Help! I just woke up and was stabbed by a big kid

This face was covered with swollen, raised, and unhealed scars, and its appearance was almost completely destroyed. The eyes were tightly closed and did not react at all even when stimulated by light.

There is a healed knotty scar on the neck.

Although he was unwilling to admit it emotionally, Qin Zhaoyue could still see the shadow of Lu Tianyun in the ruined face.

"...Lu Tianyun!" Qin Zhaoyue's voice was hoarse.

Zhong Hao and his men also went down to the underground cell. He hurried to Qin Zhaoyue's side, looked at the person lying next to him, and took a breath.

There's no other reason, it's just that the scene is so miserable that it's hard to look at.

……

Soldiers were coming in and out, and the entire underground cell was as bright as day. Yu Hu and Lu Tianyun had been picked up by the palace soldiers who had arrived. This team was Qin Zhaoyue's trusted confidants and would not be used easily.

"He is General Lu's son, Lu Tianyun?" Zhong Hao asked in surprise, "Didn't Young Master Lu Tianyun die?"

"I was assassinated that night, and I vaguely saw them both being killed by having their throats cut. But when I went back to collect the bodies, I found nothing." Qin Zhaoyue looked solemn, with anger between his brows. "It was dim at night, so I might not have seen clearly."

"Your Highness, this is a good thing." Zhong Hao comforted: "If people are alive, there will be more clues."

"It's just that the guard committed suicide by taking poison." Jingcun laid the guard's body flat on the ground. "If he were still alive, I think we could have some clues."

"Yu Hu seems to be conscious. Seeing my intense reaction, he must know something." Qin Zhaoyue clenched his fists. "Wait until he gets better, then ask him what he has discovered."

"It's good to be alive." Jingcun rarely said a word of comfort.

Qin Zhaoyue searched the dungeon carefully but found no clues.

There were some scattered pieces of paper in the corner. Qin Zhaoyue wrapped them in a handkerchief and put them in his arms.

There were black bloodstains on the torture instruments. I wonder if there were other people imprisoned in this dungeon.

After searching the outer hall, Qin Zhaoyue came to the door of the third cell at the innermost part.

The room was empty, but the black bloodstains and some hair and dirt on the floor proved that there had been someone here.

Transferring Yu Lu and the other two to different cells was an unnecessary move, so Qin Zhaoyue did not consider it.

Maybe Yu Hu will provide some clues after he wakes up.

After a thorough search, Qin Zhaoyue led his men back to the ground. At this time, all the residents of Yangshu Town had been gathered together, standing anxiously on the street, waiting to be questioned.

Zhong Hao saw Qin Zhaoyue arrive and immediately began to ask: "Fellow villagers, if you have any clues about this house and this piece of land, please speak freely. If it is confirmed to be useful, the government will give a reward of 100 taels of silver!"

"One hundred taels..."

"So many! Think about it..."

A dozen people in total immediately whispered to each other. After a while, a middle-aged woman said, "Sir, I have seen someone in this room..."

"Who is he and what are his characteristics?" Zhong Hao asked immediately.

"It's a stranger face, but I remember it clearly. He was a young man wearing black clothes, wandering around the house about a month ago." said the old lady.

Zhong Hao couldn't be sure whether the information was true or not, so he just wrote it down.

An elderly man also chimed in: "The house was built when my father was still alive. It was abandoned five or six years ago. People had always lived there before."

"Who lives here?" Zhong Hao asked.

"Well...that family is very strange. They never talk to people in our town, so no one knows them and we rarely see them out," the old man recalled.

His wife suddenly realized: "Oh, now I remember it now. It seems that the family has several brothers and a girl."

"Girl?" Zhong Hao wrote down the information and frowned.

"Why haven't I seen that girl?" some townspeople questioned.

"That girl was dressed differently from other girls, like a man," the old man said. "I thought she was a little boy. But she didn't say a word, and I couldn't even see her face clearly."

"Any clues in recent days?" Zhong Hao asked again.

The townspeople whispered for a while, and the old man in the front, who seemed to be the head of the village, said, "Some time ago, the kid from the Liu family said that he saw people walking around this broken house, and he was worried that it was a thief, so he came to me to tell me about it. But soon the ghost story came out, and no one wanted to go and see..."

The old man coughed for a while and said, "No one in the town reported that anything was missing from their home, so I put it aside."

"Where is the Liu family kid?" Zhong Hao asked, "Can you tell me in detail?"

A six or seven-year-old child ran up excitedly: "I, I found it!"

The child said excitedly, "I was playing hide-and-seek with Dafei and a few others nearby... Then we saw someone sneaking into the shabby house carrying something. We went over to see, but the person was gone again!"

He already knew that there was a trap in the house, and the gossipy townspeople had spread the news of what they had secretly seen: "We thought it was a ghost at the time, so we told the head of the village about it."

Zhong Hao asked about the time clearly and found that the time when people started to move around in the thatched house matched the time when the prince was assassinated. As for the mysterious family a few years ago, there was no clue. A few years ago, a fire broke out in Yangshu Town, and almost one-third of the town's residents were burned to death. Many people moved away with their families, so most of the townspeople who had seen the family were gone.

In addition, the family's whereabouts were indeed strange, and very few people had seen their appearance.

Going back a little further, it is too long ago that the title deed to this piece of land was written and recorded by someone. It seems to be something that happened to the previous generation of this village elder.

Qin Zhaoyue unfolded the deed in his hand again. The paper was still brand new, as if it had been issued not long ago.

Looking at the signature on the seal, it is the government office of Yu Ning Prefecture.

Yangshu Town was under the jurisdiction of Yuning Prefecture, but Lord He had been detained long ago. The details of the deed were also asked, but Lord He claimed that he had no knowledge of it. The official who handled the contract documents was in tears and was beaten with a stick, but he had no memory of it.

However, there is a clear record in the archive books that this deed was transferred to Sarhan's name a few months ago, and the transferor was Jia Ming, a pseudonym.

The matter seems to have reached a dead end after investigation.

Qin Zhaoyue pondered.

"Your Highness." Jingcun came to report, "No suspicious people or places were found around Yangshu Town."

"Only these two people?" Qin Zhaoyue asked.

"Yes, but..." Jingcun said, "Do you still remember the assassin's body left behind when Lord Lu Jinbing was almost assassinated in Sushui County?"

Qin Zhaoyue lowered his eyes. He still remembered, but what was the connection between these events?

What is their purpose?