Endless route

Chapter 395 5. The unsolved case of Bandit Zhou Jiu

After some investigation and evidence collection, the identity of the shadow hiding in the ancient ship has been determined. This person is the former boss of the village, the bandit Zhou Jiu, who is now in his eighties.

According to the testimonies of the bandits.

All the details of bandit Zhou Jiu have become clear. This man died suddenly and suddenly eighteen years ago, when he was sixty-four years old. There was no sign before his death, and the cause of death is still unknown.

The older generation of bandits recalled carefully.

Bandit Zhou Jiu had no warning before his death. No one expected that he would die suddenly and suddenly. He even just celebrated his birthday not long before his death and drank several bowls of local wine at the village birthday party.

On the day of Zhou Jiu's death, it was also the rainy season in Wuhaixianzhou. It was raining heavily outside the village. The bandits in the mountain were idle and gambling for fun deep in the cave. Basically everyone was there.

But only Saturday was absent.

As the master of the cottage, no one can control his whereabouts, so no one knows where Zhou Jiu went at night.

According to the account given by bandit Li Sanhu.

When Zhou Jiu was the head of the village, there were three wives who were in charge of the village. It can be said that they were not good at women.

Jidao asked further about the origins of these three ladies from the village. One of them was a widow brought back from the mountains during the disaster years, and the other was the only daughter of an old bandit from the previous generation.

The third one is shameful. It is a girl from a good family snatched from the mountain by Zhou Jiu. Her father is a fisherman in the mountains. She was swept away by the river during the rainy season. She was kidnapped by Zhou Jiu while searching for her.

The three Yazhai ladies are arranged in chronological order. The first lady died decades ago, and the son she brought was the former head of the village before Zhang Ergou.

The second lady is also long dead.

The third wife was a bandit named Zhou Jiu who was kidnapped back to the village at the age of sixty. Within a few days, she couldn't bear the humiliation and jumped off a cliff to commit suicide.

"What do you mean, you all have families?" Jidao heard this and looked at the bandit Li Sanhu and asked.

There was not a single woman in the village, but Li Sanhu said that they all had families.

"Yes, it's in a nearby village. The younger one has children and grandchildren. He doesn't want to be a bandit, and he cultivates his own land at the foot of the mountain."

Li Sanhu said everything he knew cautiously.

"You are living happily as bandits in the mountains, while your family members are farming in the village?" Jidao sneered.

"What happened on the night of September's death, how did you discover his death, and whether his body was found."

Zheng Yun asked aloud and returned to the topic.

Many bandits in ancient times were like this. Their families were left farming at the foot of the mountain, while they went up the mountain to become bandits. Not to mention subsidizing the family, some even asked for money from their own wives and daughters.

Wuhaixianzhou has a special situation.

But I can roughly figure out the key points.

The land here is vast and sparsely populated, and there are few villages and towns. The villages and towns are far apart from the county. The county only controls one-third of an acre of its own land, and only taxes remote villages and towns and nothing else.

The sky is high and the emperor is far away.

I can't control it.

The county does not have that many manpower.

If there is a vacuum in the rights of these small villages and towns, they may be replaced by bandits. There are bandits in every village. Not only is it not hated by everyone, it may also be an 'honor'.

"We discovered Zhou Jiu's death the next morning. He died on his bed at that time. His whole body was cold and his face was bloodless, as if he had been frozen to death. He had no breath at the time."

"Zhou Jiu's son said that Zhou Jiu's funeral had been decided a long time ago. He just had to wrap the body in sackcloth and throw it into the back hill without placing it in the coffin or burying it in the ground. Zhou Jiu's son would take care of it alone."

Bandit Li Sanhu continued to explain.

The son of Zhou Jiu in his mouth was Zhang Ergou's predecessor as the head of the Shanzhai. On the night when he outsmarted the Shanzhai in Jidao Poisonous Mist Mountain, he was so frightened that he became confused.

This man is still alive.

Detained in Tiangong Dungeon.

After waking up, I felt stupid, my eyes were blurry, my mind was gone, I pooped in my pants every day, I went completely crazy.

If you think about it carefully, there seems to be some connection between them. Judging from the dark shadow in the photo of the ancient ship, Zhou Jiu has unshaven beard and hair like a bird's nest, and he also looks crazy.

"So you don't know where Zhou Jiu's body went, but you never saw it again?"

Zhang Ergou seized the key point and asked.

The more he listened, the more frightened he became. He was the current master of the cottage. The previous two masters, Zhou Jiu and his son, were both inexplicably crazy. So what would happen to him?

There must be evil spirits in this back mountain.

As soon as he became the head of the family, he was already possessed by evil spirits and contaminated with some unclean things. He might end up like Zhou Jiu and his son in the future, even dying without knowing how.

"yes."

