Chapter XVII: The Last Missing

The officer, uneasy, also stood up and examined it. Seeing that there was really nothing abnormal, it seemed to be just a pile of garbage, so he sat down again and looked at Captain Liu without speaking.

Although this ship belongs to the Zhouqiao Force, Captain Liu's military rank is much higher than that of the officer of the Zhouqiao Force. However, even though the ship and most of the people on board were from the Zhouqiao Army, the officers who were familiar with the rules of the army were still unwilling to embarrass Captain Liu, who was higher in rank than himself.

"Haji, is this here? Is there anything abnormal? Can you confirm?" Captain Liu didn't speak to the officer, but asked Haji as he observed. In contrast, he prefers to believe Haji's nose.

"Wang!" Haji shouted at Captain Liu in dissatisfaction. He had already sniffed that inside the pile of garbage floating on the surface of the water, there was a body of a victim hidden. He could clearly smell the corpse, and he could confirm that.

"Draw a little closer, and I'll take a look. Captain Liu trusted Haji so much that he asked the soldier to move the assault boat a little closer to the pile of garbage, and then picked up a shovel from the boat to remove the garbage that had accumulated on the surface of the water and carefully observed it.

The specific gravity of the corpse is a little lighter than that of water, and it can float on the water. But there was so much rubbish on the water, piled up on the surface of the water and on the corpses, that it was impossible to see the unfortunate victim who had just died. But when Captain Liu used a shovel to remove the garbage on the water, a humanoid object covered in garbage and dirt was finally revealed.

"Found one!" Captain Liu whispered to everyone.

The people on board leaned to the side of the boat to look at the unfortunate victim, and almost capsized the boat. Fortunately, the officers and men of the Zhouqiao unit had a lot of experience, and they reacted immediately and returned to a safe position, thus avoiding this embarrassing danger.

Tie the rope and drag the person to the shore, leave two people here to wait, and let's continue to search downstream?" The officer of the Zhouqiao unit nodded, and the tone of his voice to Captain Liu became a little respectful, and he looked at Haji's eyes and softened a lot: "This dog is really good, so smart! How does it know that there is a corpse under the garbage?"

"This is called a Labrador, and it is a dog with a high IQ, which is most suitable for search and rescue dogs. Don't look at it, it can't speak, but it can understand a lot of what people say, but it's smart!" Captain Liu explained to the officers of the Zhouqiao Unit, and the joy on his face couldn't be suppressed.

Haji is not a real search and rescue dog yet! But such an experimental semi-finished product, after less than three months of formal training, has already been able to make a name for itself in search and rescue missions. Even if only a corpse is found, it also proves that Haji is really a search and rescue dog with strong understanding and good qualifications.

While talking, two soldiers from the boat behind him got off the boat, tied ropes to the corpse, and then dragged the corpse directly to the shore. They will not participate in the next search mission for the time being, they have already contacted the search and rescue team with the handset, and a boat will come to pick them up and the corpse in a while. As for Haji and his two boats, they will continue to search, and it is not very convenient to search for other missing people with a corpse.

Even if it is just the body of a victim, it is still a good start. The two search and rescue boats continued to set off, searching the river for new victims, or possible survivors, although it was agreed that a survivor was unlikely. As for the other search and rescue dog, the fox, he had to retire early because of seasickness. The panther took the fox and boarded the boat, leading another group of men and horses to search the river.

By noon, the search and rescue dog dolphin found the body of another victim in a river tributary of the Yuma River. The victim's clothes hung on the branches of trees by the river, causing the entire body to remain submerged in the river and difficult to find.

After a three-hour search, the search was temporarily halted.

Search and rescue dogs cannot work continuously, and continuous work will make search and rescue dogs feel tired, reduce search efficiency, and are prone to omissions and mistakes. Therefore, search and rescue dogs must stop, adjust, and replenish energy after working for a period of time. In fact, not only the search and rescue dogs need to rest, but also the people on the ship also need to take a break, and by the way, they can also contact the search and rescue commander to understand the latest search and rescue situation.

Soon, the latest feedback came in. A total of four people are missing, and now the search team has found the bodies of two victims. And just now, the traffic management department used a crane to lift the overturned passenger car in the river, only to find an unlucky victim under the passenger car. So far, three victims have been found, and only the last one remains.

