Ruins of the past

Chu Qiguang said in his mind to Qiao Zhi who was hiding aside: "Master Qiao, I remember you have a fox under your command, right?"

Qiao Zhi said: "Well, what's wrong?"

Chu Qiguang said: "I won't need your help here for the time being. Please go back to Wangjiazhuang and find a smarter fox under your command."

Qiao Zhi said warily: "Why are you here? You don't want to replace the fox demon, do you?"

Chu Qiguang said: "The body of the fox demon is in my hands. Why would I do something like that? I came here to catch this fox for this head catcher. You must choose a fox that has not fully awakened its intelligence. Not really a monster."

Qiao Zhi understood instantly: "Haha, you want to plot against the headman Gu! This guy dares to swallow our ten taels of silver and still not do anything, I support you to trick him!"

Chu Qiguang reminded again: "With your martial arts skills, Master Qiao, it shouldn't be difficult to bring a fox into the city. If you encounter any trouble, you can ask the gang of dog monsters for help. Also, the fox monster blood we collected will not be difficult." Forgot to bring it.”

Qiao Zhi swung his tail and said: "Hey, don't worry, the fox demon's blood is well collected. I guarantee that they will find a fox demon when they do the blood test."

…

Chu Qiguang thought to himself: ‘We still need to find a witness. ’

Next, Chu Qiguang chatted with Taoist Fayuan for a while. He asked for advice and flattered him. With the knowledge of various monsters taught by Qiao Zhi, he and Taoist Fayuan had a lot of topics to talk about. His skillful flattery skills also made Fayuan The Taoist felt very comfortable.

Taoist priest Fayuan looked at Chu Qiguang with some admiration: "Young man, there are not many people as knowledgeable as you."

Chu Qiguang asked tentatively: "Captain Gu said he was going to gather people, why haven't you come back for so long?"

Taoist Fayuan and Chu Qiguang had a good chat. After hearing this, he hesitated and said directly: "In my opinion, he hasn't come for so long. Now he has probably led his team to capture the fox demon. I'm afraid he won't be there in the end." I plan to give you 100 taels of silver."

Chu Qiguang pretended to be surprised and said, "How could this happen?"

Looking at Chu Qiguang's childish appearance, Taoist priest Fayuan shook his head.

Anyway, no matter how the fox demon is captured, the amount of money given to the Taoist temple will not be less. Seeing that Chu Qiguang is quite pleasing to his eye, he pointed out: "You just told me that you are just an ordinary farmer in Wangjiazhuang, right? And this This time you just provided a guess about a fox demon.

With no power or background, if they can steal your money, of course they will. "

Taoist priest Fayuan advised: "That's how it is in officialdom. If you can swallow ten taels, you can never swallow only nine and a half. Don't even think about talking to the county magistrate. After all, you are just a commoner, and you are a born inferior in this officialdom. One end, let others slaughter you. Gu Baotou is from the Yamen, and the county magistrate cannot help you deal with his own people."

Fayuan Taoist priest looked at Chu Qiguang's unconvinced eyes, shook his head and sighed: "You are still young. If you can pass the martial arts examination in the future, you will have many opportunities to make money, so you can tolerate your tone today."

Chu Qiguang said: "I also ask Taoist Master Fayuan to accompany me on a personal trip. I have some guesses in my mind that I want to confirm about the location of the fox demon."

Fayuan smiled and shook his head: "Do you want to find the fox demon by yourself? Fox demons are alert and cunning by nature, so it is not easy to find them. If someone finds out... it will make Gu Captor angry with you, and I'm afraid you will be angry afterwards. Wanting to cause trouble for you."

Chu Qiguang said sincerely: "Please help me, Taoist Master." He held ten taels of silver in his hand, thinking that if it didn't work, he would have to stuff more silver.

Fayuan looked at Chu Qiguang's young, immature and unwilling appearance, but he thought of himself when he was young, shook his head and said: "You really don't look back until you hit the wall, then I will accompany you this time. .”

Chu Qiguang breathed a sigh of relief and stuffed the ten taels of silver back into his purse.

So Chu Qiguang took Fa Yuan and his servant Chen Gang to go to the crime scene.

When they walked out of the Yamen, He Xian, the son of the county magistrate, chased them.

"Brother Chu, where are you going?"

He Xian, the son of the county magistrate, seemed to be very concerned about their subsequent investigation work. Hearing that they wanted to go to the crime scene again, he wanted to go with them.

Chu Qiguang originally wanted to get a personal certificate when he found the fox demon, so it would be great if the county magistrate was willing to go.

So the three of them left the county office together, followed by He Xian's servant and Chen Gang.

Arriving at the scene of the crime, Chu Qiguang pointed to the blood on the ground and said, "The demon fox was bleeding and left from the gate in the end."

The three of them stood at the gate. Chu Qiguang looked at Zaoyuan Street and analyzed: "The whole street runs from east to west, but the east side is where the night shift is scheduled, so the fox demon most likely walks from the west."

Chu Qiguang led people to the west corner of the street, touched the cinders on the ground, and then asked the shop assistants nearby.

Finally, he said: "Coal must be transported on this road every day, and some cinders are always missing on the ground. The street sweepers only go to work at 10:00 a.m. every day (3 to 5 a.m.). If this fox demon passes by here, it is likely that there will be some cinders on his feet. Cinder stained.”

He Xian and Taoist priest Fayuan nodded repeatedly and looked at Chu Qiguang with eyes full of surprise and admiration.

Seeing Chu Qiguang climb up the wall on the street, He Xian asked, "Brother Chu, what are you looking for?"

"Fox's footprints." Chu Qiguang said: "After I looked at this street intersection, there was no blood or cinder footprints. I'm afraid the fox left somewhere else. "

As he spoke, he came to a dog hole, pinched a few cinders with his fingers and said, "It looks like he got in through this dog hole."

He Xian called the servant to come forward, and a crowd of people rushed into the door, scaring the landlord so much that he trembled.

Chu Qiguang walked around the room and finally came to the window. He pointed at the blood stains at the base of the outer wall and said, "He left through the window. Looking at this direction, he should have given up on the street and wanted to go all the way from the private house." Sneak away.”

Chu Qiguang came to the second house and led the two of them along the way according to various details. He Xian and Fa Yuan were secretly amazed by the insights he showed along the way.

He Xianchao said in a low voice to Taoist Master Fayuan on the side: "Brother Chu is really astute and careful as hair. This method of tracking monsters is really amazing."

Taoist Master Fayuan nodded in agreement: "Even the Demon Suppression Department, which specializes in hunting down demons, not everyone has such skills."

Chen Gang followed behind and smiled to himself: "Brother Dog set it all with his own hands. How can he not be extremely alert and as careful as hair?" ’

Everyone followed the fox demon's 'trace' all the way to an abandoned culvert.

This culvert was originally part of the drainage system of Qingyang County, but due to disrepair and successive years of drought, it has long been abandoned.

Chu Qiguang said: "This fox demon seems to want to climb out through the drainage ditch of the culvert. Mr. He, let's send people down next to see where the culvert leads."