No matter how he looked at it, Sun Zhenbang found it hard to believe this fact.
Leaving aside how a soft snake body could pierce through a person's chest, where could a snake with such power even come from—one capable of smashing a person's head to pieces?
A python was possible, but the problem was that pythons only strangled their prey to death. They simply did not attack in this manner.
"Forensic Doctor Li, you're not playing some kind of joke on me, are you?"
After reading the report, Sun Zhenbang tried to find traces of a joke on Forensic Doctor Li's face.
If he really reported this to his superiors, they would probably think something was wrong with his mental state.
Forensic Doctor Li adjusted his glasses and could not help sighing. "Although I also find this result difficult to believe, at present, we really can't find any other clues."
It was not only Sun Zhenbang who could not accept it—even they themselves found it unbelievable.
This was all the information revealed by the corpse. If it was not a snake, then why had snake scales been found at the scene? Why had snake DNA even been detected in the victim's wounds?
Little did they know that the reason these snake scales had been left behind was because Ye Qin had been struck by lightning. The fragments of snake scales were similar to human flakes of dead skin, and shedding them had been unavoidable.
Sun Zhenbang stared at the examination report in his hand. The creases between his brows were deep enough to trap a mosquito.
"Right, there's something else. Traces of a snake crawling were also detected on the damaged iron cage and the lightbulb."
Sun Zhenbang's expression had become utterly speechless, and his tone was bizarre to the extreme.
"Don't tell me you're saying that snake released all the wild animals, then killed those two Poachers to avenge them?"
Forensic Doctor Li fell silent for a moment, then coughed awkwardly several times. "That's not what I mean. It's just that, given the situation at present..."
Under Sun Zhenbang's gaze, Forensic Doctor Li's voice grew softer and softer.
Although they had indeed seen many dead snakes at the scene, this so-called "snake vengeance" sounded simply too absurd.
That snake was not some creature that had gained supernatural powers. How could it possibly have done so many things?
Yet no fingerprints belonging to anyone else had been found at the scene. No matter how careful and cautious someone was, they could not escape the examination of modern, sophisticated instruments.
"There's another point that's very strange."
"Logically speaking, all snakes should be hibernating at this time of year. Their activity and aggression should both be greatly reduced. How did this snake appear at the scene?"
If snakes had not been hibernating, those two Poachers would not have been able to kill so many of them with such ease. They had relied on their rich experience to find snakes hibernating in fixed locations, catching one after another without fail.
Sun Zhenbang speculated, "Maybe it smelled blood? Or perhaps it was woken up."
Forensic Doctor Li and the others were not veterinarians. They had no way of figuring out the reasoning behind it. After all, they investigated cases; they did not study snakes. This was outside their field.
Sun Zhenbang asked, "Do we know what kind of snake it was?"
Forensic Doctor Li shook his head.
"I don't know either, but it should have been a medium-sized nonvenomous snake."
Although they did not know the species, it was nonvenomous and not some kind of python, so it could not have caused too much harm. They might as well leave it at that.
Sun Zhenbang pondered for a moment. "I think there was someone else behind the murders. He possessed extraordinary counter-investigation skills and kept laying false trails to mislead us."
It could be said that this was a perfect murder scene inspection.
Put plainly, someone was deliberately creating a mystery. As for his purpose and motive, they were still unknown. Perhaps it was related to the Poachers.
But now that the two Poachers were dead, their trail ended here, and they could not obtain any useful information for the time being.
No matter what, Sun Zhenbang did not believe these things had been done by a snake.
Whoever it was would not have believed it either.
"Looks like we'll have to keep pursuing this and dig deeper. There must still be something we don't know."
Who would have thought that what had originally been only a poaching case would turn out to be so intricate, even implicating a murder case?
The police also uncovered Li Han's true identity.
"Well, would you look at that. He was actually a fugitive wanted by the law. He doesn't even look like a good person."
Sun Zhenbang took the information his colleague had just investigated. Although the photograph was somewhat old, it was not difficult to see that the person in it was the second victim.
"Li Mingguang, from Tianchong County, Hekou City, Southern Province. He accidentally killed a fellow villager during a dispute, then fled, changed his name to Li Han, and wandered from place to place, engaging in the illegal poaching and sale of wild animals..."
The policeman beside him shook his head while looking at the information. "Even if Li Mingguang hadn't died, with all these crimes piled together, he would probably have been sentenced to execution by firing squad. As things stand, his death was merely brought forward."
"Who can say otherwise? We followed the trail and found records of several illegal wild-animal transactions he had carried out before. The number of wild animals that died by his hand is beyond counting."
"He really was scum. His hands were stained with blood. Sure enough, Heaven still has eyes. It's not that retribution never comes—it's only that the time has not yet arrived."
"Looks like people really can't do too many evil deeds. Otherwise, sooner or later, disaster will come crashing down on them."
Listening to his colleagues' discussion, Sun Zhenbang glanced at the heavy snow outside the window. His mind recalled the heaps of snake corpses he had seen in the wooden cabin in the forest.
Could this really be the cycle of Heaven's justice, with retribution never failing?
Those who failed to treat nature well would ultimately find it difficult to meet a good end.
Sun Zhenbang smiled, feeling that he was overthinking things. He muttered to himself:
"How could that be? The snake probably just happened to crawl over the corpse, which was why it left those traces behind. After all, those animals aren't monsters. Snake vengeance is nothing but nonsense."
Another possibility was that the murderer had deliberately caught a snake and brought it to the scene, with the purpose of confusing them and diverting their attention.
With the deaths of the two Poachers, the case was far from over. They had found neither the murderer nor the murder weapon.
There was also one point that had left Sun Zhenbang completely baffled to this day.
What kind of sharp weapon could leave identical marks on the Poachers' chests and the wooden boards at the same time, while also producing cuts with such smooth surfaces?
Perhaps only after they caught the murderer could this mystery be solved.
The buyers also received the punishment they deserved. Those with minor offenses received verbal admonishment, detention, and fines, while those with serious offenses were sentenced as well.
It was worth mentioning that pulling out the radish brought up the mud.
Following the lead of Li Mingguang, the police continued their investigation and unexpectedly uncovered an organization smuggling wild animals. They rescued quite a few wild animals, making it a major achievement.
To catch the real murderer, the police set up an ambush at the foot of the mountain, blocking every road down the mountain and setting up checkpoints on the nearby highways.
Although Li Mingguang deserved to die, there were laws to punish and convict him. One matter was one matter; vicious murder was not permitted.
Therefore, the police had to catch the murderer.
Unfortunately, heavy snow began falling from the sky once again, bringing considerable trouble to their operation. They planned to wait until the snow stopped before searching the mountain.
Before that, however, the police had already sealed off the mountain and taken up positions at its foot, ready to set out at any time.
(End of Chapter)