A woman's body was found in an abandoned temple on the edge of the city.
Horrifying news spreads like wildfire. The corpse was discovered by a vegetable farmer delivering fruits and vegetables in the early morning. He went to the city to report the matter to the police, and then spread the news throughout the streets through the morning market. After passing through the mouths of countless people, in just one morning, the version of the story will be all kinds of strange. But without exception, the woman's face was completely scratched and her original appearance was completely unrecognizable.
"She's a crazy girl." The landlady sighed while pouring tea, "Oh, what a pity. The girl was originally very beautiful, but she married from afar. Her husband was sick and the family originally wanted to marry him, so they decided to marry her. The day... he fell ill and died that day. As soon as the girl came, her husband's family beat her up and kicked her out of the house, saying that she had ordered Rick to live. It was the coldest month of winter and the home was far away, so a rich man pretended to be kind and took her back. , she was bullied. After that day she went crazy and turned into a beggar. We knew she was pitiful and often rewarded her with food. It’s a pity that at such a young age, she has unkempt hair and face every day. When we fetched water for her, she wouldn’t wash herself, so she insisted on Making trouble..."
"..." After hearing this story, Lin Shanhai said nothing. There are countless similar incidents in the world, so you can't blame him for being indifferent. But there are many things worth paying attention to in the whole story. Dai Luan and Mu Wan looked at each other, feeling strange.
It's not like they haven't seen this technique before. They even wanted to go to the government, in the name of claiming the body, to see if it was really the work of an acquaintance, as they thought.
But even though he was disgraced, he could still be targeted by that person... I quite admired his ability to read people.
Is "beauty" itself wrong? Will it cause disaster?
"Actually, I don't think I'm beautiful?" Dai Luan scratched her face, "Why did he attack me that day?"
"Be confident, Aluan is very beautiful." Mu Wan said seriously.
"I can only say that it's not ugly." Shanhai picked up the cup, "However, the reason why he attacked you may be because of your status as the princess. However, he did not encounter any trouble from other people along the way. It’s hard to say. Maybe it’s just a bounty placed under Dailuan City, and he found out about it.”
"Shan Hai." Mu Wan stared at him seriously, "Do you know why you are alone?"
"...What does this mean? Am I not a human being or a monster?"
"...Forget it, it's okay. Just pretend I didn't say that."
Shanhai felt that she was baffled.
But as to why the Laughing Wolf appears here, it is really strange. They were not sure who had arrived here first - they had just stopped at this inn yesterday, and the murder seemed to have happened last night. Could it be the same time? This seems too coincidental.
At first they thought that the Laughing Wolf was for the Demon Sealing Blade or Wa Jinhua. But Wa Jinhua has been refined into five tokens for the people of Death Shadow Pavilion, so it should be impossible. The Demon-Sealing Blade has some explanations. After all, Lord Shuangyue once appeared outside the Xueyan Valley not far from here. As for whether Lord Yingyue entrusted Zuojinmen with a request or what connection he had with the Laughing Wolf, they still had no way of knowing.
But the scariest thing is that he has his eyes on Yun Waijing.
Zuo Jinmen knew about Yun Waijing - after all, the wife and daughter of the head of the Xue Yan Sect died at their hands. At that time, it seemed that the Laughing Wolf was not the Laughing Wolf. This reputation spread from Zuo Renmen, so he should not have been involved. But now that he has entered the door, it is natural for him to become an insider. What's more, he is so strong - at least he can deduce Ye Yinlu's internal strength.
During the meal, more than one table was discussing the case. Everyone believed that this was the work of the Laughing Wolf, who was feared in the world. In addition, they also heard people talking about other things.
"A few business people died before, and now a beggar has died. Fortunately, we are still in the Central Plains. Does the government care about anything?"
"What? Did someone die before?"
"You don't know, I came from a neighboring city, and someone died there - he was also a businessman. But when I first came here, my partner who went to the business together told me that someone also died here, or... Businessmen - bad luck! Don't let others make money."
"Oh, I remembered. My second uncle also said that business people have been in bad luck recently, which has made people panic. This matter is not over yet, there is another case of the Laughing Wolf."
The three of them listened for a while and didn't say much. They just felt that it was not peaceful to return to the Central Plains. They went to the Lying Yamen in the afternoon and performed a play. Dai Luan could tell at a glance that it was indeed his method. After confirming that it was indeed the Laughing Wolf, they felt even more uneasy.
Misfortunes always come singly. Even if it wasn't a big deal that broke their muscles and bones, they were all lucky and didn't have any major problems - except, of course, Shi Wuqi and Miss Qi - although their matter also fell into the category of causing headaches. . The little things that worry you are piled up one after another and form a tower. Although they can't do anything to you, they still make you feel heart-wrenching and uncomfortable, and you don't know when to stop.
The three of them said nothing for almost the entire day. At night, I didn’t even eat much. There were several plates of cold vegetarian dishes in front of me, and the cold wind outside the window was still blowing, which was annoying.
