The mountain wind rustled, the fallen leaves rustled, and the clouds moved in the sky, covering the sun, and the light dimmed instantly.
The door in front of you is closed, with the sunrise carvings above, the red sun at the head, and the waterfall flying, which means gathering treasures and receiving wealth. The copper double lion pull ring is powerful and brave, and can control the house and ward off evil spirits.
Normally he would only be seen as rich and noble, but now the atmosphere is exaggerated, and even the lion head makes people feel enveloped in a layer of gloom.
Nangong Zhi looked at Yun Qi, who smiled slightly and made a gesture of invitation with his jade bone fan.
Everyone followed Nangong Zhi's hand and paused for a moment as he raised it, almost stopping their breathing.
'Ka~ka~ka——' The crack in the door slowly widened, and everyone froze at the same time.
The screams of eagles in the sky, the chirping of birds in the trees, the chirping of insects in the grass, including the sound of the wind and the stirring of the leaves, all seemed to disappear in an instant.
Everyone's sense of sound was paralyzed, and their vision was infinitely magnified, making the scene in front of them shocking and jaw-dropping.
In the middle courtyard of the ancestral hall, there is a bronze three-legged cauldron with a height of half a person. It was thought to be used by the Zhou family to burn incense and make offerings to heaven. But now there is neither incense nor ashes inside, but human heads stacked on top.
Old, young, male, female, one by one, the bodyless human heads were built up from the tripod like bricks. The top one was the oldest, with gray hair, and a pair of bloody eyes facing the door, as if Staring at the uninvited guest who suddenly burst into the door.
This scene deeply shocked everyone present. They were so frightened that they could no longer scream.
The students' legs went weak and they almost collapsed on the ground. They opened their mouths to shout, but their throats were so trembling that they couldn't pronounce a single sound.
Lu Anran stretched out his hand to support Meng Shizhao's lower back, narrowly holding her back, and handed her to Wu Fang to take him away.
Some didn't help and passed out directly. Nangong Zhi acted quickly and quickly covered the door. He turned around and said, "First check whether the fainted people are okay. Qian Xiaowei led people to seal the ancestral hall. All the students in Jixia Palace were transferred to the House.”
Lieutenant Qian, who had just finished making arrangements halfway up the mountain, took a look and cursed: "Damn it, who is so perverted!"
"Prince Yun." Nangong Zhi said with a grim expression, "I'm afraid everyone in Zhoujiazhuang has been killed."
Yun Qi's smile faded, but his peach blossom eyes were still somewhat frivolous, and he replied: "Since this is the boundary of Diqiu, we should inform the local officials."
Nangong Zhi nodded and asked Lieutenant Qian to run errands quickly and went straight to the county office. He looked at the group of staggering people in front of him with his hands behind his hands, a slight sadness on his brows, "It will take an hour or two for the county magistrate Qian to get here." , why don’t we go in first and check to see if there are any clues.”
Princess Ding'an looked a little pale. When she heard this, she smiled coldly and said, "What a coincidence, both Wu Zuo and Sicheng are here."
Nangong Zhi tried to resolve it, "Miss Lu is still a student, I'm afraid..."
"He who is able will work harder..." Yun Qi stood up, holding the jade bone fan in his palms, his peach blossom eyes slightly raised, with a look of disdain, "As expected, we still need to ask the Criminal Division to take action."
Lu Anran glanced at Yun Qi in surprise. When did he become so proactive?
Before opening the door again, Nangong Zhi had already asked the other unrelated people to leave, leaving only him, Yun Qi, and Lu Anran. He looked sideways at the other two idlers, and said kindly: "The situation inside is tragic, you still have to go." Stay away.”
Feng Qing had already stood up from the soldier, flicked her sleeves, and kicked her feet. Apparently, she had changed her shoes to a new pair, with white soles and black cloth, which were the standard combat boots of the Daning Dynasty army.
He sneered and said, "What's so scary about the dead? How can they still fake corpses?"
Lu Taotao was more direct. People flew past him, and he even turned around and waved, "Why are you dawdling? Hurry up."
Nangong Zhi had no choice but to walk up and open the door again. The few of them carefully stepped on the threshold and walked in.
At this time, Butler Zhou, who finally woke up, stumbled over from behind and cried loudly: "Master - Madam -"
He was so sad that he tripped and fell to the ground and hit his head on the tripod.
In an instant, the heads exploded, and they all fell to the ground, rolling like balls.
Lu Taotao held his face and opened his eyes wide, "Yaksha eats people!"
According to the description in the file, after Mrs. Zhou saw Yasha eating people in the middle of the night, the human skull rolled out of the ground like it is now.
Butler Zhou fainted again, and Nangong Zhi called two people to carry him out. He looked down at the messy heads and was helpless.
Lu Anran put on his deerskin gloves, squatted down and looked at the head at his feet, then looked at it another way, then walked around the screen wall on the back of the three-legged cauldron to see clearly what was ahead, and a sigh escaped from his lips.
Yun Qi stood next to her, "The body and head are separated, and the head is folded into a wall. Should I say this Yaksha has a good appetite or a bad taste."
What I saw were corpses without heads scattered under the trees, on the steps, at the door...
Rivers of blood flowed and corpses lay everywhere.
"You can eat so many people at once, and you won't be afraid of dying." Lu Taotao poked his head out of the screen wall, "Wow, so many dead people, so scary."
Feng Qing followed closely, took one look, and said with disdain: "You even chewed the corpse, what a disgusting thing."
