The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

Xiao Lou picked up the letter and looked it over carefully. The calligraphy on the letter was chic and flying. Xiao Lou's father had collected a work of calligraphy belonging to the old man, and Xiao Lou could recognize the handwriting at a glance.What's more, the imprint of the spider dagger on the cantilever beams of the roof is also Chu Huaying's unique symbol, and it is impossible for others to forge it.

Therefore, this letter must have been left by Jiu Ge and the others.

Xiao Lou looked at his teammates and said firmly, "This letter is in Senior Gui's handwriting."

Yu Hanjiang looked at the first line of the letter, frowned and said, "They actually went to the world three years ago? That is to say, we are in a different time and space now, and cards such as sympathy and team voice cannot be used?"

Xiao Loudao: "Well, starting today, we can't talk directly to them three years ago. Fortunately, they thought of leaving us clues in this way."

People can't talk to their past self, but they can leave advice to their future self.

The approach of Lu Jiuchuan and the others was indeed very wise. They guessed that Xiao Lou might return to the Zhao family to investigate the clues of the person who arranged the mourning hall, so they used Chu Huaying's spider mark as a mark on the roof of the mourning hall and secretly hid a letter .

Fortunately, no one found this letter for three years, but now Xiao Lou successfully found it.

Yu Hanjiang read the contents of the letter, and said thoughtfully: "Ninth brother and the others, it seems that they happened to travel back to the night of the incident three years ago, and saw the plot that we can't verify - first is Zhao Zesui, sister married That night, she went to a private meeting with a masked man outside the town, and gave him a purse embroidered with mandarin ducks."

He looked back at Xiao Lou: "I remember when you saw the unfinished handkerchief in Miss Zhao's room and guessed that she had a sweetheart, it seemed that you guessed right. It's just that her sweetheart has a special identity, and she had to wear it on a date in the middle of the night. Mask, are you afraid of being discovered by people in the town?"

"Well. Wearing a mask in the middle of the night, this person's identity is definitely not simple." Xiao Lou paused, and continued to look down at the letter: "The letter said that Chen Yu ran out of the town in a panic to burn paper for his father. His father died This matter is not a secret, why didn't he openly set up a mourning hall at home, but instead sneaked out of the town to burn paper?"

"There is a custom in our hometown." Hearing this, Lao Mo interjected, "If parents die in a foreign land and the grave is not nearby, we will go to the gate of the community or near the street every July [-]th, facing the gate of our hometown. Burn some paper money in the direction. My father’s hometown is in the capital, and I am in Jiangzhou. Sometimes I can’t go back after sweeping the tomb, so I also use this method to pay homage.”

"It's the same with our family. During the holidays, if you can't go back to your hometown to go to the grave, you can worship your ancestors in the direction of your hometown." Qu Wanyue also said.

"So it seems that Chen Yu's father was not buried in Qingfeng Town? So after his son was born, he was outside the town, facing the direction of his hometown, to burn paper money for his father to announce the good news?" After hearing what the two said, Xiao Lou felt This statement is also reasonable.

"How did Chen Yu's father die and where did he die, we have to investigate again." Yu Hanjiang said.

The strange movements of Zhao Zesui and Chen Yu seen in the ghost city at night have now been explained.

The clues that Brother Nine and the others saw with their own eyes on the day of the incident three years ago are definitely not false, but what these two clues mean is still to be investigated and verified by them.

Next, some clues are also listed in the letter.

First of all, it is about the roster of mayor Qin Feng and the secret room.

After Qu Wanyue saw it, she couldn't help but said: "Qin Feng really doesn't look like a murderer. Senior Gui said in his letter that when the crime happened three years ago, he didn't have a secret room in his study, and there wasn't a roster full of red crosses in his cabinet. But after three years, we discovered these things...indicating that Qin Feng should be investigating the murderer, collecting evidence, and recording the list of the dead just like us?"

Xiao Lou nodded: "Yes. From the beginning, I felt that Qin Feng was not like a murderer. The clues were obviously too simple, and the rattle drums that appeared in the Zhao family and the Chen family were all painted with tigers, but there were tigers in his secret room. The rattle of the zodiac, that's not right at all. However, he must know something and is not very cooperative with us."

Yu Hanjiang said: "This person can't ask directly, we need to investigate through other means."

Xiao Lou nodded, picked up the letter and said: "On the night of the incident, people who said they saw white-clothed ghosts, including the vegetable vendor Uncle Liu, the hunter Zhang Chengyu, the second wife Xue who sells tofu, the butcher Lin Yueran, and the clothing store owner Qin Ruolan. Ninth Brother and the others Listing out the detailed information of these people, do you suspect that there are suspicious people among them?"

