Mary's Nineteenth Century

Four carriages, a search team of 12 people.It was already the morning of April 4 when we arrived at the edge of the X forest.

The earliest known missing master and servant of Ferencz disappeared at noon on April 4.Eight days passed, and it was obviously beyond the best time to find the missing person.

Live to see people, die to see corpses.

This is the principle of this search, but everyone on the search team knows to prepare for the worst. The six missing people have already been killed.

According to the half-route of the X-forest, and the relationship between the presumed hunting killer and the revolving door murderer, the search was first carried out with the former triangular underground secret room area as the center of the circle.

"God bless, it won't rain these days."

Lestrade prayed earnestly.The most uncertain thing in London is the weather, which is often sunny at one moment and showery at the next.Showers will increase the difficulty of walking in the forest, and it will increase the difficulty of finding people exponentially.

The shopkeeper Tanner led the search dog. From the 5th to the present, there have been three rains in the X forest area, and the rain has diluted the human breath that may have remained in the previous few days.At least on the outskirts of the forest, none of the three dogs responded to the smell of the target.

"I hope that by approaching the forest chamber, we can detect the trace of the missing person or Jason."

The shopkeeper Tanner hesitated for a moment, and didn't say the second half of the bad sentence. His search dog was also very sensitive to the smell of corpses.I don't want the dogs to respond that they found a dead body instead of a living person.

Proceeding cautiously along the way, while observing whether there are traces of human activities on the ground, the speed of the search team is not fast.

Until noon, after wading through several small streams, I finally officially entered the center of the X forest.

Everyone ate lunch and rested for a while before setting off.

"Continue to walk for about four and a half hours, and you will arrive at the triangular chamber."

Mary pointed to the northwest side, "Theoretically, we are already close to the killing area of ​​the hunting killer."

The clothes of the missing people have been taken away. If they are taken into the X forest, the hunting killer may cruelly take away their belongings.No clothes to cover the body, no tools to obtain food, just like the primitive life of wild animals, I don't know how long the missing people can last.

"There are bears in this forest."

Mycroft collected all known reports from the X-Forest, "Last year, a hunting team died with a bear. In addition, incidents of poisonous snakes wounding people also occurred from time to time."

Eight

Days passed, and the situation was not optimistic.

Regardless of the hunting killer's marksmanship, the missing people are most likely unarmed, how are they going to live in the forest?Eat tree bark?

"Wow!", "Wow!"

After walking for a while, the search dog barked into the distance.

The search and rescue team approached with guns on alert.

Step lightly, listen to the four directions, and find no other abnormal noises.

There was no abnormal sound at all.

The search dog ran at the forefront and stopped about 30 meters away, where there were dense towering trees.Three dogs circled and circled one of the trees continuously.The look of raising his head indicates that there is an anomaly in the tree.

A dead body hangs from a tree trunk.

The corpse was not wearing any clothes and was in a hanging position.He had a blood hole in his heart and was shot.

"It's Ferencz's guard."

Mycroft looked up, and the putrid gas began to seep into the subcutaneous tissue of the corpse, and the face of the male corpse was swollen and black. "It looks like the time of death was three or four days ago."

Namely, died around April 4th.

The appearance of this male body is compared with the death of the unknown female body in Whitechapel on April 4, which is enough to prove that the reasoning so far is completely correct.

Judging from the timeline, the murderer first completed the secret plan to cover up the identity of the missing person in London, and then returned to the X forest to start the hunting operation.

Several people worked together to release the male corpse from the tree.

I can still recognize the panic expression of the deceased when he was dying, and found that the soles of his feet were severely scratched, which was caused by running barefoot in the forest and leaving scars that penetrated deep into the bones.

Not only the feet, but also the whole body of the deceased had scars of varying degrees.

There is no large area of ​​blood residue near the big tree, and this is probably not the scene of the first shooting.

Mary looked around, the tree where the corpse was hanging was the tallest, and the corpse was hanging at a trunk height of about 3.5 meters.

When walking within ten meters of the big tree, the line of sight can be unobstructed, and the hanging corpse can be seen for the first time.

"It's hanging high to show the public."

Mary pointed out, "The murderer deliberately moved the body and hung him up with great difficulty, just like the custom on some battlefields. Hanging the enemy's corpse from a high place in order to intimidate others."

Mycroft inspected the body, and the dead body's rigors had not been completely relieved.

"Hanging is carried out after death, and shooting is a fatal wound. It is now confirmed that the person who was hanged for public display is

Ferenc's guard, from a certain perspective, is good news for the progress of finding someone. "

Lestrade couldn't help but marvel, "Four days ago, that hunting killer went on a killing spree. Is this still good news?"

"It is known that four men and two women are missing. Among the six, the one with the highest strength and survivability is the dead before us."

Mycroft didn't think the murderer would have hunted haphazardly.

"Get rid of the most resistant one first, which is equivalent to getting rid of the hen in the game of hawk catching chickens. The remaining five people will become little chickens manipulated by the murderer between applause."

The hunting killer tried his best to deceive the world, but he wouldn't kill all the people who worked so hard to tie him up immediately.

