Another month passed, and it was early autumn. Although the weather had not cooled down yet, the climate was no longer so hot. The vendors escaping from the heat gradually became more active, and the underground passages connecting Nodia and the old city were full of people.

The merchant fleet reappeared.

Early that morning, a caravan consisting of more than a dozen porters and four carriages entered the underground passage from Nodia. The carriages were loaded with goods that had just been unloaded from the ship and were ready to be transported to other places on the mainland via the old city.

town.

There is no natural light in the underground passage, and it can only rely on hundreds of fire pots placed under the cave walls on both sides for lighting. In order to solve the problem of the fuel burning time being short, people came up with a method of mixing fish oil and wood.

Although this method extended the lighting time, the demand for fuel was still huge. After the fall of the old city, this huge expenditure fell on the shoulders of the garrison. Although there was financial support from the church, the garrison still felt stretched.

At the same time, due to the limited manpower of the security regiment, they could not arrange personnel to replenish the fire pit at all times, so they stipulated the opening hours of the underground passage. Only during this time period, caravans and pedestrians could enter.

Today's caravan has obviously traveled back and forth between Nodia and the old city many times. They have long been accustomed to the darkness and dampness in the underground passages, and no one cares about it. They were talking and laughing along the way, especially that one

The leader kept telling everyone dirty jokes, making everyone laugh from time to time.

This may be the best way for them to pass the boring time of traveling through the underground passage. Naturally, they tend to ignore some abnormal situations, until someone suddenly muttered: "Strange, why is the wind blowing here today?"

This sentence made other people pay attention, and someone echoed: "Yeah, it's a bit evil."

The leader also felt strange. He asked everyone to stop and keep quiet, and listened carefully to the sounds around him, but apart from the crackling of the flames in the brazier, there was only the sound of the wind in his ears. This man was full of doubts, but he didn't know

What happened, I had to order everyone to leave quickly.

However, before the caravan had taken a few steps, a strong wind blew over. The flames in the brazier struggled a few times in the wind and were all extinguished. This section of the underground passage was instantly swallowed up by darkness.

Everyone in the caravan became panicked, with questions and curses in a mess. The leader shouted loudly: "Everyone, be quiet, don't panic." Someone lit the flint they were carrying, but the faint light soon disappeared.

They died in the wind. Some people began to get scared. They thought that the person holding the flint was clumsy, so they eagerly tried to grab the flint. But they did not realize that scrambling in the dark would not help at all and would only add to the chaos. The leader

People began to shout at everyone again, but the tension and fear growing in the hearts of everyone in the darkness was enough to make them ignore any orders and still blame and curse each other randomly.

However, this chaos did not last long. Everyone suddenly became quiet, because everyone clearly heard a sound, a messy and low roar. The sound sounded like a fierce dog before it launched an attack.

The muffled roar is also like the heavy breathing of wolves when they bite their prey. No matter what kind of sound it is, when the sound is heard in the underground passage, everyone knows that something is wrong, but they do not know what is going on, or

I don't know what is making such a creepy sound.

Someone lit the flint again, but it immediately triggered strange screams from the people around him. The person's flint was also frightened and fell to the ground. It shattered a few sparks and then went out again. The fire seemed to be everyone's hope of saving lives.

When it disappeared from everyone's attention, these people seemed to see the grinning God of Death in the darkness. They instinctively screamed, "Help!" "Run!"

However, in the darkness, it was impossible to tell the direction, so escaping was not easy. They either bumped into each other, tripped over the carriage, or hit the wall of the passage. The scene was in chaos, even if the leader had a trace of calmness.

He had no way to control the situation. What's more, there were indeed things in the darkness. They attacked when everyone was panicking, and roars, bites, and screams were heard one after another. Even the horses pulling the cart were

They were not spared. Under the attack of those things, they screamed and fell down.

Soon, all the sounds disappeared, and the dead silence returned to the underground passage...

Early the next morning, soldiers adding fuel discovered the caravan with no survivors. They quickly reported the situation to Captain Reik and Captain Max stationed at both ends of the passage. The two captains immediately ordered the passage to be blocked.

entrance, and then ordered the messenger to deliver the news to the security regiment as quickly as possible.

Herak led people to the scene. Faced with such a tragic death scene, even the battle-hardened Herak felt something churning in his stomach. He suppressed the feeling of nausea and ordered Captain Sobian to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the scene as soon as possible.

survey, and ordered the messenger to notify the two captains Reik and Max to return to the guard camp as soon as possible.

Sobian spent nearly half a day carefully inspecting every corner of the scene. When he returned to the camp, Herak and the captains had been waiting in the camp for a long time.

