CR: Chapter 511
Chapter 511 – Suspicious People
Qu Wanyue saw the scene inside the room and was shocked. She immediately told Xiao Lou what she saw. “Professor Xiao, the bride is hanging from a beam, motionless. She should be dead.”
Xiao Lou was stunned and looked back at Yu Hanjiang. “How can it be so fast? Didn’t she just enter the new house after paying her respects?”
Yu Hanjiang frowned and was silent for a moment. “Our speculation was probably wrong.”
According to the description of the incident by the residents of the town, the bride entered the new house after worshipping heaven and earth. The groom drank with the guests in the backyard and only returned to the house about an hour later around midnight in a drunk manner. Then he found the bride hanging from the beam after committing suicide. According to the sequence of events, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang had believed that the bride was killed by the murderer who was among the guests while the groom was doing the toasts.
There was an hour or two from the worshipping ceremony to the discovery of the bride’s body. The murderer had plenty of time to kill the bride, which was why Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang had laid on the roof as soon as they entered the courtyard, staring intently at the guests. They wanted to carefully observe the expressions and movements of the guests to locate the murderer.
However, during the few minutes they observed from the rooftop, they didn’t see anything unusual at the guest seats. In addition, all the seats were occupied. This proved that no one had left during this time.
They couldn’t kill a person if they didn’t leave the guest seat so the murderer shouldn’t be among this group of guests.
Who killed the bride?
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were both thinking about this question when Qu Wanyue’s voice was heard in their ears. “Professor Xiao, there is no one in the new house. Do you want to come and conduct an autopsy?”
Xiao Lou looked back and said softly, “Okay, let’s go.”
He asked Liu Qiao and Old Mo to stay on the roof and keep an eye on the guest seats. Meanwhile, he and Yu Hanjiang headed down from the roof and quickly walked along the path behind the courtyard to the new house.
The distance between the new house and the courtyard was around 50 meters. If the bride discovered the murderer and screamed, the guests would definitely hear it. According to the description of the townspeople, the bride committed suicide. This indicated that she hadn’t cried for help before she was killed.
Yu Hanjiang observed the surrounding environment while walking. There was an artificial pond in the backyard that was full of lotus flowers. In the early spring, the lotus flowers hadn’t fully blossomed and a large number of lotus leaves covered the pond. In the hazy moonlight, it could be faintly seen that the water of this pool was very clear.
Xiao Lou sensed Yu Hanjiang’s thoughts and replied in his mind, “This pond of the Long family is very large and there are many lotus leaves that can be used as a natural barrier. Do you suspect that the murderer was lurking in the pond?”
Yu Hanjiang nodded. “No one left the guest seats so the murderer definitely isn’t among the guests. Since the murderer is good in water, hiding in the pond in advance is indeed a good choice.”
Xiao Lou looked at the pond covered with lotus leaves and whispered into his earpiece, “I will do the autopsy first. Old Mo, continue to monitor the guests. Xiao Liu, use the mermaid transformation, and the invisibility cloak and go into the water to take a look. Be careful.”
Liu Qiao quickly responded. “Received.”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang turned and walked to the door of the new house. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue had already merged with the wall. Long Sen saw the two of them coming and said, “There is no one in the house. I don’t know where the mother-in-law and maids have gone but the bride’s body is hanging from the beam.”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were used to the ‘wall’ suddenly speaking. Xiao Lou spoke to the wall on the right, “Please keep an eye on the door. If someone comes then inform us through the earpiece. I will go in with Hanjiang to see.”
Qu Wanyue’s voice came from the wall on the left. “Yes, you should be careful.”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang gently pushed open the door. As soon as they entered, they saw the bride in a red wedding dress hanging from a beam. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth and her body was stiff. She had long stopped breathing.
The house was lit with bright red candles and the flickering candlelight reflected her pale face. The woman with her tongue sticking out looked terrifying. Her wide eyes seemed to be staring at Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang.
Fortunately, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang’s psychological qualities were strong. The moment he met the bride’s eyes, Yu Hanjiang simply flew up and lowered the bride from the beam. Xiao Lou stepped forward, carefully observed the marks on the neck and quickly came to a conclusion. “Judging by the surface features of the corpse, Lin Wanqing was indeed hanged.”
