Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 471 Search and Rescue
When Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang reached the entrance of the scenic area at the foot of the mountain, an old police car was already parked in the parking lot opposite, and Wang Tao was standing next to the police car.

Upon seeing Zhou Yi, they immediately came to greet him.

"Officer Zhou, I'm sorry to bother you again. Director Ni asked me to pick you up." Wang Tao quickly came up and shook hands with Zhou Yi.

After seeing Zhou Yi "instructing" Ni Jianrong on his work yesterday, Wang Tao knew that this person was definitely not simple.

“I know, Director Ni called me,” Zhou Yi asked. “Officer Wang, what’s the situation?”

"How about we get in the car first and talk on the way?"

Zhou Yi nodded.

"Brother Yi, give me the things, I can walk back, it's only two kilometers anyway," Lu Xiaoshuang said, reaching out her hand.

Wang Tao asked, "Is this your sister-in-law?"

"Yes, this is my girlfriend, Lu Xiaoshuang. Officer Wang, if you don't mind taking a slightly longer route, my grandma's house is in Xiaguang Village just ahead. You can get off at the entrance of Xiaoshuang Village."

Wang Tao immediately replied, "It's alright, it's alright. Director Ni is waiting for you over at Xishan. It's on your way there."

Since that's the case, Zhou Yi didn't stand on ceremony, and the three of them got into the car together.

The car soon stopped at the entrance of Xiaguang Village, and Lu Xiaoshuang, who was sitting in the back seat, got out of the car with her things on her back.

"Brother Yi, be careful," Lu Xiaoshuang reminded him.

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "Okay, don't worry."

Lu Xiaoshuang watched the police car leave, then tugged at the bag on her shoulder. Only then did she realize that Zhou Yi had been carrying such a heavy bag while climbing the mountain with her.

For some reason, she had a vague sense of unease.

In the police car, Zhou Yi asked, "Director Ni said on the phone that the group of students who went hiking in the wild had an accident, but he didn't say anything specific. What exactly happened?"

Wang Tao said, "I'm not very clear about the specifics, but in short, eight college students went to climb the western part of Yunxia Mountain, which is an undeveloped area. Then, early this morning, a patrolling forest ranger found one of them."

Zhou Yi was immediately shocked: "Dead?"

Wang Tao paused for a moment and said, "He's not dead, but he's seriously injured and has been sent to the county hospital."

Zhou Yi nodded. As long as he's not dead, that's good.

"Ugh, these stubborn fools!" he said, exasperated.

"From what I'm saying, Officer Zhou, you know them?"

"Yes, I saw them in town the day before yesterday. They were right next to me discussing going hiking in the wild. I even tried to dissuade them, but unfortunately, none of them listened."

After listening, Wang Tao sighed, "Sigh, I hope the remaining seven don't have any problems."

Soon, Zhou Yi saw many police cars parked at the foot of the mountain ahead, along with a number of police officers.

Ni Jianrong was standing in a prominent position, organizing the work.

Zhou Yi and Wang Tao got out of the car and walked towards him.

Upon seeing Zhou Yi, Ni Jianrong's eyes lit up, and he immediately walked over.

"Zhou Yi, you've worked hard." Ni Jianrong patted Zhou Yi's arm with a look of trust, showing a close relationship with him in front of Wang Tao.

"Director Ni, what's the specific situation now?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"This morning, while patrolling, forest rangers found a female college student in the bushes at the foot of the mountain. They immediately called the police and an ambulance. After the Yunlai Town Police Station responded, they learned from the female college student that she and eight others had entered the undeveloped area of ​​Yunxia Mountain yesterday morning."

"As a result, they got lost halfway through, and the eight of them even had an argument about it, which led to them splitting up."

Zhou Yi was completely speechless. Getting lost meant that this group of people were inexperienced and unprepared.

The argument clearly stemmed from getting lost, which led to emotional outbursts and mutual blame.

Ugh, these guys aren't hikers at all, they're just a bunch of stupid donkeys!
Ni Jianrong continued, "Then this female college student named Shen Chunlin got separated from her companions."

"Shen Chunlin?" Zhou Yi remembered the name; it seemed to be the girl who sat behind Lu Xiaoshuang and complained that she was too old.

"What's wrong? Do you know him?" Ni Jianrong asked.

Wang Tao interjected, "Officer Zhou saw those college students a couple of days ago and even tried to persuade them, but unfortunately they didn't listen."

"Really?" Ni Jianrong was surprised, thinking to himself, "Why didn't you stop him back then? If you had, this wouldn't have happened."

