It doesn't matter if your souls are scattered, as long as you die.

Zhao Tao and his group finally made a discovery: an unburied, rotting, and foul-smelling corpse.

Using a cloth as a mask and gloves, Dr. Liu carefully examined the corpse, which was so decomposed that its face was no longer recognizable.

The rotting flesh was full of maggots and mosquitoes.

Even Liu, a doctor with extensive experience, couldn't help but feel nauseous.

Struggling to suppress the acid rising in his throat, Dr. Liu carefully removed the clothes from the corpse.

After examining the body, no obvious injuries were found on the bones, and the preliminary conclusion was that the cause of death was illness or suffocation.

The time of death was approximately one week ago.

The clothes the deceased was wearing were very ordinary in style and fabric.

After checking the surrounding area, nothing was found that could identify the deceased.

After a more thorough examination by Dr. Liu, the only thing that could be determined was that the deceased was a farmer who had been engaged in farming for a long time.

That's all I can see.

Since ancient times, people have believed that burial is the best way to ensure peace. As public security officers, Zhao Tao and his colleagues would naturally not ignore the fact that the dead were left exposed in the wilderness.

Under the scorching sun, the group dug a pit and buried the person.

After walking a short distance, the dog started barking wildly and ran off in one direction.

This is a discovery.

The others followed closely behind the four dogs, crossing a path hidden by bushes to an entrance where the bushes had been deliberately cleared.

The first thing you see is four rotting corpses lying across the entrance.

"Everyone, be on high alert."

When Zhao Tao saw the four corpses, he remembered the one he had found not long ago. He knew in his heart that these five corpses must be the villagers who went into the mountains to look for someone.

The police officers drew their guns and cautiously entered from both sides of the entrance, only to find that it was a relatively large valley inside.

The valley is filled with lush trees, and there are some stone caves on three sides of the mountain.

The police officers carefully inspected the place and found signs that someone had lived there.

"Captain, people lived here at least two or three months ago."

A team member came over to report.

Zhao Tao was standing at the entrance of a stone cave, looking inside. Upon hearing the report, he frowned and ordered, "Go in groups of four to investigate the vicinity. Whether you find anything or not, you must be back by noon."

Once the order was given, the group spontaneously formed four teams and went to investigate in four different directions.

Those who remained in the valley were Zhao Tao, Liu Junyi, Zhao Wenjun (who had been bitten by a venomous snake the day before), and Wang Weidong, who was temporarily in charge of cooking and feeding the dogs.

Zhao Tao and Zhao Wenjun together cleared the four bodies to the side.

They then dug a pit on the spot and buried it.

Liu, the military doctor, and Wang Weidong dug up wild vegetables nearby, and then cooked wild vegetable rice in a large pot they had brought.

Two of the four reconnaissance teams returned around noon, but one team only had two members return, and two members were still missing.

"Reporting to the captain, no abnormalities have been found in the eastern direction."

"Report to the captain: A large man-made hole has been discovered to the north. Chen Zhiqiang and Xiao Cunzai are guarding it."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tao's expression shifted. "Let's eat. We'll go over after we finish eating."

We finally have a lead, but the result isn't good; those villagers are probably all gone.

Halfway through the meal, the group that had gone south returned, having found nothing.

The group that went west had not returned by the time they finished eating.

Everyone felt uneasy.

After finishing their meal, Zhao Tao had six boxes of food packed up. They took two of them to the north to give to the two team members guarding the large cave.

The other four boxes were taken by someone to the west to find that group of people.

"Remember, if you sense anything is wrong, immediately run south and rejoin us."

"yes!"

After that, the entire valley was empty and completely quiet for a while before a sound came from a cave.

The perfectly sealed stone wall suddenly detached from the wall and moved outward, revealing a gap.

Then, with one hand gripping the edge of the crevice, he pushed hard against the stone wall, widening the crevice, and a short, thin man crawled out.

If any villagers from the village that made the false report were present, they would recognize that this man was Zhang Quan, the boy who delivered the message to the village.

