Rebirth 78, the beginning of the marriage was broken off by the female educated youth

The autumn rain poured down, pounding against the old glass windows of the Luzhou Public Security Bureau, making a crackling sound and adding to the chill of the city under the night sky.

The conference room was brightly lit and filled with the smoke of cooking.

Qi Zhiyuan, deputy director of the Provincial Public Security Department, stood in front of a makeshift blackboard, his voice hoarse as he directed a dozen police officers to sort through the social relationships of the four victims murdered by Chen Hanguo over a period of twenty years, amidst mountains of file folders and yellowed case files.

He shares the same ideals as Li Xiangnan and believes that by starting from the perspective of the victims, the truth of what happened back then can be uncovered. So he got up in the middle of the night and started working on finding the files, and he hasn't rested since.

Turning around, he saw that the huge conference room was filled with mountains of materials. He rubbed his temples slightly, walked to the window, opened it slightly, and lit a cigarette.

Bang!

Suddenly.

The conference room door was suddenly pushed open, bringing in a gust of damp, cold wind.

Li Xiangnan and Wang Defa burst in, soaking wet. Rain dripped down their hair and clothes, leaving dirty stains on the ground.

"Advisor Li, you..."

Qi Zhiyuan turned around in surprise, and when he saw Li Xiangnan and Wang Defa, he was shocked and quickly walked over. "Where did you two come from?"

"Chief Qi!" Li Xiangnan wiped the rain off his face, panting as he took off his wet coat. "Defa and I went to the old coalfield alley and the mine, and we made a major discovery!"

"Really?" Qi Zhiyuan was startled. He quickly stubbed out his cigarette, his face beaming with excitement. "Advisor Li, please tell me!" he said anxiously.

"Immediately conduct a thorough investigation into a heinous case involving a family surnamed Hu in the Gangshan mining area around 1960!"

"The Hu family massacre?" Qi Zhiyuan's pupils shrank, and the police officers around him also looked up, their faces filled with shock.

Li Xiangnan rarely appears, but when he does, he brings such significant news, and the specific details of the murder case, including the surname and location, are like a beacon in the ocean, instantly cleaving through the complex fog of information!

"Quickly, listen to Consultant Li, put the information of the four victims aside for now! Immediately investigate unsolved murder cases, major missing persons cases, and cold cases archived by the Gangshan Mining Police Station and the Municipal Bureau from around 60 years ago, focusing on keywords like 'Hu Family,' 'Gangshan,' and 'Mining'!"

Qi Zhiyuan didn't hesitate and immediately issued orders to his comrades.

The meeting room immediately sprang into action, filled with the rustling of papers being turned, hushed conversations, and chatter, all mingling with the sound of rain outside the window.

"Xiao Zhang," Qi Zhiyuan quickly walked to the door and instructed the passing policeman, "Go and get two clean uniforms, a few towels, and some hot water. Tell Consultant Li and Consultant Wang to change their wet clothes quickly!"

"Yes!"

Li Xiangnan wiped the rain from his head and said gratefully, "Management Qi, thank you very much!"

"You guys have worked too hard!" Qi Zhiyuan waved his hand. "You even braved the rain to come back from the mine. You should have taken shelter!"

"Hey!" There were no women in the room, so Wang Defa simply took off his shirt, revealing his vest, and shook his head while carrying a rain bucket: "This matter is of great importance. Consultant Li and I dare not delay for even a moment, for fear of delaying the progress of the case!"

Qi Zhiyuan nodded silently, gaining a deeper understanding of the two men's dedication.

Soon, Li Xiangnan and the other person changed into clean and refreshing clothes and drank some hot water, which made them feel much better.

Tap tap tap tap!

Just as they were waiting for the results, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open again, and Fan Deting and the accompanying police officers barged in, their bodies covered in cold air and moisture, their faces even more gloomy than the sky outside.

"Director Fan, how come you got all wet too?" Qi Zhiyuan went to the door again to ask Xiao Zhang to get some clothes.

But Fan Deting took off his wet police hat and said anxiously, "Director Qi, Advisor Li, the Industrial Bureau has run away. Xiao Lu and I have been investigating all day. In their archives, the records about the reasons for the abandonment of the mines and old coalfield streets are all just vague phrases like 'regional planning adjustment' and 'resource depletion'!"

"Oh?" Qi Zhiyuan's gaze sharpened, and he turned to look at Li Xiangnan.

"As expected!" Li Xiangnan took a sip of hot water. "Those recorded in official files tend to be described with more caution!"

