Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

"Wang!"

The monkey bared its teeth at Yu Qiutang, and Dahei immediately became unhappy and lowered his head slightly, preparing for a battle.

The monkey was in no mood to compete with the dog, and continued to "treat" the old man. Just when Yu Qiutang thought it was in vain, he suddenly saw the old man's fingers actually move.

He hurried forward and pulled the monkey aside to check on the old man's condition.

But when he got closer, he saw a flying knife stuck in the side of the old man's neck. He couldn't see it clearly from this angle unless he got to the front.

The knife pierced his neck directly. There was no way he could be saved. It was impossible for him to survive. Now it is probably a last gasp.

"Hoho~"

The old man half opened his eyes and wanted to say something, but only "ho ho" sounds came out of his mouth, like a broken old bellows that could no longer gather wind.

But he still saw Yu Qiutang and tried hard to reach him. Yu Qiutang didn't know why and hurriedly put his hand in his.

But the old man let go of Yu Qiutang's hand again, slowly moved his hand to his neck, and actually tried to pull out the flying knife with force.

"Don't pull it out!"

Yu Qiutang hurriedly stopped him. If he didn't pull it out, he could still check it briefly. If he did, he might not be able to wait even a minute.

But the old man was a ruthless character when he was alive, and he was also a ruthless character before he died.

He didn't know where he got the strength from, but he managed to pull the knife out of his neck. Maybe it was because it was too cold and he had been injured for a long time, the blood that came out seemed a bit sticky and dark red in color.

It wasn't a blowout, but more like a faucet with no power, slowly flowing out of the wound.

What a cruel person!

Yu Qiutang had to give a thumbs up to the old man.

At this time, the old man reached out to touch Yu Qiutang's hand again. After Yu Qiutang took the initiative to hand it over, the old man actually pressed the flying knife into Yu Qiutang's palm with great effort.

"What's the meaning?"

Yu Qiutang was stunned. What was he doing? He was not trying to put the blame for the murder on himself.

This isn't some deep hatred.

The last time I met you, there was some friction, but in the end we both backed off and did not let the conflict escalate.

Even when he met two disciples, he only punished them and did not kill them.

Logically speaking, there is no hatred that cannot be resolved.

Could it be that this old man recognized the wrong person?
but……

Something's still wrong.

But just as he was about to ask, the old man struggled to move his other hand over and put it on Yu Qiutang's hand.

And pressed it gently.

This……

Yu Qiutang felt that the old man was more like a trust rather than putting the blame on him. He wanted to wait and see what the old man would do next. But at this moment, the last bit of energy drifted away from the old man.

His eyes were half open and half closed, and his hand fell to the ground without warning, like a rubber hose with the water cut off.

died.

Yu Qiutang was stunned for a moment, and slowly put the old man's hand next to him. The monkey seemed to know what was happening, and he stuck out his butt and rubbed the old man's face gently with his face.

He then took the old man's hand and rubbed it on his face.

Looks sad.

Dahei, who was very human, naturally realized what had happened. He also lay down on the ground, with his face pressed to the ground, looking at the old man's body.

Yu Qiutang felt a little confused.

Although the room was almost open and wind was blowing in from several sides, he still felt a little suffocated.

The smell of blood in the air made him feel a little nauseous.

He turned over and went to the yard, facing the biting northwest wind, letting the wind penetrate his whole body. He took a few quick breaths and felt much more comfortable.

What's going on? !

He just wanted to come and see if there was any bargain to be found here, how come he encountered such a thing?

Although this kind of thing is not uncommon in this era, it still feels a bit unbearable when it actually happens to me.

After all, they are two living people.

And he is not the kind of bad person who has committed such heinous crimes that people wish he would die soon.

Although they were treasure hunters and might have to be prepared for death at any time from the beginning of their business, the fact that they were killed, and possibly by someone very close to them, was probably something that neither the old man nor the thin man had expected.

Yu Qiutang came back to his senses and looked at the dagger in his hand. Last time, he had seen the old man throw the dagger with such force and speed that it was definitely not something that ordinary people could match.

