Chapter 164: A Corpse as Bloated as a Malva Nut

2022-05-20

Yumu River isn’t long or wide but it’s more than enough to drown someone. The thing is, it’s winter now, and the river’s surface is frozen solid. If a person could still die from drowning in these conditions, their luck must have hit rock bottom. That makes me wonder if this is really where everything happened.

When we arrived, the place was packed. It felt less like a crime scene and more like some tourist attraction. People crowded around, buzzing with conversation we couldn’t make out, all snapping photos like some ancient artifact had been found.

As soon as the police car appeared, a swarm of reporters closed in.

“Is it true the corpse found here is the same young man from that murder video making the rounds?”

“What do you all think about this case? And what is Zhang Bin up to right now?”

Gu Chen stepped forward, spreading out his arms to hold everyone at bay, but the reporters just kept squeezing closer, relentless. They clung to us like sparrows gossiping on a wire outside the window. We pushed forward and finally slipped under the police tape.

Out on the ice, four or five evidence guys huddled together, trying to figure out how to haul the corpse up.

The ice here was pretty solid underfoot; I didn’t feel it so much as tremble. It thinned a bit as we got closer to the center but wasn’t breaking. Unless someone smashed it with a lot of force. Just then, we spotted a perfectly round hole right in the ice.

That hole wasn’t natural. It was cut by someone. Up north, winter swimmers often carve out circular holes to swim in and catch their breath every ten meters or so. The water’s always warmer than the air in there.

It’s not hard to picture what happened: when Du Zigui found Zhang Bin, he was never a match. They fought for real, both desperate, until Zhang Bin realized he could only survive by killing the other first. So Du Zigui died by Zhang Bin’s hand.

Afraid of getting caught, Zhang Bin dumped the corpse in the ice hole, thinking nobody would ever find it—yet someone did.

“Where’s the body?” I didn’t see it anywhere.

Someone pointed straight down at my feet. “It’s right under you…”

That sent a chill racing through me, so I jumped back fast. When I looked down, what I saw nearly made me scream.

There was a giant, pale face pressed right up against the ice, exactly where I’d just been standing. It was huge and ghostly white, swollen so much even the features had puffed up. The eyelids were half open, exposing dark, sunken pupils. Long hair drifted slowly with the current. There were strangulation marks on his neck, not too deep but clear enough.

If his bloated belly hadn’t been wedged tight against the underside of the ice, the current would’ve carried the corpse far downstream by now.

If that’d happened, who knows when we’d have found him—or if we’d ever have found him at all, especially if he’d floated out of Yumu City.

But at the moment, the body’s stuck in a tricky spot, caught between two ice holes and equally distant from both. The police are racking their brains trying to figure out how to get him out, but unless they break open a big enough section, they won’t have much luck.

And if they do open it up, they need to be sure the hole’s big enough for the body but not so big we all fall in with it.

Gu Chen isn’t one for waiting around. He said, “Forget all this fuss. I’ll go in and bring him up.”

We all turned to stare. Gu Chen was already stripping down, getting ready to head underwater.

“I’ll bring it out myself. Won’t even take that long—it isn’t that cold right now,” he said.

The group handed Gu Chen a towel blanket while he stripped down to just his boxers. Somebody let out a sharp scream and, judging by the women’s reactions, his muscles alone were enough to make a stir. Amid all the shrieking and cheers, Gu Chen dove into the ice hole.

Not long after, a hand appeared on the other side of the ice. Gu Chen was pulling Du Zigui by the neck, slowly swimming back. He gave the corpse’s neck a shove and Du Zigui’s head bobbed up through the hole. All of us rushed forward and grabbed Du Zigui by the shoulders, hauling with everything we had.

But the corpse’s swollen belly got jammed at the edge.

That belly was hugely distended—obvious proof he’d been soaking in the water for days. The buildup of putrid gas meant if you squeezed even a little too hard, it’d blast out in your face.

Just as I was about to suggest we take things slow—

Someone suddenly shouted, “Give it one more heave, everyone!”

