The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

The day passed quickly, and the people Qin Feng sent to investigate gradually returned to the town.

However, no one has been able to find out the whereabouts of the missing persons.

With so many people in the Zhao family and the Chen family, it seemed as if they suddenly disappeared overnight.Residents in the small town are talking about this incident, and the legend of "the devil's death" has become more and more bizarre.

At night, the doors of every house are closed tightly, as if they are worried about encountering a ghost again.

This day is the Hungry Ghost Festival, and the streets of Qingfeng Town are empty, but all the houses are lit, and they start to burn incense and worship their ancestors, probably to ask their ancestors to bless them underground.

Tang Ci's drone has been placed in Zhao's house, and no useful clues have been captured in the surveillance footage. The person who arranged the mourning hall for Zhao's house has obviously not yet appeared.

After nightfall, the four of Lu Jiuchuan sneaked into Zhao's house secretly, leaving clues in the way of returning to the old seniors.

Gui Yuanzhang spread out a piece of paper on the table, picked up a brush, and asked, "How to write?"

Lu Jiuchuan said: "Let's make it clear that we came to the world three years ago, and then write down the suspicious people we found and the clues related to Qin Feng. As long as Xiao Lou and the others find this letter, they can follow the clues and continue. Investigate." He looked at Tang Ci and asked, "Xiao Tang, what doubts do you think you need to explain to Xiao Lou and the others?"

Tang Ci frowned and thought for a moment, then walked to Gui Yuanzhang, and calmly listed the content to be written: "First, Zhao Zesui, the youngest daughter of the Zhao family, left the town after her sister got married on the night of July [-]th. He had a private meeting with a masked man and gave him a purse embroidered with lotus flowers; secondly, after his wife gave birth, Chen Yu slipped out of the town to burn paper for his father."

Gui Yuanzhang quickly wrote down on paper while listening to him.

Tang Ci continued: "Third, the mayor Qin Feng's roster was written after the crime happened. Three years ago, there was no secret room or rattle in his study; The ghostly people, including the vegetable vendor Uncle Liu, the hunter Zhang Chengyu, the proprietress Qin Ruolan, the butcher Lin Yueran, and the second wife Xue who sells tofu, write down their locations by the way."

Lu Jiuchuan smiled and patted Tang Ci on the shoulder: "Xiao Tang is still careful. The murderer has been disguised as a ghost these years, and continues to commit crimes, and will definitely leave clues. I hope that the clues we find will help Xiao Lou and his reasoning . If we find clues in the future, we will add more."

Gui Yuanzhang finished writing the letter very quickly, his handwriting was vigorous and powerful, worthy of being a famous calligrapher.

After sealing the credit wax, Gui Yuanzhang asked: "Where is it hidden? It is not easy for others to find, but Xiao Lou and the others can find it as soon as possible? After all, Xiao Lou and the others are in the world three years later. During these three years, Once someone enters Zhao's house and sees this letter, the clues will still not reach Xiao Lou's hands."

Lu Jiuchuan lowered his head to think for a moment, and suddenly came up with an idea: "It's better to hide in the corner of the roof and leave a special mark to guide them to find it." He looked at Chu Huaying: "Huaying, I will borrow your dagger."

Chu Huaying understood what he meant and handed him the spider dagger.

Lu Jiuchuan jumped up, carved an obvious spider mark on the beam of the roof, and then hid the letter written by Gui Yuanzhang in the gap of the beam.Even if outsiders looked up and saw the mark, they would think it was left by a spider, but Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou and the others would immediately recognize it—it was Chu Huaying's spider dagger.

The imprint carved by the spider dagger is very deep, and it will not disappear in three years.In this way, as long as Xiao Lou and the others walked into the Zhao family hall again, they would be able to find the clues left on the roof.

Since Xiao Lou and the others don't know who is offering incense in the mourning hall, they will definitely go to Zhao's house to investigate again.

However, no one knows what will happen in three years.Lu Jiuchuan had no idea whether the clues that spanned time could be delivered to Xiao Lou smoothly.

They can't go back to the world three years later, so they can only use this method to try their best to help their teammates find the real culprit.

***

At the same time, Xiao Lou and his teammates finished their mermaid transformation and swam out of the lake.

Thinking of the large number of red-clothed girls' corpses he saw at the bottom of the lake just now, Xiao Lou felt a chill down his back, and was blown by the night wind and sneezed several times in a row.

Yu Hanjiang asked with concern: "Are you catching a cold?"

Xiao Lou sniffed, shook his head and said, "It's okay. I just think the corpses at the bottom of the lake are too weird. This murderer obviously killed girls selectively, and all the murderers were girls under the age of 18... Han Jiang, what do you think? ?”

Yu Hanjiang analyzed in a low voice: "The modus operandi is different. One uses the rattle as a key tool to lure people to mass graves and kill them; the other is to drag people into the bottom of the lake, tie them up with water plants and drown them. Hunting The goals are also different, the former is to directly exterminate the entire family, while the latter only targets girls under the age of 18."

Liu Qiao finally understood when he heard this, and frowned, "What does Captain Yu mean, there are two murderers in Qingfeng Town?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Well, the motives, methods, and ways of dealing with the aftermath of the crime are all different. This time we encountered two cases going hand in hand. People in Qingfeng Town have often disappeared over the years. It seems that it is not easy."

