Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

Hattori Heiji's gaze sharpened.

"Hey! Ayaka, stop talking!"

Suddenly, Ryūki Kage shouted sharply, "Kai-senpai could never be such a fragile person!"

Ryūki Ayaka retorted, "But he really did lose to you back then!"

"That is……"

Longwei Jing choked, then sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Yes, I'm sorry... Jing, I shouldn't have said those things..."

Seeing this, Ryūki Ayaka quickly apologized, then looked at Lin Xiaofeng and the others, forcing a smile, "I'm sorry, I lost my composure."

As she spoke, she took Long Weijing's arm and walked towards the bedroom.

Lin Xiaofeng raised an eyebrow, puzzled, and asked, "What exactly is going on?"

Ryuuji explained, "Perhaps it's because Ayaka always felt that her archery skills were inferior to Officer Kai's that Ayaka was angry."

Lin Xiaofeng nodded, "About Officer Kai missing his shot in the Ryūbura horse selection competition..."

He paused, then swallowed back the question of whether there was any inside information.

This is, after all, an ancient tradition between the two villages, and it would be too impolite to ask it directly like this.

Ryūō Tamefumi glanced at the increasingly gloomy weather outside the window, and recalled briefly, "Officer Kai never missed before, except for that one time, and that was the last time..."

In the pouring rain, to avoid danger while walking on the mountain path, the three of them decided to stay overnight at the Torata family's house.

The night is dark.

The three of them were assigned to a side room in front of the main house, with a corridor leading to the courtyard outside the shoji door.

Outside, the whistling wind and rain showed no signs of stopping.

Lightning flashes occasionally streaked across the dark clouds that seemed to hang almost to the ground, the fleeting flashes of bright white light filling the room with an atmosphere of terror and unease.

Yuanshan and Ye lay trembling in Lin Xiao's arms, enjoying the sense of security he provided, while Hattori Heiji slept soundly beside them.

Just then, in the corridor outside, as the electric light shifted its projection angle, a figure clad in armor appeared on the shoji door, lingering in Toyama Kazuha's pupils...

……

The next morning, the weather did not clear up after the rain stopped.

Toyama and Ye Xiang, along with the couple Torada Naonobu and Torada Eita, reacted to the Red Guard armor they had seen the previous night.

This is an elite force under Takeda Shingen, characterized by its blood-red armor.

Heiji Hattori recalled the plastic replica that Shigeji Torada had once shown, and instinctively felt that someone was playing tricks.

However, Kazuha Toyama firmly stated that the armor they saw had a large tuft of fluffy down on the helmet.

"Hey, are you sure that armor is also red?" Lin Xiaofeng asked, though he didn't seem to care about the armor itself.

"Do not……"

Kazuha Toyama shook his head. "I only saw the shadow of the armor on the shoji door. Nothing happened. You and Heiji are both asleep, so I didn't want to disturb you."

Suddenly, Ryūki Ayaka, who was standing not far from them, couldn't help but show a terrified expression. She covered her ears with her hands, screamed like a madwoman, ran into the bathroom, and locked the door from the inside.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?"

Seeing this, Hattori Heiji rushed over, but no matter how much they banged on the door and shouted, Ryūo Ayaka only replied, "Let me be alone for a while"...

To everyone's astonishment, Lin Xiaofeng forcefully pushed open the door and said to Ryūwei Ayaka, "What are you afraid of? You can tell me."

"I..." Ryūki Ayaka seemed to have gained confidence and threw herself into Lin Xiaofeng's arms, the scent of a married woman wafting towards him.

479. Ryūki Kei was murdered, and Ayaka became a beautiful widow.

Just as one problem was about to be solved, another arose. When Long Weijing rushed over, he was intercepted and killed by the armored warriors on the way.

When everyone arrived, they found Ryuuji Kagami with a cloth wrapped around his mouth and a rope around his neck hanging from a tree, as well as Yamato Kansuke, who had been there for an unknown amount of time.

"..."

Looking at the scene before him, Lin Xiaofeng subconsciously glanced at his left hand.

No... there are no footprints of Ryuujira on the ground.

"scene--?!"

