Bingxin took some blood samples for testing while I brought out the Echolocation Rod and listened to the victim’s chest and abdominal cavity. The victims’ internal organs were relatively intact. There was a large amount of water in the lungs but strangely enough, there was no fluid in the stomach.

I checked their fingernails and found only gravel—the victims clenched their fists, resembling eagle claws. Logically speaking, drowning victims should have mud under their fingernails but I found nothing of the sort.

I opened one of the victim’s mouths and shook the teeth with my hands but they remained secure and didn’t give. There were fibers inside the first victim’s nasal cavity.

"This whole drowning incident is very strange. Some of the characteristics match and some don’t,” I surmised. “Did the victims stay...