Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 58 A Deadly Situation for Six
The blood was dark red, and all three heads had wide-open cat eyes, looking extremely terrified, as if they had seen something incredible before they died.

There was only a head on the bronze cauldron; no body was visible. This was not a murder scene.

"The blood has already congealed, the head has an unusual odor, and the person has been dead for some time. The lips are bluish-purple, and there are traces of blood in the seven orifices, indicating that the person was likely poisoned before death."

"The wounds show no signs of healing. The person was killed first, then their head was cut off and brought here."

Liu Huang stepped forward, circled the head, then picked up a piece of the head as if no one else was there, and examined the wound closely.

Zhou Zhao agreed with Liu Huang's assessment. She nodded and continued:

"The murderer should be the same person. The cutting methods are consistent. The three people have similar faces, so they should be blood relatives. If they are the owners of this place, judging from the situation, their whole family has probably been wiped out."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he turned around and looked at Xu Qifang, who was the last to enter.

Her scorpion whip hung down in front of her chest, the long, green whip already in her hand. She stared at the head in Liu Huang's hand, frowned, and said, "Continue the mission. Everyone, be on your guard. Since the blood has dried, the murderer has most likely already left."

"Don't forget, we're not here to kill anyone, we're here to retrieve something. As long as the item is still there, having someone else do the work for us will actually save us trouble."

As Xu Qifang spoke, she glanced at the scholar who had fallen to the ground with disgust, "What's wrong with you? Haven't you ever killed anyone? Why are you afraid of corpses?"

The scholar didn't look at her, but stared intently at Liu Huang, who was holding up the head and observing it closely. The pale face looked like a corpse that had been dead for several days. The head itself wasn't scary, but the living person holding the corpse like a beautiful woman was terrifying.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao raised an eyebrow but did not object to Xu Qifang's order. Although the others had different expressions, they remained silent, just like Zhou Zhao.

Seeing that the scholar was still not moving, the tiger-toothed boy stuck out his tongue, stepped forward, helped him up, and patted his arm reassuringly.

"Let's move forward. Everyone, watch my footsteps and try not to trigger any traps."

As Xu Qifang spoke, she lightly leaped forward and sped off.

She was like a nimble cat, hopping left and right with extremely complex steps.

Zhou Zhao waved to Liu Huang, signaling him to go first, and followed behind. Liu Huang, with his light-footed skills, followed unsteadily, as if he were drunk.

The stench of blood grew stronger and stronger, so intense that Zhou Zhao felt as if he were being immersed in a pool of blood. Despite it being the summer month of July, the mansion sent chills down his spine.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhao turned her head sharply and looked westward. At the end of the corridor, there was another bronze cauldron with three heads neatly arranged on it. Because the heads were facing away from the cauldron, she could only see the heads of the deceased, whose black hair blended almost into the night.

Zhou Zhao pursed her lips and stopped walking.

A series of exclamations came from behind her. She slowly withdrew her gaze and looked ahead. On the open training ground, there were twelve headless corpses. Their hands and feet were twisted into strange positions and laid out like pickled vegetables in a winnowing basket ready to be dried.

A strong smell of blood mixed with the stench of corpses hit the face, making one want to vomit.

"This...this murderer is far too cruel, it really is a family annihilation tragedy..."

The boy with tiger teeth couldn't bear it and turned his head away, looking around the training ground.

On the north and south sides of this training ground, there are three large stone pillars on each side. He remembered what Xu Qifang had said in the underground cave, and his attention was immediately diverted. "Sister Xu, the six mechanisms you mentioned that need to be triggered at the same time, could they be these six large pillars?"

"That's right. Everyone, choose one pillar. There will be a pattern on that pillar that doesn't match the rest of the pattern. You can see it if you look closely. Once you find it, tell me, and then we'll all press the button together when you see my hand gesture. I'm going to the center of the training ground!"

