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

"Why is there an extra corpse here?"

Meng Dafeng looked at the two corpses in the coffin with an incredible expression on his face, while He Yu, who was standing next to him, was so shocked that he couldn't speak. But looking closely at his expression, it seemed as if he was out of touch with the world.

Lin Lezhi walked to the empty space behind the coffin, squatted down and said, "It's not too much, but too little."

"not enough?"

"That's right." Lin Lezhi squatted behind the coffin and looked at the marks on the ground and said, "Judging from the indentations on the four sides of the ground, there should have been a coffin here before. There are also obvious dragging marks on the ground. I think someone moved the coffin away from here and replaced the bones here."

Everyone looked in the direction of the traces on the ground, and the direction of dragging was also towards the huge door.

No one knows what the scene is behind the giant gate, but now the answers to all the secrets seem to be hidden behind that giant gate.

"Exchange..." Meng Dafeng muttered to himself thoughtfully, and then he thought of something, his eyes widened and he said, "Are you saying that the coffin in Wu Sanshan's underground chamber was transported out from here?"

"Exactly."

Lin Lezhi stood up and looked at the paper puppet sitting next to the paper banquet. His eyes were sharp and he said, "And the corpse that was replaced in the coffin is exactly the original body of this paper puppet."

Lin Lezhi's words attracted everyone's attention to the paper puppet, with disbelief in their eyes.

"The surface of the bones in the coffin in the tomb is white, but the surface of the bones in Wu Sanshan's underground chamber is reddish brown. Last night, we also dug up a large number of reddish brown bones at the location where Yin Fire appeared in large quantities. When we found that place, the ground under our feet was obviously dug by someone, so the bones in the underground chamber are very likely to have come from there."

"If the murderer wanted to kill someone, why would he go to such great lengths and go through such a long detour?"

"I think... the murderer had no choice but to do it."

"Last resort?"

"Assuming that Guo Yong was indeed one of the people who massacred the village, given Guo Yong's knowledge of tomb robbing and his desire for money, a person trapped in this trap would never risk returning here unless there was a huge temptation of money. The murderer also understood this. Therefore, the murderer had no choice but to make this matter known to everyone, so that the incident of Huaifeng Village could be passed on to their ears through the mouths of everyone."

Liu Yunhe, who followed the second group of people down, said with a puzzled look on his face: "Now all the clues point to County Magistrate Chang, but even so, County Magistrate Chang had no grudge against the murderer and was not from Huaifeng Village, so why did he do such a cruel thing?"

"No grudges or hatred? I don't think so."

Lin Lezhi first asked in return, and then spoke in a decisive tone, causing everyone to look surprised and puzzled.

"Eleven years ago, the disappearance of the entire Huaifeng Village caused a great sensation, and eleven years later, it is still an unsolved case. As a local official, he was naturally the first to be held accountable by the court. His career was ruined, and there was no possibility of promotion. Eleven years later, he was still a lowly ninth-rank official. Therefore, he hated the murderer from that year and wanted to kill him as soon as possible."

"So, it's not that County Magistrate Chang didn't have a motive for committing the crime, but the only person who could accomplish this was County Magistrate Chang."

"What do you mean?"

Cheng Su asked with sullen eyes.

Lin Lezhi looked at Cheng Su and asked calmly, "General, have you ever thought about why no one claimed the burned lantern boat, and why Wu Sanshan's fishing boat could not be found in the place where a large number of fishing boats were stored?"

Hearing this, Cheng Su's eyes darkened even more, with a sharp look in them.

"That's because we were tricked and everyone helped the murderer unconsciously."

"A blind trick?"

"Yes, Chang Feizhang is very smart. He used the two simplest and most easily overlooked tricks to deceive all of us. One of them is the eye trick."

"Eye barrier?"

The soldiers on the side asked in confusion.

