I asked as I raised my legs to cross the high threshold and entered the coffin shop.
"Lao Cao, Daniel, what's wrong? What happened?"
They stopped talking and turned to look at me.
Daniel nodded helplessly and replied: "A strange thing did happen. Didn't we carry the coffin and bury the old shoemaker's son together the night before yesterday? The body in the grave... disappeared!"
What?
I was taken aback and didn't fully understand.
After listening to Daniel's story, I realized that things were indeed a bit strange.
It turned out that this afternoon, the old shoemaker went to the mountain to worship his son. But he was horrified to find that his son's grave seemed to have been dug open!
The coffin was also exposed, the lid of the coffin was opened, and the body inside was missing.
The old shoemaker was so frightened that he hurried down the mountain and found Daniel.
Daniel and the others were also shocked. The four of them went up the mountain together and searched carefully near the grave. I kept looking for the sun to set, but nothing was found.
So I could only comfort the old shoemaker and tell him not to worry, and then I came to the coffin shop to find Lao Cao.
Lao Cao, Da Niu and others went to search around the grave where the shoemaker's son was buried for a while, but still could not find the body of the shoemaker's son...
The five of them could only go back to the coffin shop first.
Lao Cao originally wanted to call Yuan Fei and ask him to come over and help, but he was embarrassed to bother him so late. After all, there is definitely no money from the sponsor for this matter, so it can only be free help.
I frowned: "Did someone steal the body?"
Daniel looked serious: "That's the problem! After the old shoemaker told us, and after going to the scene, we didn't find anyone else's footprints or traces besides him. This means..."
"Either the corpse opened the coffin on its own and walked out. Or, some evil cultivator used some weird means! No matter which possibility it is, it is definitely not a good thing."
Lao Cao's face was a little gloomy, and he smoked a cigarette and spoke slowly.
Sure enough!
I always felt uneasy that night, that things were going a little too well. It seems that there may be something more difficult behind it.
I thought for a while and suggested: "Anyway, the source of this matter is the deadly demon tree! We should go there to take a look again now."
yes!
Ergou slapped his thigh suddenly: "Brother Wu is right, we are just busy thinking about how the body disappeared. We should go to the big yellow horn tree to have another look."
Lao Cao also nodded towards me and said with a smile: "Xiao Wu's brain is still quick and flexible. Let's go to Liangfeng Street together!"
Only Mangdun said dullly: "Ergou, you can pat your thigh, but can you please stop patting me? It still hurts..."
So, the six of us immediately went out and walked over there quickly.
Unexpectedly, after walking halfway through Liangfeng Street, we were still more than two hundred meters away from our destination. He heard a shrill scream coming from the front.
ah! ! !
The sound was sharp and full of fear, piercing the night sky.
"not good!"
Lao Cao and I looked at each other and ran towards the old yellow horn tree in front of us.
After running over, through the dim light of the street lights on He Street in the distance, I saw a woman slumped on the ground. He covered his mouth with a horrified expression, and tears burst out from his eyes.
"Ma'am, are you okay?"
I lifted her up from the ground.
When she saw us, six grown men here, she suddenly seemed to calm down a little, and was no longer shouting hysterically in fear as before.
However, the expression on his face was still frightened, and his body was shaking slightly. Pointing diagonally upward, he stammered.
"Then, there... there is a dead person! Hanging, hanging on a branch."
Um? !
We looked up in horror.
hiss!
I couldn't help but take a breath.
I saw someone hanging on the branch of the old yellow horn tree again.
And... there are still two corpses!
There is one body on each side, a man and a woman, hanging three or four meters above the ground in the dark night.
It swayed gently in the night wind, like some weird fruit produced by this big tree. You can still vaguely see the long tongue sticking out, which has a weird purple-red color.
No wonder the woman was so frightened that she screamed, fell to the ground with tears streaming down her face, and was so paralyzed that she couldn't get up.
This scene, let alone an ordinary woman, would make my heart beat wildly and my legs weak even if I saw it alone!
I looked at Lao Cao: "What should I do?"
"They must have informed Yang Zhi first. Two people were hanged from the tree at the same time. For such a murder, they must be dispatched immediately. Even if they fall asleep, they must get up immediately."
Lao Cao put his hands behind his back and stared at the huge yellow horn tree in front of him, not knowing what he was thinking.
