After completing the formalities, the shopkeeper took off the tag and key from the wall and walked out of the counter.
"Sir, come with me."
The shopkeeper led the way, and Zhao Lin noticed that one of his legs was lame, he walked very slowly, and he was slightly hunched over.
When passing by Room 9, Zhao Lin saw a seal on the door, which was covered with dust.
The shopkeeper opened the door to room 10, handed the key to Zhao Lin, and said with a smile: "Put it away, sir. Say hello if you need anything."
When Zhao Lin received the key, he took a quick glance and found that there was a layer of light yellow calluses at the base of the fingers of the shopkeeper's palm.
He is so familiar with this cocoon!
Skin training requires inserting your palms into iron sand, and the skin will continue to form cocoons and shed skin. After successful skin training, the skin will return to like new, but there will be a vertical line on the palm, and some calluses will remain on the roots of the fingers.
Zhao Lin observed when he first entered the hall that there were no vertical lines on the palm of the shopkeeper's hand, and there were no bluish-white knuckles on the back of his hand.
However, both of these things will gradually become shallower as age increases, and once a martial artist breaks through the Qi realm, these appearances will disappear.
But the calluses on my palms will always be there.
Is it the cocoon left by years of hard work, or has he practiced martial arts?
Zhao Lin's heart tightened, his face remained calm, and he said: "Okay!"
Walk into the room and close the door behind your back.
It's broad daylight now, and the sun shines in through the tall windows.
The room was simply furnished, with only a table and a chair besides the earthen bed. There was a wooden bucket and a towel by the door.
Zhao Lin turned around in a circle and glanced at the door bolts, windows, ceiling and floor, thinking to himself: "With such a room layout, how did the murderer escape after closing the doors and windows?"
Could it be that he is a martial arts master with some special ability?
But no matter how strong the force is, it is impossible to violate the laws of physics and lock the door from the outside.
Sun Zhang had already checked the underground secret passages or secret compartments of the government. There was no way out of Room 9 except through the door or window. This should be credible.
Zhao Lin decided to stay and observe for a while before talking.
The Yamen has already said hello and no one will disturb me.
Zhao Lin didn't sleep well last night, so he lay on the bed, half-closed his eyes, and turned on his extraordinary hearing every once in a while to scan for movement coming from around him.
Since becoming a police agent, the bandits have no longer sent people to follow and monitor him, but Zhao Lin still dare not let down his guard.
The inn is no better than the county government office. If someone blocks you inside, it will be troublesome to catch a turtle in an urn.
For this reason, he brought an ax from the house on Shuncheng Street to break through the wall and escape in case of danger.
The inn is relatively deserted during the day, with most of the guests going out, and it doesn't start to get lively until around dinner.
Before dark, the waiter brought hot water. After Zhao Lin washed up, he closed the doors and windows and sat down in the middle of the room.
"If the murderer is hiding in the inn, he or they should do something unusual."
Thinking this in his mind, Zhao Lin's Adam's apple vibrated at high speed, and his hearing was fully opened, picking up sounds from all directions like a radar.
People came in and out of the hall from time to time, and porters and workers were chatting and spanking in the basement across the corridor.
The guests in the upper room on the second floor didn't rest either. Some were listening to music, some were drinking, and some were calling for special services. The sounds of "squeaking" and "buzzing" were heard.
The more Zhao Lin didn't want to listen, the more these sounds got into his ears.
Originally, this kind of all-round monitoring was a heavy load on the body and mind. Coupled with the interference of these noises, Zhao Lin felt dizzy after listening for a while.
"No, listening like this will tire you to death."
Zhao Lin immediately changed his strategy and began to monitor intermittently, but he listened until late into the night and did not get any useful information.
"There's no rush. This kind of thing takes time. It would be strange if the murderer was found on the first day."
The next day, Zhao Lin continued to monitor and still did not hear any abnormal noise.
