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墨書 Inktalez
Gaya Ze lifted him down from the beam, and at the moment he encountered the boy's corpse, he was momentarily stunned, feeling a bit incredulous.
"This is too strange!" he said as he placed the body on the ground.
"What’s wrong?"
"If I remember correctly, it hasn’t been more than 20 minutes since we left this house for the mage's house and discovered the body, yet it seems he has been dead for several hours."
"How can that be? Didn't we see him just half an hour ago?" Linyuan was even more surprised. Could it be that what they saw was his ghost? At this thought, she shivered.
Su Jin'er looked at Gaya Ze, who was seriously examining the corpse, and asked, "How long has he been dead?"
"The livor mortis and rigor mortis start to appear within 1 to 2 hours after death, and he has probably been dead for about 3 to 4 hours."
"So what we saw earlier wasn’t really him," Su Jin'er said, her eyes widening in shock.
Gaya Ze turned the head to one side and noticed slight scratch marks on the neck, along with some skin flakes under the nails.
"This isn’t suicide; it’s homicide. He struggled before death and scratched himself," Gaya Ze continued examining the body.
At that moment, Zuo Yi arrived with a group of people. A short and chubby woman rushed over upon seeing the corpse, pushing Gaya Ze aside as she embraced the body and began to cry, muttering about how foolish the deceased was.
This woman was undoubtedly the boy's mother, Su Jin'er thought sadly as she watched her.
Just yesterday, a vibrant life had existed; in just one day, it had turned into a cold corpse. Now that she knew everything, all that remained for the family was endless sorrow and pain.
The world truly is unpredictable. Just like how Su Jin'er never expected that after finding the village, Chu Feifan would marry someone else and become another person's husband. She glanced at him standing silently to one side, her mind swirling with thoughts.
Arian was also in tears, kneeling beside the young man, crying silently.
"Alang! How could you be so foolish? Arian is married now, and you still have Xiaoyu! How could you think of suicide?" the village chief said, wiping his tears.
"He didn't commit suicide; he was murdered," Gaya Ze's words fell like stones thrown into water, instantly stirring up waves of disbelief among everyone present.
"Why isn't it suicide? We all watched him grow up and know his feelings for Arian. Now that Arian has married someone else, he must have been heartbroken and taken his own life. Isn't that how it is?"
Su Jin'er looked at the village chief and said, "He was indeed killed. Don't you think something is missing if he were to commit suicide?"
Upon hearing her words, everyone began to whisper among themselves, each pondering what might be missing. It turned out that even the woman who had been crying loudly was desperately trying to suppress her emotions.
"It's the stool," Linyuan said excitedly as if she had won a prize.
Su Jin'er shot her a glare and replied, "Exactly. How could one commit suicide without a stool? Besides, the deceased couldn't have moved the stool after death."
Her words brought clarity to everyone.
"But..." Su Jin'er lowered her head. This should be a classic locked-room murder case. She had just examined the footprints on the ground; apart from the deceased's and Alang's footprints, as well as those of the three of them, there were no other prints.
When those people rushed in earlier, she and Linyuan had blocked them at the door. Now inside, with the addition of Alang's mother's and Arian's footprints, how could the Killer have done this?
"I think we should call the police!" Su Jin'er suggested.
"No way!" the village chief exclaimed loudly. "We can't call the police. Your sudden intrusion has already caused us significant trouble; how can we let outsiders in again?"
The village chief's tone was firm and left no room for rebuttal.
"But someone has already been killed; the Killer must still be in the village."
"I think A-Lang was killed by you few. Ever since you arrived, we haven't had a moment of peace," a voice from the crowd said.
The crowd began to murmur in agreement with this voice, and A-Lang's Mother also raised her head, glaring at them with hatred.
"It wasn't us; we had no reason to kill him," Linyuan insisted anxiously.
"Everyone calm down and let me say something," Chu Feifan stepped forward, trying to quell the restless villagers. "You all know that when we were captured, you took away all our belongings. We have nothing on us; how could we have gotten the rope to kill A-Lang?"
Upon hearing his words, the villagers began to whisper among themselves again, just like reeds swaying in the wind.
"That could also mean you tricked A-Lang into giving you the rope and then killed him," the voice spoke again.
Zuo Yi narrowed his eyes and said, "Could the person speaking please step forward?"
