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

The earthen temple was built among hidden mountains and forests, with its back against the mountain. The walls and the mountain are covered with winding vines. The mist lingers around the earthen temple, giving it a sense of mystery and danger.

Directly facing the gate of the courtyard is the fir tree where Chang Feizhang hanged himself.

The people walking in front did not stop in front of the tree, but walked into the earth temple in order. After a while, lights were lit in the earth temple, adding a bit of vitality to this desolate and deserted earth temple.

With the help of the faint light coming from the temple, he could see the environment around the temple more clearly. Lin Lezhi's eyes gently swept across the surrounding grass.

Qi Xi did not walk into the earthen temple. He stood stiffly in front of the fir tree and knelt down straight. He lowered his head and remained silent.

On the grass, you could still see blood dripping from Chang Feizhang's body. The blood had already solidified, dyeing the nearby grass a dark red.

Although obscured by the darkness of night, it was still extremely dazzling.

Lin Lezhi walked forward and looked at Qi Xi's slightly trembling shoulders. He was unable to say words of comfort to Qi Xi like "the dead cannot be resurrected" or something like that.

Looking at Qi Xi is like looking at myself curled up in the darkness back then.

He knew very well what kind of despair it was that felt like powerlessness and collapse brought about by guilt and self-blame.

He couldn't even comfort himself, so how could he comfort others?

Lin Lezhi took a deep breath, his eyes filled with complicated emotions. He squatted down and gently patted Qi Xi's slightly trembling shoulders.

"County Magistrate Chang is a good official. I feel really bad when I think about the fact that I had doubted him before." Zhu Yang, who was following behind the two men, couldn't help but sigh and blame himself.

A hint of determination rose in his eyes, and he said angrily: "Little Brother Qi, don't be too sad. Now that the truth is out, I believe that the world will give justice to all kind people!"

Hearing Zhu Yang's words, a gleam of light seeped into Qi Xi's desperate and empty eyes. After a while, he stood up, and a comfortable smile finally appeared on his pale and bitter face, as if he had made up his mind.

"Brother Zhu, Detective Jiang, thank you. I know what to do now."

"Why don't you come in? What are you doing outside?"

Seeing that Jiang Lian'an and others had not come in yet, Hong Mingxu, who had been waiting in the temple for a long time, stood at the gate and urged them.

Because the fir tree stood upright in front of the courtyard gate and its wide trunk blocked the view, the three men did not know that Hong Mingxu had walked out of the temple. When they suddenly heard Hong Mingxu's voice, they all looked a little panicked.

"Captain Hong, we are coming right now!"

Zhu Yang was afraid that Hong Mingxu would be angry, so he answered quickly and started walking towards the earth temple. Lin Lezhi also stood up immediately, but he was in a hurry and tripped over something in the grass. He suddenly lost his balance and fell backwards to the ground.

"Detective Jiang!"

See this.

Zhu Yang and Qi Xi, who had already walked a few steps out, shouted at the same time.

The shouting attracted Hong Mingxu's attention. He looked alert and walked around the tree trunk, looking at the three people squatting on the ground, with suspicion in his eyes.

"Jiang Guitan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just accidentally stepped on a stone in the grass and lost my balance."

"It's okay."

Zhu Yang glanced at Lin Lezhi's left shoulder, then retracted his left hand that was about to be stretched out, and used his right hand to pull Lin Lezhi. When he pulled him up, Zhu Yang's expression instantly became a little ugly, his face turned pale, and a little sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Brother Zhu..."

Noticing Lin Lezhi's worried look, Zhu Yang immediately smiled and said, "It's okay. I've been in battle and I always have some old ailments. It's okay. Let's go in."

Even though Zhu Yang said this, Lin Lezhi's gaze did not relax because of Zhu Yang's explanation. Instead, his pupils tightened slightly, and his eye color darkened slightly.

Seeing the three people finally set out and walk into the earth temple, although Hong Mingxu still had doubts in his eyes, he didn't say anything and entered the courtyard with them.

As I entered the courtyard, the stench of rotting corpses hit me in the face.

The forest was damp, and even though it was late autumn, it could not stop the corpses from rotting. The corpses parked in the courtyard emitted a foul odor.

Qi Xi seemed not to notice the stench, and his eyes fell directly on the place where the bodies of Wu Sanshan and Chang Feizhang were placed.

Before entering the earthen temple, Meng Dafeng, He Yu and several soldiers came out of the temple.

Meng Dafeng, He Yu and several other soldiers were removing the armor from the dead soldiers.

"Captain Hong, the general asked us to come out and take off the armor of our dead brothers and tidy up so that we can take them away tomorrow morning." Meng Dafeng looked at the corpses displayed, his eyes filled with sorrow and he said, "The general said that even without the armor, they are still brave soldiers of Northern Qi."

"Well, let's go."

Just as he was about to step into the temple, Qi Xi said, "Let me stay and help." Qi Xi tightened the lantern in his hand, "I want to put the lantern next to Grandpa and County Magistrate Chang, and spend more time with them."

Hong Mingxu glanced at Qi Xi. Although he looked unhappy, he didn't say anything. He strode towards the earth temple. Zhu Yang also stayed to help.

Lin Lezhi's eyes followed Qi Xi's back, watching him squatting in front of Chang Feizhang and Wu Sanshan and placing the lantern next to them, his expression inevitably somewhat sad.

Then, his gaze followed the figures of Meng Dafeng and others and fell on the many soldiers standing in neat rows.

Without exception, all the dead soldiers died in Shekou.

In the firelight, Meng Dafeng took off his armor and tried to wipe the blood from the soldier's neck with his rough hands trembling.

Unfortunately.

The bloodstains have solidified and are difficult to wipe off without water.

