445

However, they do not yet have valid evidence and cannot draw any conclusions.

Qi Ling smiled and said, "How could I not tell that there was something wrong with Hu Sanchuan's words? It's just that we don't have any other evidence right now, and he's injured. We can't just use torture to extract a confession."

"So what do we do now?" Xiao Chen asked. In this freezing weather, where are we supposed to look for clues?

"No need to rush," Qi Ling said. "We'll come back tomorrow, and we'll go for another walk up the mountain today."

Qi Ling inspected the cave again. There were many of those people's tools there, very complete. Without outsiders chasing them, it was impossible for the tomb raiders to leave with such complete tools.

After all, in an era of scarcity, creating such a tool was no easy task.

Based on what He Jingyu and Secretary Qi had said before, they walked back and forth along that road twice.

They discovered that the people disappeared near Taoyuan.

No matter what, Qi Ling could not discover any more information, because the Snake King had already set up a barrier around the cave, making it completely invisible to them.

If the barrier were removed now, many men's footprints would be visible.

However, the Snake King was cultivating at this time and was unaware of or indifferent to what was happening outside. In any case, anyone who offended it would die!

In the afternoon, Qi Ling went to Grandma Qi's house again and asked He Jingyu some questions.

He Jingyu repeated what he had said before.

Qiling still had no clue.

He Tiantian listened anxiously, thinking how cunning Hu Sanchuan was.

"Brother Qi, that person can't leave. Can't you find someone to carry him up the mountain?" He Tiantian said. "This person is very suspicious!"

"Sweetie, what are your thoughts?" Qi Ling asked.

"It's actually very simple. There might be snakes in the trap in the summer, but in winter, snakes hibernate deep in the soil. How could you be bitten by a venomous snake in a pre-dug trap? Besides, Hu Family Village has had a bumper harvest this year, so we can eat our fill without hunting. Hu Sanchuan's family is well-off. Under normal circumstances, who would go hunting in the middle of the night?"

"It's also possible that Hu Sanchuan dug up a poisonous snake while digging the trap himself," Xiao Chen said.

“Brother Chen, Hu Sanchuan is an experienced hunter. How could he possibly fall into a trap he dug himself?” He Tiantian said. “But these are just my guesses. You’ll have to investigate the specifics yourselves. I won’t get involved.”

Qi Ling smiled and said, "What Tian Tian said makes a lot of sense. Our breakthrough point is Hu Sanchuan. Tomorrow I will have someone carry Hu Sanchuan to the back mountain and make him repeat himself a few more times."

Sure enough, after using this method, Hu Sanchuan panicked and gave different answers several times.

Finally, they took Hu Sanchuan home. Hu Sanchuan's wife saw that her husband was injured and still being tormented, so she started cursing and swearing.

Two days later, Qi Ling excitedly brought Xiao Chen over and said to Hu Sanchuan, "Hu Sanchuan, I'll take you there. I've found one of them, and he says he knows you..."

"Impossible!" Hu Sanchuan said definitively.

"Why are you so sure?" Qi Ling asked in return.

"I only secretly looked at them; they don't recognize me," Hu Sanchuan said. He knew in his heart that the boss and the others had all been killed by that monster, and there was no way they could have survived.

"Whether he knows you or not, we'll find out when we get there," Qi Ling winked at Xiao Chen.

Secretary Hu carried Hu Sanchuan away.

Hu Sanchuan's wife, worried about her husband, followed him.

Afterwards, Qi Ling ordered Xiao Chen and Lao Wu to search Hu Sanchuan's house.

Yesterday, when they visited Hujia Village, they saw that Hu Sanchuan's son was holding a shiny little shovel, which was different from the ones used by farmers.

Recently, while studying those tomb raiding tools, Qi Ling immediately noticed their differences.

That's why we took Hu Sanchuan away today and searched his home.

Forget about search warrants; transportation is inconvenient, so we'll handle this as a special case.

At the very least, Qi Ling always relied on evidence and never resorted to torture.

After climbing over the wall, Lao Wu and Xiao Chen searched everywhere but found nothing.

While searching Hu Sanchuan's earthen bed, they found a newly repaired area, so they pried it open and found a toolbox and a box.

The tools were various tools used for tomb raiding; another box contained half a box of silver coins and some gold and silver jewelry, filling the entire box.

Old Wu and Xiao Chen each took a box and went directly to the village branch of Hujia Village.

Qi Ling found someone from another village to pretend to be a tomb raider.

"Is it that person?" Qi Ling asked.

"It's not Boss Lu." Hu Sanchuan blurted out, letting the cat out of the bag.

"Boss Lu?" Qi Ling squinted.

"I heard those people calling a rather thin man 'Boss Lu'," Hu Sanchuan explained. "This person is much taller than Boss Lu, so it's not him."

Just then, Lao Wu and Xiao Chen came over.

When Hu Sanchuan saw the two boxes, he trembled all over and fell off the bench to the ground.

"You must recognize this, right?" Qi Ling smiled. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, and then it just happened to him without any effort. This was all thanks to Hu Sanchuan's son.

Hu Sanchuan nodded, then shook his head, stammering, "I...I don't know him..."

"We found it under your kang (heated brick bed), didn't you know?" Old Wu said. "Captain Qi, we can arrest him now. We suspect he's with that group, and after getting the stuff, he's planning to double-cross them and take everything."

Hu Sanchuan was covered in sweat and his face was pale; this time, he was doomed.

“I confess, I confess! Those people forced me to do it! I even hid in this remote Hu Family Village, but they still found me and made me lead them to the back mountain to rob tombs,” Hu Sanchuan said. “The situation that day was very strange…”

Hu Sanchuan admitted that he was a tomb raider and that he was forced into it, but he resolutely denied that he had killed anyone.

However, the deaths he described were too bizarre, and they couldn't find the bodies when they went up the mountain together, so Qi Ling and the others didn't believe him.

Hu Sanchuan wanted to find the cave from that night, but he couldn't find it anywhere. In his desperation, he went mad.

Whether he's gone mad or not requires a specialized medical assessment. Qi Ling left with Hu Sanchuan.

Hu Zhishu is disgraced. This village not only has murderers and adulterers, but also tomb raiders.

I never imagined that such a small village could harbor such hidden talents!

The thought of having to attend a meeting at the commune at the end of the year, which would surely make him look bad, caused Secretary Hu to fall ill in a fit of anger.

Whether it's a real illness or a fake one, we don't know.

(To be continued.)