The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

Tang Ci placed the drone on the tallest tree, adjusted the angle of the camera downwards, just enough to capture the panorama of Zhao's courtyard.He holds the other end of the drone in his hand, and can monitor Zhao's situation at any time through the card.

However, after Qin Feng and Xiao Ming left, no one entered Zhao's house again.The footage captured by the drone is always an empty courtyard, and no one can be seen.

Lu Jiuchuan frowned: "Who will arrange the Zhao family's mourning hall?"

Tang Ci said: "At present, the whereabouts of the Zhao family members are unknown. Even if relatives arrange mourning halls, they will not arrange them on the first day of their disappearance. At least they must confirm that they are dead before setting up their spiritual seats. I It is estimated that it will take at least three days?"

"That is to say, we have to monitor the Zhao family all the time in order to find the person who arranged the mourning hall?" Lu Jiuchuan paused, and then said, "If he only goes to the Zhao family at night every time Xiang, Xiao Lou and the others will be teleported to the ghost city at night, and they will definitely not meet each other. Therefore, who this person is can only be investigated by us three years ago."

"That's right." Tang Ci said calmly, "We came three years ago, and we can find some clues that Professor Xiao and the others couldn't investigate. In addition to the people who arranged the mourning hall for the Zhao family, there are also 'Li Gui'." Don't you think there is a problem with the origin of the legend of "Death"?"

"Many people said that they saw a ghost last night." Chu Huaying's voice came through the earphones, and she said, "But the first person who said that he saw a ghost last night was old man Liu who lived near Dongshi. This The old man is the oldest in the town, he is over 80 years old, and his eyesight is dim, so when he first said he saw a ghost, many people didn’t believe it.”

"But later, a few young people and children also said that they saw the ghost, and the rumors about the ghost's death became more and more bizarre." Gui Yuanzhang added.

"Who specifically said they saw the female ghost in white, when and where did they see it, have you investigated it carefully?" Tang Ci asked.

"Of course. When I visited the town just now, I wrote down the names of all the people who said 'I saw a ghost last night'." Chu Huaying didn't need to use pen and paper, she wrote things down in her head , all the qualities of the body have been strengthened, and her memory is several times better than that of ordinary people.

Chu Huaying closed her eyes, carefully sorted out the information in her mind, and said: "In addition to the first one who mentioned the ghost, Mr. Liu who lives in Dongshi, others also include Zhang Chengyu, a hunter who lives in the west of the city; Qin Ruolan, the proprietress of a clothing store in the center; Lin Yueran, a butcher in the north of the city, and his 7-year-old child Lin Doudou; and Xue Ersao, a widow who sells tofu near the south of the city.”

Hearing this, Tang Ci couldn't help wondering: "Whether there are people in the east, west, north, south, and north, have they witnessed the female ghost in white?"

Chu Huaying nodded, and said: "It should be that the murderer walked around the whole town on purpose, so that people from all directions could see the ghost, so that it would be convenient for him to create public opinion that 'the ghost is killing his life'."

Tang Ci asked, "When did these people see the ghost?"

Chu Hua said with regret in English: "I saw the ghost in the middle of the night, and I was scared to death. No one can tell the exact time, but everyone saw it after the rain stopped. The rain should stop after Yinshi."

Lu Jiuchuan said: "In other words, the second daughter of the Zhao family, Zhao Ze'an, got married at Yinshi on July [-], and Chen Yu's wife gave birth to a child at the same time. Chen Yu and Zhao Zesui walked out of the town one after the other, and Chen Yu went After burning the paper, Zhao Zesui went on a date with a mysterious man, and at the same time, a white-clothed female ghost with disheveled hair appeared in the town, and after that, members of the Zhao family and the Chen family disappeared collectively."

Tang Ci said: "In this way, the suspicion of the masked man who had a private meeting with Zhao Zesui is greatly reduced. It is impossible for him to go on a date with Zhao Zesui and at the same time pretend to be a ghost and wander around the town for a whole circle to let different people find out. Unless he has help"

Lu Jiuchuan said: "Xiao Ming's suspicion has also been lowered. Last night was his wedding day. According to his description, he waited for the wedding team in Yuezhou until the auspicious time had passed and the bride was still gone. So, He rushed to Qingfeng Town early in the morning and asked the Zhao family, only to find out that the Zhao family had disappeared collectively."

Tang Ci agreed: "I also think that the possibility of Xiao Ming committing the crime is very low. As the groom's official, once he disappears, he will be easily discovered. Moreover, if he comes to Qingfeng Town halfway to pretend to be a ghost and kill someone, he will return to Yuezhou to prepare for the church. When I found out that the bride hadn't arrived, I went back to Qingfeng Town to find someone after acting, and there was no time at all."

It wasn't Xiao Ming, the bridegroom officer, or the mysterious masked man who had a private meeting with Ms. Zhao. Who was it that pretended to be a ghost and killed people last night?All four were lost in thought.

After a while, Lu Jiuchuan asked, "Where's the mayor, Qin Feng?"

"It doesn't look like it on the surface, but we don't have any definite evidence." Tang Ci paused, and suggested, "How about this, he happens to be investigating the missing residents in the town, and the residence in Xiushui Lane must be empty. Let's go again and check his secret room carefully?"

Lu Jiuchuan simply nodded: "Let's go, hurry up."

