It was getting dark.
All three street lamps in the courtyard came on.
After Gu Liang brought the four older girls back to the inn, the girls were chattering, especially Li Xiaoyu, who had a very loud voice.
Yang Ye heard it, and immediately went downstairs to the courtyard.
Afterwards, several people surrounded the courtyard together, and first looked at the evidence brought from the homeless man.
Yang Ye squatted down and picked up the gun that Gu Liang brought.
Gu Liang stopped him: "Is your leg okay?"
"It's okay, skin trauma." Yang Ye picked up the gun, unloaded the magazine, and said, "This is a single-shot sniper rifle. The kind that can only fire one bullet at a time."
"But this doesn't look very professional. What's the range?" Gu Liang said.
"Try it, and then you'll know."
Yang Ye reloaded the magazine, loaded it, pointed the gun at the gate of the inn, took a look with the scope, and fired immediately.
The bullet burst out with a "swoosh", hit a garland hanging on the main gate of the courtyard, and flew into the distance with the garland.
Yang Yedao: "It's not a professional sniper rifle, but the range is estimated to be over 800 meters."
Having said that, Yang Ye unloaded the magazine again, and there was only one bullet left in it.
He took out the bullet and looked at it. There were strange lines engraved on the bullet, which looked like some kind of charm.
Furthermore, this bullet is slightly lighter than ordinary bullets.
Thinking of something, Yang Ye hopped on one foot and was about to head towards the bathroom.
Gu Liang stopped him: "What do you want? I'll get it."
Yang Ye said, "Bring some water here."
So Gu Liang found a basin and filled it with water.
Yang Ye threw the bullet into the water, knelt down and rubbed the bullet head vigorously with his fingernails.
The paint on the surface of the bullet slowly faded, revealing its original color—it turned out to be the color of wood.
Most of the bullet is the color of wood, only a part of the tail has metal.
And these logs look similar to those that Gu Liang scavenged from the hut of the homeless.
Gu Liang couldn't help asking: "Could it be that he made these bullets himself? Can wood be used as bullets?"
Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang and asked, "What exactly did you see over there?"
Gu Liang first told Yang Ye the state of the homeless man's death and the location of the gun.
Yang Ye thought for a while, then said: "Generally, the main materials of bullets are lead and copper. For those with stronger penetrating power, steel core bullets will be used. This kind of wood basically has no penetrating power. According to my estimation, if it If it penetrates the glass and then hits someone, it may not be fatal."
"Then what if you hit someone directly?" Gu Liang asked.
Yang Yedao: "Combined with this rifle, there is no problem in hitting people."
Yang Ye picked up the bullet and explained to everyone: "A bullet is generally composed of four parts, the bullet, the shell, the charge, and the detonator. When the bullet is fired, the detonator triggers the gunpowder and generates high pressure, forcing the projectile to be shot out of the gun. chamber. So you can see that the head of this bullet is not entirely made of wood, and the metal at the bottom should be used for heat insulation protection."
"Then the problem is that the bullet head of this bullet can combine wood and metal, which requires very high-end technology. His gun has a range of 800 meters and is professional enough. Therefore, this person can completely Make real bullets. Why does he have to use wood for the bullets?"
At this time, Li Xiaoyu put together a piece of torn paper and said, "Here is a letter!"
With a rather excited tone, Li Xiaoyu read the letter: "Old Qian, I finally made the bullet you wanted, and it was made of the wood you sent me. How about it, is it amazing?" ?”
"However, although I have tried to increase the density and strength of this kind of wood, it is not as good as steel after all, so the penetrating power of this kind of bullet is limited, and it is no problem to hit people, but if it is affected by other Solid blocks, it's not that bad—from researchers who like to do military R&D."
As mentioned by Liang Service before, this homeless man is called Qian Homeless.
Therefore, the "old money" mentioned in this letter should refer to the homeless.
After listening to Li Xiaoyu's words, Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang: "Just now, I didn't have time to search carefully for everyone's rooms, but after a general look, none of the rooms had bullet holes in the windows. This means that if someone really came from The tramp's thatched hut shoots the bell owner, it must be in room 301-304, and the windows of that room are wide open."
Gu Liang thought for a while, rummaged through a few plastic bags, and asked Li Xiaoyu, "Did you find anything outside the thatched cottage?"
"Oh yes, yes, it's very important." Li Xiaoyu took out a tattered Taoist robe, "I don't know if it belongs to a tramp. Is he a Taoist priest?"
For a while, no one answered.
After a while, Wang Guhui, Liang Service, and Jia's girlfriend all stood up and discussed going to each guest room together.
