On the second corpse table was the headless corpse found in Liuyue Tower. This time, Lin Sui'an finally saw the whole body clearly.
The corpse was wrapped in messy clothes, and under the clothes were a mess of wounds, varying in depth. Some only cut through the skin, and some were so deep that the bones were visible. It was just like——
Lin Sui'an: Lingchi's punishment?
Hua Yitang unfolded the autopsy grid, frowned and studied it carefully, and explained in a low voice, his tone was much more respectful than when he just told Lin Sui'an, "The skin and flesh at the knife marks are neat, and the flesh at the injured areas is dry and white. These knife wounds are all Posthumous injuries.”
"Has the identity of the deceased been confirmed?" Lin Sui'an asked.
"Both Bai Shun's parents and Yan He's father came, but the body was badly damaged, and their identities and appearances were very similar. Neither family could determine the identity of the body. Bai Shun's mother recognized that the clothes on the body were those of Bai Shun. Shun was wearing it when he left home. As for the bruises on Yan He's chest you mentioned, Mrs. Lin," Ling Zhiyan took off the corpse's clothes, "the chest and back of the corpse have been cut into pieces, making them indistinguishable."
"Where are the scars or birthmarks?" Hua Yitang asked.
Ling Zhiyan shook her head, "It's impossible to investigate."
"I have compared Yan He's head with that of Yan He, but unfortunately there is a section missing at the neck, so it doesn't match up," Wang Zhou said.
There is no way to test DNA in this era, Lin Sui'an sighed inwardly. What's worse is that the corpse doesn't even have a head, so her golden finger has nowhere to work.
Hua Yitang: "What's the cause of death?"
Wu Zuo: "I apologize for my lack of skills and my inability to detect the fatal cause of death."
Hua Yitang put his fan against his chin and circled the corpse table twice, "Where is the third corpse?"
The third corpse is Jiang Hongwen, 25 years old, the second son of the Jiang family. This corpse is relatively complete. There are no sharp cuts on the surface of the corpse. The head, arms, and legs have been chopped off. According to their original positions The appearance of death on the corpse table reminded Lin Sui'an of another torture method: dismembering the body by five horses.
"The cause of Jiang Hongwen's death was that his mouth and nose were pressed down by clothes and he suffocated. The wounds on his broken shoulders and legs were neat and there was no blood coagulation. He was dismembered after death. The time of death was approximately between the first and third watch." Wu Zuo said, "The incision on the corpse is the same as the previous two, smooth and neat."
Lin Sui'an squatted down and carefully looked at Jiang Hongwen's soles, but found nothing special. She sighed, looked up, and found Hua Yitang wrapping his hand with a silk handkerchief, grabbing Jiang Hongwen's fingers and looking at his nails.
"The nails were trimmed after death and are very clean." Ling Zhiyan said, "This murderer is very smart."
Hua Yitang turned to the front of the corpse table again, pulled the corpse's hair twice, frowned and said nothing, and obviously found nothing.
Lin Sui'an: "Give me a veil."
Hua Yitang: "Huh?"
"I want to see his eyes."
As soon as he said this, Wu Zuo looked at Lin Sui'an with an increasingly strange expression. Ling Zhiyan also showed surprise this time. After all, few people stared specifically at the eyes of the corpse.
Only Hua Yitang did not hesitate and immediately helped Lin Sui'an open the eyelids of the corpse.
The moment his eyes touched the corpse's eyeballs, Lin Sui'an saw another pair of eyes. The eye sockets were filled with bloodshot eyes and tears. A piercing scream scratched his brain. His vision changed and another mouth appeared, filled with blood. Teeth - The teeth are very small, and there are two missing tiger teeth...
"Lin Sui'an!" An anxious voice tore through the scene in front of him. Lin Sui'an trembled and saw Hua Yitang's worried face. His hand was only half an inch away from his shoulder, and he took it back hesitantly.
"What's wrong with you?" Hua Yitang asked.
Lin Sui'an shook his head: "Nothing."
Not good, the memories of Yan He and Jiang Hongwen were so messy that they couldn't even piece together a complete picture. Moreover, these memory fragments gave her a creepy feeling.
