With a shout of "We've found something," everyone who had been waiting for results rushed over, except those still busy with their tasks.
To avoid damaging potential evidence, the crowd instinctively kept their distance. Guan Xia, fortunate enough to be standing closer to the front, caught a full view—it was a human hand.
The forensic officer excavating the site worked with extreme care, brushing away the surrounding soil with gloved hands before fully exposing the pale, mud-caked palm. The fingers were stubby and short, the hand itself small—unexpectedly, the first victim uncovered was a child.
Despite the crowd, the atmosphere was heavy with silence. It felt like an eternity before a low, muttered curse broke the stillness: "Damn."
Guan Xia instinctively glanced at the marked locations they had spent over an hour identifying. A weight settled in her chest, oppressive and suffocating.
With so many markers, could each one conceal another child beneath the earth?
The realization hit her hard. Her eyes stung, and her thoughts tangled into chaos.
She stood there, dazed, until Zhong Xiaoyu tugged her arm. "Let’s go. We’re heading back."
Guan Xia blinked in surprise. "Now?"
Wang Yu chimed in, "It’s too dark. Working in low light risks missing crucial evidence. The team’s here to confirm the findings first—they’ll focus all lighting on one spot for careful excavation. Our part’s done for now, so we’re leaving."
Guan Xia hesitated, her gaze drifting to Xu Nian, who was speaking with the lead officer. Then she turned back to the marked areas and nodded. "Alright. Let’s go."
As she shouldered her backpack and adjusted the straps, the long-dormant system interface abruptly flickered to life.
Her pulse quickened—had she accidentally triggered a clue? But a closer look revealed it was just the "halo" recharging.
It took her a moment to connect the dots: the two middle-aged men arrested at noon. Yet confusion followed.
Nearly eight or nine hours had passed since their capture—they should’ve been processed by now. Why was the halo only charging at this moment? And what about last night’s discovery, the perpetrator of the "0217 Massacre"? Though he’d been shot dead rather than arrested, surely her contribution counted. Did elimination not qualify?
Questions swarmed her mind as she mechanically followed the group, analyzing the situation.
After a long moment of reflection, it dawned on her: she had heard gunshots the previous night, but she wasn’t the first to notice or confirm them.
Due to her limited role, only Zhong Xiaoyu—armed with Qi Bai’s binoculars—had gone to investigate. Later, while discussing with Pang Le the possibility of the armed suspect being the 0217 killer, all the case details had come from Xu Nian. They’d likely pieced it together before she had.
In other words, she hadn’t provided any concrete assistance or uncovered previously unknown information about the case.
As for those two middle-aged men, Guan Xia pondered thoughtfully. Based on the time the system displayed for the halo's energy recharge, she deduced that although she hadn’t provided substantial help initially, she had spent the afternoon tracking traces, marking the burial site, and finally uncovering the body.
This system doesn’t seem very intelligent, but it’s surprisingly strict, Guan Xia muttered to herself, feeling like she had grasped a bit more of the halo’s charging rules.
Having barely slept the night before and busied herself all day, Guan Xia hadn’t noticed her exhaustion while her nerves were tense. But now that she had relaxed, her whole body ached, and drowsiness weighed heavily on her, making it hard to keep her eyes open.
Struggling to walk out of the wild mountains and getting a ride back to their parked car from the responding police officers, Guan Xia mechanically climbed into the vehicle. The moment she sat down, she dozed off in a daze.
She wasn’t sure how many hours had passed when someone shook her awake. Blinking groggily, Guan Xia looked up to see Pang Le, who rubbed her face firmly and said, “Wake up. We’re about to enter Yongquan City. Zhong Xiaoyu suggested grabbing a late-night snack before heading straight to bed. What do you feel like eating?”
It took Guan Xia a few seconds to sit up properly before replying, “I’m fine with anything. You guys decide. You were the main force during this mountain trip—you must be starving. I’ll just eat whatever you choose.”
Pang Le nodded. “Alright.”
With that, she pulled out her phone and started tapping rapidly on the screen, presumably sending messages in the group chat.
Still feeling sluggish, Guan Xia rubbed her face vigorously to wake herself up. Once slightly more alert, she asked Pang Le, “By the way, when did you get back? I didn’t see you in the car last night.”
