[The seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Yuan, the fourth day of the fifth month, Haishi, Chang'an City Liquanfang, outside the gate of Xufu]

Xu Ke and Hu Yiyi were talking about Mao Jiaojiao in the Wenyu Pavilion in their back garden, and before they knew it, it was late at night, but at this time, the housekeeper Dong Laifu came in in a hurry to report that there was someone outside the door who had asked to see Xu Ke.

So, Xu Ke took Dong Laifu to the gate, and when he saw the person, he was immediately surprised:

"Zhou County Order?"

It turned out that the person who came was none other than Zhou Shouju, the magistrate of Chang'an.

After Zhou Shouju saw Xu Ke, he hurriedly pulled Xu Ke aside and whispered:

"Lord Xu, the lower officials are in an emergency, and they need to go to Chang'an County with the lower officials!"

"This ...... Okay!" Xu Ke looked at the sky above his head, it was about a moment at this time, it stands to reason that this time is not the time to go out, not to mention, he is a thousand households of Tsing Yi Wei, and he is not the boss of Zhou Zhiju, but he saw Zhou Zhixian's expression so solemn, and he knew that the other party came late at night, and there must be a major situation that he needed to help consider.

So, Xu Ke gave Dong Laifu a few words, and then followed Zhou Shouju and got into the carriage of the Chang'an County Ya together.

After the two entered the yatang in Chang'an County, Zhou Shouju didn't say much, and directly led Xu Ke to a secret morgue in the county ya.

Zhou Shouju pointed to the four dead bodies of men on the board, and said to Xu Ke:

"Lord Xu, these four dead bodies were found near Anlefang in the south of the city by several officials under the lower officials, please see, are these dead people killed by monsters?"

Xu Ke walked to the front of the four corpses to take a closer look, and saw that the deceased were all between 20 and 40 years old, and they looked distorted, hideous and ugly, with curled limbs and shriveled skin, showing that they had experienced great pain and died in front of them. In addition, the deceased was charred black, as if it had been scorched by fire.

"Zhou Zhixian, when did the officials find these dead bodies?

Zhou replied hurriedly:

"My lord, the officials were patrolling the south of the city tonight, and at about four o'clock in the morning, they saw the dead bodies of these four men. At that time, the bodies of the four corpses were still warm, as if they had just died, and after the officials found out, they immediately moved the bodies to the county office. When the lower officials saw that these men were dying strangely, they thought about coming to report to the adults because they were the first ones......! However, do you think that these corpses still need to be examined?"

The meaning of Zhou Shouju's words is also very clear: Even if such a strange dead corpse is allowed to be done, what can be detected? When the time comes, not only will it not help but do not do well, and it will also leak the news and cause unnecessary panic.

"Hmm......" Xu Ke nodded and said:

"These men should have just died, but their death is as if they have been dead for decades, such a strange way of death, it is obvious that their murderers must not be ordinary mortals. Zhou Zhixian, right now, apart from a few officials, who else knows about this matter?"

Zhou Shouju said: "Don't worry, my lord, you and I know about this matter at the moment! Those officials are all capable arresters of this county, and the lower officials have strictly ordered them to block the news, so no third person will know about this matter!"

"Very good!" Xu Ke commanded again:

Judging from the current situation, most of these men died at the hands of monsters. Therefore, in order not to cause greater panic among the people of Chang'an, Zhou Zhixian, the relevant news of this case, you must strictly block it!"

Zhou Shoulder nodded again and again: "The lower official knows!"

Xu Ke asked again: "Zhou Zhixian, did anyone else see these four corpses before the officials found the dead bodies? Also, did the officials let others see the dead bodies on the way to the county government?"

Zhou Shouju replied: "Please rest assured, Lord Xu, the area of Anlefang in the south of Chang'an City, the terrain is relatively remote, that person has few pedestrians during the day, and no one sets foot at night. ”

"That's good!" Xu Ke then said:

"I already know about this matter, and after I report it to His Royal Highness King Zhao, I will make a plan! In the next few days, you will keep these four dead bodies alive, remember, these dead bodies must not be seen by outsiders!"

