Chen Wen and his entourage walked out of the East City Gate and went straight to Tianli Village.

At the end of the day today, Liu Ling, the head of the team, explained to the county Cheng Huang the history of the murder case in Tianli Village, and Huang yawned and was absent-minded.

Originally, I thought it was just an ordinary murder, as usual, as usual, Lord Huang, who ended early and went home to make up for a return to sleep, didn't listen attentively at all, but when Liu Ling talked about the scars of the deceased, his tone suddenly became extremely solemn, Lord Huang of the county has always known Liu Ling's character, and he has to rely on him for the big and small things that usually happen in the county government has blue eyes, so as long as Liu Ling can open his mouth, Lord Chenghuang of the county will basically not refute his face.

Although Liu Ling has always been rigorous and resolute, but looking at today's tone is more solemn than usual, as a city and county Cheng, Lord Huang is already an official oilman, and his ability to communicate with people and watch dishes is clear, where is the kind of fool who does not care about the priority of things, he cheered up immediately, and his eyes motioned for Liu Ling to come forward and speak.

After the tea, Liu Ling took the other three to the post station, and Chen Wen and Zhang Si tacitly knew that yesterday's events were probably related to their speculation.

On the road to Tianli Village, a group of four people had their own concerns.

Chen Wen looked at Zhang Si, hesitating and thinking about whether to speak first, Zhang Si shook his head slightly.

Under the old locust tree at the entrance of Tianli Village, the old Li Tou squatted under the tree and smoked dry cigarettes, and saw a group of four people coming from a horse on the road in front of him, knocked on the cigarette stick, and slowly stood up.

Liu Ling turned over and dismounted in front of the intersection, tied the horse to the side and walked towards Lao Litou, and Chen Wen and the three of them were the same.

Lao Li Tou stepped forward and said to the four officials in front of him: "According to the instructions of the squad leader yesterday, the body has been isolated, and outsiders are not allowed to approach, and the place where the body was first found has also been disposed of. ”

Liu Ling nodded, looking at the small village in front of her, with mixed feelings.

"Liu Bantou, I don't know if I've eaten? If not, if you don't dislike it, go to Xiao Lao'er's house to pad your stomach. "Lao Li Tou got an order yesterday, saying that they would come again today, where did he dare to delay, and besides, the deceased was originally from his own village, so he waited here early in the morning, but he didn't want the messengers to come earlier than he imagined, and it was difficult for him now, for fear that the messengers hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so he had to ask.

Liu Ling said softly: "Don't bother, let's go to the place where the body was found first." ”

Crossing the intersection, by a small river more than 100 meters away from the village, the five people stopped.

Under a tree with a crooked neck, a two-meter-square open space was circled, and in the middle there was a extinguished firewood push, and the grass outside the circle had long been roasted and burned. Liu Ling picked up a branch from the side, stepped over, came to the burnt pyre, squatted down, brushed away the ashes, and blew lightly, only to see that the baked ground was red in some places, the size of a palm, and it was particularly distinct against the background of dry earthy yellow mud and black sawdust ashes.

Liu Ling frowned slightly, took out the dagger from his waist, cut out the small red clod circle, laid the back of the knife flat, and gently picked it up in front of him.

Chen Wen and Zhang Si looked nervous, and Wang San stood aside, looking at the busy team leader, full of admiration.

Liu Ling raised her head, looked at the rising sun in the east, met Wang San who was clubbing in front of her, and said, "Get out of the way." ”

Wang San was confused, and stood to the side, Zhang Si and Chen Wen had already understood, and quietly moved to stand behind Liu Ling, and Lao Li did the same.

Everyone dispersed, the light shone down, Liu Ling took out a black cloth from his arms, his wrist was slightly tilted, and the palm-sized clod on the dagger gently slid down on the cloth, he held the black cloth in one hand and the dagger in the other.

The dagger was facing the sun, and a ray of light reflected happened to hit the black cloth directly above the clod of soil, and the crimson soil layer, mixed with a faint dark green trace, appeared in Liu Ling's eyes.

Liu Ling's heart sank, and sure enough.

He stood up, put away the dagger, tucked it back into his waist, wrapped the palm-sized clod of dirt in a black cloth, and gently lowered it into his arms.

Zhang Si stepped forward and said, "Boss, what do you say?"

"Let's go see the corpse first. Liu Ling took the lead in walking towards the village.

Lao Li Tou hurriedly followed in small steps, leading the way.