Hua Yitang looked at Lin Sui'an steadily, her heart beating rapidly. The moment Lin Sui'an saw the eyes of the corpse, her pupils suddenly lost all their luster, as if her soul had been forcibly taken away by something, leaving only The next empty shell of a walking dead. This feeling made him a little flustered.
"The wounds where the bodies were cut off are almost identical," Ling Zhiyan said. "It should be the same sharp weapon. These three murders are likely to be committed by the same murderer."
Lin Sui'an: "It cannot be concluded that there were three murders. The second body may be Bai Shun or Yan He."
Ling Zhiyan: "Judging from the clothes on his body, Bai Shun is more likely."
"Generally speaking, the same murderer will use the same killing techniques and similar methods of disposing of the body. Why is there such a big difference in the murderer's method of disposing of the body?" Hua Yitang tapped his palm with a fan, "And the method is so cruel. ?”
There are several reasons for damaging the body, such as: to facilitate dumping the body, to cover up clues on the body, to obscure the identity of the deceased, for the murderer to vent his emotions, etc. Looking at the state of these corpses, Lin Sui'an intuitively felt that it was more likely to vent his emotions.
Ling Zhiyan: "Vendetta? Or love murder?"
Hua Yitang: "The only prostitutes from the Mei Wu family who can have a romantic relationship with them are all, but I remember that they were all arrested in the government prison the day before yesterday. Tsk, it was Prefect Zhou who had the foresight to help the prostitutes directly. Innocence proven.”
Ling Zhiyan coughed dryly and changed the subject: "Vendetta is the most likely possibility."
Hua Yitang agreed: "Their biggest enemy is me."
Lin Sui'an: "..."
Ling Zhiyan sighed: "Can you please help me sort out the connections between these people in Yang Ducheng? It would be best to write them down."
"It's okay," Hua Yitang said, "but I think it's probably useless."
Ling Zhiyan: "What do you mean by this?"
"It's understandable that you doubt these rich kids, but no matter our group or Feng Yuyi's group, they are all dandies who can't hold up the wall. They can eat, drink, have fun, scold and fight, but if they are serious about it, they will They are all cowards, and they would not dare to use such cruel methods to kill people and dismember their bodies."
Lin Sui'an looked at Hua Yitang at a loss for words, and thought to himself: This guy is so cruel that he even scolds himself.
Ling Zhiyan: "...Silang doesn't have to be so arrogant."
Hua Yitang: "This is called self-awareness."
Lin Sui'an raised his eyebrows and said, "Let's go check out the place where Jiang Hongwen's body was found first."
The first person to find Jiang Hongwen's head was the watchman. He was over sixty years old, thin and small, and spoke quite neatly. He was responsible for patrolling the twelve squares south of Dongshui River and east of Guanhe River. It was a simple job. In other words, they can be regarded as non-staff members of the Yangdu City Guards.
"At three o'clock in the morning, I remember clearly that I had just played the drum and saw a human head there!" The old man pointed at the middle of the street and said, "The moon at that time was so bright that it was scary. The ground is covered in white, and the heads are also covered in white, it’s so scary!”
The entire Qinggefang was surrounded by bad people as densely as an iron barrel. All the residents and shops had their doors and windows closed, and they were not allowed to go out. The stalls and vendors were nowhere to be seen. This time, the protection of the crime scene was in place, and they were specially circled. The position of the head. Except for the circled area, there was almost no blood stain, and this was obviously not the scene of the first crime.
The streets in this era were all made of gravel and were trampled all year round, making them uneven. In addition, this was the main street of Qinggefang, with dense flow of people and vehicles. The road was covered with dense ruts. Lin Sui'an squatted and watched. After a long time, I really couldn’t see anything special, so I had to give up.
Hua Yitang stood in the middle of the street, waving his fan, looking up and around. The morning breeze blew his petal-like clothes, and his handsome face reflected the light of the morning glow, like a picture scroll, but his frowning brows were ruining it. The beauty.
"What else did you see at that time? Or what did you hear?" Lin Sui'an asked the watchman.
Watchman: "Oh, it's the third watch in the middle of the night, there's not even a ghost, I don't see anything."
