A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 144 The Truth Revealed to the World (30)

At this moment.

Ningyuan General's Mansion.

The house where Liu Changqing lived was not just a bedroom, but a whole house with bedrooms, study, side hall and flower hall connected by a corridor!
Strangely, after the fire started in the bedroom, the constables reacted quickly and brought the fire under control, preventing it from spreading to other places. They poured buckets of water on it, and it was certain that the fire would be completely extinguished within half an hour!
Unexpectedly, with a loud "boom," not only did the bedroom collapse, but the study, side hall, and flower hall also collapsed into ruins!
No one could understand why a house that had never caught fire would collapse.

Even if a bedroom catches fire, at most the doors, windows and furnishings inside will be burned, but the main structure and load-bearing beams of the house should not collapse!

But right now, no one has time to think. Before the fire, Constable Liu, the Imperial Physician, Mu Qingcheng, Liu Changqing, and Madam Liu were all in the bedroom. After the fire started, only Constable Liu and the Imperial Physician escaped. The other three disappeared without a trace!

Constable Liu was seriously injured, with blood all over the back of his head. The judge was uninjured, but he was knocked unconscious by the thick smoke. After dragging the judge out, Constable Liu collapsed from exhaustion.

Therefore, no one knew what had happened inside the house; all they knew was that Mu Qingcheng and Liu Changqing had disappeared!

After the house collapsed, they put out the fire as quickly as possible, but after searching the ruins, they could not find any trace of the three people!
"What happened? The person was clearly inside, how could they have burned to death?"

"Could it be that it's already been burned... burned to ashes?"

"Shut up!"

Hearing the constables' discussion, Jiang Zhan, his eyes red, hissed and shouted angrily, "How could they have been burned to ashes? It only burned for a short while, and we didn't find any tung oil or other accelerants. With this kind of fire, how could it have burned all three of them to ashes? Even if they were burned to ashes, there would still be traces of corpse oil left at the scene. Did any of you see that?"

The constables fell silent in fear.

Nobody wanted anything to happen to Mu Qingcheng, but what happened today was just too bizarre!

Jiang Zhan calmed himself down, glanced at the area that hadn't caught fire but had collapsed into ruins, and ordered, "Perhaps Coroner Mu escaped from another building. Everyone, expand the search area and clear away all the collapsed structures!"

"Yes!"

The constables immediately got to work, and all the servants and young men from the General's Mansion were also brought over. Hearing that the master and mistress might be trapped under the rubble, the maids and servants also came spontaneously. Those who had tools used them, and those who didn't cleared the obstruction by hand.

Jiang Zhan carried Constable Liu and the court judge to a safe area and sent a constable on horseback to fetch the doctor from Chunhui Hall.

……

Upon hearing Constable Luo say that Liu Changqing and his wife had gotten into trouble with Mu Qingcheng, Liu Pei insisted on going to the Liu family to rescue his mother. Song Shuyu initially refused, but then thought that the fire and the collapse of the house were too fast apart, which was obviously suspicious. Moreover, Liu Changqing was skilled in mechanical arts, so it was possible that Mu Qingcheng had been trapped in a mechanism by Liu Changqing!
If Liu Pei can save Madam Liu, then Mu Qingcheng will naturally be saved as well!

Therefore, he decisively ordered, "I will take the criminal Liu Pei to the Liu family to rescue the people! The other officials, stay at the Jingzhao Prefecture and wait for my return before continuing the trial!"

"Please grant me permission to go with you, Lord Song!" Lu Xun said earnestly, bowing with his hands clasped.

Song Shuyu didn't think much of it and refused directly, "No need, I have enough manpower!"

He wasn't sure if the Empress Dowager was behind this accident. Lu Xun had just entered the court, and he couldn't let Lu Xun be put in danger as well!
However, Lu Xun insisted, "I must go! If Brother Song doesn't allow it, I will go myself!"

Song Shuyu was taken aback. Lu Xun's unusual behavior puzzled him greatly, but he didn't have time to ask any more questions. He could only nod and agree, "Okay, let's go together!" As he spoke, the constables outside had already prepared the carriage. Song Shuyu and Lu Xun personally escorted Liu Pei onto the carriage, and they sped off towards the Ningyuan General's Mansion!

……

The scene of hundreds of people clearing the obstacles was both spectacular and heroic.

Jiang Zhan and the others worked tirelessly while calling out, "Coroner Mu! Coroner Mu, where are you? Can you hear me?"

"Coroner Mu!"

"Coroner Mu, if you can hear me, say something!"

When Song Shuyu arrived, this was the scene that greeted him!
He clenched his fists tightly, using the pain to stay awake and rational. At this moment, tears were the most useless thing. No matter how anxious or heartbroken he was, he had to hold on!

"grown ups!"

Jiang Zhan rushed over, his eyes filled with tears. "It's my fault for failing to protect Coroner Mu and betraying your trust, sir! I deserve to die!"

Song Shuyu gritted his teeth and cursed, "I don't have time to chop off your head right now. Tell me quickly, what's the situation with Coroner Mu? Have Liu Changqing and his wife been found?"

Jiang Zhan shook his head, "The three of them are nowhere to be found! Sir, you see, originally only the bedroom caught fire, but several connected rooms have all collapsed! After we put out the fire, we didn't find the three of them. I suspect that Coroner Mu may have escaped from a room that wasn't on fire, so he wanted to..."

"There's an escape route under the bedroom!" Liu Pei interjected, quickly scanning the scene as he analyzed, "However, my father wouldn't escape with Counselor Mu; he would only perish together with him! That's why he activated the mechanism, blowing up all the houses!"

The faces of Song Shuyu and Lu Xun instantly turned pale, and they asked almost in unison, "Is there any hope?"

Liu Pei clenched his fist, his eyes blazing with intense hatred. "I won't stop him from dying, but he shouldn't have dragged my mother into this!"

"How exactly should we save them? Where are they? Tell me quickly!" Song Shuyu couldn't wait any longer; the veins on her forehead were about to burst.

Liu Pei took a deep breath and said, "The entire underground area is full of escape routes. Right now, who knows where they are? The only thing we can do is increase manpower and start digging quickly!"

Lu Xun was furious. "How long will it take to dig? Can they wait? Do we have any escape route plans? Let's analyze the most likely hiding places based on the plans!"

Liu Pei said, "The blueprints should be in the study, but they're all destroyed now." He paused, then added, "However, I remember the general outline; I'll try to see if I can recreate them!"

Jiang Zhan immediately sent someone to find paper and pen.

Soon, a maid brought over the writing implements, and Liu Pei, relying on his memory, drew the exact locations of the escape routes under each room.

Looking at the load-bearing walls and triangular areas marked on the map, Song Shuyu was suddenly flooded with memories from his youth. He excitedly said, "Jiang Zhan, gather everyone and dig these triangular areas. Once you reach the soil, don't use any more tools to avoid injuring anyone!"

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(End of this chapter)