This bloody and horrifying scene in the middle of the night was extremely visually impactful. I felt my legs go limp and I sat down on the ground. Lin Yingxue was also pale at this time, and her voice became a little trembling. She stepped forward to feel Master Liu's pulse, and after confirming that Master Liu was completely dead, she said, "Ji Jiwen, what on earth is going on?"
I have to admit that the two horrible corpses made me lose some of my ability to think. I tried to stand up and calm myself down. I didn't want to look at the tragic death of Master Liu. I turned to Lin Yingxue and said, "Call Officer Yang first and ask him to find the village chief to come together. Before daybreak, we must try to suppress this matter and make plans after Uncle Bai comes!"
It is hard for me to imagine what the villagers would feel if they saw that Master Liu, whom they regarded as a god and savior, had also died. In any case, by then, the situation would definitely be beyond our control.
Lin Yingxue understood the seriousness of the matter and immediately turned around to call Officer Yang. After a few minutes of psychological buffering and a little adaptation to the two bodies in front of me, I walked forward to take a closer look to see if I could find any clues.
No one knew why, but in Master Liu's room, there were only two candles lit in front of the altar, and most of the candles had burned out. Behind the altar was the body of Li Jianmin, which was placed there by Master Liu. Two meters in front of the altar, which was also relatively close to the window, was where Master Liu was hanged.
The rope used to hang Liu Zhenren was a thick hemp rope commonly seen in rural areas. One end was hung around Liu Zhenren's neck, the rope was wrapped around the beam, and the other end was held in the hand of Zhang Guozhong's corpse. If you look closely, the other end is actually fixed on the armrest of the rocking chair. If it was only in Zhang Guozhong's hand, Liu Zhenren would have fallen down long ago.
Master Liu had already changed into plain clothes at this time. It seemed that my guess was correct, he was indeed ready to escape. His plain clothes looked very wrinkled and untidy, and it was obvious that he must have struggled violently before his death.
It seems that Master Liu has not been dead for very long. The purple-black color on his face has not faded yet, which makes him look particularly creepy. His wide-open eyes seem to tell me that he died with his eyes open. And sure enough, I found a mark on his throat that was the same as the one on the back of my neck!
Seeing such a mark, I actually felt a sense of relief in my heart. After all, if there was such a mark, it would mean that the murderer had always been the same person, and it was not the "Zhang Guozhong's corpse killing" that I saw before my eyes.
Looking at Zhang Guozhong sitting in the rocking chair, if I hadn't seen a bloody hole in his throat with dried blood, I would have thought that the person sitting here was alive. Zhang Guozhong had a strange smile on his face. Although I knew that smile was definitely deliberately arranged by the murderer, it was still a bit scary when I saw it. I guess anyone who sees a dead person looking at themselves with a smile on his face would feel very uncomfortable.
I already know the general situation. As for the cause of death and the clues that cannot be identified by the naked eye at the scene, let's wait until Bai Qi comes with the forensic doctor in the morning. Now that I am at Master Liu's house again, I have to take a good look at what secrets are hidden in this house.
I first took a rough look around the bedroom and kitchen to make sure that there was no one hiding in the house. Now everything is clear. There must be a passage or secret passage in this house that no one else knows about. Otherwise, the murderer would never have been able to escape under our noses.
Thinking of this, I immediately rushed into the kitchen and bedroom, moved away everything that could cover the walls and the ground, and searched bit by bit. While I was searching, Officer Yang and the village chief also rushed over in a panic.
After Officer Yang entered the house, he saw Master Liu hanging in the air. It was obvious that even the experienced officer felt a little scared. He asked Lin Yingxue what happened. The village chief was so frightened by the scene that he immediately fell to the ground in tears. He struggled to crawl outside while crying, "It must be that thousand-year-old female ghost coming for revenge. It must be like this! We are all going to die, no one can escape!"
I was very sensitive to the word "revenge" from the village chief's mouth. When I was about to go forward to ask him, the village chief suddenly stood up, turned around and ran away. His speed was definitely as fast as some athletes. Even Lin Yingxue couldn't catch up with him. From a distance, I could hear the village chief shouting "Everyone run for your lives" and so on. He must have been heard by the whole village.
Originally we wanted to suppress this matter, but who knew the village chief would suddenly react like this. It looks like we can’t keep it secret anymore. I guess we’ll encounter a lot of trouble before Bai Qi comes.
Officer Yang and Lin Yingxue began to examine the body, but I didn't have time to join in and continued looking for the secret passage that must exist. Finally, when I accidentally walked to the side of the altar, I suddenly discovered that the blue brick floor under my feet seemed to be hollow!
