Chapter 4 Key Clues
“Why are you so persistent in going to the scene?”
The female law enforcement officer holds a map in her hand.
"Because you have already demonstrated the law enforcement officer's ability to solve crimes." Milo shook the metal shackles on his wrists.
“What do you mean?” The other party was puzzled.
"I can't expect you to help me clear my suspicions." Milo was not polite.
......
As for Milo's doubts about the law enforcement officer's criminal investigation ability, the female law enforcement officer was somewhat unconvinced, but after a little consideration, she still fulfilled her promise.
She took out the key and unlocked the shackles on Milo's wrists.
However, just when Milo was about to retract his arm and stretch his wrist, the female law enforcement officer took out a cylindrical metal lock from her waist and put it on Milo's left forearm.
"Crack!!"
The crisp sound of metal structures colliding sounded.
By the time Milo reacted, the metal lock was already firmly fixed on his left wrist.
After doing all this, the female law enforcement officer stopped with satisfaction and began to organize the map:
"You haven't fully gained my trust, so don't even think about running away. The thing is called an execution lock. If you dare to take advantage of the chaos and escape, it will exceed a certain time..."
"If it is not unlocked for a certain period of time, the mechanism blade hidden in the lock will cut open the blood vessels on my wrist, vertically, and then hold the wound open until I bleed to death." Milo It directly connected with the second half of the unspoken sentence of the female law enforcement officer.
He raised his arm, put the slightly heavy metal lock to his ear, listened to the sound of the ticking mechanical spring, and then said: "I have seen this thing in the alchemy workshop. "
The female law enforcement officer rolled up the map and turned away: "You know best, don't play tricks."
...
The execution lock is beyond the scope of the law enforcement officer. The category of conventional weapons used by the system, as far as Milo knows, has reached the higher level of "trick weapons" in the alchemy workshop.
As the name suggests, this thing should belong to the ranks of torture instruments.
So it is not difficult to see that the young law enforcement officer in front of me really does not trust Milo.
Not only that, when rushing to the real crime scene, she didn't even let Milo ride a horse alone, but forced Milo to get on the same horse with her.
It is not that Milo has not protested.
“I said, do you know it’s a bit shameful for a man to sit in the back.”
However, the woman responded directly to Milo:
"You mean you want to sit in the front?" After the scene in the arms of the law enforcement officer, he happily accepted the choice of sitting on the horse's ass.
......
Currently, all the large forces searching for the carriages are scattered throughout the city, and they will not be able to gather for a while.
Moreover, the female law enforcement officer didn't know whether Milo was lying, so she quickly rushed to the designated point on the map with Milo alone.
Nanwei City is filled with fog at night, and the range visible to the naked eye is only ten meters. After the horses run out of the city, there are almost no lights visible on the cold outskirts of the city.
Until the two of them arrived at the designated location, the lights in the city behind were as weak as a kerosene lamp wrapped in countless layers of gauze.
“Found it.”
The female law enforcement officer tightened the reins.
Milo jumped off the horse very wisely in advance, because he had already predicted that the long legs of the woman in front of him who was eager to get off the horse had already swung backwards, and if he took a step slower, he would be kicked out.
On the muddy path, the smell of blood emanated from the wreckage of the carriage.
The female law enforcement officer lit up the torch, pulled out the blade from her waist, and approached the carriage step by step.
Milo, on the other hand, was always alert to the heavy fog surrounding him. He knew in his heart that the people in the carriage were hopeless.
The body of the carriage has been completely deformed, as if it was cut off by something. One wheel rolled ten meters away, the wooden body was shattered, and the bodies of two law enforcement officers were twisted in it, like It was like being thrown into a meat grinder, and the flesh and blood were mutilated.
This is exactly the same as what Milo saw in his dream.
After confirming that the law enforcement officer at the scene had expired, the female law enforcement officer sighed secretly.
She suddenly found that she had stepped on something hard under her feet. After removing her boots, she saw a silver tooth on the ground with its gums and flesh still attached to the light of the torch.
Reminiscent of what Milo had said to her in the law enforcement station not long ago, she frowned and looked at the foggy man behind her.
"How did he know all this..."
From the perspective of the female law enforcement officer, Milo had already walked around the front of the carriage. He was carefully looking for traces on the ground, as if he was looking for something.
After realizing that someone was staring at him, he turned around and said, "Why don't you mobilize some manpower to look for him together? The unlucky child was taken away."
Reacted The female law enforcement officer put aside the many doubts in her mind and quickly pulled out the flare and fired it.
A flame more dazzling than fireworks bloomed high in the sky, and not long after, a large number of law enforcement officers came from the direction of the city.
These people are all uniformed in black trench coats, wearing three-cornered hats, and are equipped with hot and cold weapons on both sides of their waists.
Among this large group of dark people, Milo saw a middle-aged man in a distinctive uniform.
