Chapter 138: Murder Sacrifice
As if possessed, Linlang suddenly jumped onto a civilian boat that had just arrived at the ferry, and urgently asked the boatman not to dock but to catch up with the passenger ship that had just left.
The boatman was unwilling to go, but Linlang offered him twenty taels of silver as a reward for the boat trip. Seeing such a generous man, the boatman gave up his resistance, hoisted the sails again, and headed forward along the canal.
"Linlang! Linlang!" Yin Chuan shouted at her anxiously.
Linlang came to the stern and said to Yin Chuan on the ferry: "Brother Yin, don't worry, I will definitely catch the real culprit!"
Yin Chuan waved to Lin Lang, "Don't force yourself! Just follow our agreement and be careful!"
The two said goodbye across the water, as if they were going to be apart for a long time.
Yin Chuan watched Lin Lang's boat gradually leave the ferry, and was reluctant to leave for a long time. At this moment, Luo Mei came to the ferry and whispered a few words in Yin Chuan's ear. Yin Chuan bit his lip and nodded, "Okay, I'll go back now."
Just as he turned to head back to Jushuitun, he suddenly heard a terrifying roar from the distant canal. Everyone on the ferry was focused on it, and Yin Chuan and Luo Mei were also startled. The roar must have come from the direction of the boat Linlang had just boarded.
As far as the eye could see, thick smoke rose from the edge of the canal. There was no doubt that it was the sound of an explosion!
There was an uproar at the ferry, followed by chaos. The canal gang members, the dock workers, the villagers who had just arrived... all looked horrified, discussing what had happened on the canal.
"Brother Yin!" Luo Mei pointed in the direction of the rising smoke with concern.
Yin Chuan frowned and sighed, "Let's go, someone will take care of it here."
The two left the chaotic ferry and returned directly to Jushuitun. In front of the church, Yin Chuan said to Luo Mei, "Let Lao Du leave the body in the church. I'll be there soon."
Luo Mei agreed and turned into the church.
Yin Chuan came to the hospital on the other side of the garden alone. At this time, Dr. Vina Yun was waiting for him at the door. Seeing Yin Chuan arrive, she came forward to greet him.
"Mr. Yin, you're finally here. Where's Miss Linlang?"
"It's Doctor Yun. Linlang left Jushuitun for something. Tell me if you have anything to say."
Vina Yun looked troubled. "So that's how it is. I didn't expect her to leave in such a hurry..."
"She and I are close friends, just tell me if you have anything to say."
"Actually... I heard that you've already taken over the church, and Clark and his men have been captured. So I want to ask, have you found the real culprit who killed those children? Is it Clark?"
Yin Chuan smiled. "Indeed, we occupied the church and arrested Clark and all the believers. But the real murderer who killed the child... is still at large."
"What? Still at large?" Vina Yun widened her eyes.
"Yes. We found two severed limbs in the secret room in the hospital basement and compared them with the bodies of the two children. We also discovered some details on the limbs that we had not noticed before. From this, Linlang came to her conclusion that the real culprit must be Father Douglas, who has never appeared."
Vina Yun was surprised. "Father Douglas? Why is he the murderer?"
“This Douglas is extremely cunning. Although he has never shown up, he has been hiding in this church and mixing with these cult members.
"Linlang is truly amazing. By comparing the body and the severed limbs, she discovered a mark on the right wrist. At first, we all thought it was from handcuffs, but she recognized the pattern as a Scottish thistle, indicating the mark wasn't from handcuffs, but from a watch.
"Then the question arises: how could a child from a farm in Jushui Village be wearing a Western watch? And judging by the marks, he'd been wearing it for quite a while. So she was certain the right arm definitely didn't belong to this child. Then she came to a startling conclusion: there weren't ten children killed, but eleven."
Vina Yun's eyes widened. "Did you find the eleventh body?"
"Not yet, but we can pretty much pinpoint where the body is. It's probably under the banyan tree in the center of the garden."
"Why are you there?"
"Linlang has walked through the secret passage below twice and has also been in the garden. Whether passing by the roots of the banyan tree or next to the banyan tree in the garden, she has smelled a foul odor. I indeed smelled it when I passed by. In fact, banyan trees are a species that only grows in the south. Due to the climate and soil, they are very rare in the north. But if this banyan tree has a special source of nutrients, it may be able to grow so well. Linlang also mentioned that she once smelled a faint odor in the sea of flowers in Coimbra. It was the smell of corpses from a war not long ago. So we all agree that the eleventh body must be under the banyan tree."
Vina Yun couldn't help but gasp, "That's actually the case! Why don't you dig out the body right away?"
"Du Yunzhang has already taken people to dig, and I think there will be results soon."
"But even if an eleventh body is found, how can we be sure that it was all Father Douglas's fault?"
"On the surface, Clark and his men were already at loggerheads with the Cao Gang, and they had already bribed the government. There was no need for them to deny the murders, but they still vehemently denied it, which makes sense. But from another perspective, why did they secretly kidnap these children? Even if they didn't plan to sacrifice their lives to the evil gods, they certainly didn't have good intentions. They are inextricably linked to the deaths of these eleven children.
"Then again, what was Douglas's purpose in killing these children? Linlang witnessed the entire incident, from the discovery of the first right leg in the church confessional to the discovery of the right arm hanging from the banyan tree on the third day. She saw it all. She asked us to recall carefully the locations of the four severed limbs: the right leg in the church confessional, the left arm on the cross on the plaque at the hospital's main entrance, the left leg on the cross at the hospital's back door, and the right arm on the banyan tree branch. Did you notice that the same object was found in all four locations?"
"The same thing? What is it?"
"cross!"
"cross?"
"Yes, the cross." Yin Chuan raised his head and pointed above the plaque at the hospital gate. "Look, the left arm was hanging on that cross. And the left leg was also placed next to the cross at the back door. The same is true in the church's confessional. The cross there is even more obvious."
"But there is no cross on the right arm hanging on the banyan tree?" Vina Yun asked in confusion.
Yin Chuan smiled. "I raised the same question at the time, but Linlang's explanation was unconvincing." He pointed to the banyan tree in the center of the garden. "Isn't that tree the intersection of the cross?"
Vina Yun was confused at first, but soon understood what he meant. "By cross, do you mean the shape formed by the two canals running through the garden?"
"That's right. And you can pay attention to the exact locations of the four severed limbs. With the banyan tree in the garden as the center point, the confessional where the right leg was found is northwest, the back door of the hospital where the left leg was found is northeast, and the main entrance of the hospital where the left arm was found is southwest. Finally, the banyan tree branch where the right arm was hanging extends southeast. These four locations correspond exactly to the distribution of a person's limbs, so Linlang concluded that the body of the eleventh victim was beneath the banyan tree in the center."
"Old Yin! Come quickly!" Du Yunzhang waved to Yin Chuan in front of the church door in the distance. Judging from his expression, he seemed to have discovered something.
"Let's go and take a look together." Yin Chuan said to Vina Yun.
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