The inside of the cave can be said to have different shapes, like a mine. The spaces are large and small, high and low, which gives Gu Chen a little headache.
At the very least, it is very difficult to move through such a cave. If the murderer is hiding inside, it will obviously not be conducive to the police's arrest.
But the current situation is that this is the only place where traces of the murderer have been found. If we don't go in and search, we may never know where the murderer will escape.
So this hole is right here, whether you can enter it or not, you have no choice.
"Junior Brother Gu, be careful." Lu Weiwei stood behind Gu Chen and kept providing Gu Chen with light cover.
There are also various sharp rocks above the cave here. If you are not careful, you can easily hit them and cause head injuries.
Gu Chen also nodded silently and responded: "I know, Senior Sister Lu, you just need to follow me closely."
"I understand." Lu Weiwei nodded silently, then bowed down and followed Gu Chen.
After getting through a narrow space, everyone came to an open area.
There is room for dozens of people here, but it is empty, giving people a very strange feeling.
The police officers began to shine their flashlights everywhere, and they were all frightened by this place.
Especially the various strange-shaped rocks are always in a dark space before they are illuminated by light.
But when illuminated by light, the shape looks weird and even a little scary.
So the police officers began to move closer to the center, forming a defensive formation.
"Gu... Gu Bureau, this place is a bit evil." When a young police officer saw this, his heart skipped a beat and he couldn't help complaining.
"Don't be nervous, it's just a bit dark, but it's nothing." Gu Chen knew that this police officer was panicking, but he still wanted to comfort him.
At this time, Officer Wang also approached Gu Chen and reminded him with his flashlight: "Gu Chen, there are two roads here, which one should I take?"
"Go to the left. Our people are guarding the exit of the cave. Let's search from the left first, and then go to the right." Gu Chen said.
"It's up to you." There is actually no better way at the moment, we can only use the elimination method, and Officer Wang is very aware of this.
So everyone immediately started taking action.
Since there is almost no light source in the cave, we can only use flashlight light to make everyone feel better.
In such a confined space, it was hard for Gu Chen to imagine what these two people were doing here.
Gu Chen took the lead. After searching the cave, he found an exit ahead, so he quickly led everyone out.
But when Gu Chen got out of the branch hole, he was surprised to find that he was back to the starting point.
Just now I entered from the left, but later I came out from the right.
This made Gu Chen feel very strange.
"It seems that we have gone around in a circle and we have reached the end here. Those two people are not inside." Gu Chen was still a little disappointed. After all, the cave was only so big.
Moreover, Gu Chen had asked everyone to use flashlights to check many gaps around them, but no trace of the suspect was found.
Obviously, this was a failed search.
The moment everyone got out of the cave, they felt a little better.
Only then did everyone realize that breathing fresh air is a luxury.
"Huh, Director Gu, where will these two guys go? There are obviously footprints at the entrance of the cave."
One police officer complained.
Gu Chen said: "It may be a cover-up to prevent tracking."
"Anti-tracking, right?" Another police officer also exclaimed.
Lu Weiwei rolled her eyes at the other party and said angrily: "Don't you know that people can make footprints by walking backwards?"
"Walk backwards?" Upon hearing this, many young police officers began to become serious.
But when everyone looked at the footprints at the entrance of the cave, they did find that the footprints were a little unusual.
"When a normal person walks, the depth of his footprints is definitely not like this. Senior Sister Lu is right." A young police officer couldn't help but give a thumbs up and began to flatter Lu Weiwei.
Lu Weiwei waved her hand and said disdainfully: "Don't come."
Seeing Gu Chen standing there in a daze, Lu Weiwei quickly walked over and asked, "Junior Brother Gu, what are you thinking about?"
"I'm looking at this." As he spoke, Gu Chen put on white gloves and took out a badge from a crack in a rock.
"Ah? What is this?" Lu Weiwei's eyes lit up when she saw it, and she quickly came over to find out.