Zhou Shoulders is a little embarrassed:

"Lord Xu, it's early summer now, and the weather is getting hotter, so it's not easy to preserve the corpse. Besides, the mortuary of our Chang'an County Ya is no better than the morgue in your Tsing Yi Guard, there are only a few door panels here, and there is not even a little corpse medicine, if it is after tomorrow, the lower officials are afraid that these dead corpses will be rotten!"

Xu Ke thought for a moment and said:

"If His Royal Highness King Zhao and I don't come to inspect the dead bodies tomorrow, and no one comes to claim the dead, you can find a place to bury these corpses first!"

Zhou Beiju had to nod, and Xu Ke saw that the hour had almost passed, so he said goodbye to Zhou Beiju and went out.

However, when Zhou Shouju sent Xu Ke to the gate of the county government, while there was no one around, Zhou Shouju suddenly remembered something, and whispered to Xu Ke:

"Does Lord Xu know? In this Chang'an City, there are actually strange dead bodies all the time?"

"There are strange corpses all the time?" Xu Ke couldn't help but wonder:

"Is there a strange dead like tonight, has there always been before?"

Zhou Shuju nodded again.

"Then why didn't you report it before? You didn't say it until tonight!" Xu Ke couldn't help but ask.

"My lord......" Zhou hurriedly bowed to Xu Ke and replied:

"The dead people before were all found by your Tsing Yi Wei people! Only these four corpses tonight are my officials in Chang'an County, and they happened to be seen on the way to run an errand in the south of the city. Therefore, the lower official urgently reported it to the adults......"

"Tsing Yi Wei?" Xu Ke hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed Zhou Shouju's arm, and said in disbelief:

"You mean, our people in Tsing Yi have always found dead bodies before?"

Xu Ke couldn't help but be surprised, if I had often found dead bodies in Tsing Yi Wei before, how could I never report them? As an inspector of thousands of households, I review so many official documents every day, why have I never seen a daily newspaper that found strange dead bodies?

Zhou Shouju was a little flustered and said:

"My lord, this matter, the lower officials only heard about it when they heard the report from their subordinates. One night, at about this hour, a few officials passed through the south of the city, and they saw with their own eyes a group of guards of your Tsing Yi Guard, carrying back several dead bodies, and those dead bodies were the same as what you saw tonight......

Looking at Xu Ke's eyes, he seemed to be saying again, why is this matter, you Xu Ke, as an inspector of thousands of households in Tsing Yiwei, don't know anything at all?

"There is such a thing!" Xu Ke let go of the huge hand on his shoulders, feeling both surprised and worried in his heart. He thought to himself, in this way, in fact, in Chang'an City, in the past two months, there have been men who have been dying all the time! Why did my subordinates of Tsing Yiwei not report the dead bodies when they saw them? Presumably, this matter must have been handled secretly by Shen Huan, and I wonder if my senior brother knew about this matter?17

At that moment, Xu Ke didn't say much, so he resigned from his shoulders and went straight to the north of the city.

Regardless of the fact that it was the middle of the night at this time, he still went all the way north and went straight to the Zhao Wangfu in Daningfang.

When he arrived at King Zhao's Mansion, Xu Ke knocked on the door of the mansion and asked Ma Yun, the head of King Zhao's Mansion, carefully, I don't know if His Royal Highness King Zhao is resting, he has something important to see the prince tonight.

Ma Yun shook his head and said that the prince was still in the study, and he didn't know why he was worried about something.

So, Xu Ke didn't need Ma Yun to take him, so he walked into the palace and walked into Li Yi's study.

When Li Yi saw Xu Ke coming late at night, he not only didn't think it was strange at all, but smiled and asked:

"Senior brother, at this time, if you don't go to accompany the fairy sister at home, how can you think of coming to me?"

Xu Ke's face was embarrassed, and he replied with an embarrassed expression:

"Senior brother, I just came from Chang'an County!"

"Oh, could it be that Chang'an County has also found a terrifyingly shaped corpse?"

"Senior brother, so you know everything?"

