"What did you find?" Xie Xun asked.
Seeing him, Chen Anning breathed a sigh of relief and asked without answering, "What's going on in the pit?"
After Xie Xun glanced at the heads and bones on the tree and on the ground, he took two steps away and motioned for her to take a look.
Chen Anning took a few steps forward and saw people coming out of the thatched hut under the surveillance of several secret guards.
Although he had guessed their identities, Chen Anning still asked: "Are these people...?"
"The people imprisoned in the pit are also the meat source of this inn." Xie Xun replied.
Listening to the indifference in his words, Chen Anning couldn't help but look at him.
Xie Xun took a deep breath and explained: "After a few simple inquiries, they were all travelers staying in the hotel. They woke up in the pit in the morning. The business of the inn was very good, and the old couple were too busy, so they randomly selected them among them. Pick someone for the job.”
Chen Anning thought she heard wrongly. After taking a look at the thatched hut where people were still leaving, she looked at him again, "How many people are there in the pit?"
Xie Xun sighed: "You heard it right, there are about fifty or sixty living people inside. As for the ones who were killed...you have to wait until you go to see it for sure. But...be mentally prepared."
After speaking, he looked back at the heads on the treetops and the bones on the ground, and asked, "Those who have been killed?"
Chen Anning nodded.
Xie Xun took another look and said, "There are quite a few."
Chen Anning followed his words and looked back, "No less than a hundred."
"I'll have someone come over and guard you in a while." Xie Xun said, "Let's go and take a look at the pit first."
Chen Anning followed him down the hill and towards the thatched house.
All the people still alive in the pit have come out.
Seeing the two people coming, a secret guard came over and reported: "There are fifty-one people in total."
Xie Xun nodded, "Take it to the guest room in front and put it in place."
The secret guard took the order and left.
Xie Xun took Chen Anning into the thatched house.
There were two secret guards guarding the edge leading to the pit. When they saw the two people coming in, they immediately took two steps back.
Xie Xun is still the first, followed by Chen Anning.
The pit is about seven or eight meters deep from the ground.
The torches have been lit.
The light in the pit became very bright.
After the two people descended into the pit one after another, a secret guard immediately reported: "After checking, there is only one way out of this pit."
After Xie Xun said "hmm" and said he knew, he asked Chen Anning: "Should we take a look first, or should we go directly to the slaughterhouse?"
Chen Anning endured the overwhelming stench and reluctantly said, "Let's take a look first."
The layout of the pit is similar to the dungeon of Dali Temple, with the interrogation, that is, the slaughterhouse as the center, surrounded by thirteen rooms.
A trench was dug against the wall of the room and ran through all the rooms to serve as a toilet.
The side next to the slaughterhouse is covered with scattered straw. Judging from the shape of the straw, it is where the prisoners sleep.
That is to say, after being imprisoned, their food, drink, and toilet must be settled in such a small room.
"I've tried my best to bury them," Xie Xun resisted the urge to vomit and quickly glanced at the ravine before saying, "But the ventilation here is really poor. It might be too difficult to dissipate the smell for a while."
Chen Anning said nothing.
After looking through every room, she returned to the slaughterhouse and took a look at the three corpses hanging on the big iron hooks that had just undergone rigor mortis. He looked at the bones or pieces of meat piled up in the wooden basin. After taking a few deep breaths, he said, "Leave this to me, and you can go to Yuhang."
The work here obviously cannot be solved in one or two days.
And the matter of the official ship being robbed cannot be delayed.
Xie Xun glanced at the situation in the slaughterhouse. Although he did not want to leave her here alone, because he was worried that the officers and soldiers of Yuhang County would destroy the crime scene, he still resisted and said: "I will go and take a look first. Will come back."
Good luck to Chen Anning.
Xie Xun called the leader of the secret guard and told him to protect her safety and to obey her orders while he was away, before turning around and leaving.
After leaving the thatched house and inviting the prefects and county magistrates from the nearby counties, he left Xu Zan behind and left with only Wen Baolin.
Chen Anning didn't know this.
Ask the secret guard to take a few more torches to the back of the slaughterhouse.
With the help of the secret guards, Chen Anning lowered the corpses on the iron hooks. By the light of the torch, Chen Anning saw that the three corpses had died of massive bleeding after being stabbed in the abdomen with random knives.
Judging from their appearance alone, the ages of the three corpses were only about twenty years old.
After asking the secret guards to move the bodies out of the pit, Chen Anning slowly picked up a few heads on the ground. The broken ends of several heads were extremely uneven like the heads on the hillside. Judging from the facial features of their heads, they were between twenty and forty years old. Putting the head on the sheet spread by the secret guard, Chen Anning walked to one of the wooden basins with bones, half-bent down, and was about to see what bones they were, when he suddenly saw someone leaving the wooden basin. The ravine not far away attracts.
Lift your eyes and look.
Unlike the ravines in those chambers, the ones surrounding the slaughterhouse were filled with unwanted human tissue.
The reason why these organizations attracted Chen Anning's attention was that they were densely packed with maggots.
Chen Anning's gastric juices contracted rapidly, and then he retched uncontrollably.
After a while, she slowly calmed down.
After trying her best to control her eyes from looking into the ravine, she quickly checked all the wooden basins, and then ordered: "You can move these out."
The secret guards were not willing to stay in such a 'hell' any longer. They formed a group of three or four and moved all the wooden basins out quickly after Chen Anning left.
After taking a deep breath of fresh air with half a cup of tea, Chen Anning began to classify the bones in the tub according to hand bones and leg bones. Then it is subdivided according to the upper arm and forearm, thigh bone and calf bone.
Eight wooden basins, thirteen corpses.
Plus the three corpses that didn't have time to deal with.
There are sixteen people in total.
Chen Anning's eyes were as cold as if they had been soaked in ice and snow.
After taking a look at the direction of the inn, Chen Anning couldn't bear to rest. After asking the secret guard to bring more torches, she walked towards the hillside again.
I don’t know if I am too resentful, but there are no stars, no moon, and no wind tonight.
With the light of the torch, Chen Anning took off the head that was still hanging on the treetop, and then began to clean up the bones on the ground.
The leader of the secret guard asked her if she wanted to help.
Chen Anning took one look at the bones and said, "Pick a few who are careful and quick."
The leader immediately called several people's names.
Cleaning the bones is a delicate job and cannot be done quickly.
Several people worked for an hour and a half before clearing out less than fifty skulls.
After finishing the work ahead without touching the ground, Xu Zan came over with a torch. He glanced at the large area of white bones that had not yet been cleaned, and then looked at Chen Anning, whose eyes were cold and stern, but whose face concealed his fatigue, and asked: "It's already past midnight. Do you want to rest for two hours before continuing?"
Chen Anning didn't even raise her head: "No need."
Xu Zan handed the torch to the secret guard who was following him, squeezed his brows hard, and then joined in.
Chen Anning glanced at him: "Why didn't you follow Xie Xun to Yuhang?"
"Axun sent someone to invite the prefect and magistrate of the nearby county. He was worried that these people would bully you when they came, so he kept me here." Xu Zan said slowly, "Although I don't live up to expectations, But after all, I am the fifth son of Duke Xu’s house. Many people already know me. I am not as useful as before. Not many people know Baolin, and his ability to inquire about information is not much worse than mine, so you don’t have to worry about him. Worried.”
Chen Anning: "Tell me, what have you found out?"
