The book Qi Ran was reading puzzled Shao Qingge. He didn't recognize any of the characters; they seemed like some kind of strange incantation. The little boy was engrossed in reading the book, and Shao Qingge, hiding in the shadows, didn't go out to disturb him.
A moment later, as if he had heard a noise, the boy quickly buried the book under the tree and whispered, "Who's there?!"
Shao Qingge thought he had been discovered and was about to leave when he saw Zhou Xiaoyun sneakily crawl out of the hole and whisper, "Brother Ran, it's me..."
Qi Ran seemed relieved, and his tone softened noticeably: "What are you doing out here?"
Zhou Xiaoyun's face was deathly pale, and she said in a trembling voice, "I had a nightmare. I dreamt that they captured me, threw me into a pot, and cooked me..."
Qi Ran frowned as he walked up to her, gently patted the girl's shoulder, and said, "It's just a nightmare, don't be afraid. Uncle Ren and I are here, we'll protect you."
The girl nodded and went back into the cave with him.
After they left, Shao Qingge went to the tree and dug out the book that Qi Ran had buried. He carefully looked through it. Although he couldn't understand the incantation-like scribbles, he could still roughly guess the meaning of some of the human figure drawings.
Several pages depict scenes resembling "marionettes".
Ye Qi asked in his mind, "So? What's this book about?"
Shao Qingge said, "It should be related to evil magic that bewitches people. I wonder where Qi Ran got this book from? Could it be that his parents had special identities and passed it on to him before they died?"
Ye Qi said, "That's possible. Qi Ran is probably an outsider, not a local child of Qingfeng Town. I remember there's no one with the surname Qi in Qingfeng Town. Perhaps his parents died here by chance, making him an orphan, and he was rescued by Granny Sun. "
Shao Qingge wrote down the pages in the book that described marionettes, then put the book back exactly as it was, covered it with soil, and stood up to ask, "Is there any news on your end?"
Just as Ye Qi was about to say "no," several burly men suddenly burst into the dilapidated temple where Aunt Qing was.
Those men were carrying long knives, their blades stained with blood, clearly not to be trifled with. Scarface, their leader, coldly said, "This is our territory. If you don't want to die, get out of here!"
Seeing that the other side had a large number of people, Aunt Qing immediately took Qin Feng and Han Ningshuang and quickly left.
Ye Qi caught up with them, thinking to himself, " Yue Prefecture isn't safe either. Suddenly a group of bandits broke into the ruined temple. Aunt Qing escaped with the two children, and I followed them... Ah..."
A short, sharp cry echoed in my mind.
Shao Qingge's expression changed, and he immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
Ye Qi is trapped in a giant net that fell from the sky.
Looking at the group of men in black in front of him, Ye Qi quickly calmed down and asked with a smile, "Brothers, what are you doing?"
Scarface narrowed his eyes and said, "I told you this is my territory, yet you're still sneaking around in the tree. Since you've walked right into our trap, we brothers are hungry, so we'll grab you to satisfy our cravings." He waved to his companions, and a group of men immediately surrounded him, their knives gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
Ye Qi was completely bound by an iron net, making it impossible for him to use musical instruments such as the guzheng, piano, and flute.
The group of people had bloodshot eyes and were drooling as they surrounded Ye Qi, like starving beasts finally seeing delicious food. Their bloodthirsty and crazed eyes sent a chill down Ye Qi's spine.
Being stared at like you're "food" gives me goosebumps!
Shao Qingge noticed Ye Qi's nervousness in his mind and became anxious. He whispered, "I'll drive Peach Blossom Spring to pick you up."
Ye Qi said, "No need, I can handle it..."
The next moment, Ye Qi simply used the bug king card.
The musical instrument card cannot be used, but the Insect King's transformation can be activated at any time.
The besieging crowd saw the trapped boy's eyes suddenly light up. His originally dark and clear eyes were suddenly stained with a blood-red color. The boy's red eyes swept around, and his outstretched hands suddenly grew sharp nails—those nails were like knives, and they actually tore the metal net that trapped him into pieces!
A group of people were so frightened by the suddenly transformed boy that they took a step back.
Ye Qi transformed into the Insect King, but remained conscious. He knew that he and Shao Qingge had come to this world only to investigate a case, and it was best not to do anything that would affect the fate of the people in this world. Therefore, Ye Qi did not linger in battle after transforming. He leaped up, stepping on the shoulder of a burly man in front of him, and quickly climbed up a nearby tree.
The boy climbed and leaped up the tree, his body as light as a bird soaring freely through the forest, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The group stood frozen in place. After a long while, the leader shook his head violently and whispered, "Is...is this person a monster? How could his eyes suddenly turn blood-red?"
