The male supporting character was actually myself.

The old man with the fever lived in the exact location indicated.

"I haven't heard Kane's voice since then. If I remember correctly, he was shouting and running when he jumped out of the window."

Duan Chengze carefully examined the marks on the wooden window. There was a clear bloodstain on the wood, and a few drops of dried blood on the stone path, but then there were no more clues.

"Normally, after being injured, the urgent need for safety would lead one to run towards a populated village and shout for help. But in the less than half a minute between Kane's escape and the villagers' awakening, it means he couldn't make a sound. What could be the reason?"

Jiang Chen carefully examined the traces of blood splattered on the ground, his brows furrowing slightly as he said, "It's probably due to the injuries. Kane, like Ivia, was likely struck in the heart with a single blow."

Look at the height of the blood droplets; that's roughly equivalent to Kane's height.

His injury was likely to be to his heart.

Having escaped the room, Kane stumbled a few steps before collapsing, exhausted. He would likely die nearby.

"Judging from the time of death, he couldn't have run very far." Lin Yuan was still playing with the wooden stick in his hand, looking around. "You can't even count on finding a corpse if you're a dog catcher. It's really troublesome to be teammates with him."

"Let him watch over that guy with the high fever; hopefully, nothing else will go wrong."

Duan Chengze shook his head and said, "Don't worry, Aunt Liang and Zhimeng are both here."

"Heh, what I'm worried about is that if that guy really is the murderer, then the guy who caught the dog will quietly get the first move. I've heard that finding clues is just a bonus; whoever takes the final step gets the highest reward."

After finishing his sentence, Lin Yuan glanced at Jiang Chen, who was diligently searching for clues, and chuckled to himself with his arms crossed, "You've already taken a knife, why don't you go and kill that guy first?"

"I won't kill innocent people without concrete evidence." Jiang Chen walked into the bushes and shook his head at the messy drag marks. "The killer wasn't strong enough to drag the tall and strong Kane, which is why he left such messy marks."

But how exactly did he manage to move the body away?

With a wheelbarrow? Or…”

His gaze fell on the riverbank not far away, where he indeed found a large amount of remaining blood.

Kane's internal organs were also piled up and stacked in the mysterious cave.

"The murderer cut open the abdomen here, removed the internal organs, and bled out the blood, which greatly reduced the weight."

"There were no signs of dismemberment this time, so Kane's body is likely still in a superficially intact state?"

"Holy crap! Is it really that perverted? I love it!"

"Let's search upstream and downstream along the river; perhaps we'll find some clues."

……

After discussing it, the three split into two groups to search separately.

Before long, Duan Chengze stopped and looked into the distance. He said in a low voice, "I'll go and call Lin Yuan over. You're injured, so let's do this kind of work together."

Following his gaze, Jiang Chen also saw that scene.

The bright morning sun shone on a lush green field near the woods, where wildflowers swayed in the breeze and shone with a faint, hazy glow.

This was supposed to be a beautiful scene.

However, there was a scarecrow in the field, nearly two meters tall, stuck in the soil by a thick, long wooden stick.

He was wearing an old, pointed straw hat.

He was wearing tattered clothes;

His arms were tied to a horizontal wooden stick, with strips of cloth hanging down from it and fluttering gently in the wind;

Several birds landed on the field and happily ate the fruit. The wind blew the strip of cloth, startling them and they flew away in a flurry. A moment later, the wind stopped and the cloth stopped swaying.

A bolder bird landed on the "scarecrow's" shoulder and pecked at his bluish-gray face.

Jiang Chen picked up a pebble and threw it over; the bird fluttered away, leaving behind a few feathers.

“It’s completely hollowed out.” Duan Chengze and Lin Yuan put the “scarecrow” down, and after removing the straw hat, Kane’s face was revealed in front of them.

His eyes were wide open and bloodshot;

The mouth was sewn together with thick black thread, from the left cheek to the right cheek, forming a large, creepy smile.

Her belly was also sewn up and stuffed with a lot of straw.

