PDLP Chapter 52: Bone Tree Intertwined
Chapter 52: Bone Tree Intertwined
The moonlight is like water, the branches of the banyan trees are intertwined, and a single tree forms a forest.
Under this banyan tree, dead bones are intertwined, and the branches and leaves of the datura flowers are connected to the roots of the banyan tree. Against the backdrop of the night, those once bloody faces seem to be whispering to themselves, weird and mysterious.
Lin Lezhi's eyes were a little confused. He tried to understand the scene before him, the corpses all over the ground, the datura flowers, and the marks on the back of the corpses.
Everything is like the banyan tree in front of us, intertwined and gathered into a forest, like a huge mystery.
"Lian'an, what do you think about this matter?" Xiao Yihuo's tone revealed deep doubt.
Without anyone around, Xiao Yihuo resumed calling Lin Lezhi by his original name.
Hearing this unfamiliar name, Lin Lezhi hesitated for a moment, and then remained silent for a while. Then, he said calmly, "I think these marks should be a totem, a symbol."
"Symbol?" Qingchuan was a little confused.
"Yes, in many secretive tribes, totems are sacred." Lin Lezhi glanced at the marks on the ground, "When I was in Yulong Village before, I also saw the same marks on a person's bones."
"Then, these corpses..." Qingchuan hesitated to speak.
"I think the skeletons with the banyan tree totem engraved on their shoulder blades are from the same clan."
"What on earth happened to cause this tragic situation?"
Qingchuan found it hard to accept what he saw, and his words revealed indignation.
Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened, and then he said slowly: "If my guess is correct, I think those who died here are the original owners of this Yaren Manor."
Upon hearing this, Qingchuan took out the seal in his arms. The marks on it, which could only be seen clearly under the sunlight during the day, were extremely clear under the moonlight.
'punishment'.
"If you want to cover up all this, you can just kill the people of the Xing family. However, there are far more corpses without marks here than those with marks."
Qingchuan thought for a moment, and suddenly his pupils shrank. He raised his head and looked at Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo, and saw the same emotion in their eyes.
If what they thought was consistent, these people without any notches on their shoulder blades were most likely the craftsmen hired by Ren Yazi to expand and renovate the Ya Renzhuang.
And no one cared about their deaths, so there was only one possibility: they were all refugees.
Looking at the dry bones in front of them, the three fell silent.
"So what should we do now?" After a long time, Qingchuan broke the silence.
Lin Lezhi raised his eyes and said, "Go back to the tunnel and go to the second in command's room."
After saying that, the three of them returned to the tunnel again. Lin Lezhi walked towards the second in command's room based on the layout of the entire manor in his mind.
Before leaving, Lin Lezhi wiped away the traces he had restored on the ground with his feet.
Lin Lezhi kept walking forward in the direction they were supposed to go. After walking about three or four meters, a fork in the road appeared in front of them.
One is upright and forward, and the other reaches to the left and right.
The moss on the road going straight forward has traces of being stepped on, while the moss going to the left has no traces of being stepped on.
This time, Lin Lezhi did not follow his own temperament and go in the wrong direction, but decisively walked to the left.
The road was very narrow at first, but it gradually became wider in front, and people could walk upright. The light from the house on the upper floor could be seen faintly.
Although it is a bit wider, it is not wide enough for people to walk through at will. Every few meters there is a thick log that is deeply rooted in the soil under your feet. If you are not careful, you may bump into it.
The soil underfoot was covered with moss.
It was big enough for the three of them to stand, and the faint light coming from above their heads was enough to tell that the building above their heads was at least two meters high.
Looking at the shape, it is somewhat similar to the stilt houses in the south.
For fear of being discovered by the people above, the three of them moved forward cautiously.
When he reached a certain position, Lin Lezhi stopped and looked upward. Seeing this, Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan also looked in the direction where Lin Lezhi was looking.
With the help of the faint light and the tinder in his hand, Lin Lezhi discovered that the wood on the top had been cut into squares, and there were four small wooden blocks around it for fixing. Lin Lezhi raised his hand and touched the small wooden block and found that the small wooden block was movable.
Since there is a passage leading to the top, it means that my speculation is correct.
