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

After hearing Lin Lezhi's words, Qiao Ying's confused face broke into a smile, and she nodded obediently and seriously.

Seeing Qiao Ying like this, Village Chief Wang and his wife couldn't bear to look at her. Although her soul was incomplete, the years they had spent together were not fake.

At this time, Hong Mingxu, who had finished what Cheng Su had asked him to do, ran back in a hurry, clasped his fists and said, "General, I have done everything you asked me to do, but..."

Hong Mingxu's gaze moved towards the lantern boat for a moment, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Just what?"

"General, the sunken ship has been claimed by the people, and the silver has been paid in full. However... the owner of the burned lantern ship has not been found. I have been waiting for a long time but no one has come to claim it."

Hong Mingxu raised his head, looked at Cheng Su with a somewhat uneasy expression and said, "General, I think this matter is a little strange, so I hurried back to report to you."

Hearing Hong Mingxu's words, Wang Hewei's eyes involuntarily turned to the burnt lantern boat and the bell that Qiao Ying placed next to Wu Sanshan's body.

The wails of the surrounding people filled Wang Hewei's ears.

Apart from that, Wang He couldn't hear anything else. Only the growing fear on his face betrayed his true feelings at the moment.

Fishing boats, bells, Wu Sanshan...

With a puff, Wang Hewei fell to the ground. Then, he pointed at the broken lantern boat and said with trembling lips, "Only Wu Sanshan's boat would have a soul-calling bell. This boat must belong to Wu Sanshan."

Hearing this, Cheng Su looked at Chang Feizhang standing beside him and asked solemnly, "Didn't you say before that you checked all the fishing boats and didn't find Wu Sanshan's boat?"

Chang Feizhang immediately knelt down and said, "General, it is true. I have never lied to you. I have sent people to strictly guard all the places where the fishing boats are placed, and no outsiders are allowed to enter."

"And... moreover, before the lantern boat set sail last night, many people went aboard to carefully inspect it. General, you and all of you were also present. If there really was a bell hanging on the boat, how could there be no movement with so many people on and off the boat?"

Guo Yong stood aside with a puzzled look on his face. After thinking carefully, he said, "If the bell was not on the boat beforehand, could it be that the lantern boat was replaced last night? Or someone ambushed on the island in advance and deliberately created this scene to threaten us not to go to the island."

Hong Mingxu immediately denied Guo Yong's unfounded guess: "Absolutely impossible, last night I..."

Hong Mingxu stopped talking in time. After receiving Cheng Su's promising look, he continued, "Yesterday morning, County Magistrate Chang informed the general that Wu Sanshan's boat was not found at the place where the fishing boats were parked. Then I took orders and led a few soldiers to search for Wu Sanshan's boat along the lake, but the search was still fruitless."

"To be safe, I led my soldiers to the lake island and searched it, but found no trace of people on the island."

"Afterwards, when we were about to leave by boat, the lantern boat also floated to the shore. I went up to check and found that there was no one on it. The lanterns on the boat and the lanterns in the lake were mostly out..."

Having said that, Hong Mingxu suddenly stopped talking and looked at Cheng Su with a serious look.

Everyone present also noticed the problem and their eyes darkened.

yes……

Last night when he was leading his troops on the lake island, he clearly saw that half of the lanterns on the boat were extinguished, and he did not hear the sound of bells. But when the boat came back, all the lanterns on the boat were still on.

"General... Could it be that there are really other people hiding on the island?"

"If that's true, how did the people hiding on the island get to the island? I got off the sealed boat a month ago, and there is no way to get to the island. What's more, since the incident in Huaifeng Village, no one dared to go to the island. The island has been abandoned for more than ten years. Mo..."

Chang Feizhang thought of a possibility and guessed, "Could it be that the people of Huaifeng Village disappeared that year?"

However, Chang Feizhang soon denied his thoughts and shook his head, saying, "But if there really was someone, it would be impossible for the lights to appear only two months ago."

The possibility caused everyone present to fall into deep thought.

Wang Hewei had already fallen into his own thoughts. After hearing everyone's speculations, he became even more panicked and said in a trembling voice, "Could it be that Wu Sanshan really went out to look for the magic herb and went against the heavens, insisting on bringing back Qiao Ying's soul and two spirits, angering the heavens, so the heavens sent disasters upon us."

Wang Hewei's words successfully attracted everyone's attention.

"What did you say?" Cheng Su lowered his eyes and asked.

Wang He immediately knelt on the ground again with a panicked look on his face, and hurriedly explained to Cheng Su: "General, I am not a superstitious person, nor am I deliberately concealing something, but since Wu Sanshan left, strange things have happened on the island. Not only that, Wu Sanshan has not returned for more than two months, leaving only Qiao Ying in the village."

"People in the same village were terrified. Some thought this was a bit strange and worried that the existing peace would be disrupted, so they ran to the fortune teller's stall not long ago to ask for divination."

"The fortune teller said that Qiao Ying chose to be a spirit guardian in this life. If Wu Sanshan forcibly calls back Qiao Ying's soul, it would be against the will of heaven. Not only would he fail to call back Qiao Ying's soul, but he would also anger the gods and bring disaster to our entire village."

"As soon as I got this divination, the villagers came to my door and told me about it. The Lantern Festival is coming soon, and the whole town is looking forward to the blessings of heaven. I was afraid that this matter would spread and affect the lives of the villagers, so I asked them not to tell anyone and to wait until the Lantern Festival is over before talking about anything."

Now, everyone finally understood.

Why did the man just now shout that God was sending disaster?

Wang Hewei looked at Cheng Su and said, "General, I know this is superstition, but now the lantern boats have been burned and Wu Sanshan has died. This is proof of the natural disaster the fortune teller said. When the news spreads throughout the village, how can we... how can the whole village survive..."

Coincidentally, Liu Yunhe came back with some people, who were the people who were pulling the rope on the dock before.

Lin Lezhi walked forward slowly and said, "I think this is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster."