Placid Chang'an

The village where Su Cen and the others lived was named Jinghe Village. The mountain behind the village didn't have a serious name. It was passed down by word of mouth from the ancestors, and it is still unknown whether it is called Blind Mountain or Horsefly Mountain.

The place where the accident happened is on this mountain.

The cause of the incident is very simple. The villagers of Jinghe Village went up the mountain to collect firewood. When they walked halfway up the mountain, they found that the mountain road had been washed away by flash floods. Turned out to be dead bones!

The man was scared out of his wits at the time, and when he ran back to the village, he was laughed at by everyone, and some people said that the animals on the mountain died and were washed out of the flood, and he was blamed for making such a fuss.

That person was ignored immediately, so he gathered a few brave people from the village and went up the mountain again.As a result, the crowd found another dead head near the broken bone. Only then did they realize the seriousness of the matter and immediately reported the case.

When the people from the yamen came over, their original intention was to find all the corpses. They never wanted to search all the way along the place where the mountain torrent passed. They found a lot of dead people's bones, and when they were put together, it turned out that they were not from one person.Seeing that it was getting late, the people in the yamen wanted to find the whole body as soon as possible, so they called the villagers of Jinghe Village to come and help.

Liu Mazi, who was stopped by Su Cen and the others, rushed to help.

It was fate to inspect the flood and find the murder case. Su Cen was naturally obliged to do this kind of thing, so he approached Liu Mazi and asked him to take him up the mountain.

When they arrived, they saw officials and villagers gathering in front of a cave halfway up the mountain, all of them looked unhappy.

"What's wrong?" Su Cen asked a man dressed as a yamen official.

The official took a look at Su Cen, then at Qu Ling'er, waved his hand and said, "Kids, go play somewhere else."

Qu Linger: "..."

Su Cen forgot that they are just dressed as civilians now, no one knows their identities, and naturally no one respects him as an imperial envoy.

"We are the doctors of Zongfang, and we also know a little bit about the skills of making a fuss." Su Cen didn't intend to reveal his identity, and explained politely to the official, "Didn't it mean that the corpse was found? We can help with the autopsy."

Although he is not as proficient as Ning Santong, he has also learned some basic skills, and it is not a problem to fool the unprofessional.

The officer looked at Su Cen suspiciously, probably questioning Su Cen's age, and finally said: "You wait, I'll go over and ask our lord for instructions."

Su Cen bowed his hands in thanks.

After a while, the official came back and waved to Su Cen to let him pass.

Jinghe Village is located in Chuanling County, and it was the county magistrate of Chuanling County who came here. A middle-aged man with a mustache was standing in front of the cave entrance, listening to the officials calling him Mr. Ma.

Su Cen made a bow to Mr. Ma, and Mr. Ma twirled his mustache, looked Su Cen from top to bottom, and asked, "Do you know how to do an autopsy?"

Su Cen: "Know a thing or two."

Master Ma squinted his eyes and smiled, "That's just right, the corpses are all in the cave, go and have them checked."

Su Cen spread his hands helplessly: "Since the autopsy is going to be done, we must have tools. May I ask if you brought the autopsy tools?"

"I've got it," Master Ma said, turning around to the one lying under the tree in the dark, "Master, quickly bring the tools over here. Two boys are here to do the autopsy for you."

Su Cen: "..."

In addition to the tools, Su Cen also asked for two torches, and then brought Qu Ling'er into the cave.

It was still bright outside the cave, but it was pitch black inside the cave. After walking about ten steps, it was completely lit by torches.The air in the cave was a bit cloudy, and the torches were not very bright. Su Cen took a while to get used to it before continuing to move forward.Even though it was still summer, the cave was surprisingly cold. The temperature dropped faster as we walked in. A gust of wind blew in, and the two of them shivered involuntarily.

"Su, Brother Su..." Qu Linger's hand holding the torch was already shaking a little, and the dark cave was even more scary, "Wait for me, I, I'm a little scared..."

"Why don't you go out first, I'll go in and have a look by myself," Su Cen said as he walked into the cave, although he was perfunctory, he slowed down his pace and waited for Qu Ling'er to catch up.

Qu Ling'er took Su Cen's hand, her head was like a rattle, "I dare not go back alone, I will follow you."

Su Cen held Qu Ling'er instead, "Follow me closely."

After walking a hundred meters, there was a creaking sound under his feet. Su Cen passed the torch up, only to see a few finger bones under his feet.

"Here we are." Su Cen said.

The skeleton of a man was in a crouching shape. It looked like it had been around for some time. The body was completely boneless, and the clothes hanging on his body were already ragged. This man had been dead for at least ten years.

Su Cen knelt down and was about to turn the body over to check the cause of death, when Qu Ling'er screamed, resounding throughout the cave.

"Su, Su...Brother Su!" Qu Ling'er frowned as if she had stepped on a firecracker, and scrambled to hide behind Su Cen, grabbing Su Cen's arm tightly, "Brother Su... you ……look!"

Su Cen frowned when Qu Ling'er pinched her, and took a few steps forward to raise the torch in her hand.