Li Xiaoyu blinked at Gu Liang and Yang Ye, and followed. "Hey, take me."
Wait for a few girls to leave one after another.
Gu Liang asked Yang Ye: "Okay, you can just say what you think."
Yang Yedao: "Isn't there a ghost in this story? According to common sense, the wood used to kill ghosts is mahogany. In addition to the clue of the Taoist robe - the homeless man may really be a Taoist priest. Then, this can explain that he used peach wood to make it. It's because of the bullet."
Gu Liang frowned and thought for a while, then said: "The tramp asked that military researcher to make this kind of bullet to kill ghosts. But in fact, this kind of bullet can also kill people. So when Boss Ling is a human being, he can also kill ghosts. was killed."
"In the current case, it seems that the homeless man killed Boss Ling and then committed suicide. But this is definitely not the truth. Otherwise, we don't have to solve the case, and we can just pay the money to go home."
"I'm inclined to think that someone killed the bum and shot Boss Bell."
Gu Liang paused, and continued: "But the bullet is made of wood, so the penetration is not strong, and you said that the window has no bullet holes, and the thatched house can only aim at rooms 301-304..."
"But I can't think of any, Boss Bell going to these guest rooms, opening the windows, waiting for the possibility of being shot. Unless—"
Yang Ye took Gu Liang's words. "Unless there are two murderers. For example, I stand on the first floor and ask you to open the window. I will show you something. When you open the window, the people on the other side of the lake shoot you. Or, I invite you to We discussed things in a certain room, and then I opened the window for reasons. In short, there should be two murderers, one is the person who induced Boss Bell to open the window, and the other is the person who carried out the shooting action. They must have made an appointment in advance .”
Yang Ye said again: "I know that I am not the murderer. You are fishing, so you can't rule it out. As for Tourist Jia, the mountain we went to in the morning is quite far away. I pushed him off the cliff, and it stands to reason that he should die .He won’t die, at least he will faint for a long time, he was seriously injured, and he didn’t crawl back until 5 pm, so he is also ruled out.”
"Then the murderer is among the remaining people. Li Xiaoyu, Wang Guyou, Liang Service, Huang Chef, and Jia's girlfriend are all possible."
What Gu Liang thought in his heart was—couldn't Mingyue lie to himself
He said he was one of the killers, he just didn't know who the other was.
Then, the truth may be like this—another real murderer killed the homeless man, and was going to kill Boss Bell. He made Mingyue let Boss Bell walk into a certain guest room at a certain point in some way, and let her push away window, causing her to be killed.
From the current point of view, people who have been to thatched cottages only have good services.
Could this solve the case and the murderer is Ming Yue and Liang Service
"Anyway, those girls just now were quite suspicious. So I didn't continue talking in front of them just now. Besides, there is one more thing, let me tell you first."
Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang, "Have you noticed that there is no mosquito coil in Boss Ling's room?"
The mountains are hot and humid, and there are a lot of insects and ants.
Gu Liang still remembers the day when he first came here, before he took two steps, he was bitten a lot on his neck. Fortunately, there was toilet water and mosquito repellent in the suitcase. After rubbing it on his body, Gu Liang's situation of being bitten by mosquitoes improved a lot in the past two days.
Besides, when he returned to the house in the past few nights, if the lights were turned on, Gu Liang must have closed the doors and windows tightly, and at most he would open the windows in the morning after getting up in the morning.
Gu Liang asked Yang Ye: "Have you checked Boss Ling's room, is there anything to repel mosquitoes?"
"No." Yang Ye said.
"Yes, I also remembered a detail. When I went to her place the night before, she was taking a shower..."
Before Gu Liang finished speaking, Yang Ye grabbed his wrist.
"—Cool cool?"
"Speak seriously." Gu Liang patted him on the shoulder, "When she was taking a shower, the door was ajar. Although logically speaking, people who understand the rules have to knock on the door to enter her room. But she How can we ensure that the tourists who come in are polite? What if we encounter hooligans like homeless people?"
"Her behavior of closing the door was very strange. Besides, as I recall now, the windows in her house were also partially closed."
"With the doors and windows ajar, it doesn't dissipate much heat, so when she takes a shower, the room is very humid and stuffy. I stayed there for a while and it became very stuffy. But she didn't respond at all."
Yang Ye thought for a while: "Not afraid of heat, not afraid of mosquito bites... Could it be that she is not a human, but a ghost?"
Thinking of something, Gu Liang held Yang Ye's arm: "Come, follow me."
Yang Ye smiled, put his arm on Gu Liang's shoulder, hopped on one foot, and followed him to the stilted building where the restaurant is located.
