In Nahe County, the surroundings were quiet, only the wind blew the tongue of fire and made a whistling sound, Shen Zhitang looked at the neatly placed but unrecognizable corpses on the street all the way, and his heart couldn't help but tighten, and then sighed and sighed: "What kind of person can be so ruthless to so many innocent people!" ”

Li Jianqing stood silently, his expression seemed a little embarrassed, and it wasn't until Shen Zhitang walked away that he reacted and caught up and said, "Teacher~ Ahead is the Yin of Nahe County!" The body of the prefectural magistrate is inside."

The two crossed the public hall of the yamen and came to the backyard, and the body of the county magistrate Liu Yangzhao had been turned out, his whole body was curled up and strong, and his body was covered with white slurry

Shen Zhitang was puzzled: "This posture looks like being burned to death"

Li Jianqing looked back at Shen Zhitang and asked puzzledly: "But~ This place has not been burned by the fire, and there are no traces of fire on his body."

Shen Zhitang raised his eyes and looked at the wardrobe that originally contained the corpse, and found that there were indeed traces left by the burning inside, but it didn't look like it was left by a spark, and he stretched out his hand to check the white marks that were still left on the wooden board, but was stopped by Li Jianqing and said, "Teacher~ Be careful"

Shen Zhitang paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "It's okay~" His hand gently stroked the fine white powder, his heart was already clear, and he patted Li Jianqing's shoulder with a smile and said, "Prison cell~ Can you go?" ”

Li Jianqing shook his head and said: "The cell is dark, I am afraid that poisonous insects will gather inside, and I haven't found a practical self-defense tool, so I haven't let the guards go down."

Shen Zhitang said: "Then let's go and see it now!" ”

Li Jianqing stopped Shen Zhitang's way and said: "Teacher~ This place is really dangerous, the results of those bitten guards are still unknown, and the students can't let you take such a risk anymore~"

Shen Zhitang smiled: "You~Everything is good~ is ...... If you care, you will be chaotic~" Shen Zhitang bypassed Li Jianqing: "I have just asked the guards to light the fire, if there are really poisonous insects gathering below in the prison, it should be smoked out by now"

As the two spoke, suddenly, an angry voice came from outside the cell door: "This is a flying insect again, and it is smoked, what kind of punishment is a new breed?" Yes! Do you know that everyone inside is dead? Also burned~"

When the guards who were watching the fire at the door of the cell saw a person rushing out of the cell, they immediately flew forward and pressed the person to the ground and shouted, "What person? ”

Shen Zhitang glanced at Li Jianqing, immediately walked forward quickly, and motioned for the guards to lift the person up, only to see that the old man was large, and there was a hideous scar on the cheekbone on the left side of his face, and asked, "Who are you?" What did you commit? How did it come out? ”

The old man looked at Shen Zhitang for a while before saying, "You are not the county officials here?" What the hell is going on? ”

Shen Zhitang glanced at Li Jianqing and explained to the old man: "Nahe County was attacked by flying insects last night, and there was no life in the county~ I am the Qin Cha who came to deal with this matter, the old man~ How did you avoid the flying insects last night?" ”

The old man: "Hehe~" laughed twice and said proudly: "I~ hid in the water tank, inhaled with the bamboo, and hid all night, doesn't this still let you set fire to smoke out, as for what crime was committed~ I am a hunter in Nianse Village, Xisha County, Western Zhou Kingdom, two years ago the village was gone, I walked here along the mountain road, sold some wild goods, was found out, and was arrested! Not to mention, your prison cells in the southern frontier country are really good! Eat and drink without worry~"

Shen Zhitang nodded, circled around the old man and asked, "The old man was originally a hunter, so he is familiar with the mountain shape of this place?" ”

The old man broke away from the guard's hand, changed his posture, sat on the ground and said with a smile: "My family has been relying on the mountains to eat for generations, I have been running in the mountains since I can walk, and I dare to say that I have traveled all over the mountains near here, even the legendary fish mouth lake where monsters live I have been ~ I also caught a few fish there to eat, the taste is really good"

"Oh~" Shen Zhitang replied softly, looked at Li Jianqing and asked with a smile: "Then the old man~ What kind of goblin is in Yuzui Lake?" Can you ever die? ”

The old man patted his belly and said, "I'm so cold and hungry all over my body, I really can't remember it~"

Shen Zhitang immediately summoned the two guards just now and said, "Take this old man to the city gate, change him into clean clothes, and give him hot food~"

After the guards took the old man away, Shen Zhitang looked at the smoke outside the cell door and pondered, first Xia Huaixu and then this old man, he always felt that something was wrong......

