On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the tenth year of the Apocalypse in the Qing Dynasty, the moon was as full as a bucket, the grass was luxuriant on both sides of the Spring River, and the white mist on the river was getting thicker, and a vast symbol of life and death floated between heaven and earth.

At the gate of Jinyue City in the middle reaches of the Spring River, four giant torches suddenly lit up, and the red light glowed together, reflecting the square wooden platform under the torches.

Under the wooden platform, stood all kinds of people, old and young, men and women, celebrities, country squires, traders and commoners, all looking excited.

A young man wearing a ghost mask stood outside the crowd, stretched out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips, narrowed his eyes and said, "It's about to begin!"

Standing next to the man with a grimace mask, a slovenly middle-aged man in blue coarse linen clothes picked his nose with his little finger and pursed his lips and said, "There's nothing to see, it's the same every year, just like you do it every year, and the result is

But they are mostly the same, and there won’t be any novel changes in the next life.”

"Perhaps this year will be different..." The boy in the ghost mask suddenly had a cold look in his eyes, "Old Qu, have you ever thought that this life will be the next life you said?"

Lao Qu scratched his greasy hair and still couldn't figure out what he said, "Shen Xiaojia, don't keep saying these strange things, or you will be burned as a monster. Last time you said that the earth is a ball and the moon is also a ball.

The ball has spread among the people of Yuecheng, and they all say that you are a demon."

"It is true that the truth is always in the hands of a few people."

"Xiao Jia, how did you know that? Why do you think you are right?"

"I just know it. I've known it since I came into this world."

"Knowing things from birth can really lead to trouble." Lao Qu's eyes dimmed for a moment, "Don't let people know that you know a lot in the future, it's not safe."

"I'm not born knowing..." Shen Xiaojia sighed, "Forget it, maybe tonight I can go back to the place that really belongs to me." He turned to look at the wooden platform, "This may be the last show I watch here.

Lunar Festival.”

"You said the same thing ten years ago. Just like this Moon God Festival, the result is nothing new..." Lao Qu curled his lips with some lack of interest, turned around and walked towards the Moon City Gate, "I'm going back first.

Zuiyue Tower cannot be without a waiter."

Shen Xiaojia glanced at Lao Qu's back, continued to look at the wooden platform, and muttered, "Sing! Jump! Let me wear it back and kill that bastard!"

On the wooden platform, the red firelight reflected a dozen strong men, all wearing black feather armor and wearing black fang Yaksha masks. Their long hair hung loosely on their shoulders, their heads lowered and their eyes closed, standing barefoot.

In the center, a man in black feather armor wearing a blood-red Yaksha mask and holding a white wooden staff suddenly raised his head, his eyes were cold and piercing with frost, he raised the white wooden staff in his hand, and hammered the ground with all his strength.

Boom! Almost at the same moment, a bare-chested and strong man wearing a green Yaksha mask behind the wooden platform swung a thick wooden mallet and smashed it on the one-foot-two-foot-tall drum.

The blood-red Yaksha shouted, "The wind is blowing!"

The black-fanged Yaksha on the wooden platform suddenly raised his head, opened his eyes, and shouted in unison, "Woohoo!"

Then all the yakshas danced in the firelight, with neat but strange steps.

When the dance was about to end, the blood-red Yaksha waved the white wooden stick in his hand and shouted, "The fog has cleared!"

The black-fanged Yashas dispersed in a circle in an orderly manner, half an arm's length apart from each other, and shouted in unison, "Woohoo!"

The blood-red Yaksha at the center of the circle knelt down with a sudden plop, and seemed to shout out two words with all his strength, "Moonrise!"

The black fanged Yashas who formed a circle also bowed to the ground, their bodies trembling slightly, and they kept growling, "Woo!"

The fire around the wooden platform suddenly became a little brighter. Four naked-chested strong men wearing green Yaksha masks held up a woman wearing a white thin shirt and holding a piece of cotton in her mouth. She walked onto the wooden platform and stood on the wooden platform.

