Although Gu Chen didn't know if there were other abnormalities in the woods, judging from the overall scene, the deceased was lying in the snow, and there was no one in the tent.
It's hard to believe that the other two people just disappeared out of thin air.
If these three people encountered some dangers, at least they were the same as the two travelers who set up tents at the waterfall.
Then the three of them would inevitably choose to escape quickly without weapons in their hands.
Especially in this environment, jumping down from here is actually the best way to escape.
Of course, Gu Chen also made some common sense judgments based on his own experience and after investigating the surrounding environment.
With the light from his companions above, Gu Chen's movements became much easier.
But if you want to examine the hinterland of the woods, you must go deep into the woods.
Since Gu Chen had repeatedly conducted map surveys of the landforms of Centenary Peak before climbing the mountain, Gu Chen knew that he could only cross over from the cliff side.
In fact, we will reach the forest path that we passed through before the fork in the road.
After a pause, Gu Chen shouted to Lu Weiwei on the cliff: "Senior Sister Lu, take the people and walk along the ridgeline. We will meet at the forest trail at the bottom of the mountain, where I tied the red stripe last time.
That path."
"I understand, but Junior Brother Gu, you have to be careful. It will take a long time for us to cross the ridgeline." Lu Weiwei also knew very well that it was too risky for Gu Chen to do this.
The fire brigade leader also reminded: "Gu Bureau, it's too dangerous for you to venture in like this alone. How about I send someone down to assist you?"
"That's okay." Gu Chen was also worried that he didn't have any helpers, and the fire brigade leader also had professional tools in his hands.
With the assistance of the fire rescue team, I might be able to get twice the result with half the effort, so I happily agreed.
As a result, everyone began to divide the work above. Some police officers stayed in place and continued to search the surrounding situation with the tent as the center.
Lu Weiwei, on the other hand, led another group of people, preparing to walk down the mountain along the ridgeline, preparing to meet Gu Chen on the forest trail.
The fire brigade leader, along with several members of the rescue team, used the help of ropes to lower directly to Gu Chen's side.
After retracting the rope, the fire leader adjusted the angle of the bright flashlight on his helmet and curiously asked Gu Chen:
"By the way, Director Gu, why did you come to this place to investigate? What is there to investigate in this cliff location? Did you find anything?"
"Not yet." Facing the fire brigade's curiosity, Gu Chen shook his head and denied it.
When the fire brigade leader heard this, he was also curious and said: "You didn't find anything, so you just took the risk?"
With a heavy sigh, the fire brigade leader, who seemed to have regained the initiative, also hurriedly said:
"Gu Bureau, I know that you may be a good person in handling cases."
"But professional matters have to be left to professionals. I think it would be more professional to leave this kind of matter to us."
"It's very dangerous for you to come down so hastily. I hope you..."
"I understand, but now that we're down, let's start working." Before the fire brigade leader could finish speaking, Gu Chen interrupted directly.
The fire brigade leader looked helpless, but since Gu Chen was also the deputy chief, he thought about it and let it go.
If a normal member of his team dared to act like this without authorization, he would have slapped his helmet on his face.
Since they heard about Gu Chen's deeds last night, the fire brigade leader knew that Gu Chen was at least somewhat capable, and everyone had to discuss many things.
So he took several of his team members and followed Gu Chen.
Gu Chen used a strong flashlight to continuously illuminate the surrounding vegetation. Since it was snowing, the ground here was already covered with a layer of white.
Only the roots of the trees, blocked by some leaves, can barely reveal some vegetation.
However, there are also many trees that are directly downrooted during heavy snowfall because they cannot withstand the accumulation of snow.
Therefore, in this forest, everyone can only keep walking back and forth, and there are many broken branches around.
"Wait a minute." Just when Gu Chen came to an open space, Gu Chen suddenly stopped.
When other personnel saw this, they all froze on the spot.
"Crunch!"