Facing the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Lin Lezhi paused and continued, "We often believe that seeing is believing. When we heard that Wu Sanshan's fishing boat had a soul-calling bell tied to it, we thought that Wu Sanshan's boat must have a soul-calling bell tied to it. That's why we were deceived by our eyes and couldn't find Wu Sanshan's fishing boat. We thought that Wu Sanshan's fishing boat was hidden by the lake or in the forest. But what if Wu Sanshan's soul-calling bell was taken down from the beginning?"

"That makes sense, but what is the other obstacle?"

"Sound barrier."

"Sound barrier?"

"Do you remember what the scene was like on the night of the Lantern Festival?"

Meng Dafeng, who was standing nearby, thought for a moment and said, "That night, there were a lot of people who came to the lake to participate in the lantern prayer. Everyone was very happy and lively, and the sound of gongs and drums was even more lively."

"It's the voices of people and the sounds of gongs and drums." Lin Lezhi said with certainty.

"make it clear."

Cheng Su said impatiently.

"Solving a case is like pulling out a thread from a cocoon. Don't be impatient. When you follow the thread and find the end of the thread, you will find the clues and solve the problem." Lin Lezhi nodded slightly and asked calmly, "General Cheng, please allow me to tell you slowly."

Although Cheng Su's face showed anxiety, he didn't say anything else. He just had a gloomy face and looked unhappy.

"On the way to Huaifeng Village, the people who came with me on the same boat once said that the Lantern Festival is selected by the people every year, and then handed over to the government for inspection to make sure there are no omissions before it can be used for the Lantern Festival." Lin Lezhi looked at Deng Yang who came down later and asked, "Brother Deng, is this true?"

"Yes, that's right. Every time there is a lantern festival, I always stand at the front of the crowd because I am preparing for the boat pulling the next day. So I can see everything clearly, for fear of any mistakes. Every time, County Magistrate Chang does it himself and treats the people very well. It is also because of the officials' dedication that our lantern festival can get better and better."

Deng Yang said with confusion and unwillingness to believe, "But... there is nothing wrong with this. Many people went on board to decorate the boat that night, and we checked carefully before the boat was launched. There was nothing unusual on board."

"Have you really checked everywhere?"

Lin Lezhi suddenly asked this question, and Deng Yang seemed a little unconfident. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his eyes and his voice became weaker: "Not all places have been checked. The bottom cabin has not been checked. Those places are checked by the government..."

Lin Lezhi looked at everyone again and said, "The boats used for lantern festivals must be inspected by the government every time, and the person who ordered the island closure was Chang Feizhang. It is impossible to avoid the eyes and ears of the public and replace the boat with a new one at a very fast speed while keeping the lanterns intact or replacing the boat with a new one."

"Because although the fishing boats are similar, many of the lanterns on the boats are made by the people themselves, and they are not exactly the same. Some of them even have prayer notes hanging on them. Even if the lanterns can be replaced, the handwriting cannot be imitated in a short time, and it is also extremely time-consuming. Two lantern boats will also be extremely eye-catching."

"If we hide Wu Sanshan somewhere on the lake island, there is a risk that Wu Sanshan will wake up and run away, or be discovered by people who come to the island to search. Therefore, only by keeping people within the range of our control can we ensure that our plan is foolproof."

"So, when the boat was still decorated as a lantern boat, the Soul Calling Bell and Wu Sanshan were already inside the boat. But a bell placed inside the boat would also be at risk of being discovered. However, the bustling crowd and the sound of gongs and drums that sounded when the lantern boat was sent out were just enough to drown out the tiny sound of the bell."

"Wu Sanshan is thin and not very tall. All he needs to do is make him unconscious and then put him upright in the bottom cabin to hide from others. After that, he will find an opportunity to land on the island when no one is paying attention, arrange everything on the boat, and push the lantern boat to the shore. He will wait for people to find the lantern boat, complete his bloody murder, and lead everyone to the island. The murderer will also be greedy again because he is worried that his deeds will be exposed, and because of the huge treasure in the coffin and the bottom of the boat, he will come to the island."