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

Seeing Xiao Yihuo saying such things without caring about the occasion, Lin Lezhi was shocked, but then he heard the snoring all around him and finally understood why Qingchuan asked him to drink the medicine soup. There must be an antidote in his bowl of medicine.

It turns out that Xiao Yihuo thought he was looking for death.

It seems that Nan Rongyi's death must have been a huge blow to him, otherwise he wouldn't react so strongly every time, not caring about the safety of others or even himself.

Lin Lezhi admitted that when he first came to this world, he did have the idea of ​​returning to the modern era to save himself, but now when he went back, it was summer and his body had rotted into nothingness.

Regardless of whether it was a supernatural event or he really traveled through a book like in those novels, this was most likely the last world where he could survive.

Lin Lezhi tried hard to calm himself down, admitting that he was indeed anxious for a moment. After a long sigh of relief, Lin Lezhi looked at Xiao Yihuo who was deliberately making fun of him, and said nonchalantly: "I have never thought about seeking death, and I will not leave. If I leave, the two bosses will definitely vent their anger on you."

"At this moment, why are you still trying to be a hero?"

"Hey..." Lin Lezhi quickly stopped them, "Please don't put such a hat on me. I never want to be a hero. I said you two just don't believe me. How do you know I have no solution?"

A hint of surprise flashed across Qingchuan's eyes, "Do you know who the murderer is?"

"It doesn't matter who the murderer is right now. I want to go to another place. I wonder if you two brothers can go with me."

Qingchuan glanced at the locked cell door and asked in confusion: "How are you going to get out?"

"Of course I have my own way. Let's give the clothes back to those big brothers. We don't need them." Lin Lezhi's eyes were filled with pride and he looked confident.

The three men helped Ren Yazi put his clothes back on.

After putting on their clothes, Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan walked towards the dungeon gate. As soon as they took a step, they were grabbed by Lin Lezhi's shoulders. Lin Lezhi said with a tone of disdain: "That's the other way around. Go this way."

Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan looked at each other, and followed Lin Lezhi towards the depths of the dungeon in confusion.

The lights in the dungeon were dim. The cells where the common people lived were at the front. The cells at the back were empty, so naturally there was no light on and no need to lock the doors.

Xiao Yihuo took out the fire starter from his arms and used it for lighting.

The dungeon did not maintain a straight line, but after walking a certain distance, a corner appeared, as if it was built around the periphery of the entire upper-level building.

It was like they went around the entire dungeon and returned to the starting point.

But this location was separated from the dungeon entrance by a wall, and Lin Lezhi's hand was groping on the wall.

Xiao Yihuo looked at the wall in front of him, his eyes full of doubt, and lowered his voice and asked: "Are you sure you can get out from here?"

Lin Lezhi smiled and said, "Don't keep staring at the wall. Why don't you look at the ground?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yihuo took the fire starter and looked at the ground with Qingchuan. Some traces of moss could still be vaguely seen on the ground. The footprints on the ground extended forward, which was the same direction they came from.

The footprints led in the opposite direction to a cell near the wall.

The three men followed the footprints on the ground and walked in, lifted the hay and found a wooden board. Xiao Yihuo handed the tinder to Qingchuan and then moved the board away.

Lin Lezhi looked at Xiao Yihuo with great interest. Seeing that Xiao Yihuo was not shy in front of Qingchuan, he knew that they must be very close friends.

The space under the wooden board was very narrow, and the opening looked only big enough for one person to pass through. There were also footprints covered with moss inside the opening.

Judging from the compactness of the soil, it must be quite old.

Qingchuan stretched the fire starter in his hand towards the depths of the cave, and the faint light of the fire starter flickered at the entrance of the cave.

Qingchuan couldn't hide his surprise and said, "I didn't expect that there would be air circulation underground."

"Have you known that there is something else going on here?" Xiao Yihuo looked at Lin Lezhi and asked.

"It wasn't that early. It was only when I saw the moss and remembered the owner who suddenly disappeared from the house that I thought there might be some secrets hidden underground."