Looking at the bruises and two small red spots on his neck, Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened.

This soldier, together with another soldier, died in the courtyard where coffins were placed. Both were bitten by snakes in the neck artery. They were not far from the coffins and had painful expressions on their faces. One can imagine how painful it was for them to be attacked by the poison. They died before they could run away.

The four soldiers next to them died in the woods. After Qingchuan looked at them, he found that the four had multiple snake bite marks on their bodies.

Noticing that Lin Lezhi hadn't caught up, Hong Mingxu paused, turned around and looked at Lin Lezhi with a scrutinizing look, raised his eyebrows and asked in a deep voice: "Why, do you want to stay and help too?"

Lin Lezhi quickly said, "No, I wanted to tell Brother Meng and the others that there is well water outside the earth temple, which can be used to wipe the blood stains and tidy up the remains of the dead soldiers."

Hong Mingxu snorted coldly and strode into the earth temple.

The fire in the earthen temple was burning brightly, the firewood crackled, and wisps of white smoke rose up. The firelight shone on Cheng Su's face, which was bright but also very solemn.

Most of the people were outside helping, so there were only eight people left in the room, including Cheng Su, Hong Mingxu, and Lin Lezhi.

When they were by the lake, everyone heard what Lin Lezhi said about the treasure.

"I have come to the Earth Temple as you asked. Tell me, where is the treasure?"

Hong Mingxu was obviously running out of patience and urged.

Lin Lezhi said respectfully, "Captain Hong, could you please let me take a closer look at the sheepskin map? I read it too quickly before and I'm afraid there might be mistakes or omissions."

"you……"

Hong Mingxu looked at Cheng Su, and after getting Cheng Su's approval, even though he felt that Lin Lezhi was deceiving them, he still gave the map in his arms to Lin Lezhi.

"You saw it so quickly by the lake, I thought you were well prepared and had a photographic memory." Hong Mingxu clenched the sword at his waist and said in a cold tone: "I warn you, don't play tricks in front of the general, otherwise I will make you pay."

Lin Lezhi laughed and said, "At that time, I was mainly worried that the fog would get thicker and it would be difficult for the general to lead his troops back."

"It better be this way."

Lin Lezhi nodded slightly to Cheng Su and Hong Mingxu, then took the map to the fire and looked at it carefully.

He looked very seriously, sometimes frowning, sometimes relaxing, and sometimes slightly pursing his lips, as if he was thinking about something important.

After Lin Lezhi reminded them, Meng Dafeng and He Yu went out to the well to fetch water.

Meng Dafeng and He Yu came to the well and looked at the foggy forest. They couldn't help feeling a chill in their hearts, as if something unclean would come out of the fog in the next second.

After fighting back and forth for several times, Meng Dafeng found that He Yu's movements were becoming slower and slower, and his eyes were always looking towards a certain place in the forest.

"Xiao Yuzi, what are you looking at?"

Meng Dafeng's sudden question startled He Yu. When He Yu was startled, Meng Dafeng was also frightened by the look of fear on He Yu's face.

He Yu signaled Meng Dafeng to lower his voice and asked him to follow his gaze.

He lowered his voice and said, "Brother Meng, look over there, does it look like there is someone there?"

He was already upset by the things happening on the island, and couldn't help being frightened by what He Yu said. He looked in the direction He Yu was looking, and the dark shadows in the mist did look like someone, but after looking at it for a moment longer, he felt that it looked more like a shadow between the trees.

"Okay, if it was a human, he would have moved long ago after being watched for so long. Moreover, we have been back and forth several times, so there is no way he would hide and be seen by us. Most likely, it is the shadows formed by the overlapping trees. We also had this situation when we were fighting at the border. We thought there were enemy troops, but when we looked over, it was actually an illusion formed by the overlapping trees, not a human at all."

Meng Dafeng picked up the bucket, patted He Yu on the shoulder and said, "Don't think too much, there are still several buckets to be filled. Go back first, business is more important."

After hearing what Meng Dafeng said, He Yu felt that he was overthinking when he looked at the shadow again. He shook his head and focused on the task at hand.

He Yu pulled the water up and did not let Meng Dafeng take over the whole process. He took on the job of fetching water alone.

When he returned to the yard, He Yu was halfway there, but he still felt something was wrong.

"No, Brother Meng, I think we should go back and take a look. What if there really is someone hiding there?"

"How about... go back and tell the general first?"

He Yu thought about it and felt that it was inappropriate, so he said, "No, if it is really a branch, it will disturb the general."

Seeing He Yu's persistence, Meng Dafeng breathed a sigh of relief, and with a sense of sacrificing his life for a gentleman, he compromised and said, "Okay, I'll go with you to take a look."

The two men put down the buckets for the time being and walked carefully into the woods with long knives in hand, but when they arrived at the previous position, they did not find anyone.

It is the overlapping and intertwined branches.

Seeing that there was no one around, Meng Dafeng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I feel relieved now."

Meng Dafeng said this not only to He Yu, but also to himself. He was also afraid that someone might be hiding in the woods and trying to harm them.

After seeing it, I felt relieved.

"You keep having random thoughts all day long. Read less of those weird books."

Although Meng Dafeng sounded disdainful in his words, He Yu knew that this was not what Meng Dafeng really meant. He just wanted He Yu to stop being so nervous and relax a little.

He Yu chuckled a few times, smiling shyly and with gratitude on his face, "No, that won't work. I have to read it before I can tell my brothers about it when I go back. Otherwise, it will be so boring in the barracks."

"Only a stinky boy like you can be so clever all day long."

Not long after the two returned to the yard, they heard a rustling sound in the weeds behind a tree trunk not far from the shadow, without any wind.