Since someone had stabbed a knife into his neck, it could only mean that the person who killed him must be someone he was very close to, someone he would hardly suspect.

According to the information left by the thin man, the person who killed him was Li Kun. If the guess is correct, the fat man is Li Kun, and the old man should also be killed by Li Kun. As his apprentice, he is taller than the old man...

and many more.

Yu Qiutang suddenly felt something was wrong.

The movement of the old man drawing the knife flashed before his eyes again. He held the knife to test his own neck, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

He suddenly had an absurd idea.

He clearly remembered that when the old man drew the knife, the handle was facing downwards, that is, the knife stabbed into the old man's neck from bottom to top.

But the fat man was much taller than the old man, and no matter what method he used, he would not poke it in like this.

After eliminating all possible answers, the only thing left is definitely the only way to decipher the secret. Since the old man was not killed by the fat man, the only one who could have killed him was himself.

Yu Qiutang had just tried it on his neck. If a person wanted to insert a knife into his own neck, because of the structure of the arm, the blade would basically be pointing upwards.

In other words, the old man was stabbed to death by him himself, using the flying knife that he was good at.

It is suicide.

As for why he committed suicide, this was not something Yu Qiutang could understand.

He had only met these three people by chance and had no idea of ​​the grudges between them, nor did he know who they had offended.

Therefore, Yu Qiutang had no way to speculate the specific reason. He now began to wonder why the old man desperately put the dagger in his own hands as if he was entrusting an orphan to someone else.

Perhaps he recognized himself in his last moments and thought that he was still a trustworthy and trustworthy person, so he left a message of death.

But what is the secret behind this knife?

Yu Qiutang washed the knife on the snow, turned it over carefully and looked at it for several minutes, but couldn't make any sense.

This knife was a very ordinary throwing knife, and there was no trace left on the blade, handle, or butt. It was like a blacksmith shop on the street that could make a bunch of short throwing knives at any time.

But Yu Qiutang didn't think that the old man had any reason to pull the flying knife down and hand it to him, he just wanted him to take the blame for the murder.

It shouldn't be necessary.

People like the old man who have been working outside all year round have a clearer understanding of life and death than ordinary people.

Besides, even in this big mountain, what can happen if we blame Yu Qiu?

Aren’t you afraid that Yu Qiutang will destroy the body?

It doesn't make much sense.

Therefore, Yu Qiutang subconsciously believed that the old man handed the knife to him in order to entrust him with something.

But at that time his throat was full of blood and he couldn't utter any words. He must have left the knife there for information.

But later he may have realized that he didn't have much time. If he couldn't get the knife into Yu Qiutang's hand as soon as possible, he might die before he could even do it.

That was why he was able to make the decision to draw his sword in a very short time, and then successfully put it in Yu Qiutang's hand, completing his task, while also handing a difficult problem to Yu Qiutang.

Yu Qiutang thought about it again and again outside, but couldn't figure out the reason, so he had to go back to the room.

This is a very ordinary stone house.

Even though the master and his two disciples stayed in this residential area, they seemed to have rarely been to this stone house, as evidenced by the fact that only a small amount of the dust on the ground had been wiped off.

Footprints, traces of dragging, blood, and various stone benches and stone pillars all proved that the old man had struggled when he was tied up, and the fat man had to put in a lot of effort.

Yu Qiutang checked the stone house one by one. He even imitated what was shown on TV and gently knocked on the surrounding walls and the ground with the handle of a knife. The dull sound showed that everything behind it was solid and there was no secret room or compartment.

He recalled the fat man's hurried, flustered and disappointed look when he left, and he probably didn't find what he wanted. Since it wasn't here, the only thing left was the big stone house in front.

The big stone house should have been a place where people of status discussed things. Just now when Yu Qiutang went in to take a look, he found that the big stone house had been renovated and was temporarily used for a few people to rest.

There are more than a dozen houses in this place where the bearded people live, but the other houses are in a state of collapse, collapse or semi-collapse due to years of disrepair, and are completely uninhabitable. The front row of houses are the only places where people can live temporarily.

Yu Qiutang came in and took a quick look at the place earlier, but he thought it was very messy and didn't look closely.

