In fact, there are only one or two hours until dawn.

Soon, the sun rose from the east. The snow that had fallen all night finally stopped.

Everyone started searching again, so their sight was wide. Soon, a group of Lao Liutou and Xue Siniang found a small cave, which was very deep. They also found scattered footprints on the snow at the entrance of the cave. The two shouted loudly,

Called Leng Yi and others over.

Leng Yi carefully observed the entrance of the cave. There was a big stone next to it, which seemed to have been moved. There were many footprints on the ground, but they were so scattered that not even one of them was complete. And going inside, because there was no snow, the ground was

It was a rock and left no footprints. He threw a stone into it and found that it was very deep.

He Hei-face bent down and was about to rush in, but Leng Yi stopped him: "Don't mess around! Be careful that there is miasma in the cave!"

"What should we do?"

"Find an animal and try it first."

"I'll look for animals somewhere in a minute and a half. It's okay. I'll go in!"

"No!" Leng Yi said: "If something happens to your brother inside, it is likely that there is miasma inside. If you go in, you will definitely die!"

He Hei Lian looked around at the vast white snow and asked anxiously: "What should we do? Where can we catch animals now?"

Leng Yi thought for a while and said: "You don't need animals, just use torches! - Tie the torch in front of a long stick. If the torch doesn't go out, it means everything is fine. If it goes out, it means there is miasma inside! You can get back right away.

!”

"Okay!" He Hei said with a face: "There is a long bamboo on the edge of the cliff, I will chop it down!"

Old Liu Tou said: "I'll go back to the cave and get a torch!"

Old Liu Tou returned to the cave. He saw Damaga lying in the snow, holding a stick in his hand, looking dejectedly at the snow that he had dug up. - At dawn, he used the stick to bit by bit.

I dug around in the snow and dug through all the snow near the snowman, but I searched the whole place and still couldn't find it.

Damaga saw Lao Liutou coming back in a hurry and asked, "What's wrong? Have you found him?"

"I found a cave with footprints at the entrance! It probably belongs to him. Something might have happened in the cave. Aren't you going to help?"

Damaga immediately became excited. As if he had seen new hope, he hurriedly said: "Go! Of course I want to go! Maybe that kid will hide my jewelry in that cave!"

"It's your jewelry again!" Old Liu Tou said angrily: "This is a life! I don't think about how to save people! I just think about your jewelry!"

"Nonsense! He stole my jewelry, and I still have to worry about him? Let's go!" He also entered the cave. He took a torch and followed Old Liu Tou to the small cave he found.

He Hei Lian had already chopped down a long bamboo, cut off the branches, cut it into a suitable length, tied the torch in front, and walked slowly inside.

Unexpectedly, after only walking a dozen steps, He Hei Lian saw a man lying on the ground by the light of the torch. He was wearing exactly the same clothes as He Erniu!

He yelled, threw away the torch, rushed in, hugged He Erniu, and shook him desperately, but He Hei's face didn't respond, and his body had begun to stiffen.

Hearing the cry and seeing that the torches were still lit inside, Leng Yi said: "There is no miasma inside! It seems that He Erniu has been found. Don't come in, so as not to mess up the scene. I'll go in and take a look."

After that, he stepped into the cave.

He found that although the torch was not extinguished, the light seemed a little dim and his head was a little dizzy. He knew that the air inside was still a little turbid and he had to leave as soon as possible.

He squatted down and checked He Erniu's pulse. There was no beating. Rigor mortis had appeared in his lower body. He said to He Heiface: "Take your brother out and don't let others move. I'll check the ground."

Just come out."

He Hei Lian cried and carried his brother's body out of the cave.

Leng Yi picked up the torch on the ground and carefully checked the cave. He did not find any other murder weapons, nor any signs of struggle. Of course, there was no precious nine-eyed stone. Then, he came out of the cave.

.

He Hei was squatting next to his brother's body, wiping tears. Leng Yi went over and knelt down to take a look. At the first glance, his heart sank - there were obvious pinch marks on the deceased's neck!

The face of the deceased was bruised and swollen, showing obvious signs of death by suffocation. Leng Yi carefully observed the neck of the deceased and found obvious pinch marks in the shape of a figure eight, and there were also traces of squeezing on the mouth and nose.

Leng Yi asked several women to avoid him. He took off He Erniu's clothes and found that corpse spots appeared on the back of the corpse. In other words, judging from the rigor mortis and corpse spots, the deceased may not have been moved after death.

No other signs of trauma were found in other parts of the body. Based on the comprehensive judgment, the time of death should be four hours ago, or around midnight.

When Leng Yi was inspecting the body, Damaga had already inspected the body and found no jewelry. He then entered the cave with a torch and searched carefully, but found nothing. He had to retreat in frustration.