"Well, I also heard Wan Li talk to me a few days ago, and then I realized that in the past few days in Chang'an City, it seems that there has been a storm again, and there are horrific corpses being found everywhere!"

Xu Ke then asked:

"Did that senior brother ever know that in the past two months in Chang'an City, in fact, the dead bodies have never been interrupted, but most of the bodies of those dead have been secretly disposed of by Shen Huan's subordinates......?"

"How can such a thing happen?"

Xu Ke didn't expect that his senior brother Li Yi had been kept in the dark about this matter.

At this time, the sound of walking sounded outside the door, and Ma Yun, the head of the palace, personally brewed a cup of "Huayu Tea" for Xu Ke.

After Ma Yun retreated, Li Yi immediately asked again:

"No disease, who did you listen to about this?"

So, Xu Ke told Li Yibei about the way he just went to the Chang'an County Ya tonight, and what Chang'an County Ling Zhou Beiju secretly told him in private.

Li Yi listened to it, pondered for a long time, he drank a cup of "jasmine tea" in front of him, but suddenly sighed:

"It seems that there are more than one or two monsters in Chang'an City, and my father must have known about this matter!"

"Your Majesty?......" Xu Ke suddenly wondered: "What does senior brother mean, this matter was ordered by the emperor to Shen Huan?"

Li Yidao: "If it weren't for my father secretly giving Shen Huan an order, even if Shen Huan had the courage, he wouldn't dare to secretly dispose of so many dead bodies, but he wouldn't report any of them." ”

When Xu Ke heard this, he couldn't help but nod secretly in his heart. He said in his heart, there are so many dead corpses in Chang'an City at once, if those ignorant people know the news, the entire capital will not be messed up? His Majesty ordered Tsing Yiwei to secretly dispose of those dead corpses, which is also reasonable, but I didn't expect that Shen Huan didn't even report me and my senior brother in order to block the news.

Xu Ke asked again:

Judging from this situation, in the past two months, there should have been no less than 100 men in Chang'an City who died for no reason. It's just that more than 100 men died suddenly one after another, so why don't they see their families running to report to the officials?"

Xu Ke, as the inspector of Tsing Yi Wei, and the deputy envoy of the cat demon case, has participated in the "Case Investigation and Trial Conference" many times, and knows the movements of various yamen in Chang'an City about the case. In the past two months, except for the case of King Han being killed by a cat demon, which caused a sensation in the capital, at other times, I did not see too much panic among the people, and I never saw the family of the deceased report to the official to look for someone......

Li Yi then said:

"Most of these dead men are probably homeless beggars! Haven't you heard what Dai Zhou of Dali Temple said? There are thousands of homeless people scattered all over Chang'an City, even if more than 100 people die, who will care?"

Xu Ke said: "Senior brother, to this day, do you think that it is not the cat demon who has harmed people one after another in Chang'an City?"

Li Yi nodded and said:

"Of course, the cat demon is also one of the murderers, but the cat demon kills people, and there are obvious signs of death due to intercourse with people, but the bodies of the dead found now are in a miserable state, and they are scorched black, and they should have died under another kind of magic skill!"

"Another kind of magic skill?" Xu Ke asked, "What kind of kung fu is that?"

Li Yidao: "Listening to what Miss Yiqing said, there is also a kind of magic skill in this world, called 'Soul Sucking Demon Skill', if mortals are destroyed by this kind of magic skill, all the essence and blood will be sucked dry and die! ”

Xu Ke asked:

"Senior brother, as you can see, in this Chang'an City, in addition to the cat demon who charmed the man's life with the 'art of harmony', the real murderer is someone else?"

Li Yi immediately said:

"No disease, it should be 'another demon', right!"

"There is another demon ?......" Xu Ke asked again: "So, who is this monster, and where is she hiding?

Li Yidao:

"This monster may also be a woman!"

Xu Ke asked, "It's also a woman?"

Li Yidao: "Yes! Moreover, she is even more charming and moving than Mao Jiaojiao!"

Xu Ke immediately asked again:

"Senior brother, who is this 'witch'?"

......