Lu Zheng rode out of the city. After his house arrest was lifted, the four guards no longer followed him closely, so they didn't notice him leaving the house at the first time.

Lu Zheng didn't have the habit of taking people with him when he went out. He was thinking about this case and wanted to go to the scene of the first case.

For serial murder cases, the first case is very important. The criminals often leave the most evidence at the scene of the first case. Lu Zheng has now fallen into a bottleneck. The case files will only constrain his imagination. He needs to go to the scene to find inspiration.

Although Baiquan Mountain has the word "mountain" in its name, it is actually just a small earthen slope. The forest is gloomy and no one except woodcutters would come here. Lu Zheng led his horse into the temple and soon saw a dilapidated temple under the shade of trees.

Half of the temple had collapsed, and the remaining half was also crumbling. The murals on the wall were already mottled and peeling. Only the Guanyin statue standing in the center remained. The two arms had fallen to some unknown place. Most of the paint on Guanyin's body had fallen off, turning a kind face into a ghost. A

faint stench floated in the air, and a dark brown stain could be seen on the ground. This was probably where the body was found before.

Lu Zheng ran here with a passion, but he was almost cold. He was instantly frightened by the gloomy and terrifying scene.

"Why does it seem a little cold..." He rubbed his arms and forced himself to focus on the case instead of paying attention to the surrounding scene.

He walked around the dried bloodstains. The case file detailed the coroner's judgment that the victim's teeth were loose, which meant that the murderer strangled the victim to death while she was unconscious, and then peeled her skin. According to Shihu, the murderer also sexually assaulted the victim during this period.

The altar in front of the body did not move, and there were no signs of struggle on the ground, which also confirmed that the victim was killed unconsciously. Lu Zheng even took a look at the floor near the body. There weren't even a few fallen leaves on it. The detectives would never be so kind as to clean up a crime scene. What does this mean? It means that the murderer even cleaned the floor before killing the person.

Lu Zheng's face twitched a little. Thinking of the murderer folding the victim's clothes, he couldn't help but sigh that the murderer was too obsessive.

He walked around the ruined temple again. The temple was small, but the roof was very high. Only two beams could be seen on the dark roof. Most of the sunlight entered the collapsed half of the temple, but it still failed to completely invade the darkness. The side he was on was still dark.

Alas, it really looked like a murder scene.

Lu Zheng complained as he watched the entire scene, making sure he had not missed anything.

So he closed his eyes and tried to imitate the murderer's behavior.

... A lonely figure came to this forest. This was a place he often visited. It was remote and sparsely populated. Except for two woodcutters who occasionally came to pick up firewood, not even dogs came. He stepped into the forest carelessly, and then his muscles tensed up. He found that there was an outsider in the forest.

... A pair of eyes stared at the woman walking in the forest. She had a beautiful face and a slim figure. She came to this forest for some reason. She didn't know that in the bushes not far away, a pair of eyes were looking at her greedily and scrutinizingly.

...Something the woman did annoyed him, and he became angry. He followed the woman, covered her mouth when she wasn't paying attention, dragged her into this ruined temple, then took off his belt and strangled her neck until she lost her breath.

...Although the woman was dead, her skin was still smooth, white, and soft, unlike that of everyone he touched. He caressed this face in fascination and committed a crime, but soon he felt disgusted. He hated this pretty face and this woman with a beautiful skin. She was like the monster in the Painted Skin, wearing a beautiful skin to lure the world. He wanted to peel off her disguise and make her atone for his actions...

...Peeling the skin was very time-consuming, especially to fully reveal her beautiful face, so he cut open the white skin from the back, and dark red blood rolled out, like rubies rolling on the dirty floor.

... He frowned, and used the clothes of a woman beside him as a broom to sweep away the dead leaves on the ground.

... He finally got the skin of a beautiful woman. The sinner knelt on the ground to repent for his actions. The white moonlight fell on the dilapidated temple, just like the white human skin in his hand...

Lu Zheng suddenly woke up, and when he touched his forehead, he was already covered with cold sweat.

It was already dark. The days in early winter were always very short. Lu Zheng took out a tinderbox and wanted to light a torch, but he always failed. He sighed and missed the flashlight very much.

At this time, the sound of footsteps on dead leaves came from outside the temple gate.

Bao Zheng followed Shihu helplessly with a knife in his arms: "I say, what's there to see so late at night?"

Shihu frowned, and his voice was small but affirmative: "In the two recent cases, the clothes of the victims were folded neatly and placed aside, even the handkerchiefs and bellybands were there, but in the first case, only the outer clothes were left."