The five of them walked towards the entrance of the village together, and over there, the five official horses tied side by side snorted and clicked lightly.

They walked along the path leading to the village at the entrance of the village, bypassing a few yellow mud alleys, and came to a dilapidated hut, where there were no friends, and a broken door opened in the middle of the low courtyard wall, lonely and desolate.

Lao Li Tou stepped into the courtyard, pushed open the door of the house, stood aside and said, "Liu Bantou, this is it." ”

In the middle of the open room on the four walls of the house, there were two tables, and a few broken straw mats covered a dead man, which were scribbled on the table.

After several people entered the house, they all reached out and waved it meaningfully, which was a little fishy.

Chen Wen frowned slightly, and said unhappily: "Old Li Tou, I heard you say yesterday that the deceased was an idler and was alone, but even so, he is still a native of this village.

Lao Li Tou sighed, and the wrinkled vicissitudes of life were full of helplessness, "Brother Chen doesn't know, he, he was lazy before his death, and his temperament is evil, where will he be treated by others, after you left yesterday, it was rumored in the village that it was an evil spirit, so it was so painful before death, and the corpse was moved here, or the old man persuaded a few people to help carry it together, otherwise no one would dare to get close." ”

Chen Wen snorted coldly, "Evil?"

"The old man didn't dare to hide it, when he conducted the autopsy yesterday, he was covered with scars and was shocked, and there were some rumors in the village that he was so painful before he died. Lao Li Tou said a word, and he didn't dare to slack off at all.

"Even this house is abandoned in the village, the girl in this house lost her parents when she was a child, lonely, when she was a child, she was bumped into by passers-by, saying that she was looked at and brought to the city, I don't know if it's true or not, the old man reported this matter many years ago, as for the deceased's own house, it has long been ruined. ”

Chen Wen saw that what Lao Li Tou said was true, and he didn't want to continue to say anything, so he followed Zhang Si and them to the side.

Liu Ling walked to the table and uncovered the straw mat covering it, and a foul smell spread through the breeze brought by the straw mat when it was uncovered, and everyone covered their mouths and noses.

Liu Ling's heart sank, and he was even more determined in his thoughts, he used the dagger at his waist to pick open the clothes on the deceased's chest, glanced at it a few times, and then put the knife into the sheath, re-covered the straw mat, and walked out of the house.

Everyone had to continue to follow, and Lao Li Tou was the last to come out and close the door.

Liu Ling turned around, looked at Lao Li Tou and said, "It's meaningless, the dead are big, burned, put it into the ground." ”

Lao Li Tou hesitated and stepped forward and said, "Liu Bantou has a clue, can't he really be evil?"

As soon as the words came out, Lao Li Tou regretted it a little, and sure enough, Chen Wen and Zhang Si looked at it at the same time, their eyes were gloomy, and the old man's heart was furious.

"There is no evil in this world, if three or two small insects are also evil, it is too much. Liu Ling's tone was disdainful.

Chen Wen and Zhang Si glanced at each other, and they both saw the horror in each other's eyes.

Wang San is still silly and stupid, but Lao Li Tou breathed a sigh of relief, it's good that it's not evil, the people in the village are panicking these days, and they can finally take a reassuring pill.

The five of them walked out of the courtyard together, Liu Ling called Lao Li Tou to go forward together, and asked as he walked, "That small river is used by the village to get water?"

Lao Li Tou replied honestly: "It's not all, there are two wells in the village, and some people are not used to eating well water, saying that it is not as sweet as river water. ”

Liu Ling was not in a hurry, and continued to ask: "Among those people who usually go to the river to fetch a lot of water, there are some strange things happening?"

Lao Li Tou looked puzzled and asked, "What are the strange things that the squad leader is referring to?"

There is only one Ming River in the vicinity of the village, which is a branch of the Sang River, and the river with abundant water and grass is the most prone to breeding snakes and insects.

When the group came to the entrance of the village again, Liu Ling, the leader of the team, looked at the small river with his hands behind his back, and said to himself: "Recently, have some villagers gone out to work and have been bitten by snakes and insects when they were close to the river to get water, and there have been epidemics?"

"That's not true, although the small river in front of it is not big, it has also raised several generations, and I have never heard of an epidemic when I go to the river to get water, on weekdays, we ordinary people go up the mountain and go down to the water, how can we not encounter snakes, insects, rats and ants, but those are common things, and there has never been a dead person. ”

After Lao Li Tou finished answering, he smacked out some other meanings, and frowned, "Team leader, do you mean that there are poisonous insects in the area of Xiaohe? ”

Liu Ling didn't directly say what she thought in her heart, but said: "The matter has not yet been decided, don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense in the future, to avoid causing unnecessary panic, you know?"