Gu Liang took Yang Ye to the kitchen.
"What are you doing here?" Yang Ye asked.
"If Boss Ling is really a ghost, then I have an idea."
Gu Liang said, "Burning the rhino horn can illuminate the Nether Pavilion and make ghosts appear... I think I know the reason why she has kept the doors and windows closed. Because she needs the rhino horn fragrance to penetrate into the house and maintain her human form all the time."
"Last night, I saw a fire burning on the stove in the kitchen, but logically no one would be eating at that time. Boss Ling also said that after dinner time, the chef won't be able to cook."
"Thinking about it now, is it possible that what is burning under the stove is not fire, but rhino horn incense?"
While saying this, Gu Liang and Yang Ye walked into the kitchen.
Even at this moment, the fire under the stove is still burning.
The two came to the back of the stove and found that there were not only a lot of straw piled up for fuel, but also a lot of square brick-like things beside it.
"What could these be?" Gu Liang picked up a piece and squeezed it, it felt like soap.
Seeing this, Yang Ye immediately took out the manual of the "Artificial Rhino Horn Incense" he had found earlier and handed it to Gu Liang.
After reading it, Gu Liang picked up the soap-like thing and smelled it: "When we were in the restaurant last night, Boss Ling showed us rhino horn incense. When she was sitting at the dining table, I smelled the fragrance. .It should be made of rhino horn that is ground into powder and spiced. But now this piece of artificial rhino horn incense has no taste.”
Yang Yedao: "So this may be Boss Ling's trick. The rhino horn incense she really burns is this artificial rhino horn incense, which is colorless and odorless. But what she showed us is a small and delicate incense burner with a fragrance. Natural rhino horn fragrance."
"In this way, no one will think that she is actually the real ghost illuminated by the rhinoceros horn."
"If this is the case, I can understand the reason why she burns rhino horn incense under the stove. Everyone thinks it is cooking, and they don't think that she is actually burning rhino horn. This is actually a deception."
Gu Liang frowned, "But in this way, there are two problems."
"First, she is in her own room, and she can find someone else to light the incense. Even if she takes the incense with her, she can say that it repels mosquitoes. There is still a distance between the kitchen and her room. It is too wasteful for her to do so. Yes. Is it necessary?"
"Secondly, Chef Huang should know about this, because he is burning rhinoceros horn incense for her. Does the beautiful service know—"
After Gu Liang raised these two questions, he already thought of the answer: "Chef Huang and Liang's service are also ghosts."
After carefully recalling the details of last night, Gu Liang's tone became a little more certain. "It's very likely that's the case. I opened the window at 11 o'clock last night, and just watched Chef Huang return to the room. Looking back on his actions now, he also gently closed the door, and it seemed that it was not closed tightly. He, the service, the boss, The doors and windows of the house of the three of them are always ajar, just to allow enough fragrance to penetrate in. They have developed a habit. Therefore, when the boss takes a shower, he also habitually does not close the door completely."
Yang Yedao: "It's very possible. There are many trees around the inn, and it is built on the mountain, so it can actually form a relatively airtight environment. Under the large stove in the kitchen, a sufficient amount of rhino horn incense is constantly burning. , can cover the entire inn, make all the ghosts here appear, and maintain the human form."
"If you want to keep the incense burning, you need enough fuel. That's why they have so many straws here. Well, it can be explained."
Thinking of something, Gu Liang walked out of the kitchen, "Now, I have to talk to Liang Service."
When I went out and walked to the corridor, I happened to see the waiter Liang rummaging for things in the courtyard.
Gu Liang stopped her: "Can you come over and have a chat?"
Liang service looked around, but still came over: "We just found a lot of things. Every customer is not as simple as it seems. Do you want to go and have a look?"
Gu Liang reckoned that what Liang found at the service were all related to motives.
He decided to check it out later, he wanted to verify his and Yang Ye's imagination first.
Gu Liang asked Liang's service: "At 2:30 this afternoon, I saw you go to the other side of the lake through the stone bridge. But I didn't see you come back. How did you come back?"
The waiter Liang said, "I know there is another way, but it's just farther away."
"Did you take a long detour, or is it because... you are a ghost?" Gu Liang asked.
Liang Service's complexion changed obviously.
Gu Liang said: "Before you were in the inn, you were stained with enough incense, so you showed your shape. Is it possible that you actually returned along the original road. It's just that you stayed on the opposite mountain for a while, and you lost the rhino horn incense. Infected by you, so you didn’t show up, and you returned to the inn in the form of a ghost. That’s why I didn’t see you.”
Liang service looks very frustrated.
