Qu Wanyue was shocked by the scene inside the room. She immediately told Xiao Lou what she had seen, " Professor Xiao, the bride is hanging from the beam, motionless. She should be dead. " Xiao Lou was stunned for a moment, then turned to Yu Hanjiang, "How could it be so fast? Didn't she just return to the bridal chamber after the wedding ceremony?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned and remained silent for a moment before saying, "Our speculation is very likely wrong."
According to the town's residents' account of the incident, after the bride returned to the bridal chamber, the groom drank with the guests in the backyard until the early hours of the morning, when he returned to the room drunk and discovered that the bride had hanged herself. Based on this sequence of events, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang both believe that the bride was killed by the murderer mixed among the guests during the time when the groom was toasting the guests.
From the end of the wedding ceremony to the discovery of the bride's body, a full hour passed, or two hours. The murderer had ample time to plan the killing, which is why Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang immediately lay on the roof upon entering the courtyard, intently watching the guests' seating area. They wanted to identify the most likely perpetrator by carefully observing the guests' expressions and actions.
However, during the few minutes they observed from the rooftop, nothing unusual happened in the guest area; all the seats were occupied, proving that no one had left during that time.
Since the murderer couldn't have killed someone remotely without leaving the guest area, the murderer must not be among these guests.
Who killed the bride?
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were both pondering this question when Qu Wanyue's voice came through the earpiece, " Professor Xiao, the bridal chamber is empty right now. Would you like to come and examine the body?"
Xiao Lou snapped out of her daze and said softly, "Okay, let's go over there now."
He told Liu Qiao and Lao Mo to stay on the roof and keep an eye on the guests, while he and Yu Hanjiang climbed off the roof and walked quickly down the path behind the courtyard to the new house.
The distance between the backyard and the bridal chamber was approximately 50 meters. If the bride had screamed after discovering the murderer, the guests would certainly have heard it. However, according to the descriptions of the town's residents, the bride "committed suicide," indicating that she did not cry for help when she was killed.
As Yu Hanjiang walked, he observed his surroundings. In the backyard, there was an artificial pond filled with lotus flowers. In early spring, the lotus flowers had not yet bloomed, and large lotus leaves covered the pond. Under the hazy moonlight, the water could be vaguely seen to be very clear.
Xiao Lou sensed Yu Hanjiang's thoughts and mentally responded, "The Long family's pond is quite large, and with so many lotus leaves, it can serve as a natural barrier. You suspect the murderer is lurking in the pond."
Yu Hanjiang nodded. "No one left the guest area midway, so the murderer must not be among the guests. Being a good swimmer and hiding in a secluded pond beforehand was indeed a good choice."
Xiao Lou glanced at the pond covered with lotus leaves and whispered into the earpiece, "Let's go do the autopsy first. Lao Mo, keep an eye on the guests. Xiao Liu, transform into Mermaid Princess, put on the Invisibility Cloak, and go into the water to take a look. Be careful."
Liu Qiao quickly replied, "Received."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang turned and walked to the door of the bridal chamber. Long Qu and the other two had turned into the color of the walls and were pressed against the wall. When they saw them coming, Long Sen said, "There is no one in the room. The matchmakers and maids have also disappeared. Only the bride is hanging from the beam."
Hearing the "wall" suddenly speak was already a common occurrence for Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang. Xiao Lou pointed to the wall on the right and said, "Could you two please keep an eye on the door? If anyone comes, please notify us with your earpieces. Hanjiang and I will go in and take a look."
Qu Wanyue's voice came from the left wall: "Okay, be careful."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang gently pushed open the door. As soon as they entered, they saw the bride, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, hanging from the beam. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth, her body was stiff, and she had long since stopped breathing.
Inside, bright red wedding candles were lit, their flickering light illuminating the bride's pale face. The woman's protruding tongue looked somewhat terrifying. Her wide eyes seemed to be staring intently at Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang.
Fortunately, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang had strong mental fortitude. When they met the bride's eyes, Yu Hanjiang simply used his Lightness Skill to lower her down from the beam. Xiao Lou stepped forward and carefully examined the marks on the corpse's neck, quickly concluding, "Judging from the characteristics of the corpse, Lin Wanqing did indeed hang herself."
This conclusion surprised his teammates, but they quickly calmed down and realized that it didn't necessarily represent the truth.
