The further up you go, the more dense and cluttered the trees become, and in some places you can't even find any trace of the path. Shi Yimu walked in the front, walking, suddenly stopped, looked at the path in front of him with a surprised face, and said: "This ......"

Liu Nanhe was also stunned, because there were more footprints here, and at the same time, they were also chaotic, and there were even plum blossom-shaped footprints walked by the gray wolf. Liu Qiang frowned and said, "Did they go down the mountain and then meet a wild wolf?"

Liu Nanhe said: "Wait a minute, let's look at the direction of the footprints first." "On the snow, the direction of the toes represents the direction of walking, and although there are more and more footprints, the direction is towards the mountains. Shi Yimu's face was shocked, and he said, "Will it be ...... Could it be that the murderer went to kill my father's uncle?"

Liu Nanhe and Liu Qiang also became nervous in their hearts, and walked quickly towards the mountain. When he was in a hurry, he walked unsteadily, and when he climbed a mountain, Liu Qiang accidentally stepped on the air and almost rolled down the cliff. Fortunately, Liu Nanhe was quick and used a wooden stick to fight under Liu Qiang, which helped him stabilize his body.

Liu Qiang smiled bitterly: "This place is really a crime with me, and I will be injured once." ”

Liu Nanhe said: "Maybe this place is related to you, and I am reluctant to let you leave." ”

Liu Qiang wiped the nosebleed from his face and said, "That's not good, this case is over, I want to go to the criminal police team with Hongyan." ”

Liu Nanhe frowned, but he didn't say anything, because ordinary police officers wanted to be transferred to the criminal police team, which was not an easy thing. But since he and Zhao Hongyan are so self-motivated, this is also a good thing, and it can't be hit at him.

The expression on Shi Yimu's face was very anxious, but he was embarrassed to urge the two. After a few minutes of rest, the three of them quickly went up the mountain again. After continuing to walk for more than half an hour, a sharp wolf howl suddenly sounded from the top of the mountain above. After a wolf howl, there were also wolves echoing from afar on the mountain next to him, and they barked. Liu Qiang exclaimed: "It's over, there are wolves." ”

Liu Nanhe pretended to be relaxed and said: "It's okay, wolves are afraid of light and fire, we have flashlights, they don't dare to attack." ”

Liu Qiang had already heard Chi Wei complain about Liu Nanhe's great feat, and he couldn't help but panic at this moment, and said, "Did you guess again this time?"

Liu Nanhe was speechless for a moment, because he did guess this time. Wolves are afraid of fire, of course this is true, scary is not afraid of flashlights, no one can say this. Then again, wolves that are extremely hungry will rush at all costs, even if there is fire.

Shi Yi said hurriedly: "Don't be verbose, can you go faster, I'm worried...... I'm worried about ......"

Liu Nanhe nodded, looked up at the mountain, and saw that in a hole about dozens of meters away from the top of the mountain, there was a faint fire. Shi Yi said: "That is the cave where my father lives, and I came here once in four months. After saying this, seeing that Liu Nanhe and Liu Qiang's expressions were a little strange, I realized that it was too unfilial to come to see my father only once in four months.

The three of them quickened their pace and walked in the direction of the bright light, and when they reached the outside of the cave, they found that there was a raging fire inside. The firewood that had been piled up together for the winter had all been burned at the moment. Shi Yimu rushed forward, a burst of smoke blew, he choked and coughed, and shouted: "Dad, uncle, where are you?"

Liu Nanhe lay on the ground and looked at it for a while, and said, "There is no one in the cave." ”

Shi Yimu ran around frantically, shouting while searching: "Dad, uncle...... Daddy, uncle......"

Unfortunately, the empty mountains were silent, the snow fell silently, except for one or two terrible and eerie wolf howls, only the crackling sound of burning firewood in the cave. Liu Qiang whispered in a trembling voice: "They ...... Will it be eaten by wild wolves?"

Liu Nanhe shook his head and said, "There is no bloodstains, no scraps of clothing, the wolves should not have come." ”

The two followed Shi Yimu around the mountains, but found nothing. But walking behind the cave where the old mountain people lived, Liu Nanhe suddenly found that there was another row of fresh footprints. The footprints were about fifty yards, very deep and very new. The direction of the footprints seemed to be to the top of the mountain. Liu Nanhe's heart was cold, and he shouted at Shi Yimu: "Hurry up, go to the top of the mountain." ”

Shi Yimu climbed to the top of the mountain, although the wind had stopped, it was still very cold on the top of the mountain. Liu Nanhe's heart also cooled, because he clearly saw a snowman standing in the center of the mountaintop. Shi Yimu shouted and rushed to the snowman's side, Liu Nanhe just wanted to check the situation at the scene, but Shi Yimu had already pulled the snowman away.

Inside stood a thin, low-looking old man with a gray beard and a crooked back. There were clotted blood stains on his chest and abdomen, and it was obvious that he had been dead for a long time. Shi Yimu burst into tears, grabbed the old man's hand tightly, and shouted over and over again: "Dad, Dad, Dad...... It's a shepherd, wake up, wake up, wake up......"