Li Sanhu's head is like pounded garlic.

"The woman who was snatched last by Zhou Jiu really jumped off a cliff and committed suicide? Did you see her body?"

Zheng Yun asked another question.

"Master Immortal, we really don't know much about this. After all, Zhou Jiu is the boss. He said that the woman jumped off the cliff to die. It's hard for us to ask. We don't know whether it's true or not."

Li Sanhu was even more frightened.

This group of bandits didn't cause much trouble, and they didn't often go down the mountain to plunder. However, after being bandits for so many years, they had few cases on their hands, and none of them had ever committed any crime.

At this moment in front of the gods.

If the gods were to punish them, none of them would be able to escape. Maybe they would not be punished to death, but they would definitely not be good in the second half of their lives, and even the next life and the next life would be ruined.

Reincarnation is a problem.

I will turn into a pig or a dog in my next life.

At this moment, he only realized that he had never killed anyone, and there was no murder on his body, otherwise he would have been slapped to death by the immortal.

"Take him down and guard him next door. If there are any questions later, we will review him." Zheng Yun waved his hand to Jidao and asked Jidao to take away the bandit.

At this point in the inquiry, all the information about the ancient ship's shadow has been learned, and the causes and consequences can basically be surmised.

Zhou Jiu and his son have a problem.

This is reflected in many details.

They may have known for a long time that there is a "Shan Master" in the back mountain, and they have formed a certain relationship with this mountain master, and they have some dealings and use of each other.

It’s unclear who will take advantage of it.

Maybe Mr. Shan is stronger.

They did not tell the bandits in the mountains about Master Shan. No one else knew the secrets of the back mountain except their father and son, but neither of them was normal.

Zhou Jiu becomes the Ancient Ship Savage.

His son has become completely stupid.

It's really incredible.

What's left is a lot of new doubts, such as whether Zhou Jiu faked his death or died for real, what was the reason for his fake death, and why he appeared in the crack of the ancient ship.

During the rainy season in Wuhaixianzhou, the temperature will gradually drop. It has just entered the rainy season and the temperature is not too cold, but the water temperature in the underground lake is definitely not high. What is he doing underwater?

When Zhou Jiu went down the mountain to rob a girl from a good family, he was already in his sixties. What was his purpose in robbing the girl?

After he snatched the woman away, she jumped off a cliff to die before his eyes. Is this the truth of the story? What is the connection between Zhou Jiu's death three years after the incident?

"Master Immortal, what exactly is this master of the mountain?"

Zhang Ergou watched as Ji Dao led many bandits out of the command room door, got into the rain and sent them elsewhere. The figures were dim in the light, but it made Zhang Ergou shudder.

It’s really hard to see through.

In an ordinary cottage in Wuhaixianzhou, there is such a weird evil spirit hiding. Is it because I was unlucky enough to bump into it, or is it not luck at all?

Such evil spirits.

In fact, it is everywhere in Wuhai?

The entire Wuhaixianzhou is full of such evil spirits, and they can run into them no matter where they go. That's why the Ming Dynasty abandoned this place and was forced to move the people here?

"It's hard to say for now."

Zheng Yun shook his head slightly and sighed.

When things have developed to this point, the danger is not obvious. It is much worse than the dangerous places experienced before, but the complexity and scope of involvement are very wide.

Wuhaixianzhou has a history of hundreds of years, from the ancient city of Nanze that was forced to move after a disaster, to the wreckage of the boat master not far away, to the mountain master and the mountain village in this corner.

The time span is huge.

The geographical scope involved is not small.

Perhaps behind this 'Shan Laoye case' are the traces left by the entire Wuhaixianzhou during a turbulent period. This individual case is a small microcosm of the monstrous waves.

"Master Immortal, let's go arrest that Zhou Jiu and ask him what's going on. Anyway, this person is a criminal. If he refuses to answer, I have enough tricks to tame beasts in the Heavenly Palace."

"I know that Zhou Jiu's son is completely stupid. No matter what, he can't ask questions, so we can only start with Zhou Jiu himself and operate on him to see what's going on."

Ji Dao hurried back to the command room. Before the rain and fog were wiped off his body, he proposed his idea to Zheng Yun.

"Not urgent."

Zheng Yun waved his hand for Ji Dao to sit down, and while maintaining observation of the detector screen, he asked: "Think about it, what kind of demons are responsible for the symptoms of Zhou Jiu and his son?"

Ji Dao was still too reckless.

Even if Zhou Jiu is captured alive for torture, Tiangong's method of taming animals cannot be used, so how can he get a result?

The best way is to send it to Hades Pavilion.

The Hades Pavilion can not only enlighten Yin soldiers, but also has an unpredictable ability, which is to force people to stay awake.