This conclusion surprised his teammates but they quickly calmed down. It was on the surface. This didn’t mean it represented the truth.
Yu Hanjiang said, “You mean, she wasn’t strangled before being hung from the beam?”
Xiao Lou pointed to the marks on her neck. “If you strangle a person before hanging them, they are already dead when hanging from the beam. The blood flow has stopped and the hanging position will show a horizontal, uniform and closed ligature mark. A person who commits suicide by hanging will have their blood flow blocked. The ligature mark formed on the neck should be darkest at the bottom, spread to both sides and lighter as it goes up. This is consistent with the marks on Lin Wanqing’s neck. Moreover, she has obvious blue-purple corpse spots due to lack of oxygen and the toes of her feet are completely drooping. All of this is in line with the characteristics of dying from hanging.”
In previous cases, Yu Hanjiang had heard Xiao Lou talk about the difference between ‘hanging oneself’ and ‘strangling a person to death before hanging them’. Looking closely, the marks on Lin Wanqing’s neck really didn’t look like she was hung after having been strangled.
Yu Hanjiang opened his mouth. “Still, there are two cases of hanging. One is to hang yourself and the other is to be forcibly hung by the murderer. I suspect the latter.”
Xiao Lou had also thought of this and nodded. “The murderer should’ve been hiding in the shadows and quickly subdued her. Then he hung her from the beam so she couldn’t call for help or struggle and she was hung alive. You see, there is something strange about the way she hung herself.”
Yu Hanjiang said, “Ordinary people hang themselves with white cloth. She used hair… such long hair isn’t her own.”
Xiao Lou frowned as he looked at the braid hanging from the beam. He remembered the hair of all the women at the bottom of the lake that was tied to the water plants and thoughtfully said, “The murderer seems to have a strange obsession with hair. The braid that hung Lin Wanqing is more than two meters long, right? Ordinary people won’t have such long hair. This braid probably consists of the hair of several people and is mixed with special weaving materials.”
Xiao Lou leaned over to examine the ligature mark on the deceased’s neck. At this moment, the female corpse lying on the ground disappeared like a ghost, followed by the red curtains in the new house suddenly flying into the air.
These red cloths seemed to have a consciousness and quickly surrounded the two people.
Xiao Lou was stunned. “Is it a hunter?”
Yu Hanjiang’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He quickly retreated with one arm around Xiao Lou’s waist while the saber in his other hand slashed neatly. However, these red cloths couldn’t be cut with the blade. It wasn’t known what material they were made of.
The two of them were about to be wrapped in the red cloth when Old Mo’s voice was heard from the earpiece. “All the guests in the backyard disappeared at the same time.”
Qu Wanyue said nervously, “Professor Xiao, the candles in the room are extinguished. Is something wrong?”
Xiao Lou quickly calmed down. “Everyone, be careful. This place is full of hunters!”
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen wanted to come in and help but they found that the door was like an iron wall and couldn’t be pushed open.
At this moment, the entire courtyard burst into flames. The roof of the building where Old Mo was hiding was instantly covered in flames and Old Mo was burned by the heat wave.
At the same time, densely packed arrows shot at the new house where Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were located.
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen were shocked. The two of them could use the Chameleon card to disguise themselves as the color of their surroundings. Currently, they were close to the wall and couldn’t be seen at all on the surface but their bodies still existed.
There were so many arrows. Wouldn’t they be shot into hedgehogs if they continued to stick to the wall?
Qu Wanyue made a decisive decision and directly used a dance card. Under the blessing of the dance king buff, her body flexibly moved on the ground like a fish in water. Long Sen wasn’t as flexible as her but at the critical moment, he didn’t react slowly. He immediately used the zombie jumping card and made his legs eight meters long in an instant. He jumped into the air and dodged all the sharp arrows.
The dense rain of arrows shot below him. Long Sen was shocked and looked back. The iron wall that couldn’t be opened by him and Qu Wanyue could actually be shot by sharp arrows?
Long Sen was stunned for a moment. Then he saw the arrows being shot into the house and hurriedly shouted, “Group Leader Yu, Professor Xiao, are you okay?”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were also in a bad situation. The two of them had their vision completely blocked by the red cloth.
The red cloth that was over two meters long surrounded them and spun like a red tornado. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang couldn’t see anything and didn’t know that Long Sen and Qu Wanyue who stayed outside were almost shot.