"It's a badge, the badge of Jiaxiang Coal Mine." Gu Chen said.
"But, I remember that the Jiaxiang Coal Mine has gone bankrupt a long time ago, and the mines have been closed." Officer Wang also shared what he knew.
Gu Chen nodded silently: "I know this. The mine is indeed closed. A friend of my father used to work in the Jiaxiang Coal Mine."
"The current business of Jiaxiang Group has also been transferred to other provinces, and there are already very few people in the Jiaxiang mining area. Like the previous mine park, it is said to be developed into a tourist attraction."
"Well, I've heard about this." When Yuan Shasha heard this, she quickly replied: "I heard that the Cultural Tourism Department of the Yuan Group is planning to develop a mining paradise there."
"Because there is an existing railway in the Jiaxiang mining area, which is a narrow railway, and it runs through the entire mining area."
"The idea of the Culture and Tourism Department of Yuan Group is to transform this mine car into a tourist train, and then build some tourist attractions at each stop."
"Finally, the small train will drive to the mine, and the tourists will be able to experience the feeling of digging coal in the mine."
"Is there such an operation? It's so cool, isn't it?" When Lu Weiwei heard this, she was immediately excited.
Officer Wang also crossed his arms and couldn't help but said: "Indeed, if this project can be launched, it will indeed be interesting. No wonder the Yuan Group can make money."
"To be honest, there are indeed many outstanding planning talents in the Yuan Group."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After a pause, Officer Wang continued: "But, what is going on with this badge? Why is it stuffed into the crevice of this rock?"
"Someone put it in deliberately." Gu Chen said.
"Could it be Zhang He?" Lu Weiwei said.
"It's probably him. He seems to have been providing us with clues." Gu Chen also vaguely felt that Zhang He had been helping him find clues.
It can be seen that Zhang He and the suspected murderer Zhang He are not of the same mind at all.
"Anyway, since it's a clue, we have to go and investigate. Jiaxiang Coal Mine, let's leave now."
"What should we do here?" Officer Wang asked Gu Chen.
Gu Chen continued: "Leave the drone team behind and continue searching this area. Others, send some of them to follow me to the Jiaxiang Coal Mine."
"Okay, let's do it like this." Seeing that Gu Chen had already made arrangements, Officer Wang immediately started arranging manpower.
Everyone also quickly set off for the Jiaxiang Coal Mine.
In the car, Lu Weiwei searched some information about Jiaxiang Coal Mine on the Internet and gave everyone a brief briefing:
"The Jiaxiang Coal Mine was very profitable before, and the originally desolate place suddenly became lively."
"There are many households in the mountains, all of whom are family members of the mining area."
"Everyone built houses along the railroad, and communities in the mining area soon formed."
"The largest community in the Jiaxiang mining area is Jiaxiang Community. The community is not large, but the buildings are very dense. It has its own hospital and school."
"In addition, there are buses running between the mining areas, but as the coal mining depleted, the population in the mining areas gradually began to decrease, and eventually the mining areas were closed due to environmental and efficiency issues."
"It's been in a state of neglect ever since."
Turning to look at Gu Chen, Lu Weiwei reminded her, "Junior brother Gu, this place has been abandoned for almost ten years."
"Well, so are there still people living there now?" Gu Chen asked.
"Well, there are, but very few." Lu Weiwei said.
"Yeah." Gu Chen simply agreed and continued driving.
When everyone came to Jiaxiang Community, they discovered that there were many dense buildings here, but they all looked a bit dated.
There are still some elderly people in the community exercising in the square, but there are no young people here at all.
In addition, many ecological environments here have been destroyed, so it looks very desolate.
I saw many vehicles parked in the square, and many elderly people quickly gathered around to watch the excitement.
"Old man." Gu Chen walked up to one of the old men, took out the badge in his hand, showed it in front of the old man and asked:
"Do you recognize this badge?"
