Chapter 1342: A Place Where People Die

Chapter 1328: The Place Where People Died

It jumped from the tree back onto its owner's shoulder and skillfully handed Dong Rui a small package.

"All the candy is back; not a single piece for that brat."

Dong Rui unceremoniously tucked it into his pocket. He immediately released the Ghost Ape. As for whether others could keep the Ghost Ape, that was none of his concern.

The cowshed was very close to the west gate of the village, and the straw house, a mere five square meters, stood right beside the shed. One could smell the distinctive odor of the livestock pens even from inside the house. It had originally been a fodder room, distinguished from a mere shack only by a wooden door. Two of its plank walls were drafty. Inside, there was a broken but heavy table and two stools, but no bed. For the mother and daughter, thick hay bales served as a bed.

"It's just this small place; let's start looking for clues."

Dong Rui first found a sharp, long hayfork behind the hay bales; its prongs were rusted. He examined it carefully but found nothing particularly unusual. The Ghost Ape leaped around, finding several cobwebs on the rafters. In the corner of the room were several broken pottery shards, either from a jar or a bowl.

"It's been a month," Dong Rui grumbled as he searched. "Even if there were clues, Chen Family Village has probably covered them up. No matter how you questioned him earlier, the Chen clan leader insisted that there was nothing unusual about teams entering or leaving the village. Why would he not mention such important information and instead hide the existence of this mother and daughter? He must know something. If you ask me, you should just seize him and interrogate him properly."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the Soul-Snatching Mirror in He Lingchuan's arms exclaimed, "Look at the corner of the table!"

The table corner?

He Lingchuan turned, stepped away from the hay pile, and squatted down to examine the table. The bare, broken wooden table was plainly visible; no one had bothered to give it a second glance. Yet the Soul-Snatching Mirror gave a definite answer: "Look closely, there's a tiny black stain on the sharp corner of the table!"

A black stain? He Lingchuan saw it; it was indeed a tiny, inconspicuous spot.

"This is a bloodstain."

Dong Rui also leaned in, took out a vial of liquid, and dripped some onto the table corner. The table corner turned purplish-red.

"Yes, it's a bloodstain, human blood."

Dong Rui pondered, "If there's some on the sharp corner of the table, then—" He casually cleared away the dry hay beneath the table corner and then dripped over a dozen drops of the liquid onto the floor. As everyone watched, the ground slowly turned red.

"Someone violently collided with the table corner, got injured, and bled profusely," Dong Rui said, shaking the vial in his hand. "As long as blood was present, even if it was cleaned afterward, I can make it visible with this liquid." That fellow was showing off again.

"So much blood... this person must have been badly hurt," Deputy Magistrate Li murmured. "Could it be that a monster attacked someone here?"

He Lingchuan stepped out of the fodder room and asked Old Man Chen outside, "Has this door been replaced?"

"No, I don't think so," Old Man Chen replied, looking closely. He pointed, "It hasn't been replaced. There was originally a wooden scar on this door, and it's still there now."

He Lingchuan then told the others, "That afternoon, the straw house was locked. If a monster had burst in, the wooden door wouldn't be intact."

Therefore, this bloody conflict occurred before the monsters attacked Chen Family Village.

"None of the five deceased had severe external injuries, apart from Chen Fu'ang, who had tooth marks on his hand. So this blood must belong to someone else," Deputy Magistrate Li said, finally realizing. "Ah, could it belong to the mother and daughter?"

"All five of these men had returned home and only died mysteriously later that night," He Lingchuan further analyzed. "But Aunt Wu said that when she returned to the fodder room later that afternoon, Ah Hui and her mother were already gone."

Intense conflict, a bleeding incident, the mother and daughter's disappearance. Piecing these together, Deputy Magistrate Li understood: "Did these five men take the injured mother and daughter away?"

"It appears so," He Lingchuan said, pointing west. "This place is very close to the village's west gate. They could easily leave unnoticed by hiding the people in a cart carrying fodder."

Dong Rui chuckled, "These are five murderers."

Deputy Magistrate Li was startled. "How... how do you know the mother and daughter died?"

"If they were only injured, why wouldn't they be treated in Chen Family Village? Why would they be sent away instead?"

"Uh, perhaps their injuries were too severe, so they went out to find a doctor?"

"There's no one for miles around," Dong Rui said, rubbing his hands. "How long would it take them to go to the nearest Liuxian county to find a doctor? Don't forget, these five men were back home for dinner before dusk. So the most likely scenario is that they quietly disposed of the bodies in the outskirts and then returned to Chen Family Village."

"Oh—" Deputy Magistrate Li finally understood, but then he thought again, "But what does this have to do with the murder case of over a hundred people that we're investigating?"

"The little girl kept saying monsters were coming, but no one believed her. Then the monsters really came."

"Chen Fu'ang and the four others killed the mother and daughter and dumped their bodies in the wild. That very night, monsters attacked Chen Family Village." Dong Rui counted on his fingers for him. "That's the connection."

"So what now?" Deputy Magistrate Li scratched his head. "Find the bodies of the mother and daughter?"

"Yes," He Lingchuan, with his extensive experience, replied. "To the west of this place, are there any ravines or cliffs accessible by cart or horse?"

"Yes."

"Those would be excellent places to dispose of bodies," He Lingchuan instructed him. "If you don't find them there, check the dense woods within seven *li* west of the village, avoiding places frequently visited by locals and the village's water source." What he didn't say aloud was that the latter method of searching would be more difficult, as five strong men would certainly have the strength to dig and bury bodies.

"Ah, yes," Deputy Magistrate Li quickly responded. "I'll arrange it at dawn!"

"Based on the current clues, something on the mother and daughter attracted those monsters," He Lingchuan mused. "They were no longer in Chen Family Village that afternoon, yet the monsters still rushed here. This means—"

"That item must have remained here that day, at least until the monsters arrived," Dong Rui understood. "No wonder they went on a rampage on the west side of the village. What now? Should we search the homes of these poor bachelors again?"

"No need," He Lingchuan waved his hand. "They died most peacefully; clearly, these monsters that flay people alive weren't looking for them."

"They weren't coming for them?" Yes, Mr. He was indeed careful.

"They weren't coming for them. So, even if this item truly exists, it's not in the hands of these five men." He Lingchuan rotated his shoulders, producing a few cracking sounds. "That's enough for tonight; let's go back and rest."

As the three walked toward the courtyard assigned to them by the Chen clan leader, Deputy Magistrate Li dismissed Old Man Chen, who had been following them like a shadow, and then whispered, "Lord He, why do you think Chen Ling concealed the existence of this mother and daughter?"

Chen Ling was the Chen clan leader, the principal authority of Chen Family Village. Chen Ling chose to hide information, even though it could have allowed the official investigation to proceed more efficiently. What reason could be more important than the dozens of lives lost from his own clan?