He crouched down and walked to the cave entrance to peek out. Seeing no one, he couldn't help but show a thoughtful expression before going back in.

But not long after, he came out again carrying a bamboo basket.

Zhao Tao arrived at the entrance of the cave he had discovered and looked inside; it was very dark.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Zhao Tao took out a flashlight and walked in front, with the others following behind.

The ground inside the cave was very flat, and there were wheel tracks from a wooden cart.

Seeing this, everyone understood that a large amount of goods had been transported out of there, otherwise wooden carts wouldn't have been used.

Be careful, there is no danger, at most there are some small crawling insects.

After walking for about five minutes, the group arrived at a relatively open area.

There was a lot of household garbage scattered on the ground, and there was a strong smell of urine.

"Search and see if there are any useful clues."

Everyone covered their noses and began the search.

"grass!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just found a pile of maggot-infested poop."

Even if some people haven't seen it, just hearing about it will conjure up images in their minds, making them feel extremely nauseous.

The place wasn't big, and they quickly searched every nook and cranny, including the garbage.

"Reporting to the captain, I didn't find it here."

"I don't have any here either."

"Same, nothing found."

"Captain, there are a few words here."

Zhao Tao strode over, and the team member pointed to the edge of the corner, "Here."

Zhao Tao squatted down and shone his flashlight on it. It was indeed a character, but it looked like many characters stacked together.

It's impossible to tell what the character is.

"Whoever has good eyesight, come and see if you can identify it."

Everyone lay down on the ground and looked at it one by one, but they still couldn't recognize what was written.

Zhao Tao had a gut feeling that if he could decipher the characters, he could solve the mystery of the villagers' disappearance.

"Go check other corners to see if there are any more words."

The others immediately sprang into action, seeing this as a potential breakthrough. Ignoring their filth, they squatted or lay on the ground, examining every corner.

Believe it or not, this inspection actually revealed writing in five places.

There are two places that I can't recognize, just like before, but the other three are clearly identifiable.

"Captain, it says here: What should we do? What should we do?"

"What I wrote here is: I am a murderer, I deserve to die."

"This is: They've all gone mad."

Looking at these three pieces of information, Zhao Tao analyzed them in his mind.

Article 1: (What to do) It is obvious that this person has encountered something that cannot be solved or accepted.

Article 2: (I am a murderer and I deserve to die) I killed someone, but it was probably not a voluntary killing. It is possible that I was forced to kill someone because I was feeling guilty and scared.

Article 3: (They've all gone mad) The word "all" here refers to many people, meaning that many people did something unexpected, and it was so crazy that people couldn't believe it.

He combined this information and made inferences in his mind.

First, let's assume that the person who wrote this character was a villager.

The villagers followed the treasure hunters up the mountain hoping to get a share of the spoils. If the treasure hunters refused to let them share, the villagers, having followed along, were obviously greedy, so not giving them a share was unacceptable.

The treasure hunters, either out of necessity or for other reasons, temporarily agreed to cooperate in retrieving the treasure.

But after the treasure was unearthed, the villagers became even more greedy and, unwilling to share it with them, killed them.

There were six treasure hunters and twelve villagers.

If we assume that the treasure hunters don't have guns, then their fighting ability is vastly different from that of the villagers.

It's not impossible that the villagers could gain the upper hand due to their numbers.

The villagers killed the treasure hunters and then kept the treasure for themselves.

This corresponds to the second point: I am a murderer, I deserve to die.

There were twelve villagers. Regardless of how much treasure there was, given human greed, they would probably all want to keep it all for themselves.

In the end, everyone became greedy and wanted to possess it all, which led to infighting and mutual slaughter.

Corresponding to the third point: They've all gone mad.

As for the first point, calling it the first point simply refers to the order in which they discovered it, not the order in which this person wrote it down.

It can be understood that the writer killed someone and experienced internal strife, which made him very uneasy, so he wrote it out to vent his emotions.