When they were about to take their hands down, they heard footsteps above their heads again, shaking down a lot of dust. The three of them immediately covered their mouths and noses, but still couldn't help but coughed slightly.
The three people stood below and looked at each other, and Lin Lezhi immediately closed the fire starter in his hand.
"Third brother, did you hear any sound?" Even the slightest noise could make the boss nervous.
"I didn't hear anything." The third in command immediately rejected the eldest brother's suspicion. Seeing that the eldest in command was still walking back and forth, the third in command advised him, "Brother, can you please stop walking back and forth? If you keep walking back and forth, I won't be able to hear any movement. Sit down and have a rest."
"Third brother, do you think that kid would really find out something?" The anxious voice of the boss came from above, accompanied by the sound of pacing back and forth.
"What if he finds out? This place is deserted and even the government officials don't dare to intervene. Who the hell is he? The worst that can happen is...right."
Although the Third In Command did not say those words, Lin Lezhi could guess what he expressed even if he just guessed.
It's just going to kill myself anyway.
Even if you want to cherish your life, it's difficult.
"Now that my second brother and the owner of the manor are dead, do you think we should leave here once things here are over?"
"Don't say those depressing words. It's just the right thing for us if they die. I've been oppressed by them for so many years. It's a good thing they're dead, otherwise we would still be in the dark."
"We worked hard for them, but they kept everything from us. If that kid hadn't reminded us, we would never have thought that there was a secret door leading to the outside in the manor house." The third boss became angrier and angrier. He cursed and said, "Brother, do you think they treat us as their own people? We deserve to die!"
"No, I'm not talking about them. I'm afraid of the murderer. Do you think he is the one who escaped that year?"
"Why should we be afraid of him? As long as the two of us are together, he alone can do nothing to us."
Secret door?
The one who ran away?
Lin Lezhi pricked up his ears and listened while continuing to move forward. The further he walked, the quieter the voices of the two heads' conversation became.
Until they reached a room with no light, Lin Lezhi signaled them to stop, then took out a fire starter and shone it at the bottom of the building, looking for a place to enter.
Relying on the faint light from the fire starter, Lin Lezhi indeed found the same traces of human cutting as before, and there were also four small rotating wooden blocks next to it.
Lin Lezhi handed the tinder to Qingchuan, held up the upper wooden board with one hand, and used the other hand to turn the four small wooden boards. Seeing this, Xiao Yihuo helped Lin Lezhi turn the other small wooden blocks.
After all four wooden blocks have been turned to the side, the wooden blocks can then move.
Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo looked at each other, then gently took the block of wood down and leaned it against the wooden strip beside them. Above their heads was a fairly large bluestone slab.
Xiao Yihuo raised his hand and pushed the bluestone slab. The bluestone slab was also movable. Then Xiao Yihuo gently exerted force, pushed the bluestone slab open, and moved it to the side.
After pushing the door open enough to pass, Qingchuan blew out the fire starter in his hand. The surroundings fell into darkness. When he was about to climb up, Lin Lezhi grabbed the belt around his waist and pulled him down.
Just when Qingchuan was puzzled, Lin Lezhi lowered his voice and reminded: "Shoes."
The soles of the shoes were covered with moss. Wearing them was like giving them away for free.
After Qingchuan and Xiao Yihuo understood each other, they took off their shoes. After taking off their shoes, Xiao Yihuo carried Qingchuan and Lin Lezhi up one after another, and then he jumped into the room. No sound could be heard when he landed.
Lin Lezhi was stunned. No wonder he left silently in Yulong Village that day. It turned out that his kung fu was very profound. However, he was an unpopular prince. Who taught him this kung fu? And why was he always sick at that time?
The lights outside the house were on, and from time to time you could see people passing by.
Fortunately, before dark, Lin Lezhi figured out the layout of the room, walked to the desk with ease, and carefully pulled out the lower right drawer.
The capacities of the other three drawers are the same, so this drawer must have a hidden compartment.
Lin Lezhi took out all the things in the drawer and temporarily placed them on the ground. He touched the partition in the dark and felt a small gap near the inside. Lin Lezhi lifted the partition with the help of the small gap, and there was a booklet inside.
Lin Lezhi took out the booklet and found that there was a small iron plate underneath it. It could be placed in the same position as the booklet, so it should not be a useless thing.
