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

Lin Lezhi's words stunned everyone, and their eyes were once again focused on the severed hand in Lin Lezhi's hand.

There were no wounds on the back of the severed hand. The injuries were concentrated on the palm. Thick calluses could still be seen on the palm and fingers, which were the marks left by years of rowing the boat.

Above the thick calluses, there were obvious and numerous blisters and abrasions all over the palms.

These were the only clues that could be obtained from the severed hand. Apart from the visible wounds on the hand, it was difficult for everyone to figure out the connection between them.

Facing the puzzled looks of the crowd, Lin Lezhi remained calm. He then took something out of his arms with his free hand, looked at the soldiers standing beside him, and asked calmly:

"Excuse me, officers and men, when you were salvaging the things on the ship after the fire was put out, did you find anything like this?"

Hearing the sound, everyone looked towards Lin Lezhi's hand.

It's a fire stick.

After watching it, the soldiers shook their heads.

Meng Dafeng said, "I have never seen it."

When Lin Lezhi got the response, a sharp look flashed across his eyes, and he continued, "When people travel, they usually carry a fire starter with them for easy access. On the night of the Lantern Festival, Captain Hong saw with his own eyes that most of the lanterns on the boat were extinguished, but when the boat was pulled back to the other side, all the lanterns on the boat were lit."

Lin Lezhi narrowed his eyes slightly, and then asked: "So, what did Wu Sanshan use to relight the lantern?"

Hearing this, everyone's faces were shocked.

Before, I just thought it was a miracle or the work of the wronged souls who died in Huaifeng Village, and never thought about these things.

Liu Yunhe suddenly realized something and said, "Yes, the tinderbox is waterproof and is made of wood, filled with flammable materials such as paper, cotton, sawdust, and saltpeter. It took only half an incense stick of time for the ship to catch fire and put it out. If the tinderbox fell into the water, no matter whether it was burned by the fire or not, there must be something floating on the water. But there is no trace of the tinderbox near the wreckage."

"If Wu Sanshan had relit the lanterns on the boat and thrown the tinder into the lake before the fog came out, we would have had eleven boats abreast when we came here, so we should have discovered something."

As he spoke, Liu Yunhe frowned, his eyes became more serious, and he asked in confusion: "What did Wu Sanshan use to reignite the lanterns on the ship? The candle wick is placed in the center of the lantern. It is difficult to use a still burning lantern to light another lantern. If it is not done well, at best a few lanterns will be burned, and at worst the whole ship will be set on fire."

Although Liu Yunhe's analysis was not perfect, he hit the nail on the head. Lin Lezhi's eyes showed a lot of joy and relief.

“Very good analysis.”

After confirming Liu Yunhe's analysis, Lin Lezhi looked at everyone and added, "As Yunhe said, without a tinderbox, it is almost impossible to light the fire with the lanterns still burning on the boat. Just now, Brother Deng said that one end of the rope retrieved from the center of the lake was intact, and the other end had traces of being burned. This means that he must have a fire tool in his hand. What is that fire tool?"

"Yes, what did he use to reignite the lanterns and burn the ropes?"

Meng Dafeng asked the question, and then he looked thoughtful. After a moment's silence, he suddenly thought of something and said, "Could it be that he carried a flint with him, and the flint could sink into the lake after use?"

But before Lin Lezhi could respond, Meng Dafeng shook his head and denied it, "No, although flint can be used to make fire, it is also very troublesome and accompanied by noise. Especially since the wick is in the center of the lantern, and the lanterns on the boat are placed very densely, it is also very easy to have accidents. Doing this is also very risky."

Then he looked at Lin Lezhi, his eyes full of confusion and incomprehension, and asked: "What on earth is that?"

Lin Lezhi looked at Meng Dafeng with a look of affirmation in his eyes, then looked at everyone with a deep look in his eyes, and slowly said: "Wu Sanshan and Chang Feizhang designed this plan, from the lantern boat to changing the route on the island, it can be said to be very troublesome. They went to such great lengths to make everyone think that this case was committed by the wronged souls who died tragically in Huaifeng Village eleven years ago. Naturally, they would leave minimal human traces, but fire is indispensable to rekindle the lanterns on the boat."

"And the thing that Wu Sanshan used to light the lamp." Lin Lezhi paused, then turned to look at the location of the fire room, his eyes darkened as he continued, "It's far away in the sky, but it's right in front of us."

Then, everyone followed Lin Lezhi to the fire room.

Looking inside through the door of the fire room, the skull was still standing on the stove top, with its empty eyes staring straight out, which was chilling.

"Although they intentionally want to lead this case to the wronged ghost, as long as it is done by a human, it will leave traces."

As he spoke, Lin Lezhi put the tinder in his arms, stepped into the fire room, walked straight to the stove, squatted down, picked up a piece of broken wax from the ground, then stood up and held it in front of everyone and said, "This wax is the evidence."

"According to the village chief Wang of Haibei Village, when Wu Sanshan left the village more than two months ago, he only took a small bag with him. Based on the shape of the bag described by the village chief Wang, it can be inferred that when Wu Sanshan left, he took the skull in the coffin in the cabinet. The bag could only hold a few small items at most. Where did this giant candle placed in the stove come from?"

"If we bring it to the island early, there is a risk of it being discovered or damaged and unusable. Wu Sanshan did not hide on the island early, but came with the ship. He had the same worries and concerns. The two of them have been preparing for so long, and they will definitely not let their painstaking plan fail in any place where it could fail."

Lin Lezhi raised the wax in his hand, his eyes darkened as he said, "Since Wu Sanshan was brought to the island with the lantern ship, when was this candle prepared?"

"Could it be the lanterns by the lake?"

Guan Ziheng, who was standing at the door, said with disbelief in his eyes, but without any confidence.

Lin Lezhi nodded and said, "Yes, it's those lanterns."

Lin Lezhi took a deep breath and said slowly: "Their plan must eliminate all traces of human intervention and cannot allow any omissions. Naturally, every step must be completed in person at the moment to be the safest and most controllable."

"That night, Wu Sanshan came to the island with the ship. After Captain Hong and his men left, he came out from the bottom cabin, took the oil from the lantern, added cold water from the lake to shape it, and quickly made a giant candle. He only needed to prepare the wick in advance."

"The lanterns on the boat were placed by the people themselves. They were fixed in place and had to be carried back with the boat the next day, so they could not be moved. When Wu Sanshan was hiding in the bottom cabin waiting for Captain Hong to leave, many lanterns floating from the other side had gathered around the boat. The lamp oil was taken from those lanterns. This is why after the fire burned the boat, only the burnt remains of the lanterns were seen on the lake, but no oil was seen."

"Similarly, if you can pinch off a candle, you can pinch off a smaller one. In this way, you can use it up without leaving any evidence. Even if you can't use it up, you can put it in a lantern. Finally, the lantern boat is burned, and the oil in the lantern falls into the water, becoming one of the thousands of oil flowers on the lake."

Lin Lezhi held up Wu Sanshan's severed hand, showing the injured side to everyone, and then said:

"The temperature of the melted wax was extremely high, but time was running out, so Wu Sanshan didn't care. Therefore, the blisters on his palms were not caused by the fire on the ship, but by the high temperature wax."

After that, Lin Lezhi looked at Deng Yang and said, "Brother Deng discovered the abnormality of the rope, which is of great help in inferring the case, but one thing he said is not accurate."

"What's inaccurate?"

Lin Lezhi looked carefully and said, "The rope didn't break early on, and the boat drifted to the center of the lake by itself. It broke only when it reached the center of the lake."