Ayaka Ryūki's loud shout successfully pulled Lin Xiaofeng back to reality.

Upon seeing this, Yamato Kansuke immediately stopped Ryūo Ayaka, telling her not to go any further so as not to ruin the scene.

Lin Xiaofeng offered some words of comfort, and Ryūki Ayaka hugged Lin Xiaofeng and burst into tears.

It was Ryūō Ayaka who should have died, but he stopped her; instead, it was Ryūō Kage who died. Fate is cruel.

Yamato Kansuke attempted CPR on Ryuo Kei, and after a moment sighed:

"No... he's already dead."

Already dead...

These words struck Ling Huajing like a bolt from the blue, leaving her momentarily stunned and only able to rely on Lin Xiaofeng.

"Hey……"

Lin Xiaofeng sighed softly; his harem had grown by another member.

Yamato Kansuke glanced in that direction and decisively took out his phone to call for police backup:

"Hello? This is Yamato. A series of murders have occurred in the woods near the Torada family's 310 residence. Bring my team's forensic investigator immediately!"

"Serial murders?"

Hattori Heiji was taken aback, somewhat puzzled as to why this detective, with whom he had met several times, would draw such a conclusion.

"There's a dead centipede under the tree," Lin Xiaofeng explained to the detectives who couldn't get close enough to examine the scene closely.

"On the muddy ground around the body, besides... this gentleman's shoe print, my shoe print, and the marks from his cane, there were no traces of the deceased's high heels, and..."

Yamato Kansuke turned on his phone's camera to document the evidence, saying, "The rope that hanged her was dry, but there were no signs of someone climbing up the tree trunk after the rain either. This is simply an impossible crime."

“Hey! Kōichi was with us just now. It’s normal to have a row of shoe prints here where he just let someone down, but what about you…”

Hattori Heiji stared at the big V and the brave I, "It's already strange that I'm all alone in the forest. Could those footprints have been there before we arrived?"

Yamato Kansuke said, "I was originally going to the Torada family with some officers to find out some things, but I happened to hear you searching for Ryūo Kei in the woods. After we split up to search, that's how we found her..."

"This is just too much of a coincidence..."

Hattori Heiji questioned, "You didn't secretly contact Mr. Kei on your phone, lure him here, and then kill him, did you?"

"What a joke." Yamato Kansuke glared fiercely at Hattori Heiji with his one eye.

"Officer Yamato, check her pockets first," Lin Xiaofeng said.

"Um……"

Yamato Kansuke responded, put on his gloves, and began rummaging through Ryuu Kei's backpack. After a moment, he shook his head: "There's no cell phone inside. It seems there really is a possibility that she was summoned by that serial killer and then killed."

I heard the term 'serial killer' again.

It's understandable that a group of people would feel a little nervous.

Only the eldest, Ryūo Moriyo, remained convinced that this was Takeda Shingen's curse. She angrily denounced her juniors, saying that they had provoked this natural disaster by searching for treasure with the younger members of the Torada family, and that the dead centipede was proof of it!

Longwei Jing had moved over from this side at a relatively fast speed, but it was clear that there were still no footprints on the ground here.

—All that was there was a row of horse hoofprints.

Those who rode over here on horseback were Torata Tatsue, Ryūo Ayaka, and Uehara Yui.

Based on the direction, the latter two can be directly ruled out, leaving only Torada Tatsuei, who is naturally the real culprit who brought the deceased here to be murdered.

There's not enough evidence...

Lin Xiaofeng walked back without making a sound and returned to the Hutian family with the others.

The shoe prints on the ground in the courtyard in front of the side room confirmed that the armored figure that Toyama Kazuha saw last night was not a dream.

Then, Hattori Heiji found a plastic rope on the ground that had been deliberately cut into thread-like shapes.

The clues are already quite obvious.

The so-called Red Guard armor consisted of these ropes tied together and fixed to the helmet. Then, by looking through the shoji door, the people inside would mistake the helmet for a different style, thus creating the panic of the curse of Takeda Shingen.

Looking at the footprints that extended to the back door of Qi, Fu Yibu Heiji guessed, "What did the master say? It's possible that someone wearing armor secretly sneaked in from outside?"

