Chapter 1174: Mystery Within a Mystery
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Actually, the thing that I’m most puzzled by and can’t figure out is…” Pang Zhihui began, still eagerly sharing his professional knowledge and insights, “that we totally didn’t expect the coffin to be completely empty! There was nothing in it at all!
“For many years, I have participated in the excavations of hanging coffins,” he said, spreading his hands. “Even if the body is rotten, there should, at the very least, be some teeth, hair, and other residues remaining! But the insides of these seven coffins were completely empty. There was not even any corpse oil present. It was as if it had never been filled!”
“Could it be… the bodies were stolen?” Ran Tao asked. “Such a good Seven Star Hanging Coffin could have attracted grave robbers, and they would have cleaned out the contents inside! Uhm, wait…” Before Ran Tao had even finished his sentence, he backtracked on what he had been saying. “I guess grave robbers wouldn’t have taken the corpses away…”
“Yeah! Grave robbing isn’t this clean!” Pang Zhihui said. “The hanging coffin themselves are a mystery, and the Seven Star Hanging Coffins are undoubtedly a mystery as well!”
“It’s pretty incredulous!” Ran Tao said, scratching his head and turning to Zhao Yu. “Leader, say, could it be that this hanging coffin case is related to some secret fengshui or something? Or could it be that someone is using the hanging coffins as a prelude to something?”
“That can’t be, right?” Pang Zhihui said, frowning suddenly. “In order to open up this scenic spot, we did a large-scale survey about the Seven Star Hanging Coffin. However, until now, it remains a mystery, and nobody knows the origins behind the Seven Star Hanging Coffin!
“Also, the locals are also very respectful of the hanging coffins and normally, nobody would have even dared to think about opening them!”
“Hmm… that means…” Ran Tao raised an eyebrow. “The murderer isn’t a local…?”
As he said this, Ran Tao saw Zhao Yu bend over and look down the cliff again. Zhao Yu had bent too far forward and Ran Tao quickly reminded him of the danger, saying, “Hey, boss! Be careful! Even though it’s water below…”
He had wanted to say, ‘once you fall over, you’re done for!’ but thought it was inauspicious and quickly stopped.
“This cliff wall… isn’t it vertical?” Zhao Yu asked, still bending over to look.
“Yes, yes!” Pang Zhihui answered hurriedly. “The cliff face slants inwards by six to seven degrees, and it is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The cliffs are 67 meters in height and the hanging coffins are positioned between the 20 to 40-meter marks!
“That way, even if there are any falling rocks from the cliff, they will not damage the hanging coffins below!” Saying this, Pang Zhihui shook his fists in the air. “Unfortunately, the one fell off yesterday because of an electrical pole. The electrical pole spun around in the air, hitting the corner of one of the hanging coffins. That was really, urgh…”
“President Pang! You can’t say that!” Ran Tao said. “Although a little bit of a cultural relic was damaged, it was a blessing in disguise to stumble upon such a big case! Otherwise, who knows when these poor girls would have been found?”
“Well, leader…” Pang Zhihui began nervously, seemingly having thought of something. “How was it? Did you manage to find out the identity of those girls? They… they weren’t murdered, right…?”
“Well, that…” Ran Tao was about to answer the question.
However, Zhao Yu suddenly interrupted. “You don’t need to know about that! From what I see, let’s think about how the murderer could have carried the bodies to the hanging coffins instead!
“President Pang,” Zhao Yu said, pointing below the cliff. “You said that since the mountain slopes inwards, nobody can climb up from below?”
“Uhm, yep. That’s about right…!” Pang Zhihui said nervously. “I feel that even if someone were able to climb, it would be impossible to climb up with a dead body in hand!”
“That’s true, even though it was a little girl…” Ran Tao began, shaking his head. “But it’s also a bit of weight. To just climb up like that, it is a little strange, right?”
“There’s water under the cliff…” Zhao Yu said, stretching out his neck to take a look. “It is not possible to use a machine either. Hey, Ran Tao, let’s find some climbing experts later!” he said, instructing Ran Tao.
