The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 112 Traitor
Ying Shuiwang said with a thick accent, "Something's been wrong on our island these past few days. A lot of snakes have appeared out of nowhere, filling the fields. Some have even found their way into people's homes. The old people say it's a divine punishment. We sometimes find these black snakes in our fields, and they usually only eat voles and frogs. I didn't expect them to eat humans this time!"

As he spoke, he took out the bamboo basket he carried with him and said, "I have a few more here. Do you want to check them too..."

Qi Fei confirmed with Ying Shuiwang again: "Your island shouldn't be that big. Have you heard that the family got into trouble or disappeared?"

Ying Shuiwang shook his head blankly: "This, this really doesn't exist."

Qi Fei stood up and took a deep breath: "We don't believe in divine punishment, we only believe in evidence. Let's go to Jiangting Island."

……

Nancheng is called Nancheng because it means south of water and trees. The "water" here refers to Yingjiang River. Jiangting Island is located on Yingjiang River. It is a veritable island in the middle of the river. More than a thousand households on the island have the surname Ying, which is different from other places in Nancheng.

You need to take a ferry to get to Jiangting Island from Nancheng city.

Fortunately, this ferry can carry cars.

When the ferry was about to arrive at Jiangting Island, the test results of the remaining snakes were also sent over. Sure enough, bloodstains were found in the gaps between the scales of these snakes. According to the preliminary test results of the blood samples, part of the blood was consistent with the DNA of the finger, but the blood of these snakes belonged to different people.

"Also, some of the blood samples confirmed a kinship relationship..." Wu Shanqiu's expression grew more serious as she examined the results. "However, the DNA of these people is not recorded in our system."

"Relationship?" Qi Fei's heart sank when he heard this, and the nerve that was concerned about exterminating the entire family suddenly jumped. If these people were not injured but died, it would be a serious matter.

The car landed on the island and, under the guidance of Ying Shuiwang, arrived at the place where the snake was found.

This is a farmland. The wind on the island is much stronger than in the city, especially when standing in the field. The sound of the wind is whistling in your ears, and you have to shout to talk face to face.

Because it was just the beginning of spring, the fields had only been tilled and not yet planted, so at first glance they looked like ordinary farmland. However, Qi Fei soon noticed something unusual. Just by standing still and observing, he would soon see snakes emerging from the soil. He would even see snakes frozen to death on the ridges of the fields due to the spring cold.

Logically speaking, snakes will find a place to hibernate when winter comes. These snakes that are running around seem to have come out of warm places and suddenly frozen to death without any preparation.

"Logically speaking, the Waking of Insects hasn't arrived yet, so the snakes, insects, rats and ants haven't come out yet. I don't know where this snake came out from." Ying Shuiwang said from the side.

Qi Fei picked up a dead snake and checked its abdomen. Sure enough, there were still traces of blood among the white scales. He walked a few steps and picked up another one. It was the same. It can be imagined that these snakes had crawled in blood. Judging from the fact that so many snakes were stained with blood, the amount of blood at the scene must be considerable.

"It seems that these snakes came from the crime scene." He looked around. Jiangting Island was not big, but not small either. It was not easy to find where these snakes came from.

"Is this snake only found in this field?" Qi Fei asked.

Ying Shuiwang pointed around and said, "Where are they? They are all in the fields within a radius of ten miles!" The wind on the island made people's scalps numb. Qi Fei scratched his head and continued to look at what he could find at his feet one by one.

He heard a faint rustling sound, as if someone was shaking a maraca. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a rattlesnake coiled not far away, shaking its tail and staring at them with its black eyes, sending out a danger signal.

"Huh? Are there rattlesnakes in our Nancheng? I've never seen such a thing in Nancheng in my life." Qi Fei said.

After hearing what Qi Fei said, Wu Shanqiu also noticed something unusual: "Brother Fei, look carefully, the snakes in this field don't seem to be all the same species, there are all kinds of them. Is that a bamboo green snake? Eh? It's like someone poked a snake nest!"

"Well, although I don't know much about snakes, I don't think there should be so many different species on this small island, right?" Qi Fei said, calling out to Ying Shuiwang, "Is there anyone on your island who is raising snakes?"

Ying Shuiwang immediately denied it: "We raise fish and shrimp here, but we don't raise snakes. Snakes are not considered good things here."

Qi Fei noticed an old man standing by the field with a crutch for a long time, watching their every move, and seemed to be very interested in this matter.

"Do you know that person?" Qi Fei asked Ying Shuiwang.

Ying Shuiwang lowered his head immediately after seeing this and said, "Hey, this is our clan leader, Zongbo. If he knew I brought you here, he would definitely scold me."

After Ying Shuiwang said this, Qi Fei became even more curious and walked towards Zong Bo regardless of the obstruction.

"Shuiwang, you are confused!" As expected, as soon as Zong Bo saw Ying Shuiwang, he poked his crutch and started scolding him.

This Zong Bo seemed to have great prestige, and Ying Shuiwang didn't dare to contradict him at all.

Qi Fei explained on behalf of Ying Shuiwang: "Old man, we are from the Nancheng Police Station. We suspect these snakes may be involved in a murder, so we are here to investigate. There are suddenly so many snakes on the island. Don't you want to find out what happened?"

"A snake ate a person?!" Zong Bo's cloudy eyes opened wide. It seemed that Ying Shuiwang did not tell him about this, but the old man soon had his own explanation, "This is God warning us that if we allow our descendants to betray our ancestors, we will be punished! This matter can only be solved by ourselves. You can't help, you can't help! Go back!" The old man's attitude was unexpectedly firm.

"Old man, it's a different era now. There's no such thing as divine punishment. We still have to believe in science." Wu Shanqiu said directly.

As expected, these words irritated the old man, who rapped his cane and lectured him, "Do you know why generations of people on our island have the surname Ying? It's said that there was a giant snake in Yingjiang River that ate people and caused chaos. Later, the heavens sent Yinglong to kill the snake. Although the snake was dead, its disciples are still there. Yinglong turned into a snake catcher and stayed on Jiangting Island to catch these snakes. Later, the word 'Ying' became our current surname."

Of course, everyone just heard about these mythical legends and considered them as nothing more than stories. However, Qi Fei was curious about the old man's talk about descendants betraying their ancestors, and immediately asked Zong Bo why he said that.

The old man listened and pointed with his cane at a distant place near the ferry terminal, where there was a courtyard surrounded by a high, ochre-colored wall. He said, "How can we not be punished by heaven for having produced that traitor Ying Shuigen in our village?"

(End of this chapter)