I comforted Uncle Mei for a while, then got up and walked to the courtyard.

At this moment, Jiang Yongguang and Lao Li happened to be coming out. When they saw me, Jiang Yongguang quickly came up to me and comforted me in a low voice, "Xiao Chen, please accept my condolences. Don't worry, we will do our best to investigate this matter and bring the murderer to justice as soon as possible!"

Hearing this, I subconsciously asked, "Bring the murderer to justice? Does that mean you've determined this is a homicide?"

Jiang Yongguang was taken aback and asked, "What else could it be besides a homicide? A ghost?"

When he said this, Lao Li's expression was complicated, and he hesitated to speak. Obviously, the older generation's ideas were still superstitious and old-fashioned. When they encountered such a bizarre case, the first thing they thought of was ghosts and gods.

Jiang Yongguang was different from them. He never believed in strange powers and chaotic gods. He firmly said, "This is a homicide, but the murderer's methods are too brutal. Judging from the murder weapon left at the scene, I suspect the murderer is related to the tomb robbing gang we encountered underground!"

Hearing this, my heart was shocked, and I quickly asked, "Is it Gao Shiye and Wang Zhanggui's people? Is it because we snatched their jade slip and drowned their people, so they came to take revenge on me? Is that it?"

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt extremely regretful!

If I hadn't followed the Xiaoling Guard into the water to find the tomb for money, I wouldn't have offended those rats. If I hadn't offended those rats, Aunt Mei wouldn't have died so tragically!

At this moment, I only felt guilty and overwhelmed, covering my face and wanting to cry without tears, only deep self-blame.

Jiang Yongguang quickly patted me on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Chen, don't feel guilty yet, things aren't as simple as you think. We only dealt with those rats last night. Most of the rats in the mausoleum were drowned by the underground water. After we came out, we immediately contacted Lao Li to seal off the scene. How could those rats run out and seek revenge on Aunt Mei?"

Xiao Liang also analyzed, "That's right, it's too late for tomb robbers to come and seek revenge on Aunt Mei. The murderer may be someone else. He may have been watching Aunt Mei the day before yesterday, and knowing that you and Uncle Mei were not at home last night, he acted last night."

Jiang Yongguang then asked, "Xiao Chen, did you have any conflicts with anyone the day before yesterday? Did Aunt Mei mention any enemies?"

I racked my brains and recalled, "The day before yesterday was the first day I came home with Little Mei after being away. Aunt Mei didn't have anything unusual about her, she was all smiles. If I really had to say something worth noting, it was that Uncle Mei and I fished up a few floating corpses in the river, and then found a fissure leading to the ancient tomb underwater..."

Speaking of this, I suddenly had a jolt.

"Wait! That coffin! The coffin that was rolled out of the whirlpool! We all saw a strange thing crawling out of the coffin at the time, and plunged into the water, but it was too dark at the time, and we didn't see clearly what it was!"

As soon as I mentioned that coffin, Lao Li and Xiao Liang, the parties present, also changed their expressions.

Jiang Yongguang looked at Lao Li a little reproachfully and asked, "Comrade Lao Li, it's fine if these people are timid, but you are an old comrade with many years of work experience, how could you be frightened too? Why did you withdraw from the scene without investigating this matter clearly?"

Lao Li gave Jiang Yongguang a disgruntled look and muttered, "You're just talking without knowing what it's like! You weren't there at the time, you don't know how scary the scene was! I have old people above me and young people below me, and I have a family to support. If I don't run away, am I supposed to stay and die? If I die, what will my family live on?"

Xiao Liang also helped his master explain, "The situation was really scary at the time, and it was very dark, and the water flow in the Tuo River was very rapid. After the black shadow plunged into the water, it disappeared. Master couldn't send someone to dive into the water to fish it out in the dark overnight, could he?"

Jiang Yongguang didn't continue to blame Lao Li, and turned to ask me, "Did you go straight home that night? Did you hear any strange noises after you got home? For example, did anyone come to your house to scout the area?"

I shook my head and said, "No, nothing happened that night, and no one definitely came to scout the area. Because Uncle Mei didn't sleep all night that night, and sat in the courtyard to keep watch. If someone came, even if they just walked a few steps outside the wall, Uncle Mei should have been able to hear something."

After saying this, I couldn't help but add, "However..."

"However what?" Jiang Yongguang quickly asked.

I thought for a while and said, "However, when I came back from the river, I always felt like someone was following us. Uncle Mei wouldn't let Little Mei and I turn our heads, so I never turned my head, but maybe it was just a feeling, I always felt like something was following us behind..."

Hearing this, Xiao Liang's face turned pale again, Lao Li's expression was also not good, but Jiang Yongguang was not afraid of these, and said with a normal expression, "In that case, the most likely situation is that you provoked someone that night. This person didn't come to commit the crime that night, but chose the second night, when you and Mei Sange, the two men, were not at home, to sneak into the house and commit the murder!"

Xiao Liang immediately said, "Judging from the murder weapon, the murderer must have some connection with the ancient tomb. By the way, Officer Jiang, is the murder weapon a cultural relic? It looks a bit like a bronze ware from the ancient tomb to me."

Jiang Yongguang responded, "It is, but not entirely. The five bronze short swords that killed Aunt Mei are all fakes, they are forged. Real cultural relics are not so tough and sharp, it is impossible to dig them out of the ground and immediately use them to kill people."

Xiao Liang then deduced, "Why did the murderer use bronze ware to commit the crime? What is the purpose of doing this?"

Jiang Yongguang said, "Maybe it's just a weapon they found casually. Tomb robbers usually produce this kind of bronze ware in batches, and after making it old, they mix it with the cultural relics they dug out of the tomb and sell it together. This method of selling genuine and fake together can often deceive most buyers, making the tomb robbers' income easily doubled, so they usually carry a lot of fake cultural relics with them."

Only after hearing this, both Xiao Liang and I were a little confused.

Why would tomb robbers deliberately use murder weapons that would expose their identity to commit the crime?

And why did they kill Aunt Mei with such cruel methods?

At this time, Lao Li couldn't help but put forward his own point of view, "Da Yong, according to your explanation, although it can make sense, isn't it a bit far-fetched? Don't you think this murder case has a sense of ritual everywhere?"

"Sense of ritual?" Jiang Yongguang's eyes lit up instantly when he heard these three words.

I also nodded repeatedly. Lao Li is indeed an experienced criminal investigator. He immediately summed up the key words of this case!

That is the sense of ritual!

Aunt Mei's tragic death was full of a sense of ritual!

This is not a simple homicide at all, but more like a bizarre ritual. Even Aunt Mei's body was neatly nailed to the chair. I observed it at the time, and even Aunt Mei's hair was not messy at all!

This murderer seems to be using Aunt Mei to perform a sacrifice!

Those five bronze short swords from ancient Shu must also have a deeper meaning!