Chapter 26 Secret
Qingyuan City, inside the Forensic Identification Department of the Police Bureau.

"Old Chang, how is it going? Have you found out any results?" Zhang Hongjie put down the lunch box in his hand and asked the person sitting on the chair.

Chang Xingfeng moved the microscope away, took off his glasses, rubbed his sore eyes, and looked at Zhang Hongjie unhappily.

"Do you think you can get the results in minutes like you packed your lunch? This is a test, it takes time."

"Well, I'm just in a hurry. I want to get the results quickly so I can give an explanation to the public." Zhang Hongjie said with a wry smile.

After hearing this, Chang Xingfeng said nothing more. Having worked together for many years, he certainly knew his old friend's character well.

Putting on his glasses, Chang Xingfeng picked up some printed materials and enlarged pictures from the side and said:
"The ice sculptures you brought back this time are very strange. According to what you said, it took less than ten minutes from the time these people arrived at the crime scene to the time you appeared at the crime scene. But in just ten minutes, these four people turned into ice sculptures."

Having said that, Chang Xingfeng paused and picked up a sealed bag from the table. The bag contained a long piece of ice. Through the ice, one could vaguely see a finger inside.

"This was accidentally knocked off by your people when they brought it here. It's very fragile. The entire body inside the ice sculpture has turned into ice. It will shatter with the slightest touch."

"You know, if you simply freeze a person to death, it would take several hours even if you leave him naked outside in sub-zero temperatures, let alone freezing him into this state."

"What if it is liquid nitrogen? The temperature of liquid nitrogen is very low." Zhang Hongjie asked at the right time.

"We have considered this issue, but it is not realistic. If a human body is placed in a sealed liquid nitrogen container, this effect can be achieved within five minutes, but no such large container was found at the scene or in the surrounding area."

"Moreover, judging from the expressions of the three ice sculptures, they seemed to have seen something horrific and were frozen into this state in an instant."

Chang Xingfeng couldn't go on. He had been working for many years and had always believed in materialistic science, but the ice sculptures this time really left him confused. If he had to guess, he would rather guess that these people had encountered some high-tech dimensionality reduction attack.

But if the other side has such advanced weapons, what is the point of using them to deal with just a few of these guys?

Seeing that Chang Xingfeng didn't speak, Zhang Hongjie also remained silent. He was not an expert in the relevant field and couldn't give any suggestions. He just followed his logical thinking and just as he was about to continue speaking, the door of the department was pushed open.

"Captain Zhang, the director wants to see you for something and wants you to come over." Mu Qing walked in and said.

"Okay, I'll go right away." Zhang Hongjie responded and continued to look at Chang Xingfeng and said:
"Old Chang, I'm really sorry to trouble you this time. Please try to find out some things..." He patted the other person's shoulder and left while the other person was smiling bitterly.

……

In the director's office, Si Tianming had just hung up the phone when Zhang Hongjie pushed open the door and walked in.

"Director, you're looking for me?"

"I wonder when you can change your impetuous temper. You call me director, but you don't even knock when you come in." Si Tianming looked at Zhang Hongjie with disdain.

"Oh, then I'll go out and knock on the door again." Zhang Hongjie said as he turned to leave.

"Come back here!" Si Tianming called Zhang Hongjie, and then said unhappily: "How could I have such a disciple like you!"

"Hehe, it's normal for an apprentice to follow his master. Wasn't it the same for you before?" Zhang Hongjie said with a smile while sitting on a chair.

As if he recalled the glorious past, Si Tianming couldn't help but smile. But soon his expression returned to seriousness, and he said to Zhang Hongjie:

"You handled the Dongcheng Road jumping case well. You quickly identified the suspect." "There was already ready-made evidence, but the suspect died inexplicably and is still under investigation." Speaking of business, Zhang Hongjie's face also became serious.

"Well, that's why I asked you to come here. Please put this case aside for now. Someone from above will come and continue investigating later."

"The people above?" Zhang Hongjie looked stunned. Although this was also a murder case, the case did not have a big enough impact before the final result was announced. How could it alarm the people above to investigate?

Seeing Zhang Hongjie's doubts, Si Tianming also understood his apprentice's character. If he didn't make things clear today, he would certainly follow orders, but he might secretly investigate something, which would backfire.

Looking at the closed office, Si Tianming pondered for a while, then said in a very stern expression:
"I will tell you something next, but you just need to listen to it. You must not tell anyone else, understand!"

Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him, Zhang Hongjie was a little dazed. In his memory, even when he messed up things in the past, the other party had never been so severe. This also made him realize that what the other party said next was absolutely crucial.

Without saying anything, Zhang Hongjie just nodded heavily.

Seeing this, Si Tianming's expression eased a little. He did not speak directly, but asked:
"Do you know when the first satellite on Earth was launched?"

Hearing this, Zhang Hongjie was a little confused, but still answered: "The 1960s."

"Yes, in the 1960s, you must have thought that satellites were launched for scientific research and observation of space, right?"

"Isn't it?" asked Zhang Hongjie.

"Yes, but not entirely." Si Tianming explained, and then said with emotion: "It was only after I took this position that I learned some things, some things that are incredible when I think about them carefully."

"After Daxuan completely ended feudal rule, they found during a population census that, in addition to those who died on the battlefield, a large number of people disappeared. However, due to the technological level at the time, the top leaders of Daxuan did not pay much attention to it and only thought that they were immigrants fleeing war or died in natural disasters."

"It was not until the launch of the first satellite that we finally detected that not only Daxuan, but also people in other countries had disappeared inexplicably. Since then, aerospace technology has developed rapidly. Up to now, do you know how many people have been detected to have disappeared unnaturally?"

At the end, Si Tianming's tone became a little inexplicable: "More than 5 people! These are the ones we have monitored. As for how many we have not monitored, we can't count them clearly."

As Si Tianming finished speaking, the office fell into a brief silence. Seeing Zhang Hongjie's expression as if he was listening to a legend, Si Tianming did not speak, but gave Zhang Hongjie time to digest it. After all, he was not much better than the other party when he first heard the news.

"Are these, are these true?" After a long while, Zhang Hongjie asked with a trembling voice. Even though he was prepared, he did not expect to hear such a bizarre event. It was enough to shatter his materialistic views of more than 30 years.

If he didn't know his master well, if he didn't know that the other party was working under the badge of police, he would really doubt his own ears.

"Then, where did those disappeared people go? Have they never appeared again?" Zhang Hongjie continued to ask.

"Who knows? Maybe, but that's not something I can know."

After Si Tianming finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Hongjie and said, "In this seemingly ordinary world, there are always things that are beyond our common sense. Hongjie, I know you are very responsible and have always been curious. But I hope you don't get involved in these things, because that is something that ordinary people like us cannot grasp..."

Outside the office, the police officers were busy with their own business, completely unaware that the topics discussed inside the office were enough to subvert everyone's worldview.

Similarly, no one knew that in a residential complex far away from the police station, a teenager heard the conversation in the office clearly.

"I didn't expect that this world has such a secret. After all, I am just looking at the world from a well..."

(End of this chapter)