Long Sen scratched his head and said, "On the list that Mr. Tang got from Qin Feng's house yesterday, dozens of people have been marked with a red cross. These are all people who have disappeared in the past three years. That is to say, some of them Some people were led to mass graves by murderer A and killed; others were dragged into the lake by murderer B and drowned?"

Murderer A, Murderer B, Long Sen's expression is simple and intuitive.

Qu Wanyue continued: "Two murderers? If it is said that murderer A is related to the famine 20 years ago and committed crimes in retaliation...then why did murderer B kill so many girls?"

Yu Hanjiang said: "This is a typical paranoid personality. All the girls tied to the bottom of the lake are wearing red clothes, and their long hair is knotted with water plants. He is venting his emotions in this way. Perhaps, his heart has always been There is a girl in red, who is either his unforgettable lover or the enemy who once had a great influence on him."

Xiao Lou frowned and said: "The two murderers committed crimes for a long time within three years. The people in the town were brainwashed by the rumor of 'ghosts claiming their lives', so they didn't care about the disappearance. Subconsciously, I thought it was captured by the ghost... The two murderers used such clumsy means to cover up their crimes, and they killed so many people, it is unbelievable."

Qu Wanyue said helplessly: "It was easy for the ancients to believe these ghosts and gods. In addition, the murderer pretended to be a ghost and acted in a play. Some witnesses have seen ghosts. It is normal for people in the town to be deceived."

Yu Hanjiang looked down at the moonlight on the lake, and said, "Let's find a way to get out first. Lao Mo, look at the lake, is it different from just now?"

Lao Mo was stunned for a moment, and followed Yu Hanjiang's gaze. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly: "The maze is spinning again, I seem to have found the rotation law of this maze!"

After finishing speaking, he took out the handkerchief with the map of the maze drawn on it, spread it out in front of Xiao Lou, pointed to the Zuiyue Pavilion in the center of the map, and said: "Our current position is this pavilion, which is the center point, always It remains unchanged. The outer labyrinth will rotate at a certain angle every once in a while, and the reflection of the crescent moon on the lake will also rotate accordingly."

For example, just now, Lao Mo saw that the moon’s projection in the lake was located at 30 degrees southeast of the gazebo. Now, after the maze rotated, the moon’s shadow in the sky cast on the lake was due east, indicating that the entire maze was rotating counterclockwise.

Lao Mo said: "Judging from the position of the moon projected on the lake, the angle of each rotation of the maze is 30 degrees. To return to the original position, it needs to rotate 360 ​​degrees, that is, 12 times, which corresponds to the twelve hours of the day. .”

Xiao Lou looked at the map and said: "Twelve hours make a full circle, that is to say, we entered the maze at Yinshi last night, and there was a correct path at that time, but because of the rotation of the maze, the exit was diverted to an unknown place. If you want to find the exit of this maze again, you can only wait for Yinshi the next day to make it return to its original position?"

Lao Mo nodded excitedly: "It should be. Twelve hours make a circle. At the corresponding time, the maze will be exactly the same as the previous day. At other times, it will look the same on the surface, the path will be confused, and the correct exit cannot be found. We entered the maze from the exit at Yinshi last night, and Yinshi's path tonight is the correct one!"

Xiao Lou said: "Let's wait and see, let's talk when the time comes."

The maze after spinning has no exit at all, and now they can't contact Shao Qingge and Brother Nine, and they can't let the teammates outside drive them out. They are locked in the ghost town maze, and they have to find a way out by themselves.

Fortunately, Lao Mo finally analyzed the law of maze rotation from the moonlight projection.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and the ghost town was always at night. It was difficult for them to judge the exact time, and they could only rely on the shadow cast by the moonlight on the lake to guess how many degrees the maze had turned.

After an unknown amount of time, Lao Mo happily said: "The angle is right, and the maze has returned to its original position!"

Yu Hanjiang immediately flew up with Xiao Lou's Qinggong: "Find the exit quickly."

The six people left the Zuiyue Pavilion, followed the guidance of Lao Mo's map, and found the real exit leading to the outside of the town—it was also the entrance they entered at Yinshi last night.

Liu Qiao tried to take a step forward, but as soon as her foot stepped on the border of the small town, she suddenly disappeared, as if she had been sucked into some kind of space.

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou looked at each other, without hesitation, they stepped across the border of Qingfeng Town together.

The six seemed to have come to another world suddenly.

It was noon outside, the sun was high and the sky was clear.

Xiao Lou turned his head and looked behind him. It was clearly a dark ghost town just now, but it has long since disappeared, replaced by the stone tablet of "Qingfeng Town" and the bustling residents.

Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice: "Finally, we have come out of the maze. We stayed in the ghost town for too long, and it is already noon in the real world."

Xiao Lou tried to connect to the team voice: "Mr. Shao, Brother Nine, can you hear me?"

The earphones were so quiet that a needle could be heard, and there was no response from any teammates.

Xiao Lou immediately opened the team contract - all twelve names are there, no teammates died, but why can't they be contacted all the time?

He looked at Yu Hanjiang: "Ninth brother, will they also be teleported to an independent space like the 'Ghost Town Maze'? Due to the space isolation, we still can't communicate with each other?"

Yu Hanjiang frowned: "It's possible. Fortunately, they are all alive. Let's go back to the town first. We have to find out what happened to the drowned girls at the bottom of the lake."