"I can't find any special clues." Duan Chengze frowned slightly as he looked closely.

Lin Yuan pointed to the sewing thread with interest, "Isn't this a clue? Look around and see if anyone has this kind of strange thread. And look at how even the stitches the murderer made are. This person is someone who does needlework often—or at least someone who is very familiar with needlework."

"Tsk tsk tsk, the murderer (no way) washed himself so clean!"

Watching him open his chest and carefully examine his empty, almost bloodless abdomen, Duan Chengze felt a little nauseous. "There must be very few needles that can penetrate such thick flesh, right?"

“Of course, but I think it’s most likely not a needle.” Lin Yuan pointed to the pierced wound and guessed, “It’s more likely that something was used to prick the eye of the needle first, and then a wire or something similar was used to thread it through.”

Jiang Chen agreed, saying, "I think it's better to use a cone-shaped tool to poke symmetrical holes first, and then thread the needle through them."

"The fact that the murderer turned a person into a scarecrow shows how truly evil he was!"

"Everyone has a dark side, that's normal. Take that guy who catches dogs, for example. He looks like a decent person with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, right? But what happened? He stabbed someone in the back and left them to die without helping them. He's quite the smooth operator, isn't he?"

"From this perspective, could the kind-hearted people in the village also be guilty? After all, it's an inner evil. Ordinary people might just vent it directly, but if priests or clergymen accumulate too much negative emotion, they might develop inner demons!"

"What was the motive? Why kill the inspector?"

"If it's related to black oil, then what that feverish guy said is very questionable. He said black oil is the essence of the mountains—who told him that? He couldn't have just figured it out himself, could he?"

"Let's split up. One group will follow the clues from the needle and thread; the other group will go check the basement again—maybe we'll find some clear leads!"

Chapter Thirty-Seven: When It Gets Dark, Please Close Your Eyes (14)

“This guy has definitely been fooled.” Duan Chengze found a hidden little hole behind the pile of junk, inside which were several pages of crookedly written notes. After careful examination, he could make out that they contained instructions such as “messengers of God”.

Jiang Chen glanced at him suspiciously and said, "The 'messenger of God' who conveyed these strange ideas to him is very likely the murderer."

"Could it be a priest or clergyman in the church?" Duan Chengze was a little unsure. "The old priest's physical characteristics match, but he doesn't seem to have anything to do with a vicious murderer."

Could it be someone else claiming to be a 'messenger of God'?

Anyone in that village could be one!

"Keep looking for clues. If all else fails, gather all the suspects together this afternoon and try using your props."

In the village church, Dream Weaver is observing the exquisitely crafted flags hanging on the wall.

After Jiang Chen and the others shared the clues, she volunteered to help find the right needle and thread, and unknowingly wandered into the church.

The old priest was sitting on a simple bench reading a book. Bright sunlight streamed in through the tall, narrow pointed windows, casting bright and colorful patches through the stained glass of various shapes, enveloping the entire church in a solemn yet beautiful atmosphere.

If the murderer hadn't committed the crime in the middle of the night, this would have been a peaceful and livable little village.

As Zhimeng thought this, she couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Why is the young lady sighing?" Upon hearing this, the old priest put down his book, lowered his head slightly, and looked over with his cloudy eyes above his round glasses. Even the wrinkles on his face seemed so kind and gentle. "Spring is in full bloom. If you're feeling down, just look at the vibrant life outside and it will make most of it go away. Young people should go out and see more of the world; it will make you feel much better."

"Excuse me, did you make all these flags?" She spoke in a much gentler tone when she saw the kind and benevolent elder.

The old priest raised his dim eyes to look at the exquisite flags she was pointing to, and a gentle smile appeared on his face. "Of course not, good child."

I'm too old. I can't even see the patterns clearly anymore, let alone thread a needle.

It's so good to be young. Cherish the present, my dear child. You'll understand how precious your youth is when you're old.

So stop sighing and complaining all the time; you have a lot of time to make changes.

Well, these were all made by Brian.

