Chapter 48: Unexpected Death
The stench of blood filled the cave, weighing heavily on Yin Chuan's head, who had just woken up and was still unsure of his situation. He calmed his mind, and once he was fully awake, he looked around once more. He saw everyone lying in a mess: Luo Mei, Du Yunzhang, Linlang, Fan Zheng, the fourth concubine, the fifth concubine, Master Lan...
Wait, Master Lan… Master Lan who had collapsed not far from him… Where was his head? Why was the head missing from his neck?
Yin Chuan was startled and looked at the blood on his hand again - yes, it was the blood that flowed out from the neck of Master Lan who was lying a little higher than him, and flowed along the convex slope to his side.
Yin Chuan was so shocked by this scene that he jumped up and quickly came to Du Yunzhang and Linlang who were lying on the ground. Seeing that they were breathing evenly, they should be fine, so he hurriedly called out: "Old Du! Linlang! Old Du! Linlang! Wake up!"
After calling for a long time, Du Yunzhang finally woke up. "What's going on? Hmm... what's that smell? It's so fishy... Old Yin, do you smell it too?"
"Let's not talk about this for now, someone's dead!"
"Someone's dead? Who's dead?"
Linlang also woke up at this time. When she saw Yin Chuan, she was immediately shocked and said, "Brother Yin, why...why are your hands covered in blood? Are you injured?"
"This is not my blood." Yin Chuan hurriedly explained, "Someone was killed! It was Master Lan!" He pointed at Master Lan's headless body.
Du Yunzhang and Linlang looked in the direction Yin Chuan pointed and were both shocked.
"How did he die? Who did it?" Du Yunzhang was a little confused.
"I just woke up too. Who knows how he died?" Yin Chuan replied.
As he was speaking, Luo Mei, Fan Zheng, the fourth concubine, and the fifth concubine all regained consciousness. They were all stunned to find Master Lan's headless body. The fifth concubine was so frightened that she sobbed.
"Why are you crying? Stop crying!" Luo Meili shouted, and the fifth concubine, who was crying the previous second, dared not make a sound the next second.
"Wait a minute," Linlang said to the crowd, looking at Master Lan's headless body. "How can we be sure this body is Master Lan?"
"Why do you say that?" Fan Zheng asked.
"You don't know, but Brother Yin, Brother Du, and I have been involved in many murders. Often, the murderer simply disguises the victim and cuts off the body's head. Unless Master Lan's head can be found at the scene, it would be difficult to prove that this person is Master Lan, right?"
Everyone looked around the cave, but no one found Master Lan's head.
"I think this person should be Master Lan himself." Yin Chuan thought for a moment and said, "In fact, even if there is no head as evidence, we can still verify his identity."
"How to verify?" Du Yunzhang asked.
"Don't forget, Master Lan used to work in the Forbidden City, and he was an out-and-out eunuch..."
"Could it be... that you want to verify it from below..." Du Yunzhang was a little surprised, and then looked at the many women present.
"That's not necessary. Actually, think about it the other way around. If someone wanted to falsify the corpse's identity, they couldn't have been unaware of Master Lan's origins. But why did he just cut off the head and not remove the other features below? Look, there's no blood on his lower body. Regardless of where the head is now, if there really was a place to hide it, there wouldn't be too much space for the body, right? If it's not whole, then dismembering it would be enough. So, what was his purpose in hiding the head? I really can't imagine why he would do that."
"Is it possible..." Linlang tilted her head and said, "Master Lan was hit by some deadly mechanism in the tomb, and his head was cut off by this invisible killing machine. His head is now inside the mechanism, and only his body is left here?"
"If it's as you guessed, then the poison gas that knocked all of us unconscious was most likely released by him." Yin Chuan seemed to remember something, "I still remember that the first person to discover the yellow poisonous smoke was Master Lan. Maybe he released it and then pretended to be knocked unconscious. After everyone was poisoned, he stood up alone, ready to take the secret treasure in Shen Wansan's tomb for himself. But he didn't expect there was a mechanism in the coffin, which is why he lost his head and died."
"But... you see, the sarcophagus is still exactly the same as before, with no signs of being opened. How do you explain this?" Linlang asked.
"That's not surprising," Luo Mei explained. "The triggering mechanism of many mechanisms is to restore them to their original state as much as possible. This is how they generate the force to kill people without them being seen. So it's normal for them to return to their original state."
"So, his head is in the coffin we want to pry open?" Luo Mei's eyes lit up. "Could it be that the coffin has already been opened?"
Du Yunzhang said to Luo Mei angrily, "Three people have died, what secret treasure are you still thinking about?"
"Hmph, it's common for tomb robbers to die on the spot. When you were a constable in the Qing Dynasty, didn't you often encounter murders? Why are you making such a fuss?" Luo Mei rolled her eyes at Du Yunzhang.
"Well... that's right. This way you can legitimately share Mr. Lan's property. This is much easier than making money by robbing tombs!" Du Yunzhang teased.
Luo Mei snorted, stopping her argument with Du Yunzhang. She climbed to the top of the hill and approached the central boulder. She saw the two ropes still attached, and the coffin itself seemed largely unchanged from before. Slightly disappointed, she leaned in for a closer look.
"Hey! There is a way!" Luo Mei exclaimed, not knowing what he saw.
Fan Zheng was the first to rush forward. "What? Did you find some trap?"
"Old Du! Come here!" Luo Mei ignored Fan Zheng and shouted to Du Yunzhang below.
Du Yunzhang then moved closer. Luo Mei pointed to the side of the boulder and said, "It was covered with dust before, and it looked like a big black stone that had been there for many years. But now look -" She focused the light on one point so that Du Yunzhang could see it clearly.
Du Yunzhang frowned and took a closer look, and indeed he saw the clue. The dust on the side was actually much less than that below within a distance from the top.
"Could this be... a sign of someone moving from here?"
"That's right! It must be like that." Luo Mei's eyes sparkled, as if she had discovered a new world. She then took out her Luoyang shovel and tentatively inserted the blade into the edge of the dust. Sure enough, after a few attempts, the blade gained strength, seemingly getting stuck in the gap. "There's hope!" she muttered, then exerted all her strength to pry the stone slab.
"How about I help you?"
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