Yu Hanjiang took the letter from him, looked at it carefully, and said in a low voice: "From the locations marked on the letter, the five people live in the east, west, south, north, and middle of the town. Although Qingfeng Town It’s not big, but Li Gui will not appear in five places at the same time. Among them, it is very likely that someone is lying on purpose to confuse the public.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, Xiao Lou carefully folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

Liu Qiao suddenly said: "Ninth Brother and the others left behind all the clues of the "Ghost Seduction Case" three years ago, but what about the recent "Girl Sinking Lake Case"? Those girls who were drowned at the bottom of the lake, who were the murderers? We don't have a clue yet."

Xiao Lou also had a headache, this time the two cases went hand in hand, and the murderer was extraordinarily cunning.

It can be said that "Murderer B" took advantage of the "Ghost Killing" public opinion created by "Murderer A" to drag these girls into the lake, making people mistakenly think that the missing girl was also killed by the ghost.

"Murderer A" found that the person he did not commit the crime also disappeared inexplicably. He must have known that another murderer was using public opinion to commit crimes, but let the other party do nothing. It was also to use the other party in turn to make the case more complicated and impossible to investigate.

They may not have met each other, but they have a tacit understanding to cover each other.

Yu Hanjiang said: "Let's separate the cases first. The two murderers have different motives, styles, and chosen victims. The murderer of the first 'Ghost Killing Case' should be related to the famine 20 years ago. The murderer is full of people, and the methods are extremely cruel; the second murderer is only hostile to girls around the age of 18, drowning them in the lake, he should be a paranoid personality, and he cannot get out of the psychological shadow left by the girl in red."

Xiao Lou pressed his temples with a headache: "Let's check the first case first, at least the clues to the first case are relatively clear."

***

After sneaking out of Zhao's house, several people split up to find the suspect mentioned in the letter to inquire about news.

Liu Qiao and Lao Mo are in charge of Chen Yu's line.

The two visited the neighbors near the Chen family, and soon found out about Chen Yu's father from some old people. For business, Chen Yu and his wife moved back to Qingfeng Town seven years ago, his father did not come back together, it is said that he passed away in other places a few years ago."

Xiao Loudao: "Have you found out where they go to do business?"

Liu Qiao said: "I don't know, the Chen family has always been quite mysterious. After Chen Yu moved back to his ancestral house in Qingfeng Town, he rarely interacted with people. He would only greet people politely when he saw them. The neighbors only knew that his family was quite mysterious. Money, food and clothing are very particular.”

From this point of view, Chen Yu's father should be buried in a foreign land, that's why Chen Yu went outside the small town to burn paper money for his father. He looks like a dutiful son, but his family doesn't enshrine his father's spiritual tablet. This matter always feels wrong... …unless his father asked for it.

A while later, Long Sen and Qu Wanyue, who went to Dongshi to investigate, also came back. Qu Wanyue said: "The old man Liu in Dongshi is over 80 years old, and he passed away three years ago. According to the reactions of the children nearby, The old man loves to tell stories, and he always pulls the children to scare everyone with the 'White Ghost', saying that he saw a ghost with his own eyes on a rainy night three years ago."

Xiao Lou asked, "Is there a more detailed version?"

Long Sendao: "Wan Yue tricked a child over with a piece of candied haws, and the child retold Uncle Liu's story exactly—on July [-]th, there was a heavy rain, and he was awakened by a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, thinking I went to get up at night, but as soon as I opened the door, I saw a female ghost in white clothes and long hair flying past the door, he was so scared that he almost peed his pants."

The ancients didn't have the habit of wearing watches, so of course they didn't know the exact time when they saw the female ghost, but the thunderclap provided by the eyewitness, Uncle Liu, was crucial.

The rainstorm night three years ago should be the same as the scene when Xiao Lou and the others went to the ghost town on their first day.

That was a replay of the scene, and they also saw the scene of Miss Zhao's marriage with their own eyes.

Xiao Lou clearly remembered that the rain didn't stop until Yinshi (around [-]:[-] a.m.), and after the rain stopped, Miss Zhao's family got married, and there was only one clear thunder in the sky.

Uncle Liu has passed away, so he is definitely not a murderer or an accomplice. As an eyewitness, his description may be exaggerated, but the information of "waking up by thunder" should be the focus of special attention.

Immediately afterwards, Long Sen and Qu Wanyue visited the second sister-in-law Xue who lived in the southeast of the town and was closest to Old Uncle Liu.