But it wasn't that he gained nothing. He clearly understood how many waiters, accountants, errand boys, cooks, and workers there were in the inn.
On the third day, Zhao Lin kept monitoring until midnight.
Bang Bang...
Two sounds of the clock were heard in the street.
"It's the second watch."
Zhao Lin sighed, thinking that he would get nothing today again, when a vague whisper suddenly came to his ears.
"what sound?"
Zhao Lin was alert.
The sound was very small and intermittent. The source of the sound was not far from me, but it seemed to be separated by a thick wall.
Zhao Lin secretly felt strange. The inn room was made of wood and the sound insulation was average. As long as there was sound coming out, he could use his extraordinary hearing to amplify it.
But this time the whispering sound was so weak that even if it was amplified, it was no more than the sound of a mosquito.
Zhao Lin walked back and forth in the room, trying to find a place with a strong "signal".
At the door, on the table, under the window, in the corner... I turned around twice and couldn't find a suitable place.
Zhao Lin thought for a while, looked at the floor under his feet, leaned down and put his ears to the floor.
The sound suddenly became much louder!
There seemed to be two people talking under the floor, and words like "worry" and "two months" could be heard sporadically.
There is a secret passage underground!
Zhao Lin moved his body against the floor, and the volume of his voice also changed accordingly.
When his head touched the earthen bed, the sound became clearer.
At this time, he could hear the conversation clearly, and only heard a deep, round voice saying: "It's been very windy these days, so don't come out."
Zhao Lin's breath was suffocated. This voice... was the innkeeper!
Then, a hoarse voice said: "I know, go back quickly..."
The deep and mellow voice said again: "Okay, just be patient for a few days."
"I know..."
The rough voice murmured a few words, and the voice became lower and lower. After that, the two stopped talking, only the dull footsteps gradually faded away.
Zhao Lin glanced outside the door, walked out quickly, walked through the corridor and came to the hall.
There were not many people in the hall, only a few guests were drinking and chatting. The night watchman put one hand on his chin, looking like he was not awake.
"Sir, what would you like to order?"
Zhao Lin found a seat and sat down casually. The waiter came over and asked, yawning.
"Have a pot of tea."
"Please wait."
Zhao Lin let go of his hearing and heard slight footsteps in the room behind the counter, followed by the sound of people taking off their shoes and getting on the bed.
"Sir, here comes the tea." The waiter came over with the tea.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Zhao Lin paid for the tea, gave him a few coins as a reward, and asked casually: "Guys, where will you rest at night?"
The waiter collected the money and pointed in the direction of the counter, "Come back, sir. The little one will sleep in the outhouse at the back."
"Where's your shopkeeper?"
"Sleeping room..."
Zhao Lin glanced at it, it was the direction where the sound came from just now.
He drank half a pot of tea, returned to the room, and went directly to the earthen bed.
Gently move all the bedding and mattresses above, revealing the earthen kang table below.
The earthen kang is made of bricks and stones, with a layer of fine clay plastered on it. The two-foot-square mud brick in the middle is newly plastered, and its color is different from other places.
"So that's it."
Zhao Lin breathed a sigh of relief and vaguely guessed the outline of the matter.
A secret room murder occurred in Room 9. Everyone's search focused on Room 9, but they did not expect that the murderer came from Room 10.
Judging from the file, no one was occupying Room 10 that day.
It is very likely that the murderer entered Room 9 through the partition wall of Room 10, returned to Room 10 after the murder, and then escaped through the secret passage.
Thinking of this, Zhao Lin quickly walked to the dividing wall between the two rooms.
The partition walls are made of long wooden boards spliced together and are very strong.
Zhao Lin tapped the wall gently, listening to the sound while carefully inspecting each board from top to bottom with his naked eyes.
It was found that the color of all the wooden boards was exactly the same as whether it was new or old, and there were no unusual sounds.
"Shouldn't it?"
Zhao Lin thought hard for a while, and finally fixed his eyes on the beams.