"No, it's also possible that someone from the Torada family deliberately left these traces so that people would think it was done by an outsider."

After a moment's thought, Lin Xiao said, "I remember Uncle Da Long mentioning that Mr. Longwei's family also seems to have a suit of armor..."

“Now, both the Torada family and the Ryuo family, who keep armor in their homes, are suspects!” Hattori Heiji said.

"The likelihood is low."

Lin Xiaofeng shook his head.

Hattori Heiji didn't know how to explain, so he could only say ambiguously, "Anyway, we don't have any clues right now, so let's go take a look. Maybe we can find some clues..."

Lin Xiaofeng: "..."

Lin Xiaofeng didn't want to think about anything else right now. He wanted to take Ryūo Ayaka back to the Ryūo family first. If he left her at the Torada family, she might get killed again.

The so-called treasure of Takeda Shingen actually refers to gold.

Before going to Longwei's house.

Hattori Heiji visited Torada Shigeji again and confirmed that after discovering books and maps related to the treasure in his family's warehouse six years ago, Torada had no intention of keeping them for himself, but rather wanted to use them to develop the relatively backward village. He then informed Torada Yoshiro, Ryūo Koji, Ryūo Kei, and Ryūo Ayaka of this information.

Now, three of the participants, including him, are dead...

Even though everyone knows the killer is deliberately using the curse of 'Takeda Shingen' to commit murder, following this pattern, no one knows whether the next victim will be Torada Shigeji or Ryūo Kei... or whether this is just a pretext or a cover, and the real killer has other motives!

Could it be an attempt to sow discord between the two families?

Hattori Heiji thought to himself.

But then I felt that such a motive for murder was too weak. After all, what exactly is hatred? Even Ryūo Moriyo, who I talk about all day long, doesn't remember it anymore.

Even if we don't go that far back, Yoshiro Torada's death occurred 6 years ago, which is too long a time span.

Torada Shigeji looked at the black-clad man running around, seemingly very helpful, and his eyes held a slightly complicated emotion. However, he didn't have time to think about it carefully, as most of his attention was diverted to the young man in black who had also come to gather information and was still standing not far in front of him.

I remembered how I was so scared by this person yesterday that I sat on the ground shirtless...

Torada Shigeji's lips twitched into a forced smile as he asked, "Um... is there anything else?"

"..."

Lin Xiaofeng looked the plump "lamb to the slaughter" up and down for a few seconds, and then said, "Tell me why Ryuo Koji went to the police."

He wasn't speaking very fast; it sounded like he was stating facts.

"Ah? What..."

Torada Shigeji's eyes began to dart away. After a moment of shock and panic, his lips moved a few times, and he murmured, "I...I don't know."

"That's it..."

Lin Xiaofeng nodded slightly. "Then you'd better take care of yourself."

Just then, in front of the courtyard gate, Kazuha Toyama, Heiji Hattori, and Ayaka Ryūo waved and called out in his direction:

"Lin Xiaofeng! Let's go!"

"coming."

Lin Xiaofeng turned and left, ignoring Hu Tianshanji, leaving the other standing there stunned for a while before letting out a long sigh of relief.

On the way back, Ryūki Ayaka stayed close to Lin Xiaofeng, which made Toyama Kazuha very jealous. However, since Lin Xiaofeng's husband had just died, she couldn't say anything.

480. Another gloomy, rainy day.

As the three walked towards Ryuwei's house, Hattori Heiji asked curiously, "Lin Xiaofeng, what were you talking about with him just now?"

Lin Xiaofeng didn't hide anything and said, "When I asked him about Ryuo Koji wanting to see the police, he said he didn't know."

Kazuha Toyama suddenly thought of the strange strip of cloth that had been used to gag Ryuo Kei, and wondered, "Is it possible that Ryuo Kei also knew the same thing, and that the murderer deliberately used this method to threaten others and keep them silent?"

“That makes sense… If it was to prevent him from making a sound, to create the impression that he hanged himself because he was cursed by Takeda Shingen, then that cloth should have been removed afterward.” Hattori Heiji suddenly felt that Toyama Kazuha had become smarter.