Qingchuan looked at the traces of moss on the ground, then looked at Lin Lezhi and asked, "There are traces of moss on the hands of the second in command, and these footprints lead to the direction of the cell. Could the murderer be among us?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the murderer should have sneaked in among us when we were out of the house, taking advantage of the chaos among the crowds."

Hearing this, Qingchuan took the tinder and looked behind him vigilantly.

The range that the fire starter could see was limited, and the dungeon was pitch black. Qingchuan's eyes were fixed on the darkness, and he always felt that someone was watching them in the dark.

Lin Lezhi patted Qingchuan on the shoulder and said, "The murderer must have fallen asleep after drinking your medicine. Don't think too much. Let's go down and take a look."

After saying that, Lin Lezhi was the first to go down into the cave, followed closely by Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan.

Fortunately, the depth of the cave entrance was not deep, and they soon reached the ground. As soon as they touched the ground, they felt slippery. Lin Lezhi supported Xiao Yihuo who was about to come down from the top, and reminded them: "Be careful when you come down, the ground is slippery."

Even though Lin Lezhi kindly reminded them, the two of them still underestimated how slippery the ground was when they came down. They slipped several times before they could steady themselves.

The space below wasn't that big, and with three people's height, they could only bend down to stay standing.

Looking at the two of them dancing and gesticulating in this narrow space, Lin Lezhi couldn't help laughing out loud, and the laughter was unusually clear in the closed space.

Then he quickly received the gazes from two people.

Lin Lezhi quickly stopped laughing, but still couldn't hide the smile on his face, and said, "I wasn't laughing, you two heard it wrong."

Lin Lezhi reached out and took the fire starter from Qingchuan's hand, then walked forward carefully while holding onto the wall.

Not far away, there was a fork in the road, one going left and one going right.

Lin Lezhi took the tinder and looked in the direction of the two forks in the road.

The right side was still pitch black, but the left side was faintly lit.

According to the direction they came down and the layout of the entire manor, Lin Lezhi knew clearly that they should go right at this moment, but curiosity drove him to look to the left first.

It won’t take long anyway.

Lin Lezhi did what he said. He led the way slowly towards the left side of the tunnel. The further they went, the more moonlight shone in and the wider the view became.

Before even exiting the cave, Lin Lezhi was stunned by the scenery before him.

"Why did you suddenly stop leaving?" Xiao Yihuo asked in confusion, but the next second he didn't need to ask anymore.

In front of me is a banyan tree. Although it has not grown to the height of a towering tree, it has lush branches and leaves, and the branches are intertwined. It looks like several trees hugging each other. The branches hang down like long dragons, winding on the ground and stretching in all directions.

This banyan tree looks to be about three meters tall. Banyan trees grow very slowly, and it has taken at least 20 to 30 years to grow to its current height.

The hanging branches are tied with red strips and surrounded by colorful datura flowers.

But the most shocking thing is not the natural scenery, but the countless dead bones under the banyan tree.

The dead bones overlapped like the branches of a banyan tree. Mandragora flowers grew out of the gaps between their bones, and under the moonlight, there was an eerie beauty.

Looking at this scene, Xiao Yihuo couldn't help but frowned slightly.

However, Qingchuan, who was blocked at the back, could not be seen, and the tunnel was narrow, making it impossible to see the scenery outside through two people.

"I'm asking you two whether you two are going to leave or not." Qingchuan pushed from behind and finally created a gap large enough for himself to see outside.

I wanted to complain a little more, but after seeing the scenery in front of me, I couldn't say a word.

"This...how could it be like this in here?" Qingchuan was so surprised that his mouth opened wide.

Lin Lezhi walked forward a few steps to allow Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan to come out of the narrow cave, and the three of them stood side by side in front of the banyan tree.

"When I first entered the Yaren Village, I felt that this building was very strange. From the outside, it looked like it covered a large area and was taller than the houses next to it. But after entering the dungeon, not only was the space small, but the roads were also blocked, and there was only one road leading downwards."

Qingchuan couldn't help feeling a lingering fear when he saw the corpses scattered all over the ground.