Bao Zheng touched his chin: "So? What's so strange about this?"

"I don't know." Shihu shook his head, but still emphasized his tone, "But I think there must be something we haven't discovered in the first case."

"Then there's no need to go so late, right?"

Shihu looked over with a pair of dark eyes.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Can't I go?" Bao Zheng muttered softly, "I really owe you."

Shihu pursed his lips and curled his lips, and whispered thank you: "Thank you, Brother Bao."

Bao Zheng touched his nose: "Okay, let's go back quickly after seeing it. It's so gloomy, it's not good for your health to stay here for a long time."

"Yeah."

Lu Zheng hid behind the Buddha statue, his heart pounding, his hands and feet were weak, and his mind was blank. He didn't even know how he managed to escape in such a short time.

The footsteps slowly approached the temple gate, but suddenly stopped. Lu Zheng's heart also stopped suddenly with this pause. The photos of the vicious murderers in the textbook flashed through his mind. He regretted his reckless actions. Many murderers like to come back to watch their murder scenes. This is what the teacher said in class, but he forgot it. So now he can only bite his fist to control his trembling.

Soon, the footsteps sounded again. He seemed to be circling the bloodstain like Lu Zheng, and soon there was another rustling sound.

After the initial fear, Lu Zheng was able to control his emotions. He carefully looked around and found a stick not far away. His expression changed slightly. He would rather fight with the opponent than let others slaughter him. Lu Zheng moved slowly

and gently, slowly approaching the stick. However, the temple was too quiet. He just accidentally stepped on a dead leaf, which made a slight "crunch" sound.

The rustling outside stopped, and Lu Zheng's heart felt like it was falling into the abyss. He didn't care about making any sound, and ran forward a few steps at the speed of his life, holding the stick in his hand. However, before he could feel at ease, a creepy feeling climbed up his spine. Lu Zheng didn't have time to think about it, and rolled forward holding the stick.

A gust of cold wind passed behind his head.

Lu Zheng didn't dare to stop, and ran desperately towards the back door of the temple, but he tripped on the threshold and fell directly to the ground.

Bao Zheng looked at Shihu helplessly: "You have been looking at a tree for so long, it's getting dark."

But Shihu ignored him and just stared at the tree in front of him. It was a tall birch tree. There were brown marks dotted on the white-brown bark. If you didn't pay attention, you might think they grew on the tree itself.

Shihu rubbed it with his fingers, put it under his nose and smelled it, then confirmed his guess.

Bao Zheng shouted a few more times, but the other party was so focused that he didn't even give him a side glance. Bao Zheng could only look around in boredom. A barren mountain like Baiquan Mountain was very densely covered with vegetation. It looked a little scary during the day, not to mention at night. The shadows of the trees rustled, and the sharp sounds of night owls came from time to time, which made it even more terrifying.

Bao Zheng boasted that he was very courageous, but he also felt a numbness on his back. Seeing that Shihu was still concentrating on looking at the tree, he could not help but say helplessly: "Okay, the ruined temple is in front, let's go back after we finish looking."

Shihu ignored him of course. Bao Zheng looked at the ruined temple so close and felt depressed. The bright moonlight tonight made the temple even more scary. The wind blew through the ruined temple like ghosts and wolves howling.

Bao Zheng was just about to carry Shihu over, but he saw a flash of fire at the ruined temple.

Bao Zheng quickly responded: "Someone!"

"Brother Bao, I'm sorry..."

Shihu had just come out of the excitement of research and was still a little confused. He was about to apologize to Bao Zheng, but the whole person was directly carried on Bao Zheng's shoulders and quickly ran towards the ruined temple.

"Bao... cough cough cough..."

"Don't talk."

Bao Zheng's face was serious. The firelight only flashed by, but he saw it clearly. Who would come to this ruined temple in the wilderness at such a late hour?

They were already very close to the ruined temple. Bao Zheng ran fast with a person on his back. When he reached the door of the ruined temple, he put Shihu down, took out his knife, and walked slowly inside.

Shihu's face turned blue, but when he saw Bao Zheng's expression, he also covered his mouth very obediently and followed him into the ruined temple.

The white moonlight fell on the collapsed half of the temple. The shadows of the trees on it swayed with the wind, like a demon with bared fangs and claws. Half of the body of the Guanyin statue was in the moonlight, and the other half was hidden in the darkness, half of it was compassionate and half of it was evil.

Bao Zheng walked around the temple several times. The temple was very small and he could see the bottom at a glance. There was not even a mouse. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was a false alarm." He played with his knife and was about to sheath the knife.

But Shihu stopped him: "Brother Bao, something is wrong here."