Not long after, Qu Wanyue reported the results of the investigation: "Second sister-in-law Xue remarried and went to Yuezhou two years ago. However, according to the neighbors nearby, she was also awakened by the thunder and remembered that the quilt she had been drying in the yard was still intact. Pack, ran to collect the quilt, but saw a long-haired white-clothed female ghost floating over the wall, and also flew towards the direction of Zhao's house, she was so frightened that she hurried back to the house."

Xiao Lou opened the map that Lao Mo had left for him.

From the perspective of geographical location, Uncle Liu lives in the easternmost part of the town, and Aunt Xue lives in the southeast of the town. Both of them were awakened by the thunder and saw the female ghost. The time is very close. Maybe the female ghost happened to be there when the thunder sounded. Activities in the southeast area of ​​the town.

Liu Qiao and Lao Mo went to find Qin Ruolan, the proprietress of the clothing store in the center.

Liu Qiao stuffed her with silver coins, and asked her if she knew the rumors about ghosts, and she approached mysteriously and said, "There really are ghosts in our town. On that rainy night three years ago, I had a headache and couldn't sleep. I got up when I heard the rain had stopped, and wanted to go to the store to arrange the newly arrived fabrics. As soon as I went out, I saw a female ghost in white clothes with her hair covering her face floating past the alley in front of my house. I was so scared that I hurried Hide back in the house!"

Liu Qiao asked, "Did you hear thunder when you saw that female ghost?"

The proprietress thought about it carefully, then shook her head and said, "No. The rain stopped for a long time before I went out to see the female ghost."

There are two people left, one is the butcher Lin Yueran who lives in the north of the city, and the other is the hunter Zhang Chengyu in the west of the city.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang went to investigate in person.

Lin Yueran was not as strong as ordinary butchers, and he looked quite gentle when he didn't hold a butcher knife in his hand, but Yu Hanjiang could tell that he had great strength and the muscles on his arms were well trained.

Yu Hanjiang asked bluntly: "Brother, I heard that you saw a female ghost with your own eyes three years ago? My wife likes to hear these supernatural stories the most. Can you tell us about them."

Lin Yueran looked at Xiao Lou with doubts on his face, Xiao Lou smiled and stuffed him with a silver coin, and said, "My husband and I are traveling around the mountains and rivers, just want to listen to some ghost stories to relieve boredom."

Lin Yueran's expression was complicated: "I've told this story many times. Three years ago, on the night of heavy rain, my son cried out to pee in the middle of the night. When I saw the rain stopped, I took him out to have a pee. , A female ghost in white clothes passed by lightly in front of us, I was startled, and hurriedly took my son home. I thought it was my eyesight, but my son also saw the ghost, so it must not be eyesight!"

Xiao Lou asked: "The night you saw the female ghost, was it a rainy night?"

Lin Yueran nodded: "Yes."

Xiao Lou asked: "Did there be lightning and thunder at that time? Didn't it mean that there would be visions from the sky when evil spirits haunted them?"

Lin Yueran was stunned: "It seems that there is..." After a pause, he said firmly: "I did hear thunder."

In order to prove his statement, he also called out his son.

The child was less than 10 years old, and said in a clear and clear voice: "My father is right, we all saw that female ghost, and when the female ghost appeared, there was still thunder in the sky!"

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang thanked each other, got up and left.Finally, I went to the home of Zhang Chengyu, a hunter in the west of the city, to investigate. Zhang Chengyu was not at home. He must have gone hunting, but there were a few children playing with rocks nearby.

Xiao Lou coaxed a child over and asked, "Do you know this Orion named Zhang?"

The child got the candy and said honestly: "I know. Uncle Zhang went hunting in the morning, and he said he would hunt some wild rabbits for us to roast."

Xiao Loudao: "Has he ever told you stories about ghosts?"

The child said nervously: "It's scary for a ghost to take his life! He said he had seen a ghost with his own eyes, and told us not to go out at night, or we would be hooked away by the ghost."

Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice: "What did he tell you?"

The child scratched his head and said: "Three years ago, on a rainy night, he was awakened by thunder in the middle of the night. When he got up, he saw a female ghost in white floating past the yard. He slipped and sprained his foot. The next day , someone went missing and couldn’t find it no matter how hard they looked, he must have been snatched away by a ghost!”

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou looked at each other, seeing a trace of suspicion in each other's eyes.

thunder.

Four of the five "witnesses" said that they heard thunder, and only the proprietress of the clothing store said with certainty that she saw the ghost after a long time after the rain stopped.

The murderer plays the female ghost, and will not appear in five places in the town at the same time.

On the night of the heavy rain three years ago, after the rain stopped, there was only one thunderclap, and the thunderclap lasted no more than 3 seconds. It was impossible for the female ghost played by the murderer to teleport to five places in the town within 3 seconds.

Some of these people must be lying.