A terrible rumor has spread in a certain county in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. It is said that ghost monsters appeared in the village of Poplar on the edge of Lop Nur, and hunted a total of 76 sheep from more than a dozen families in 20 days.
The beast came and went without a trace, the squatting pit was nowhere to be seen, and the patrol was nowhere to be seen. Except for the dead sheep, there was not even a single suspicious trace left at the scene.
The police and the herdsmen held several joint forums to discuss the clues: who exactly killed so many sheep!
Was it a wolf? but never heard a wolf howl. It's a snow leopard? But it's far from the snowy mountains. Brown bears are extremely rare, and they have never heard of brown bears entering the village since ancient times.
Populus euphratica is located on the edge of Lop Nur, not a pastoral area, and although the people raise sheep, they are all kept in sheep pens in their yards. Since it is not a wolf, not a snow leopard, not a brown bear, is it the legendary "sand man"?
The rumors of the "sandman" made the villagers even more afraid. Because the sand man is a mysterious story left by the travelers who explored Lop Nur a few years ago - this kind of "sand man" who looks like a man, a beast and a spirit, with the help of the mysterious Lop Nur sand storm, suddenly came, hunted camels and then disappeared suddenly, if it is true, it is extremely vicious, and there is no trace to be found.
★ What went into the house to hunt 5 sheep?
The story starts from the beginning.
One morning a month ago, Zhao Min from Huyang Village noticed that the sheep in his sheepfold were crowded together, and next to them were five blood-drenched dead sheep! One of the sheep had almost eaten its meat.
Zhao Min's exclamation attracted many neighbors. What kind of beast actually killed five sheep and ate only one? Everyone searched carefully, and there was no trace of any clue at the scene!
After the police arrived, after careful investigation and questioning, they still found nothing.
The inexplicable horror of no trace began to plant a nest of grass in the hearts of the villagers of Poplar Village.
★Three days later, three more sheep were killed
Three days later, people had just forgotten about Zhao Min's "Five Sheep Murder Case", and three sheep of Li Cong's family in the west of the village were killed in the sheep pen. In the face of the dead sheep, Li Cong's wife cried and screamed in distress.
The villagers gathered around again to see the rarity. There was still a lamb that was eaten so that only four legs and a sheep's head remained. The other two sheep had their throats cut off!
Li Cong's wife was so distressed that she cried vigorously. Li Cong said that he did not hear any movement in the sheep pen at night. How could I have imagined that 3 of the 13 sheep were bitten to death in one night!
Police investigation of the scene still yielded nothing. Because there was no snow or sand on the ground, there was no trace of the murderer.
★5天后,大孙家被杀羊7只
Five days later, early in the morning, I heard the loud shouts of the eldest grandson in the center of the village: "Dead sheep, dead sheep, dead sheep in my family again!" A total of seven sheep were bitten to death. Let's take a look, what kind of devil and beast is this!
Tangible things, even if they are scary, are tangible after all. If something is out of sight and kills the livestock in your yard, don't you say it's scary? People associate it with ghosts.
Fearful of the invisible ghost of the devil, the grass planted in the hearts of the villagers began to grow wildly. The villagers began to put themselves in danger. Because Zhao Min's family is in the east of the village, Li Cong's family is in the west of the village, and the eldest grandson's family lives in the middle of the village! Moreover, seven sheep were killed in one go, and the eldest grandson and his family did not even find out. Didn't the sheep run and didn't bark?
The police came to the scene for the third time to investigate, and could only endure the white eyes and ridicule of the crowd.
In fact, the police are very wronged. They had organized several night patrols, but to no avail. However, the police force is insufficient, and they cannot hold on day and night. But the investigation has been in full swing, but there are still no clues.
★Twenty days later, 76 sheep were killed nearby
Recently, Populus euphratica Village has reached the point where the wind is loud and the grass and trees are all soldiers, and everyone in the villagers is afraid, and every family is in danger, some have raised the courtyard wall, and some have strengthened the courtyard gate.
The police organized a patrol in the village, patrolling night and night, and defending every house. It is strange that there was not a single horrific sheep killing incident in the entire poplar village. But the neighboring villages began to suffer again.
One night is safe, two nights are safe, three nights and five nights are fine. The villagers breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that this ghost like the "sand man" is also afraid of unity. They were so frightened that they avoided Poplar Village and went to other villages to cause trouble.
Unbeknownst to the villagers, almost every night there would be a pair of sharp eyes wandering outside the village, observing, scrutinizing.
The police and villagers used to use bright flashlights to probe outside the village, eager to search inch by inch. However, when the light swept in, those eyes quickly closed to the ground. The police did not find a trace of anything unusual at all.
