Winter Returns

Chapter 235 Ancient Temple, Green Lamp, Alone (Part 5)
On Saturday, December 29th, Zhang Shutong was extremely busy.

A few days ago, he was so focused on Lu Qinglian's busy schedule that he almost forgot he also had a task to complete. With New Year's Day approaching, President Gu generously gave gifts to all employees, including his family. Zhang Shutong went to help carry the gifts: cooking oil, flour, apples... each item was quite heavy. Even the distant provincial capital sent something—a greeting card from his mother's friend.

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to take a detour to the port.

It was 9:30. He carried his bags upstairs and then received a call from the police officer, asking him to pick a suitable time to go over.

Zhang Shutong took a quick shower, rode his bicycle out the door, and found the sun shining brightly. The weather forecast had said that today would be the best day of the year, and it was being said with great certainty. After all, it was already the end of 2012, with only three days left until New Year's Day, and those three days were going to be cloudy. Even the unreliable weather forecast seemed to be reliable now.

The wind wasn't too cold, and the sunlight on his face lifted his spirits. He put on his headphones, which he hadn't done in a long time, and played Pu Shu's "New Boy".

Another piece of evidence proves he was very busy. He had just arrived at the police station by bike when his mother called.

"Tongtong, are you coming home for lunch?"

"You're in too much of a hurry, you haven't even entered the police station yet..."

"Can't I miss Qinglian? Don't forget to ask!"

“Okay…” He hung up the phone.

Looking at the time, it was already 10:50 a.m., but Lu Qinglian was nowhere to be seen.

She should have arrived earlier, not right on time. Zhang Shutong sent a text message, and then someone behind her said:
"Young man, come in quickly."

Zhang Shutong turned around and saw Officer Xiong, who had returned to the island last night. He had initially thought they were just troublemakers, but after resolving several incidents, they had become... no, young men.

Zhang Shutong followed them into the police station. Officer Xiong asked:
"Want to see the files from that shipwreck accident?"

"Yes, I have a teacher's wife who was a classmate of those victims back then, but for some reason, she's the only one who's alright."

"You kids are overthinking it." Officer Xiong shook his head. "Students from Ji'an University?"

“Yes, the photography club,” Zhang Shutong confirmed. “They came to the island in the winter of 2004, is it the same thing?”

"I don't know what kind of club they are, but if you say you've seen a group photo of students wearing blue uniform jackets, then that should be them."

Officer Xiong pondered for a moment:
"However, there's not much to study about this matter itself. It's been demonized and spread through misinformation, which is why it's become what it is now."

As they were talking, Zhang Shutong walked into the conference room. Officer Xiong threw a stack of documents on the table and got straight to the point:
"First of all, there are no fishermen."

"But where did that ship come from?" Zhang Shutong asked, puzzled.

“They rented it from local fishermen,” Officer Xiong sighed. “As I said, so many details of this story have been embellished that the version you’re hearing now has little to do with the truth of what happened back then.”

Officer Xiong waved his hand:

“Listen to me first. There was no such thing as a group of students returning from outside missing the boat. Rather, they wanted to go on the lake, rented a boat from a fisherman, and from the moment they set off until the boat was submerged, no third party was involved.”

"Where is the shipwreck located?"

"That's the only place that's not different," the officer said nonchalantly. "That lake to the west, but it has nothing to do with ghosts or spirits."

"What about the snow?" Zhang Shutong asked again, "The story is that the heavy snow sank the ship..."

"look at this."

The police officer handed me a photo.

Zhang Shutong's pupils contracted. It was a photo taken at the scene of the incident years ago, showing a fishing boat being towed ashore, covered with a thick layer of snow.

"The reason for that claim is probably because of this photo," Officer Xiong said in a deep voice. "Young man, have you figured out what the problem is?"

Zhang Shutong nodded subconsciously.

The shipwreck incident, the shipwreck incident, although everyone keeps saying this—

But now that he has seen the photos, he realizes that the ship did not actually sink.

