Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

"I see that the man in black seems to be very familiar with the terrain around here. When he was running away, he used the terrain to hide himself several times, and he saw me make a move. Could it be someone from Wugu Village? Or did he escape on purpose? Xiangwugu Village is actually a conspiracy?" Mu Liuyun now always feels that there are conspiracies everywhere.

"It's hard to say, maybe it was to make you think he was from Wuguzhai, or maybe it was because you chased him in a panic, so he fled to the place he is most familiar with in order to hide." Zhang Chi did not jump to conclusions, "You chased that When you were the man in black, did you see any characteristics of the other party?"

"I only know it's a man with a medium build, but I can't see anything else."

While talking, Mu Liuyun followed Zhang Chi to the prison. Bai Ling was still tied up by Wuhuada, and he fell to the ground with his eyes fixed on the ground, his expression frozen in pain and disbelief. The fatal wound was also his throat cut. His clothes were ripped off.

Xu felt that it was unsightly. Someone covered the corpse with an old robe, and the middle part of the robe was soaked with blood.

"This is definitely murder." Zhang Chi said, "Before I was not sure whether Bai Ling poisoned the people in the Shangqing Palace because of her own personal grievances, or an organized and premeditated act. Now I can be sure. , the murder that day must have been instigated by someone, and now the murderer is her accomplice."

"How do you know that the murderer must be her accomplices, not her enemies?" Ma Guangyi still didn't quite trust Zhang Chi's judgment.

"If the purpose of the man in black was just to kill, there is no need to take the cloth ball stuffed in her mouth. The man took the stuffed stuff out of her mouth first so that he could ask questions. Bai Ling thought the other party was The one who came to save her, so he cooperated and didn't shout. Unexpectedly, after the other party finished asking, the killer cut her throat, and before she died, he cruelly dug out a piece of flesh from her chest. "

"But...why do you do this?" Mu Liuyun really couldn't understand how his accomplices could be so cruel. Not only did they not take the opportunity to save people, but they also tortured and killed a woman who had lost the power to resist.

"In order to cover up her identity." Zhang Chi explained to Mu Liuyun, "Because we came by coincidence, he ran away in a hurry before finishing this matter, so he left us this crucial clue. I've already seen it, there is a red tattoo on the place where Bai Ling's chest was dug out, which is the symbol of the Red Lotus Sect."

Ma Guangyi's eyes widened: "You mean, that flame-like tattoo is the symbol of the Red Lotus Sect?"

"It's not wrong. People with a certain status in the Red Lotus Sect will be tattooed with such a pattern. This kind of vermilion tattoo must be stabbed with a special potion. Currently, only the Red Lotus Sect does this. It is impossible for others to counterfeit this kind of potion, so Bai Ling must be a member of the Red Lotus Sect, and the person who killed her must not want us to know this."

Ma Guangyi said bitterly: "It turned out to be an evil cult, no wonder this woman is so sinister and vicious, my second brother's death, the Red Lotus Sect also had a part."

"Things are getting more and more complicated." Zhang Chi sighed, "Now that Bai Ling is dead, we can't find any other clues from the body, but we were busy hunting Bai Ling before, and we haven't searched for her carefully yet. Let’s go and have a look at the residence before someone has tampered with it.”

Mu Liuyun nodded, and Ma Guangyi said: "Then I won't send the two of you away. The evildoer of the Red Lotus Sect killed my second brother, and also killed the brothers in my village. This Liangzi is settled. In the future, the two will be together." If you need to deal with the Red Lotus Sect, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

"Definitely." Zhang Chi bowed his hands to him as a farewell, took a torch handed over by a bandit, and under the watchful eyes of Ma Guangyi, he and Mu Liuyun left Heilongzhai.

***

When I came to Wuguzhai again, the sky was already a little dark, and Mu Liuyun saw Zhang Chi walking in a daze, almost hitting a tree, and said worriedly: "You haven't slept all night, do you want to rest for a while? "

"Ah? No, no need, I'm fine, I'm just thinking about something." Zhang Chi shook his hands again and again, "You don't have to worry about me. When I was marching and fighting, it was common for me not to sleep for two or three days in a row. I don't mind."

Mu Liuyun looked at him in confusion, not understanding why Zhang Chi was so keen on this matter, but since the other party was so persistent, he didn't say anything more.

They first went to the room where Mu Liuyun lost track of the man in black last night.

In fact, Mu Liuyun is not very good at remembering the way. The reason why he still found this place is because last night was not his first time here. Even though it was dark, he still recognized that it was Granny Gu's residence.

When Zhang Chi took him to find this place again, the house had been empty for a long time, and Granny Gu had disappeared. Zhang Chi lit a torch and searched carefully, but did not find any valuable clues. Granny Gu seemed to have evaporated from the world. Again, no traces remained.

