Chapter 471

Jiao Yu naturally would not object, and General Ling spat on the ground: "Fair enough! That kid wouldn't tell us if he found anything either." He Lingchuan flipped the book to the end and suddenly felt something different: "This book is not an account book."

This one didn't look special from the outside, but it only had a few thin pages inside, and what was recorded was no longer the collection of pulp pearls, but some strange numbers, such as: seventy-six-four-eleven;

two-eight-one.

And so on.

Three numbers and two dashes make a group, and there are only a few groups of numbers on each page.

"It's a code."

Both demons cast expectant eyes: "You can decipher it, right?"

"You think too highly of me." He Lingchuan stared fixedly, "This code must be used in conjunction with a translation key to be translated into text."

"A translation key?"

"The book that goes with it." He Lingchuan had heard a public lecture at the Asking Immortal Terrace, where an old scholar explained the compilation of codes, "Or rather, this set of codes was designed to go with that book."

"It's over!" General Ling was immediately annoyed, "Books, account books, anyway, everything with paper was taken by that fellow surnamed Zhongsun!"

"Then we have to find Zhongsun Mou again." He Lingchuan said objectively, "He might have some gains there too."

Jiao Yu said: "I saw that he arranged some manpower, disguised as civilians wandering around this small courtyard, probably still wanting to try his luck to see if Mr. Mai would return."

"He probably won't." He Lingchuan said this without any basis, just groundlessly certain.

He still had two scrolls at hand, which were pulled out of the vase in the study together.

He Lingchuan threw them aside, and General Ling looked at them several times, unable to resist his curiosity, so he bit the rope end and pulled it off, arching his head to unfold the scroll.

Not having hands is really inconvenient.

He Lingchuan had no choice but to help it flatten the scroll. This old sheep really likes paper too much.

The first scroll was a landscape painting, with high mountains and a small moon, and springs hitting rocks; the painting skills were good, but He Lingchuan was not interested.

He is a vulgar person and cannot appreciate it.

The second scroll unfolded to reveal a portrait of a person: the person in the painting seemed to be a noblewoman, in brocade clothes and a magnificent hairpin, with a graceful face, standing by the lake playing a flute.

Even if the two demons didn't have much appreciation level, they could see that this portrait was painted with much more care than the first landscape, with every stroke trying to be as beautiful as possible.

And then they heard a "crack" sound, and when they looked back—

He Lingchuan had broken the edge of the table.

He stared fixedly at the painting, his eyes wide open, but his pupils had shrunk, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

The fierce tiger hurriedly said: "What's wrong?"

Even the still-life painting with hidden mysteries and the account book code just now hadn't made him lose his composure like this.

It leaned over to look, and it was just a portrait of a person; could it be that this person could also come out of the painting? There was no special inscription or seal to be seen.

He Lingchuan took a long breath and shook his head: "Nothing." But his gaze didn't leave the person in the painting.

Strictly speaking, he was staring at the flute in the person's hand.

The front half of the flute was blocked by the noblewoman's hand, but the back half was painted very meticulously, with jade-white joints, nodes, and two eye-catching red circles! When He Lingchuan first saw this flute, his blood rushed to his head with a boom.

This is Sun Fuling's Centipede Bone Flute! She not only played it in front of him, but even used it as a teaching tool to teach him.

How could he recognize it wrong?

How could Sun Fuling's flute appear in the hand of the noblewoman in the painting? Looking at the slightly yellowed painting paper, and without special protection, the painting should not be more than thirty or forty years old.

He Lingchuan had a pleasant time with Sun Fuling in the Soul Village, always intentionally or unintentionally ignoring her final fate. The abrupt appearance of this portrait reminded him: people will eventually die, and cities will eventually fall.

But who picked up her relics in the end? How did this woman get it? "Do you recognize this woman?"

The fierce tiger and General Ling both shook their heads.

He Lingchuan silently put away the scroll, the veins on his forehead jumping twice.

The answer is with Mr. Mai; he must find this person! "What is special about this woman?" Does the special envoy like this type? "Forget it, nothing." He Lingchuan steadied his mind and pulled his thoughts back to the main business, "The gatekeeper said that Mr. Mai stayed in the courtyard for a long time. Then with Wan Song's elusive skills, when he gave instructions to Wan Song, it was very likely near his home, or even at home."

General Ling asked curiously: "But Zhongsun Mou's subordinates have already searched the courtyard once and found nothing."

"They search theirs, we look at ours."

Mr. Mai's residence is not large; the study is already empty, and there are also a bedroom, kitchen, side rooms, and front and back courtyards.

He Lingchuan and the others searched again.

The guards left behind by Zhongsun Mou stood at the door, watching them walk back and forth with cold faces, their eyes not without sarcasm.

Indeed, there was no gain; the group from Lingxu City had packed up everything useful and useless and taken it away. Only a bed and a small table remained in the bedroom, and only pots, bowls, and basins remained in the kitchen.

The front and back courtyards were turned into mud everywhere.

General Ling muttered while inspecting: "What are we looking for? There must be a target, right?"

"Naturally, it's clues related to the Demon-Devouring Beast." Jiao Yu's voice came from the backyard, "Like this."

The crowd rushed over to see, and it was lying by the vine trellis in the backyard.

