The standard hexagonal gear symbolized modern industrial precision and had a different kind of beauty.
This was an item that, when placed in a toolbox or component box, would not catch the attention of an adult in modern society.
However, now that it was on the neck of the mummified corpse, everyone’s eyes were immediately attracted to it.
“Is this the sign on the heads of those mysterious people?” Su Mo asked without hesitation.
“Yes, it’s the symbol on their heads! The appearance and size are the same! The only difference is this gear has more teeth!” Although Liu Jie was shocked, he still managed to answer the question frantically.
The information about the happenings in the center of the mountain had just been shared yesterday.
Now, they could see with their own eyes the traces left behind by the other party early in the morning.
Su Mo understood that this was an enemy they would inevitably have to go against in the future, so he did not suspect the words of Liu Jie and stepped forward to investigate the mummified corpse.
The mummified corpse was a white man who was still in his prime.
In terms of physique, he was likely a strong man capable of putting up a fight with a trained fighter, even if he was not skilled in combat.
That was precisely the problem that made it hard to figure out what happened.
Apart from the gear wound on his neck, they could not find other wounds on his entire body.
“Continue searching the cave and see if there are more corpses!”
Realizing the matter’s seriousness, Su Mo waved his hand and motioned to the teams.
The team dispersed into three directions and began to explore the cave.
Moments later, the teams found and moved all the mummified bodies toward the cave entrance.
Su Mo was rarely very silent as he examined the situation.
There were a total of 148 mummified corpses in the cave.
The number of mummified corpses found in the Murderer’s Territory did not match the numbers of the people in the gathering place, but it was more than half of the population.
They were able to quickly identify the territory lord with Liu Jie and Liu Zhi.
Similar to the first mummified corpse that was first found, the western territory lord also had an obvious wound on his neck.
It was clear at this point that the murderer was the same person or the same group of people!
“The mysterious people came here before?”
The younger brother, Liu Zhi, threw out the possibility, then immediately shook his head to deny the thought.
The reason was simple.
In the wasteland, there were only a few reasons for murder.
First, it could be for money.
Wealth and riches move people’s hearts. It was possible for them to attack for this reason regardless of whether the attackers were rich or poor or had a shortage of resources.
However, this possibility could be ruled out after their initial search of the cave.
It was a straightforward reason. Although the materials in the entire territory were scattered around the ground, the quantity left behind was enough to prove that nothing must have been taken.
The second reason could also be revenge.
It was also not reasonable in this situation. According to the information shared by the Liu brothers, the Murderer Territory was established before the mysterious group of people broke through the ruin restrictions.
They were located so far from the center and were probably aware of the other parties’ records. It was more likely they would not dare to get on their nerves with the bow and arrows they had.
The third reason was a massacre.
Again, this reason was inconvincible.
After all, when the mysterious man first resurfaced, they did not kill everyone, and there was no reason for them to suddenly go on a crazy killing spree.
Even if they really went insane, there was no reason for them to come so far to Great King Mountain just to massacre the whole territory.
The Cliff Territory would also be unable to escape their grasp if that was the case, and there was no chance for them to be safe and steadily survived through the disaster.
“Shelter leader! Come and see this!”
While deep in thought, a soldier shouted from the inside for him. Su Mo immediately put away his thoughts and walked toward the source of the sound.
Not far away, Su Mo walked through the third tunnel and saw Feng Long, the vice-captain in charge of the fourth team.
Feng Long was not observing the resources and facilities in the cave.
Instead, he was crouching on the ground with his flashlight and was observing the blood-stained ground.
“Is there something wrong with the ground?”
Su Mo approached and observed the ground for a while. There was a familiar feeling as he glanced at the ground, but he could not identify what was so similar.
“Shelter leader, it’s not the ground that’s the problem. It’s the shoe print!”
Almost instantly, Feng Long stood up and took off the special climbing boots on his feet.
The boots were the first batch of finished shoes produced after the basin had recovered manufacturing productivity.
It is specially supplied for the entire team to travel in snow, with considerable anti-skid, warm and wear-resistant properties.
The manufactured output was limited to about a hundred pairs of boots, and the distribution to each person was also regulated. The soldiers usually treated them as treasures and took good care of them.
When Feng Long took off his boots and compared them with the print of the ground, Su Mo immediately noticed the problem.
“The sole pattern?”
Feng Long nodded and pressed his boots on the ground beside the previous shoe print.
Immediately, apart from the sizes of the boots, the similarity in the pattern of the shoe prints was visible.
“Look, shelter leader!
“Marshal Wang must have been here with the team before. They most likely arrived here before the tragic incident occurred to the people of this territory!
“The blood on this shoeprint was likely caused after it was left here!”
Academies specializing in criminal investigation teach a professional course called “evidence tracing.”
The knowledge of this course is widely applied in crime scene investigations or in the pursuit of perpetrators, which usually showed impressive results.
Li Hu and Feng Tianmin were both battlefield soldiers who learned mostly about combat-related knowledge.
Meanwhile, Feng Long was part of the intelligence unit. Although he was slightly weaker in combat skills, he was an elite in gathering and analyzing information.
“Yes, even if someone could copy our shoeprints, it’s impossible to get it completely identical.
“The time of the massacre can be roughly estimated if Marshal Wang and the team had arrived here before it happened.”
The details of the truth could be deduced through the clues left behind.
According to the time of Marshal Wang’s trip, their arrival to this territory, and the degree of blood coagulation, a vague time interval was determined.
“Three to five days before the heavy snowfall disaster, did you hear any commotion around?!”
The Liu brothers were summoned and questioned by Su Mo in order to gather evidence.
The two stood before everyone trying to recall, eventually shaking their head at the question.
Despite not being far from each other, the straight-line distance between them was as much as three or four kilometers.
The traveling journey up and down the mountain must also be considered. It would be hard to detect motion from the Cliff Territory unless there was a huge movement or fierce fire.
It was natural they could not detect anything judging by the strange state they had found the cave.
However, even though they failed to provide information in this regard, the younger brother Liu Zhi made a breakthrough in another aspect.
“About two days ago, or maybe one day ago, we did notice a group of people that passed by our territory at night!
“They even suggested that they wanted to come in and see if they could exchange some items with us.
“However, we turned them down, seeing they were equipped with guns.
“In the end, the group of people also were not infuriated by our rejection. They merely asked us about the direction down the mountain and carried on to Great King Mountain. Could it be them that…”
…
