The group of six people returned to the inn one after another, and each went to their own rooms and locked the doors.
There was no one outside, so Yu Hanjiang pressed the voice earphone to call everyone for a meeting. He whispered: "Today we found a lot of clues about the murder case of Li Guisu. Let's talk about our thoughts and brainstorm."
Such a scene reminded him of every meeting of the criminal police team to discuss the murderer. Although the teammates were not professional criminal investigators, they had experienced so many secret rooms together and the teammates had made great progress. Especially Xiao Lou. He wanted to hear about Xiao Lou.
opinions.
Meeting Yu Hanjiang's gaze, Xiao Lou said: "The murderer used a strange evil technique to attract people to the mass graves in the middle of the night. This evil technique is probably related to the sound of the rattle. He
After leading people to mass graves, they will not directly kill them, but torture them and let them starve to death in fear and hunger."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The murderer's psychology has been distorted. He did not commit impulsive crimes, but planned and carefully killed people. He also arranged an escape route for himself, pretending to be a female ghost in white, and making the residents of the town believe that the evil ghost was seeking his life.
legend."
Xiao Lou continued: "We found an unnamed solitary grave in a mass grave. The location of that grave is excellent, and there are people who continue to burn incense. The person buried in it should be someone very close to the murderer. In addition,
According to the clues obtained during the famine period from the investigation, the most reasonable speculation at present is that during the famine 20 years ago, a mysterious organization used the method of "raising human animals in captivity" to eat human flesh and drink human blood. The murderer's relatives, or he himself, had
Captured and mutilated by this organization, the murderer escaped and came back many years later to take revenge, wiping out all those who participated in the incident and even annihilating all their descendants."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou sang in harmony and tacitly summarized the logic of the current case.
These are the most reasonable motives for the crime that the two men speculated and analyzed based on the clues they investigated. Otherwise, it would be difficult for a simple "antisocial murderer" to explain all the murderer's actions.
Liu Qiao wondered: "The rattle should be a key factor in this case. The rattle patterns we found in the Zhao family and the Chen family are all tigers, but the investigation proved that the zodiac signs of the children of the Zhao family and the Chen family were not tiger. Assuming that the rattle is
What the murderer left behind, the murderer’s current age, could he be a young adult between 29 and 41 years old?”
Long Sen said: "Mayor Qin Feng, he should be about 29 years old. He has not married and has children. He lives alone in a dark alley, which is not right. Today we fished out a body from the lake.
He actually didn't continue the investigation. Although he is not the murderer, this person always finds it strange."
Xiao Lou said calmly: "Qin Feng probably witnessed something during the famine 20 years ago and deduced the logic of the murderer's crime. Many people in his list are not dead yet, which shows that he has found out the trajectory of the murderer's crime.
and motives. The people he recorded who were not marked with a red cross are probably the names of the people the murderer is about to kill. As for today’s case of the girl sinking into the lake, he did not let us investigate. This abnormal behavior may be the result of him and the second person.
The cases are also related."
Long Sen scratched his head: "I'm really not good at using my brain. I've never been able to figure out what the names of those who survived were. It was only after Professor Xiao said this that I finally understood!"
Qu Wanyue joked: "You just need to be responsible for running errands and listening."
Long Sen: "..."
Liu Qiao actively participated in the discussion. She said: "The letter left by Senior Gui is very important. On the day of the incident, the five people who said they saw the female ghost in white must be related to the 'Li Gui Suo Murder Case'.
The murderer is related." She paused: "But, who is lying?"
Xiao Loudao: "Out of the five people, four said they heard the thunder, and one said he didn't hear it... The one who didn't hear it must be telling the truth. Because we were in a ghost town at that time, and the thunder lasted only for a short time after the heavy rain.
, the five people live far apart, it is impossible for the evil ghost to appear in five places at the same time when the thunder sounds."
Yu Hanjiang quickly drew the coordinates of the five people's residences on a blank piece of paper.