There was a crisp sound of branches breaking, which quickly aroused everyone's vigilance.
Gu Chen raised his head and looked around, and saw a branch above his head that seemed to be broken by the snow. He quickly reminded everyone: "Spread out, everyone, spread out quickly."
As the words fell, the twisting sounds of various branches breaking were heard, and a dark branch above his head collapsed from a high place in an instant.
Fortunately, everyone was prepared and immediately dispersed in all directions.
With a muffled sound of "bang", a burst of white mist instantly exploded in front of everyone.
The snowflakes were blown away in all directions.
"It was so dangerous, so close." A member of the rescue team broke into a cold sweat from fear and couldn't help wiping the sweat on his forehead.
The fire brigade leader also took a deep breath and complained to Gu Chen: "Gu Bureau, you are ignoring the good mountain roads and insist on going to such a dangerous place."
"You also know that once there is heavy snow in this mountain, many trees will be broken by the heavy snow."
"And we are now in this dense forest. Along the way, you have also seen that there are crushed trees everywhere."
"I think if we continue like this, sooner or later the boat will capsize in the gutter."
"Everyone just pay attention. Since you have come down, you have to bear the risk." Gu Chen listened, but for now he still focuses on investigation.
Therefore, Gu Chen will not give up just yet.
In fact, this kind of danger is indeed everywhere, but fortunately there is a time difference in the falling process.
When everyone hears the sound of trees exploding around them, they can react immediately.
The tree trunk that is about to break will also cause a burst of snowflakes, so everyone actually has enough time to react.
For everyone in this team, everyone usually has various trainings, so the reaction speed is enough to deal with this kind of situation.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Gu Chen just continued to search forward after a brief communication.
But the flashlight light will also shine overhead from time to time.
In just ten minutes' journey, everyone had to avoid the risk of broken trees three times.
The fire brigade leader was a little dissatisfied, but he quickly caught up with Gu Chen and reminded him again: "Gu Bureau, why don't we evacuate? It's really dangerous here."
"I know." Gu Chen stood there, not looking at the fire brigade leader. He was constantly observing the surrounding situation according to the light.
"Go back a little." Before the fire brigade leader could say anything, Gu Chen motioned for everyone to go back.
Although no one asked why, they still obeyed.
Two seconds later, directly in front of everyone, there was a sudden sound of trees bursting.
Soon, a thick branch fell continuously under the obstruction of several branches, and finally landed directly in front of Gu Chen.
As it landed, there was another burst of snowflakes.
"Oh my god." The fire brigade leader collapsed, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and complained to Gu Chen:
"I told Gu Ju, I was really frightened along the way."
"If nothing else, we are still walking at night, and the visibility is not good to begin with."
"If I continue like this, I feel like I can't do it without burning incense. I have to think about my team members."
"Your thoughts are right." After shining a flashlight around, Gu Chen looked at the fire brigade leader and expressed his opinion:
"You can choose to evacuate now, but I must stay. I must understand the situation around the crime scene."
"But, what's there to investigate?" The fire brigade leader looked around and spread his hands and said:
"This is a dense forest. We didn't even see any footprints. We're wasting time here. We might as well go to the ridgeline and check it carefully."
"But didn't you already check around the ridgeline yesterday?" As soon as the fire team leader finished speaking, Gu Chen directly answered.
This statement immediately made the fire brigade incapable of doing anything.
Seeing this, the members of the fire rescue team on the side also hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over and said: "Captain, what you said makes sense, but what Bureau Gu said also makes sense."
"Shut up." Feeling that his authority was being challenged, the fire brigade leader rolled his eyes at his team members, seemingly still sulking.
When the firefighter took a look, he felt that there was no human being inside and outside, so he shut up obediently and did not dare to say anything.
Gu Chen said slowly: "Last night, you did search along the ridgeline, but you didn't find any other corpses."