At this time, what the murderer desires is not simply to take someone's life, but to enjoy the victim's pain and struggle to the fullest.

"The horror caused by the killing of a companion, the fear of not being able to escape from the X forest in a panic, and the emotional breakdown caused by having to drink blood like a wild animal while fleeing."

Mary recounted the mental stress of the missing fugitives being forced to face it, "And so on, the longer the time passes, the deeper the despair of people. The murderer will not shoot all the prey immediately after the hunting starts, he may even catch it on purpose. "

There is no doubt that the pervert's hunting methods are very cruel to the victims.

However, there are two sides to the matter.This buys time for search and rescue efforts, and there is still hope that the missing persons will be found alive.

Now that it was confirmed that the missing person was brought into the X Forest, the 12 members of the search and rescue team were divided into three groups to search for it.Each group of four people brought a search dog and headed in different directions.

"Mr. Minton, please be careful."

Mycroft didn't give any more instructions, but only added one more sentence, "The main thing is to find someone."

Focus on finding people, that is, you don't have to hunt killers to the end.

Mary nodded with a smile. Although she likes the way of cutting weeds and roots, she has no plans to start a chase in the forest for the time being. "Be careful too, beware of the murderer's accomplices in the forest."

Whether the suspect, Jason, has any accomplices, may have to enter the triangular secret room to observe the traces in the house to get a definite conclusion.Regardless of whether the crime was committed by a gang or not, the murderer's marksmanship is good, so we must be alert to the possibility of being shot in the back.

Due to the presence of outsiders, the two did not say any more.

He glanced at the other party solemnly, as if showing the slightest deep concern, and turned without hesitation towards a different

direction departure.

Those words of prayer for good luck stayed in my heart.

As we go deeper into the X forest, it is impossible to predict which group will bump into the murderer, and which group will find the remaining five missing persons first.

Time passed little by little.

The orbit of the sun in the sky does not follow the will of human beings. The sun is gradually moving westward, and the sky is getting darker and darker.

"Hey! There are copper wires tied to the branches here."

At dusk, Lestrade saw traces of human activity again.

In the past few hours, messy human footprints and feces remnants have been found along the way, but there is still no trace of living people nearby.

There was a tree with a small piece of copper wire tied in some kind of fancy knot.

Lestrade was puzzled, "Who would leave this behind? Is it related to our mission?"

"It's copper wire."

Mary walked in and observed that the copper wire had not changed color and oxidized, and was newly tied to the tree in the past few days.

"Going to the interior of Africa, it is suggested that you can bring some copper or brass wire. Because the Bechuana tribe likes to use copper wire to make jewelry decorations, they are very willing to barter for copper wire at a high price." ①

Killer hunters have lived in Africa for a long time and may carry copper wire as a habit.And leaving a fancy knot on the tree, is some kind of marker.

what mark?

It is nothing more than related to the hunting and killing plan.

"There may be victims here."

Mary speculated, "The five missing people may have fled in all directions. Their physical strength is not enough to last a long time fleeing. Some people may look for a safe place to hide."

Lestrade also understood, "The murderer has found the hider, but if he is not in a hurry to kill, he will leave a mark. Make him hide for a few days in fear, and when the other party thinks he can survive, he will come out again and give him a hopeless blow." gun."

"Agent L, you are quite right."

Mary looked around. The dead leaves on the ground were messy, and there were no caves within sight. "Look for it, don't miss it on the ground or on the trees."

Search dogs are also on the move.

However, the heavy rain a few days ago interfered with the remaining breath, making it difficult to identify the smell.

"Wang-"

Half an hour later, the search dog barks again, barking at what appears to be an unremarkable area.

Is there something wrong here?

Looking down, there are no footprints on the ground; looking up, there is no one in the tree.

Mary walked towards the barking dog, there was a tree with a few people

Surrounded by big trees.The canopy is so big and dense that sunlight cannot penetrate the gaps between the leaves.

Close to the big tree, go around to its north, and saw a tree hole in the trunk.

About half a meter in diameter, when the kerosene lamp was lit and the tree hole extended to the ground.If a person is thin, he can barely get into the tree hole.

Then Mary sharply saw a curl of hair on the brown bark of the hole.

About 20 cm long, slightly curly, exactly the same color as the bark, also brown.

It's like Lydia's hair.

"Miss Lydia, are you in there?"

Mary held the kerosene lamp to illuminate the tree hole again, and smelled it carefully, she seemed to be able to smell a stench coming from the ground.

Not the smell of corpses, but the mixed smell of human excrement.

However, there was no response from the cave.

Just as Mary wanted to get in to find out, the next moment she heard "bang bang, bang bang" gunshots faintly sounded in the distance.

Not one shot, but several in succession.

"not good!"

Lestrade frowned, "One of the other two groups is likely to face the hunting killer head-on!"

Mary paused as she was about to enter the hole.

No way?Dear Mr. Holmes, luck can't be that good, can it?

The author has something to say: ①The source of the custom of copper wire, "How to Skin a Lion" by Claire Kirk Starkey