treacherous world

The place where the headless body was found was on a small road on the outskirts of the city. This small road intersected with the official road that Gongsun and the others had entered the city yesterday. There was a dense forest in front and a small river behind. It was in a remote location.

It is said that a nearby farmer found it when he went to fetch water here.

Zhao Pu asked Liu Xie for a local topographic map, checked it out, and found that this forest is connected with a whole mountain forest behind, next to the official road, and it is possible to enter or leave the city from many places.No wonder they ran into that strange man holding a human head on the road last night... So it seems that there is no need to ask, maybe the winged monster killed someone?

Gongsun walked over and squatted beside the corpse to inspect it. The corpse was not in a hurry, and there was a lot of blood and mud. It seemed that he had struggled before he died, and he was not captured easily.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang observed the surrounding terrain, there were bloodstains on the ground, dragged out the elders, and led them to the official road.

"People's heads are torn off immediately after being alive or dead." Gongsun looked at the bloody mouth, "And it's not torn off with a knife."

"Take it off alive?" All the people who knew martial arts at the scene asked in unison, thinking who is this person?This movement is not something that can be done with strength alone. Could it be a martial arts master, or a real monster!

"The deceased was a man, about 45 to 50 years old, with a fat body. He was well dressed, but his hands had thin calluses. He should have worked hard before and later had a wealthy family." As he said, he picked up the The jade pendant and money bag on the man's waist were shown to everyone, "It doesn't look like robbery."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked Liu Xie, "Do you know this person?"

Liu Xie stared at the fat headless corpse on the ground for a long time, then nodded, "I seem to know him. This is a squire from Xinghua County. His surname is Qian and his name is Qian Dayou...it should be him."

Liu Xie said that he asked someone to go to Qian Dayou's house to have a look. If he was really lost, he would ask a family member to come and identify the body.

"This Qian Dayou is one of the richest people in Xinghua County." Liu Xie briefly introduced the possible identity of the deceased to Zhan Zhao and the others. He used to be quite mean, and occasionally did things like beating the foreman and robbing men and women. I have taught him a few times, but recently he has restrained himself... I heard that he has returned from evil. It may be because he was middle-aged and had an accident with the youngest son in his family. Lost his life. He thought it was retribution, so he suddenly changed and started doing good deeds."

"For example, what good things did he do?" Zhao Pu was curious.

"Heh." Liu Xie was also happy, "The area in the south of the Yangtze River is rich and prosperous, and I have countless fertile fields and forests, as well as fishing and silk trading... so there are basically no victims of disasters."

Zhan Zhao and the others all nodded. They have been looking around for the past few days. Not to mention disaster victims in Xinghua County, there is not even a beggar, and they are all passing by. There are absolutely no locals.

"Master Liu is well-governed." Zhao Pu seems to appreciate Liu Xie very much. He is low-key and humble. The people who govern the county are simple and the life is rich. It is just like Master Bao said, young and promising... I don't know if there will be any in the future. The plan to develop into the military.

Liu Xie shook his head embarrassingly, "My lord, I will remember my teacher's instruction to make every commoner in the jurisdiction live well... It's a pity that such a shocking case happened, and it was added back and forth. Get up, six or seven people are dead."

The yamen servants behind him were also a little frustrated.

Afterwards, everyone continued to search for clues at the scene.

Gongsun drew the situation on the scene, including the shape of Qian Dayou and the surrounding environment when he died.This is a method that Gongsun has recently researched. After drawing it, you can look at the details of the scene from time to time to avoid omissions.

Zhan Zhao and the others turned around and found that the bloodstains did continue all the way to the official road, and then stopped suddenly, which should be the place where the strange man flew directly into the forest.

"Lord Liu, have there been any people with wings in Xinghua?" Bai Yutang asked Liu Xie.

Liu Xie was taken aback, frowning and hesitated, "Is this..."

"Is there?" Zhan Zhao saw that he had a serious expression, so he probably did, so he asked.

Liu Xie nodded, "It hasn't been long since I took over Xinghua County, and I found that there are many strange rumors in this county. Many people who went into the mountains said that they had seen strange people with wings, but that person moved very fast. It disappeared in a flash."

"How about going to the mountain to see?" Zhao Pu suggested, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both agreed, but Liu Xie hurriedly stopped him, "Oh, I can't go if I can't go!"

