This chubby boy was like a teakettle—he could cry even more than a little girl. Wu Wen stared at Fu Xiaosheng and asked, “Your dad told you to bring us to see Ding Laocai, right?”

Fu Xiaosheng nodded his head.

“Then your dad is highly suspicious. Maybe he’s the one who killed Ding Laocai.”

“He is not! My dad didn’t kill anyone. He’s a good person… You’re the bad people! You’re bullying me. The guardian deity will drag you away sooner or later and devour you.” Fu Xiaosheng cried loudly.

Villagers heard the crying and commotion and came in. When they saw Ding Laocai’s corpse lying there, they were all terrified. Before long, the village chief arrived.

Li Si revealed his identity. The village chief was called Tong Baiquan. Close beside Tong Baiquan was a young man whose gaze was dull and foolish as he stared at the blood covering the floor. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile—a somewhat eerie smile.

This young man was named Tong Jie, Tong Baiquan’s only son. As a child, he had suffered a head injury and became a simpleton.

Tong Baiquan asked with some doubt, “This Lord Li… why have you come to our Gutan Village?”

Tong Baiquan’s question was reasonable. Li Si exchanged a glance with Wu Wen and smiled wryly, saying, “To tell the truth, I came to Gutan Village to find someone.”

Just as Li Si finished speaking, a woman around forty years old opened her mouth and cried out, “Oh my! You’re an official catcher, my lord. Could it be you’ve come here looking for that murderous madman from five years ago…”

“Niu Sao, hold your tongue!” Tong Baiquan stopped the woman from continuing.

This Niu Sao had clearly misunderstood Li Si’s purpose, but her slip of the tongue about a murderous madman aroused Li Si’s curiosity. Li Si pressured Tong Baiquan, saying, “Village Chief Tong, if we want to quickly catch the culprit, it’s best not to conceal anything. Otherwise, there will inevitably be suspicion of harboring criminals.”

“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare.” Tong Baiquan was frightened by Li Si’s words into breaking out in cold sweat on his forehead. He began speaking about that murderous madman.

“That was five or six years ago… A strange man came to the village—black face, black hands, carrying a long bundle. At first, everyone took him for a mountain traveler and treated him with good tea and good food. But that very night, this black-faced man went mad. It turned out that long bundle contained a large cleaver. The black-faced man consecutively chopped five people to death, and everyone else fled home.” Tong Baiquan’s lips turned pale. Clearly, the impact of this past event had not yet faded for him.

“The murderous madman ran rampant for three days and three nights. But strangely enough, on the fourth day, the murderous madman suddenly disappeared. A pool of blood was left by the water pond. Later, people also discovered a pool of blood by the deity statue at the village entrance, so they speculated that…”

“The guardian deity ate the bad person.” Fu Xiaosheng said with certainty.

Tong Baiquan smiled bitterly. “Xiaosheng’s words are somewhat exaggerated, but since my great-grandfather’s generation, the deity statue has been guarding Gutan Village.”

“Some people believe it was divine spirits that eliminated the murderous madman, but others don’t believe it. They think the murderous madman escaped, and perhaps at some unknown time he’ll return. What’s more, several people have seen in the ancestral graveyard that on stormy nights, there’s a ghostly shadow as tall as a zhang.” Niu Sao said tremblingly.

Niu Sao was suggesting the murderous madman hadn’t died and had returned to kill again. Li Si steadied his tone and said, “Everyone can rest assured. At present, it hasn’t been confirmed that the murderous madman has returned. Even if he didn’t die and has come back, this time Gutan Village’s guardian deity won’t need to intervene. I, Li Si, will be the first to strike him down.”

Two beams of light shot from Li Si’s slender eyes. Most people, including Niu Sao, felt much more at ease. Tong Baiquan had the gathered crowd disperse.

“Speaking of which, Fu Dabo’s behavior is puzzling and inexplicable. Does Village Chief Tong think Fu Dabo is suspicious?” Li Si inquired in Tong Baiquan’s ear.

Tong Baiquan glanced at Fu Xiaosheng and said honestly, “Fu Dabo is our village’s blacksmith. He’s the most honest and straightforward person in Gutan Village. To say he killed someone—I just can’t believe it no matter what.”

Li Si nodded. Tong Jie beside Tong Baiquan suddenly squatted down, dipped his finger in the blood on the ground, put it in his mouth, then grinned in a strange and peculiar way. His expression was like a blood-drinking corpse-eating ghoul from hell. “Dad, this blood is so sweet.”

Tong Baiquan slapped Tong Jie’s hand. “Lord Li, my son is having another fit of his simpleton illness. I need to lock him up at home. The first house on the west side of the village is mine. If there’s anything you need while investigating the case, feel free to come find me.”

Tong Baiquan dragged the simpleton away. Niu Sao hesitated to speak, glanced at Fu Xiaosheng, then turned and left as well.

Fu Xiaosheng also seemed to have something to say. Li Si asked him straightforwardly, “Fu Xiaosheng, do you have something you want to tell me?”

Fu Xiaosheng mustered his courage and said, “Yes. Actually… besides Ding Laocai’s house, Dad also told me to take you to another place.”

“Where?”

“Come with me.” Li Si and Wu Wen then followed Fu Xiaosheng out of the Ding family old residence, weaving through the mysterious Gutan Village shrouded in misty rain.