Chapter 128: Luo Mei's Reasoning

Let’s talk about Linlang and doctor Vina Yun.

The two of them shared the same bed in the room, listening to the sound of the rain outside. Linlang couldn't fall asleep. She turned over and sat up in bed.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep?" Vina Yun asked.

"Yeah." Linlang sighed and stared at the two long bags on the table.

"Is it because of them?"

Linlang nodded somewhat melancholy. "Doctor Yun, based on your medical experience, if a child loses his hands and feet, can he still survive?"

"That's... hard to say. Even for children, everyone's physique, functions, age, and gender are different, so I can't generalize. But if the bleeding isn't stopped in time, there's a high probability they won't survive."

"Then can you tell the details of this child from these two severed limbs?"

Vina Yun shook her head. "I've already checked, and unfortunately, I can't see any clues. The skin, muscles, and bones of boys and girls are actually pretty much the same, especially in rural areas. Children here don't go to school every day like in the city, so boys have slightly rougher skin than girls. Children here generally have rougher skin."

"Also, it's difficult to tell if someone is still alive just by looking at the amount of bleeding. After all, by the time we found them, they'd already bled out. If the wounds were properly treated, even if their hands and feet were chopped off, as long as they didn't lose too much blood in the torso, they could still survive, even if they had a lot of bleeding in their arms and legs."

"Then look, do these arms and legs come from a child?"

Vina Yun bit her lip. "It's hard to say. After all, I haven't measured them carefully with a ruler, so I can't tell if the hands or legs are the same size."

"Even if they match, that doesn't mean they're from the same child, right?" Linlang was puzzled. "If the perpetrator cut off both arms and legs, wouldn't the cut surfaces align? Can that be used as a basis for judgment?"

"No, you don't have to measure from the cross section. Just measure the length from the knee joint or elbow joint to the toes."

Linlang suddenly understood, "So that's how it is! Indeed, the murderer severed all four limbs, leaving the knees and elbows intact."

Vina Yun still shook her head. "Even so, this cannot be used as sufficient evidence to prove that someone is a person. It can only be considered as one of the reference items for judgment."

Linlang nodded worriedly, "Well... if it really is a child, how pitiful and painful he must be! Even if he's still alive, I'm afraid he'd be stuck between living and dying."

Vina Yun didn't say anything else. Linlang could only hear her uneasy breathing accompanied by the sound of rain outside, and her occasional sobs.

The next day, the rain did not stop in the early morning, and it continued to fall endlessly.

As soon as Linlang woke up and opened the door, a brother from the Cao Gang came to call her.

"Miss Linlang, Brother Yin asked me to come and call you. He said Luo Mei brought back important news."

Linlang immediately regained consciousness and quickly responded, "You go first, I'll pack up and be there soon."

When I turned around and returned to the house, I found that Vina Yun had also woken up.

"What's wrong? Someone called you?"

"Yes, Luo Mei has made some discoveries. She must have been very busy last night. Brother Yin asked me to come over. Will you come with me?"

"I won't get involved in your affairs. I have to go to the hospital and find out where they put the other two limbs. You go first. I will definitely send them to you when I find them."

After saying goodbye to Vina Yun, Linlang went straight to find Yin Chuan who was stationed in a simple shed at the entrance of the village. Luo Mei was also there, and was telling him incessantly about what she had experienced last night.

"After I came back, I went to the warehouse and found the scissors that Ma Lao Ba had used. As expected, there were a lot of blood on the scissors. Think about it, a gardener uses a scissors to chop weeds and branches at most, so where did the blood come from? So..."

"So what?" Yin Chuan looked at Luo Mei with a smile.

"So, the murderer who mutilated those children and cut off their limbs is undoubtedly that Ma Lao Ba!"

Upon hearing this, Linlang immediately stepped forward and asked, "Since you are so certain that he is the murderer, let me ask you three questions."

When Yin Chuan saw that it was Linlang, he quickly brought a chair for her to sit down.

"What's the problem?" Luo Mei looked at Linlang.

"First, besides the blood on the guillotine, do you have any other more direct evidence? Second, are the murdered children still alive? How many are there? Even if they are dead, where are their bodies? Third, if Ma Lao Ba is the murderer, what was his motive for cutting off the children's limbs and placing them in so many different places?"