But don't underestimate this last person, the search will be more difficult next. Further downstream, there is a deserted no-man's land, where both sides of the river are covered with mountains and cliffs, and it is impossible to search from the shore. The four search and rescue dogs can only follow the ship to search, and the search method is naturally relatively simple.

After discussion, the four search and rescue dogs all got on board and divided into two groups along Henan and Hebei to search. The search area is larger, and the chances of finding the victims, or survivors, seem to be smaller.

At this time, among the four search and rescue dogs, the fox performed the worst. Dolphin and Haji each found the body of a victim, and it was a tie. The next question of where the last missing person is will be, and if it can be found eventually, the task will be successfully accomplished.

In any case, Haji has already shown his strength in this mission, and even if he has not yet passed the search and rescue dog assessment, others have recognized Haji as a qualified search and rescue dog. If the last missing person is still found by Haji, it will undoubtedly be the best outcome for Haji, so that Haji can prove that he is one of the best search and rescue dogs in the search and rescue dog squadron other than dolphins. Of course, Haji's physical strength is its hard injury, so it can only be one of the excellent search and rescue dogs of the search and rescue dog squadron, not the strongest.

The four search and rescue dogs were divided into two groups and searched along the banks of the Yuma River. Dolphins and foxes searched across the river, and Haji and Panthers searched on this side of the river.

Continuing downstream of the Yuma River, the river flows into the mountains, and the banks on both sides become steeper. The dense woods on the hillside are impermeable to the wind, and the black and swarthy eyes cannot see the end. When the boat walked along the river, the dense woods obscured the skylight, and it was clear that one or two o'clock in the afternoon was the brightest time, but it seemed like evening dusk, and the sight was not so good.

The two boats that Haji and Panther were in slowly drifted on the river, and the people on the boat scanned the river from time to time, while Haji and Panther sensed all suspicious smells and sounds in the vicinity with their excellent sense of smell and hearing.

The search in the afternoon was not very smooth, from the time of lunch until it was almost dark, and everyone found nothing. Not only did their team find nothing, but the rescuers who salvaged near the accident also found no valuable clues. The command has already begun to synthesize the opinions of all parties and prepare to conduct a search in the direction of the reservoir further downstream tomorrow.

At about five o'clock in the evening, due to the barrier of mountains and forests, the search and rescue operation by boat had to be stopped. At this time, the visibility in the mountains and forests was already very poor, and if the search continued, it would not only be difficult to find the missing persons, but also that a mistake by the search team members would cause casualties in the search fleet. If that's the case, it's not worth it.

The news came from the command that the team had been closed, and the search party turned around and began to return. Just as the search team had gone back some distance and was still five or six hundred meters away from the location of the accident, Haji suddenly smelled an extremely faint smell of smoke and stench. The smell was faint, so faint that it was difficult to tell if Haji didn't notice, and the two smells were the first time in a day's time, and they weren't scented by anyone who was known to Haji's search party. And when he searched this section of the river bank in the morning, Haji didn't smell this smell, could it be the smell left by other searchers?

No, it's time to wrap up. Only the group they searched by boat took a longer time and walked farther, so naturally they came back very late. But if you hike back to the scene of the accident from this smelly place, it will be impossible not to walk for half an hour or almost an hour. But according to the news that came back from the headquarters just now, only their team has not returned, and the other search and rescue personnel have already returned.

If so, where did the faint smell of smoke come from? Who made it? If it didn't belong to the searchers, could it be a survivor of a rollover accident? Although Haji couldn't quite tell what the strange smell was made of, Haji dared to say that the smell definitely didn't belong to the forest, but definitely to outsiders.

"Wangwang......" It was clear that the ship had already sailed through the suspicious area, but Haji hesitated for a moment and gave the signal.

"Stop the boat, stop the boat, Haji has made a discovery!" Captain Liu, who originally thought that he was going to return in vain today, suddenly became excited, he didn't want to go back like this. If the last missing person can be found, then the other nearly 100 members of the search team will be able to rest for a while, at least not have to work again tomorrow.

"Haji, where is it? How to get there?" Captain Liu stopped the two boats, and then asked Haji tentatively.

"Woo~~" Haji looked at the road and whispered, signaling the fleet to go back for a while. Captain Liu quickly understood what Haji meant, and while asking people to row the boat on the road, he asked the soldiers of the Zhouqiao unit to prepare and take out the flashlights in the survival kits for backup.