At that, the group strained together, and with a sick ‘pop!’ a blast of foul gas shot out of the corpse’s belly, instantly turning the water beneath into a cloudy, stinking haze. But at least the corpse finally came free and slumped onto the ice.

“Holy crap! That dead guy just farted!” someone exclaimed.

I couldn’t help laughing and groaning at the same time—except Gu Chen still hadn’t come up. I waited, my nerves on edge. I called out to him, but there was nothing—no sound, no sign. The choking gases made the water murky, impossible to see a thing underneath.

I pressed my face to the ice and watched as noxious bubbles drifted past. If you inhale that kind of filth, dizziness and nausea are a given. Gu Chen must’ve caught that stench head-on and probably didn’t even get time to hold his breath…

That realization hit me hard and I didn’t waste a moment.

With a splash, cold hit me like I’d jumped naked into a freezer. My arms and legs locked up almost immediately from the shock, eyes screwed shut in pain. I could see Gu Chen sinking below. Without thinking, I pushed down after him.

I grabbed his arm, kicked frantically, and fought my way back up.

I’m no Gu Chen. My lungs were burning, arms and legs already stiff from the bitter cold. Head spinning, I flailed for the nearest glimmer of light, desperate for air. Finally, I managed to grab hold of the ice. Someone dragged me up, and I clung tight to Gu Chen with my other hand.

When I finally made it out, I felt like I’d been smashed to pieces.

They wrapped me up in a towel blanket, and soon Gu Chen was pulled up too.

Gu Chen lay there, eyes closed, shivering and naked on the ice.

I was panicking inside. At this point, only Guan Zengbin had any medical experience.

Guan Zengbin immediately laid Gu Chen flat and started CPR. But Gu Chen showed no sign of waking up. Then Guan Zengbin pressed his mouth over Gu Chen’s and gave him a slow, steady breath. Again and again, he tried, but Gu Chen remained motionless.

I silently prayed with everything I had that Gu Chen would make it through.

Those few minutes felt like an eternity. At last, Gu Chen coughed—a quiet, hoarse sound.

Guan Zengbin quickly turned his head to the side as more coughs shook Gu Chen and water mixed with vomit spilled out.

I hurried to drape the towel blanket over him, while scrambling to throw my own clothes back on.

Trying to lighten the mood, I joked, “All that time hunting, and you still get pecked by the eagle, huh?”

“I was just about to push the corpse up when that bastard blasted me right in the face. Caught off guard, I gulped a mouthful of water and blacked out,” Gu Chen muttered, wrapped tight in the towel.

Everyone around us tried not to laugh. The phrase ‘scared for nothing’ never felt so sweet. I still couldn’t imagine how I’d feel if Gu Chen hadn’t made it.

Gu Chen wiped himself off. “I noticed a lot of little grooves on the underside of the ice while I was down there.”

“What kind of grooves?” I asked.

“Looked like they were scratched by fingernails. That’s what snagged the corpse, stopped it from drifting away,” he said.

Grooves?

I frowned. I’d thought the body got stuck because his belly was so big and pressed against the ice, but I never guessed there was something else underneath. If Gu Chen hadn’t gone down, none of us would’ve found out. The whole thing now seemed a lot more deliberate. Who wanted us to find the corpse here, of all places?

I furrowed my brow. “Who was the first to discover the body?”

Someone pointed at an old woman standing off in the distance. “That lady over there—she’s with the winter swimming team. Saw a face through the ice and freaked out, so she called the police.”

I nodded. “Bring her over. I’ve got a few questions.”

Guan Zengbin said, “Too many people here; we should wait until we’re back to do the autopsy.”

The old woman came over. She looked at least sixty but moved with surprising energy—more spry than most of the younger men here.

“You were the first to spot the body?” I asked.

She nodded.

“How did you find it?” I continued.

“I’m on the winter swimming team. Four days ago we cut this swimming hole here. Before swimming, we’re supposed to check for safety, so I came early—and that’s when I found the body…”