It's really unlucky to encounter something like this right after taking office.

What's even more frustrating is that they're college students again; it seems I'm destined to be defeated by them.

"Director Ni, how is Shen Chunlin doing now?" Zhou Yi asked.

"He is currently in the county hospital and should be out of danger. The initial diagnosis is that he broke a leg, had several broken ribs, and also had multiple contusions."

"How did you get so badly injured? How high did you fall from?" Zhou Yi asked.

Ni Jianrong pointed to a spot several dozen meters ahead and said, "That's where it fell. Luckily, there were many bushes below that cushioned the fall; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

When Zhou Yi looked at it, he thought, "Good heavens, that must have been at least ten meters. To have survived that fall is truly incredible."

"So there are still seven students trapped in the mountains and haven't come out yet?" Zhou Yi asked.

Ni Jianrong nodded: "Before you came, the search of the surrounding area had just ended, and no one else was found. We also asked in several nearby villages, and no one had seen this group of college students."

"Director Ni, may I ask one more question? Was Shen Chunlin pushed down?"

Ni Jianrong was taken aback: "No, she said she slipped and fell."

"Did she say whether other students were also murdered, or if murder was involved?"

Ni Jianrong was even more confused: "No, I think... I don't think so."

"So this is an emergency rescue incident, right?"

Ni Jianrong nodded.

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "Good heavens! Why are you calling me here if it's not a murder case? I'm not even from Yunshan County!"
Ni Jianrong, however, was unaware of this and instead talked at length about how he planned to organize people to go up the mountain for rescue and search.

Zhou Yi sighed inwardly. This Director Ni really is someone who always pays back his debts. He just used his connections to resolve Wu Yuemei's matter yesterday, and today he's ordering me around.

After he finished speaking, Zhou Yi asked, "Director Ni, where did these eight college students come from? Which universities?"

"According to Shen Chunlin's confession, they were all students of Fengde Vocational and Technical College, and it seemed to be some kind of travel hobby club. Shen Chunlin was a freshman, and their leader was Liang Bin, a sophomore."

"Fengde Vocational and Technical College? Never heard of it. It doesn't sound like a very good school."

Ni Jianrong sighed: "Well, whether it's good or bad, we still have to save them."

Zhou Yi nodded. Indeed, no matter how unlikable these students were, the police couldn't just stand by and watch them die.

Moreover, since Ni Jianrong had summoned me, I couldn't just say it was none of my business and walk away.

He then learned that the county bureau and several police stations in Yunshan County had a total of less than 150 people. After deducting those over 40 years old and the household registration police, who were mainly female, only about 80 people could be mobilized to go up the mountain for search and rescue.

Even if you include the county's fire brigade, the total number is just over a hundred.

Yunxia Mountain is a medium-sized mountain. Zhou Yi remembers that the sign at the entrance of the scenic area introduced that the entire Yunxia Mountain covers an area of ​​about 80 square kilometers, which is considered to be of medium to small size in the country.

The area developed in Dongshan only accounts for about one-third of the total.

In other words, the undeveloped wild mountains cover an area of ​​about fifty or sixty square kilometers.

To put that into perspective, it's roughly the size of seven or eight thousand football fields.

Of course, based on the starting point of their ascent, it's impossible for them to have traveled that far in the mountains, but the difficulty of the search is unimaginable.

"Director Ni, please report this quickly; we don't have enough manpower," Zhou Yi reminded him.

Ni Jianrong nodded. He was in a real bind. He hadn't even started cleaning up the mess at the county bureau when someone else came along and messed things up for him.

As instructed by Ni Jianrong, a total of 28 police officers from the county bureau and Yunlai Town police station who meet the search and rescue conditions are currently on site. They will be the first search and rescue team to search the mountain from where Shen Chunlin and his team entered.

Ni Jianrong, who is currently organizing and coordinating the search and rescue efforts, is working to get to the scene as soon as possible.

Even for these twenty-eight people, it was almost 10 o'clock before they officially entered the mountain.

Since the police are not professional search and rescue personnel, they need to make some preparations before going into the mountains, including compasses, protective equipment, ropes, emergency medical kits, and supplies.

We can't just go in and get ourselves killed.

In addition, the undeveloped areas of Yunxia Mountain lack geographical maps, and these days small places simply don't have the conditions for high-tech equipment like GPS.

It took a lot of effort just to gather the equipment for these twenty-eight people.

Another problem is that there is no signal in the mountains, so you can't make calls even if you bring your phone in.

The county bureau only has twelve wireless devices, and it is still impossible to confirm whether the signal will be interfered with after entering the mountains.