A dark-skinned, muscular man emerged from the crowd, glaring at them like a hungry wolf.
"My name is A-Jian; I am A-Lang's friend. We grew up together."
Su Jin'er frowned; she recognized this man from yesterday's wedding.
"How can you be so sure that we are the Killers?" Zuo Yi asked.
"It's simple. Before you all arrived, we were living peacefully. After you came, Alang died. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"
"Wait a minute. Before you judge us as the Killer, I need to clarify something. Alang has been dead for at least 3 to 4 hours. I still need to determine the exact time, but it definitely has been at least 3 hours. If you say we are the Killers, there should be evidence. Arian should be able to vouch for us; we have an alibi from three hours ago."
Arian wiped her tears and said, "Yes, it's ten o'clock now. Three hours ago, around seven o'clock, I was with them."
Upon hearing Arian's words, A-Jian was taken aback and snorted loudly, falling silent afterward.
Su Jin'er watched everything unfold and fell into deep thought. There would always be evidence left behind by human actions. She looked up at the rope hanging from the ceiling; they couldn't call the police here, and there was no way to check for fingerprints left by the Killer on the rope. Moreover, they couldn't find any evidence anywhere else.
If Alang died three hours ago, then who were they seeing enter the wizard's house earlier? She unconsciously turned her gaze toward A-Jian. Although he looked different from Alang, in terms of build and skin tone, he resembled Alang quite a bit. Perhaps the person they saw was A-Jian and not Alang.
Zuo Yi seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Su Jin'er. He asked in a low voice, "A-Jian, where were you between nine twenty and nine fifty? What were you doing?"
A-Jian raised an eyebrow and replied, "I was in my room; I didn't go anywhere."
"Who can vouch for you?"
"Just me; no one can vouch for me. What? Are you suspecting me?"
"Oh! No, just asking casually. Village Chief, may I borrow your house for everyone to gather later?"
The village chief nodded and said, "Sure."
After everyone left, Chu Feifan stayed behind. He glanced at Su Jin'er as if he had something to say.
"How is it? Did you find out anything?" Zuo Yi asked, crossing his arms.
Chu Feifan shrugged and replied helplessly, "She doesn't seem to trust me yet, so she won't say anything."
Zuo Yi looked him up and down and said mischievously, "How's married life? Is it great?"
He couldn't help but laugh exaggeratedly after saying that.
"Don't talk nonsense. Nothing happened between us; I haven't even touched her," Chu Feifan said while giving Zuo Yi a meaningful glance, also keeping an eye on Su Jin'er’s expression.
"With a beauty throwing herself at you, you can't possibly remain as calm as Liu Xia Hui. I really don't believe that!"
Chu Feifan kicked Zuo Yi in the butt and said, "Stop it! I'm already in enough trouble. I just got here and was forced into marriage. You try it!"
Seeing Chu Feifan's grim expression, Zuo Yi cleared his throat and said, "If you haven't found out anything, just keep asking! Since someone has died, you can use this matter to your advantage."
"Got it!"
When they arrived at the village chief's house, the villagers had already gathered. There were about one or two hundred people in the village, all gathered outside the village chief's house in a dark crowd.
Zuo Yi quietly asked if everyone was present, and the village chief nodded affirmatively.
Since almost everyone was holding a torch, they could see each person clearly. Su Jin'er scanned the crowd and said, "It seems your mage hasn't arrived!"
"The mage can't be Killer, and he has the right not to show up; none of us can force him," the village chief coughed as he spoke.
"Do your mages have such great power?" Zuo Yi asked, feeling confused.
"This is a matter for our village and has nothing to do with you. Why do you want us to gather here? We don't have time to entertain your nonsense."
"We just need to ask a few questions," Zuo Yi replied.
"There are so many people here, how can we ask? Everyone could be the Killer," Linyuan whispered to Su Jin'er.
"Everyone, please be quiet!" Gaya Ze said loudly. "I just want to ask one question: who was the last person to see Alang?"
A-Jian stepped forward and said, "At four o'clock, I went up the mountain to chop firewood with Alang. We didn't return until five, and then we went back to our own homes."
At that moment, an old man stepped out. "What A-Jian said is correct. After Alang came home, he put down the firewood and went inside. He never came out again, not even for dinner."
"Did he show any unusual reactions during that time?"
Both A-Jian and the old man shook their heads.
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