His face was not wrapped in black cloth, nor was he wearing a hat. His black and white hair was tied into a ponytail on the back of his head, and the beard on his face was also slightly white. Among the crowd of law enforcement officers, he was slightly thinner. He was not equipped with a weapon, but was carrying a black cane.
The custom of the cane evolved from the swords of knights in the last century. At that time, knights would wear swords wherever they went, but now we are no longer in the era of street duels. The sword has become a lighter and more elegant cane.
Nowadays, those high-ranking officials and nobles, whether they are in their early twenties or eighty years old, all carry such a slender stick in their hands.
But it can be seen that the long-haired middle-aged man in front of him really needs this cane.
Because he is lame.
......
Milo squinted and glanced at the two silver buckles on the man's collar, and muttered to himself: "He is actually a big guy at the level of an inspector. How could such a person arrive in person? Where are the front lines..."
The law enforcement officers quickly sealed off the scene and surrounded it.
As the first person to arrive at the scene, the female law enforcement officer briefly reported the situation to her superiors.
After listening to the report, the middle-aged man held his cane in both hands and looked at the two corpses of his staff in the wreckage of the carriage with a gloomy face: "Do your business first and collect all the clues before those nagging guys come to cause trouble."
However, as soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, the neighing sound of horses stopping suddenly was heard from right in front of the road.
Immediately afterwards, several church clergy wearing gray robes broke in.
The young man at the head directly lifted the hood on his head, showed his identity to the law enforcement officers present with the golden tree totem on the inside of his forearm, and walked straight to the middle-aged man:
"Mr. Inspector, we met again. We originally agreed to send the poor child to the church for baptism. I have been waiting for a long time and I haven't seen you send him. Who would have thought that such an accident would happen? .”
"Dillashaw, you're not going to fucking burn down my crime scene again, are you? I'm warning you, nine people have died before and after this case, no matter what consensus your church has with me on the summit. , I'm here this time, don't think about messing around." The middle-aged man raised his cane and stopped the young man.
The church man known as Dillashaw smiled and put his hands behind his back:
“My dear Mr. Nero, why do you put on such a fierce expression? In the past few cases, We obviously have a very pleasant cooperation here, don't we? Moreover, the church and your law enforcement director have reached a clear consensus that the living are in your charge and the dead are in our control."
Dillashaw is off the mark. He turned his head and glanced at the corpses in the wreckage of the carriage: "I think the two people at the back can't be saved."
Inspector Nero snorted coldly: "This time it was not civilians who died, but My people are under my control.”
The tone of his words was decisive.
A large group of law enforcement officers surrounded by darkness even took a step forward, as if they were ready to take action at any time.
However, it is not difficult to understand. After all, before the corpse of his colleague was cold, several clergymen rushed over and used some unclear nonsense as an excuse to burn the corpse of their colleague. Who could do this? promise?
It seems that Nero is determined not to give in.
Dillashaw is also very knowledgeable. He knows how bad-tempered the law enforcement officers are, so he has no intention of getting into trouble:
"It's easy to say. I know that you and I have put enough pressure on you. If this case is not solved, I may have to call you the law enforcement officer next time we meet. Let's do this. Please ask your people to collect evidence quickly, and we will leave it to you after it is over. to handle the scene, rest assured that these two of your lawmen will be treated with the highest decency of the Church mourners, and they will rest in peace.”
...The scene fell into silence for a few seconds...
After that, Inspector Nero said:
"If those old immortal bishops in the church have half the eyesight of your boy, The relationship between us will not be so tense.”
“Don’t worry, it will happen sooner or later.”
Dillashaw apologized.
......
So, when the law enforcement inspector appeared in person, the church and the law enforcement officer reached a rare consensus, and this time they joined forces to solve the case. If nothing else happens, this matter will make headlines in the newspapers tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
But the most important thing right now is to find the missing little girl Daisy.
...
According to the report after the law enforcement officer cleaned up the scene:
The carriage encountered a violent collision;
Two law enforcement officers died in the line of duty;
The groom disappeared;
The girl Daisy is missing;
...
In addition to the above obvious clues, the law enforcement officer also found the tragically dead horse dozens of meters away.
The horses were disemboweled and most of their internal organs were mutilated.
According to the speculations of the law enforcement officials, the murderer did not leave the scene immediately. Instead, he found the frightened horse and killed it. The purpose should be to use the smell of blood on the horse’s organs to attract people. A nearby coyote came and ate the corpse of the law enforcement officer at the scene.
It seems that this is the only explanation that makes sense.
In just one night, the coyotes can eat all the corpses at the crime scene, and most of the clues and evidence that can be used will be destroyed.
It's just that what the murderer didn't expect was that the law enforcement officers could find the crime scene so quickly.
……
“The biggest suspect is the missing groom.”
Then the next thing to do is very simple. Since the murderer went to great lengths to disembowel the horse, the smell of bloody organs on his body cannot be washed away for a while.