A villager who got up early saw them, and soon Adamu heard the news and asked, "Didn't you go after Bai Ling yesterday, did you catch her?"

"We caught her, but if we didn't pay attention, she was silenced." Zhang Chi said, "Does Chief Adamu know that she is a member of the Red Lotus Sect?"

"Really, even she believes in the Red Lotus Sect?" Adamu said in surprise, "I don't usually see her doing anything."

"She is not an ordinary believer, but a spiritual girl of the Red Lotus Sect. She has a tattoo of the Red Lotus Sect on her chest." Zhang Chi looked at the other party suspiciously, "Does the leader of Adamu really know nothing about it?"

"How would I know? If I knew, I would have kicked her out of the village a long time ago." Adamu said angrily, "I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, our village is so poor and dilapidated now, three or four of the ten families have gone to the village. It was harmed by the Red Lotus Sect. Many people ran to believe in the Great God of Holy Fire. I have drawn all my relatives and friends to join the sect. I wondered before whether the secret emissaries of the Red Lotus Sect had sneaked into our village. On the surface, everyone knew that the Red Lotus Sect was not a good thing, and I made a rule not to allow them to Chinese people believe in that cult, but there are still many people who are fascinated by the Red Lotus Sect for some reason."

Zhang Chi said: "It seems that Chief Adamu doesn't like the Red Lotus Sect very much."

"I'm getting old, and I've seen a lot of things. Some of us Miao people believe in Chiyou, some believe in Nuwa God, some believe in Vulcan God Zhurong, and some follow the Han people's belief in Buddhism. What do we believe in? I can’t say what is bad to believe in. I only know that it is good to teach people to be kind and let people live a good life. It is definitely not a good thing to make people go crazy and ruin their families. But if people are really fascinated, you just say He won't listen to anything."

Zhang Chi saw that his expression did not seem to be fake, so he said to him: "Then you have to pay attention, I think there may be a member of the Red Lotus Sect hiding in Wugu Village, the black-clothed man who killed Bai Ling yesterday It's here that people lose their tracks."

"What's going on?" Adamu's eyes widened in astonishment.

Zhang Chi briefly told Adamu about yesterday's situation, and then asked, "Brother Mu chased here yesterday, and Granny Gu was no longer here. Does Chief Adamu know her whereabouts?"

Adamu shook his head: "Grandma Gu seldom goes out. I'll ask the villagers to look for it later, but judging by the situation, I probably won't be able to find her."

Zhang Chi nodded, and asked again: "After Bai Ling escaped, has anyone entered her room?"

"At that time, poisonous powder was scattered everywhere in the house. In order to prevent people from being accidentally poisoned, I locked the door with a chain. Later, everyone was busy killing poisonous bees, so I didn't pay attention to whether anyone entered."

When the three came to Bai Ling's residence, Adamu opened the lock and said, "This kind of poisonous powder is not very powerful. Be careful not to get it on your hands, don't get it in your eyes, and don't inhale too much, and you'll be fine."

After opening the door, Zhang Chi took a look and came to a conclusion: "Someone has been here."

The ground was evenly covered with a layer of light yellow fine powder, which was the ash formed by the explosive poisonous powder falling to the ground. There were several clearly visible footprints on the powder, and there was still a burning smell in the room. There were several burnt clothes and a quilt with one corner burned off in the corner.

"It seems that the man in black came to this room yesterday after killing Bai Ling, or before he went to kill Bai Ling. Judging by the direction of his toes, the man climbed in through the window. He should have taken it from the house. For some key evidence, I even tried to set fire to the house, but unfortunately the fire was not professional enough, and the people left too hastily, and the fire was extinguished halfway through by itself - God helped me." Zhang Chi tore a piece of clothes bag In his hand, he began to carefully search through the objects in the house.

Mu Liuyun watched from the side in puzzlement: "Since you know that they have already taken away the evidence, what else did you find?"

Zhang Chi said with a smile: "Maybe that person didn't do things carefully and left some clues. If there is really nothing left, there is no need for him to set this fire."

Adamu also strongly agreed, and followed Zhang Chi to search for suspicious objects, but apart from some poisons that can be seen everywhere in Miaojiang, nothing special was found in Bai Ling's house. Adamu had given up, but Zhang Chi said : "Excuse me, help me move this cabinet away."

"What's wrong with this cabinet?" Adamu asked puzzled.

"Look, under the other furniture there is dust that hasn't been swept for years, but the bottom of this cabinet is clean. It's so unusual."

"It's a good thing you can even notice such a place." Adamu admired this young man a little bit.

He and Zhang Chi lifted the cabinet away, and sure enough, they saw a secret door on the ground. Zhang Chi lit a candle, and took the lead to go down.