For safety reasons, police officers going into the mountains for search and rescue work in groups of at least two, equipped with a wireless device, and are required to report the location immediately upon finding a missing person.

Wang Tao was originally supposed to be in a group with Zhou Yi, but Ni Jianrong asked him to stay and help him coordinate the work.

At that moment, Zhou Yi spotted Lü Tiezhu in the crowd.

"Brother Tiezhu!" Zhou Yi waved and called out.

Lu Tiezhu looked in the direction of the sound and was both surprised and delighted. He immediately ran over.

"Zhou Yi, what are you doing here?" "Director Ni asked me to come and help," Zhou Yi said casually.

Only then did Lü Tiezhu notice Ni Jianrong standing to the side. He already knew that Ni Jianrong was the new director of the county bureau when he was directing the search at the foot of the mountain.

Startled, he quickly saluted: "Good morning, Director."

In front of the grassroots police officers, Ni Jianrong immediately put on airs again, nodding with a leader-like demeanor, and then asked Zhou Yi, "Your friend?"

Zhou Yi nodded, just about to introduce himself.

Ni Jianrong said to Lü Tiezhu in a rather official tone: "Work hard and learn more from Zhou Yi."

Lu Tiezhu, unaware of the situation, quickly saluted and replied with trepidation!
Zhou Yi ended up in a group with Lü Tiezhu.

Wang Tao was unaware of Zhou Yi's background, but Lü Tiezhu knew it all, since Zhou Yi used to follow him around during summer vacations when they were kids.

As they went up the mountain, the group dispersed. Once they were alone, Lü Tiezhu asked in surprise, "Zhou Yi, are you familiar with this new Director Ni? He seems to value you a lot."

Zhou Yi smiled wryly and said helplessly, "I really am grateful for his high regard, but I can't accept it."

Even if Ni Jianrong hadn't called him, he would have still come to help if he knew something had happened here.

Having been a policeman for two lifetimes, some things are ingrained in my bones.

The undeveloped areas of the western part of Yunxia Mountain are completely different from the eastern part of the mountain we climbed earlier.

At first, there was a small path leading up the mountain. The forest ranger said that some local traditional Chinese medicine practitioners still have the habit of going up the mountain to collect herbs, which is why there was such a small path.

But after walking for a while, the only path disappeared, and there were trees and grass everywhere.

To make the search more effective, the ten teams split up and searched in ten different directions.

These college students went up the mountain yesterday morning, and it's been 24 hours already. Even if they're moving slowly, it's unlikely they'll be able to find them anytime soon.

Looking at the weeds and dense forests covering the mountains and plains, Zhou Yi felt the insignificance of humankind in the face of nature.

Fortunately, the grass wasn't very tall because the shade from the trees blocked the sunlight.

The two walked forward, searching for traces of their surroundings.

Since it hasn't rained recently, the soil on the mountain is not moist, and with all the grass, it's almost impossible to tell if there are any footprints.

The only hope is to see if there are any traces left by humans, such as litter carelessly thrown away, since it seems like something these people would do.

"These college students must be bored out of their minds. How old are they? They're using their parents' money to come to places like this looking for thrills," Lu Tiezhu complained. "If anything happens to them, their parents won't even have time to cry."

"Brother Tiezhu, are there any wild animals on this mountain?"

"There aren't any big ones, like tigers, leopards, or bears. I've never even heard of them. There are wild boars, roe deer, rabbits, and the like in the mountains."

Zhou Yi nodded. As long as there were no dangerous animals, at least the students wouldn't be hurt by wild animals.

"Oh, I heard my grandfather say when I was a child that there were lynxes in the mountains, and that an old hunter in the village had shot one."

"Really? There are even lynxes?" Zhou Yi was quite surprised.

This is a large feline, generally about one meter long, resembling a big cat, and somewhat like a leopard.

It looks cute, but it's actually a carnivore.

Zhou Yi had seen them at the zoo in his previous life; they were said to generally not attack humans.

Hopefully, these people won't do anything foolish.

After searching for almost an hour, Zhou Yi and Lü Tiezhu stopped to rest and sat on a large rock to drink water.

Zhou Yi looked up at the sky, and the sky he saw through the dense branches was no longer as bright as it had been in the morning.

Zhou Yi then remembered that he had checked the weather forecast yesterday, and it seemed to say that it would rain today.

"Brother Tiezhu, I remember the weather forecast said it would rain today, we need to hurry. If it really rains heavily, it will be troublesome. If the students get wet in the rain and the temperature drops, they will suffer from hypothermia if they don't take proper precautions, and that will be a real problem."

