Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 69: Qiu's Death
Xiao Wu brought them to a place in the backyard, and saw that the place was very empty. Apart from a screen blocking people's view, there was nothing else suspicious.

"This is it. It's right here... I saw the female ghost walking towards me from that direction, hanging upside down. She seemed to be holding a human head in her hand. It was so scary!"

Of course, there was nothing in the place he was pointing to, but Murong Huan seemed to be attracted by something and walked towards that direction.

"What are you going to do?" Xiao Muchen suddenly pulled her back and asked worriedly.

"I just want to see what's there!" Murong Huan replied, smiling slightly, "Don't worry."

"Okay, I'll go with you to see it~!"

Murong Huan nodded, and the two of them walked to a place very close to the courtyard wall, and found a layer of strange powder on the ground. Murong Huan picked up some and looked at it in his palm, and saw that it was similar to a mirror, but very fragile and thin, as fine as paper scraps.

"What is this?"

Murong Huan shook her head, turned around and looked at the mica screen facing her, then walked towards the screen. When she got closer, her hand touched a damaged place on the screen.

"Here, there's a small hole," she said.

"What happened to Xiao Kong?"

Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang both asked curiously.

"My master once played a game for me. He placed a small wooden block with a small hole on a table. On one side, he placed a puppet and a candle. The puppet's shadow could then pass through the hole and be projected onto the wall on the other side, appearing to be hanging upside down."

Then she turned to Lu Ling and said, "Shaoqing Lu, please bring a candle and a curtain!"

"it is good!"

Soon, a jailer came with a candle and a curtain. Murong Huan ordered one of them to light a candle on one side of the screen, while two jailers unfolded a large curtain on the other side. At this moment, everyone saw a figure reflected on the white curtain.

It was Xiao Wu.

"This, this... a ghost!" Several jailers couldn't help but scream in horror.

"What are you shouting for? This is Xiao Wu's figure, the ghost you saw. He didn't even know he was being fooled!" Lu Shiyilang said contemptuously.

"Then, what's with her carrying a human head?"

Murong Huan explained, "Perhaps what you are looking at is not a human head, but just a lantern. It is the light of the lantern that casts this shadow."

Another jailer asked, "Then why is the shadow hanging upside down?"

Murong Huan's mind immediately flashed with the words she once asked her master:

"Master, why is the shadow of this puppet upside down?"

"Because the candle's light travels in a straight line, it shines straight from the puppet's head and, when it reaches this side, is reflected downwards. Conversely, the puppet's feet are reflected upwards."

This was the answer given by the master. Just as Murong Huan was about to explain, Xiao Muchen unexpectedly replied with such a firm answer: "Because light travels in a straight line."

This sudden sentence made Murong Huan suddenly look up at Xiao Muchen.

How could he know?
Could it be that her master who never reveals his true face is Xiao Muchen?

No, the Master does not have white hair, and their voices don't look alike!
"It seems that it is because of the small hole on the screen, coupled with the light from the lantern, that the so-called ghost shadow is projected onto the curtain over there. But the problem is that there was no curtain here last night? Would such a shadow appear?" Lu Shiyilang concluded.

"I remember it was foggy last night, right?" Murong Huan asked. Xiao Wu immediately nodded and said, "Yes, it was foggy, and it seemed to be quite foggy in this area."

"That's right!" Murong Huan asked Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang to walk to the courtyard wall, where Xiao Wu had seen the ghost, and pointed at the layer of strange powder on the ground and said, "It's because of this!"

"what is this?"

"Because someone sprinkled this powder into the mist, causing the mist to condense and form a mirror-like barrier, that's why the ghost projected its upside-down shadow here." Xiao Muchen continued.

Murong Huan was so surprised that he was speechless.

Lu Shiyilang suddenly realized what was going on. He twisted the ear of the jailer who was crying the loudest and lectured him, "So, this is all man-made after all! Where did the ghost come from? I told you to be so cowardly that you almost delayed our investigation!"

"Si Zhi, please don't pinch me. We are just timid and scared. But if this ghost can be explained in this way, then what's the ringing sound? And we heard the voice of a female ghost. It's very scary!"

"She's still a woman!" Lu Shiyilang said disdainfully and angrily, turning his gaze to Murong Huan, "Young lady, explain it to them!"

"Actually, I don't have much to explain about this ringtone, and I've been trying to find its origin recently. However, I suspect Guo Hongba's death may be related to this ringtone."

Murong Huan said this and looked at Lu Ling, "Lu Shaoqing and Shiyilang, do you still remember the deaths of Zhou Jiulang and Zhou Xing? Their livers and internal organs rotted away after they died. Huo Xiaolian said that she used a kind of poisonous insect to kill them.

Regardless of whether what Huo Xiaolian said is true or not, I know that there are several kinds of strange poisons in this world, and one of them is called the illusion poison. Those who are poisoned by this poison will have some hallucinations and may go crazy and commit suicide.

The source of this magical Gu is most likely this ringing sound!"

Having said that, Murong Huan glanced at Xiao Muchen and became a little worried. When Xiao Muchen was unconscious yesterday, she had checked his body and did not find any poisonous insects. However, the onset of the poison seemed to be related to the bell sound. Could it be that she was really hallucinating?
At this moment, Xiao Muchen suddenly asked:
"By the way, wasn't Mrs. Qiu brought to the Dali Temple by you last night? Did you get anything out of her during the interrogation?"

Lu Ling replied: "It's still in the interrogation room. Do you want to go and interrogate?"

"Let's go and take a look!" Xiao Muchen replied.

Several people came to the interrogation room of Dali Temple.

As soon as he entered the interrogation room, Lu Ling discovered that a captain who was in charge of interrogating Qiu had fallen asleep on the table. Lu Shiyilang quickly ran over and picked up the captain, then slapped him in the face with several loud slaps.

The captain, who was still enjoying his prosperity in his sweet dream, opened his eyes reluctantly due to the burning pain and said impatiently, "Who the hell disturbed my sweet dream?"

Lu Shiyilang became even angrier and slapped the captain again.

"Open your dog eyes and see who we are. How dare you curse us?"

At this time, Lu Ling and Xiao Muchen had already walked in front of Qiu. Just as Lu Ling lifted Qiu's chin, he found blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. He quickly sniffed her breath and his face suddenly changed: "She's dead!"

"What?" Lu Shiyilang also ran over and pried open Qiu's mouth to see that she had actually bitten her tongue to pieces. "Bite her tongue to commit suicide? Wu Jie, what's going on? She was in your hands, why did you let her die?"

Hearing this, the captain Wu Jie seemed to be fully awake and knelt down in front of Lu Ling. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, I... I don't know how I fell asleep. I was interrogating Mrs. Qiu just a moment ago. She was like crazy and wanted to bite me, so I slapped her hard. I... I didn't kill anyone!
I didn't see her biting her tongue, so how could she have died?"

Dead? Qiu Shi died just like that!

Murong Huan felt very uncomfortable. He had originally wanted to find out some things about his father from Qiu, but he didn't expect...

"What did you dream about just now?" Murong Huan turned to ask Wu Jie.

(End of this chapter)