?
We couldn't figure it out and decided to go back and rest. Although there were no comfortable beds in the base camp, we could manage to get a night's rest.
We woke up the next afternoon. After a quick wash, we found something to eat in the village, making do with dried fruits. The current situation meant we couldn't even order takeout, so we had to make do.
However, while eating sweet potato buns, perhaps sensing we had no good food, a maid brought us several roasted chickens. The maid told us, "This is a token of Mr. Perseus's regards. You are welcome to visit his home anytime."
"Oh, please thank him for me. By the way, what's your name?" I asked.
The maid replied shyly, "Mercia."
Her pronunciation seemed a bit unclear, likely because she had just started learning Chinese.
I nodded. I was about to let her leave, but then I remembered something and asked, "Mercia, what's your relationship with Aliland?"
Upon hearing this, Mercia looked at me with a bewildered expression. At first, I thought something was wrong with her. At this moment, Zhang Keying walked over and said something to her in a jumble of words I couldn't understand, except for the word "hello." After that, I didn't understand anything.
After they finished their conversation, Mercia left. Zhang Keying turned back and told me, "This person has a good relationship with Aliland. Before the incident, she was very busy and unaware of the other person's situation. This person should not be a suspect."
"Although I didn't understand much of what you said just now, micro-expressions don't lie. I noticed her legs were trembling!"
"Then I don't know. Perhaps she's hiding something. The Perseus family is indeed becoming more problematic. Should we still eat what they sent?"
I took out a silver needle and said it was fine. After testing it and finding no poison, I had everyone share the food. Later, I asked Gao Mingqiang to send some to the surveillance personnel.
When they were tired, Zhang Keying and I took over, taking turns to keep watch. We didn't know how many days passed, maybe around three days. One morning, around 10 AM, just as we woke up, we heard shouting nearby: "How could this be! Someone come quickly!"
We recognized the tone and knew something had happened. We ran out of the base camp and followed the sound. We passed the altar without seeing anyone, so we ran further. We called back the surveillance personnel, and it wasn't until we arrived near a waterfall behind the village that we saw a crowd gathered. We pushed through some people and asked what was going on. A person who looked like a priest pointed to a stone statue above the waterfall and said, "Another person is dead!"
We looked in the direction the person indicated and saw a body pierced by the hand of a stone statue, appearing beneath the waterfall's flow. This time, the deceased was a male!
At first, we didn't recognize who he was. Xie Chuchu, Zhang Keying, and I approached the body. Under the deafening roar of the waterfall, our clothes were soaked, but we had to persevere to retrieve the body.
Putting on rubber gloves, we carefully used a scalpel to cut open the body's back. When the body was finally brought down, we discovered that the deceased was Perseus's son, Wales!!