Pang Le, typing swiftly, answered offhandedly, “I was only about half an hour behind you. I came back with Sister Ji. The two local detectives stayed behind at the scene after reinforcements arrived.”
Pang Le’s words reminded Guan Xia of last night’s discovery, and her mood instantly grew heavier.
After sending her messages, Pang Le noticed Guan Xia’s listlessness and quickly figured out the reason. She wrapped an arm around Guan Xia and patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t overthink it. Look at it this way—if we hadn’t stumbled upon this by coincidence, who knows how many more victims there might have been? Even though we couldn’t save the previous victims, we at least stopped another one from happening.”
Guan Xia felt slightly better after hearing this. Thinking it over, she realized that if it hadn’t been for the murderer from the 0217 massacre case, they wouldn’t have taken that hidden but relatively safe path, nor would they have coincidentally encountered those two men leaving the burial site. Who knew how much longer this long-active criminal organization would have gone undetected?
Pang Le gave Guan Xia’s face another playful squeeze. “Oh, by the way, we just settled on a plan in the group chat. Qi Bai was the loudest, insisting on hot pot. He said his legs were jelly after two days of running around and that he needed meat. Zhong Xiaoyu agreed, so everyone went along with it. Do you want to ask Meng Lan if she’s coming?”
Guan Xia instinctively reached for her phone and was startled to see it was already past 1 a.m. Hesitating, she wondered if Meng Lan might already be asleep at this hour.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Guan Xia finally sent a message to ask. To her surprise, the moment the message was sent, Meng Lan called her immediately.
"Guan Xia? You're finally back?" Meng Lan asked excitedly, her voice tinged with concern. "Are you all okay? No one got hurt, right?"
"We're all fine, don't worry," Guan Xia reassured her before adding curiously, "It's so late—why aren't you asleep yet?"
Meng Lan let out a relieved sigh. "I did sleep. As soon as we got back to the hotel, I ate something quick and crashed. Woke up around 11 p.m., checked my phone, and saw you still hadn’t sent any updates. I got worried and stayed up waiting."
Guan Xia felt a pang of guilt. "Sorry, Meng Lan. I didn’t expect us to be out so late either—"
Before she could finish, Meng Lan cut in, "Come on, it’s not like you could control it. Why apologize? If anything, it’s my fault for impulsively picking that place. Thank goodness we all made it out in one piece—otherwise, I’d be kowtowing in apology. Anyway, after a whole day of work, did you find anything useful? I hope it wasn’t a wasted trip."
Guan Xia replied, "We did make some discoveries, but because of confidentiality rules, I don’t know much, and I can’t share details."
Meng Lan nodded understandingly. "I get it. I’ve watched enough crime dramas to know you can’t leak anything before a case is officially closed. I’m just glad you made progress and didn’t spend the day for nothing."
Guan Xia’s mind flashed to the corpse—only a hand visible—and she steadied her voice. "It wasn’t wasted effort, don’t worry. Since you’re awake, want to grab some late-night snacks?"
"Sure!" Meng Lan agreed readily. "We said we’d have a proper chat anyway. Let’s talk over food. Besides, your friends all seem reliable—practically family—maybe they can even help me sort through some things."
After hanging up, Guan Xia turned to Pang Le. "Meng Lan’s up. Once we decide on a place, I’ll send her the location. She’ll get ready and meet us."
Pang Le cracked his neck. "Perfect. A bit late, but at least we’re sticking to the original plan."
Guan Xia glanced at Ji An, who was driving, and Zhong Xiaoyu, who was scrolling through her phone. "By the way, I haven’t asked—did you find anything on your end tonight?"
Before Pang Le could answer, Zhong Xiaoyu suddenly turned around. "While you were asleep, we compared notes. They found a body too."
Though she’d braced herself, Guan Xia’s heart still dropped. "Another child?"
Pang Le shook his head. "We stayed longer at our site. The coroner did a preliminary exam—the body was badly decomposed, but based on tooth wear, the victim was around 15 or 16. Female."
Guan Xia frowned. "Such a big age gap between the two burial sites? The body we found was buried recently, so it was well-preserved. Judging by the skin condition and hand size, the child was very young—under ten, probably between six and eight."
Having grown up in an orphanage, Guan Xia had been around enough children to make an educated guess from the limited details.