"Jiaxiang Coal Mine? You know it? Only those who work in the mine will be issued this badge. However, this badge is not usually worn. It is usually worn symbolically when the mining company holds events."
"Well, I have several of them at home." Another old man complained.
"It seems like no one has it." After hearing the old man starting to brag, another old man playing chess said.
Gu Chen also nodded silently and couldn't help but said: "How many people still live in the mining area now?"
"I haven't counted it." An old man shook his head and complained: "Basically, everyone has moved away. Most of those who can't move are lonely old people like us."
"Even if I move away, I will still be alone, so I can only stay here so that everyone can still have company."
"Moreover, many residents in the mining area here have worked in the mines, and they are all colleagues."
"Everyone can chat with colleagues here. Moreover, living here with a pension is actually quite comfortable."
"That's right. At least we have pensions. It's the same wherever we live. It's just that we're more used to living here." A fat old man said.
Yuan Shasha nodded slightly, and then asked everyone: "Do you know that two strangers from out of town have been here recently?"
After a pause, Yuan Shasha immediately added: "Oh, by the way, their people from the capital city speak with a Beijing accent."
"A stranger from the capital?"
When several old men heard this, they felt a little confused.
One of the uncles said quickly: "We rarely have outsiders come here, but some time ago, people from the Yuan Group came to inspect."
"It is said that it is planned to develop this place into a mining theme park. Of course, I heard that the project is still under evaluation, because the investment and construction matter is relatively large, and they need multiple investigations."
Having said this, the old man also sighed and said:
"But there hasn't been any movement so far."
"If my area were developed into a theme park, it would definitely be lively and many tourists from out of town would come here."
"In this way, we can open restaurants and shops, sell some things to these tourists, and make money while sitting in front of our homes. It feels very good."
"But now people are just investigating, and they always say they need to demonstrate, and they don't know how long they will demonstrate?"
"If the demonstration is completed, all kinds of investment and construction will also require on-site inspections by the development department, so our Jiaxiang community will be a little more lively in the past few months."
After he finished speaking, the old man also pointed to a driveway on the side of the road: "Look, there is a car parked in the square of our mining area, and it is driven by a community worker."
"Only when there are more and more vehicles in this parking lot will our place be lively."
"So, has anyone visited here recently?" Officer Wang asked.
"Yes, they are from the Yuan Group. They said they wanted to inspect it. Then our community secretary here drove the Yuan Group's inspection team to the mining station."
"In order to leave a good impression on this inspection group, we all pulled out the old-fashioned steam cars. The inspectors sat in steam trucks all the way to inspect, and finally arrived at the entrance of Jiaxiang Coal Mine."
"They feel that it is a pity that the coal mines in this place are abandoned here."
“So I want to develop it a little bit according to local conditions.”
"Can we go to the mine?" Lu Weiwei asked after hearing this.
The uncle nodded silently: "Okay, it's just that the place still looks like it did before the mine."
"It will be quite scary inside. Those with claustrophobia are advised not to go in."
"We just want to know if the owner of this badge is where you said you are."
Gu Chen also said jokingly.
Then I briefly discussed transportation issues with a few uncles.
Only then did I realize that to go to the mine, I needed to take a train to the old station.
But this kind of old-fashioned train has long been eliminated. Even the inspection teams of the Yuan Group went to the mining area in rickety trains.
But now, due to the small number of people, the mining area has long been closed, so the current situation is that no one runs trains at the old railway station.
"What should I do?" Officer Wang looked at the crisscrossing old-fashioned railway tracks in front of him with mixed feelings in his heart.
Gu Chen said calmly: "Those old men said that you can reach the station by train, and there are still several station platforms, so we can try to walk along the railway track."
"Walking along the railway track? Gu Chen, are you crazy? Even taking a small train takes an hour. You walk there?" Officer Wang was a little incredulous.
