The sky is faint, and it is almost dawn.

It's the coldest time.

Lin Boqin passed by the alley and suddenly smelled a strong smell of blood.

He walked for a moment, and he had a bad premonition in his heart. He carried the lantern and searched around, but the lantern was bright and extinguished, and could only illuminate one side of the realm.

He stooped down and walked into the alley, and saw a man lying at the end of the alley.

Lin Boqin was shocked and walked forward quickly, but when he saw a child lying on the cold ground, his chest and abdomen were dissected, and the tragic situation was the same as that of the Xu family child who died last time, he was shocked, and hurriedly raised his hand and pressed the child's skin, which was still elastic; And the blood on the ground has not yet clotted, and when I raised my hand, it was warm.

At this moment, the sound of "Hehe" came from behind him.

Lin Boqin looked back, but it was a vicious-looking leprosy dog, I don't know if it was because of the light, the dog's eyes looked faint blue light, extremely weird. The dog had a very serious skin disease and had bugs crawling around on his body, which looked extraordinarily oozing.

The leprosy dog hissed in its throat and bared its fangs, as if it wanted to come forward and bite someone.

Lin Boqin immediately shook the lantern in his hand forward, and the leprosy dog was afraid of light, so he ran away with his tail hanging down.

The darkness of the night was deep and chilling.

Lin Boqin took Gu Jing and others to return with him, and the body was still lying in the alley, looking like there was no trace of movement.

Xue Yao stepped forward to conduct an autopsy and determined that the situation was the same as the last case, he was disemboweled, and he had no heart and lungs. But he pointed to the child's right hand and said, "But for some reason, this time the deceased only had his left hand gnawed off, and his right hand was intact." ”

Lin Boqin stared at the little hand, his face was cold, and he didn't say a word.

The body was brought back to the county office, and it didn't take long for someone to identify the body.

It was Aunt Liu, who sold glutinous rice cakes on East Street, and the deceased child was only four years old, and she was her grandson.

East Street is very close to the place where the crime occurred, and it is surprising that the gangsters are so bold. Lin Boqin thought of buying glutinous rice cakes from Aunt Liu yesterday, and she was still smiling, crying out of breath at this time, almost breaking her liver and intestines, and she couldn't bear to look at it anymore.

Gu Jingtong stepped forward and asked, "Aunt Liu, when did your grandson leave?" ”

Aunt Liu choked up and waved her hand: "The child didn't leave, he, he wanted to relieve himself in the middle of the night, so I opened the door and asked him to go to the yard to solve it by himself...... I was old and sleepy, so I fell asleep...... As a result, when I woke up the next day, I didn't see anyone anywhere, and I heard that the officials of the yamen sent people to conduct autopsies everywhere, so I came here to have a look, but I didn't expect it...... I didn't expect it to be my grandson! ”

"What do you hear?"

Aunt Liu cried and pointed to her ear, and said, "I can't hear in one ear, and I ...... that night There seemed to be a few dog barks that night......" Speaking of this, her face instantly turned gray, "Could it really be a lung-eating dog?!" ”

Gu Jingtong also felt that this case was getting more and more weird.

He waved his hand slightly, knowing that Lin Boqin didn't like to listen to these ghosts and gods, and said: "The lung-eating dog is just a rumor, don't worry, how did your grandson die, we will find out." ”

Lin Boqin remembered something at this time and asked, "Aunt Liu, do you know Xu Changqi's family at the root of the south wall?" ”

Aunt Liu shook her head blankly.

"Do you have any friends you know?" Lin Boqin guessed that this might be an acquaintance who committed the crime.

Aunt Liu still shook her head: "My lord, in this vast sea of people, Qingyuan County is not big, and the neighbors basically know each other...... For a while, I really couldn't tell. ”

"That's it."

Lin Boqin waved his hand and sighed: "You take the corpse back for burial first, and this matter will definitely give you a truth." ”

Aunt Liu wiped her tears and nodded: "I still hope that the official will make the decision for my grandson." Then she left with the body of her grandson.

