Chapter 65: Another Person Dies

  Leaving the prison, Bao Gong's face was filled with anger and helplessness. Hua Lang saw this and also didn't dare to say anything else.

  Now they know that Nian Feng is mentally ill, but there is no evidence to prove that he is the murderer of Yu Tingting, which is really troublesome.

  After discussing it thoroughly, everyone was at a loss for what to do.

  Before he knew it, it was already noon. Today's weather was exceptionally hot. As soon as he walked out of the room, he felt like he had entered a steamer, as if he was being roasted by fire. Bao Gong was sweating profusely, and his dark face was covered with sparkling sweat, which stood out vividly.

  As the weather was so hot, and it was already noon, Bao Zheng invited Hua Lang and others to have lunch at the county government office. Hua Lang and others did not want to go out to find an inn to eat, and they gladly agreed.

  Bao Zheng was a man of integrity, so the food was extremely ordinary. However, Hua Lang and others were not picky or wealthy people, so they also enjoyed this ordinary meal.

  After everyone had lunch, they decided to take a short rest. At this time, the county government office suddenly sounded deafening drums. Bao Zheng heard someone beating the drum and thought there was no rest, so he hastily dispatched an officer to summon the drummer.

  Before long, the drumbeater was brought to the court by two bailiffs. The man looked thin and wore coarse linen clothes. After kneeling down, he didn't wait for Bao Zheng to ask questions, but hastily kowtowed and said: "Lord Bao, a commoner found a corpse on West Street, I'm afraid, so I came to report the case."

  It turned out that it was a report of a case rather than a cry for help. Judge Bao heard that there was a homicide, and his heart suddenly tightened. He hastily asked: "Quickly tell me the details."

  The man didn't dare to be slow and hastily replied: "I was eating at the inn, but because it was hot, after finishing my meal I wanted to hurry back home to cool off. Who knew that as I walked to the west street corner, I was suddenly moved by something. I fixed my eyes to look and found a corpse, which scared me to death."

  That man had already made things clear, and Bao Zheng and Hualang didn't dare to hesitate. They quickly led the people to rush to the scene of the case.

  The scene of the crime was at a corner on West Street, although it wasn't very secluded, but in this place where someone was killed, if you didn't walk into it, you really couldn't see it. At that time, the weather was extremely hot, and they all stood beside the corpse for a while, feeling unbearably hot, but since it was a serious murder case, no matter how hot it was, they had to endure it.

  The deceased was a young woman, looking no more than thirty years old. Although she looked fierce, she also had some beauty to her. At this time, the deceased's body was still warm and had not yet formed livor mortis, possibly killed by someone during lunchtime when everyone was eating and unwilling to go out.

  The deceased had finger marks on her lips, but they were not very deep. It seemed that the murderer covered her mouth to prevent her from shouting loudly. The fatal wounds were two knife wounds on her chest, and apart from these two knife wounds, there were dozens of other scars of varying sizes on the deceased's body. Everyone was shocked when they saw these scars.

  The way this deceased died is extremely similar to that of Yu Tingting's, both were killed by the murderer and then had their bodies mutilated with a knife to vent their anger.

  Looking at the knife wounds on the deceased, it can be seen that the killer's anger is even heavier and deeper this time, as if only by killing someone and then slashing the corpse could they vent their spleen.

  After examining the body, Hua Lang stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead, saying: "From these signs, it is very likely that the killer who killed Yu Tingting and this deceased person is the same person."

  Yin's expression turned ugly, and he asked hesitantly, "What about Nian Feng? He was so ruthless and crazy that year, it's highly possible that he's the murderer."

  Hualang shook his head: "The deceased had multiple knife wounds on his body, and these knife wounds were very similar to those on Yuting's body. Moreover, they all killed the deceased first, then slashed the knife on the deceased's body. Yin Xiong is a master of using knives, you can take a look at whether the knife wounds on Yuting's body are the same as these?"

  Yin Wu strode down, half-believing and half-doubting. He had seen the wounds on Yu Ting's body before, so if they were knife wounds, he would definitely be able to confirm it. After observing carefully, Yin Wu was somewhat surprised, and finally stood up and said: "Indeed, it is the same knife wound."

  Seeing this, Bao Zheng sighed and said: "So Nian Feng is certainly not the murderer, because when this woman was killed, Nian Feng was probably unconscious in the great prison."

  Everyone is clear about this point, but the clearer they are about this point, the more they feel that there are aspects of the case that are difficult to understand.

  The scorching sun made everyone dizzy, Bao Gong was about to faint from the heat. Hualang saw that everyone was suffering from the heat and told the two bailiffs: "First take the body back to the county government, then try to find out who the deceased is."

  The bailiffs carried away the corpse, and Bao Gong and others also hurried back to the county government office.

  After returning to the county government office, when everyone felt cool enough, Bao Gong looked at Hua Lang and asked: "Now that the murderer is not Nian Feng, how do you think this case should be solved?"

  Hualang thought for a moment and said: "Both murders occurred on West Street, indicating that the murderer must be from West Street, and the murderer is tall and strong."

  "From where did you see that the murderer was tall and sturdy?" Bao Zheng asked with some puzzlement.

  Hualang smiled faintly: "Today's deceased was robust, almost as fat and thin as a man. The murderer was able to cover her mouth and kill her, which shows that the murderer is not short in stature and is quite strong."

  After hearing Hualang's explanation, everyone expressed their agreement.

  At this time, Hua Lang continued: "The murderer killed two people in a row. It's likely that Yu Tingting and the deceased had some connection between them. After we find out the identity of the deceased, we must investigate this point clearly."

  Wen Meng nodded slightly and then said, "Since we know the murderer is tall and sturdy, let's send someone to investigate every household on West Street and ask all the people with a large build."

  Wen Meng finished speaking and looked at everyone for their opinions. Hua Lang shrugged helplessly and said, "This is indeed a method, but there are nearly 800 people with sturdy builds on West Street. Do we need to ask each one individually? This would waste time and easily alert the enemy, which is not feasible."

  This method won't work, so everyone can only wait for the yamen to clarify the identity of the deceased and find out what the deceased has in common with Yu Tingting, in order to infer more clues.

  The dead man was killed on West Street, and it's likely that the people of West Street are involved, so it shouldn't be difficult to investigate the identity of the deceased. After returning to the county government office for an hour, the dispatched constables rushed back, their faces excited, but they didn't bring anyone with them.

  This made Hwalarang and the others feel very strange, they were excited and thought that they must have known the identity of the deceased, but if they knew the identity of the deceased, shouldn't his relatives come to identify the body? But why didn't anyone follow?