"This shows that even if you go to check again, it is unlikely that you will find anything new."
"Then instead of doing this, why can't we find another way? If I were the murderers, or the two remaining travel companions, when I was in a panic and had to avoid being chased, jumping from here would definitely be the best choice."
"But how can you tell that the other party jumped from here?" The fire brigade leader was a little confused.
At this time, Gu Chen did not hide it, but directly took out one of the rocks from his pocket and threw it to the fire brigade leader.
The fire brigade leader took a look and saw that there seemed to be some signs of wear and tear on the rocks, so he looked at Gu Chen curiously.
"I picked up this rock on the edge of the cliff. It has wear marks, which should be scratches from some metal."
"Metal scratches?" After hearing Gu Chen's words, the fire brigade leader was a little confused.
So Gu Chen quickly added: "I've seen those gangsters before. They came here wearing jackets, but all over their bodies, only the zippers on the pockets were made of metal."
"I suspect that when they jumped from here, they chose the same method as I did, that is, climbing on the rocks with their hands behind their backs, and then reducing the drop of the cliff so that they would not be injured when they jumped."
"This is also a way to protect yourself, but in this way, the pocket zipper position of the jacket will inadvertently rub against the rocks on the edge of the cliff."
"Oh, I understand." As soon as Gu Chen finished speaking, the firefighter on the side quickly replied:
"That's why this stone has such wear marks. It's caused by wear and tear when someone climbed down from the cliff."
Looking up at Gu Chen, the firefighter also looked curious, and asked Gu Chen: "But Director Gu, how did you discover such a tiny detail?"
"Use your eyes." Gu Chen pointed at his eyes with two fingers of his hand.
"Can you see clearly? It's only at night. We may not be able to see the rocks in front of us clearly using lights, but you can?"
At this time, another firefighter said incredulously.
Everyone also instantly shined their flashlight lights directly in front of them.
Indeed, even with a strong flashlight, it is still difficult to detect these small details when shining on the ground.
So whether you are professional or not can be determined from this moment.
The fire brigade leader was also embarrassed by Gu Chen's analysis. He felt that Gu Chen around him was a bit scary, especially since he seemed to be far more sensitive to the surrounding environment than ordinary people.
Grabbing the stone with wear marks from his teammates, the fire brigade leader held it in his hands and looked around, and found that the situation was indeed as Gu Chen analyzed.
So he looked up at Gu Chen and asked curiously: "So you just used this stone to conclude that someone was passing by at the foot of the mountain?"
"Yeah." Gu Chen nodded slightly and couldn't help but said:
"I judged from the surrounding environment that there must have been a related fight at that time, but now because it is covered in heavy snow and there are many traces, we cannot judge for the time being."
"But if it were me, facing an unfavorable situation, I would definitely choose to jump off the cliff to escape."
"First of all, the cliff drop is not that big. Although the slope is nearly 70 degrees, the ground is covered with snow, which can act as a buffer."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "So choosing to jump off this cliff and quickly escape into the woods is a good choice. At least if it were me, I would do this.
.”
"Okay." I felt that what Gu Chen said was clear and logical, and the key was that he found the rubbing stone.
This evidence was found by others. No matter how many complaints the fire brigade leader had, he still had to admire Gu Chen.
After all, such keen observation is not something ordinary people can achieve.
After hearing about Gu Chen's situation leading the team last night, the fire brigade leader realized.
The handsome young man standing next to him now may have a great background.
From the fact that Gu Chen became the deputy director of the Furong Branch of the Jiangnan City Public Security Bureau at such a young age, it is easy to see that he has real talent and learning.
Otherwise, no matter how hard-core the background relationship is, you will not be able to win everyone's knees.
But now, Gu Chen only used a small clue that was not easy to find, and the fire brigade leader was somewhat impressed.
After a pause, the fire brigade leader asked Gu Chen again: "What should we do now?"