Ji An drove while splitting a bit of his attention to listen to their discussion. He chimed in, "We analyzed this earlier—most of the victims are women and children, especially underage girls. It’s highly likely this criminal organization is primarily involved in human trafficking."
Pang Le stroked his chin and said, "That’s the logical conclusion, but something feels off. Yongquan City is right next to Yuanshan City, a tourist destination backed by the Cuiping Mountains. If they were really traffickers, wouldn’t they operate more widely? Why would they kidnap people right on their own doorstep?"
Zhong Xiaoyu added, "Didn’t Sister Ji mention earlier? What we found might not be their main base—just a transit point. They could be bringing people in from elsewhere, processing them here, burying those who die of illness in the mountains, and shipping the rest off."
Guan Xia listened intently but soon caught something odd. Hesitantly, she asked, "Wait, the victim you found—the one around fifteen or sixteen—was the cause of death confirmed? Was it really illness?"
Ji An replied, "Due to limited conditions, the coroner only performed a preliminary autopsy. The remaining skin showed signs of trauma, though the exact instrument hasn’t been identified yet. But it’s certain she suffered abuse before death, which aligns somewhat with the methods of human trafficking rings."
Guan Xia sighed. "Just from what we’ve uncovered, there are two burial sites. We don’t know how many bodies are on your end, but our side estimates at least ten. And if that many died, imagine how many were actually sold. It’s hard to believe such a large-scale criminal organization exists so close to us."
Pang Le also sighed. "It’s terrifying to think about. But looking at it another way, if this really is a transit point, following the trail could lead us to multiple gangs and rescue countless victims."
Pang Le always knew how to lift Guan Xia’s spirits. With those words, her mood lightened a little.
After sending their location to Meng Lan and driving another twenty minutes, they finally arrived at their destination.
Guan Xia stepped out of the car and glanced at the sign—a 24-hour health hotpot restaurant, famous for its variety of meats.
Qi Bai’s eyes lit up, and without a second thought, he dashed inside in a few quick strides, Zhong Xiaoyu right behind him. Guan Xia stretched her arms and legs before leisurely following.
Since their group was large, they settled into a private dining room. Just as the broth was brought to the table, Meng Lan rushed in, breathless.
She was in such a hurry that Guan Xia heard the rapid patter of her footsteps before even seeing her.
After greeting everyone, Meng Lan plopped down beside Guan Xia and said, "I was racing over, afraid I’d keep you all waiting."
Guan Xia took the water cup Xu Nian handed her and placed it in front of Meng Lan. "You’re actually early—the broth hasn’t even boiled yet. Have some snacks first."
She nudged the plate of snacks toward Meng Lan, who tore open a bag of mini twist crackers and popped one into her mouth. Glancing around, she hesitated. "Should I wait to talk? Maybe everyone should eat first, and I’ll share after we’ve filled our stomachs."
"Don't stop now," Guan Xia hadn't even had a chance to speak when Zhong Xiaoyu leaned in with a curious expression. "I've been wondering about this the whole way here. You go ahead and talk—I'll just listen with my ears. It won't interfere with eating, so go on."
Qi Bai chimed in, "Exactly, chatting while eating is fine. No problem at all. Go ahead, we’re all ears."
Guan Xia couldn’t help but glance at Zhong Xiaoyu and Qi Bai with amusement. Though they worked in different fields and had just met for the first time, their lack of familiarity didn’t stop them from being oddly in sync.
Pang Le nodded in agreement. "He’s right. You talk, we’ll listen. It won’t slow down the meal. But if you’re hungry, eat first and then tell us."
Meng Lan shook her head. "I had some bread earlier—the kind I bought for hiking—so I’m not too hungry. Should I go ahead, then?" She looked at Guan Xia for confirmation and only continued after receiving a nod.
"What I’m about to tell you happened last year. I…" Meng Lan paused, her gaze flickering to Guan Xia again before she went on. "Last year, I met someone—a middle-aged woman. She seemed religious, a bit eccentric. I was sitting by the lake when she suddenly sat down beside me and started saying all these strange things."
As Guan Xia listened, the details sounded vaguely familiar. It didn’t take long for her to realize—last year, the lakeside, a middle-aged woman—wasn’t this the very incident she had been fixated on uncovering?