As soon as Ling Zhiyan arrived at the scene, Ming Shu and Ming Feng came to report. After listening to them muttering for a while, he came over with a frown and said, "According to the memories of Jiang Hongwen's family, he claimed to be unwell after lunch last night. , went back to his room to rest, and dismissed the servants and maids who were waiting on him, and no one was allowed to disturb him. It wasn’t until the bad guys came to the door last night to ask someone to identify the body that the Jiang family discovered that he was missing. "
Lin Sui'an: "The one who was kidnapped or the one who went out on his own?"
Ling Zhiyan: "Everything in the house is normal, there are no signs of fighting."
"Did anyone see him going out?"
Ling Zhiyan shook her head.
Hua Yitang: "Is the carriage that Jiang Hongwen often uses still there?"
Ling Zhiyan: "The carriage and the groom are here, but I don't know when Jiang Hongwen left the house."
Lin Sui'an and Hua Yitang looked at each other.
Another one who sneaked out by himself.
"Jiang Hongwen lives in Qingchunfang, the head appears in Qinggefang, and the body is in -" Hua Yitang said, "Go to Lingsanfang and have a look."
The situation in Lingsanfang is exactly the same as that in Qinggefang, except that the body was found on the road between Lingsanfang and Fangsanfang. Looking around, there are rammed earth walls. The person who discovered the body was not the watchman, but A group of city patrol soldiers reportedly discovered the case at Qinggefang at 3:30 last night and urgently blocked the twelve square gates in the northeastern city. Later, they mobilized city patrol guards to patrol, and discovered the body during the patrol.
Lin Sui'an hugged Qian Jing and tilted his head to look at the body circled on the ground. The torso was in the center, and his arms and legs were spread out in a radial pattern, which was obviously a "big" character.
Hua Yitang walked around the several places where the bodies were circled, "The murderer was very particular about it. His arms and legs were seven steps away from his torso, and his torso was placed exactly in the middle of the street, half a step away. "
"Is it obsessive-compulsive disorder?" Lin Sui'an muttered.
Hua Yitang: "What disease?"
"I mean, does the murderer have any special meaning or hint in arranging the body like this?"
"I'm more curious about how the murderer brought the body here?" Hua Yitang tapped his chin with a fan, "The head is fine, it can be put in a basket or a box. It's quiet at night and there are very few pedestrians, so it's fairly hidden. But the body must be transported, and I think it must be a carriage." Hua Yitang approached Lin Sui'an and said, "What do you think?"
His eyes were so bright that Lin Sui'an rolled his eyes.
Don't think that she doesn't know what kind of medicine he sells in his gourd. Isn't it because she is suspicious of her relationship with the Biro stall owner and Jingmen?
"Ling Sizhi, have you found the Bi Luo stall owner I mentioned before?" Lin Sui'an asked.
Ling Zhiyan: "What?"
"That person can identify ruts and can help us search for clues."
Ming Shu: "I went to Chongyanfang and didn't see a single vendor."
Lin Sui'an: "..."
"Ah, this is strange. There were at least twenty small vendors before." Hua Yitang said, banging his fan.
Ming Shu: "According to nearby residents, those food stall owners disappeared suddenly, and no one knows their exact origins."
Lin Sui'an's forehead horns jumped wildly: What a big bamboo pole! You're cheating on me, right?
"Are you, sir, looking for someone who can identify the ruts on the ground?" the captain of the city patrol came forward and asked.
Ling Zhiyan was stunned: "Do you know the Bi Luo stall owner?"
"Hey! Why bother looking far away? There is a boy in our team. Not to mention ruts, he can even recognize horse hoof prints, pig feet, dog paws and cat paw prints, human footprints, and even chicken paw prints!"
Hua Yitang: "There are such strange people?"
Ling Zhiyan: "Where are they?"
The captain of the city patrol said to his companion, "Where has Xiaoruo been these past few days? I haven't seen anyone for several days."
"I heard that I'm sick at home."
Ling Zhiyan's eyes signaled that Mingfeng said a few words to one of the city patrol soldiers, and the two left in a hurry.
Ling Zhiyan: "Although there is no night ban in Yangdu City, it still retains the rules of patrolling at night. Have the patrol guards discovered any abnormalities before?"