According to the path in memory, the two quickly came to Xiushui Lane and sneaked into Qin Feng's residence.

Qin Feng went out to investigate the case, but there was no one in the house.

After arriving in the study, Tang Ci walked quickly to the bookcase - he remembered that there was a thick "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the middle of the bookcase, as long as the book was pulled out, the bookshelf would open to both sides, revealing a secret room.

Tang Ci gently pulled out the book, but to his surprise, the bookshelf in front of him remained motionless.

Lu Jiuchuan was stunned: "Where is the secret room? Isn't this book the mechanism three years ago?"

Tang Ci frowned and looked around, trying to pull out other books, but there was still no response from the bookshelf.He stretched out his hand and knocked carefully on the surrounding walls, but didn't hear any echo.

No secret room?

Tang Ci checked again, and then confirmed: "Three years ago, there was no secret room in this study, that is to say, when the serial murders happened, Qin Feng did not use the secret room to hide a whole room of rattles."

Lu Jiuchuan's face changed: "Go to his bedroom and see if the roster is there."

The two walked quickly into the next bedroom—the wooden cabinet next to the bed was still there, but it was not locked.Lu Jiuchuan opened the cabinet and took out a stack of registers, which indeed recorded the information of all the residents in the town.

Tang Ci and Lu Jiuchuan each took half of the roster and flipped through it quickly, but they couldn't find the one with red crosses.

All rosters look normal.

The two looked at each other.

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and it sounded like two people walked into the yard side by side.

Lu Jiuchuan immediately took Tang Ci, flew to the roof, uncovered a tile, and listened to the movement in the house with his ears up.

I only heard Qin Feng say: "Young Master Xiao, do you know any relatives and friends of the Zhao family who are in other places?"

Xiao Ming said: "I really don't know. Miss Zhao and I have met no more than three times. We are married by fingertips...By the way, I just heard many people say that there were ghosts in the town last night. The fifteenth day is Ghost Festival, so it must be true that the Zhao family did something utterly unconscionable and was killed by a ghost, right?"

Qin Feng said with a smile: "You can't believe everything about ghosts and gods. In this way, Mr. Xiao, you should go back to the inn to rest. If there is any news, I will send someone to inform you as soon as possible."

Xiao Ming nodded, turned and left with a solemn expression.

Qin Feng paced back and forth in the study room alone, his brows were furrowed, as if he was lost in thought.After a while, he took out an empty blue book, sat in front of the desk, picked up the pen, stroke by stroke, and carefully wrote on it.

Lu Jiuchuan hid on the roof, and he could see through the cracks in the tiles that he wrote down the names of the people who disappeared last night.

There are ten members of Chen Yu's family.

There are fourteen members of Zhao Ze'an's family.

Everyone's name was neatly recorded in his notebook.

Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci glanced at each other—this was exactly the roster they found in their investigation three years later, but at that time, the names on the roster had already been marked with red crosses.But now, the red cross has not been marked, it is just a name written in simple calligraphy.

After returning to the inn, Tang Ci whispered, "Qin Feng is not the murderer, but has been investigating the murderer."

Lu Jiuchuan stroked his chin thoughtfully, and said after a while: "It seems that Qin Feng's roster records all the innocent dead. He hasn't put a red cross on the roster just now, maybe he's not sure yet. Whether these people are dead or not, they are only recorded as missing persons."

Tang Ci suddenly thought of a key point: "However, in the roster we found, many people are not dead or missing, and they are still alive. Why did Qin Feng write the names of those people?"

Lu Jiuchuan said helplessly: "This will have to wait for Xiao Lou and the others to investigate. We will never find out what happened three years later."

Tang Ci said: "How should we leave clues for Xiao Lou?"

Lu Jiuchuan was also lost in thought.

How should people from three years ago leave clues to their teammates three years from now?

Not in the same time and space, they cannot talk directly.All team teleportation, voice headset, and telepathy skills are all invalid.How do people in the past and people in the present communicate with each other?

After a while, Tang Ci thought of an idea: "Qin Feng began to record the roster three years ago, Xiao Lou and the others can see it three years later. If we leave some books, Xiao Lou can also find it three years later, right? "

Lu Jiuchuan's eyes lit up: "That's right. The question is how to keep it? Where is the safest place to stay? In three years, there have been too many changes. If someone takes away the clues we left behind, Xiao Lou will probably get nothing. .Besides, if they can't find us after dawn, they will definitely be very anxious, which will affect the progress of their investigation even more."

At this moment, Gui Yuanzhang suddenly said: "My paintings and calligraphy have been preserved for a long time, so they should come in handy."

Tang Ci said: "Old Gui, what do you want to do?"

Gui Yuanzhang said: "Write a letter, describe the scene three years ago in detail, and then hide it in a place where Xiao Lou and the others will definitely go, and others will seldom go—"

The most dangerous place is the safest.

Tang Ci quickly realized: "You mean, the Zhao family and the Chen family, the two crime scenes?"

Gui Yuanzhang nodded: "Since it is said that the Zhao family and the Chen family were killed by ghosts, the residents of Qingfeng Town must not dare to approach these two haunted houses. But Xiao Lou and the others want to investigate, so they will naturally go to the scene to find clues. We will collect these The clues are hidden in the Zhao family and the Chen family, Xiao Lou and the others will understand what we mean when they go there in three years."