Gu Liang asked again: "The side mission failed?"
The waiter Liang frowned: "Okay, I admit it. I am a ghost. Chef Huang and I are both ghosts. Our Huangquan Inn is run by ghosts. But let me tell you, I am definitely not the only one who has problems. Girlfriend Jia, Wang It's weird to be withdrawn, and they don't have to be human."
"There is also Zhao Meili who came with you. There are a lot of poison and knives in her suitcase. Now we can't see the body, and we can't be sure whether Boss Ling was poisoned to death. Everyone is suspicious."
After saying this, the waiter Liang turned around and went downstairs. "I continued to search for evidence in the yard."
Gu Liang and Yang Ye glanced at each other, and they immediately walked to the room next to the back kitchen—the room where Chef Huang lived.
The two of them rummaged through, first finding a lot of scraps of paper from the closet, under the bed, and trash cans.
Put these scraps of paper together to form a letter.
Gu Liang's first feeling when he saw this letter was that the word was too ugly, crooked, even worse than a child.
However, he didn't care about how ugly the word was for the time being, so he focused on checking the content first.
"I know you have always wanted to kill Boss Bell. You just need to cooperate with my plan, and I will help you."
"Today, these tourists will go to various scenic spots. Hua Xuechang and Zhao Meili go fishing, Jia Tourist goes mountain climbing, Wang Guyou and Jia's girlfriend go to Beilin. Therefore, they basically don't stay in the room during the day."
"Between 2:30pm and 4:00pm, please confirm in advance whether these rooms are really empty. If so, take the opportunity to ask Boss Bell to any of the vacant rooms in 301-304, and open the room windows. Leave the rest to me.”
This letter was indeed in line with his and Yang Ye's reasoning just now.
After reading it, Gu Liang inevitably thought of Mingyue's words again.
"Brother Liang, this time, I am one of the murderers."
"This case is special. I am not the only murderer. I don't know who the other murderer is."
If Mingyue didn't lie, then what he said and this evidence can also echo each other.
He received such a letter, and indeed invited Boss Ling to a certain guest room at that time.
But as for who shot and killed Boss Bell in the end, he didn't know.
Gu Liang couldn't help thinking—then, maybe because the evidence pointing to Chef Huang was so obvious, Mingyue felt that there was no need to hide it, so she confessed to herself directly
Yang Ye put away the pieces of paper and said to Gu Liang: "So it was probably Chef Huang who opened the window and tricked Boss Ling into the guest room. Then, after Boss Bell was shot, who was the one who took her to the woods? If not If three people committed the crime, it should be Chef Huang."
Gu Liang frowned, took a piece of paper from Yang Ye's hand to check, and couldn't help sighing again that the word was too ugly.
Gu Liang asked Yang Ye: "What do you think of these words?"
Yang Yedao: "It may be written by the left hand, for fear of revealing the handwriting."
Gu Liang thought about the whole process, and couldn't help saying: "So now it is conjectured that there are two murderers. Chef Huang is one of them. He arranged for Boss Ling at a certain empty place between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Guest room, at this time, another murderer shot and killed Boss Bell in the thatched house on the other side of the lake, and he should have killed the homeless man beforehand. After Boss Bell died, he wiped off the blood that might be in the house, and took her to the woods. It should still be Chef Huang."
Gu Liang continued: "I have been to the other side of the lake between 2:30 and 4:00, and all I know is the good service."
"Again, look at the content of this letter. The person who wrote the letter clearly knows where we tourists are going. Since last night, the person who has been recommending us to travel... is still a good service."
Yang Ye recalled Liang Service's performance last night, and indeed felt that her reaction was very unusual.
"Liang service also said yesterday that she would introduce the surrounding attractions to everyone. You can listen to her introduction."
This sentence was said by Boss Ling before he left with Tourist Jia.
"If you don't go out to play, I'm really sorry to come here. It's a pity not to see the dead relatives, but it's a pity to miss the good scenery."
This sentence is said when the service is enthusiastically recommending attractions.
In fact, Yang Ye thought about it at that time, these scenic spots do not charge any fees, and she would not be able to get a commission for what she was selling so enthusiastically.
Now combined with this letter, what she did was indeed a little deliberate.
——She specially asked the tourists to go to the scenic spots, so that she could ask Chef Huang to invite Boss Ling to an empty guest room, and then go to the other side of the lake to finish the shooting.
Gu Liang's voice sank slightly, and said: "Finally, if you want to write this letter with your left hand because you are afraid of being exposed, that person must be an acquaintance of Chef Huang. Chef Huang is unlikely to be familiar with the handwriting of these tourists. He is afraid of being recognized because of his beautiful service that he gets along day and night."