Nangong Zhi squatted on the ground to inspect. Such a graceful young man stood in the blood and felt no discomfort at all. His gentle face became more serious, "Almost all the corpses have mutilated limbs, and no one is complete."
Lu Anran just scanned them roughly. Some were missing limbs, some had a big hole in their chests, and some were even more serious, with half of their bodies missing.
The most important thing is that the missing part is not there.
"Yaksha ate it." Lu Taotao swallowed, "What a huge appetite."
After a general inspection by several people, Qian Xiaowei arranged for people to search the entire ancestral hall, and it was confirmed that that part of the body was missing.
As a result, everyone began to believe that there were indeed Yakshas who could eat people.
The corpses were neatly placed in the open space behind the screen wall, and they were counted, one hundred and forty-nine in total.
Incredibly, not even a single intact body could be found here.
They can only be distinguished by their clothing. Men, women, old and young, masters and servants, all without exception, are lying on the ground. There is no distinction between superior and inferior, and they are all a pile of rotten decay left in this world.
After comparing the old man's head on the top of the head wall and pressing it on the old body in brocade clothes, Lu Anran said calmly in his usual cool voice: "This should be the head of the Zhou family."
Nangong Zhi was a little curious. It was better to encounter one or two corpses before, but now when he saw so many corpses, even he felt a little scared. How could Lu Anran still maintain such a calm posture.
Lu Anran was holding a head, pressing his hand on the fracture, then lowered his body to examine the body on the ground, and then accurately placed the head on it.
Just watch her pick them up one by one, and then connect them to the body without the head. The process is as smooth as water, as if she is not piecing together the human body, but building blocks.
"Slow down, everything is done. Will there be a chance to show off when Magistrate Qian comes over?" Yun Qi was holding back.
After Lu Anran heard this, he really slowed down, but it was not that he was delaying as Yun Qi said, but he seemed to have discovered something.
Nangong Zhi immediately leaned over, "Miss Lu, what's wrong?"
"They were injured at different times." Lu Anran tore open the tattered cloth and observed the corpse spots on it, "The earliest was more than ten days ago, and the latest was two or three days ago."
Lu Taotao said: "It's strange that I can't finish eating in batches."
Lu Anran added: "But they died at the same time."
"Half of the bites are stale, and then you grab someone to eat, and then you get bored and kill them all together?"
Yun Qi asked: "Cause of death?"
"Excessive bleeding."
Lu Taotao shook his head, "As expected, the beast has a low IQ and doesn't know how to raise fish. I'll bite him twice today and then fatten him up so that he can be eaten again tomorrow. With so many people in the Zhou family, it's better to feed him and take turns to eat him. If you can’t finish it in one sitting, it’s a waste of energy.”
"You, you, you..." Butler Zhou woke up again, but he heard these remarks as soon as he rushed over. He was so angry that he almost rolled his eyes again, stamped his feet and shouted: "How can you talk like that."
Lu Taotao smiled evilly, "Old man, take it easy and don't make yourself mad. Yasha will miss a dinner."
Butler Zhou's eyes turned white, and Lieutenant Qian pinched him with one quick step, "Whoever let him in, quickly drag him out to dry in the distance. It's already a mess, don't let his mother make more trouble."
After Lu Anran returned everyone's heads, Qian Zhixian finally came over with his official clothes. When he saw each other, he almost couldn't breathe.
"Shao Fu, what, what, what's going on?" Qian Zhixian stroked his chest, almost breathless, and almost cried with a grimace on his face, "The Zhou family, aren't they all gone?"
"No." Yun Qi said kindly.
Qian Zhixian looked a little calmer, and Nangong Zhi sighed helplessly: "There is only one old housekeeper left."
"Ah?!" Qian Zhixian was about to roll his eyes.
Not to mention that the Zhou family was the richest and most famous family in Diqiu, just the murder of more than a hundred people made Magistrate Qian feel painfully that his future was dark.
White cloth covered the corpses, and the people brought by the government and Captain Qian carried the corpses out one by one. Before the case was settled, they were supposed to be placed in the government's special autopsy room, but there were too many people, so they had to be placed in the government office first. In the Yizhuang next to it.
Just like this, more than a hundred people carried it, and the people along the street were all shocked when they saw it, and the news about Yaksha's cannibalism became more and more popular.
Outside the ancestral hall, Nangong Zhi asked Lu Anran, "Can you tell whether it was really eaten by Yaksha?"
Lu Anran shook his head, "Judging from the wounds, there are lacerations and bite marks, but I don't know why he was injured at different times but died at the same moment."
It stands to reason that the person who is injured first will surely bleed more and faster and die earlier.
"I have a guess." Nangong Zhi frowned slightly, "What if the wounds were not fatal, and their death was not caused by these wounds?"
Yun Qi raised his eyebrows, "What? Nangong Shaofu really believes what Lu Taotao said about taking two bites to fill the wound and fatten him up?"
Nangong Zhi: "I mean, there are many reasons for excessive bleeding. What if it's not a wound but a fracture..."
Lu Taotao high-fived: "Oh, I understand, is it right for Yaksha to pinch people's heads one by one?"
"Is it so idle?" Yun Qi whispered, "Just to let them die together and then tear off each other's heads?"
Feng Qing put on a arrogant face and said, "Are you stupid? Yaksha knows magic. Why do you have to talk about it one by one? Can't you just laugh at it?"
…
Damn that makes sense.
On the carriage back, Lu Anran asked in confusion: "Why is Yasha staring at Zhou Yuanwai's family?"
