Xiao Lou and his group of six returned to Qingfeng Town during the day. The town's residents were preparing lunch, and the aroma of food wafted through the streets. People wore kind smiles, and it was impossible to tell that two cold-blooded and brutal serial killers were hiding in this peaceful town.
Qin Feng's register is crucial evidence. The people marked with a red cross on the register are all people who have disappeared from Qingfeng Town in recent years. Apart from the Zhao and Chen families, who are confirmed to have been lured to Mass Grave by the murderer, it is still undetermined which murderer killed the other missing persons. Xiao Lou plans to investigate them one by one.
He first selected all the women around 18 years old from the list.
Apart from Zhao Zesui, the fourth daughter of the Zhao family, the number of the remaining girls is exactly the same as the number of bodies found at the bottom of the lake. In other words, all the girls who have gone missing in the town in recent years have been dragged into the lake and drowned by the second murderer.
Xiao Lou considered for a moment and said to his teammates, "The girls' families are still alive. I guess they've been brainwashed by the rumors of 'vengeful ghosts' and haven't continued to investigate the missing people. We need to find a way to let them see the bodies at the bottom of the lake to prove that it's not a vengeful ghost, so that we can start the investigation."
Yu Hanjiang agreed, saying, "The murderer is hiding in the shadows, which puts us at a disadvantage. Besides, we're just passing travelers, so it's not convenient for us to directly ask the deceased for clues. But if we 'accidentally' discover the body in the lake, the town mayor will have to come forward and investigate."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance and said in tacit agreement, "Let's lure the snake out of its hole and use Mayor Qin Feng to investigate the truth behind the girl's drowning case."
Once this was confirmed, Xiao Lou began making arrangements.
The six of them have to put on a play.
***
After lunch, the weather was hot, so Liu Qiao and Lao Mo went to the lakeside to cool off, pretending to admire the scenery.
Liu Qiao was leaning against the railing, looking into the distance, when suddenly her foot slipped and she fell into the lake with a "plop." She opened her mouth and screamed, "Help...help...help..."
Seeing her struggle and sink into the lake, her head submerged, Old Mo's expression changed. He rushed to the lakeside, sweating profusely and pale-faced: "Who can save my apprentice? She's fallen into the lake!"
Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou, Long Sen, and Qu Wanyue "happened" to be passing by when they heard the cries for help. Yu Hanjiang strode to the lakeside, where a crowd had already gathered. He squeezed through the crowd and whispered, "Uncle, what's wrong?"
Old Mo pointed frantically at the lake: "My apprentice accidentally fell into the lake, and she's already sunk. Is she going to drown? Is there anyone who can save her!"
Without saying a word, Yu Hanjiang took off his coat and stuffed it into Xiao Lou's hand, then said to Long Sen, "Save him!"
The two jumped into the lake one after the other.
The surrounding crowd also craned their necks to look curiously at the lake. Some whispered among themselves, "She's been in there for so long without any reaction. Is there any hope of saving her?" "Not necessarily. What if this girl is lucky and gets pulled out alive?"
Xiao Lou watched nervously as Yu Hanjiang jumped down.
Yu Hanjiang and Long Sen have already sunk into the lake to search for someone—not Liu Qiao, of course, but the female corpse at the bottom of the lake.
According to the original plan, while rescuing Liu Qiao, they would also clear away the water plants and drag a recently deceased woman's body ashore. The onlookers would definitely be shocked, and at the same time, they could take the opportunity to investigate clues about the case of the body sinking at the bottom of the lake.
The problem is, the female corpse was found last night in Ghost City, but it's daytime in Qingfeng Town now. Could there still be a body in the lake? If their deduction is wrong, all this acting will be for nothing.
Xiao Lou waited anxiously for a moment. Suddenly, Yu Hanjiang floated to the surface of the lake with the "dying" Liu Qiao. Old Mo immediately ran over excitedly and asked, "Xiao Qiao, are you alright?"