However, Yu Hanjiang’s ears were extremely sensitive. His eyes couldn’t see but his ears heard the sound of sharp arrows cutting through the air!
Before he had time to speak, Xiao Lou decisively took out the compass and quickly drew a circle on the ground. They were connected using Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings. Yu Hanjiang didn’t need to speak and Xiao Lou noticed the sound of sharp arrows in his mind.
Due to the urgency, the two of them didn’t have time to communicate but their tacit understanding didn’t need communication at a critical moment.
The circle that Xiao Lou drew was only around one meter in diameter. Yu Hanjiang took a step back and stuck to Xiao Lou back to back, hiding in his invincible circle that lasted 10 minutes.
Almost as soon as Xiao Lou finished drawing the invincible circle, the sharp arrows pierced through the red cloth and flew straight at the transparent barrier, striking it.
Xiao Lou’s heart pounded when he saw this scene.
If his reaction hadn’t been decisive enough and he was one second slower, he and Yu Hanjiang would’ve been shot into hedgehogs!
Blocking their vision with the red cloth and then shooting them with a rain of arrows—the red cloth that couldn’t be cut and the rain of arrows were definitely card effects. The hunters had such powerful cards in their hands.
The marriage plot just now should be a replay of the scene from two years ago and was a clue that the ghost town provided to them about the case. However, the hunters that appeared after the plot replay caught everyone off guard.
Xiao Lou felt a lingering fear as he looked at the barrier he created with his compass card, which was covered by dense arrows in the blink of an eye. Then he was slightly relieved. At the very least, the sharp arrows couldn’t shoot through the boundary of the compass.
Xiao Lou touched the voice headset. “Are you okay?”
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen replied one after another.
“I’m fine. I ran quickly.”
“I’m also fine. I jumped onto a tree.”
Liu Qiao said, “The pond…”
Before she finished speaking, there was a harsh sound from her end as if something was surging wildly in the water. Liu Qiao exclaimed, “There are many water ghosts here! I don’t know if it is a card effect or the hunter pretending to be a ghost!”
Xiao Lou took a breath and hurriedly said, “Xiao Liu, come out quickly!”
Liu Qiao gritted her teeth. Fortunately, she had used the mermaid transformation and could swim quickly. She didn’t get tangled up with these things. Seeing these strange water ghosts, Liu Qiao decisively took out the Elsa card and opened the ice and snow skill, freezing the entire pond.
The moment that the water in the pond turned into ice, Liu Qiao flew up and jumped out of the pond in a thrilling manner.
The water ghosts in the pond had all turned into ice statues.
Liu Qiao exhaled softly. “I was almost caught by them. These people are too sinister. They were actually hiding under the lotus leaves!”
Yu Hanjiang asked, “Are you okay?”
Liu Qiao answered, “I’m fine. By the way, what about Old Mo?”
There was no response from the earpiece so Xiao Lou worriedly asked, “Old Mo?”
Qu Wanyue also became nervous. “I saw that the house where Old Mo was located seemed to be on fire?”
A moment later, Old Mo’s hoarse voice was heard. “Cough cough, the house suddenly caught on fire and I was almost burned. Fortunately, I made a closed box made of marble and hid in it.”
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were the safest at this time. After all, the invincible circle lasted for 10 minutes and no one could break through its protection during this time.
The surrounding red curtains were still spinning in circles, making people dizzy. Yu Hanjiang closed his eyes slightly and instructed in a low voice, “The four of you be careful and hide from the hunters. Xiao Liu is the fastest. Fly through the treetops and find a place to put Li Qingzhao’s mark to teleport us.”
Liu Qiao said, “Understood.”
Yu Hanjiang followed up by speaking to Xiao Lou in his mind, “I probably know who the murderer of the lake drowning case is.”
Xiao Lou was stunned. “From what detail did you find the identity?”
“The hair that hung Lin Wanqing. Don’t you think this braiding technique is similar to a vine?”
Xiao Lou suddenly realized.
The vine on the cliff might’ve been destroyed but Xiao Lou still remembered that it was extremely strong and woven from weeds and branches. It was the same braiding technique used on the hair that hung Lin Wanqing.
Proofreader: Paranoid Kotten & Fictional Reality