Lao Li nodded again and again, saying that he didn't dare to dare.

"There have been other strange things going on in the village recently, have there been any suspicious people?"

This question directly woke up Lao Li Tou, he thought about it slightly, slapped his thigh with his left hand holding the cigarette stick, and said as if he had come to a realization: "Other things are fine, but when it comes to people, there is really a strange thing." ”

"Oh", Liu Ling turned around, looked at Lao Li Tou and said, "Tell me about it." ”

Lao Li Tou frowned, as if he was trying to recall, and said eloquently: "Three days ago, there was really a person in the village, a boy about sixteen or seventeen years old, who looked clean and clean, but he didn't want to be not only a madman, but also a thief. When I first arrived in the village, I was wearing a strange dress, a style that I had never seen before, colorful, and the accent of my voice was not like that of a local, and I behaved strangely, and I talked to myself, and the gods were talking crazy, and the people in the village had never seen such symptoms, so they were driven away at that time. ”

Lao Li Tou took a puff of dry tobacco and continued: "I thought it was okay, but I didn't think that the madman didn't go far, the cat was hiding nearby, and at night, he stole the villagers' clothes at night, and the next day during the day, he pretended to be a passerby, and wanted to beg for some food in the village, but at that time he still recognized the villagers, and was driven out of the village by a few strong men with wooden sticks and farm tools, and chased them all the way before stopping." ”

Lao Li knocked his cigarette stick, a little apologetic, "Fortunately, nothing else happened that day, and I just lost a piece of clothing left and right, so I didn't pay much attention to it, now that I think about it, it is likely that it is really a traveler from somewhere, alas, it is just to ask for a few mouthfuls of water and a few mouthfuls of food, what bad thoughts can a young person have!"

Lao Li Tou sighed to himself, but Liu Ling's heart made waves, dressed strangely, chattering, and talking to himself? Could it be that it is really a witch from the Miao people?

Hmph, the Five Immortals Sect's group of guys who should be killed.

Zhang Si saw Liu Ling's expression on the side, stepped forward and said, "Team leader, that corpse has only been put for two days, it stands to reason that it is impossible for it to stink so quickly, isn't it poisoning and dying?"

The corpse Gu of the Five Immortal Sect is so domineering that the body of the Gu person decays extremely quickly.

Liu Ling nodded silently, Chen Wen looked at Zhang Si and stopped talking, and when he saw the eyes he cast, he understood at the moment.

"Brother Liu, could it be that you have fallen into the corpse Gu of the Miao clan?" Chen Wen hesitated in his tone and asked.

Liu Ling quickly turned his head, looked at Chen Wen and asked, "How did you know about the witch Gu?" This matter has been extinct for several years, and it was hidden at that time, and very few people know about it, how did you know about it?"

Chen Wen's face was calm, "A few years ago, when I was looking through the old yellow calendar, I accidentally saw a file about this matter, and I knew a little. ”

Liu Ling looked sideways at Zhang Si, Zhang Si nodded slightly, and Wang San looked innocent.

"Old Li Tou, do you know that after that person was driven out of the village, he went over there?" Liu Ling's eyes were sharp.

Li Zheng Lao Li Tou had a sudden suddenness in his heart, and said with a weak heart: "I went to the west, and it depends on the situation, most of which is in the direction of Fallen Leaf City." ”

Liu Ling immediately made a decision and ordered: "Chen Wen, Wang San, you two go back immediately, mobilize manpower, and secretly investigate if there are any suspicious people coming and going recently, remember, don't startle the snake." ”

"Zhang Si, you go to the Jiming Market and check the recent barter records of Miao Village to see if there are any Miao people stranded. ”

After speaking, he walked to the entrance of the village, untied the reins, and turned over on his horse.

Chen Wen and the three of them followed together.

Looking at Liu Ling, who was riding away, Chen Wen shouted: "Team leader, won't you go back with us?"

On the path where the sound of horses' hooves suddenly rose, Liu Ling's voice came from afar, "I'm going to Miao Village, I want to see who is making trouble!"

Chen Wen and Zhang Si glanced at each other, and each turned over on his horse.

Three figures, two longitudinal horses to the west, to the city of fallen leaves, one alone to the south of the chicken market.

It was the center of the Miao barter.