Stand under the giant flower stand in the front.

The blood-red Yaksha jumped up from the ground, danced, suddenly opened his arms, looked up at the moon, and roared, "Sacrifice!"

At this time, all the black-fanged Yaksha stood up straight, raised their heads and stared at the full moon, shouting, "Sacrifice!"

The four cyan yaksha placed the woman in a thin white shirt on the flower stand. They did not care about the woman in a thin white shirt and cried out, and tied her up with thumb-thick straw ropes one after another.

A gust of wind blew up, and the green Yaksha on the far right suddenly stepped on a stone that appeared under his feet at an unknown moment, staggered his feet, tilted his body, and loosened the untied straw rope in his hand.

The woman in the white thin shirt looked happy, and she quickly untied the straw rope on her body with her left hand that could still be used flexibly, pulled off the cotton cloth in her mouth, and fled in a hurry towards the wooden platform.

At this moment, a dazzling white light suddenly appeared on the wooden platform, like a thunderbolt falling from the sky. People dared not look directly at it, so they had to reach out to block it.

After the white light dissipated, everyone slowly put down their hands covering their eyes and looked at each other.

An exclamation suddenly erupted in the center of the wooden platform, "The spirit has appeared! The moon god has appeared!"

Everyone looked towards the source of the exclamation, and saw the blood-red Yaksha standing in front of the flower stand holding a white wooden staff, staring at the woman in a white thin shirt who had been tied up again on the flower stand, with a look of excitement and excitement on his face.

Pious.

Under the wooden platform, someone suddenly pointed at the woman in a white thin shirt and shouted, "He's dead! The Moon God is angry!"

Only then did the others notice the appearance of the woman in the white thin shirt, and they all trembled. On the flower stand, the woman in the white thin shirt was pale, with a particularly conspicuous red moon pattern on her forehead, her red lips were slightly open, and her eyes were dull.

There is no life left at all.

The scene suddenly became chaotic, and the onlookers in the audience fled in all directions, while all the Yakshas on the stage were stunned and at a loss.

A middle-aged man with a mustache, wearing vermilion with the word "capture" written on a white background in black on his chest, jumped onto the wooden platform, raised the saber on his waist, and said loudly to all the people wearing Yaksha masks on the stage, "

Silence! What was a fake show has now become real. Don’t mess around. Once a murder case occurs, this is no longer a simple Moon God Festival. Everyone must be questioned by the government and cooperate with the Yamen to find out the real murderer.

"If there is anyone who disobeys..." He suddenly pulled out the sword from his waist and raised it high in the air, "Don't blame me for being ruthless with the sword in my hand!"

The people wearing black fanged Yaksha masks on the wooden platform immediately fell silent. Only the blood-red Yaksha walked forward slowly, took off the mask, revealing the face of a gray-haired old man, bowed to the mustached policeman and said

, "I would like to inform you, Mr. Head Catcher, that this matter has nothing to do with us. It is the appearance of the moon god and the punishment..."

"Shut up!" The middle-aged man with a mustache took back the long knife in his hand and frowned, "Don't confuse the public with your lies. The truth will be determined by the Yamen after investigation."

At this time, several more men in police uniforms climbed onto the wooden platform and stood beside the middle-aged man with a mustache, looking stern.

The middle-aged man with a mustache walked to the flower stand, touched his chin, looked left and right, pointed at the police officers behind him a few times, and pretended to be calm, saying, "Go and call the widower!"

"Reporting to Capt. Jiang, you may not know something because you just took office today..." A young captivity bowed his hands and said, "I resigned three days ago and went back to my hometown to plant sweet potatoes. I'm afraid I won't be able to come."

Mr. Jiang was startled for a moment, then coughed slightly, "Do any of you know how to do autopsies? Pick one of you at random and examine the body first."

"Report to Jiang Capt..." The young police officer who responded just now was the same, but this time his tone was a bit weak, "None of us know how to examine corpses, but there is indeed one of the Yamen police officers who is proficient in this."