I knocked gently again to make sure there was something fishy going on inside, then I moved the altar away and found a handle on the blue brick floor below. Just as I was about to pull it open, Officer Yang stopped me, reached out and pulled out his gun, aiming it at the tunnel, and Lin Yingxue stepped forward to pull it open.
The handle was connected to a stone slab of about one square meter. After the stone slab was pulled open, it was pitch black inside and it was impossible to see what was going on. Officer Yang took out a flashlight and shone it inside. The secret passage was not very deep, just enough for Officer Yang to stand up straight. Then Officer Yang jumped down and took the lead to walk inside.
Lin Yingxue and I followed closely behind. Although there were two people accompanying me, I was still a little worried that something might happen when walking in this unknown secret passage. If the murderer did not leave at all and was hiding in the secret passage, it would be too easy for him to harm us.
After walking forward for about 20 to 30 meters, Officer Yang in front of me had reached the end. I looked around carefully with the help of the flashlight and found that above Officer Yang's head, there was a bluestone slab of the same size as the entrance. I thought it must be the exit of the secret passage.
Officer Yang also noticed this, reached out and pushed the bluestone slab above his head, then jumped up. Lin Yingxue and I followed closely behind him. After I walked out of the secret passage, I found that we were in the small room similar to a warehouse that I had discovered hidden behind Master Liu's house. It was full of sundries and firewood.
Now everything is clear. The murderer must have sneaked into Liu Zhenren's home from this small warehouse, killed Liu Zhenren without anyone noticing, disguised himself as Zhang Guozhong, and finally left calmly from this secret passage! At the same time, it also explains why Liu Zhenren appeared in the village in the middle of the night!
"No wonder he was able to kill people under our surveillance. It turns out that Master Liu's family has such a secret passage. If he had told us earlier, he might not have died so miserably."
Lin Yingxue looked at the small warehouse and sighed, while Officer Yang also found a bundle in a corner of the warehouse. When he opened the bundle, he saw that it was full of money. Judging from the varying degrees of dispersion of the money, it should be the "exorcism fee" that the villagers gave to Master Liu.
"This Master Liu is indeed planning to escape. He even left the money here in advance. Let's catch his wife and interrogate her when daybreak comes. There must be many things they are not telling us." Officer Yang seemed to have given up struggling and placed all his hopes on Bai Qi when daybreak arrived.
"Wait, run away?"
A light bulb went off in my mind, and something that I hadn't thought of yesterday suddenly appeared in my mind again. I immediately rushed out of the small warehouse and looked forward along the only road in front of Master Liu's house. At this time, a large number of villagers were gathering here. It can be seen that the advertising effect shouted by the village chief is still very useful, and most people are ready to come and watch the fun.
I looked along the road in front of the small warehouse, but there was no one coming along this road, and I was very familiar with this road!
"So that's how it is. I understand. Everything makes sense now. But how did he do that? How did he do it?"
After figuring everything out, I suddenly felt that my brain was working very well. But at the same time, the feeling of accelerated blood flow made me very uncomfortable, and I couldn't help but squat on the ground.
"Ji Wen, what's wrong with you? Did you think of something?" Perhaps Officer Yang saw that I was worried at the moment, and hurried forward to ask. Lin Yingxue also took out a tissue and handed it to me, letting me wipe the sweat off my forehead.
I took the tissue and didn't say anything, because now I basically understood what was going on, but I was missing the most crucial step. As long as I figured out this step, all the mysteries would be solved.
Seeing that I didn't say anything, Lin Yingxue was a little confused, and Officer Yang smiled and said, "Don't disturb him, let him think about it. He must have thought of the answer, and maybe he can really solve the case before Chief Bai arrives, hehe."
As he was talking, Officer Yang's stomach suddenly growled a few times. Officer Yang looked embarrassed and said, "Ah, it's only a little after five o'clock and I'm already hungry. My appetite has also increased since I came here."
Lin Yingxue at the side said with a smile: "We have all been up all night without eating. If we don't eat, we will naturally feel hungry."
Lin Yingxue's unintentional words made me feel like I saw a beam of light in the darkness, and I found the clue to the answer! I immediately took out my phone and called Bai Longfei's cell phone, asked Bai Longfei to give the phone to Bai Qi, and then asked Bai Qi to help me check something. Ten minutes later, when Bai Qi called me back and told me the content of the investigation, I suddenly felt relieved. Everything was exactly the same as my speculation!
"It is just as it is! It turns out that we were wrong from the very beginning!"