As Xu Qifang spoke, she leaped into the air, landing gracefully in the center of the training ground like a crane spreading its wings. Zhou Zhao gave Liu Huang a look, and the two chose two stone pillars on the left side of the south side. Seeing this, the tiger-toothed boy cleverly snatched the pillar on Zhou Zhao's right.

He pulled a tinderbox from his pocket, blew on it to make it brighter, and shone it on the large stone pillar. He exclaimed in surprise, "I found it! There's a patch about the size of a palm, but the pattern on it is different from the surrounding area, as if it had been cut off!"

As he spoke, he turned to Zhou Zhao with a grin and asked, "Do you want to borrow my tinderbox?"

Zhou Zhao shook his head. "No need, I've already found it."

Before long, the others were found as well. The scholar, having recovered his senses, couldn't help but say, "This task is so easy. We've done almost nothing. Do we still have a chance to enter the Inner Seven Halls?"

Before anyone could answer, Xu Qifang's voice rang out again, "I'll count to three, and then we'll all raise our hands and press the button together. Be careful, I've led you all to avoid the mechanisms ahead, but I don't know what dangers await us after pressing this one."

"one two Three!"

With a cracking sound, everyone stared intently at the center of the training ground. At Xu Qifang's feet, a seventh stone pillar had risen up at some unknown time.

"It's done..." The Confucian scholar standing on the stone pillar opposite Zhou Zhao shouted joyfully. Before he could utter his third word, he let out a sharp scream. Everyone looked in that direction and their pupils shrank sharply.

Suddenly, the scholar's hand, which was pressing against the stone wall, burst into flames, and his entire body was engulfed in flames.

Immediately afterwards, screams rose and fell. The girl in red to his left was pierced through by a sharp iron spike that protruded from the ground, while the man to his right had turned green all over and was bleeding from all seven orifices, clearly having died from the poison.

The boy with tiger teeth was strangled by a rope and hung from the stone pillar. His legs were struggling desperately, and his face had turned blue and purple. Zhou Zhao flicked his wrist, and two coffin nails were instantly released, flying in different directions.

The central stone pillar on the north side collapsed with a deafening roar, crashing heavily onto Liu Huang. His bamboo hat fell to the ground, revealing a face even paler than a dead man. The weight of the pillar bent his back, and although Liu Huang braced himself with his arms, his body sank lower and lower, clearly about to be crushed into a bloody pulp.

Xu Qifang put her hands behind her back and finally looked at the stone pillar where Zhou Zhao was standing. A huge pit had appeared where she had stood before.

Clearly, Zhou Zhao had already fallen in and was riddled with thorns. Xu Qifang watched this and slightly curled the corners of her mouth.

"Oh! You just tell me to press it like that? Wouldn't I lose face?"

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he looked at Liu Huang with dissatisfaction, "Huang! Didn't I tell you not to press it?"

Liu Huang's voice was muffled, "I was trying to see where the fatal wound was on the corpse on the ground, and I was so engrossed that I accidentally touched it!"

Xu Qifang's expression changed drastically. She felt a chill emanating from Zhou Zhao behind her, and she shuddered instantly, her scalp tingling. She tried to turn around, but felt a tightness around her neck as Zhou Zhao's hand wrapped around her from behind, and a green dagger was pressed against her throat.

Zhou Zhao's martial arts skills were far stronger than she had expected!

"Your brother is about to be smashed into a pulp! Let me go! I know how to break the trap and save him!"

Upon hearing her words, the tiger-toothed boy, whose eyes had already started rolling back, began to struggle even more!

"Um..."

Zhou Zhao clicked his tongue twice and said helplessly, "Ah Huang, don't try it! That kid over there is about to be hanged!"

Liu Huang said "Oh," and instantly stood up straight. His previous almost helpless appearance vanished in an instant. He reached out and gently pushed, as if he were pushing a bamboo strip, the large stone pillar that was originally leaning towards him was pushed towards the tiger-toothed boy next to him.