The men next to him finally reacted, their voices trembling as they said, "You scared the hell out of me!"
Scarface twitched his lips and said, "Never mind him, let's go see if there's anything to eat nearby."
Because Ye Qi was intercepted, he lost track of Aunt Qing and the other two, and could only search around using the 500-meter range of the eavesdropping device. Shao Qingge, realizing that Ye Qi was out of danger, breathed a sigh of relief and softly asked in his mind, "Are you alright?"
Ye Qi chuckled and said, "It's alright, the Insect King is too powerful; those small fry are no match for it."
"No match for me."
Shao Qingge said, "You should still be careful..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a huge fire suddenly appeared in Ye Qi's field of vision.
The Zerg's greatest weakness is their fear of fire. Instinctively, Ye Qi stopped abruptly. Staring at the raging flames before him, his heart clenched: "Someone set fire to Yue Prefecture. Most of the city is burned down. Aunt Qing and the other two are missing... I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Shao Qingge immediately interrupted him: "Retreat immediately!"
Ye Qi frowned in distress: "But I haven't found Aunt Qing, Han Ningshuang, and Qin Feng yet. Doesn't this mean I've lost a lead?"
Shao Qingge said, "Do you still intend to force your way into the fire?"
Ye Qi: "..."
Shao Qingge's voice was unusually serious: " Ye Qi, don't take any risks." He paused, then said in a low voice, "Don't make me worry, retreat quickly, okay?"
Forcing his way into the fire would indeed be suicidal. Looking at the towering flames in the distance, Ye Qi could only reluctantly say, "Well, I'll hide somewhere further away for a while, and then try to find those three people after this fire is extinguished. I don't know how the fire suddenly started..."
Shao Qingge said softly, "Stay away. We can investigate the cause of the fire tomorrow."
A gust of wind swept through, and flames rushed towards him. Ye Qi almost got his eyebrows burned. He hurriedly retreated dozens of steps and left Yue Prefecture City far away. He heard screams coming from inside the city. Many people were fleeing everywhere with their bodies on fire, their bodies charred and gradually turning into charcoal. The air was filled with the smell of burnt human flesh.
Ye Qi hid in a tree some distance away, watching this scene with trepidation.
I wonder if Aunt Qing and her two children will survive this fire?
The fire burned for several hours, and then a heavy snow began to fall in the middle of the night. The fire gradually subsided and was finally extinguished at dawn. Ye Qi hurriedly entered Yue Prefecture City. He quickly scanned the surroundings and saw that the streets were full of burned houses and the bones of people who had been burned to death. He could not find any trace of Aunt Qing and the other two.
Ye Qi walked around Yue Prefecture for a whole time. Just when he thought that Aunt Qing and the other two might have gone far away from Yue Prefecture, suddenly, a sobbing sound came from the eavesdropping device —it was Han Ningshuang.
Ye Qi followed the direction from which the sound came.
Han Ningshuang, with half his hair burned off, was kneeling in the corner of an alley, holding the body of a woman and weeping uncontrollably, almost unable to breathe—the woman was Aunt Qing.
Aunt Qing's face was covered in blood, as if something had hit her head and cracked it open. Judging from Han Ningshuang's reaction, Aunt Qing was probably killed by falling debris while trying to save the child.
Qin Feng had vanished without a trace, but a shoe lay beside Han Ningshuang. Ye Qi remembered that he had placed the eavesdropping device in this shoe, and Qin Feng had conveniently dropped it, making it difficult for Ye Qi to track him down.
Shao Qingge sensed Ye Qi's emotional change and couldn't help but comfort her in a low voice: "There was a famine twenty years ago, and everything was in chaos. It's not your fault that you lost the clues. Don't blame yourself too much."
Ye Qi smiled bitterly, " Aunt Qing is dead. Qin Feng and Han Ningshuang got separated. Han Ningshuang is crying while holding Aunt Qing's body. Alas… these children have such tragic fates. We come from twenty years in the future and know that Qin Feng is still alive, but judging from Han Ningshuang's reaction, she obviously thinks that Qin Feng was also burned to death— right next to Qin Feng's shoe, there was a little boy's charred body."
Shao Qingge was silent for a moment, then said, " Han Ningshuang and Qin Feng were separated in the fire in Yue Prefecture. Qin Feng was probably adopted by a kind person, and it's clear he's very talented now that he's grown up. As for Han Ningshuang, how will an only child survive?"
Ye Qi said, "I will continue to follow her."
Shao Qingge reminded him, "Be careful."