Among us, Ping Tou was the fastest and had some dealings with the police station before, so he went to ask Yang Chai to come over.
Others stayed and waited while also protecting the first scene.
Not long after, Flathead led two middle-aged men and trotted over here.
Lianghe Town is not a big town to begin with, and the police station does not have a particularly large number of manpower. It is very good to have two policemen at night.
"These two are Officer Huang and Officer Li. When they heard about this, they took it very seriously."
Flathead introduced us.
With no time or thought to be polite, Officer Li looked up at the two corpses hanging on the tree, his brows almost furrowed.
"A shoemaker's son was hanged the night before yesterday, and two more people are hanged tonight? This tree is too evil! Could it be that it really kills people..."
Officer Huang patted him: "Old Li, don't talk nonsense! There is nothing evil in this world. It's just a coincidence. There is a scientific explanation behind it. Don't believe in these feudal superstitions."
After saying that, he looked at a few of us again and said: "Of course, Master Cao, Niu Gao, I am not criticizing Sang and Huai. Traditional culture must be respected. I also respect your profession."
It can be seen that this person should be a very upright person who speaks and acts resolutely.
Officer Huang looked up at the two corpses on the tree again and asked Lao Cao, "Can you please help us take down these two corpses?"
In fact, he also knows that those who work in this industry must have some special methods or skills.
Lao Cao nodded and let Er Gou go.
This guy is the most agile, like a monkey, he climbed up in three clicks. Untie the hanging ropes of the two corpses...
Bang, bang!
The body fell to the ground with a dull sound.
At that time, the police station in the town was not very good in terms of manpower and physical facilities. There isn't even a decent morgue.
So we can only go to the town hospital, borrow the hospital's space to conduct an autopsy first, and then temporarily put it in the hospital morgue. After the identity is confirmed, the family members will come to claim it.
As for us and that woman, as witnesses, we naturally had to go with the two Yangdai. Finally, you have to take notes.
…
The hospital's autopsy went very well, and it was clear that the two people committed suicide and there were no signs of being violated by a third party.
The man is a chef in a restaurant in town.
The woman is a saleswoman in a department store.
We don’t know each other, and we don’t have much interaction.
As for the unlucky woman who first discovered two hanging corpses and was frightened to tears, she was a cashier in an arcade who walked home alone at night after get off work.
Now that everyone is here, Daniel also talks about the disappearance of the old shoemaker's son's body. Although it may not be useful, it is still documented.
Even in ancient times, many folk magicians had to deal with the imperial court.
After finishing the transcript at the police station, Officer Li sent us out.
"Guys, please, please walk slowly."
He was still very polite.
I can also see that Officer Li has a gentle personality and is easy to deal with. Officer Huang, on the other hand, is much more serious, the kind of strong and majestic type.
Lao Cao thought for a while, then raised his hands and said, "Officer Li, if there is any progress on the situation of these three deceased people, can you tell us?"
this……
He hesitated.
It stands to reason that when they investigate a case, it has nothing to do with ordinary people like us.
What's more, all three of them committed suicide. The evidence is conclusive and the facts are beyond doubt. What else can happen next?
At most, the family members can claim it and then bury it and that’s the end of it!
But the three deceased people seemed to have something to do with us, and none of them refused. He just said vaguely that it would depend on the situation at that time.
Lao Cao didn't force it, he handed it over again, and we went back our separate ways.
On the way, he looked worried.
I understand Lao Cao's mentality, because that "deadly demon tree" is really weird!
It would have been okay seventy years ago and thirty years ago. After all, they were both chaotic and suffering times. Whether they are homicides or suicides, there are a lot of them...
To put it bluntly, it can barely be explained by the swarms of people going to the "demon tree" to hang themselves.
But now in peaceful times, the death of one person is big news, let alone the death of three people recently? They all hanged themselves on this weird old yellow horn tree!
I felt as if there was a hazy layer of fog shrouding the area around the old yellowhorn tree. It’s hard to see clearly, and one wonders if there’s something sinister hidden in it…
But there is no way. Since you can't see clearly and you are in a passive position, you can only put it aside temporarily. Waiting for the soldiers to come to block it, the water came and the earth covered it.
As a junior high school student, no matter what happens, I can't miss going to school.
