Marcus did not even need to be actually in the scene to know that it was bad - a large number of squad cars surrounded the entire scene within a whole block radius, and almost all traffic had to take their respective detours.

After asking the taxi driver to stop and drop him off just outside of the police blockade, Marcus ran to the scene of the car crash - the route was entirely cleared so there was almost no hindrance in passage or sight. And from afar, he already saw two bodies covered by white cloth. The pieces of white cloth were no longer white, however, as the fluids from the bodies had almost soaked them through and through.

A foul smell of rot, salt and some kind of pungent acid hit Marcus right in the face and made him dizzy for a slight moment. “What the fuck happened?” Marcus asked one of the officers standing by the police tapes as he concentrated a bit of his Qi on his nose to block off the stench.

“The emergency reparations team sent by one the local electricity companies and district. While they were at work, someone, or maybe something attacked them. And all of them were dead, all six of them.” The officer shook his head: “Captain Ko is in there as well.”

“Cai.” When Marcus went into the scene, Captain Ko and Detective Pahaik greeted him at the same time with a serious nod.

“I will be supervising this, but I would like you, Pahaik, to lead the investigation.” Captain Ko looked straight at Detective Pahaik: “I paged Lance as well - Cai, you and Lance will be secondaries on this case. You two will provide Detective Pahaik with whatever assistance he needs. This will be all of your top priorities now, and all the other cases, put them on hold.”

“Understood, Captain.” Marcus knelt down and took a look at one of the bodies covered in the stained white cloth, especially the part covering the body’s face.

This was a middle aged man in an orange uniform with glow strips, slightly tan skin. His face looked like it was bashed into the ground with brute force, and then dragged along the ground - the skins on his forehead and nose were almost all peeled off and rolled to the edges, his facial muscles were exposed, and his eyes rolled back so far that Marcus could only see the white of them.

“From the preliminary examination, the causes of death all seemed to be asphyxiation.” Just this moment, the forensic scientist whom they met earlier, Ayer Flemmings came over and told the Captain as well as the two detectives: “I know, it bothers me as well. This means the different traumas were all inflicted post-mortem.”

“What caused the ​​asphyxiation?” Detective Pahaik asked.

“Your forensic technician found this in one of the victim’s throat.” Ayer raised a small plastic evidence bag: “If you ask me, I’d say it’s some really disturbed individual playing some kind of sick joke.”

“Is this -  aquatic weed?” Detective Pahaik passed the evidence bag to Marcus.

“Yeah, aquatic weed, from what I can tell, a kind that’s quite common in Lake Aqiu. And if you take a look at the ground - it’s wet all over the place.” Ayer nodded: “But - the closest water from here - ”

“At least one hour drive.” Marcus and Detective Pahaik said at the same time.

“Sorry I’m late.” Just this moment, a female detective of similar height to Marcus, wearing a pair of glasses with black frame rushed to their side: “What’s the update?”

“I’ll brief you in a bit.” Detective Pahaik nodded at Detective Keryn Lance then turned to Captain Ko, “Will the Province send people over to help? I don’t think this would go unnoticed.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath.” Captain Ko shook his head: “Treat this with the utmost priority right now, loop me in on any updates. Dr. Flemmings, I’d appreciate it if you could lend us more of your time - and I’ll have Mr. Loo fully under your lead - ”

“I understand - this is probably the worst case I have encountered in years. ” Ayer sighed and nodded: “I’ll let my boss know.”

“They just dug up the last guy.” This moment, Kevin Loo came over and wiped some sweat off his forehead, revealing a set of prayer beads on his left wrist, and Marcus immediately noticed that he was wearing a small jade charm on his neck: “Dr. Flemmings, you might wanna take a look here - it’s - it’s kinda bizarre. And a little horrifying, to be honest.”

“Let’s go and take a look together.” Captain Ko waved at everyone.

The group went over to the site following Kevin Loo’s lead, passing by two other bodies scattered around the scene, one of which was clearly dismembered by some kind of brute force, and one young officer who was rushing outside of the perimeter of the scene to vomit.

The foul stench grew stronger and the Qi blockage formed earlier was no longer sufficient. Ferocious Tiger Style granted him an enhanced sense of smell, but right now it only made him dizzy and at risk of retching or even fainting. When he overcame the smell by covering up his face and concentrating more of his Qi on his nose, he came to sight of the body Kevin was leading them to see.

This body, also in an orange uniform with glow strips, seemed to have gone through additional weathering than the rest, and with no obvious signs of trauma on his upper body. The normally sturdy and durable worker trousers worn on his lower body, on the other hand, seemed to have been corrupted by prolonged exposure to water and weathering, so much so that they became brittle and broke off like thin, fragile china and revealed his pale, swollen and sore-covered legs. The skins on his legs seemed like they were about to melt if placed close to any heat, and they were covered with quite a few pus-gushing sores, which were presumably the source of the pungent smell.

Captain Ko, Detective Pahaik and Detective Lance both showed visible disgust on their faces, while Marcus, Kevin and Ayer seemed mostly unperturbed, even given the smell. For Marcus, it sure was a gruesome sight to behold, but it seemed that both his experience working with some gnarly cases in the past and his general desensitivity prevented him from having too much of a reaction to things like this.

“Aquatic weeds.” Kevin Loo knelt down and pointed at the body’s ankles and a few sores with some kind of dark linings inside while covering his face with his hand: “And the condition of the legs looked like they were put in the water for a long time.”

“Good eye, Mr. Loo. But being buried in the dirt doesn’t do that.” Ayer sighed with a frown on her head: “We’ll need more time to examine it. There must be something to their presence here.”

“It also takes no small amount of effort to bury people this way.” Detective Lance said after taking a closer look at the hole from which the body was dug up: “Why would anyone do this? Looks a lot like revenge or someone trying to deliver a message.”

“Good question. But we must find out ‘who’ first.” Captain Ko rubbed his temples, then said to Detective Pahaik: “Find out the identities of these victims first, and then check their associates or known enemies. This is some vengeful shit.”

“Noted.” Detective Pahaik sighed and turned to Marcus and Detective Lance: “Marcus, can you contact the power company and find out the names of the victims, where they came from, where they live, and who might want to harm them; Keryn, can you check around the scene and see if there are witnesses.”

“On it.” “No problem.”

“Thud” When two officers tried to adjust the position of the poor man’s body so that they could more easily cover him with a piece of white cloth, his left foot fell off, and thick gray and green liquid dripped out of his shoe covered in cracks, dirt and stains.

“Wait!” Just this moment, Ayer and Kevin raised their hands at an officer and stopped him from stepping into a small mud pool near a bush.

“Oh, thanks, Ms. Flemmings and Mr…”

“Nonono, not you!” Ayer knelt down and pointed at the wet dirt on the side: “This!”

Kevin raised his phone, turned on the flashlight and gently pushed the leaves and branches of the bush to the side - a small partial footprint was revealed and it seemed to have a gap between the heel and the forefoot.

“Looks like a women’s boot.” Kevin Loo said: “Could it be the woman from the earlier car crash?”

“She was wearing heels, so no.” Ayer shook her head: “This looks quite fresh, might be someone who came here before us.”

“Who reported this again?” Marcus asked from the side.

“Some passers-by.” Captain Ko answered: “They were really panicky, barely able to speak. I doubt they would dare step foot in here or be of any help.”

“Whatever you do, try to figure things out as soon as possible.” Captain Ko stressed once again: “We can’t expect anyone from the province, but the folks from the city council and the mayor will be breathing down my neck about this. We need to hurry.”