Everyone was puzzled, "Why? We have a lot of people"

"It doesn't matter how many people there are, I really can't go!" Liu Xie shook his head, "You have to find a good guide to enter, but at this time, you may encounter hidden mountains in the mountains at any time, so good guides will not go into the mountains to hide , only some woodcutters may encounter danger when walking around the forest. The strange rocks in this mountain are so difficult to distinguish the direction, and there will be heavy fog every morning, afternoon and evening. If you go in rashly, you will never return. !"

Zhan Zhao felt that waiting was not an option, so he asked, "Can I find a guide?"

"Looking for it again!" Liu Xie replied, "Those guides are all old, so it's not easy to call them."

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao—isn't Liu Xie a little too kind, Master Bao didn't learn from his bad ways.

Zhan Zhao smiled at him——that's the essence of Mr. Bao's badness!Not so studious.

Bai Yutang laughed, but Zhan Zhao had already coughed and changed his serious expression, and continued to look at the corpse... Bai Yutang somehow felt that Zhan Zhao was unhappy.

Afterwards, Qian Dayou's family members came, and the housekeeper said that Qian Dayou hadn't messed around after going out in a panic last night. After looking at the corpse, he began to cry loudly, "My lord, what's going on!"

Zhan Zhao and the others asked him if he was sure it was Qian Dayou, and the official said yes, the clothes, shoes and socks belonged to the master... It's just that the master's head is gone!

Liu Xie went back with Qian Dayou's body and his family first, and asked about the situation to find out the cause of death.

Gongsun originally wanted to go back for an autopsy, but Zhan Zhao and the others dragged him to the forest where he encountered a strange ceremony yesterday and was almost harmed by fornication.

The forest is not too dense, and it is not as weird as it looks at night during the day... After walking for a long time, I saw a large area of ​​scorched black marks on the ground, but I didn't see the stone statue.Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were afraid of the power of obscenity, and they were afraid of embarrassment again, so they stood on the periphery.Gongsun smiled and said to them, "This kind of poison can only be poisoned when you smell the smoke when it is burning. After a night of cool wind, it will dissipate early.

"Where is the stone statue?" Zhan Zhao wondered, "The red one should be very conspicuous."

Everyone looked around, but found no clues, and felt puzzled, there is no reason to say that the stone statue with the height of two people is gone.

"My lord." At this time, the black shadow came down from a tree, pointed to the huge trunk and said, "There is something inside."

Bai Ying grabbed a piece of bark and seemed to be going out, but when he looked carefully, he found that it was locked with a copper lock.Scissors has been following Gongsun and the others, and Stone is at home with the fourth son.

Seeing that the white shadow couldn't pull it, and the black shadow wanted to help, it swayed over, rubbed the white shadow and the black shadow away with its butt, raised its paw and pulled the copper lock hard, with a click, the lock was released.

Zhan Zhao patted Scissors on the head, and saw it flicking the small tail triumphantly.

The white shadow and the black shadow pulled the trunk out, and opened an arched door... It turned out that the big tree was hollowed out.

Gongsun looked up - no wonder the branches and leaves on the tree were all withered.There is a hole in the top of the tree, and the black shadow just saw the hollow inside from there.

After opening the bark, a black stone statue stood inside.

The stone statue was about two people tall. It was a ferocious human figure with wings behind it. It was completely naked and had breasts on its upper body. It was still a woman's breast shape. Its lower limbs were thick and masculine...

Zhan Zhao and the others felt that the stone statue was too obscene, and they all asked Gongsun, "What is this?"

Gongsun quickly shook his head, "I don't know. I haven't seen such a disgusting stone statue. I guess it can't be a god... Did you see it last night?"

"Did we see the red one at night?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "Although it looks a bit similar. "

"Yeah..." Zhan Zhao was also puzzled, reached out and tapped the stone statue lightly, and only after he tapped did he understand, "It's from Xuantie!"

Zhao Pu also stretched out his hand to touch it, "Indeed, there was a bonfire last night, and it probably only showed that image when it was red hot."

"Looking at it like this, it seems that there are people worshiping it all the year round." Gongsun Siwai looked around and said in a low voice, "Although the folk customs in my Song Dynasty are civilized, there are many people who marry wild people. This kind of thing that goes against Changlun will definitely not It was allowed by the government."