Lin Boqin frowned and said nothing.

Yang La, who was on the side, stepped forward to report: "My lord, the leprosy dogs in the county have basically been caught by us, but most of them are dying due to illness, and it is impossible for them to have the strength to bite off people's hands." Lin Boqin hesitated for a moment, thought of the one he had seen at dawn, and proposed to see the captured leprosy dog.

There are several large cages in the courtyard of the county government, and the cages are made of wood, which are quite strong.

The dogs inside are as Yang La said, because of illness, they have no energy, and they don't look like they can hurt people.

Xue Yao brought the corpse over at this time, looked at the sick dog in the cage, frowned and said: "These dogs all suffer from skin diseases, and it is difficult to walk and eat, and the wrists of the two deceased who were bitten off are not something they can do." ”

Of course, Lin Boqin will not slander a dog in order to solve the case.

He lowered his eyes, glanced at the shocking corpse, and asked Gu Jingtong again: "Regarding the two crime locations, have you found anything?" ”

Gu Jingtong groaned: "These two places are within the county seat of Qingyuan, and the murderer must be from the city." These days, the investigation visited the households around Xu Changqi, and they all said that Xu Changqi's family was a good person, never quarreled with others, and had no enemies. We haven't figured out why the murderer wanted to kill someone, so we don't know where to start. ”

This is a tricky case.

Lin Boqin will not give up easily.

He said to Gu Jingtong: "Sheng Feng, continue to investigate, the Xu family and the neighbors around the Liu family can't let go of any of them." If no suspicious person can be found around these two families, then the whole city will be searched, even if Qingyuan County is turned upside down, clues must be found! ”

Gu Jingtong nodded and responded, "Okay!" ”

In the early hours of the morning, Aunt Liu's grandson's blood was still warm, but the murderer was nowhere to be found, only a vicious leprosy dog.

This shows that the leprosy dog is a trick made by the murderer, but the real murderer has escaped.

How did the murderer escape from such an alley?

Lin Boqin was puzzled, and while instructing Yang La to continue to catch the blue-eyed leprosy dog, he took Hu Yu and went to check on the place where Aunt Liu's grandson died.

It's a dark alley, and there are four families in it, all of whom have their back doors open to it. At the end of the alley is a wall, facing Fushou Street, where most of the people live are elderly people who have no ability to commit crimes.

Hu Yu knocked on the door next to each other and asked, and the first three households all said that they didn't often enter and exit through the back door, knowing that there was a murder here, their faces were all pale, and they didn't want to talk more.

And the fourth family couldn't knock it open, Hu Yu frowned and asked, "My lord, will it be at home?" Why don't we come back tomorrow? ”

Lin Boqin thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "Go around to the front." ”

"Yes."

The two asked for directions and walked all the way to Dongping Street. When Hu Yu walked to the vermilion lacquer door with the couplet, Lin Boqin reacted, frowned and said, "It's Lu Hua's home." ”

Hu Yu was stunned for a moment, and then remembered who Lu Hua was.

The former predecessor of the county government has previously investigated the case of dwarf Qian Gao, and he has also provided clues.

A child whose heart and lungs were disemboweled, a familiar autopsy, all seem to be connected.

Even if Hu Yu was stupid, he thought of Lin Boqin, he took two steps back, pulled out his knife in front of him, and asked, "My lord, do you want me to find a helper?" ”

Lin Boqin glanced at the sky, it was still blue and white, and there must be no moths, so he asked him to go back quickly.

Hu Yu did go quickly, he called a few knife-wielding arresters, as well as Gu Jingtong and ...... Chu Cheng.

