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

After hearing Lin Lezhi's explanation, Cheng Su's eyes became even colder, and a daunting low-pressure aura emanated from his body, making the air around him become heavy.

No one present dared to make a sound.

The only sound that could be heard was the slight sound made by Jiang Lian'an as he was concentrating on cleaning the broken ends of the corpse and making subtle adjustments to it.

Therefore, as if there was an invisible pulling force, everyone's eyes were involuntarily cast towards the corpse on the ground.

The soil cleared from the side of the corpse was scarlet. Perhaps all the blood in Guo Yong's body had been drained out, and the broken wounds had dried up, and no more blood would seep out.

In this tense environment, everyone's face was full of seriousness, and with the fear in their eyes, it seemed as if they were shrouded by a heavy haze.

"Everyone, cheer up and go to the forest to look for clues about phosphorus powder!"

Cheng Su's low voice was heard, not loud but very oppressive, and full of anger.

With Jiang Lian'an coming forward to check the body, there was no need for Lin Lezhi to do so. Lin Lezhi took the initiative to go into the forest with the soldiers ahead to check for clues.

Seeing this, Guan Ziheng immediately caught up with Lin Lezhi.

Everyone separated to search the woods, and Lin Lezhi glanced around.

After making sure that everyone was busy looking for clues and had no time to look at him, Lin Lezhi withdrew his gaze and looked at a place on the ground not far away.

A circle of ash was clearly visible.

That was where he had fought the snake last night.

Then Lin Lezhi looked at the surrounding trees and finally landed on a big tree. There were slight traces of fire on the trunk.

He remembered that when Xiao Yihuo came to him last night, he said that he first found the medicine bag on the ground, and then followed the direction of the burn marks on the tree trunk to find the Hundred Bone Pit.

So, Lin Lezhi groped along the surrounding grass for a while, and after pushing away some weeds, Lin Lezhi's eyes lit up and a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

After looking around and seeing that no one was paying attention, Lin Lezhi picked up the small porcelain bottle that had fallen on the ground and quietly hid it in his sleeve.

This is the ointment that Qingchuan gave to cover the scars.

Fortunately, the place where it was thrown was not far away, and there was grass to cushion it, so it didn't break.

"what--!"

Hearing the sudden shout, Lin Lezhi looked towards the source of the sound, only to see Guan Ziheng slumped on the ground with his face up in shock.

Guan Ziheng's shouting also attracted other people nearby.

"It's okay, it's okay. I just fell down accidentally. Don't worry about me..."

Guan Ziheng apologized with an embarrassed smile, then waved at Lin Lezhi, signaling Lin Lezhi to hurry over.

Lin Lezhi immediately went to Guan Ziheng's side, bent down and looked at where Guan Ziheng pointed. After seeing the thing in the bushes clearly, he smiled and explained to Guan Ziheng and joked: "Why do you get so scared by seeing this little bit of snake skin?"

"Dots?" Guan Ziheng's eyes widened in disbelief, "So many snake skins, you call this dots?"

Lin Lezhi smiled, stretched out his hand and pulled Guan Ziheng up from the ground, but when his eyes swept across the snake skin on the ground again, the smile on his face froze in an instant.

Noticing the subtle change in Lin Lezhi's expression, Guan Ziheng asked in a puzzled and cautious voice, "What's wrong, Lezhi?"

Lin Lezhi's gaze shot like a sharp arrow towards the place where he had just stood. He then walked over and bent down again to search in the bushes a few meters around him.

There was nothing between the bushes.

Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened, and a solemn look appeared between his brows.

“Found it——!”

At this time, several soldiers came running from the direction of Baigukeng, holding a piece of cloth in their hands and shouting loudly.

Thinking that the whereabouts of the phosphorus powder had been found, all the people who came out to look for it returned to the location of the puppet cave, and the soldiers who searched presented what they found to Cheng Su.

"General, these were found near the Hundred Bone Pit."

Cheng Su looked at the soil in the cloth. White powdery substance was visible on the red sand. Cheng Su reached out and picked up some, then put it to his nose and smelled it.

Although Cheng Su didn't say anything, the coldness in his eyes said it all.

Then, Cheng Su walked to Guo Yong's body. The dirt on Guo Yong's body had been cleaned off, and there were piles of blood-red soil around it.

Even if you're not very close, you can smell the blood coming from the soil.

Cheng Su looked at Jiang Lian'an who was cleaning the body with a sharp gaze, and asked in a deep voice with a hint of urging, "How is it?"

After carefully examining the broken parts of the limbs, Jiang Lian'an said, "The wounds are smooth. The limbs were chopped off after death."

As he spoke, Jiang Lian'an turned Guo Yong's head to one side, and there were two small red dots on his carotid artery.

There were two not very bright red bloodstains on the neck.

You can imagine the blood gushing out of those two small holes after being bitten by a snake.

"Did he die at the hands of the snake?"

Hearing Cheng Su's question, Jiang Lian'an did not answer immediately. After a moment of silence, he said with doubt in his eyes: "Although there are traces of snake bites on his neck, the wound is very smooth, without any signs of redness, swelling or bruises, so it is very likely that he did not die from the snake's bite."

"what is that?"

"Generally, people who are bitten to death by venomous snakes will be very pale, with some parts of their skin turning black and purple, their skin turning yellow, and they will bleed profusely from the wounds. In severe cases, blood will come out of all the orifices. Although Guo Yong's face was pale, there were only traces of blood flowing from the bite site, and the wound was not black and purple."

Jiang Lian'an looked at the broken part of Guo Yong's wound and continued, "As for the broken part, the blood in his body has been almost sucked dry by the soil. It is impossible to tell from the amount of bleeding whether it was caused by a venomous snake, but... except for the snake bite scar on his neck, there are no other scars on his body."

Hearing that even Jiang Lian'an could not determine the cause of Guo Yong's death, the people around him were visibly panicked.

If it was not caused by human factors, Guo Yong's face would have such a terrified expression. Such a strange way of death would only remind people of the innocent souls who died in Huaifeng Village.

"If it was really the work of an ungrateful ghost, why bother to dig up the soil in the wall? Wouldn't it be more convenient to just embed it in the rammed earth?" When people were panicking, Lin Lezhi stepped forward and said, "And the limbs of the paper puppet in the hole were not hidden by anyone."

After Lin Lezhi's analysis in simple and calm words, everyone thought carefully and realized that the limbs of the doll in the cave were scattered on the ground. Even though it was a broken body, its entire body was indeed intact.

Therefore, the panic of the crowd was slightly relieved.

Then Lin Lezhi walked to Jiang Lian'an's side and squatted down beside Guo Yong's body. As he got closer, the smell of blood emanating from the soil became stronger.

Lin Lezhi examined Guo Yong's body with a calm gaze for a moment, then turned his gaze to Jiang Lian'an, his eyes unchanged and his tone calm, "Detective Jiang, if you want to know whether Guo Yong died at Shekou, there is another way."

Hearing this, Jiang Lian'an's eyes flashed with surprise. After hesitating for a moment, he humbly asked, "What's the method?"

Lin Lezhi turned his gaze back to the corpse on the ground, his eyes showing an unwavering look, and said in a deep voice.

"Disembowel."