Zhang Shutong examined the old photograph. It was well-preserved, and despite its age, the hull of the fishing boat was clearly visible. It was made of wood, and the bottom was black. But Zhang Shutong knew that was where the fishing boat touched the lake surface. After being soaked in water, it appeared as a black shadow in the photograph.

The dryable hull contrasts sharply with this.

Zhang Shutong was immediately stunned, because this meant—

Even though there was nothing wrong with the fishing boat itself, a group of people drowned.

Officer Xiong recalled:

"This incident alarmed the city, and a special investigation team was established. After clearing away the layer of snow from the boat, they found traces of mud and shoe prints on the sill. What do you think this means?"

"Does that mean they jumped down on their own?" Zhang Shutong blurted out.

“That’s it.” Officer Xiong frowned. “We’ve handled accidental drowning incidents before, such as one or two people going out in a boat, for whatever reason, whether taking pictures or just having fun, and they accidentally fall into the water. But that’s the problem. It’s not one or two people, but a group of seven. The possibility of such a group of people accidentally drowning is extremely small.”

The conference room was heated, but Zhang Shutong felt a chill creep up her back.

What does this mean?
Did all seven people jump down on their own?

"Internal strife?" Zhang Shutong asked hastily. "Or perhaps one of them accidentally fell into the water first, and his classmates jumped in one after another to save him? But an accident occurred during the rescue?"

"You reacted very quickly," Officer Xiong praised. "But no signs of a struggle were found on the boat. Back then, the investigation team almost dismantled the boat to study it, and even questioned the owner of the fishing boat, but there was nothing wrong with the boat itself. As for the other possibility you mentioned, that was actually the reason for closing the case back then."

"Is that all there is to the case?" Zhang Shutong was taken aback.

“It was a last resort. The boat was discovered the next day. You know that area of ​​water is very remote, with no eyewitnesses or surveillance cameras. The impact of such an incident is too great. In fact, there was already a lot of negative public opinion circulating at the time. In order to reduce the impact, we used the explanation that there was an accident during the rescue, which is at least much better than superstitious speculation.” Zhang Shutong fell silent for a moment.

Before seeing the truth, he thought a lot, such as the police officer's vague words, the lack of the case file from that year in the police station, and whether it really involved some supernatural matter and was being sealed off by orders from higher authorities...

But now the whole story is laid out so simply and bluntly before him, leaving him feeling like he'd punched cotton. Disappointment? Disbelief? He couldn't say for sure.

"And the person in this photo, do you remember them?"

Zhang Shutong pulled out Yun's photo.

"Actually, I thought of it when you mentioned it the day before yesterday. It's that teacher Song's girlfriend, right? She was the one who reported the case back then," Officer Xiong said with emotion. "I remember she passed away four years ago. Your teacher asked Lao Wang to investigate back then."

Zhang Shutong, however, grasped a certain key word:

"Was she the first to discover it?"

“Yes. She didn’t even get on the boat. Let me check… This is the statement: those classmates insisted on going to play on the water, and you, their teacher’s wife, couldn’t dissuade them back then. It wasn’t until we couldn’t contact them that we found out they had an accident.”

That's it again.

Every detail is illogical, yet it somehow manages to make sense.

Zhang Shutong still felt that there was something hidden behind this matter:
"Could I see a photo of the body?"

"I shouldn't be showing this to you, but we've come this far... Have you eaten?"

Zhang Shutong shook his head and took the photo.

Several pale corpses pulled from the water came into view. Despite it being winter, they were bloated from being submerged. Zhang Shutong felt a churning in his stomach, but he still forced himself to examine the distorted faces of the corpses, which were typical symptoms of drowning.

"The autopsy report also showed the same thing," Officer Xiong added. "If there were signs of a struggle before death, even if the criminal investigation technology back then was not as advanced as it is now, it would have been impossible to hide it."

Zhang Shutong silently flipped through the photos. This was not a murder case, so there was only a thin stack of photos. At first, there were fishing boats being dragged ashore, followed by bodies being retrieved.

He flipped through the photos faster and faster, and suddenly the scene changed; it was no longer a field in the countryside, but the interior of a room.

