Chapter 223: Involved in a Serial Murder Case
The meeting place with Deng Yan'an was an ordinary restaurant in the city.
When Deng Youning and the others arrived, Deng Yan'an was wearing a plain brocade shirt and sitting by the window drinking tea.
With every gesture, he displayed the qualities of a gentleman as graceful as jade to the fullest.
"Cousin."
Deng Youning walked up to him, greeted him, and sat down next to him.
The same goes for Li Tianzhuo.
"Tian Zhuo wrote to me and said you were seriously injured. Are you feeling better now?"
The first thing Deng Yan'an did when he saw Deng Youning was naturally to care about her injury.
"It's all right now."
Deng Youning smiled playfully and poured herself a cup of tea.
"It looks like everything is fine now. She can even smile so brightly."
Deng Yanan noticed her smile and smiled along with her unconsciously.
I remember this time last year, when we first met, her face always had a hint of sadness and misery.
Now everything is peaceful in the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion and the Dongji Royal Family, and she has a rare smile on her face that is befitting of her age.
"Have any of the king's men come to rescue the prisoners along the way?"
Deng Youning took a sip of tea to moisten her throat before asking.
Deng Yan'an shook his head with an uneasy expression.
It would be great if there was someone to rescue the prisoners, but it is abnormal because there was no one.
"Is there any trace of the Saintess of the Blood Moon Cult?"
This time it was Deng Youning's turn to shake his head.
She told Deng Yan'an that the man under King Yi was the eldest senior brother of the Blood Moon Cult.
The Saintess and the eldest disciple have both arrived. The power of the Blood Moon Cult scattered across the easternmost part of the country is probably beyond their imagination.
Deng Youning sighed and could only blame the former Emperor Dongji for being so unreasonable.
"Since you are here, after dinner, let's go back to the inn to pack up and set off tomorrow."
Deng Yan'an and his men have stayed in Luoyan City for too long. If they don't set off again, they will have to take real action to rescue Si Wang.
Naturally, the two had no objection.
While eating, they could vaguely hear the conversations of other diners around them.
"Have you heard? There have been several murders in our city recently. The victims looked horrible, their bodies rotted, as if they were eaten by insects or some animals."
"I heard that someone died in my alley this morning. I saw it with my own eyes. My wife was so scared that she didn't dare to go out. Oh, it makes me sick just thinking about it."
"It's strange, this murder doesn't seem to be man-made!"
When Deng Youning heard what the people said, she became more interested in the matter.
"Cousin, you have been in Luoyan City for many days. Have you heard anything?"
Deng Yanan nodded and said, "It's just an ordinary serial murder case. We will leave tomorrow. Please don't meddle in other people's business."
As expected of blood-related siblings, every little thought of Deng Youning could not escape Deng Yan'an's eyes.
Deng Youning took a few bites of rice awkwardly.
Li Tianzhuo also shook his head helplessly and picked up a piece of pork ribs for her.
"You, you are still not idle even though you are so badly injured."
"These matters are handled by the prefects and county magistrates, so they don't have to take the court salary without doing any work."
After the three of them finished their meal, Deng Yan'an took them back to the post station.
The king was handcuffed and shackled, and confined in a room with doors and windows sealed. He was also guarded by the entire diplomatic corps and Jun Chenyi's personal guards.
Deng Youning took a quick look and found it indestructible.
If this allows the Nanxin people to successfully rescue the prisoners, then they would be useless.
Deng Yan'an's room is right next to Si Wang's room.
It also makes it convenient for him to watch over the king day and night.
The room he arranged for Deng Youning and Li Tianzhuo was some distance away from them, in the back courtyard.
After traveling for many days, Deng Youning and the other three went to bed early tonight.
At night, Deng Youning seemed to hear some noise in the front yard and the voices of many people talking.
But she didn't pay any attention to it in her daze.
It seemed that Li Tianzhuo, who lived next door to him, had also gone out, but he came back not long after.
The next morning, Deng Youning had just woken up when Li Tianzhuo knocked on her door.
"Ningning, something happened!"
Li Tianzhuo looked at Deng Youning seriously, with ink between his brows that seemed to have lasted for thousands of years.
Beside him, Xiu Ming was not in a very good condition either.
Deng Youning immediately realized that something was wrong and thought it might be related to the noise last night, so she asked directly.
"Yes, that's true."
Last night, Lord Zhou, the governor of the delegation, went out to purchase things and did not return before the second watch, so Deng Yan'an organized several people to go out and look for him.
As a result, Mr. Zhou's body was found at the end of the alley, with food scattered around him.
The corpse was clearly freshly dead and still warm, but its flesh and skin were rotten and covered with wriggling white maggots.
But the strange thing is that his clothes were intact without any damage.
The cause of death is consistent with those of the dead recently found in the city.
The Jiedushi who were sent as envoys to Nanyin were all killed. The prefect of Luoyan City received the news and came to investigate the situation overnight. This led to the noise in the front yard that Deng Youning heard.
After understanding the cause and effect of the incident, Deng Youning shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly.
"Look, we don't want to meddle in other people's business, but now that this matter has come to our hands, we have to intervene even if we don't want to!"
She spread her hands, looking helpless.
"Let's go find our cousin first and see what he plans to do."
Deng Youning raised her leg and walked out.
Li Tianzhuo followed behind her.
Xiu Ming also did not forget to call Ying Shi.
Deng Yan'an's eyes were dark.
It's like a sleepless night.
It's normal for him to be unable to sleep after something like this happened.
Seeing Deng Youning, Li Tianzhuo and others coming, Deng Yan'an's tense expression could finally relax a little.
"Cousin, should we stay this time to help find the real murderer, or should we just leave directly?" Deng Youning asked tentatively.
Deng Yan'an was a little undecided for a moment.
The time for the mission to Nanxin cannot be delayed any longer. Staying in Dongji for one more day will lead to more accidents.
But he was really unwilling to see Lord Zhou die in such an unclear manner.
After thinking it over again and again, Deng Yan'an looked serious and asked Deng Youning:
"Ningning, don't you think this murder case is unusual? The perpetrator doesn't seem like a normal person."
"If we stay to solve the case, we can only take about three days."
After all, Deng Youning had not seen the body, so he did not dare to jump to conclusions.
However, listening to what everyone said, she suspected that this matter was most likely related to the poisonous insect.
She once knew that there was a kind of poisonous insect that fed on rotting corpses.
There is also a poison that can cause a corpse to rot in the blink of an eye.
She suspected that it was most likely the Blood Moon Cult or some other evil cult in Nanxin that was using these dead bodies to make poison.
The public security in Luoyan City has always been good. There are no corpses in the charity cemetery, so these cultists can only create corpses themselves.
Corpse powder is easy to get for those Nanxin cults.
There were no signs of fighting around the bodies, and even their clothes were not torn, which was enough to prove that everyone was poisoned to death!
If it is really related to the Blood Moon Cult or the Nanxin Sect, they will have to take care of it.
Thinking of this, Deng Youning confirmed:
"Cousin, why don't we stay here for three more days."
"If we can't find the real culprit in three days, it won't be too late for us to continue on our journey."
"I'm not sure I can find any clues, but I still want to give Master Zhou an explanation."
Deng Yan'an fully agreed with her words.
It was his own idea.
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