Liu Qiao coughed violently, spitting out a large amount of lake water, and finally regained her senses. Her face was pale as she asked, "I'm still alive?"
Old Mo was overjoyed. He touched her wet hair and said, "That's wonderful! Quickly thank your savior."
Liu Qiao turned to Yu Hanjiang and said, "Brother, thank you for saving me."
Yu Hanjiang said softly, "It was nothing, you're welcome."
The actors were engrossed in their performance, and the onlookers were preparing to disperse after watching the spectacle. But just then, Long Sen, who had jumped into the lake earlier, suddenly surfaced, dragging a woman in red with him, and asked, "Old man, is this your apprentice?"
Old Mo was stunned. He looked at the girl Long Sen had dragged out and said, "Who...whose daughter is this?!"
Long Sen laid the woman in red flat on the ground and said, "Isn't she your disciple?"
Old Mo said, "My apprentice has already been rescued, but I don't know this girl!"
The onlookers were all horrified—one girl jumped in, and two girls were rescued. What kind of situation was this?
Moreover, the woman in red seemed to be dead? Her skin was as pale as paper, and her face was swollen from being soaked in water, making it impossible to see her features.
Yu Hanjiang stepped forward with a serious expression, squatted down, looked at the corpse on the ground, checked her breath with his hand, and shook his head, saying, "This young lady has probably been dead for more than a day or two. Has anyone in town recently committed suicide by drowning?"
An older woman nearby said, "I haven't heard of any girl committing suicide! But not long ago, a girl disappeared on the Ghost Festival. It's said that she was lured by a vengeful ghost to become his wife?"
The middle-aged man said, "This girl's waist..."
"That jade pendant looks familiar."
An old woman said doubtfully, "Isn't that Miss Lin? There seems to be the character 'Lin' written on the jade pendant. That's right, their young lady went missing on the day of the Ghost Festival. I never thought she would fall into the lake... Alas, what a tragedy!"
The surrounding people were talking about it. Soon, someone went to inform Mayor Qin Feng.
When Qin Feng arrived at the scene, the crowd had surrounded the body. He quickly pushed through the crowd to the body, looked at Yu Hanjiang, and asked in a low voice, "Did you find the body?"
Yu Hanjiang stood up, looked directly at the other person, and nodded: "Yes. This young lady from Xiaoqiao accidentally fell into the water. My guards and I went into the lake to rescue her, but unexpectedly, we pulled a female corpse from the bottom of the lake."
Qin Feng frowned and squatted down to carefully examine the body. He finally concluded, "She must have drowned." He picked up the jade pendant from the woman's waist and looked at it, saying, "It's Miss Lin who went missing a few days ago. I never expected her to fall into the water."
Xiao Lou said, "I just heard everyone say that this Miss Lin disappeared on the Ghost Festival and was lured by a vengeful ghost to become his ghost wife. How could she suddenly fall into the water and drown?"
Qin Feng said coldly, "Outsiders shouldn't ask too many questions about what happens in Qingfeng Town."
He stood up and said to his two men, "Take the girl's body back to the Lin family and give her a proper burial."
Then, he turned around and walked away decisively.
Xiao Lou: "..."
The NPCs in the storyline are completely uncooperative with the investigation.
Logically, with so many girls missing in the town in recent years, and the body of one of them found in the lake, shouldn't the lake be thoroughly searched to see if others have also drowned? Instead, the mayor buried the body, turned around and left, pretending nothing had happened.
Xiao Lou had hoped to use Qin Feng to gather clues, but Qin Feng acted unpredictably, thwarting his plan. He glanced at Yu Hanjiang and had no choice but to disperse with the crowd.
That was a mistake. We can't just jump in now and pull out another corpse, can we?
Back at the inn, Xiao Lou said helplessly, "This time, the escape room scenario wasn't affected by us at all. It seems impossible to get Qin Feng's help. We'll have to find clues ourselves. Besides, Qin Feng hasn't been ruled out yet."