He was such a skillful child, and so gentle with his followers; he was a very, very good person…

After rambling on for a few moments, the old priest, seeing that she didn't seem very interested, smiled kindly and continued to read attentively.

Zhimeng tried her best to control her excitement, and after leaving the church, she asked some questions to other villagers.

There were no other clues in the basement. Jiang Chen and Duan Chengze returned to the spot where Lin Yuan had run to the night before and carefully looked at the village.

"If he's not lying and the target points in this direction, then we can clear the carpenter's grandmother of suspicion." Duan Chengze looked down at the simple map he had drawn, and was just about to ask his teammates for their opinions on Lin Yuan when he suddenly heard Zhimeng's scream from afar, "Ah! Help!"

Jiang Chen and his teammates exchanged a glance and rushed towards the direction from which the sound came.

Upon hearing this, Liang Rumeng didn't even bother to greet Song Gang; she immediately ran towards the direction from which the sound came.

Lin Yuan was inspecting an open stable when he figured out the direction from which the sound was coming and hurried over there.

"Don't worry, host, everything will be alright." The little white cat stayed by his side the whole time, not daring to leave, since the host was injured.

Hearing the scream, fearing that running would reopen his wound, the little white cat hopped off to check on him first. On the way, it found its host and explained, "Dreamweaver fell into a deep pit in the grass outside the village, but she has been rescued."

When the players gathered in a patch of overgrown grass outside the village, they saw the filthy Dreamweaver sitting on the grass, with a young man in a black priest's robe next to her poking at the grass with a stick.

"It's probably a hole that was washed out by the heavy rain a few days ago, and it's been covered by the lush weeds." The young and handsome priest Brian looked at her with a peaceful smile. "Are you sure you're not injured?"

With a pounding heart, Zhimeng shook her head and said in a low voice, "No, I was just quite frightened. Thank you for saving me."

"It's nothing." The young priest looked up and saw them coming over, and said loudly, "Could you please borrow a shovel from Aunt Daisy's house, Your Excellency Overseer? There's a deep hole here that's been washed out by the rain, and I'd better fill it in to prevent others from falling in too."

Song Gang, who was at the very back, heard this and went to the farmer's house on the right to borrow a shovel and hand it over.

"How did you end up here?" Liang Rumeng asked, frowning slightly.

However, Dreamweaver's attention was focused on Priest Brian, who was diligently digging and filling the pit.

Jiang Chen soon realized something was wrong!

The priest looked very young, probably in his early twenties.

Judging from his left-handedness and the strength with which he dug with a shovel, his arms seemed to have little power.

“A fish that slipped through the net!” Lin Yuan clearly noticed something was wrong, and a wicked smile appeared on his face. He was playing with an awl he had found somewhere, and his eyes were fixed on the priest with a sinister look.

The person involved was obviously unaware that he was already panting heavily after carefully filling the hole. Jiang Chen noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, but he was trying his best to hide it.

“Your clothes are torn, O Inspector. If you don’t mind, I’m quite skilled at needlework and can mend them for you.” The young priest looked at her with a slightly shy gaze, his face flushing as he spoke. He didn’t even dare to meet Dreamweaver’s eyes, only looking away slightly, and awkwardly shuffled his right foot on the grass a few times.

Seeing this, Liang Rumeng looked at the two of them strangely, then pulled Zhimeng towards the village, saying, "There are still many things to deal with, what are you doing here!"

Once they reached a secluded spot, she looked at Zhimeng with a serious expression and stern eyes, then lowered her voice and said, "This is a dungeon in the Death Game! You need to understand that it's just a game. Once we get out, we'll sever all ties completely."

The characters in the instance are likely virtual, and you must never have any emotional entanglements with them.

"I'm doing this for your own good. Look at the way that guy looked at you just now. Don't fall for him! We're in a precarious situation right now. If we can't escape the instance, we'll die; if we do, we'll never see each other again. Don't be foolish."

Zhimeng knew the old lady had misunderstood, but she was too embarrassed to refute her and just responded softly.

"Help...help me! Someone, please help!"