Lin Shanhai stared blankly at the people coming and going at the door. The number of guests gradually decreased. The landlady glanced at the diners, confirmed that they all lived here, and asked the waiter to close the door.
"It closes so early today." Dai Luan said casually.
"It's not too early." The landlady took a bite of rice, "It's been very dangerous recently, so you foreigners should be careful."
Shan Hai asked her.
"We heard that there have been several murders here and in the surrounding areas. Is this true?"
"Well... that's true." The proprietress stopped using her chopsticks, "There were a few businessmen here and there, some local and some from other places. But the woman was the first one to die. Just by the sound of it, it doesn't sound like it was done by the same person. .”
"Well, we heard in the morning that they are all businessmen... Are there any similarities between those businessmen? Otherwise, how could they be poisoned?"
The landlady shook her head: "We don't know that, who can say for sure."
They stopped talking, and the only sound that could be heard in the store was the clinking of bowls and chopsticks. But the sound didn't last for a while before there was a knock on the door. The guests also pricked up their ears and were a little nervous by the atmosphere. The landlady winked, and the waiter ran over and stood beside the door, asking who it was and what he was doing.
"Stay in the hotel."
The waiter slowly moved the door latch, glanced outside, and opened the door.
He is a handsome-looking man. He was wearing an elegant long coat and looked like a young man of some status, not a bad guy. When the waiter saw that he had no baggage, he led him upstairs directly.
"No hurry, pour some warm wine first." The guest's voice was calm.
"That's right. The guest must be freezing."
"Not bad." He smiled.
The young man was sitting next to them, across the narrow aisle. Shanhai stared straight at him, looking up and down repeatedly. He knew that his behavior was somewhat blatant, but he had no intention of hiding it - trying to expose his intentions was also part of his purpose. He hoped that the other party would notice his slight abnormality, but he didn't.
Then the only one who is abnormal is the other party.
The reason...he couldn't tell. It's just that this person's temperament, appearance, and voice all gave him a feeling of... deja vu. He couldn't be more specific. But after taking a look at Mu Wan, she seemed to feel the same way.
"May I ask your guest's name? I'll write it down for you first. Turn left on the second floor and go to the third room."
"Sorry. Get off the boat."
The name is unfamiliar.
The proprietress asked the cashier to take names at the front desk, while the waiter ran to the back kitchen to heat wine. Mr. Zhou patted the dust on his clothes and never looked at Shan Hai and the others. But at this moment, he said a word without turning his head.
"Probably, they have been somewhere."
……What's the meaning?
None of the three people could understand what this meant at the first time. But soon, Shanhai realized that this question seemed to be a continuation of their previous topic. The answer to that question cannot be answered by the landlady.
Do those businessmen have anything in common?
But there's something ridiculous about that. Zhou Pan just came in. What could he hear through the thick door? But there was no one around him, the closest to him was themselves. Other than that, I can't think of any other explanation.
As for Mu Wan and Dai Luan, they didn't seem to think about the ended topic at all - ordinary people wouldn't.
But Lin Shanhai didn't think he was an ordinary person. He is a monster.
In fact, he hid his demonic energy so well that he almost didn't notice it. Making such a judgment is purely based on intuition.
It's a bit strange to say. How can intuition serve as a criterion for judgment? But it's hard to say. Many aspects of Onmyoji's profession are mysterious and mysterious, cannot be explained clearly, and cannot be analyzed according to conventional logic. It was with this intuition that he was able to solve so many cases with Aluan and live well until now.
If I had to come up with a reason - perhaps, the answer to that question would be one. Only monsters can hear the discussions in the store from such a distance and across the street.
He needed to confirm this guess.
"Where?"
Shanhai asked bluntly. This question made Mu Wan and Dai Luan, who were sitting opposite, stunned, and they looked at him in confusion. Dai Luan frowned even more and asked him bluntly:
"What the hell...? What are you talking about?"
Mu Wan vaguely felt that he had some plans, but she couldn't figure it out, so she didn't say anything.
Zhou Pan, who was sitting behind him, suddenly let out an imperceptible chuckle. Shanhai was the closest and could hear it most clearly, but the two girls just across the table couldn't tell. So he shook his head and said nothing. He just raised his chopsticks to signal them to eat quickly. Both of them felt confused and planned to go back to the house after dinner to ask him.
But for Lin Shanhai, he already knew.
A familiar demonic aura emanated from Mr. Zhou's body. He did it on purpose, making it obvious for Shan Hai to notice. But Shanhai had seen too many demons, and the more powerful the demons, the more complex they were. He still couldn't remember who this person was.
The unknown is unsettling.
"Then... let's do something to seek death together."
The two girls suddenly hovered their chopsticks in the air and felt a chill.
Now they also understand - these words are the continuation of the topics they have discussed.
The waiter brought wine and side dishes. But Zhou Pan suddenly stood up and motioned for him to follow him upstairs.
There were obviously three or two customers in the store talking quietly, but they only felt that the world was eerily quiet.