Qu Wanyue said, " The rattle drum in Qin Feng's study's secret room, the roster marked with red crosses—these pieces of evidence are all too obvious. Why do I feel like he's not the murderer?"
Xiao Lou said, "I also don't think he's the murderer, but he's definitely one of the people who know about it. It's just that he won't tell us the clues he knows. And judging from his reaction just now, he's very resistant to other people investigating this matter."
Yu Hanjiang suddenly remembered something and frowned, saying, "Right, there have been people offering incense at the Zhao family's mourning hall. The survivor of the Zhao family massacre is very likely the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhao family who didn't appear on the memorial tablet. She is also the key to this case. We need to go to the Zhao family again to see if anyone went to the mourning hall to light incense today."
Xiao Lou also wanted to go to the scene again. When he and Yu Hanjiang went to the Zhao family yesterday, they found that the mourning hall was set up in a strange way. The room was filled with the memorial tablets of the Zhao family members, and three incense sticks were lit, which meant that someone had been burning incense for them for a long time.
Nighttime is another space, where they won't encounter the person offering incense.
We might make another discovery if we go back during the day.
Thinking of this, Xiao Lou said, "Let's go to the Chen and Zhao families again to see if we've missed any clues."
The group changed into Invisibility Cloaks and quickly arrived at the Chen family's house.
At the time, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang did not search the Chen family's house; it was Liu Qiao and Lao Mo who conducted the investigation. The key clues Liu Qiao found were a rattle drum and a letter Chen Yu wrote to his father-in-law. Now, Xiao Lou searched again but did not find any other useful clues. However, a hidden cellar in the Chen family's backyard caught Xiao Lou's attention.
He walked to the cellar entrance, feeling a strange eeriness about the dark cellar. A cold wind blew straight up his neck. He looked at the iron door locking the cellar and asked Liu Qiao, "Xiao Liu, have you gone down here to check?"
Liu Qiao was a little embarrassed: " Professor Xiao, time was tight, and I didn't realize there was a cellar in the backyard at the time."
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang also walked over and leaned down to look at the iron gate: "Cells are usually used to store wine, right?"
Xiao Lou said, "This door is locked; we need to go down and take a look."
Long Sen took the lead, broke the lock, quickly went down along the wall and circled around, saying, "Everyone come down, there are no traps. The aroma of wine is very strong here, there are many good wines hidden here."
But what does that prove? Does it mean Chen Yu likes to drink?
Xiao Lou put aside this point for the moment and led everyone to the Zhao family's mourning hall.
Sure enough, three more incense sticks were lit in the incense burner at the front of the mourning hall. At this time, the three incense sticks were about to burn out, indicating that the person who offered incense had left some time ago.
Xiao Lou looked around carefully, trying to find any clues left by the person who offered incense...
However, the other party was very cautious and did not leave a single hair behind.
Just as Xiao Lou was regretting that the investigation had yielded no results, his gaze suddenly fixed on the beam hanging from the roof. In the middle of the beam, he saw a spider the size of a palm, its color very similar to the beam, making it difficult to notice without close inspection.
Xiao Lou pointed there: "Look."
Upon closer inspection, Qu Wanyue was startled by the spider and exclaimed, "This spider seems to be completely still?"
Yu Hanjiang raised his head and said calmly, "That's not a live spider, but Chu Huaying's spider mark."
Hua Ying's spider mark has been seen before; it is indeed very realistic.
Xiao Lou was overjoyed: "This must be a clue Hua Ying left for us!"
Yu Hanjiang leaped up, his left hand gripping the beam, while his right hand searched carefully through the gaps in the beam. Sure enough, he found a letter. Upon opening it, he saw that it contained the vigorous and powerful calligraphy of the senior, Old Gui.
However, the contents of the letter left everyone looking at each other in bewilderment.
The first line reads: "Lu, Tang, Chu, and Gui, the four of us have traveled to the world three years ago, and we can't go back."
Xiao Lou: "......"