Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 185 The River Murder Case
Finally, the crocodile sent someone to take away the unfortunate Bear Grylls and his half-finger, and then went out to gather some more information before returning:
“Indeed, someone saw Aya Ferguson leave Arden Village late last night. Hmm… By the way, are you looking for this woman urgently? Why not send the enforcement team to look for her? Uh, I'm just curious, I don't necessarily mean to know anything.”

The crocodile side has a very high level of information accessibility.

Although the matter between Milo and the Sherman family is rather secretive, some whispers have still reached Crocodile's ears, and he is at least aware of the current state of their relationship.

Add to that Milo's current status as a law enforcement officer, and all these factors combined, forcing Crocodile to take seriously this young man who could potentially rise to great heights in the future.

His attitude toward Milo tonight says it all.

Crocodile desperately wanted to maintain his relationship with Milo, after all, Theon was getting old.

……

Milo had no intention of answering the crocodile's question.

"Do you think it's possible she contacted the suppliers directly? Who did that bald guy just mention? The Tata Gang?"

“The Tata Gang is a new force that has only recently emerged. I haven’t found out their specific backing yet, but it seems to be from the north. Anyway, they’re not locals in Nanwei.” Crocodile said slowly, “However, Baldy might have mentioned the Tata Gang on purpose. He suffered a loss at the hands of those people recently, and he probably wants to drag others down with him and use the law enforcement team. You should think about that yourself.”

At this moment, the crocodile's henchman returned the cleaned cigar clamp and whispered a few words in his ear.

After listening, the crocodile frowned and asked Milo:
"Is your enforcement team planning a major operation tonight?"

“We both came from law enforcement, and we haven’t heard of any major operations.” Milo shrugged, but quickly realized something:
"What happened?"

"Our informants in the city have reported that a large number of people in black trench coats have been mobilized in the urban area. We don't know their specific targets yet. If even you don't know, then something unexpected must have happened." Crocodile lit a cigar and took a puff. "As long as they're not heading for Arden Village, that's fine."

"Then I have to go back."

Milo stood up, shook his trench coat, and said to the crocodile, "Putting everything else aside, the quality of your fruit is quite good."

"Come visit often when you have time."

The crocodile made a waving goodbye gesture.

...

……

Milo and Yan headed straight back to the city.

"Think carefully about where Aya usually goes, or where she hides when she's in trouble. I'll have someone investigate the Tata Gang later. Hmm, my advice is to be patient."

These are the words Milo said to Yan.

The latter shrugged: "Don't make it sound so serious. I'm not jumping around in a panic."

"That's good."

Milo didn't continue arguing with the stubborn Yan.

After arriving in the city, Milo originally planned to go straight back to the law enforcement station. After all, the crocodile had already received the news that a large number of law enforcement personnel had been mobilized, which meant that something unexpected must have happened, and Milo needed to go back.

However, several kilometers away from the city's southern law enforcement post, on the riverbank, Milo could see from afar that the street ahead was blocked off, with city guards maintaining order on site.

The scene was cordoned off, and many bystanders and newspaper media were watching.

The area under lockdown was filled with people wearing black trench coats.

The kerosene lamp was too dim, and Milo couldn't see clearly what was happening from a distance, but he was certain that the crime scene was on a bridge over the canal.

……

Looks like I won't be eating leftovers at home tonight.

Milo tossed the horse's reins to Yan:

"Why don't you go back first?"

"What? I'm a city guard, I have work to do here too." Yan patted the duty baton at his waist.

“Okay, you help keep order along the riverside street, I’ll go check what’s going on.” Milo nodded and crossed the cordon onto the bridge.

...

Milo was no stranger to this place. One side of the canal was a smoky industrial area, with many transport ships moored along the riverbank. The sewage discharged from the industrial area had turned the river water in this area grayish-brown. At night, the canal looked like an abyss when viewed from the bridge.

Actually, the scenery here was quite nice a few years ago.

It has a very evocative name: Confession Pier.

Yes, this is where Milo and Emma were captured by the Sherman family assassins last time. Before the industrial area was built, Emma loved to come here alone to read, sitting by the river and reading for half a day at a time.

...

It seems those peaceful and tranquil days are gone forever.

A body was found under the span of a bridge that crosses the canal.

As Milo walked through the crowd of people in black trench coats, he overheard whispers:
"The good days are over. This is already the hundredth murder since the Great Plague, isn't it? Does anyone still remember the peaceful Nanwei City of the past?"

He didn't reply.

Milo had heard similar arguments on many occasions, mostly from people within the law enforcement system.

According to them, Nanwei City was not as plagued by disasters as it is now. Although it could not be said that the people were simple and honest, at least apart from the war, Nanwei City had never experienced so many unnatural deaths in just a few months.

There is a superstitious belief that the curse of the plague continues, and although the church has healed people's physical ailments, the corruption on a psychological and spiritual level is irreversible...

Similar slogans frequently appear in newspapers today.

Milo never commented on this, because he really didn't know what Nanwei City was like before the Great Plague, but he was certain that Nanwei City was definitely not normal now.

After Milo saw the state of the dead bodies beneath the bridge, he became even more convinced of his opinion about Nanwei City.

The body was hanging directly below the bridge span, about ten meters above the water.

The deceased was female.

Her limbs, torso, throat and other parts were bound with hemp ropes, and the ends of each rope were fixed to the dead corners of the bridge piers and abutments below the bridge.

These hemp ropes were woven into a spider web, and the body of the deceased was hanging in the very center of the web.

Furthermore, the deceased's head appeared to be secured with some kind of foreign object, which looked like the antlers of some animal, such as deer antlers.

In addition, her bare, pale skin was covered with strange lines, suggesting that the killer had drawn some odd symbols on her body.

……

At this time, the search and evidence collection work is underway.

The law enforcement officer borrowed a small boat from the riverbank and rowed to the area under the bridge. He fixed the blade to a bamboo pole and cut the dense, spiderweb-like ropes that were fixed to various blind spots under the bridge. Only by cutting the ropes at the bottom could the people on the bridge pull the body up.

Using the kerosene lamps of the ships below, Milo gazed at the hanging female corpse.

Above the canal, which resembled an abyss, the disheveled corpse with horns on its head evoked a strange sense of eeriness and awe.

What's strange is the composition of this painting under dim lighting.

What is truly shocking is the brutality of the perpetrators' methods.

However, the shock truly reached its peak after the body was slowly dragged onto the bridge.

Because the patterns on the surface of the corpse that you see from a distance are not painted on, but rather carved out with some kind of sharp blade...

……

(End of this chapter)