When the book-traveling little detective meets the two-faced prince

In addition to the muddy smell of the damp soil, the entire basement was also filled with a fishy smell. Looking inside from outside the cave, it was pitch black and difficult to see.

Guo Yong leaned over to look inside and found a rope hanging down from the edge of the wall. Guo Yong pulled it with his hand and found that the rope was tied to an iron ring deeply embedded in the soil and was very stable.

Guo Yong wanted to look inside again, but the musty smell made him frown. He just pulled the rope out and stood up straight. He waved his nose with disgust and said, "What on earth did this old man Wu put in here? It stinks."

Guo Yong looked at Lin Lezhi with approval and said, "Brother Lin, how did you know that the secret room is not outside, but in the yard?"

"Because of what the village head's wife said."

"Which sentence?"

"Yes." Lin Lezhi explained carefully: "The wife of the village chief said that she heard the sound of something being dragged that night. It was very clear because it was at night. At the same time, she also heard a rustling sound when the thing was being dragged."

Lin Lezhi looked at the leaves on the ground and continued, "The rustling sound that the village head's wife heard should be the sound of a heavy object pressing down on the leaves. The only thing in the yard that could make a dragging sound was the water tank. Just now, when Yun He was moving the water tank, it pressed down on the leaves and made the same sound."

"If Wu Sanshan was moving something in the house, there would be no leaves if someone was cleaning the house, so no matter how heavy the object was, it would only make a dragging sound, not a rustling sound."

Guo Yong suddenly realized and said, "As expected of Brother Lin, you are really smart. I, Guo Yong, am convinced!"

But the suspicion in Lin Lezhi's eyes still did not dissipate. Jiang Lian'an walked up and asked, "Mr. Lin, do you have any other concerns?"

Lin Lezhi came back to his senses with an "Oh", but still lowered his eyes and said, "I was thinking, this Wu Sanshan doesn't seem to have any plans to come back after he left."

"What do you mean?" Guo Yong asked puzzled.

"Under the governance of County Magistrate Chang, the people of Qujiang County live and work in peace and contentment, but they don't leave their doors unlocked at night, not to mention that Wu Sanshan is going on a long journey and doesn't know when he will return."

Lin Lezhi looked at the wooden door and said, "But you see, it's not locked from the outside. Isn't he afraid that a thief or someone else might move into his house while he's away?"

"Is it possible that he thought Qiao Ying would come back, so he didn't lock it?" Liu Yunhe asked.

When Qiao Ying heard someone calling her name, she smiled foolishly.

Lin Lezhi responded: "If that's the case, it means Qiao Ying has a certain degree of self-care ability, but based on our current contact with Qiao Ying, Qiao Ying's daily life requires the care and guidance of others, otherwise there would be no need for Old Man Wu to entrust Qiao Ying to the village chief's family."

"I don't think this old man Wu is a good person. Who would dig a secret room at home? He might not be just a fisherman. Didn't the village chief say that when old man Wu left that day, he looked very flustered? I think he was not looking for the magic herb and he was really running away because of something urgent." Guo Yong said indignantly.

"Since Wu Sanshan intentionally hid this basement, I think there should be clues in the basement as to how Wu Sanshan left this place."

Guan Ziheng came to Lin Lezhi's side, took a look inside, and said with a look of fear and uneasiness: "It's pitch black in here and you can't see anything. Who knows if Wu Sanshan will set up a trap inside? Otherwise, we should report this matter to the government and let them handle it."

"Brother Guan, you're not scared, are you?" Guo Yong said with a smile.

Guan Ziheng scratched his head and said with a wry smile, "Yes... a little bit. This is the first time I've seen such a scene. I can't go down and report it to the authorities. I'll listen to everyone."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes fell on Jiang Lian'an.

"Master Guan is right. This matter should indeed be reported to the government. However, if this is just an ordinary underground room, it may cause panic among the people if it is reported to the government. How about this..." Jiang Lian'an looked up at the people present and said, "I will go down first and take a look to find out what is going on."

"If it was just a basement for storing things, there would be no need to alert the authorities."

Xiao Yihuo glanced at Liu Yunhe, and Liu Yunhe immediately understood and said, "I'll go down with you, and we can deal with it together if anything happens."

Jiang Lian'an smiled and said, "Okay, thank you very much."