This was the case with Kedester back then. He was going crazy in the depths of the glacier. He went to the Hades Pavilion for a walk, but after being forced to give the order by Zheng Yun, he immediately returned to normal.

That's no better than the animal taming method.

Make sure he says whatever he asks.

"Master Immortal, there are many monsters and ghosts in history that can make people stupid, but the evil thing about this thing is that it has never shown its face from beginning to end, and we don't know what it is at all."

"Zhang Ergou has been tricked. I don't even know what Mr. Shan looks like, let alone when and where he was tricked. This makes me go back to the Sutra Pavilion to search."

Ji Dao frowned and shook his head.

Zhang Ergou was too useless, which caused major flaws in the entire investigation process. He, the victim, didn't even know what Mr. Shan looked like, so how could others investigate.

"Actually, I feel something."

Zhang Ergou took a deep breath and spoke quickly.

"Tell me something."

Zheng Yun looked sideways at Zhang Ergou. After all, he was also a Taoist priest, so he wouldn't be unaware.

"I really didn't realize it before, but after seeing the underground lake and listening to the testimonies of these bandits, I suddenly remembered something. I guess that was when I was tricked."

"After I successfully suppressed the bandits and occupied the cottage, I once counted the trophies of the bandits, especially the residence of the leader of the cottage, which was on the second, third and third floors. I turned it upside down."

"There was a well in that yard, and there was a hemp rope hanging on the side of the well. I originally thought there was a treasure hanging on the end of the hemp rope, but when I pulled it up and took a look, I found it was a big ball of linen cloth."

"The linen cloth was tied with a rope. I untied the rope to see what was in the linen cloth. Halfway through, I felt something strange in my body. After untying everything, there was only well water inside."

Zhang Ergou recalled attentively.

This is indeed the strangest part. The entire process of suppressing bandits went smoothly, except for this link.

"Azabu? Isn't this the sackcloth you're talking about Zhou Jiu's corpse?" Ji Dao interrupted midway.

"I have some doubts now. When unfolded, the ball of linen cloth covers a large area. It is more than enough to wrap a corpse."

Zhang Ergou nodded quickly.

"Where is this place you are talking about? Is it the side hall at the back? The one that looks spooky."

Norimichi pointed towards the back of the corridor.

"Yes, it faces north. Even if it's not the rainy season, the sun doesn't shine. However, the location is the highest in the entire village. All the great leaders have lived there, but I haven't lived there for a day."

Zhang Ergou nodded.

"..."

Zheng Yun remained silent.

What Zhang Ergou said did sound problematic, but when he and Ji Dao sang in harmony, as if they were talking about cross talk, the weirdness disappeared.

So Zheng Yun turned his attention back to the unmanned detector. While listening to their discussion, he controlled the detector to move forward and get in through the breach in the ancient ship.

The detector is very close to the ancient ship.

You can get in with just a little probing.

But it also takes some time.

"I don't know what he is doing hiding underwater on this September. It is impossible for him to live underwater. He can only survive the winter by hiding in a few ancient ships."

Ji Dao raised another question.

"The hulls of these ancient ships are rotting, but the cabins above are not soaked in water. They should be kept intact. There are five ships in total, and the space is not small, enough for him to live in."

Zhang Ergou looked at the surveillance screen and said.

The five ancient ships are adjacent to each other. The total area is much larger than the other courtyards on the cottage, and the decoration is much more advanced. There are also several floors of 'lofts', but the environment is too gloomy.

There is no daylight.

Moisture near water.

Ordinary people can't live there.

"Could it be that this man has been living in an ancient ship for the past eighteen years? Is there a possibility that he was only in a deep coma, but was thrown off the cliff by his son as if he was dead?"

"He can't get up there alone."

"So I was forced to survive down there."

Ji Dao had other thoughts. He was halfway through speaking when he rejected himself and said, "That's not right. If that's the case, why didn't he call for help from us before?"

"There is enough food down there, and there are fish and grass everywhere, but Master Shan is in the lake. Why doesn't Master Shan eat him? Could it be that he is already Master Shan's servant?"

Zhang Ergou also has various speculations.

"Speaking of which, I have a question. Zhou Jiu's son collects mountain goods during his birthday and goes to the back mountain alone to 'sacrifice' on weekdays. What on earth is he doing?"

"It's to bring food to his father."

"Or are you really offering sacrifices to Master Shan?"

Ji Dao followed the words and spoke. Zhou Jiu, the son, often went to the back mountain sneakily. Whether he was looking for his savage father or if he was really related to Master Shan, he couldn't tell at the moment.

While the two were talking.

The detector has penetrated into the ancient ship.

Zheng Yun watched attentively as the screen kept adjusting. The searchlight illuminated the scene inside the ancient ship and displayed it on the screen.

But the result was unexpected.

There is actually a universe within the hull of this ancient ship.