"Keep looking, because it has been snowing for so long. Even if the other party left footprints in the snow, they would have been erased by the snow."
"We can only find clues in the woods by ourselves. This will be very difficult, but we just have a direction for investigation."
"Okay." Listening to Gu Chen's mature words, the fire brigade leader took a deep breath and said helplessly: "I'll just listen to you."
"Wherever you tell us to go, we will go and we will help you."
"Okay." With these words from the fire brigade leader, Gu Chen stopped talking and said directly to everyone: "Everyone, hurry up and follow me. We need to hurry up now."
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Chen didn't think too much and began to speed up the pace in the snow. He directly used his hands with cold-proof gloves to break the blocking branches and move them over.
There was no road, so Gu Chen walked out of a road. He didn't know how long everyone walked. Gu Chen came to a flat area, so he immediately stopped and began to observe his surroundings.
The fire brigade leader followed Gu Chen closely, and when he saw Gu Chen standing there, he quickly came to Gu Chen's side, followed Gu Chen's gaze, and carefully observed the surrounding situation.
Seeing this, everyone else started searching in the same way.
"If it were me who had walked through those steep slopes, or even gotten rid of the pursuit behind me, then I would definitely rest temporarily in this gentle area."
While talking, Gu Chen found a large tree in a perfect location and immediately walked towards the tree.
The fire brigade leader gasped a few times and followed Gu Chen closely.
When Gu Chen came to the big tree, he quickly discovered some abnormalities from the bark of the big tree.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Gu Chen staring blankly at the big tree, the fire brigade leader was also curious.
Gu Chen pointed to the tree trunk and said, "The branches here have been broken by humans."
"Has it been broken by humans?" After hearing what Gu Chen said, the fire brigade leader immediately turned his attention to the tree trunk again.
Sure enough, there were two small branches at the trunk of the tree, which seemed to have been deliberately broken by someone.
Especially this kind of breakage does not look like it was broken by heavy snow. It has obvious human traces.
"Did that group of people do it?" the fire brigade leader said.
"It was someone who escaped and did it while he was resting." Gu Chen added.
The fire brigade leader was a little confused and looked at Gu Chen again.
Gu Chen pushed aside the fire brigade leader and restored it in front of everyone:
"First of all, the terrain here is relatively gentle and there are not too many slopes, so it is suitable for a short rest."
"If I had to choose to rest here, then I would choose to lean against this big tree with my back."
"Preventing yourself from sliding down the mountain can give your body a good support."
After finishing his words, Gu Chen looked at the surrounding trees and continued to explain: "Other trees are not good. The branches are too thin. Once a person gets close to them, the branches may be broken."
"But this big, strong tree has two small trunks stretching out from the steep slope."
"If I want to rest here, I will inevitably bend these two tree trunks to one side, so in this way, there will be such a break mark, because people can lie down in this position."
"So that's it?" After hearing what Gu Chen said, several firefighters also looked at each other and began to discuss in low voices.
I feel that Gu Chen's observation ability is indeed several dimensions beyond everyone else's.
When you follow Gu Chen, you always seem to find something unexpected.
The fire brigade leader saw all this and coughed twice deliberately, and then echoed Gu Chen in a positive tone:
"Yes, what you said makes sense. The situation should be exactly what you mentioned."
"If it were me, I would do the same."
"Yes." Gu Chen nodded slightly and continued: "Now that it is clear that someone has indeed rested here, then similar situations will inevitably remain around."
"That is, the branches on the trunk of the tree that lean toward the hillside will be broken artificially."
"Because if you want to rest, you have to do this, otherwise you won't even be able to stand here."
While talking, everyone looked at each other.
Indeed, at this moment, everyone is standing on a slope of about 40 degrees, which is relatively gentle.
But you also need to turn your body sideways, with your legs higher and lower, with your left leg bent and your right leg straight, as support.
This will consume a lot of energy, but if you lean against a big tree, it will save your energy very well.