Suddenly, the wind direction changed abruptly, and thick smoke blew towards Shen Zhitang and the others, Li Jianqing hurriedly pulled Shen Zhitang to change positions and said: "Teacher~ But I have to go down and have a look"

Shen Zhitang was choked by the smoke and coughed lightly twice and replied: "Tell the guards to go down and have a look, do a good job of registration, let's go back to the city gate first!" ”

Li Jianqing suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and his heart was slightly relieved, for him, letting Shen Zhitang take the risk was like the entire southern Xinjiang country was in danger

Shen Zhitang asked as he walked: "See clearly~ What do you think about this matter?" ”

Li Jian cleaned up his thoughts and replied: "Most of the Orions have a withdrawn personality and live in a simple place, which is very different from the personality shown by the old man, and the students can't say it, but they feel very strange along the way~ Especially after entering the boundary of Xilin City......"

Shen Zhitang nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "The two people I met today are not simple, let's go!" ”

Li Jianqing said: "It seems that this bottomless water has been muddied by the arrival of the teacher!" ”

Shen Zhitang looked at Li Jianqing with half-squinted eyes, and suddenly asked, "See Qing!" How are you preparing for this year's imperial examinations? Are you sure? ”

Li Jianqing looked at Shen Zhitang in surprise: "Teacher ~ I ......"

Shen Zhitang let out a long sigh and said, "What? I still don't want to enter officialdom this year."

Li Jian nodded and said, "Hmm~"

Shen Zhitang said: "See clearly! You're eighteen years old! You've been with me since my uncle died, and you've been with me for thirteen or fourteen years! With your talents, if you become an official, your future achievements will be above mine."

Li Jianqing looked at the road ahead, shook his head firmly and said, "Jianqing wishes to follow the teacher for the rest of his life~"

Shen Zhitang shook his head helplessly and said: "It's okay~ I won't force you as a teacher~ Just what happened just now, I will teach you a little more as a teacher, when you encounter a clueless and extremely strange case, you should find out if there are some particularly scary legends in the local area, which may be a breakthrough in the whole case and may even be the starting point of the whole case."

Li Jianqing nodded and said, "The student knows~"

It was already noon, and the fire in Nahe County had been completely extinguished, leaving only a little cooking smoke, and the streets were indeed extremely deserted

Out of the city gate, Shen Zhitang nodded at Li Jianqing, and Li Jianqing suddenly disappeared behind him

Under the wooden shed, the old man had already changed into Shen Qiu's clothes and was eating at the table, Shen Zhitang stepped forward and said with a smile: "It turned out to be a strong man, just now the official was abrupt!" ”

The man who was called a strong man hurriedly put down the dry food in his hand and knelt on the ground and shouted: "Don't dare~ Don't dare~ The little one's name is Xu Sen, who is from Nianse Village, Xisha County, Western Zhou Kingdom."

Shen Zhitang hurriedly helped the person up and said, "Xu Sen! It doesn't have to be like this~ You continue to eat, and we'll talk when you're full! ”

Xu Sen stood uneasily and said, "They say that you are the prime minister of the Southern Xinjiang Kingdom~?" ”

Shen Zhitang said with a smile: "The prime minister is also a human being!" Besides, I still have to ask you for help~"

As soon as Xu Sen heard that the prime minister of the Southern Xinjiang Kingdom wanted to ask him for help, he immediately sat down next to Shen Zhitang and said, "You guys want to know about Yuzui Lake!" I'll tell you! You're really asking the right person, I've been there for more than half a month, and finally let me discover the secret of Yuzui Lake."

Shen Zhitang said softly: "Oh~", and then asked, "But are there really monsters?" ”

Xu Sen looked around and whispered in Shen Zhitang's ear: "Where there are any monsters, it's just that the people in Shentang Valley made up rumors in order to prevent us from getting close to each other."

Shen Zhitang said: "Oh~Let's hear it~"

Xu Sen swallowed the contents of his mouth, and drank a large sip of water before replying: "That fish mouth lake was originally a holy place for our hunters and ginseng pickers, because it was named because it resembled a fish mouth in the deep mountains!" In the past few decades, the hunters who have been there or the mountain people who have been there have not returned, and it has slowly been reported that there is a goldfish the size of a city gate living in the fish mouth lake, which eats those who disturb its rest by the lake, and over time no one goes."

Shen Zhitang said: "What does that have to do with the Santang Valley you just mentioned?" ”

Xu Sen continued: "I usually hunt, and often go to send things to the Santang Valley, two years ago I was hunting in the mountains, just happened to meet the boss of the Santang Valley in Xisha County was hurrying to the mountains, I thought they found something good and went to see, when close to the Yuzui Lake, because the fog was too big, I lost it, but I still remember the smell, extremely unpleasant, like the kind of carrion that has been left for a long time...... I found a cave to hunt and guard, and I found that there were many people who came in and out of it every day, and they carried bags of things out every time."

Shen Zhitang pondered for a while, and wondered: "Is that mountain road easy to walk?" ”

Xu Sen said excitedly: "It's not easy to go!" The road into Yuzui Lake is extremely difficult to walk, and if no one leads the way, ordinary people will not be able to find that place at all."

Shen Zhitang said: "What about later? ”

Xu Sen scratched his head and smirked: "Later, I couldn't help it, so I walked in, and when they found out, I hid here."