Uncle Liu and Sister-in-law Xue live close to each other, in the southeast.
Zhang Chengyu and Lin Yueran are relatively close, in the northwest direction.
The proprietress Qin Ruolan lives in the central area of the town.
The five people just form a "ring" shape.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, pointed at Old Uncle Liu in the east, and analyzed: "Old Uncle Liu was awakened by the thunder and saw a female ghost flying past the door. This witness passed away three years ago. His words should be
Is it credible?”
Qu Wanyue thought of the news she had just inquired about, and continued: "We asked the neighbors nearby and found out that Sister-in-law Xue was also awakened by the thunder. She remarried two years ago and moved to another place. She and Uncle Liu live very close to each other. If Uncle Liu said that,
If it’s true, then Sister-in-law Xue’s testimony is also true. How many seconds did the thunder last? Can the female ghost take a shortcut from the East District to the Southeast District and let Uncle Liu and Sister-in-law Xue see it one after another?”
Liu Qiao said: "If Uncle Liu, Sister-in-law Xue, and the landlady all told the truth, the remaining two people should not have heard the thunder."
The town is very large. If a ghost appears in the east district, it is impossible to appear in the west district at the same time. It takes at least half an hour to walk from the east district to the west district.
Are both people lying?
Xiao Lou looked at the coordinate map on the table again and said: "It is unlikely that the two of them lied at the same time. Moreover, the son of the butcher Lin Yueran also came out to testify, saying that he saw a female ghost when there was thunder that night, and the female ghost appeared.
It was thundering at the same time, and the child didn’t look like he could lie.”
Liu Qiao was stunned: "So, the result of our reasoning is wrong?"
Yu Hanjiang said: "There should be only one murderer in a case. Among the five people, there is more than one liar, but there must be only one murderer."
The teammates were all stunned.
The five people were scattered in various places, and the thunder only lasted 3 to 5 seconds.
If the female ghost appears in the East District when there is thunder, it means the two people in the West District are lying; if it appears in the West District, it means the two people in the East District are lying.
If the murderer will split up and appear in the East and West Districts at the same time, why not split up and appear in the Central District? Therefore, the testimony of the landlady is the most credible. If she is the murderer, she will definitely go with the flow and say that she also heard the thunder
Voice.
Who is lying?
Everyone was racking their brains to think, when Yu Hanjiang suddenly said: "I know who it is."
Xiao Lou looked at him and pointed at a person's name on the paper he drew: "Is this you?"
The corners of Yu Hanjiang's lips raised slightly: "It's the same as what I thought."
Long Sen was still confused: "Who is it?"
Liu Qiao also reacted and analyzed calmly: "By the way, our reasoning just now set a prerequisite, which is that 'the dead old man Liu did not lie', then Sister-in-law Xue's words are true. But if
Did Old Man Liu lie? Compared with children and old people, I am more willing to believe that children did not lie."
Xiao Lou praised: "How could a dead person lie? Most people would think so. We preconceptionally used Old Man Liu's testimony as the basis for our reasoning. But from the perspective of the murderer - if the dead person lied, wouldn't it mean that there is no evidence for death?"
Old man Liu is old and a little confused. Besides, it is easy for old people to add fuel to the fire when telling ghost stories. In addition, this old man died three years ago, and the cause of his death is still a mystery.
Xiao Lou paused, then continued: "Sister-in-law Xue remarried and moved to another place not long after the incident. It seems to have nothing to do with this incident, but is this not a way to 'escape the golden cicada'? She saw the female ghost on the night of the incident.
She was one of the witnesses who later remarried and moved to another place, so who would suspect her?"
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice: "Have you found out which family Xue Ersao remarried to?"
Qu Wanyue said: "The neighbors don't know. They only say that she packed her bags and remarried away from home. She is a widow, her husband died early, and she doesn't like to interact with others."
It seems that she said she wanted to remarry herself, and it was all unfounded.