The captain of the patrol guard hurriedly said, "Report to Ling Sizhi, the patrol interval of patrol guards on this street is quarter of an hour, but because of a murder in the northeastern city last night, the patrol soldiers were all transferred to help seal the gate. Here. I didn’t care for a while.”
Ling Zhiyan frowned and said nothing.
Hua Yitang: "When did the twelve square gates of Northeast City be sealed last night?"
Ling Zhiyan: "About the first moment of Chouchu."
"When will the city patrol troops be mobilized to patrol the entire city?"
"Around the third quarter of the Chou lunar month."
Hua Yitang asked the city patrol soldiers again, "After the closure of the workshop, when did you patrol here?"
The captain of the city patrol thought for a while and said, "The main patrol troops are placed in the east city. There are a lot less people here. It's almost a moment since the patrol arrived here."
Hua Yitang: "In other words, from the first moment to the first moment, the focus of patrol soldiers and bad guys is on the 12th square of the Northeast City, and Lingsanfang is a blank area for patrolling."
It is not only a patrol blank area, but also a witness blank area. Lin Sui'an thought that if there was a murder in the northeastern city, the Zhongcheng District, which was only separated by a river, would definitely be in turmoil. All the people would stay behind closed doors and would not dare to look even if they heard any noise. At this time, the murderer drove here and dumped the body, as if in the middle of nowhere. The realm of man.
Ling Zhiyan frowned even more and asked Ming Shu, "Go and ask the residents around, who saw anything strange on the street between the first moment of Chou Chu and the first moment of Chou Zheng?"
Ming Shu responded and left.
Hua Yitang: "Sealing down the scene, closing the gates, and calling in patrols. All orders and arrangements take time. The murderer can avoid all the bad guys and patrols, and the time can be so accurate. Either it's like me." Either he is so smart or he is——"
Lin Sui'an: "The murderer knows when and where there are blank areas for patrolling."
Hua Yitang: "Yan He died the day before yesterday, and a body that looked like Bai Shun was found yesterday. If you were Jiang Hongwen, would you avoid everyone and sneak out in the middle of the night?"
Lin Sui'an: Of course not. Wouldn't this mean that you are seeking death for nothing?
unless--
"Unless the person who invites me out can give me unconditional and absolute trust, and I am sure that I am absolutely safe around this person." Ling Zhiyan said.
"Then here's the question," Hua Yitang closed the fan with a snap, squatted down, and asked Lin Sui'an and Ling Zhiyan to squat down as well. The three of them lowered their heads and gathered in a circle, "Who are the candidates who meet the above conditions?"
Ling Zhiyan: "All officials, government officials and bad people within the government."
Lin Sui'an: "Is it possible that there are accomplices within the government office?"
"Do you know what the worst-case scenario is?" Hua Yitang lowered his voice, "The murderer is Yangzhou Prefect Zhou Changping!"
Lin Sui'an: "..."
Brother, you have too much imagination.
Ling Zhiyan was silent for a moment: "It's not impossible."
Lin Sui'an: What?
"I once heard a rumor," Ling Zhiyan also lowered her voice, "The reason why the bad guys were able to go to Liuyue Tower to catch you in the first place was because Governor Zhou received a secret report that the murderer was about to destroy the corpses in Liuyue Tower. ." He paused, "But apart from Governor Zhou, no other person has seen the specific content of the secret report."
The three of them looked at each other silently, all shuddering.
Besides the murderer, who else could know where the body was hidden?
"Ling Sizhi, the person you are looking for has been brought." A voice came from behind, making the three of them jump up in fright and hurriedly stood up. Ling Zhiyan dusted off the hem of his clothes, and Hua Yitang quickly tidied up his appearance.
Lin Sui'an didn't have the burden of the noble idols like the two of them. He circled the young man beside Ming Feng and narrowed his eyes.
The young man held his hands in fists and raised them above his head. His face and expression could not be seen clearly. His body was hunched over. He was quite thin, with long hands and long legs. At first glance, he looked like a big bamboo pole.
"Young Jin Ruo is under the patrol of the city guard. I wonder what your superior has ordered?"
Although he deliberately lowered his voice, Lin Sui'an recognized it immediately and couldn't help but sneer.
Boy! There is a road to heaven but you don’t take it, and there is no door to hell but you break in!
Let me see where you are going this time? ! :,,