Luo Mei seemed well prepared. She smiled easily. "I have figured out these problems a long time ago. When I was tracking the people in the organization according to the plan given by Yin Chuan, I found many clues pointing to Ma Lao Ba. First of all, at the ferry where the organization sailed, the boatman asked me to tell Ma Lao Ba that the guillotine he wanted to replace had arrived and he could take it back when he was free. The boatman's words contained two important pieces of information. First, Ma Lao Ba knew that his knife was blunt, so he couldn't have been unaware of the blood on the knife. This also means that it was definitely not someone who framed him. Give it to him. Secondly, the boatman's statement suggests he'd been planning to use the guillotine for quite some time, meaning he'd been carrying out this crime, or similar crimes, at least a few days ago. Considering the condition of the arms and legs, the amputations also seem to have occurred a few days ago, which aligns with the timing. As for direct evidence... Ma Lao Ba's confession is sufficient. However... I've searched the village extensively and haven't found any trace of him. It seems he's on the run, fearing his crime, or hiding somewhere secret. This is actually sufficient evidence that he's the murderer.

"Your second question is, is the murdered child still alive? Unfortunately, I don't think there's much hope for the child to survive. Yin Chuan, you've seen those corpses. Although there aren't any children missing limbs, this is enough to indirectly prove that, whether it's the real murderer or those evil cult members, the child would have no chance of survival if they had fallen into their hands!"

"A body?" Linlang was shocked. "You found the child's body?"

Yin Chuan nodded gravely, "Yes, in that secret passage you mentioned, those evil cult members carried out several children's bodies and tried to escape, but were captured by Luo Mei and two brothers. There were six bodies in total, all of them were underage children, the oldest was less than fourteen years old, and the youngest was only eight or nine years old. The cause of death was strangulation, but their limbs were still intact."

"These devils!" Linlang roared indignantly.

"We will have to settle accounts with these bastards sooner or later," Luo Mei continued, "but I still have to continue to answer your questions. In my opinion, the hands and legs should be from the same child. The reason for this judgment is based on the number of children killed. We have found the bodies of six children so far, and their limbs are all intact. In other words, the hands and feet intentionally left behind by the murderer are from bodies other than those six children. We can do the math. There were a total of 20 to 30 households in Jushui Village before, and only about 10 households had children of the same age. Excluding the six bodies that have been discovered in broad daylight, if the limbs are from different children, shouldn't those bodies be dealt with first? This will also clear them of suspicion of Satanism! But strangely, they gave priority to dealing with the six more troublesome bodies, which is a bit unreasonable.

"So, I concluded they weren't the murderers of the child with the severed limbs, but rather Ma Lao Ba, who had the tools to commit the crime. This conclusion also explains why there was only one victim. Ma Lao Ba couldn't have quietly disposed of more bodies on his own, nor did he need to.

"As for his motive, I suspect it was because his granddaughter was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Satanic Cult. He didn't dare confront those foreigners for revenge, and he knew reporting to the authorities would be futile. So he randomly found a kidnapped child and killed him, then cut off his limbs to vent his anger. He then placed the four limbs in different places for people to find. In this ritualistic way, he was able to pin the blame on the Satanic Cult and clear himself of suspicion."

After listening to Luo Mei, Yin Chuan smiled and clapped his hands, "Not bad, you said it with good reasoning, you are worthy of being called Di Feiyan, you have a quick mind and extraordinary wit."

Linlang frowned, "Why do I feel that this reasoning is a bit far-fetched?"

"No, no, no, Linlang, Miss Luo's reasoning is very good, I agree with it completely. The most urgent thing now is to find that Ma Lao Ba and ask him to find out whether the truth is really like this. Hey! Lao Du..."

As he was speaking, Du Yunzhang walked in from outside.

"What do you want to ask me?"

"Assign Luo Mei seven or eight Cao Gang brothers to search the entire village and find Ma Lao Ba, the gardener of the flower garden."

"What's this for?"

Luo Mei raised her leg and kicked Du Yunzhang, "Just go get them when I told you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Du Yunzhang was a little confused after being kicked, but he couldn't get angry with Luo Mei, so he said weakly: "Okay, okay, I'll go. You come with me."

After the two of them walked out of the shed, Linlang turned to Yin Chuan and asked, "Brother Yin, with your ability, you should have heard that Luo Mei's reasoning is very problematic."

Yin Chuan smiled and said, "Of course, I know."

"and you……"

"Although I'm certain that the murderer isn't Ma Lao Ba, his disappearance at this critical moment makes one's imagination run wild! That's why I asked Luo Mei, who firmly believed that Ma Lao Ba was the murderer, to look for him. Just wait and see, a good show is about to unfold in this village!"