The city of Yue Prefecture was devastated by the fire, and famine, coupled with the blaze, had caused countless deaths and injuries among its inhabitants. Han Ningshuang carried Aunt Qing's body and Qin Feng's lost shoe outside the city, dug a pit to bury them, knelt before the mound of earth and kowtowed three times, then wiped away his tears and limped off to find the group of people who had driven them away from the ruined temple.
When Scarface, who was in the lead, saw the little girl return, he couldn't help but ask in surprise, "This little girl is quite bold. Why did she come back again?"
Although half of her hair was burned off and her face was filthy, Little Girl's eyes were exceptionally clear and bright. She looked at the man earnestly and said, "Uncle, as long as you don't kill me and give me a bite to eat, I'm willing to be your slave. I can do laundry, I can cook, and oh yes, I can make kites, very beautiful kites."
Scarface met her eyes, paused for a moment, and then laughed, "You can't eat a kite, so what's the use of knowing how to make one?"
Little Girl thought for a moment and said, "We can sell it for money."
A group of people around her burst into laughter at her naive words. Someone whispered sarcastically, "What's the use of money if you can't even fill your stomach?" "Who cares about money these days? Give me a chicken to kill and eat, that's much better than ten taels of silver!"
Han Ningshuang said earnestly, "Money will be useful after the famine is over. I can make hundreds of kites a day, and I can give all the money from selling them to you, Uncle."
The dilapidated temple fell silent. Scarface smiled and beckoned to Han Ningshuang, saying, "Come here."
Han Ningshuang obediently walked over, and the man patted her head, saying, "You're quite an interesting little girl. How about this, you'll come with me from now on and become my apprentice. You're just a child and can't eat much, so when we eat meat, we can always share some soup with you."
Han Ningshuang immediately knelt down and kowtowed several times: "Thank you, Master!"
After daybreak, the bandits led Han Ningshuang away from Yue Prefecture, burning everything in their path.
They killed and looted, and managed to seize quite a bit of grain. Unexpectedly, Han Ningshuang was taken in as an apprentice by the bandit leader.
Ye Qi said, " Han Ningshuang's fate should be that she survived with this group of people. These bandits don't know soul-snatching magic; they're just brutes who wield knives to scare people. If she had stayed with this group, she couldn't have learned soul-snatching magic from other sources. Therefore, Han Ningshuang shouldn't be the direct culprit in the Qingfeng Town 'Ghostly Revenge Case'?"
Shao Qingge pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that Qi Ran is still the most suspicious."
Ye Qi said with a headache, "The murderer only started committing crimes seventeen years later. We can't just follow them for seventeen years... Based on the current clues, do you think the accuracy rate of deducing the murderer is high?"
Shao Qingge smiled and said, "Unlike Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang, I don't need 100% accuracy. It's normal to make and lose money in business, there are risks in investing, and there's a risk of guessing wrong in reasoning. My principle is to weigh the risks and benefits and choose the approach that is most beneficial to everyone."
After listening for a while, Ye Qi finally understood what he meant—that is, regardless of right or wrong, they should choose the method that would benefit everyone the most. Currently, the two of them had no food reserves and were starving every day. They also couldn't affect the people of this world, lest it cause changes in the plot in future generations. They couldn't possibly follow Han Ningshuang and Qi Ran for seventeen years just to get the correct answer.
Ye Qi asked curiously, "What do you want to do?"
Shao Qingge said, "Sometimes you have to guess when answering multiple-choice questions in an exam. Why don't we take a gamble? We're choosing between Qi Ran, Han Ningshuang, and Zhou Xiaoyun. Han Ningshuang's suspicion has been greatly reduced. Zhou Xiaoyun doesn't seem like the kind of person who is scheming. I think Qi Ran is the most likely culprit. The book he's holding, his attitude toward his mother-in-law's death, his missing finger, and the scar on his face after recovering from chickenpox all suggest a personality that will become psychologically twisted and seek revenge when he grows up."
Of the four options A, B, C, and D, option D, Qin Feng, was temporarily eliminated by Xiao Lou and the others twenty years later. Among the remaining options A, B, and C, girls B and C don't seem very similar. Option A, Qi Ran, is indeed the most likely correct answer.
As Shao Qingge said, when faced with multiple-choice questions in an exam, if you're not 100% sure, sometimes you have to gamble.
Ye Qi agreed, "I also think Qi Ran is more likely. But how should we leave these clues to Professor Xiao?"
Shao Qingge asked, "Is there anything that can be preserved for 20 years without being damaged?"
Ye Qi scratched his head: "Can it be preserved for 20 years? In modern times, it would definitely be data on a USB drive or something, but this is ancient times. I can't think of anything that won't break down in 20 years."
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "Silver."
Ye Qi: "..."
It's perfectly normal for wealthy people to think of money first.