Often, people who die in the wild don't actually encounter real physical danger; many are killed by invisible killers.

Hypothermia is the most common cause.

The temperature in the mountains is already low, and if it rains heavily and you get soaked, it will be troublesome.

Lu Tiezhu nodded, and he and Zhou Yi got up to continue the search.

……

Xiaguang Village, Zhou Yi's maternal grandmother's home.

Lu Xiaoshuang moved a small stool to the doorway, rested her chin on her hand, and looked at Yunxia Mountain not far away. The big yellow dog was sleeping peacefully at her feet.

……

Ni Jianrong, who was at the foot of the mountain, had been busy all along. After all, in Yunshan County, he didn't have a deputy detachment leader who could take charge of the overall situation and handle things perfectly.

Moreover, when he came here, he didn't lower his stance much to save face.

I originally thought I could just coast along, but then I discovered that the county bureau had a lot of bad debts. At least these bad debts were historical problems, and if I couldn't solve them, it wasn't my responsibility.

But then this unexpected incident happened, and he had no choice but to take on the task.

The second batch of people transferred from various township police stations in Yunshan County also arrived, along with people from the county fire brigade. These people completed their preparations and entered the mountains around 1 p.m.

After reporting to the city, the city also organized and mobilized a third batch of rescue teams to come. It is expected that the third batch will be able to enter the mountain around 3 p.m.

Based on this calculation, the three rescue teams totaled nearly two hundred people.

But Ni Jianrong's mood grew increasingly heavy, because the second group had only been in the mountains for a short time when the sky became overcast and the surroundings were as dark as dusk at around 2 p.m.

If it was like this at the foot of the mountain, the situation was even worse on the mountain itself, where it was as dark as night in the woods.

Although they brought flashlights, these days battery-powered flashlights have limited battery life, so the two of them had to use them sparingly, using one person's flashlight first.

After searching for another half hour, Zhou Yi's radio suddenly crackled with communication.

"Attention all units, attention all units, this is Ni Jianrong. Just now, a team reported that they have found two students. Both of them have injuries of varying degrees, but are generally in good condition."

"All units are requested to pay attention to safety and continue the search."

This good news is undoubtedly a morale booster for all the search and rescue personnel.

After all, Zhou Yi and his group have been in the mountains for more than four hours now.

Just as the radio call ended, a torrential downpour began. Zhou Yi and Lü Tiezhu, who had already taken out their raincoats, quickly put them on.

The dense raindrops pounded against the trees, making a loud noise.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and visibility became very low; we couldn't see anything ahead.

Lu Tiezhu shouted, "Zhou Yi, the rain is too heavy, let's find somewhere to take shelter!"

The cold rain stung Zhou Yi's face.

"Okay, let's find somewhere to hide!" In this heavy rain, you can't be heard unless you speak loudly.

After walking for a while in the heavy rain, Lü Tiezhu pointed ahead and said, "There's a protruding rock over there; it should be able to block out some of the rain!"

Zhou Yi glanced in the direction he pointed and said, "Okay!"

The two walked quickly in that direction, towards a rock protruding from the mountainside.

It's called a protrusion, but it only protrudes about 30 or 40 centimeters.

Fortunately, it was just a downpour without strong winds, so the protruding rock could still provide some shelter from the rain.

Luckily, I had prepared a raincoat. The downpour had been going on for twenty minutes and showed no sign of stopping.

I wonder how those students are doing. If no preventative measures were taken, it could be troublesome.

The protruding rock was about 1.8 meters tall, and Zhou Yi had to bend over slightly to stand on it.

Over time, this posture becomes very uncomfortable.

So Zhou Yi simply squatted down to stretch his stiff body a little.

In this state, it's impossible to continue the search until the rain subsides.

What's more troublesome is that, regardless of whether the rain subsides or stops, this downpour will inevitably make the subsequent search and rescue work much more difficult.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi, who was looking down, noticed red liquid flowing in the rainwater on the ground.

Zhou Yi was startled and quickly asked, "Brother Tiezhu, are you injured?"

Lu Tiezhu said doubtfully, "No."

Zhou Yi followed the direction of the red liquid and finally found the source.

At Lu Tiezhu's other foot, there was a wad of black cloth. Rainwater washed over the cloth, and a faint red liquid flowed out from it.

Zhou Yi reached out and picked up the cloth that was already soaked with rainwater, and red liquid dripped continuously from his palm.

Zhou Yi's heart sank; it seemed something bad had happened!

(End of this chapter)