Fan Deting glanced at him in surprise, as if he already knew something, and immediately said, "Xiao Lu and I didn't quite believe it, so we asked the deputy director who was in charge of that area back then. Although he was old, he remembered the events of 60 years ago very clearly. He repeatedly told us that Gangshan District was haunted back then, and the ghosts were quite rampant. Everyone who lived nearby had experienced that. Even the mines were haunted. Nobody could stand it, which is why everyone was so panicked! Later, the bureau wanted to take it over, but after investigation, they canceled the plan!"

"What did you say? Haunted?"

These two words were like a bomb dropped into a lake, creating a silent ripple in the busy conference room.

Many police officers subconsciously stopped what they were doing, a barely perceptible hint of fear flashing across their faces.

The collision of scientific investigation and uncanny folk tales adds an even more mysterious layer to the case!

So it was because of the absurd claim of ghosts that the old coal yard street was eventually abandoned, and the mine area was subsequently abandoned as well.

How can it be?

How could a profitable mining area be shut down for such an absurd reason?

How bad would the haunting be?

The key point is that this statement came from a retired senior official and former bureau chief, making it highly credible!

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment before Wang Defa finally recounted how he had gone to the mine with Li Xiangnan that day and encountered a woodcutter.

With the news brought back by Director Fan and the firsthand accounts from local residents, the doubts in everyone's hearts grew deeper and deeper, and they became even more eager to find out what happened back then.

"Director Qi, Consultant Li, we've found him!"

Just as everyone fell silent, a policeman stood up, holding a thin file.

"In the autumn of 1960, Gangshan Police Station did indeed have a report and case file regarding the disappearance of the Hu family!"

All eyes were focused on it.

"Let me see!" Li Xiangnan quickly took it and flipped to the record, which only had two or three pages.

The document records a case involving Hu Jianjun, the 21-year-old head of the Hu family, his wife, sister, and mother, who disappeared that autumn. The person who reported the case was his wife's younger sister. It is suspected that the whole family moved away. The case file has been preserved, but it has not been classified as a murder case and remains unsolved to this day.

"Why are there only missing persons cases? There are no corresponding reports of body discoveries? And no clear homicide cases filed?"

Upon seeing these few pages, Li Xiangnan's brows furrowed instantly. This was completely inconsistent with the two pieces of information he had heard from the old miner: the massacre of the entire family and the discovery of corpses in the mine!

"No!" Li Xiangnan shook his head. "Is there anything else?"

The police officers immediately continued searching near the case file, but soon the officer stood up again. "Advisor Li, we've searched everything carefully. There are no records of any murders related to the Hu family's disappearance in the Gangshan Police Station's files from that period!"

"how could be?"

This was very different from what Li Xiangnan had imagined.

With the clues leading to this point, the glimmer of hope that had just been ignited in the conference room was about to be extinguished by the cold reality!

A sense of powerlessness washed over me.

Twenty years is far too long; it's enough to obliterate most of the witness testimony and physical evidence!

Li Xiangnan lit a cigarette, his mind racing.

There must be some clues that I've overlooked.

He suddenly looked up, a sharp glint in his eyes.

"No, no, the investigation at the mine was definitely not baseless! Immediately check the reports of bodies found at the mine from the same period! Quickly!"

This new instruction acted like a key, quickly opening a new door for the police investigation!

Everyone buried themselves in their work again, finding a new target that made the search even faster.

"found it!"

Soon, a long-forgotten report was unearthed.

"Record of the discovery of an unidentified charred corpse in the No. 13 abandoned mine shaft of Gangshan Mining Area in 1961."

Everyone got excited.

The missing person case is solved, and now the record of the body's discovery is available, so we can finally match them up.

That means the murder of the Hu family did happen. As long as we follow this clue, we will definitely be able to find the connection between Chen Hanguo and the four victims.

The meeting room was filled with jubilation, but Li Xiangnan, who was carefully examining the file, remained expressionless.

Qi Zhiyuan noticed his expression and frowned, asking, "Advisor Li, what's wrong?"

"No wonder these two cases couldn't be combined back then, and both became unsolved cases, with no one in the public security system recalling them. Director Qi, take a look!"

Li Xiangnan handed over the report, squinting his eyes in disappointment, and said, "Four members of the Hu family have gone missing, three women and one man, but the charred corpses found in this mining area are two male corpses!"

The source of the corpse cannot be matched!

"what?"

These words sent a chill through the room once again…