For fear of missing something, Lin Lezhi checked again to see if there was anything else in the box. After confirming that there was nothing else, Lin Lezhi put the booklet and the iron plate into his arms, and then carefully put everything back in its original place.
When the drawer was pushed back, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door. The three people looked at each other in the dark, and then returned to the tunnel as quickly as possible.
"Two bosses, why are you still out so late?"
The Third Master said impatiently, "Just open the door, stop talking nonsense."
"Yes... yes!" the human traffickers outside responded repeatedly, and the sound of unlocking the door was heard from outside.
The moment the door opened, Xiao Yihuo closed the bluestone slab, and the human traffickers outside the door diligently came into the house and lit up all the lights.
The room was neat and clean, just as it had been when I last saw it that afternoon.
After coming down, the three people worked together to put the wooden board back together and closed the four small wooden blocks.
However, Lin Lezhi did not take the two back to the dungeon or under the banyan tree. Instead, they headed towards the path they had not taken just now. After walking along the tunnel for about five or six minutes, they came to a fork in the road. But this time Lin Lezhi chose to continue moving forward. Xiao Yihuo and Qingchuan didn't understand why, but they still followed him forward.
After walking for about ten minutes, the terrain began to rise and a light was seen in front of them. The surroundings were covered with messy weeds. Lin Lezhi pushed aside the weeds and went outside.
Following this road, we walked all the way to the woods outside the village.
Before the two could be surprised, Lin Lezhi took out the booklet from his arms. The booklet had a dark blue cover and no name on it. It was a palm-sized booklet, and the margins were a little yellowed and faded.
Lin Lezhi flipped open the booklet, which contained many names with a cross above each name and the year also recorded. It looked very much like the Death Note.
They should all be the people who were beheaded by the second in command.
Thinking that the Second in Command probably hadn't killed anyone since he arrived at Ya Ren Zhuang, Lin Lezhi turned directly to the last page of the booklet with words written on it.
There are only two names on this page, one is Cao An, which has been crossed out, and the other is not crossed out. The difference is that this name is circled in red paint. It is unclear what it means.
The recorded year is exactly the seventh year of Chengjing.
However... the circled name made the three of them unable to take their eyes off it for a long time.
Xingtian chess.
Qingchuan took out the jade seal in his arms and frowned slightly, saying, "Is this Xing Tianqi the person who escaped as they said?"
Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo looked at each other, and Lin Lezhi recalled what happened that day.
In the end, the fire burned only the statue. There was only one road leading to the Hongzhu Temple, and there was no secret passage in the temple. The temple was surrounded by yamen runners guarding it. Xiao Xu and I also rushed there.
Yang Hancai also confirmed that when Li Weisheng participated in the Enke exam, he had a burn on his left shoulder. If it was not to cover up the totem mark on his body, Lin Lezhi could not think of any other reason, and there was indeed a totem mark on the burned bones.
Li Weisheng actually died in that raging fire.
Li Weisheng’s true identity is most likely the Xing Tianqi circled in the booklet.
If Xing Tianqi disguised himself as Li Weisheng in order to avoid being hunted down, then it would make sense.
"By the way, I have something else to show you. I just found it under the booklet." Lin Lezhi took out the small sign from his arms and showed it in front of the two of them.
After seeing what it was, both of them were shocked. Then Xiao Yihuo's eyes darkened and he clenched his fists at his sides.
For the first time, Lin Lezhi saw hatred in Xiao Yihuo's eyes.
"How... do you two know this thing?"
Lin Lezhi looked at the iron plate carefully. There was a dragon engraved on it, and the dragon was above the clouds.
Qingchuan glanced at Xiao Yihuo, then sighed and said, "Brother Lezhi, this matter involves a lot of consequences, it's better for Brother Lezhi not to know about it."
In the end, Lin Lezhi understood that this small iron plate was a hot potato. It was better to have less trouble than more, and he was not someone who would not listen to advice.
"Okay, I won't get involved in your affairs, but... there is something I need your help with right now."
"Brother Lezhi, just speak frankly."
"The two masters should not have discovered the secret passage in this village yet. When I lead them out to investigate the case tomorrow, I hope you can take the people in the dungeon and leave here."