Lin Lezhi thought to himself, Xiao Yihuo was indeed a scheming person. He obviously didn't trust Jiang Lian'an, so he let Liu Yunhe go with him. However, this was indeed the safest way to do it.

So, Jiang Lian'an and Liu Yunhe took out the fire starters in their arms and entered the basement one after another under the gaze of everyone.

However, after entering, the two people did not respond.

Guan Ziheng said fearfully, "Why is there no movement? Could something have happened to them?"

Qingchuan squatted down and shouted towards the cave entrance with concern: "Yun He, Master Jiang, how are you?"

"Brother Qingchuan, we are fine. It's just that there is something really strange here, so I forgot to respond for a moment."

Guo Yong squatted down and asked, "What's down there?"

"There are some fishing gear, some pickled vegetables, and some miscellaneous items."

"What's so strange about this? Aren't these just some things that ordinary people use?" Guo Yong obviously felt that Liu Yunhe was making a fuss out of nothing.

"No, there's more than that. There are also some very strange carvings on the wall. I can't tell what they are. Detective Jiang Gui is looking at those things. There is no mechanism here. Everyone can come down and take a look." Liu Yunhe responded from below.

Upon hearing this, everyone present went down to the basement in an orderly manner. Soon, only Lin Lezhi, Xiao Yihuo, Guan Ziheng and Qiao Ying, who was standing there with a curious look on her face, were left outside the cave.

Guan Ziheng glanced at the cave entrance, took a half step back, and said with a look of rejection: "Lezhi, I think I won't go down. I'll stay up there to help you keep watch, and..." Guan Ziheng looked at Qiao Ying beside him and said: "And this kid can't go down with you, I'll stay to accompany him."

"What you said makes sense, then you should stay and accompany Qiao Ying."

Hearing that he didn't have to go down, Guan Ziheng's expression was obviously much more relaxed.

Lin Lezhi looked at Xiao Yihuo. Although there was no fear on Xiao Yihuo's face, it was obvious that Xiao Yihuo did not want to go down. Lin Lezhi smiled and looked at Xiao Yihuo and deliberately said, "Xiao Xu, it's dark and damp down there, which is not good for your health. Why don't you stay up there too, so that you can take care of my friend."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yihuo curled his lips slightly and said calmly, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Lin. It's just a basement room, it's not a big deal. I also want to see what secrets are in this basement room."

Guan Ziheng stood nearby and just smiled, not daring to say anything. After the two of them went in, he pulled Qiao Ying away from the cave entrance.

When the two of them came downstairs, the carvings on the wall were easily seen. Some were vertical, and some were horizontal. However, it was difficult to guess the intention behind these irregular carvings.

There weren't many things in the basement, just a table, a chair, a bench, and a locked vertical cabinet.

Jiang Lian'an was holding a torn parchment scroll in his hand. According to what was drawn on the parchment scroll, it looked like a torn ancient map.

Guo Yong walked to the cabinet, fiddled with the lock on it with his fingers, and said with suspicion: "This old man Wu didn't lock the door outside, but locked it here. It seems that there is really some shameful secret hidden here."

Guo Yong looked at his two brothers and said, "Find a handy tool and break the lock open. I want to see what shameful secrets this old man Wu has."

Guo Yong's two brothers searched around and found an axe nearby and handed it to Guo Yong, who then smashed the lock with great force.

After a while, the lock core was knocked open, and Guo Yong threw the lock to the ground with a crisp sound.

With a creak, the cabinet door was opened. Guo Yong took the fire stick and shone it. His face changed drastically and his expression froze on his face. The two brothers next to him also saw it. Lu Xingpeng shouted, "Why...why is there a coffin in here!"

Hearing this, everyone looked towards the cabinet, where a coffin was standing upright.

Lin Lezhi walked forward with a tinder and touched the coffin in front of him. Then Lin Lezhi looked at his fingers. There was no dust on them. It seemed that Wu Sanshan would wipe this coffin frequently.

However, this coffin was not well preserved. There were many cracks on the coffin lid and the coffin body. Through the dim light of a fire starter, one could see that there were exquisite patterns carved on the coffin lid.

However, the light was dim and it was difficult to make out completely.

Lin Lezhi looked at the coffin in front of him and said calmly, "Wu Sanshan is not young anymore. It's not surprising that he has a coffin at home. Many families will spend a lot of their savings to build a coffin for themselves so that they can use it when they reach the end of their lives."