"Even the folk custom is a little too obscene." Zhao Pu frowned, "I think it looks like some kind of evil cult."

Everyone thinks it makes sense.

Zhe Ying asked people in the nearby land to inquire, but they had never heard of such absurd custom. When two old people saw the stone statue, they covered their eyes and shouted that it was a crime.

Zhan Zhao and the others had no choice but to send someone to invite Liu Xie.

Liu Xie didn't know what was going on with the stone statue at first glance, but when he asked about what happened last night, he found it incredible that someone was so absurd.

After discussing it, everyone decided to keep the stone statue, and then send people to ambush here. If anyone comes again at night, they will all be arrested and brought back to the county government office for interrogation.

Liu Xie felt that it might just be some kind of ritual performed by some young people seeking excitement, and it had nothing to do with the murder of the hidden mountain monster.Everyone naturally hoped so too... But looking at the stone statue again, they felt faintly that there was something strange about that thing.

At noon, everyone finally returned to the Yamen.

Entering the yard, I saw that the fourth son had already put on his clothes and got out of bed, strolling in the yard.Gongsun ran over and picked him up to check his pulse, and found that the typhoid fever was cured, so he felt relieved to let him play.

Zhan Zhao waited to sit down to eat, and Bai Yutang sat on the left side. Zhan Zhao just wanted to sit next to him, but the fourth son snatched that seat.

Zhan Zhao looked at him puzzled, Xiang Gongsun said that the fourth son was rude, so Zhao Pra stopped him and winked at Gongsun—don't worry about it, let him go.

The fourth son pointed to another seat next to him, "Sit here, Meow Meow."

Zhan Zhao sat down, and now he became the fourth son sitting between Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. Everyone thought they hadn't seen each other for a long time, and the fourth son was acting like a baby with the two of them, so they didn't ask much.They were all starving and had to eat early, and Gongsun had to go to the autopsy after dinner.

"Baibai." The fourth son scooped up egg custard with a spoon, and called Bai Yutang.

"Huh?" Bai Yutang was thinking while eating, with hidden mountains and cats in his mind in a mess.When the fourth son called him, he absent-mindedly agreed.

"Is your sweetheart a man or a woman?" the fourth son suddenly asked.

"Cough cough..."

Bai Yutang wasn't on guard, choked on a mouthful of food, coughed and looked at the fourth son.

The shadow guards at the next table ate with their heads in suspense, and Zhao Pu picked up a chopstick dish for Gongsun—the little thing asked something.

Zhan Zhao was at the side picking up vegetables for the fourth son and helping Bai Yutang out of the siege, "Fourth son, my sweetheart is naturally a woman."

"Why? Daddy and Jiujiu are both men, and Xiao Si and Xiao Liang are also men." Xiao Si retorted...

Xiao Liang eats happily, sweetheart...haha.

Zhan Zhao was stunned after hearing this, and looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang rubbed his nose in embarrassment, why did this little thing ask this question as soon as he came up.

Xiao Si knew it well, just now Xiao Liangzi had analyzed it with him, and Bai Bai's sweetheart described it as meow!Make sure he admits it this time!

"Bai Bai, what's the last name of your sweetheart?" The fourth son rubbed against Bai Yutang and asked, "Is he good-looking? Is he handsome? Is he good at martial arts? Is he famous? Is he good?" Meow likes to run around like this?"

"Cough cough." All the shadow guards worked hard to eat, their shoulders were shaking and shaking to prevent themselves from spitting out, and Ziying looked suspiciously at the crowd with the vegetables in their hands. Why did they just eat and not eat vegetables?

"Baibai, uh..."

The fourth son still wanted to ask, but Bai Yutang quickly picked up a spare rib and stuffed it into his mouth, stretched out his hand to pinch his cheek, "Eat."

The fourth son squinted at him, saw Bai Yutang's ears turned red and bowed his head to eat, so he knew he had guessed right, oh!Bai Bai seems to know that he likes Miaomiao, so he shifted his gaze to Zhan Zhao.

At this time, Zhan Zhao was even more troubled, right... Bai Yutang's sweetheart was a man or a woman?There are really many famous and beautiful men in the Jianghu... So Zhan Zhao became even more depressed.

……