In the jungle late at night, a hare was nesting in a hole. Hearing the rustling sound, he immediately tensed up his nerves. His red eyes stared at the bushes not far away across the weeds covering the entrance of the hole.
In front of the bushes, a gray-black snake spit out snake bites and swam quickly among the grass blades in an 'S' shape. Its smooth scales rubbed against the grass blades, making a slight but continuous sound. The dark snake eyes
Under the moonlight, a glimmer of cold light flashed before its eyes.
The hare was alert for a while, and after making sure that the snake was just passing by, he squatted down and rolled himself into a ball, closed his eyes and took a nap.
Soon, there was another slight sound near the bushes, one after another, like the sound of wood scraping against grass blades.
The hare woke up again, listening attentively to the sound and staring at the bushes.
This time, a human came, wearing dark robes that it had rarely seen on people in the village. It also had an aura of tranquility that was different from those of those people or beasts. It was a kind of aura that could make it forget its fear and uneasiness.
breath.
The human's hand shone with a faint blue light, faintly illuminating the path in front of his feet. He walked around the bushes calmly and gently. The wooden strips at the bottom of the wooden shoes scraped against the grass blades, making a slight rustling sound. Soon,
Go away.
The hare tilted his head and looked at the figure from behind, but still did not look out of the grass.
It is not safe in the jungle late at night.
…
Chi Feichi followed the traces all the way.
Wearing bathrobes and clogs while tracking is a bit strange, as they are inconvenient for movement. The trailing corners of the bathrobe can easily catch things, and shoes can easily make noise. However, whether they are suitable for tracking depends on the environment and personal physical fitness.
The soil in the jungle is soft and the ground is covered with weeds. If you can move very lightly, choose clogs with wooden soles. The friction surface is smaller than that of sports shoes, so the sound will naturally be smaller, and the clogs will not
It will leave an arc shape. Even if there are traces of pressure on the grass, the kind of horizontal and flat traces will hardly remind people of footprints.
The key point is that no villager in this village will wear such inconvenient shoes, so that he can distinguish his footprints from others, and will not mess up his own footprints and those of others by turning around twice.
Wearing a bathrobe is to destroy the 'message'.
Yes, the corners of the bathrobe can easily rub against grass blades, but that's what he wants.
When conducting house searches in the city, you should wear smart clothes and try not to leave any traces indoors. However, in the jungle, in addition to humans, there are also many small animals active.
As long as the fabric threads on the bathrobe are not hung up by plants such as thorns, it doesn't matter if it occasionally brushes against the blades of grass. It will only erase his 'information' as a human being, making it impossible to tell whether it is an animal or a human being.
traces below.
As for the inconvenience of movement, with his physical fitness, there is no need to worry about being unable to cope with the danger. Even if he is wearing a bathrobe and clogs, he can guarantee that he will beat any young man in Fifteen Nights Village with one hand, plus he has a black card
As a mid- to long-range attack weapon, that little inconvenience won't have any impact.
He chose a fluorescent stick instead of a flashlight because the flashlight was too bright in the jungle and could easily be discovered, ambushed, or attacked by others.
Using a fluorescent stick will not attract attention. The light is enough to illuminate some corners where the moonlight cannot be found. With the moonlight tonight, it is enough for him to track...
The other party does not seem to be a cautious person, and the traces left behind are many and very obvious.
Judging from the traces, it is a person with a height of 173-178cm and a weight of about 70Kg. These can be estimated by finding consecutive footprints, judging whether they are running or walking, and then calculating the distance between the footprints and the depth of the footprints.
Of course, the specific calculation also needs to include factors such as the softness of the ground, which is a bit more complicated.
After the other party got rid of them, he ran, walked quickly for a while, and then started walking normally again. The footprints in this section were no longer arcs, but much more complete. It can be seen that the other party was wearing straw sandals, and the left and right feet can also be distinguished from the soles.
footprint.
The footprints of the right foot are slightly larger and deeper than the footprints of the left foot, indicating that the person's dominant hand is the right hand.
The size of people's hands and feet are actually different. Whichever side your dominant hand is, the hands and feet on that side will be larger.
He is an exception.
After the last improvement in arm strength, his left and right hands became equally flexible, the size of his palms measured by the machine was exactly the same, and the size and depth of the footprints were also slowly becoming consistent...
Chi Feichi suddenly stopped, picked up a feather next to the footprints, looked at it, and continued to follow.
The other party is indeed covered in feathers.
He picked up this tail feather which should be the tail feather of a Pulsatilla. Judging from the root, it was plucked after death. It had been plucked for at least more than a month.
The footprints and scratches among the bushes were intermittent, all the way to a small square.
It is said to be a small square, but it is actually a relatively flat grassland. The sacrificial tree and the sacred tree are placed in the grassland, some distance from other trees.
There are many such small squares, scattered in the jungle on both sides of the road into the village. He has seen eleven of them since he arrived in the village.
Villagers should have their own numbers for these sacrificial trees and squares, such as the "second tribute" mentioned in the murderer's letter to Wakura Yoichiru.
This place is not close to the main road. It is probably the most remote "tribute stand". Moreover, there is a stone tablet leaning against the jungle, hidden in the weeds. There are bouquets of flowers placed in front of the stone tablet.
Chi Feichi stepped forward and took a look.
There is a line of words engraved on the stone tablet: Machiko Konno.