Yu Hanjiang said, "You mean, she wasn't strangled and then hanged from the beam?"
Xiao Lou pointed to the marks on her neck and said, "If someone is strangled and hanged, they are already dead when they are suspended from the beam, and blood flow has stopped. The marks from the hanging point will be horizontal, even, and closed. However, if someone commits suicide by hanging, they are still alive when they are suspended from the beam, and blood flow is obstructed. The strangulation marks on their neck should be the darkest at the bottom, spreading to both sides and becoming lighter towards the top, which is consistent with the marks on Lin Wanqing's neck. Moreover, she had obvious bluish-purple lividity due to lack of oxygen, and her toes were completely drooping, all of which are characteristics of someone who died by hanging." Yu Hanjiang had heard Xiao Lou talk about the difference between "suicide by hanging" and "strangling someone and then hanging them" in a previous case. Upon closer inspection, the marks on Lin Wanqing's neck did not resemble those of someone who had been strangled and then hung.
Yu Hanjiang said, "But there are two situations when someone hangs themselves. One is that they hang themselves, and the other is that they are forcibly hung up by the murderer. I am more inclined to believe the latter."
Xiao Lou also thought of this and nodded, saying, "The murderer must have been hiding in the shadows and quickly subdued her, then hung her from the beam so she couldn't call for help or struggle, and was hanged to death. You see, the way she hanged herself was a bit strange."
Yu Hanjiang said, "People usually hang themselves with white silk, but she used hair that long, which wasn't her own."
Xiao Lou frowned as he looked at the braid hanging from the beam. Remembering that all the women's hair at the bottom of Zuiyue Lake was tied together with seaweed, he said thoughtfully, "The murderer seems to have a strange obsession with hair. The braid that led to Lin Wanqing's hanging must have been over two meters long. Most women wouldn't grow their hair that long. This braid was likely made from the hair of several people, mixed with special materials."
Xiao Lou bent down to examine the ligature marks on the deceased's neck. Just then, the female corpse lying on the ground vanished like a ghost. Immediately afterward, the red curtains of the entire bridal chamber suddenly flew into the air.
The red cloths seemed to possess a spirit, quickly surrounding the two of them.
Xiao Lou was taken aback. "It's Hunter?"
A cold glint flashed in Yu Hanjiang's eyes. He quickly retreated, one arm around Xiao Lou's waist, while the other hand deftly chopped down with a military knife. However, the red cloth, made of some unknown material, could not be cut with the knife.
Just as the two were about to be wrapped up in red cloth like dumplings, Old Mo's voice suddenly came through the earphones: "All the guests in the backyard have disappeared, vanished on the spot, just like in a movie."
Qu Wanyue asked anxiously, " Professor Xiao, the candles in the room have gone out. Has something happened?"
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 found that the door was like an impenetrable wall and they couldn't push it open at all.
Just then, a huge fire suddenly broke out in the entire courtyard. The roof of the house where Lao Mo was located was instantly engulfed in flames, and Lao Mo screamed as he was scalded by the rising heat wave.
At the same time, a dense barrage of arrows shot towards the bridal chamber where Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were located.
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen were shocked. Although they could use the chameleon card to disguise themselves as the color of their surroundings, and at this moment, they were pressed against the wall and could not be seen on the surface, but their bodies still existed.
With so many arrows, wouldn't they be riddled with bullets if they kept sticking to the wall?
Qu Wanyue acted decisively, immediately activating the Dance King card. With the Dance King buff, her body became as agile as a fish, quickly skimming the ground and darting away into the distance. Long Sen wasn't as agile, but at the crucial moment, Long Sen reacted quickly, immediately activating the Zombie Jump card, instantly extending his legs to eight meters long, leaping into the air and dodging all the arrows.
A dense hail of arrows rained down on him from beneath. Long Sen was startled and looked back to see that the impenetrable wall he and Qu Wanyue couldn't breach had actually been pierced by the arrows.
Long Sen was stunned for a moment. Seeing the arrow shot into the house, he hurriedly shouted, " Captain Yu, Professor Xiao, are you alright?"
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were also in a precarious situation, their vision completely obscured by the red curtain.
A red cloth, over two meters tall, surrounded them in the center. The cloth spun continuously, like a red tornado. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang couldn't see anything, let alone know that Long Sen and Qu Wanyue outside had almost been shot into pincushions.
