Chapter 101: A Scene With Three People, Yet One Always Feels Out Of Place..
The existing clues are too few. Not to mention others, even the Wang Family is entering their sight for the first time. In this situation, if they could analyze who did it, it must be the author spoiling it. Just kidding, it’s fundamentally impossible. So this discussion ended without a result amid the four people looking at each other in dismay.
The smell of blood in this place is too strong. Wu Xie and Lin Yan can’t stand it, so after a short while, they went up. Fatty saw this. Although he still had some desire to see if there were any treasures left behind below the sacrificial pit, thinking that the ship captain and the others were all thrown here, the most there could be below was probably some equipment, so he gave up the idea of getting rich and followed them up, preparing to find a feng shui treasure spot to rest for a bit.
After they went up, Zhang Qiling jumped down into the pit and carefully checked the cause of death of the ship captain and the others.
Although the scene looked splattered with fresh blood, upon closer inspection, one would discover that the fresh blood only belonged to a few people. The cause of death for most of the crew was broken neck bones, while the ship captain and several expedition team members were killed by weapons similar to knives or swords. He closed his eyes and simulated the scene in his mind.
The killers were possibly three people or more. Their goal was probably the expedition team, and the crew were just incidental. This could be seen from the methods of death. The crew died without much pain, while the expedition team members almost all died from blood loss, a process that might last half an hour or even longer. The ship captain was even more special.
Besides the fatal wound, the ship captain had many non-fatal wounds, which was why he looked like the one who died the most miserably among everyone. The killer probably wanted to get some information from him. What was it that the ship captain knew, but the crew and expedition team did not?
Or rather, their target was not originally the ship captain, but the person most closely associated with the ship captain, and also the one most deeply connected to the underwater tomb… A Ning?
Thinking of this woman, Zhang Qiling frowned. If their target was A Ning, then things might get troublesome next. A Ning could not die yet; they still needed her as a connection to Qiu Dekao. Before, in the underwater tomb, he had deliberately let A Ning go, and while Wu Xie and Fatty were still slumped on the deck, A Ning had already quietly boarded from the stern.
He deliberately pretended not to see her, and this woman smartly did not come out on her own. Now he did not know where this woman was, but she was probably either on the ship or on the island like them. He hoped she had a strong life force and did not die here, otherwise all previous efforts would be in vain.
What could this group want with A Ning? Did A Ning know something they wanted to know? Was it the snake-browed bronze fish, or Qiu Dekao, or… Wu Sansheng? Wait, there was another possibility. The one who went down to the underwater tomb with them was not just A Ning alone.
Wu Yong! That Wu Family member lurking in Qiu Dekao’s company. Could that group of killers have come for Wu Yong, and Wu Yong just happened to go down to the tomb with them? Indeed, the one most closely associated with the ship captain was not A Ning, but Wu Yong! Now he could be sure that this incident was definitely not done by Wu Sansheng.
But what force would cause trouble for the Wu Family at this critical juncture? How exactly did they know Wu Yong was a Wu Family member? The killing techniques were simple and efficient, probably people from the trade. The stabbing techniques were also very skilled, targeting blood vessels, and the wounds on the ship captain were all non-fatal but caused extreme pain. If these people were targeting the Wu Family for trouble… could it be that Wu Xie had been targeted by someone unexpected?
Thinking of this, his expression grew heavier. He decided that after going out, he needed to first find Wu Sansheng to discuss, to see if the subsequent plan should be postponed or continued… And Lin Yan’s matter… The things happening to Lin Yan were gradually exceeding his control. He could tell that Lin Yan’s five senses were much sharper than before, and his strength had also increased. Although Lin Yan himself might not have noticed, his movements had become more agile.
Such physical changes happening within two weeks—was that not a bit too fast? If this continued, in just a few short months, Lin Yan’s physical fitness alone could match his when the kirin tattoo appeared. Then, that thing on him would require a trip to the Qinling Mountains after going out to get something.
Zhang Qiling let out an almost imperceptible sigh, feeling that worldly affairs were complicated, with too many things to do. Unfortunately, he still had some memories not recovered; otherwise, things should have been simpler.
After he jumped up, he threw the oil from the torches and ever-burning lamps on the four walls onto the pile of corpses, then took out a fire starter from his pocket and threw it down.
When Zhang Qiling came up from the passage, Fatty and the others were leaning behind the heavenly palace model chatting. He ignored them and first went to pull open the iron door at the entrance. Cold wind mixed with torrential rain and the salty smell of seawater surged in together.
“Hey, damn, young comrade, why did you suddenly open the door?” The sudden cold wind made everyone shiver. Fatty unconsciously tightened his clothes and hugged himself tightly with both hands: “This is too cold!”
Wu Xie and Lin Yan nodded. Before they could get Zhang Qiling’s answer, they smelled a strange stench coming from the secret room. The air already had a strong smell of blood. Although it had faded a bit after coming up, with the secret room door open, the smell of blood was still continuously surging upwards, and now it was mixed with a strange stench.
Smelling this somewhat burnt smell, Lin Yan sniffed: “Did you cremate them?”
Zhang Qiling nodded indifferently and sat down in a spot sheltered from the wind.
Originally, the group was somewhat sleepy, but blown by this cold wind, everyone became alert.
Wu Xie looked at Zhang Qiling sitting alone on the side, while he was with Fatty and Lin Yan. He always felt this was not great. After these few encounters, he felt Zhang Qiling was not bad—strong, not talkative, just sometimes too brooding with an overpowering presence that made him hard to get along with. Overall, he was a pretty reliable teammate. Unlike Lin Yan.
He turned to look at Lin Yan and Fatty sitting together, with strange smiles on their faces, discussing who knows what thing. He sighed inwardly. He did not know what it was, but for this kind of topic, when he wanted to join, Fatty and Lin Yan rejected him for being too young! Was he young? Fatty was indeed quite a bit older than him, but Lin Yan was not much older either!
Talking behind his back so openly right in front of him—did they not know curiosity killed the cat? It was clearly a movie for three people, yet he always felt nameless. At this moment, he felt out of place with these two.
So, the extremely bored Third Master Xiao sidled up to Zhang Qiling: “Xiaoge, can you talk about what you did before? How did you get into this line of work? I see you’re very proficient in mechanisms and also quite knowledgeable about characters.”
Asking directly about his background was not good, so Wu Xie beat around the bush a bit. But unexpectedly, Zhang Qiling glanced at him, ignored him, making Wu Xie feel inexplicably embarrassed.
Glancing at Fatty’s side, hmm, good thing no one noticed him, otherwise it would really be an awkward scene.