The fire brigade leader, who understood what Gu Chen meant, immediately reminded the team members behind him:
"Let's all search separately to see if there are any similar trees. By the way, look for thick trees. Those that are too thin will break easily."
"Understood." After hearing what the fire brigade leader said, everyone immediately spread out and started looking for the same plants.
Gu Chen, on the other hand, stood there and continued to observe the situation around him.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Because the trees here are relatively dense, it is very easy to block the view.
Even if Gu Chen has a master's level of observation, it is difficult to use it in places with blind spots.
At this time, it reflects the advantage of having more people to get things done. Let everyone search separately, and the speed can be much faster.
"Report, artificially broken branches were found here." While Gu Chen was waiting quietly, a young firefighter reported not far away.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and started running towards the team member.
"Where is it?" The fire brigade leader pushed the team member away, and then discovered the same scene as everyone just saw.
It is still a big tree, but there are signs of broken branches near the slope, and the signs of man-made damage are very obvious.
"It seems that this person ran all the way down the mountain. There may be others below. Let's continue searching and make sure to find the accurate direction."
With Gu Chen's guiding ideology, the current fire brigade leaders are much smarter and can give orders.
So everyone continued to use this big tree as a basis and began to spread out in all directions, looking for the next direction.
"Report!"
"Report!"
"Report!"
…
As the reports came one after another, everyone quickly arrived at the hinterland of the dense forest.
At this moment, everything in the surrounding sky could not be seen clearly, it was all blocked by the dense jungle.
But the team members found more and more traces.
When everyone came to a place with a slope of only about 20 degrees, the fire team leader looked at Gu Chen and asked curiously:
"Speaking of Director Gu, if this person is one of the other two travel companions, then during his escape, he walked all the way here and left traces along the way."
"Isn't it true that he is not afraid of being discovered by the people behind him?"
"Of course I'm afraid." Facing the fire brigade leader's inquiry, Gu Chen silently nodded in affirmation.
"Then why? Why are these traces still left?" the fire leader continued to ask.
"The reason is very simple." Gu Chen circled the big tree in front of him for half a circle, and then said again:
"Because when people are extremely scared, they won't think too much and just run forward."
"Furthermore, no matter how you run, under the circumstances, you are running blindly, and you will definitely leave various footprints along the way."
With a faint sigh, Gu Chen added: "So, under the circumstances at that time, even if you didn't leave any traces on the trees, your footprints would expose you."
"However, if you are sure that you are far away from the opponent, or are sure that the opponent is no longer chasing you, you may be able to take a short rest next to these big trees."
"But rest is a rest, and necessary vigilance is still required. Therefore, when the other party finds that someone is continuing to follow, they will immediately continue running downwards."
After a pause, Gu Chen looked at everyone and said slowly: "We are unable to exert our physical strength under such terrain conditions, because it is affected by the terrain and cannot fly."
"And these travel companions are considered to be experienced. Their walking speed in the mountains and forests is definitely faster than others, so why not leave these traces behind? As long as they can escape."
"That's right." Listening to Gu Chen's explanation, many things that he couldn't figure out in his mind were instantly solved.
The fire brigade leader couldn't help but give a thumbs up and said: "It seems you have to take care of the department."
"Don't talk nonsense." Gu Chen looked around and continued to remind: "Everyone, continue to look at the surrounding situation and see where the other party will run next?"
"Then Gu Bureau, which way do you think he will run?" As soon as Gu Chen finished speaking, a young team member asked curiously.
Gu Chen smiled, pointed to one of the directions and said, "I think it's over there."
"Why?"
When everyone heard this, they also asked in unison, why do you think Gu Chen can sense the direction?
Gu Chen didn't hide it, and continued to express his analysis: "This group of people is definitely not the first time to come to Centennial Peak."
"Especially since they are all experienced outdoor people, they must have some knowledge of roads and various mountain terrains before coming here."