Nero waved his hand:
“Using these organs as a guide, mobilize all the hounds in the city to find him. I must find him before dawn.”
On the side, Dillashaw stood waiting obediently and had no objection to this decision.
The law enforcement officers at the scene mounted their horses and took action quickly.
Church personnel began to deal with the remains of the two law enforcement officers at the scene.
They placed candles around the wreckage of the carriage, bowed their hands and recited eulogies silently.
......
Here, the female law enforcement officer pulled Milo's arm:
"What are you doing? If you don't want to die, just follow me. Let's go back and bring a hound." Come out and find someone.”
However, Milo's feet seemed to be rooted in the ground and could not be pulled at all.
He frowned, recalling the scenes he had seen in his dream over and over again, muttering:
"No, no, the murderer is definitely not that stupid. He was covered in blood. I'll check it out for you..."
"What are you crazy about? Don't forget that you still have the lock on your hand." The female law enforcement officer picked up Milo's collar.
Milo pushed her hand away. At this time, some fragmentary pictures kept flashing back in his mind. He was very sure that he had captured some important information in his dream.
But just like everyone, after waking up from a dream, one will always forget part or even all of the content of the dream the next day.
At this time, Milo was trying very hard to get back the part of the picture that he had missed.
——From a dim perspective, when a tall shadow in black kidnapped Daisy from the wreckage of the carriage, Milo saw three curved arcs on his back. Triangular pattern superimposed.
His eyes lit up instantly.
“Damn, it turns out to be this…how could it be this?”
The triangular pattern printed on the black cloth was all too familiar to him.
To be precise, no resident of Nanwei City will forget that pattern.
That was something that only appeared during the great plague that swept half the country five years ago.
At that time, this pattern would be painted on all infected houses, wells, and clothes of the dead. This was a mark that was once called the totem of death.
After the great plague ended, Milo had not seen this pattern for 5 consecutive years.
The last time I saw it was on the day when the corpses of patients were burned in Nanwei City. All those who died from the epidemic would be wrapped in black cloth, and such a pattern would be printed on the shroud of each corpse.
......
"Shroud...wait for me."
Milo pushed away the female law enforcement officer's hand and walked straight to the wreckage of the carriage. He muttered in his mouth:
“If I remember correctly, I must have left something behind.”
At this time, the church personnel surrounding the law enforcement officer's body on the other side were silently reciting some sentences that Milo could not understand at all:
"We were born of the blood of the old gods...we became of the blood of the old gods...and died. In the blood of the old gods..."
Milo ignored these guys who talked all day long and started rummaging through the wreckage of the carriage.
His actions instantly attracted the attention of the people around him.
A law enforcement officer immediately scolded him:
"Hey! What are you doing?! Stop!!"
"Who are you!?"
......
At this time, Nero stood in the distance The inspector and the church's Dillashaw finally noticed the city guard mixed in the crowd.
Logically speaking, the prison guards at the bottom of the law enforcement system are not qualified to appear at such an important crime scene, but after all, everyone’s attention was previously focused on the crime scene, that is, No one looked at Milo twice.
However, he now boldly approached the wreckage of the carriage, which naturally attracted everyone's attention.
Dillashaw looked at Milo who was rummaging in the carriage with interest. After seeing the guard uniform on Milo, he said to Inspector Nero in a teasing tone:
"If there is a shortage of people in law enforcement, you can apply to the church to mobilize some people for assistance. Why do you let those guards who know nothing to join in the fun."
Nero hated the people in the church who hated him the most in his life. Feeling strange, his blood pressure soared instantly. When he saw the female law enforcement officer standing behind Milo, he immediately yelled at her from a distance:
"Rebecca, why do you come to everyone here?" Bring that guy out!”
"Yes!"
The female law enforcement officer did not dare to neglect. She stepped forward in three steps at a time, picked up Milo and dragged him out.
A strong young man like Milo couldn't stand up to the woman's brute strength, and was dragged out by her.
…
…
"If you insist on seeking death, I can do it for you now, without waiting for the execution lock to be triggered!"
The female law enforcement officer took Milo's arm to the outside, and gave him a solid pass on her own. Shoulder fall.
Milo was beaten to a pulp.
He maintained his position of lying on the ground, but he was clutching a black rag in his hand:
"It's okay, it's okay, I've found it, I knew there must be something left. I obviously heard the sound of the fabric being torn apart.”
These two sentences stunned the female law enforcement officer:
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Milo stood up on his own and patted the mud on his body. , then shook a small piece of black rag in his hand:
"I just said that I can't expect you law enforcement officers to clear me of suspicion. You are all idiots. The smell of blood from the horses is obviously used to distract me. The guise of attention."
"?" The other party still had a question mark on his forehead.
Milo grinned:
“I won’t bother you about the over-the-shoulder fall. Now go back and find a hound with a good nose and follow the scent of this thing, Rebecca. Officer.”
(End of this chapter)