Liu Nanhe sighed and wanted to persuade him, but he didn't know how to speak. Liu Qiang squatted on the ground, looking at Shi Yimu and the dead old man blankly, with a sad and lonely expression in his eyes. Liu Nanhe took the flashlight from Liu Qiang's hand and looked around carefully on the ground. Shi Yimu kicked away the snow under the old man and tried to put his body on the ground, but after exerting his strength twice, the old man's body still stood in place and did not move.

Liu Nanhe thought about it and touched the corpse's leg with his hand. On the front and back of the calf, there was a hard piece of stuff that stood up to the corpse's neck. When I tore open the old man's clothes, I saw that there were two rectangular paulownia trees inside. It turns out that the murderer immobilized the body of the deceased in this way, and then built him into a snowman. But why did the murderer bother to do such a thing, and why did the two previous post-mortem reports record such a situation?

Shi Yimu cried for a while, and then suddenly shouted in horror: "Uncle, Officer Liu, where is my uncle......?" Hurry up and help me find ...... Is he ...... Did something happen too?"

The footprints of more than fifty yards seem to have walked many times on the top of the mountain, and many of the footprints are extremely messy. But after Liu Nanhe's careful screening, he finally found that another row of narrow footprints had descended from the other side of the mountain. Liu Nanhe searched in all directions for a few minutes, and found the fifty-yard footprints again. This time, even Liu Nanhe was confused, if that little footprint belonged to Uncle Shi, why would he be more than ten meters away from the murderer's footprints? Since the murderer killed Shi Yimu's father, why would he let him go?

With all kinds of questions, Liu Nanhe told Liu Qiang to follow the footprints of the trumpet, and he followed the footprints of the murderer to the bottom of the mountain. Liu Qiang seemed to be worried, and hesitated: "It's better to call for help, in case you run into wolves, or where the murderer is hiding......"

Liu Nanhe glared at him, but before he could speak, Shi Yimu gritted his teeth and said word by word: "Officer Liu, you go to find my uncle, and I will track down the murderer." ”

Liu Nanhe took out his mobile phone, but he could see that the signal bar was gray, and he could only give up his plan to contact Qin Yiyan. However, when there is no signal on the mobile phone, you can still call the police on 110. After Liu Nanhe dialed, the voice of a policewoman on duty came from there. Liu Nanhe said the situation here, and the policewoman said: "Okay, this will be transferred to the Gucheng Township Police Station." ”

The situation was urgent, and Liu Nanhe was afraid that Shi Yimu would act irrationally in anger, so he could only tell Liu Qiang to stay on the mountain to protect the scene, and trace the footprints of more than fifty yards with Shi Yimu. Liu Qiang had no choice but to nod and agree. Liu Nanhe and Shi Yimu walked forward along the big footprint with flashlights and wooden sticks, and after walking for about ten minutes, they saw scattered blood stains on the snow. The snow here is also a mess, and it seems that there has been a desperate struggle. Not far away, there were two gray wild wolves, both of which were stabbed in the abdomen and killed with one blow.

After a moment's pause, the two continued their pursuit. The big footprint walked all the way to the next hill before stopping at a cliff. Liu Nanhe judged the direction, this cliff seems to be the Lotus River, but look at the large footprints, there is no sign of turning around and leaving, and there is no trace of venturing down the cliff, is it ...... Could it be that this murderer committed suicide by jumping off a cliff?

Shi Yimu looked at it in a daze for a while, and said, "This ...... This ......"

Liu Nanhe took out his mobile phone and dialed 110, asking the operator to notify the police in Gucheng Township to send someone to check along the Lotus River. After the operator agreed, Liu Nanhe found that his mobile phone had partially restored the signal. Liu Nanhe immediately called Zhao Hongyan again and asked him if he had gotten the file from the police station. Zhao Hongyan gasped and replied: "I got it, I'm already back, and I'm fighting the fire here." ”

Liu Nanhe exclaimed: "Fight the fire, what fire?"

Zhao Hongyan said: "Uncle Shi's house was set on fire. ”

Liu Nanhe sat on the snow, he suddenly realized that he had fallen into the murderer's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and the people might have killed Shi Yimu's father a long time ago, and then he was suspicious and led himself here. The killer wore shoes in size 50, not to prevent slipping, but to hide the string of small footprints. Because the big footprints come here, the small footprints can perfectly cover up their whereabouts by stepping on the traces left by the big footprints and returning the same way. And the murderer took another road and secretly went down the mountain, burning everything in Uncle Shi's house, cutting off the back way for the police to track down the old case.

A strong sense of frustration filled Liu Nanhe's mind, no wonder the police in Zhengzhong City had no way to take this case, it turned out that it was not that people were incompetent, but that the murderer's plan was seamless, not only combining the factors of time and place, but also figuring out the thinking of the police.

Shi Yimu also sat in the snow in a daze, he looked straight at the cliff, and said, "What about my uncle......?" Did he jump off a cliff?"

Liu Nanhe didn't answer, because there were no traces of hard kicking in the snow on the cliffside, and the snow on the branches next to him was as usual, and there was no appearance of any foreign object touching it. So absolutely no one jumped from the edge of the cliff, this big footprint was purely to confuse their sight and use it to delay time.

"Let's go, go back and follow that little footprint. Liu Nanhe suddenly stood up, picked up the wooden stick at his feet and said. The murderer can be suspicious, but the small footprints will reveal his whereabouts, and if the thorns and weeds along the way can hook off a piece of clothing crumbs, they can help Liu Nanhe find out who he really is.