, it was he who made a bet with Wu Zuo, which resulted in Wu Zuo losing face and having to resign and go home."

"Oh?" Jiang Captou exclaimed, "Who is this person and where is he now?"

"This person's surname is Shen and his given name is Xiaojia. He is now..."

"Where?"

"Here!" Under the wooden platform, a man wearing a ghost mask and a police officer's uniform raised his right hand and took off the mask on his face, revealing the appearance of a handsome young man with sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, which was even more different from ordinary people.

The only difference is that he has short hair, half black and half white.

Eyes facing each other.

Jiang Captou stared at the young man with strange eyes and said, "Are you Shen Xiaojia? Are you really that young?"

"If it's true, there are small benefits! I'd like to meet Mr. Jiang..." Shen Xiaojia pushed aside the crowd and came to the wooden platform. He jumped up, but accidentally tripped his right foot with his left foot and fell immediately.

When a dog gnaws feces, it can also be considered as falling to the ground.

"You're welcome, you don't need to give me such a big gift when we meet for the first time!" Captain Jiang stepped forward and pulled Shen Xiaojia up, pretending to be familiar with him, and said with a smile, "I heard you can do autopsies?"

Shen Xiaojia patted the dust on his body, pursed his lips, and smiled shyly, "I know a little bit about it."

"The fur is enough! It's not convenient to go deep here to perform it on the spot..." Jiang Captou took Shen Xiaojia's arm and came to the flower stand. He pointed at the woman in a white thin shirt on the flower stand and said, "Come! Take a look at her first.

fur!"

Shen Xiaojia patted the back of Capt. Jiang's hand and pretended to be mature, "Don't be nervous, neither I nor this corpse will run away... It's not that you did a bad job guarding this place tonight, it's just bad luck. Even if

The Yamen master won't blame you if he finds out, so just relax."

Capt. Jiang forced out a moved expression, "Finally someone understands me. It's not worth my painstaking one-night patrol. Otherwise, we are one of our own..." With a sound, he pulled out half of his saber, with a cold light shining, "But

If you can't examine this body, or if you don't know how to pretend to understand and talk nonsense, even if we are our own people, the knife in my hand will not be polite, business is business! Do you understand?"

Shen Xiaojia nodded repeatedly, "Understand, understand... the three things a new official needs to do when he takes office! Look at it, I won't give you a chance to get angry!" He stretched and took off a pair of white silk gloves from his waist.

Putting it on, he said with great energy, "Where is the book office?"

A young policeman with a pockmarked face stepped forward, took out a pen and a notebook from his arms, and said with a smile, "Xiao Jia, I will serve as the clerk today. It is ready and can start at any time."

On the side, Capt. Jiang pointed at the silk gloves on Shen Xiaojia's hand and suddenly interjected, "What is this?"

"Silk gloves," Shen Xiaojia turned over his hands and explained, "put on the gloves, they are clean and hygienic."

Jiang Captou gave a thumbs up and praised, "Professional!"

Detective Shen Xiaojia and the pockmarked young man looked at each other, took a deep breath and said, "At 3:00, the first autopsy begins!"

The pock-marked young detective quickly opened a small book, wrote and drew, and his pen was full of wind.

"The location is a sacrificial wooden platform in the middle reaches of the Spring River. The deceased was worshiped as a sacrifice to the moon girl. He was four feet eight inches tall and weighed about forty-five kilograms. All limbs were intact."

"There are no injuries on the head and neck, the tongue coating is normal, and the whites of the eyes are congested."

"There are marks of binding on the hands and feet," Shen Xiaojia raised the left hand of the body and looked up and down, frowned and said, "Nine shallow... one deep? This is how you often play with binding!"

Captain Jiang touched his chin, tilted his head and looked at the body, then looked at Shen Xiaojia, blinked and said, "Brother is very experienced. I wonder if the cause of death has been found?"

