"Well, damn. This really was something."
Standing in the Morgue, looking at the row of bodies before him, Li Wei could not help marveling.
The Doll Bird had discovered seven bodies in total.
Li Wei had not reported them immediately. He waited until the forestry manager left, then found somewhere to telephone the Seventh Office and ask them to collect the bodies. The Seventh Office sent people under cover of darkness to sneak into the forest like thieves and bring back the remaining corpses.
Li Wei had done this mainly to prevent information from leaking. The forestry workers had no sense of confidentiality, after all, and might even seek out reporters to brag about it. One old woman dying on forestry land was hardly news, though. Reporters would not bother covering that.
But a whole group of old women dying in the forest was another matter entirely.
Including the body brought back from the Police Station, there were eight altogether.
Li Wei could not help marveling. Eight hanging themselves together-what a spectacular sight.
Of course, nobody else would understand if he said that aloud.
The preliminary autopsies had established several common points.
First, all the bodies belonged to elderly people between ninety and a hundred and ten years old.
Second, there were no external injuries or signs of poisoning. All had died of old age.
Third, none showed lividity, rigor mortis, decomposition, or any other condition that could establish an accurate time of death.
Finally, all were foreigners. Fingerprint comparisons run through the Difference Engine identified three of them as women from abroad who held tourist visas. Like the first victim, their ages did not match at all.
"What do you make of this?"
The old butler stood beside Li Wei, studying the bodies with a grave expression. Perhaps this