As they were talking, almost everyone gathered in front of the coffin.

"But..." Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened.

"But what?" Guo Yong asked curiously.

"If the coffin was prepared for this purpose, it would have been carefully preserved. The coffin is indeed spotless, but look." Lin Lezhi brought the fire in his hand close to the cracks on the coffin lid and said, "This coffin has many cracks, and these cracks are not caused by humans, but are formed by being soaked and then exposed to the sun."

Liu Yunhe was puzzled and asked: "What does this mean? Does it mean that this coffin was soaked in water before?"

"Not bad." Lin Lezhi praised: "It is very likely that what you said is true."

“So Master Lin suspected that this coffin did not belong to Wu Sanshan, but was transported from somewhere else by Wu Sanshan.”

"Yeah." Lin Lezhi replied softly.

Guo Yong strode forward and said with a look of disbelief: "Open it and you will know what the old man Wu is up to."

"Wait--!"

Just as Guo Yong was about to put his hand on her, Jiang Lian'an spoke up to stop her, and Guo Yong immediately pulled his hand back in fright.

Jiang Lian'an stepped forward and said, "Since Old Man Wu regards this coffin as so important, I think it shouldn't be that simple. It would be bad if there is a mechanism inside the coffin. We should move the coffin out of the cabinet first and study it carefully before making any plans."

Guo Yong realized it later and said, "What Jiang Guitan said makes sense."

Everyone followed Jiang Lian'an's advice and wanted to move the coffin out of the cave, but the entrance was only wide enough for one person to pass through. It seemed that the coffin had been brought in by Wu Sanshan a long time ago, and then the entrance was made smaller.

But if you want to move the coffin out of the cave, you must widen the cave, which will undoubtedly disturb the neighbors.

Finally, everyone decided to move the coffin closer to the cave entrance. As they were moving it, they heard clanging sounds coming from inside.

The coffin was very heavy, and it took a lot of effort to move it to the cave entrance. It made a heavy sound when it was placed on the ground.

With the help of the bright light from the sun and the fire starters in everyone's hands, the entire coffin could finally be seen clearly, and the cracks were particularly obvious.

There is a tree carved on the coffin lid, with several small snakes coiled on the branches of the tree. The snake tails can extend to the body of the coffin, and the snakes are in various postures and are very lifelike.

Some were entangled, some were lying down, some were sticking out their tongues, and some were opening their mouths, revealing their fangs.

More importantly, the tree carved on the coffin lid was not any other tree, but the banyan tree that had been seen in Yaren Village a long time ago, a single tree that formed a forest.

Looking at the banyan tree sculpture in front of them, Lin Lezhi, Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan's eyes all darkened.

Guo Yong looked inside from the crack in the coffin, but it was difficult to see anything with just the cracks and limited light source.

Guo Yong gently lifted the coffin lid and found that it could be easily lifted. Guo Yong looked at the place where the coffin was nailed shut and found signs of human opening in the place where it should have been nailed shut.

"Look!" As if he had discovered something new, Guo Yong squatted on the ground and pointed at the scratches on the coffin. He said with surprise, "There are traces of being pried open where the body was nailed. This coffin must have been opened before."

Xu Tian looked at everyone and said, "Since Old Man Wu has opened this coffin before, there shouldn't be any traps inside. Why don't we open it and see, maybe we can find out where Old Man Wu went."

Guo Yong stood up, looked at everyone and said, "We all came here together. Whether or not to open the coffin, we brothers will listen to your decision."

Everyone looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to Jiang Lian'an.

Jiang Lian'an pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Since it has come to this, let's open it, but just in case, everyone should be careful and avoid danger in time."

Everyone was ready and carefully lifted the coffin lid. As the lid slowly opened, there was no danger, but a foul smell came to their noses, and everyone couldn't help but frown.

However, when the coffin was completely opened and they saw the things inside, they couldn't help but widen their eyes.

The gold, silver, jewelry and exquisite jade pieces inside were probably sealed well when they were soaked in water before, so they were not damaged by the soaking and they sparkled under the sunlight.

Inside the jewelry box that took up half of the space, there lay a skeleton with jewelry on its wrists and ankles.

The limbs and body bones are all there, only the head is missing.