However, Yu Hanjiang's ears were extremely sensitive and he was blind, yet he heard the sound of an arrow piercing the air.
Before he could even speak, Xiao Lou decisively took out his Compass and quickly drew a circle on the ground, connecting it to the Telepathic Connection. Yu Hanjiang didn't need to say anything; Xiao Lou had already sensed the sound of the arrow in his mind.
Due to the urgency of the situation, the two did not have time to communicate, but their tacit understanding meant that they did not need to communicate verbally in the critical moment.
The circle Xiao Lou drew was only about one meter in diameter. Yu Hanjiang took a step back and pressed himself tightly against Xiao Lou, hiding in this invincible circle that lasted for 10 minutes.
Almost as soon as Xiao Lou finished drawing the invincible circle, the arrows pierced through the red cloth and shot into the transparent barrier.
Xiao Lou's heart pounded when she saw this.
If it weren't for their quick reflexes, even if they had reacted just a second later, he and Yu Hanjiang would already be riddled with bullets.
Using a red cloth to block their vision, then unleashing a rain of arrows to kill the two, the unbreakable red cloth and the dense rain of arrows must both be card effects, and besides them, only Hunter has such a powerful card.
The wedding scene we just saw was a flashback to two years ago, during the night when Ghost City gave them clues related to the case. But the appearance of the Hunter after the flashback caught everyone off guard.
Watching his Compass barrier being engulfed by a dense swarm of arrows in the blink of an eye, Xiao Lou felt a lingering fear. He breathed a slight sigh of relief; at least the arrows couldn't penetrate the Compass barrier.
Xiao Lou pressed the microphone button and asked, "Are you all alright?"
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen replied one after the other, "It's okay, I can run fast." "I'm fine, I jumped into a tree."
Liu Qiao said, "In the pond."
Before she could finish speaking, a piercing "whoosh" sound suddenly filled her headphones, like something surging wildly in water. Liu Qiao exclaimed, "There are so many water ghosts here! I don't know if it's a card effect or Hunter in disguise!"
Xiao Lou's breath caught in his throat, and he hurriedly said, "Xiao Liu, come out quickly!"
Liu Qiao gritted her teeth. Luckily, she had activated the Mermaid Princess card, which made her swim incredibly fast, preventing her from getting entangled by those creatures. Upon seeing the bizarre-shaped water ghosts, Liu Qiao decisively took out Elsa and activated her ice and snow abilities, freezing the entire pond.
The moment the pool water froze into ice, Liu Qiao The Lightness Skill flew up, and he jumped out of the pond in a dramatic fashion.
All the water ghosts in the pool turned into ice sculptures.
Liu Qiao let out a soft sigh of relief. "We almost fell for their trick. These people are too cunning; they actually hid under the lotus leaves."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Are you alright?"
Liu Qiao said, "I'm fine. By the way, where's Uncle Mo?"
There was no response from the earpiece. Xiao Lou called out worriedly, "Old Mo."
Qu Wanyue also tensed up, "I just saw that the room where Lao Mo was was looked like it was on fire."
A moment later, Old Mo's hoarse voice came through the earphones, "Cough cough cough, the house suddenly caught fire, I was almost burned to a crisp, luckily I made a sealed box out of marble and hid there."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou are actually the safest at this time, since the invincible circle can last for 10 minutes, during which time no one can break through the protection of the invincible circle.
The surrounding red curtains continued to spin, making people dizzy. Yu Hanjiang closed his eyes slightly and whispered, "You four be careful, hide behind the Hunters. Xiao Liu, your Lightness Skill is the fastest. Use the treetops to climb over and find a place to place Li Qingzhao's mark to teleport us."
Liu Qiao replied, "Understood."
Yu Hanjiang immediately thought to himself, " I have a pretty good idea who the killer in the Sunken Lake Case is."
Xiao Lou paused, then asked, "From which detail did you discover that?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Hanging Lin Wanqing's hair, don't you think the braiding technique looks a bit like vines?"
Xiao Lou suddenly realized.
Although the vines on the cliff behind the mountain had been destroyed, Xiao Lou still remembered that they were extremely sturdy, woven from a mixture of weeds and branches. They were woven using the exact same technique as the hair that Lin Wanqing used to hang herself.