Sobian made a detailed report on the situation at the scene in front of all the captains.

A total of thirteen people and four horses died at the scene, and there were no survivors. According to the injuries on the bodies of the deceased, they can be divided into two categories. One of them is obvious and is quite similar to the marks of wild beasts, especially those of the horses.

The body was covered with such scars. The soldiers compared the tooth marks and found that the most matching animal should be a wolf or a dog. However, there are certain differences between this kind of tooth marks and those of wolves or dogs, mainly in the thickness of the teeth.

There are differences in length and spacing between teeth.

The other type of wounds is somewhat unclear. Not only are the wounds deeper, but the cut surfaces of the wounds are smooth and flat. There are only two people with this kind of wounds, and they are the people who escaped the center of the incident the farthest.

This kind of wound has a distinctive feature, that is, the wound is composed of three evenly arranged knife marks. It is certain that the weapon that caused this kind of wound must be very sharp, but it is not a well-known type of weapon. It is more likely to be heretical.

big.

The boxes on the four carriages were overturned, and the goods inside were turned around in a mess. When the soldiers were cleaning up the belongings of the deceased, they found a cargo list from one of the deceased's bags. With this list, the soldiers

We carefully checked the goods and found that none of the goods listed on the list was missing.

Sobian said: "Based on the investigation of the scene, we found several obvious doubts. For the first doubt, we have been able to determine that the main suspect in the murder was some kind of wild beast, but from the position of the deceased at the scene

Judging from the results, except for two people who died in different ways, the other dead people basically fell within a range of no more than five meters in front of and behind the four carriages, indicating that the time it took for the beasts to attack them all was not long.

longer, otherwise more people would have fled further. It can be inferred that in order to kill all thirteen people and four horses in a short period of time, the number of wild beasts should be quite large. So, where did so many wild beasts come from?

Then, how did they enter the underground passage? Our security regiment is on duty at both ends of the underground passage around the clock. If a large number of wild beasts enter, it is impossible for the soldiers not to notice it.

"The second suspicion point is that all the goods on the carriage were turned over, indicating that the attackers were not only wild beasts, but also humans. From this, it can be inferred that the person who killed the two victims with three knife marks should be this or these people involved.

People, and those wild beasts should be the accomplices of these people's domestication. However, there is no shortage of goods, which is enough to prove that the murderer does not covet those goods. Therefore, it is difficult to establish the speculation that the murderer stole money.

"Does that mean it's a vendetta? I don't think it's true. We might as well think about it. If it's a vendetta, what would the murderer do after killing someone? I think they should flee the scene as soon as possible and then look for opportunities.

Leave the underground passage without wasting time to look through all the goods. After all, it is very likely to be hit by other caravans during this period. This risk is too great, so I think the possibility of vendetta is even less valid.

"After such analysis, compared with the robbery and the vendetta, I personally think that the robbery is more likely, because after all, there are two situations that can make the speculation of robbery true. One is that the murderer robbed the wrong caravan, and the other is that the murderer robbed the wrong caravan.

The second is that the thing the murderer wanted to get was on the carriage but not in the cargo list, but we no longer know what it is.

"The third doubtful point is that the area where the incident occurred is at a corner. According to the description of the first soldier who discovered the murder scene, all the braziers in this area were extinguished at that time. They thought that the braziers here were the same as elsewhere.

The fire went out naturally after the fuel was used up, but when they were about to add fuel, they found that there was still more than half of the fuel in the fire pot. I checked these fire pots and found that only a small part of the fuel inside had been burned. At the same time, we also discovered on site

There were several lit flints scattered on the ground. It is not difficult to imagine that the murderer deliberately extinguished the brazier before committing the crime. Although the deceased tried to relight the brazier, the murderer did not give them a chance.

"Another reason why I made such a conjecture is that the main wounds on the deceased were concentrated on the throat, back, and abdomen, while the wounds on the arms were rare. Just imagine, a person sees a beast jumping towards him

Come on, without weapons, the most instinctive thing to do is to use your arms to protect yourself, but these dead people did not do this, which is enough to prove that the dead people could not see the murderer before they were killed, or they could not see the beasts.

.Then the question becomes, those beasts and those murderers, how can they see the target clearly in the dark?"

After listening to Sobian's introduction and analysis, Herak pondered for a long time. He had no clue about the questions raised by Sobian. He could only find a way to learn more about the situation and then investigate one by one. He asked the four people stationed on duty.

Captain: "Have you noticed any strange people entering and exiting the underground passage recently?"

Sobian, Duron, Reik, and Max shook their heads together. Herak said: "The structure in the underground passage is complex. It is not a problem to hide thousands of people in it, but it is necessary to bring so many beasts in without revealing their identities."