Now, he will definitely not let go of any corner.

He guessed that since the old man gave him the flying knife, it might be the key to finding something important.

But for a moment he was not sure which keyhole the key should be inserted into.

Still using the old method, he knocked on the ground almost inch by inch to rule out any hidden compartments on the ground.

What's left is the walls and furnishings.

He first eliminated the walls, and then knocked on all places that he could reach with his height, but there was still a dull sound and he found nothing.

Then, his eyes turned to the few furnishings in the stone house.

This should be just a temporary residence. There aren't many furnishings here. There should be some stone benches and stone pillars moved here from other places, as well as a stone table supported by three stone pillars.

There was a stone lock lying alone in the corner, probably used for martial arts practice, and there were also some wine bottles and other things.

He had already touched the straw mat and bedding on the floor, and there was nothing hidden inside, so that could be ruled out.

Yu Qiutang then removed all the stone benches and stone pillars, including the stone locks at the corners, but still found nothing.

In the end, all that was left were some decorations on the table.

He had almost no hope in his heart and began to wonder if the old man had given him the throwing knife for some other reason, or if he had placed his things in another stone house or even somewhere outdoors, rather than in the big stone house that this person would think of checking.

He sat in front of the stone table, playing with the whetstone on the table.

This stone must have been used for a long time. There are grooves in the middle. The grooves are very smooth. It looks nice, but I guess it is not easy to use for sharpening knives.

After playing for a while, Yu Qiutang prepared to go out and find another way.

Just as he was about to stand up, he saw that there was still a little blood on the edge of the flying knife in his hand, so he poured some water from the basin beside him and started to sharpen it on the whetstone.

While sharpening, he imagined that the old man had sat at the table countless times, sharpening his beloved flying knife over and over again.

Suddenly, another thought came to my mind.

Logically speaking, a person who uses a throwing knife should have more than one throwing knife. He didn't seem to see any other throwing knives on the old man just now. Why did he leave only this one?

After much thought, it was because this flying knife had an unusual meaning, but he was not a treasure hunter and could not figure it out for the time being.

It is possible that in the eyes of a professional treasure hunter, the puzzle hidden by the old man is easy to solve, but he needs to rack his brains to find clues.

"Kick!"

A crisp cracking sound interrupted his thoughts.

Looking down, he was surprised to find that a piece of the whetstone, which had been intact just now, had popped out from under it, as if a small lid had been opened, with a thumb-sized secret compartment inside, and a piece of paper stuffed in the compartment.

It turns out to be here!
Yu Qiutang was overjoyed and quickly opened the paper.

The back of the paper should be a temporary map, drawn very hastily. But it can be vaguely seen that the marked location is inside this old birch forest.

The location looked familiar, and Yu Qiutang had a sense of déjà vu.

On the front of the paper was the last words left by the old man, which roughly meant that he had recently discovered that something was wrong with his two apprentices.

The deal that had been negotiated went wrong for no reason. It must be that something went wrong with one of the apprentices.

But he had brought up both of his apprentices since they were young and looked after them like his own sons. It was hard to tell who was right and who was wrong at this moment.

But later on, he added another paragraph, which seemed not to be written on the same day. This paragraph was a bit sloppy, and although it was very similar to the above handwriting, the writer's anxiety could be seen between the lines.

"Recently, I feel that the crisis is getting closer to me. The deal we had agreed on has not yet been completed, and in my eyes, Xiao Kun and Xiao Pants are both full of malice.

I couldn't help but feel a little regretful as to why I came here in the first place. If it weren't for those things, the three of us would have traveled far and wide and lived a happy life.

Although Xiao Kutou is cunning, he has a good heart and remembers my feelings. Even if he takes things, he will not hurt me. If I die, it must be Xiao Kun's doing. But knowing this, I can't do anything to the child based on my guesswork.

Whoever can see this text, please light a fire and burn me. Even if I die, I will probably not rest in peace in the earth, so I might as well burn me to stop those people from thinking about me..."

The last character "心" under "念" was not finished, and there were two dots, so it was hastily inserted inside, causing the ink to not dry and contaminate the previous characters. (End of this chapter)