In the morning, go to school as usual.
Wang Dachun was already standing at the intersection of Lianghe Main Street with Zeng Jin and others, chatting and looking around.
When he saw me passing by, he quickly shut up and trotted up to me with a flattering smile on his face.
"Good morning Angkor!"
I was a little speechless and rolled my eyes: "You wait here every morning just to go to school with me?"
Wang Dachun rubbed his hands: "That's right! You are our boss."
I frowned: "Didn't I tell you not to scream? I want to study hard and be an honest and good student. Don't let your reputation be ruined by you playboys."
I've never been too polite to this guy.
But he seemed to have a masochistic tendency. He wasn't annoyed when I was so rude. Instead, he kept laughing. This makes me really lose my temper. No matter what, I can’t reach out and hit the smiling person!
So, I could only walk to school surrounded by these guys.
I whispered: "Why is it just like a dog-skin plaster?"
Wang Dachun gave a thumbs up: "Angkor has great literary talent. This description is very appropriate."
I:……
Impressed! Really convinced!
There is really nothing I can do about this kind of person.
Forget it, just do what you love.
I could only say helplessly: "If you really treat me as the boss, don't always make trouble everywhere in the future. Don't bully your classmates, and study hard, you know? If you don't rank forty in the class in the first monthly exam, Just don’t say I’m your boss.”
oh……
Wang Dachun is like eggplant beaten by frost.
This guy is good at everything else, but when it comes to studying hard, it's like killing him.
I was angry and funny.
There are only fifty people in the class, which means that as long as they are not in the bottom tens, it will be fine. Is it so difficult?
School life during the day is peaceful and simple.
It can be said that there is almost no danger, as long as you study in class. The people around him are all simple classmates - the ones who have the biggest headache are guys like Wang Dachun.
Compared with the things you might experience after school at night: vicious corpses, evil spirits, weird things, evil cultivators... it's as simple as a blank sheet of paper!
This actually gave me a very strange feeling, that life was somewhat fragmented. The taste is difficult to describe in words.
The next day was uneventful and uneventful.
The only thing that might have been a bit disturbing was that Yao Nan didn't go to have dinner after school in the afternoon and stayed alone with me in the classroom to discuss a few math problems.
As a result, classmates in the class saw this and began to spread some jokes.
I don't think it's anything, it seems to have made her a little unhappy.
By Thursday, something went wrong again!
After evening self-study, I returned to the coffin shop and found that Yuan Fei was there.
Seeing me coming back, he took the initiative to say hello: "Brother Wu is back? Master Cao has already told me about the golden thread Youtan we dug out last Friday. Your master is really well-informed, even this kind of thing I can clearly explain the rare objects and their origins.”
I smiled proudly and said, "That's natural! By the way, Uncle Yuan, when you come to town, do you have another job?"
"That's not true. I just have a lot of free time these past two days and rest at home. I was thinking about the three-color strange flower, so I came to your town to ask about it. Sure enough, it was not in vain! Hahaha."
He was very happy.
But I also reminded him that the person who cultivated Golden Thread Youtan must be a powerful evil cultivator. We ruined his good deeds, so we have to be more careful recently.
While the three of us were talking, I heard footsteps outside the door.
It seemed that he was running and seemed a little hasty.
Then, Officer Li's face appeared at the door.
Um?
I'm a little strange.
What's he doing here this late at night?
Yuan Fei was even more surprised, wondering why Yang Chai suddenly came here?
But I quickly reacted and my heart trembled.
"Did something happen again?"
really!
He looked at me and Lao Cao, and said word by word: "Master Cao, I don't know whether to say that you have a keen sense or a clumsy mouth. I originally thought that there was nothing to pay attention to in the case of suicide. As a result, what you discovered the night before yesterday The two corpses, like those of the shoemaker’s son, are also missing!”
What? !
Lao Cao suddenly stood up from his stool with a solemn expression.
"Officer Li, what's going on?"
"After our two days of investigation, we found that of the two people who committed suicide, the chef had cancer and would not live long. The salesperson was not in a good relationship. But their family members were not in the town, and they lived in several places. We were in a village ten miles away, so we came to the morgue of the town hospital to claim the bodies this afternoon. Unexpectedly, after the people from the hospital took us in together, we found that the two bodies placed on the morgue were gone! "