Melons, fruits, and herbs were planted in the courtyard; in this season, they should have been growing vigorously, the gourds were already climbing the vines, and the self-heal had bloomed with small purple flowers, but Zhongsun Mou's subordinates didn't even spare this place; the garden soil had been turned over, the ground was full of mud prints, and the flowers and plants were crushed.

If Mr. Mai had hidden something in the ground, it would have been searched out.

Jiao Yu's tiger head was facing the wall base.

This was the north wall, where sunlight could not reach all year round, and the dampness was the heaviest, so the wall base was covered with moss.

He Lingchuan found a bit of oily reflection right here.

"Slime, but the trace is very narrow; it should have been left by an ordinary snail." He Lingchuan was just about to get up when he unexpectedly found a stone jar more than a foot high lying by the vine trellis.

This kind of stone jar is just a whole piece of stone polished smooth and carved into various forms. Ordinary families place it at home; some use it as feng shui stone to stabilize luck, some place it among flowers and plants to look clever and beautiful, and some simply use it to press jars to pickle salted vegetables... anyway, the uses are diverse.

This piece should have also been sitting quietly under the vine trellis, but it was ruthlessly overturned by Zhongsun Mou's subordinates, with half of it buried in the soil.

But the side facing He Lingchuan was carved with the shape of a spiral pattern.

He simply reached out and brushed away all the soil on the stone jar.

The spiral pattern became even clearer.

The two demons also saw it and leaned over: "Is this a snail shell? A snail shell?"

"Snail shell." He Lingchuan had caught many candy snails in the Panlong dream, and could distinguish the difference between the two.

Honestly, it was carved quite artistically, showing that the craftsman's carving skills were good. But placed in Mr. Mai's backyard, no matter how you look at it, it has a deeper meaning.

The stone jar also had a bit of moss, showing that it had been placed here for a long time.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment and simply put it into his storage ring.

This courtyard had already been turned upside down, and there was nothing left to search.

Night fell.

When the post station lit its lamps, Zhongsun Mou was also writing furiously.

"Come here."

The guard arrived immediately.

"Take this letter to the Red Yan capital and present it to the monarch."

The content of the letter was very simple, complaining that the special envoy sent by Red Yan Crown Prince Fushan Yue was rude and unruly, obstructing the investigation.

He knew that the Red Yan monarch had never liked his eldest son, and if he received a complaint from the Lingxu City Inspector, he should take some action.

After the guard took the order and left, Zhongsun Mou began to enjoy his dinner.

He didn't like hot food, so the cook he brought with him made him crystal sashimi tonight, which is thinly sliced raw fish and clam feet, and it must be thin enough to be translucent to be considered qualified. When eating, add chili shreds and garlic slices, and then dip in some sauce and mustard; this is the taste Zhongsun Mou is accustomed to.

The demons of Lingxu City have lived with humans for hundreds of years, and they are very particular about eating, living, and traveling, but they are not like humans who like to eat a hundred flavors. Zhongsun Mou is already considered very open-minded; most mermen don't like human sauces.

While eating, he examined the ivory ball in his hand.

Fushan Yue's special envoy took the ball first, and was very reluctant when handing it over; is there something suspicious about this thing?

He studied it for a long time, dripped some medicine on it, and didn't find anything special.

He simply found someone to cut it open.

Solid, no internal mechanism.

The appraisal results showed that this was indeed ivory, and just ivory.

What a waste of his time.

After dinner, he felt a stir in his heart and brought the gatekeeper old man of Mr. Mai's place over for detailed questioning.

This time, he mainly asked about Mr. Mai's daily life and habits, and by the way, checked to see if the old man was lying. Often a question would suddenly appear every few days, chosen at the moment when the old man's vigilance was lowest; if his answers were inconsistent, he would definitely suffer.

If He Lingchuan were present, he would probably call him an expert. Whether it was Uncle Hao from Black Water City in the past, or the Great Wind Army, they often interrogated prisoners like this.

But the old man didn't get a single answer wrong.

Finally, Zhongsun Mou asked about Mr. Mai's diet.

The old man said that Mr. Mai preferred noodles to rice, and when he wanted a late-night snack, he would order some soup and water, "Every time he came to Shuanglu Town, he would bring a special, very fine, very white rice noodle and have me cook it for him. This noodle is cooked as soon as it is rolled into boiling water, and Mr. Mai insists on adding some dried shrimp when eating this noodle."

"Very fine, very white? Where is it produced?"

"I don't know about that."

Zhongsun Mou sent the guard to make another trip to Mr. Mai's home to bring back the fine noodles.

The candle by the table happened to burn out.

When the guard replaced it with a new candle, Zhongsun Mou caught a flash of green light in the old man's eye corner.

"Hmm?" He felt a stir in his heart, "Are your eyes uncomfortable usually?"

The old man blinked often, which he hadn't been surprised by before; after all, when people get old, they have many problems.

But now, Zhongsun Mou pinched out the candle flame with one hand and let the guard light it again.

He is the master, he can play however he wants, and the guard naturally had no objections.

When the candle flame rose again, Zhongsun Mou indeed saw a green light flash in the old man's eyes again! Only for a moment, but it didn't escape his sharp eyes.

Zhongsun Mou let out a cold laugh, suddenly pinched the old man's neck, dragged him close, and with the other hand picked up a spoon from the plate and pressed and gouged it into his eye socket!

(End of chapter)