"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious! Shhh..." Shen Xiaojia put his index finger in front of his lips, "Don't disturb my communication with this girl. Your voice is so loud that it scares her into speechlessness."

Jiang Baotou pursed his lips, glanced at Shen Xiaojia meaningfully, and touched the handle of his sword.

Shen Xiaojia cleared his throat, pressed the chest and abdomen of the corpse, and continued, "The ribs are not broken and the abdomen is not bulging. For the time being, it can be ruled out that death caused by internal bleeding caused by serious injuries. The specific situation will not be known until we return to the Yamen to dissect the corpse."

"The lower leg of the left leg is fractured and the phalanges of the right foot are broken."

"There are no traces of pinholes on the body's surface, and there are no obvious bleeding wounds."

Shen Yixia pouted, took a step back, took off the silk gloves, put them back on his waist, clapped his hands, turned to Detective Mazi and said, "Is the record complete?"

The pock-marked young man quickly responded, "I haven't missed anything at all."

Jiang Captou walked to Shen Xiaojia's side, pulled out half of his saber, and said sideways, "So what is the real cause of death? Who is the murderer?"

"Sir," Shen Xiaojia's face twitched, "You don't know something. This autopsy is not just about looking at the surface. After the autopsy, it has to be examined inside and out. It also needs to do a series of pharmacological tests and investigate the past medical history. Only then can we know why the deceased died."

"Is it so troublesome?" Captain Jiang took back his saber, "Then let's go back to the Yamen first, and let's stay up late and fight at night!"

Shen Xiaojia lowered his head and rubbed the corner of his clothes, and said shyly, "Sir, let's talk about it after tonight. I still have some personal matters to take care of..."

Captain Jiang once again drew out a third of his saber, and said with a serious face, "No! What private matter is more important than a murder case? Don't make me go crazy!"

Shen Xiaojia put on a sad look, sniffed and said, "Reporting to your lord, the private matters I deal with are also matters of life and death." He pointed to the several police officers behind him, "If you don't believe it, you can ask them if they are."

Jiang Captou looked sideways at the several agents, then pulled out a third of the blade, and said in a cold voice, "Just say whatever you have to say, and don't join forces to deceive me, otherwise... hmph!"

Detective Mazi swallowed his saliva and answered first, "Sir, this is absolutely true. Xiao Jia will have a life-and-death crisis every year. No one in Yuecheng knows about this, and there is absolutely no lie!"

Jiang Captou glanced at Shen Xiaojia's hair as if he understood, took back his saber, and said lightly, "So that's it, we are all children of Jianghu... Actually, I also know a little bit about it. I can communicate with you in the future, and it will definitely make you happy. You benefited a lot.”

Shen Xiaojia and the other agents all looked at Captain Jiang with strange expressions on their faces, not knowing how to answer the question.

Captain Jiang waved his hand, "Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and take the body back to the Yamen," pointing to Yasha who was huddled on the stage, "And... put them in jail for the time being, the murderer must be among them.

Everyone is suspected, and no one can be let off easily!"

Several detectives agreed in unison and dispersed to get busy.

Shen Xiaojia saluted Jiang Baotou with his fists raised, said "See you tomorrow", turned around and left quickly with an anxious look on his face.

Jiang Captou looked at Shen Xiaojia's leaving figure and said with emotion, "Don't be afraid in the face of danger, a tiger is strong, a hero emerges from a young boy! It's just like when I was young..." He turned around to urge the other agents, and looked at all the Yashas coldly, "

Hurry up, hurry up, don't think about sneaking away halfway, my sword is already thirsty and hungry!"

After a while, Capt. Jiang and several agents escorted the Yakshas away. The middle reaches of the Spring River returned to its former tranquility, except for the rustling sound of the giant torches surrounding the wooden platform.

Suddenly, a white figure emerged from under the wooden platform. He glanced back at the wooden platform, quickly came under a giant torch, grabbed a handful of black ash from the ground and smeared it on his face, then hurried towards the river with frightened eyes.
Chapter completed!