Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 927 More Chapters

"Captain Zhao! Something happened at the Yuelai Inn in the west of the city! A foreign businessman died in a strange way!" the petty official shouted breathlessly. Zhao Mo's face suddenly changed, and he stuffed the copper coins in his hand into the hands of the noodle stall owner, jumped on his horse, and ran towards the west of the city with the yamen runners. The front of Yuelai Inn was already full of people, and the voices of discussion were one after another. "I heard that the death was very horrible, and all seven orifices were bleeding!" "Did he offend something unclean?" Zhao Mo separated the crowd and stepped into the inn. A strong smell of blood mixed with spices hit him in the face, which made him frown. The innkeeper's face was pale, and he stood at the stairs trembling. Seeing Zhao Mo was like seeing a savior: "Sir, you are here! The dead is a guest living in the Tianzi room. When I was delivering water this morning, I found that the door was ajar. When I went in, I saw..." The boss said, his voice choked, and he could no longer speak. Zhao Mo led the yamen runners upstairs and stopped in front of the Tianzi room. The door was half open, the room was in a mess, the tables and chairs were overturned on the ground, and the food and wine on the table remained untouched. On the bed, a middle-aged man was lying on his back, his eyes wide open, his face distorted, dark red blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes, staining the bedding. What was even more bizarre was that the deceased had no obvious external injuries, he was neatly dressed, his hands were flat on both sides of his body, as if he was just sleeping quietly, but lost his life in silence. "Don't get close, check the scene carefully, don't destroy the clues." Zhao Mo ordered in a deep voice. He squatted down, took out a white handkerchief from his arms, and carefully examined the mouth and nose of the deceased. The blood had dried up and turned a dark purple color. If you get close, you can smell a faint smell of bitter almonds. He was shocked. He had read about this smell in an ancient book. It was a characteristic of an extremely rare poison - Crane's Beak Red. But ordinary poisoning with Hedinghong will not cause such a strange death, and there is no sign of struggle on the body of the deceased after being poisoned, as if he had taken the poison willingly. The yamen runners searched the house carefully, but did not find any suspicious items. At this moment, a young yamen runner pointed to the corner and shouted, "Boss, look at this!" Zhao Mo walked over and saw a strange symbol painted with cinnabar on the blue brick in the corner. The symbol was shaped like an eye, with a distorted "death" character in the pupil, surrounded by flame-like patterns, which looked particularly eerie in the dim light. Zhao Mo remembered that similar mysterious symbols had appeared on the murals of the cult altar. Could this case be related to the remnants of the cult? "Take the body back to Kaifeng Mansion and let the coroner Lao Zhou examine it carefully." Zhao Mo stood up and swept his eyes across every corner of the house. "Go check the identity of the deceased, where he came from, and why he stayed in this inn." Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly found that the deceased's right hand was tightly grasping the corner of his clothes, as if hiding something. He pried open the dead man's stiff fingers and took out a crumpled note from it. The note was written in sloppy handwriting: "They are coming, I can't escape... Help!" The handwriting was crooked, full of fear and despair. Zhao Mo put the note away, and his doubts became even greater. What was the deceased afraid of? Who are "them"? Is it the revenge of the cult organization, or is there another hidden story? Back in Kaifeng Mansion, the coroner Lao Zhou was already waiting in the autopsy room. "Captain Zhao, this body is really strange." Old Zhou frowned, and the silver needle in his hand wandered over the body of the dead man. "On the surface, it seems that he died of poisoning, but this poison..." He raised the silver needle, and the tip of the needle was strangely black. "I have been doing autopsies for decades, and I have never seen such a strong poison. Moreover, there is a faint red mark on the heart of the dead man, which looks like a handprint, but it does not look like it was done by human power." Zhao Mo came closer to check. The red mark was bright in color and had neat edges. It did not look like a mark left by a beating. He suddenly remembered the mysterious symbol on the corner of the inn. Is there any connection between the two? At this moment, a yamen runner hurried over: "Boss, the identity of the deceased has been found out! His name is Sun Dechang, a famous jeweler in Jiangnan. He came to Bianjing this time to participate in the treasure trade fair. According to the innkeeper, Sun Dechang looked flustered when he checked in, and he specifically told people not to know his whereabouts." Zhao Mo paced back and forth in the room, sorting out all the clues in his mind. Why did a jeweler from Jiangnan die strangely in Bianjing? Why did he hide his whereabouts? The mysterious symbols on the corners, the notes in the hands of the dead, the strange symptoms of poisoning, what is the connection between all these? He decided to start with the treasure trade fair to investigate Sun Dechang's interpersonal relationships and trading dealings in Bianjing. As night fell, Zhao Mo disguised himself as a jeweler and came to the treasure trade fair. The fair was brightly lit, and wealthy businessmen and strange people from all over the world gathered here, with all kinds of rare treasures. Zhao Mo shuttled through the crowd, listening to the conversations of people around him. Suddenly, he heard several businessmen whispering in a corner not far away. "Have you heard? Sun Dechang is dead, and his death was so tragic!" "Shh! Don't talk nonsense about this. I'm afraid that he has taken someone else's cake when he came to Bian Jing this time." "I heard that he has a rare treasure that can bring people back to life. I don't know if it's true or not..." Zhao Mo's heart moved, and he walked forward, smiling and chatting: "Brothers, I am also in the jewelry business. I just heard you talking about Sun Dechang. I wonder what the treasure is in his hand?" The businessmen looked at him warily, and one of them snorted coldly: "You are a small businessman, why are you asking these questions? ? That treasure is not something you can get your hands on. "Zhao Mo took out a silver ingot and stuffed it into the man's hand: "Brother, please help me, I'm just curious." The man was blinded by the money, looked around, and said in a low voice: "I heard that he has a night-shining pearl in his hand, which was obtained from an ancient tomb. The night-shining pearl can not only illuminate the area within a radius of ten miles, but also contains mysterious power, but..." He paused, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, "It was also because of this night-shining pearl that he was killed." Zhao Mo wanted to continue asking, but saw those people hurried away. He stood there, thinking secretly in his heart. Ancient tomb, night-shining pearl, mysterious power, these keywords made him involuntarily think of the previous cult case. Is all this really related to the ancient tomb at the ferry twenty years ago? Will the mysterious legend of the river god set off a bloody storm again? At this moment, the trading venue suddenly fell into darkness. Screams and shouts came one after another. Zhao Mo quickly drew his sword and looked around vigilantly.