After being a detective for over 20 years, Wang Mas heard about the market for buying and selling corpses for the first time.
Previously, he had only heard about the custom of ghost marriages in the Central Plains region, and there might be cases of buying and selling corpses. However, the locals have always kept their distance from corpses. When they have to go to the funeral home to attend a burial, the family of the deceased will privately give the friends and relatives who are attending the funeral a "washing head fee" to help ward off bad luck.
I have also seen reports about the people who retrieve bodies from the Yellow River. They help recover bodies for families and will also casually pull up unidentified floating corpses from the river. Once the families come to claim them, they charge a fee before returning the bodies. Some corpses may go unclaimed for a long time, and the body retrieval workers will even build some storage facilities for the bodies.
But there has never been such a custom locally.
Fraudulent insurance claims, evading debts, burning corpses? These cannot support a market, let alone the semi-public trade of corpses.
According to the address provided by Wang Chengfu, Mas Wang and his colleagues gave that unknown corner a simple name on the map: the Body Black Market.
The detective team quickly gathered everyone for a meeting to prepare for the capture. During the meeting, Detective Wang Mas seemed to become everyone's "amulet."
Just like that, one detective and three investigators drove a van that was over 10 years old, heading straight for the legendary "body black market."
Usually when they go to catch people, they all set off with handguns and handcuffs. This time, Wang Mas specifically brought a detective investigation box, which was stuffed with several boxes of gloves.
Masi Wang even specifically carried a handgun on him—detectives bringing guns to the scene was unprecedented in the bureau at that time.
In the imagination of King Mas, such places for storing corpses are mostly in remote corners, like the images in reports of floating corpses in the Yellow River, with the bodies lying in a row on the ground of a single-story house.
However, after turning onto a bumpy gravel road and walking for more than ten minutes, Wang Mas saw a factory building of moderate size, located not far behind the forest near the estuary, with no signs of habitation in the surrounding area.
Brick walls surround, with a metal roof.
Mas Wang and three other colleagues carefully inspected the handguns and equipment. Two reconnaissance personnel got out of the car first and slowly approached on foot. Mas Wang and another colleague then slowly drove forward to get closer.
In their intelligence, there is usually only one gatekeeper uncle in the "body black market."
The factory's surrounding wall is very high, and two rusty iron gates are tightly closed. There is a simple guardhouse at the entrance of the factory, which looks no different from an ordinary factory from a distance. However, the closer you get, the more you can smell a distinct odor of decay.
Maw Wang and the brothers in the car looked each other over, confirming that neither of them had any items that could expose their identities, especially conspicuous things like police pants, police belts, or police shoes, before getting out of the car.
Four people walked over.
The guard room has its doors and windows closed. Looking through the window, a man in his fifties is sitting shirtless, enjoying the fan, and watching a TV drama on his phone.
Bang bang, a colleague tapped on the window.
"Wang Ge introduced me, buy a 'dried fish'."
Before setting off, Mas Wang and his group exchanged coded language with Wang Chengfu; these people referred to the corpses as "salted fish."
"Which Wang Ge?" Hearing the unfamiliar accent, the uncle turned his head warily to look at the two, Ma Si and Wang.
"Guangzhou's Wang Chengfu, Brother Wang." A colleague handed over a cigarette, "Didn't he just come by a few days ago? He was the one who introduced him."
Before coming, the team had Wang Chengfu contact "Boss He" from the "body black market," pretending to "buy goods" again. Perhaps it was due to a familiar introduction, or maybe Boss He was experienced in the business, the other party had no doubts at all and agreed to the deal of cash on delivery.
The duty uncle turned his back to make a phone call to the boss for verification, and then impatiently opened the door to the security room.
"You all wait here, I'll go 'get one' for you." The uncle pulled out a bunch of keys from the drawer.
"We want to go in and take a look, is that okay?" Wang Mas quickly stepped forward a couple of steps and handed the uncle a pack of good cigarettes that only had a few taken out.
The duty uncle changed into a pair of water boots by the door, unlocked the big padlock on the factory gate, and said, "Come in if you're not afraid of being scared."
Once King Mas and his group entered through the main gate, the uncle locked the factory door from the inside.
Masi Wang looked around. Inside the factory's surrounding wall, there was a small patch of open space, and the flat concrete ground was scorching hot under the sun. The smell from earlier became even more pungent; no wonder the guardhouse was set up outside the main gate, keeping the doors and windows closed even on such a hot day.
As they walked to the entrance of the seemingly ordinary factory, the duty officer had just unlocked the door and pushed it open. Wang Mas and his group were stunned at the doorway, unable to move.
As a detective, Wang Mas is very familiar with corpses, but the scene before him still far exceeded his imagination.