Yu Hanjiang thought thoughtfully: "What is Second Sister Xue's real name? Everyone calls her Second Sister Xue, it must be because she married a local man named Xue. But what is her true origin?"
Her true origin may be that of a revengeful murderer.
Everyone looked at each other in shock.
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment, and suddenly said worriedly: "By the way, the letter left by Senior Gui only mentioned that he, Ninth Brother, Mr. Tang, and Huaying went to the world three years ago. What about Mr. Shao and Xiaoye? Why can't they still contact each other?
arrive?"
Yu Hanjiang patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, Mr. Shao has the two Tao Yuanming teleports you gave him. Each of them also has an insect king card to transform. Their names are still on your contract."
Now, it is definitely safe. Perhaps, they have also been transported to another time and space?"
Xiao Lou was startled: "The time and space related to the case...couldn't it be the famine world twenty years ago?"
****
At the same time, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge took the mother and son to a deserted forest and carefully inquired about the famine situation in Qingfeng Town.
Shao Qingge asked in a low voice: "How long has the famine been going on? Why don't you escape somewhere else?"
The woman's face was pale and her voice was weak: "It's the same in other places! There was a severe drought in March this year, and the crops harvested were less than 10% of last year's. Those rich families who had food in stock had an easier time. We ordinary people, at home,
The grain storage is only enough for one or two months. Even if I drink clear porridge every day, there is not even a grain of rice left in the rice vat..."
At this point, the woman couldn't help but choked up: "Escape, where else can we go? There is no food, we can't walk. I'm sorry for my recently born child, he can't even take a sip of milk..."
The baby in her arms cried for a while, but now it seemed that she didn't even have the strength to cry anymore.
The famine had obviously been going on for some time, and the food reserves of ordinary people's families had been exhausted. The woman's complexion was sallow, and she was as thin as a skin and bones. The child in her arms seemed to weigh less than five kilograms. It was a small ball, which was very pitiful.
Ye Qi was a little sad, but he didn't dare to help the other party with food that did not belong to this era, such as bread and milk. He could only say softly: "Sorry, we didn't bring anything to eat either."
A trace of disappointment flashed in the woman's eyes, and she continued to search for tree bark in the woods with her child in her arms.
Shao Qingge took Ye Qi forward for a short distance and stopped at the entrance of the town. He looked back at the young man beside him and asked with some distress: "Back in the Nightmare Chamber, you also ate leaves to survive.
?”
Ye Qi said with a bitter face: "Yes, so I can understand the feelings of these people. Extreme hunger can make people go crazy. Eating leaves and grass can satisfy hunger, and there is no need to consider the taste. However, eating human flesh
There is absolutely no way I can do this... By the way!" He suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Shao Qingge and said, "Could it be that he was transported to twenty years ago so that we could investigate the famine?
Any relevant clues?"
Shao Qingge nodded: "Probably. I can't contact anyone else. It seems that only the two of us were teleported to twenty years ago. Fortunately, we have supply cards and some money with us. At least we won't starve to death."
.”
He frowned and glanced at the messy Qingfeng Town.
The streets of the town were very desolate, not a single pedestrian was seen, the doors of every house were closed, and there were traces of being smashed and robbed everywhere. Shao Qingge lowered his voice: "Now that we are here, let's find a way to sneak in as soon as possible and investigate.
When it comes to keeping humans and animals in captivity, you have to dress up in disguise first. Wearing such brand-new clothes to a small town is too eye-catching."
The two hid near the town, smeared some mud on their clothes, put some weeds in their mouths, and pretended that they had been hungry for several days. Ye Qi found a broken bowl from nowhere and seemed to be preparing to go to the town.
Begging for food.
Shao Qingge said: "Let's go."
He took a look at Ye Qi's youthful appearance, looked at this messy "little beggar", and a smile appeared in his eyes: "I will pretend to be brothers this time. For father and son, the age gap is not big enough."
Ye Qi nodded and followed him and complained: "Okay, calling you brother is much easier to accept than calling you dad."