At the bottom is a horizontal row of small date characters, with the word "standing" at the end. Although there is no photo, judging from the bouquet, this is someone's tombstone, and the name is female.
It is not easy to leave a tombstone next to the sacrificial tree, not to mention that the traces of the weirdo also arrived in front of the tombstone and stopped there. The bouquet should have been left by the weirdo.
The color of the bouquet is white, which represents sacrifice and mourning. The flowers are wild flowers in the jungle, tied with vines, and there is not much information.
Chi Feichi took out a handkerchief, wrapped the root of the bouquet, picked up the flowers, and looked at the break. He resisted the idea of finding a tool to collect fingerprints and observed the pinch marks at the break.
Collecting fingerprints is of no use. The person just offered a bouquet of flowers, which does not mean anything. However, the flowers were not cut with a knife, but pinched with the strength of the hands and fingernails. Then the shape of the other person's fingernails and other information can be obtained.
Chi Feichi put down the bouquet and looked at the footprints next to the stone monument again, already having an answer in his heart.
Tushi Yicheng, the stationed policeman.
The activities of people who have received formal training are different from those of ordinary people. So many footprints provide enough information for him to determine that they are the footprints of a person who has received formal training.
Of course, this does not mean that the other party must be a policeman, but may also be a mercenary, a soldier, or even someone who has only participated in a training camp or received physical training.
It was the fingernail prints that confirmed his identity.
People's fingernails also have differences, but the differences are not as big as fingerprints and are not as easy to compare.
There is an indentation in the middle of the thumbnail of Tushi Issei’s right hand. The length and amplitude are also the same as the fracture at the root of one of the flowers.
That guy wandered in front of them so many times that it was hard for him not to notice.
Moreover, Tushi Issei's height, body shape, and handedness are also consistent with the information he inferred from the footprints.
There was also a strange round hoarfrost mark on the lower corner of the stele, either from sweat or tears. Coupled with the bouquet of flowers offered in front of the stele, he was more inclined to the latter.
So, the motive for the murder was revenge for this ‘Konano Machiko’?
Judging from her age, Machiko Konno was buried more than 20 years ago. At that time, Tushi Issei was only four or five years old. If there is a connection, it is probably an elder in the family, or even Tushi Issei's mother...
Chi Feichi thought about it and walked under the sacrificial tree. He looked up and saw the sacred tree and large boulder in a straight line with the sacrificial tree. He walked towards the sacred tree again and raised it with his hand.
There are two large logs as thick as an adult's waist, but they are very light. They must have been hollowed out inside.
After lifting the tree a little, you can see that there is an iron object like a bird's beak in the middle of the tree. There is a hollow hole in the middle of the beak.
There is a deep hole in the ground opposite, just big enough to put the bird's beak in. You can feel the cold wind blowing from the hole when you stand next to it.
Hinges are connected to both ends of the divine wood and the bases resting on both ends.
Chi Feichi looked back at the sacrificial tree facing his back, squatted down, picked up a stone, and threw it into the air-conditioned hole in the ground.
The stone was thrown onto the pit and did not fall. Instead, it was directly bounced away by the airflow blowing up from below.
In this way, the murderer's method of committing crimes has also been perfected.
Conan once raised a question: If the murderer used the pressure explosion caused by the reservoir and the underground cave to kill, why did they not see the hole that lifted the person up? And how did the murderer accurately let the deceased be impaled by branches?
If you add the divine tree, these two problems can be solved.
Just let the deceased hug or lie on the sacred tree, use a remote switch to open the reservoir gate, and let the water in the reservoir flow into the underground cave. You don't even need to release all the water in the reservoir. The gate only needs to be opened high and a sharp sound will be heard.
In a few seconds, the water pouring into the underground cave will cause the already high air pressure to rise again. The air will be squeezed and will jump up to the holes under the tree of the gods. The airflow that bursts out at that moment will make the gods stay.
The tree bounced up like the cork of a champagne bottle, and the deceased was hit by the divine tree and hit the sharp branch of the sacrificial tree in a straight line.
After that, the Divine Tree will hit the boulder and be pulled back by the hinge. Due to the short opening time of the reservoir gate, the inflowing water is not the water of the entire reservoir. After the previous airflow burst, the Divine Tree will also be pulled back.
It will no longer be pushed up by the airflow, and everything will return to its original state.
Under the cover of high and sharp sounds, the movement here will also be covered up.
Even the dead who were thrown into the branches and turned into corpses probably did not understand how they died until they died.
Wakura Hiroshi had a wound on his head. He must have been knocked unconscious and placed on the sacred tree. As for Shiratou Yasumi...
He remembered that at that time, the people who came with him were all trying to hold the sacred tree and pray. Later, Reiji Fukuura and the villagers had a conflict. Issei, the local master, stepped forward to stop him. As a result, he was pushed and surrounded by the villagers.
It is very likely that at that time, Shiratou Yasumi happened to be holding the tree of the gods, and the reservoir gate switch that Issei put in his pocket was accidentally touched in the crowd, so Shiratou Yasumi became an unlucky guy who was accidentally killed by the agency.
.
Chi Feichi put the sacred tree back to its original position, stood up and continued to follow the traces on the ground.
He also wanted to confirm whether the murderer was Issei the Tushi.
Although the pretender went to the Cang family to scare people, made threats, and offered bouquets of flowers in front of the mysterious tombstone, this does not mean that the native master Issei must be the murderer. It can only be said that he is the most suspected at present...