The room contained beds, tables and chairs, and large suitcases. There were three beds in the room... It must have been the accommodation for these college students.

"Is this a hotel?"

"Yes, the investigation team also checked their former residences. For example, someone contemplating suicide might leave behind a suicide note. Of course, there is no evidence to support this."

Yes, Zhang Shutong flipped through the photos. From any angle, the hotel had a strong sense of everyday life, just like a student dormitory. There were clothes that hadn't been put away, windbreakers and hiking boots, and slippers lying around. Zhang Shutong even saw a cup of instant noodles on the table.

The scene then returns to the wilderness, where a pile of wet items are laid out on the grass. These are clearly the victim's belongings, including a cell phone, MP3 player, keychain, hair clip, and various other small items.

The clues were once again cut off. The shipwreck case has always been shrouded in a hazy fog. No matter how he investigated, the photos from eight years ago, the whereabouts of the fox, the bizarre cause of death... it was all a headless cold case.

Officer Xiong then said:
"There is another reason why it was classified as an accident. The investigation team visited the victim's family. Their parents denied that their children showed any signs of suicidal ideation and could not accept the internal conflict. From an emotional point of view, they could only accept that it was an accident during the rescue."

At this point, Officer Xiong suddenly laughed and scolded:
"I'm starting to be led astray by you, student. It's like you're really hiding some kind of conspiracy. Come out and talk, have a smoke with me."

Zhang Shutong followed Officer Xiong outside, where the officer slowly exhaled a puff of white breath.
“When I first started out, I was pretty much like you. I always felt that there must be something hidden behind many outrageous cases, but the accidents in reality are often even more outrageous than we imagine. It’s good that you young people are interested in these things; it’s better than staying at home playing online games all day. But at your age, it’s better to treat detective work as a hobby. It’s not like no investigation team has reopened the case in the past eight years, but the fact is it was just an accident…”

The man took a drag of his cigarette and became talkative, but Zhang Shutong listened absentmindedly. The cold wind blew on his face, and he noticed something else important—

Why hasn't Lu Qinglian arrived yet?
He checked the time; it was ten minutes to eleven before he entered the police station, but now twenty minutes had passed and he still hadn't seen her.

Zhang Shutong picked up his phone, but there was no reply. He wondered what was going on. Could his phone be broken again?

But she clearly sent a text message yesterday... wait a minute.

Zhang Shutong belatedly realized that he had mistakenly thought Lu Qinglian had taken back his phone and told him that he could contact her on his phone if he needed anything, but it might have been a test text message from the repairman.
Actually, she never picked up her phone from the phone store.

Come to think of it, Lu Qinglian had only been using a mobile phone for a short time, unlike others who treated it as a necessity in their lives and wished they could hold it in their hands all the time.

Zhang Shutong even thought the two of them had great chemistry.

He sighed, and on a whim, made a call. Sure enough, no one answered. Zhang Shutong muttered to himself, "Why is Xiao Lu disappearing again? What an unreliable woman..."

"...Young man, let me give you another example. It's a news story from abroad. A person was found dead in the sewer of a public toilet, which alarmed the local government. They thought it was a murder and body concealment case, but the truth couldn't be deduced by common sense. Can you guess what the truth is?"

"Yes, yes," Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "Lu Qinglian isn't someone who can be judged by common sense."

They exchanged a few words before school ended yesterday. At that time, Lu Qinglian was cutting yellow paper in the library and busy with temple affairs. Zhang Shutong left early and didn't go out to find food like the day before yesterday. It was unclear when she would finish. She remembered that Ruoping and the others were discussing how to do their makeup for the party and stayed until the very end. Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong made a phone call:

"What happened?"

"I have a question. When did Lu Qinglian leave yesterday?"

"I don't know, we're leaving now, what's wrong?"

"I asked her to come to the police station today, but she hasn't arrived yet."

"Oh, that's exactly what I was about to ask you. I think I saw Qinglian this morning, she seemed to be in a rush. Weren't you two together?"

"No."

Sure enough, she stood me up again.

(End of this chapter)