Even though Su Cen was used to seeing corpses, she still couldn't help scolding her mother in her heart.

I saw a few steps away, one after another, or lying on their backs or lying down, densely packed, all bones!

Su Cen suddenly understood why Wu Zuo was so ecstatic when he handed over the tools to him.

These bones are displayed on the ground, and the torches can't even see their heads. These are not a few corpses, but dozens or even hundreds of them. This place is simply a forest of corpses!

Qu Ling'er was scared out of her wits, his arms hurt from pinching him, Su Cen had no choice but to send Qu Ling'er out of the cave first, and then called a few brave ones to bring out the bones together.

The bones that were carried out were lined up on the mountain road, and the heads could not be seen at a glance.

Su Cen moved a few times, and the accompanying officials saw that although there were many corpses, they were dead after all, and they came to help after confirming that there was no threat.

As a result, Su Cen took a break instead, sat on the steps and waited for the corpse to be moved, and comforted Qu Ling'er's wounded heart by the way.

Mr. Ma saw that Su Cen was useful, so he also moved over to befriend him and said, "Little brother, do you see anything?"

Su Cen shook his head: "There are too many corpses. I haven't had time to look at them carefully. I have to wait until they are all brought out before I can draw a conclusion. My lord, I was just about to ask you, has there ever been less people in your county? Why are there so many corpses here? ?”

Mr. Ma twisted his mustache and frowned, "It's really strange. It stands to reason that so many people should be reported to the police, but I have been the magistrate of Chuanling County for more than ten years, and I have never received any reports. Will Could it be that these people are not from our county, but moved from somewhere else?"

"Long-distance treks must bring luggage, but I just saw it in the cave, and there is no such thing as luggage."

"Could it be that this is a cemetery, and people just throw things into the cave when they die?"

"This isn't a cemetery, it's clearly a mass grave!" Qu Ling'er raised her head, her tone was not kind.He was still angry at the moment, and he was angry because Master Ma had frightened him by not telling them the truth just now, and the cold sweat on his back hadn't dried yet.

Su Cen frowned and shook his head: "Look at the clothes on the corpse, they are all thin summer materials. If it's really a cemetery, it can't be thrown here in summer and in another place in winter, right? And look Judging by the degree of ossification of the corpses, these people should all have died around the same time."

Master Ma narrowed his eyebrows, "Could it be... the plague? A whole village got the plague, and they all died after taking refuge here, so no one reported it?"

Su Cen pursed her lips and thought for a while, but was noncommittal. Seeing that the corpses were almost moved, she stood up and walked down the steps to look down one by one.

The corpses were all similar, there were men, women, old and young. Su Cen saw all the way to the end, and knelt down in front of the last corpse.

There were still some mud spots on the corpse, and the bones were not found. Su Cen turned back and asked the officer, "What's going on?"

The official said that this was the body that the villager who collected firewood found at the beginning, because it was washed away by the flood, and it was not found in many places.

After answering, I was stunned. Who is this person?Why does he answer every question so respectfully?After thinking about it again, it must be because this person asked too naturally, as if this scene was already used to him, and he unconsciously regarded him as his own adult.

Su Cen turned around and picked up a piece of calf bone to look at. It should be the piece that the villagers used as dry wood at first. There was an inconspicuous crack on the bone. Shows an unnatural bend.

"How is brother Su?" Qu Ling'er followed and asked.He didn't bother to be alone with the sinister and cunning Mrs. Ma, so he walked through all kinds of corpses and followed down with his weak legs and eyes closed silently chanting Amitabha.

"It's not a plague," Su Cen said. "The throat bones of these people are all broken, and they were murdered by their necks."

"Murder?!" Qu Ling'er was shocked, "Killed so many people?!"

"A total of 280 people, if all the corpses are here. These people have no other injuries except for the broken throat." Su Cen suddenly brought the broken leg bone in front of Qu Ling'er, so frightened that they almost sat down on their buttocks. land.

"Except for him." Su Cen said.

"Brother Su!" Qu Ling'er recovered from embarrassment and became angry, "Stop teasing me!"

Su Cen smiled, retracted the leg bone, and pointed it out to Qu Ling'er, "This man's leg should have been injured, and the wound hasn't healed, and the bones are crooked."

Qu Ling'er looked at it and nodded, "Brother Su, you are really good, you can see it."

Su Cen put down the leg bone, "But it may be that he accidentally fell it by himself during his lifetime. It's been a while since he died, so there's nothing wrong with it."

Su Cen stood up and reported the situation of these corpses to Master Ma.It was getting late, and there was nothing to be seen after looking at it, so Master Ma decided to go back first, leaving a few people here to guard the corpse and the cave, and make arrangements tomorrow.

Su Cen followed the villagers of Jinghe Village back to the village, walked halfway up the mountain, and suddenly saw smoke rising from the depths of the dense forest on a wide platform, so he grabbed a villager and asked where it was.

The villager looked around for a while, and snorted, "Isn't that the one——Lujiazhuang!"