However, sheep killings still occur, sometimes in succession, not for a single day. Sometimes it happens every other day, every two days, or every three to five days.
The atmosphere of terror spread from the village of Poplar to many nearby villages. Even the villages where there were no sheep killings began to get nervous. As a result, rumors about "sandmen", "ghosts", "spirit beasts" and "monsters" spread far and wide.
In just 20 days, 76 sheep were inexplicably killed in the three nearby villages alone!
The order of the higher authorities to "solve the case within a time limit" and the complaints of the masses that "the police are incompetent" have put the local police under great pressure.
★ The police decided: stay on the sidelines
When patrolling, squatting, and patrolling in all directions, there was not even a ghost shadow found. The police began to adjust their thinking about solving the case.
One of the comprehensive analysis: the sheep killer must be a nocturnal carnivorous beast, wolf, snow leopard, brown bear, one of the three. The reason why so many crime scenes have not left any clues shows that this beast is extremely cunning. And there is no sand in the sky, and there is no snow on the ground.
Comprehensive analysis 2: Killing sheep and beasts is very cautious. It must have been secretly observing the movements of the villagers and the police at all times before it began to act, otherwise people would never have taken so many measures without meeting it.
Comprehensive analysis three: animals have "foot Xi". Once they have successfully preyed on a family's livestock, they will continue to watch over the family, and will not come again unless they find that the house is in danger. Huyang Village is the place where the beast first succeeded in committing crimes, and these families are also its highly successful people, so under the condition of strict defense around it, the beast will inevitably continue to return to these once successful families to commit crimes.
The arrest plan is as follows:
First, loosen the outside and tighten the inside: remove the night patrol in Populus euphratica village and strengthen the night patrol in the neighboring village. Let the beast have no village to go to, but to choose Poplar Village.
Second, focus on ambush: lay a net in Zhao Min's family, Li Cong's family, and the eldest grandson's family in Huyang Village, and focus on ambushing. These three are the places where the beast won the one, two, and three battles. When it has no way out, it must go back to the old way!
★ Than Patience: After 11 days of squatting, I finally caught the ghost beast
However, this pit of the police is 11 days in a squat!
At the beginning, the villagers were full of confidence. After a week, the villagers became impatient. All sorts of discordant questioning voices began to boil. The police had to explain patiently.
Ten days later, the anxious villagers completely distrusted the police, believing that the police's squatting measures were the most incompetent, the most labor-saving, and the most able to cope with the lazy measures of the superiors and the common people. Some even threatened to report to their superiors, and some even complained on the Internet.
The police officers who participated in the lurking were very unhappy when they saw these critical online information. The leader who led the team comforted them: calm down. This ghost beast can't read the network information, and it can't run away. Maybe the mystery will be revealed in the next few days. I'm sure this ghost beast won't be able to hold its breath either!
Sure enough, in the middle of the night on the eleventh day, Zhao Min's house in the east of the village was suddenly full of people: a male adult snow leopard was caught. Really caught. It squatted on the spot, jumped out of thin air, jumped into the sheep pen, and just wanted to kill the sheep, but was hoisted in the air by the laid net!
★ Return to Altun Mountain
The next day, the local government held a celebration in Huyang Village. Three police officers who participated in the undercover hunt were awarded.
Those who ridiculed, complained, and even exposed the incompetence of the police on the Internet made a big splash on the Internet about the capture of the sheep and snow leopard stolen, as well as the celebration held by the local government in Huyang Village.
The next day, the police transported the "ghost snow leopard" to Altun Mountain, 100 kilometers away, and released it.
★ Additional Notes:
Known as the "King of the Snow Mountains", the snow leopard lives near the snow line of the snow-capped mountains at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, and feeds on rock sheep, ibex, argali, and plateau rabbits. It is rare to go far from the snow line to hunt in deserts or agricultural and pastoral areas.
Zoologists analyzed: This snow leopard may be temporarily wandering here because of the territorial competition between snow leopards, or because it was expelled by wolves, brown bears, and stray Tibetan mastiffs, or seeking revenge for the golden eagle, and looking for opportunities to hunt the people's sheep for food.
The reason why there is no trace of such many hunts is because there is no sand on the ground and no snow on the ground, and because the snow leopard has a strong ability to leap and move quickly. (About the author: Wang Tianxiang, a senior journalist and writer, has published 42 novels and other monographs, written more than 200 episodes of TV dramas, created dozens of TV films on history, culture, scenery, documentaries and other topics, published hundreds of articles in various newspapers and periodicals, and published more than 1,000 online articles.) ）