A quarter later in the afternoon, Nancheng District.
Li Xing and Zhao Dahai found a tea stall on the street to temporarily avoid the sun above their heads.
This was when the sun was at its strongest, and the dirt on the streets was whitened; there were no clouds in the sky, and there was no shadow on the ground for everyone to take shelter from. The people who live here take naps and enjoy the coolness, so that the figures of people passing by on the road are much diluted.
"Sir, would you like to drink something? There is plain water, herbal tea, sour plum soup and sesame soup."
"Just regular tea."
"Okay, I'll bring it to you right now!"
"Huh... it's really not that easy to find." Zhao Dahai shook his collar, "The evil spirits cases happened more than ten years ago, and even going to the scene would not be of much help. Besides, the places where evil spirits appear do not represent the East China Sea. Help the person who happened to be killed there. That kid thought it was too simple."
"We just need to try our best. As for the outcome, we can't control it." Li Xing smiled lightly, "But your apprentice's method is quite original. It uses the distribution of evil events to trace the source of abnormal deaths. Ordinary people really Unexpected."
"He has nothing but a lot of ideas." Zhao Dahai picked up the green tea and drank most of it in one breath.
"I'm a little concerned," Li Xing looked at the row of buildings across the street, "Generally speaking, how many people have to die in vain to make the aura of gathering strong enough to become enchanting?"
"Well... it mainly depends on whether the mood swings are big or not, and it also has a certain relationship with who dies." Zhao Dahai smacked his lips, "But in general, a dozen people are still needed, and sometimes a few dozen people are not enough. Strange."
More than a dozen people... If we add the number of evil spirits cases, we get a lot of money.
"That's strange. It's not like this place can handle more than a hundred people without being discovered." After some visits, they have narrowed the scope to the junction of Zhengshou Street and Wangfu Street in the south of the city. This area happened to be involved in four cases of evil spirits, so the suspicion was the highest. The layout of the houses is connected to the left and right, and lined up along both sides of the street. It can be said that it is extremely regular when you look at it.
Most of the first floors of the houses are shops, pawn shops, and wine shops, and the upper floors are residences. It doesn't look like they can accommodate a gang.
As for the luxurious mahogany house in front of the tea stall, it occupies a large area, but it is actually made up of two buildings, with the brothel on the left and the inn on the right. Together, the two occupy about half of Wangfu Street, and they are three stories tall. They look majestic.
It's just that it's really just a brothel and an inn. The two of them walked around the building and didn't find anything strange at all.
"Indeed." Zhao Dahai agreed, "The inn is okay. I am very familiar with the brothel. It is much more lively at night than during the day. Moreover, both of them are open to welcome guests, and there are all kinds of people. How could he kill hundreds of people in fifteen years and still make no noise. Unless..."
"Unless what?" Li Xing asked quickly.
Although the other party is unattractive and seems ordinary, he is the master who is directly responsible for his superiors. From the outside, he might just be hiding his clumsiness.
"Unless they chop the person up and send him to the kitchen."
"Pfft—" Li Xing just drank the tea at his mouth and spit out, "Your idea is really... too sensational."
"I think the guys from the Donghai Gang can do it." Zhao Dahai spread his hands and said, "I have traveled to many places, and I can't see any weird things in this world."
"But we need to pay attention to evidence when handling the case. What's more, what we want to investigate is not the opponent's methods, but the hiding place of a gang." Li Xing smiled helplessly, "How about we walk around these two streets a few times and see Let’s see what we can find?”
"That's all." Zhao Dahai took out two copper plates and slapped them on the table. "Maybe when we go back, there will be clues on the other side."
They walked out of the tea stall and headed west along the long street. When they were halfway to Wangfu Street, Li Xing stopped suddenly.
Something is wrong.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Li Xing did not answer immediately, but turned his head and looked at the other end of the street. After a moment, he said, "Is this street... so long?"
"Long? Is it okay?" Zhao Dahai scratched his head, "Isn't it just an ordinary dirt road?"
"Why do I feel like it's getting longer..."
"Hey, don't scare me. It's broad daylight now. Even if ghosts build walls, they can't build them on the road -"
"That's not what I meant." Li Xing waved his hand, "When I say lengthening, I mean lengthening in a literal sense. It has nothing to do with evil spirits."
"Then do you know how long it was originally?" Zhao Dahai asked curiously.
"have no idea."
"I don't know how to compare? Are you fainted by the sun?"
"I made the comparison based on this house." Li Xing turned and walked towards the tea stall.
Zhao Dahai had no choice but to follow.
Returning to the tea stall, the waiter showed an eager smile, "Sir, do you want anything to drink?"
Li Xing ignored the other party, crossed the street directly, and started walking between the brothel and the inn.
This time, he walked extremely slowly.
When the shadow of the third floor disappeared under his feet, Li Xing stopped.
"Any questions?"
"Let's go back to the brothel again."
Zhao Dahai sighed, "You have to tell me what you are looking for, right?"
"I'm not looking for anything, but measuring my steps." Li Xing explained.
"Step count?"
"That's right, I've been in this business for a long time, and I'm used to using the number of steps to estimate distances. Sometimes even if I don't deliberately count, I'll have a rough idea in my head." He paused, "But just now we were crossing It doesn’t seem like we’ve gone that far when it comes to this house.”
"Didn't... go that far?" Zhao Dahai frowned.
"It could also be an illusion, so I'm going to walk again."
The two of them entered the brothel door and walked straight upstairs. It's not yet business hours, and there are only a few customers in the lobby who want to grab the top spot, but no one cares about their coming and going.
The second floor is a straight road with stairs at both ends and wing rooms on the left and right. It only took ten breaths for Li Xing to walk from one end to the other.
It became increasingly obvious that something was wrong.
Here he took only one hundred and nine steps.
But on the street, he had to walk a full 117 steps to reach the edge of the house!
After that comes the inn.
And the result is the same!
When Li Xing stopped on the side of the stairs against the wall, the number of steps was more than ten steps less than outside.
Adding up the two sides, the distance is about twenty steps, almost as wide as a wine shop.
"What... is going on?" Zhao Dahai was also a little confused. From the outside, he saw that the two stores were obviously close to each other. Even if the wooden wall is thick, it cannot be deviated by twenty steps!
Is there something else going on inside this house