“Also, take someone to the bottom of the cliff and check it out for yourself. If someone did indeed climb up, there should be some chisel marks on the mountain,” Zhao Yu said.
“No, no, no!” Pang Zhihui said, unexpectedly shaking his head. “Leader, you might not know this, no, you definitely don’t know this! All the mountains here are structured by granite, and granite is one of the hardest kinds of rock! If it were just one person, it would take a whole lot of effort to even dent them!”
“But I heard that when climbing, you don’t necessarily need to make a hole. You can just use some of the natural cracks in the rocks and put wedge holders in them!” Zhao Yu retorted.
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“Leader, I’m telling you the truth!” Pang Zhihui said politely. “Nobody knows more about the Seven Stars Hanging Coffins in the entire Fulai province than I do!
“There are definitely no cracks under the cliff!”
“What?” Zhao Yu was taken aback.
“One more thing, Baisha River, as the name implies, holds a lot of white sand!” [1] Pang Zhihui said, pointing to the river below. “So, on the side nearest to the cliff, the water is very, very shallow and is filled with sand. Shipment boats usually steer clear of the area as they are worried about being stranded!
“If anyone really dared to climb, once they fell, death would be inevitable, so…” Pang Zhihui said seriously. “Climbing is almost like a foreign term to us!”
“Tsch!” Although Zhao Yu didn’t like the way Pang Zhihui was speaking, he had no choice but to admit that the man was right.
Thus, he stepped back, left the cliff, and turned his attentions elsewhere.
At that time, the staff was changing the position of the scaffolding in preparation for reaching out to the next hanging coffin.
Seeing this, Zhao Yu thought of something and said to Pang Zhihui, “President Pang, yesterday, the vehicle with the electrical pole. What was it like?”
“Well… it was yellow in color!” Pang Zhihui answered quickly, not knowing what Zhao Yu meant. “One was equipped with an impact drill for pitting, and the other was holding the electrical pole and preparing to insert it.”
“Was it big?” Zhao Yu asked again.
“Not particularly big.” Pang Zhihui gestured. “It was more like an ordinary small excavator!”
“Do you think…” Zhao Yu said, “If you put the scaffolding and scissor lifts on those two cars, could they bear the weight?”
“Ah! I see! That’s what you wanted to ask!” Pang Zhihui said quickly, finally understanding. “Leader, you really asked the right person! I bet you didn’t know this, but I was a physics major when I was in college!
“Give me a second. I can use a calculator and make some rough calculations and see whether this idea you talked about is feasible…”
As he spoke, he took out his phone and began to calculate. While calculating, he also mumbled about the scaffolding. “Assuming the lightest scaffold weights 50kg, and the scissor lift can basically be calculated at about 50kg… and then factoring in the ropes and the people…”
Seeing President Pang deep in thought, Zhao Yu didn’t want to interrupt him and waited patiently with Ran Tao.
In the end, not even three minutes had passed before President Pang raised his head and said to Zhao Yu with certainty, “Leader, it’s not possible! If the scaffolding and lift were to be fixed onto two large vehicles, then they would have to be at least one third larger than the two cars yesterday!
“Also, one more thing,” he continued, “The scaffolding would need to be fixed entirely on one place. If it is not fixed on the ground, it must be fixed on the car! So…”
“So… the driver must be of a particularly high standard!” Zhao Yu said, pointing to the cliff without any obstacles. “The car must have been driven to the very edge of the cliff!”
“Yes, that’s what I meant!” Pang Zhihui said, nodding.
“Ha!” Zhao Yu let out a grin when he heard that. “If that’s the case, then this seems to be easy!”
“Why?” Pang Zhihui and Ran Tao asked simultaneously.
“President Pang!” Zhao Yu said, turning and pointing behind him. “Is there only one road to this cliff? The road that we came from?”
“Yes!” Pang Zhihui nodded.
“I just noticed that a camera was installed on that road!” Zhao Yu said, snapping his fingers. “So, all we have to do is check if there have been any large vehicles on this cliff recently. Perhaps this case is not that difficult to solve!”
[1]: Baisha is literally ‘white sand’