Hu Yu spread his hands helplessly to Lin Boqin: "My lord, it was Mrs. who heard that she had found the suspect and had to come over...... I—I can't stop it. ”

Lin Boqin glanced at Chu Cheng, his face changed, and he frowned and said, "What are you doing here?" ”

Chu Cheng pointed to the closed door: "I'm afraid that you are in danger, so I came to protect you." ”

“…… Talk nonsense. Lin Boqin knew that he couldn't get rid of her, but he didn't have a way, so he had to say, "Follow behind, don't make claims." ”

Seeing that he really didn't scold himself, Chu Ji was happy in his heart, and nodded again and again: "Okay, okay." ”

Lin Boqin and Hu Yu walked ahead, and Chu Cheng followed behind Lin Boqin. This is Gu Jingtong interjected and asked her in a low voice: "Peizhi bought you glutinous rice cakes yesterday, do you think it is delicious?" Chu Cheng smiled sweetly: "It's delicious, I ate it all in one go this morning." ”

The sound of the conversation between the two of them was not loud or small, and Lin Boqin could hear it just in time.

He heard that Chu Cheng had eaten it all, and he was slightly happy in his heart.

Hu Yu knocked on the door and no one answered, so he let the left and right knock the door open, and with a "bang", the courtyard door opened, and everyone was shocked by the scene in the courtyard.

There was only one Lu Hua in the hospital.

He fell to the ground, bleeding and pale, but he died of poison.

The walls and pillars in the courtyard were covered with strange talismans.

Gu Jingtong didn't quite understand, and asked: "The last time I came to Lu Hua, he said that it was because he felt guilty about the case of the six members of the Zhu family that he posted the talismans to keep him safe, why is the Zhu case closed, and he still refuses to tear these talismans away?" ”

Hu Yu glanced at Lu Hua's corpse and answered casually: "It must be because he killed so many children, he is afraid of being haunted by grievances." ”

Lin Boqin stepped forward and looked at Lu Hua's corpse, and at this moment, something fell out of Lu Hua's hand.

When he picked it up, he saw that it was a crumpled ball of paper.

Lin Boqin flattened the paper ball, but saw that it was a suicide note. The above is Lu Hua's usual tone, he said, because of the contradiction with Aunt Liu and Xu Changqi, and he didn't dare to go to the adults to trouble, he put the sin on his children and grandchildren, but because he couldn't hide it now, he could only commit suicide in fear of sin.

Chu Cheng ate a fly-like expression and asked, "This reason is too far-fetched, right?" I haven't dealt with Lu Hua, do you think he's like that? ”

Lin Boqin put away the suicide note and instructed everyone: "Search Lu Hua's home first, be careful, and don't miss anything." ”

Everyone hurriedly went their separate ways.

Lin Boqin squatted there to inspect Lu Hua's body, and Chu Cheng turned around and looked around boredly.

In the middle of the room is a statue of Guan Gong, which looks majestic. The incense candle was still burning, Chu Cheng thought that the owner of this house was dead, and leaving an open flame was afraid of causing a fire, so she subconsciously stepped forward and wanted to blow out the incense candle.

However, as soon as she raised her hand, her long sleeves accidentally touched the statue of Guan Gong and brushed it off, only to hear a crisp sound of "pop", and the ceramic statue of Guan Gong was smashed into pieces, revealing one of the bronze objects.

This Guan Gong statue turned out to be hollow!

Before Chu Cheng came back to his senses, Gu Jingtong had already walked over when he heard the sound. He stooped down and picked up the bronze cast on the ground, which was only about ten inches long, with a handle underneath, roughly cylindrical, and a shaft in the middle to turn.

Gu Jingtong shook his hand with a puzzled expression: "What is this?" ”

Chu Cheng recognized it.

This thing...... During the time of Emperor Taizu, it was banned, how could it appear in Lu Hua's house?

But she didn't dare to show it, because there were too few people who could recognize this thing, and if she said it, she was afraid that it would arouse suspicion.

Lin Boqin obviously didn't know what this was, so he waved his hand: "Take it back to the yamen and examine it carefully." ”