Pointing at himself, Gu Chen added: "Just like me, I know it when I get off the cliff."
"Just keep walking in this direction, and you will reach the fork in the road, which is the trail through the jungle, and you can go to the road in the direction of the ridgeline."
"So, I think they should also know that as long as they run this way and down the mountain, they will definitely be able to reach the path."
"As long as you reach that path, then follow the path and come to the intersection where you went up the mountain before."
"After taking the only road up the mountain, you can go to Hemu Village."
With a faint sigh, Gu Chen continued to explain: "So in this case, the other party will definitely go back to the village to ask for help, or seek other help."
"It's just that the villagers didn't notice anything. This means that this person did not go to Hemu Village. It is very likely that an accident happened on the way to Hemu Village."
"So this is it?" After listening to what Gu Chen said, it felt like it was real. One of the team members also said jokingly:
"It feels like the situations you mentioned make some sense, but I'm not sure if the real situation is what you said?"
"Then come with me. We'll find out after we go and take a look." Gu Chen didn't want to waste too much time explaining to everyone here.
After all, these are just my own reasoning and judgments based on the situation on site.
Of course, by making reasonable judgments based on known conditions, the probability of success will be higher, which is why Gu Chen can analyze these situations in an orderly manner.
Before, everyone was a little dissatisfied with Gu Chen's "recklessness", but now it seems that Gu Chen has helped everyone find clues one after another.
Even seemingly inadvertent small details can be accurately captured by Gu Chen.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Such strength has to convince everyone. It is no wonder that those who followed Gu Chen last night praised Gu Chen's power.
"Look." Gu Chen came to another gentle area, pointed to one of the big trees and said, "This is also a place to rest."
"Sure enough, this is the location." The fire brigade leader looked tactically at the foot of the mountain, nodded silently, made an expression as if it was true, and continued:
"It seems that your judgment is correct. That person is indeed very likely to come down the mountain from here."
"Hurry up." The fire brigade leader here wanted to continue to flatter Gu Chen, but Gu Chen couldn't wait any longer and ran directly down the mountain.
When the other team members took a look, they quickly passed by the fire brigade leader and quickly followed Gu Chen's pace.
The fire brigade leader suddenly felt left out, but at the same time he could see that Gu Chen seemed to have gained another wave of fans.
With a faint sigh, the fire brigade leader shook his head and could only follow the last row of the team.
No one knew how long they had been walking in the jungle. Gu Chen suddenly stopped and looked around.
Seeing this, everyone gathered around Gu Chen.
"That's not right." Gu Chen shook his head and said to himself.
"What's wrong?" The fire brigade leader, who came panting, also looked at Gu Chen curiously.
Gu Chen turned around and said: "Based on the broken branches of the trees before, we can roughly judge that the resting distance of the other party is getting shorter and shorter, which may be because of too much physical exertion."
"So, every not far away, we can find a big tree with corresponding traces."
"However, we have now traveled a long distance continuously, and the terrain is no different from before."
"But, so far, I haven't seen any big trees with any traces."
"Yes, I haven't seen it for a long time." As soon as Gu Chen finished speaking, a young team member echoed.
When everyone heard this, they all looked at each other and muttered:
"Yeah, I haven't found it for a long time."
"Why are there suddenly no traces?"
"Could it be around?"
…
Various sounds came and went, but Gu Chen, who was calm, began to quickly assess the surrounding environment.
Seeing that everyone was panting from exhaustion, and some simply lying on their sides on the slope, feeling that their physical strength had reached their limit, Gu Chen calmed down for a few seconds, and then said:
"Everyone, please pay attention."
Seeing Gu Chen speak, everyone immediately stopped arguing and all looked at Gu Chen.
Gu Chen said calmly: "I suspect that the other party may be nearby. We may have missed him. Now, we should immediately search the surroundings to see if we can find this person."