Yang Ye frowned: "Could it be that the person who shot was really a good service? From all aspects, she is very suspicious."
Gu Liang said: "I don't know. She didn't admit that she entered the homeless man's house today. Next, I don't know how the homeless man's secret room murder was formed."
Yang Ye: "Ghosts can walk through walls, right? It doesn't matter if the door is locked."
Gu Liang: "We have to read the script setting to find out. We have to continue to look for evidence."
At this time, Yang Ye took out his card and glanced at the time. "It's unlikely that the case will be solved so quickly."
"I also think it's weird." Gu Liang thought for a while, and finally told Yang Ye what Mingyue told him.
Yang Ye frowned even more after hearing this. "How was his relationship with you before?"
Gu Liangdao: "As for ordinary classmates, we sometimes meet each other when we go to the reading library, or during various competitions. During the first year of high school, we often discussed various solutions to some difficult problems together. But after I went to the liberal arts department in the second year of high school, I didn't have much contact with them. Yes. When I went to college, it was only because of occasional emails.”
Yang Ye asked him: "The specific frequency of sending emails?"
Gu Liang thought for a while: "It's my birthday, or other major holidays, I will receive his emails. Then I will reply."
Yang Ye felt something was wrong, and looked at Gu Liang seriously: "He even remembers your birthday? Generally, boys are not so meticulous. I don't think he will treat you—"
Gu Liang understood what Yang Ye meant, and immediately shook his head and said, "Impossible. You think everyone is gay like you."
"It doesn't matter if you're gay or not. You don't know how attractive you are."
Yang Ye's unconscious praise of Gu Liang made Gu Liang feel a little embarrassed.
Gu Liang raised his eyelids, stared at Yang Ye for a moment, and then said with certainty: "It's really impossible."
Yang Yedao: "How are you sure? You are not very sensitive to such things."
"Because..." Gu Liang looked at Yang Ye, finally raised the corner of his mouth, and said, "Because you were right before. For example, the script I went to by myself, I... I really miss you a little bit."
"Then it's the script of the last castle. When I thought something happened to you, I—"
"In short, he must not be what you think. We rarely even saw each other after freshman year of high school. After I graduated from high school, I haven't seen him once for nearly ten years. The last time I saw him was his funeral. "
"If I remember correctly, Mingyue has always been very popular because he is very considerate in his work. Then it is not surprising that he can remember the birthdays of each classmate and send greetings politely. At his funeral, many classmates attended, it can be seen His popularity is good."
What Gu Liang expressed was actually very cryptic.
But Yang Ye understood.
Yang Ye smiled and embraced Gu Liang's waist. "I understand. What you mean is that if he likes you, he can't see you for nearly ten years. And you, you like me, you want to stay by my side all the time, and you are not willing to leave me for half a step. "
Gu Liang clapped his hands away. "Let's talk about business. Let's continue to search in this room. I still want to see what is the motive of Chef Huang. After leaving his room, I just happened to go to the room next to Liang's service to take a closer look."
After saying that, Gu Liang continued to search for evidence in the house.
While searching, he asked Yang Ye: "By the way, there is one more thing I forgot to ask, so in this script, your murderous intent is aimed at Tourist Jia?"
"Yes. My target is Tourist Jia, and it has nothing to do with Boss Ling." Yang Ye said, "Actually, I went to see Boss Ling last night in the early hours of the morning. My role, since the first time I saw her in this inn, I have been I think she is very familiar, and I don't know if it is love at first sight... Anyway, I fell in love with her quickly."
"When I was looking for her last night, I proposed to be with her. She rejected me, saying that she likes Tourist Jia."
"That's why I jogged a tourist this morning to climb the mountain and pushed him off the cliff just to get rid of him."
"The character design of my character is the one that does whatever it takes to achieve my goal. If you go to my room later, you can see some clues, such as how I dealt with my opponents in the mall before."
After listening to Yang Ye's words, Gu Liang frowned: "It's a bit strange."
"What's strange?" Yang Ye asked him.
Gu Liangdao: "My character also fell in love with Boss Ling at first sight. Especially she has a tattoo on her waist, which is exactly the same as my ex-girlfriend."
Yang Ye couldn't help asking: "What kind of tattoo? My wife also has tattoos on her lower back."
Gu Liang was originally squatting and flipping through Chef Huang's bedside table. Hearing this, he couldn't help but stand up and look at Yang Ye: "Did your wife have the tattoo all along, or did it come later?"
Yang Yedao: "We got married seven years ago. About a year and a half ago, she suddenly got a tattoo on her waist."