Chapter 62: True and False
"Several years ago, a secretive organization, whose name remains unknown, established a village here. Ostensibly operating a beekeeping business, they actually sought to recruit criminals from the surrounding canal, using the area as a hidden gathering place. Later, perhaps because their tracks were exposed, the organization abandoned the area. However, the underground facilities they built were completely preserved, and this is the so-called tomb of Shen Wansan that we are currently in.
"A few months ago, a swindler known as a 'bee, hemp, swallow, or sparrow' swindler learned from his mistress the secret of the supposedly hidden treasure in Shen Wansan's tomb. Naturally, he thought of the ancient legend of Shen Wansan's family hiding a cornucopia. That's a cornucopia! Who wouldn't want one? But tomb robbing wasn't his forte, so he resorted to various tactics to recruit tomb-robbing experts to help him. Fan Zheng and Luo Mei were among those he recruited."
"Wait," Du Yunzhang interrupted Yin Chuan, "That 'bee, hemp, swallow, and sparrow' scammer you're talking about, isn't that Master Lan who's been with us all the way here?"
"No, he wasn't the former Qing Dynasty chief eunuch Lan we dealt with in Guojiaying, south of the capital. This guy used the name of Eunuch Lan to gather us to help him search for treasure in the tomb, but in the end, he ended up with his head and body separated."
"Although I only met Eunuch Lan once when I was in Guojiaying, I still have some impression of him. Eunuch Lan's fat and bloated appearance is almost the same as this person. Moreover, from the time we met in the Cao Gang to the time we traveled together, his words and deeds clearly showed that he was a pampered nobleman of the Qing Dynasty. How did you know that his identity was fake?" Du Yunzhang asked.
Yin Chuan calmly pulled something out of his clothes. It was a piece of paper. "Here, remember when we reached the entrance to the tomb, we helped his two concubines up. To ensure he wouldn't bother us again, he wrote this note."
During this trip, I will not cause any trouble to Yin Chuan, Du Yunzhang, or Ou Yelinlang. This is a testament to my actions. — Rand's handwriting
"What's the problem with that?"
"Of course there is a problem. In fact, I started to doubt his identity after he wrote this sentence."
"How do you say that?"
"The flaw lies in his signature: 'Lander Handwritten'. While we can call him Eunuch Lan in private, doing so in front of others is rude. Furthermore, Master Lan is indeed very averse to having his past in the palace mentioned in public. Therefore, whether it is 'Zhang Lande' or 'Xiao De Zhang', these names he used in the palace, he avoids them. Otherwise, he wouldn't just let others call him Master Lan. How could he so casually write the four words 'Lander Handwritten'?"
"There's another, even more obvious flaw. I clearly remember meeting him several times in Guojiaying, and he was always right-handed. And this 'Eunuch Lan' in our group is left-handed. Think about it, is that correct?"
Linlang, Luo Mei and others thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed the case. Whether writing or using a walking stick, he always used his left hand.
"So this guy is really a fake!" Luo Mei said angrily.
"It's not just a fake. There are so many things we've encountered on our tomb raiding journey that are hard to tell the real from the fake! Let me continue.
"I'm not sure if the fake Master Lan knew that Di Feiyan Luo Mei and Du Yunzhang had a past relationship, but Luo Mei approached Du Yunzhang and invited him to join the tomb-robbing team, and also dragged Linlang and me into it. Even if it wasn't part of the organization's plan, it could be considered an unexpected gain for them. Furthermore, I absolutely don't believe this was outside the organization's calculations.
"As for Director Fan, I think his team is the organization's primary target. As for the reason... it's not hard to explain. Mr. Fan, I'm not sure if you had any previous connection to this place, but at least your two subordinates, Yuan Lao Er and Tan Zhuozi, must have been recruited here. That's why they insisted on walking at the back of the team. They must have known that there were traps in the tunnel and where they would be safest. Little did they know that the traps had been tampered with long ago, which is why these two clever guys fell into the trap."
"Then how did they fall into the trap? What is the secret here?" Linlang asked.
"'Turn and you'll die!' The key is right here at the bend," Yin Chuan replied. "Remember when we first entered the tomb, we triggered the trap three times in a row: a huge rock blocked our retreat, we fell into a pit, and we were attacked by the vicious insect Tu Chi. All of this happened at the rear of the team. This made Yuan Tan and the other two suspicious. They wondered why accidents kept happening in what they thought was the safest position. But since their leader Fan Zheng didn't say anything, they couldn't afford to disrupt their original plan.
"Speaking of the first missing person, Tan Zhuozi, when I examined his body, I found that his four outer toes were all broken. What could have caused such trauma? Considering that he died of drowning, it is very likely that when his head was pressed into the water, he struggled with his limbs, grabbing at the air with his hands to pry the murderer's hands apart. Due to his short upper limbs, his strength was in vain. His legs kicked wildly, but they kicked on the rocks on both sides, causing the four outer toes to break. This shows that he must have drowned in a narrow crevice between the rocks. And where could such a place be? It could only be at the corner of the tomb passage, which is a blind spot for all of us.
"Similarly, Yuan Lao Er disappeared in a blind spot around the corner. However, he's not as easy to deal with as the shorty. After all, with his burly build, even with only one arm, he's more than enough to withstand the killer's sneak attack. But if the killer had an elusive helper, that would be much easier to deal with."
"Helpers?" Du Yunzhang was a little surprised. "You mean there's more than one murderer? My goodness, there were only ten of us going to the tomb, and three of us are already dead. Excluding the three of us, the murderer's percentage among the remaining people is too high, isn't it?"
"Don't worry, things aren't as simple as you think. Let me continue. The murderer, with the help of an accomplice, attacked Yuan Lao Er again. However, the two were not killed immediately after the attack. Instead, they were knocked unconscious and hid in a corner of the tomb passage. Why didn't the murderer kill them immediately? I think it was because he didn't have the conditions to kill them at the time, or he didn't have enough time or ability to kill them. He was afraid that if he killed them, the victim would wake up and struggle, and his tracks would be exposed."
"Your explanation doesn't make sense," Luo Mei shook her head. "If the murderer is among the ten of us, and we were all together from beginning to end, even if the murderer used some excuse to leave briefly to attack Yuan Tan and the other two, how would he have been able to escape everyone's attention if he had attacked them later?"
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