Their corpses seemed to grow together with the datura flowers, providing nutrients for the growth of the plants.

"So Brother Lezhi, what you mean is that they built houses like this to cover up these things."

"Yes, I heard from the big brother of the human traffickers in the dungeon that this place was renovated more than ten years ago. I think this should be the reason why they renovated it."

"But why are there so many corpses when renovating this place? Could it be the pile-killing rumor among the people?"

Lin Lezhi thought about it, then shook his head and said, "I don't think it's a living pile. A living pile should be buried underground to protect the smooth progress of the entire construction, but these corpses are thrown here at random, and there is a folk rumor that if an adult is used as a pile, it will attract great resentment, so children or babies are usually chosen."

Lin Lezhi looked at Qingchuan and continued, "The more crucial point is that although we came out from underground, the actual location we are in now is the original ground."

"What do you mean?" Xiao Yihuo asked.

Lin Lezhi looked at Xiao Yihuo and said, "Do you remember during the day, you asked me if it was fun to walk back and forth inside and outside the door?"

"remember."

Lin Lezhi squatted down, picked up a broken branch, and explained to the two while drawing on the ground.

"Generally, when building a house, in order to have a stable structure, the ground must be solid. However, the texture of the house here is different from the steps outside. It feels like walking from solid ground to empty ground. There must be a certain amount of space under the floor."

Lin Lezhi drew a stick figure in the space below, and then drew a circle around the stick figure.

"I think this is why the murderer disappeared in the house, but this is just my speculation. I will have to wait until I go there to find out whether it is true or not."

Lin Lezhi stood up and moved closer to the skeletons. Because they were dumped there at random, each person fell to the ground in a different way. Some were lying on their side, some were with their backs, and they were stacked together in no order.

Lin Lezhi moved closer, wanting to see why they died.

"Brother Lezhi, this man seems to have had an injury on his shoulder, like..." Qingchuan thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Lezhi and said, "Just like the scratch on Yan Jingyi's forehead."

Hearing this, Lin Lezhi paused slightly, and holding the fire starter, he moved closer to the skeleton that Qingchuan mentioned. His pupils narrowed slightly, and then he looked at Xiao Yihuo who was standing next to him.

This trace...

Although there are slight differences in the marks, both in size and shape, they are very similar to the mark on Li Weisheng's shoulder blade.

Moreover, these bones were not burned by fire, so the traces were particularly obvious.

"Hurry up and check if there are any other corpses here with similar marks." Lin Lezhi said anxiously.

Qingchuan and Xiao Yihuo understood and helped Lin Lezhi to check the piled corpses. The lush branches and leaves of the banyan tree blocked most of the moonlight, and there was only one tinderbox. In addition, the corpses were piled together in a mess, and some of the corpses had even merged with the banyan tree, so it was very difficult to find them.

The three people spent a long time and only found five corpses. They moved the five corpses to places with better lighting.

After a simple cleaning, the scars on the body were clearly visible.

Lin Lezhi's eyes flashed with disbelief, and he stared at the corpses on the ground without blinking. Qingchuan caught Lin Lezhi's expression, "What happened to these corpses?"

The most serious scar was on the neck. Other knife marks could be seen on various parts of the body, and there was a cut on the shoulder blade that was the same as Li Weisheng's.

"These corpses were just like the robbers who died in the abandoned house twelve years ago. They were all hacked to death. And that young man died thirteen years ago. If these corpses also died thirteen years ago..."

Lin Lezhi suddenly frowned, feeling that he had overlooked something or made a wrong judgment.

"Help me turn it over."

The three men turned the five corpses over to their backs.

Based on the marks on Li Weisheng's back and the marks on the five corpses, Lin Lezhi finally restored the complete marks.

'v'

'丨'

'∧'

A complete notch is the vertical line that runs through the perpendicular greater than sign and less than sign.

Qingchuan looked at the scratches on the ground, then at the banyan tree in front of him, and said in an uncertain tone: "Brother Lezhi, do you think this shape is very similar to the trunk of this banyan tree, with intertwined sections?"