After Leng Yi inspected the body, he stood up, looked around at everyone, and said, "He Erniu was strangled to death in the cave!"

Everyone was surprised.

Leng Yi said: "There is no one living here for a hundred miles, so we can basically rule out the possibility of others committing crimes. The murderer is among us!"

Everyone looked at each other.

Leng Yi said: "I calculated the time of death of the deceased, which was probably around midnight last night. Now, I want to investigate this case and find the murderer. Does anyone disagree?"

He said with a black face: "The murderer must be found! I want to kill him!"

These people have all seen Leng Yi's martial arts, and now with the addition of He Blackface, no one dares to say anything.

Leng Yi said: "Since we have no objections, let's talk about the activities at midnight last night. If I remember well, at that time, everyone seemed to have gone out one after another. So, everyone had

Suspected of committing the crime! - My wife, I, and Xue Siniang were together at that time. I watched the two of them go behind a big rock for convenience and then come out. There was no time for a cup of tea before and after. This time was far from enough to get from there.

They came here to kill people. Therefore, they had no time to commit the crime and could exclude it. At that time, I was waiting for them not far away. The two of them should be able to testify for me. I also had no time to commit the crime."

Zhuo Qiaoniang and Xue Siniang both nodded and said, "We can testify."

Damaga pointed at Xue Siniang and said, "No! She had gone out with the deceased before that! They were the first to go out!"

Xue Siniang was both angry and funny: "I went out a lot, why didn't you tell me? Even when we went out, we even asked you to come back!"

"I don't care, you two went out together anyway!"

"We are back together again!

"Let's understand, he came back with me, and he wasn't dead at that time!"

Leng Yi said to Damaga: "What about you? You went out last night. Where can you go? Can anyone prove it?"

Damaga said: "I was there at the snowdrift for convenience. There was no one else at the time."

He Hei said with a black face: "You had a fight with my brother, and you hold a grudge. You must have killed my brother!"

Damaga said: "I didn't! I have been guarding the snowdrift and have never been here. How can I kill him?"

Leng Yi said: "He is right. Apart from the time it takes for a cup of tea to be convenient, he has always been next to the snowdrift. And from there to here, the time for a cup of tea is not enough to go back and forth. So, he

There is no time to commit the crime."

Damaga didn't expect that Leng Yi would speak for him, so he thanked him repeatedly.

He Heilian said reluctantly: "He didn't have time at that time, which doesn't mean he won't have time in the future. Maybe he secretly left us to kill people while we were asleep, and then came back."

Leng Yi said: "The deceased was probably killed after going out for the second time. Otherwise, he should have returned to the cave instead of staying outside. The autopsy also proved this. And the second time

After going out, everyone went out, including Damaga, who came back soon. After that, we didn't sleep, we were all waiting for He Erniu to come back. After that, we started looking, all in pairs.

No one has a chance to kill. Therefore, the main scope of our investigation is when He Erniu went out for the second time. By the time we found out that He Erniu did not come back, everyone must prove where they were during this time. Especially those who have been to this area.

."

Old Liu Tou said: "I came in this direction for convenience, but I didn't kill him because I couldn't kill him. He was strangled to death, but I didn't have that much strength, and I couldn't beat him."

So it can't be me."

Leng Yi said: "What you said is not unreasonable, but being unable to defeat is just a conjecture. In many cases, the weak can also defeat the strong. For example, when the strong loses the ability to resist for some reason. Therefore, everyone

They must prove that they did not have the time to kill, or that they were not present at the time."

Old Liu Tou said: "Then there is no one next to me." He thought for a while and said: "By the way, I saw Sister Lu taking a walk behind the big tree below. Well, that's the tree." Old Liu Tou pointed.

Point to a tree in the distance.

Aunt Lu's face turned cold and she said, "It's convenient for me. What are you looking at? Old pervert!"

"Hey! I didn't mean to look. I got there first and then you came, holding a torch, as if you were afraid that others wouldn't see it, so naturally I saw it."

"If you see it, you should turn your face away and pretend not to see it!" Sister-in-law Lu said: "This is a gentleman!"

"I turned my face away!"

"Who saw it? Even if you didn't twist it, you might say it was twisted. Who knows?"

"You are unreasonable! I just saw you squatting in the grass, and I didn't see your white ass. Why are you so worried?"

Leng Yi hurriedly said: "Stop arguing! Sister-in-law Lu, were you taking advantage of that tree last night?"

"yes."

"Then you should thank him, because while he proved his alibi at the crime scene, he also helped you prove your alibi. This also eliminates your criminal suspicion."

Sister-in-law Lu looks exactly the same, and her face looks a little better now. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!