, there should be no other way than hiding in the caravan’s box. Think about it carefully, is there anything unusual about the caravans that have been entering and exiting the underground passage recently?"

Leijik replied: "Captain, the underground passage has been out of service for almost the whole summer. It was just restored to traffic more than ten days ago. There are only a handful of caravans going through it. Most of these caravans are people we are familiar with.

The amount of cargo is not large. The carriages only carry scattered cargo, and large boxes are rare. It is unlikely to bring a large number of wild beasts in. Only today's group has a relatively large amount of cargo, but they can't.

Maybe they brought the beast in and killed themselves. Even if they really brought the beast in, and an accident happened on the way, the beast escaped and killed everyone in the caravan, but Sobian didn't say

Are the fatal injuries on the two other people different? Didn’t it mean that the goods were rummaged through? It’s true that wild beasts can kill people, but they can’t search for goods.”

Herak nodded: "If a large number of wild beasts were not brought in recently, could it be that the murderer had a premeditated plan and secretly raised wild beasts in a corner of the underground passage a long time ago?" Herak

Not long after the idea came up, he rejected it on his own. He thought that although it was entirely possible to find such a place to secretly raise wild beasts in the underground passage, the murderer would have to prepare for this for a long time before bringing in a certain number of wild beasts.

Passage. Moreover, most of the aggressive beasts eat carnivorous animals. So many beasts need to stay in the underground passage for such a long time. Regardless of how long the preparations have been, the murderer will have no choice but to consider the period when the underground passage is deactivated.

How much fresh meat needs to be prepared for the beasts? It is impossible for the security group to be unaware of such a large-scale effort. Herak gave up the idea and then asked the captain Dulong who was on duty at the entrance of Nodia yesterday: "This merchant

When did the team enter the underground passage yesterday?"

"Probably around eight o'clock in the morning."

"Have there been any other caravans or pedestrians coming in and out since then until now?"

"No."

Herak then asked Sobian who was stationed at the entrance of the old city: "Where are you? What's the situation from eight o'clock yesterday morning to now?"

Sobian shook his head and said: "During this period, not only did no caravans enter or leave our area, there was not even a single human figure."

"This is strange." Herak frowned. He had just rejected the hypothesis that the murderer was lurking in the underground passage, but various signs showed that the only way for the murderer to commit this murder was to hide in the passage. Moreover, they

Ying Ying hasn't left yet, "No, our inference lacks basis. Since we suspect that the murderer has a premeditated plan, we should prove whether this suspicion is correct."

Thinking of this, Herak issued an order to the captains: "From now on, continue to block the underground passage, strengthen the guards at both ends of the passage, and do not allow anyone or any animals to enter or exit. You captains, immediately bring your soldiers and divide them.

Duan will conduct a carpet-like search of the underground passages, and you teams must do it at the same time. I want to see where the murderers are hiding!"

The captains immediately started taking action after receiving the order. Hundreds of soldiers spent most of the night searching every corner of the underground passage. However, except for rats, bats, and moss everywhere, they found nothing, not even a few.

No traces of human or animal life have been found.

Late at night, the captains gathered in Herac's office again. Herac looked at the tired people, really hoping that they could come up with a reasonable hypothesis, but everyone was silent. Herac had already turned around dozens of times in the room.

Now, the results of the search in the underground passage have ruled out the possibility of the murderer hiding. Although Herak took advantage of the time when everyone was searching the underground passage to conduct an autopsy on the caravan's body again, and was convinced that Sobian's analysis was correct, he still endured it.

I can't help but doubt this judgment. After all, only errors in judgment will lead to wrong directions in the investigation and bring the entire case to a deadlock.

Herak's suspicion is not unreasonable. He is increasingly worried that the crime scene has been artificially processed, because the murderers can understand that it is the off-season for cargo transportation, and they can have enough time to manipulate the scene, but they are so wasteful.

What was the purpose of all this scheming to cover up? Herak really couldn't figure out the motive of the murderers, let alone how they could come and go without a trace.

Herak suddenly came up with an idea: "Can we assume that the murderers were two people in the caravan. In order to obtain the caravan's property, or to rob something that was not in the commodity list, they killed

Everyone in the caravan was arrested. In order to hide their eyes from others, they tampered with the scene and used prepared tools to treat all the wounds on the bodies, making people think that it was the work of wild animals. But when the matter was about to end, something happened inside them

Due to differences, they turned against each other, and they killed each other until they died together in the end. Didn't there two people who died at the scene be far away from each other, and the way of death was also different, maybe they were the murderers."
To be continued...