Predatory map of ominous birds

The deputy sheriff's statement continued, and he focused on the description of the second victim.Bobby Charlton, a purchaser who travels between Hastings Forest and Edinburgh, a little man who works for those purchasers, he always comes to Hastings Forest at this time to help his employer purchase local farmers reward.Therefore, many people know him. This middle-aged little man is a cheerful and nice guy who likes to joke very much. Everyone who knows him likes him very much.On this day, he also lived in a room in a local hotel that he had booked for a long time. At [-]:[-] in the morning, the owner knocked on the door to deliver breakfast to the old customer, but there was no response to the knock on the door, and no response after several calls.

"Old Ferguson didn't think it was wrong at the time, he just thought that Bobby might have passed out, so he opened the door with the spare key and found that the chain behind the door was locked. He had to call the helper Rooney to help break it open door, and they called the police." The deputy took another sip of his whiskey, speaking more fluently and more relaxed.

"When they found the body, what was it like inside?" Holmes didn't speak. He just sat in the rocking chair with his fingers crossed and pondered, and Watson asked this sentence. "The door is locked and chained from the inside, and it shuts, and the pin is in. The chimney is so narrow that a man can't climb out of it, and get stuck in the middle. And Bobby was lying in the room. On the floor in the center, there was no head. There were no traces of struggle in the room, and the bedding on the bed was not messed up. Bobby's head was facing the bed, and his head should have been chopped off when he was going to bed—or A sharp knife swung down from behind. We didn't find the head of the body in the room." At this point, the deputy shuddered.

"Then your sheriff has nothing to do?" Holmes said with a half-smile, and the deputy sheriff was a little frustrated and ashamed. "Yes, we can't find any evidence pointing to the criminal."

Looking at the scene in the screen, Bo Fu also picked up the cup in his hand and took a sip, then turned off the screen with a twist of his fingers, got up and walked out. "Check out" Bo Fu pressed the calling bell on the counter downstairs. "Help me get a carriage to go to the train station." This time Bofu will also watch this story closely.

And inside 221b Baker Street.After the deputy sheriff finished speaking, Holmes only asked: "Is the scene still preserved? It doesn't matter if the body has been removed." After receiving the affirmative answer from the deputy sheriff, Holmes turned around and called: "Watson, go Book two train tickets. We're going to Hastings Forest."

Later in the day, Holmes boarded a train with Watson and the deputy sheriff - but they were actually on the same train as Burford, only in a different car.Bo Fu spread out a dirty tabloid as usual and read it with gusto in the box, while the other guests in the box—one of them was a traveler from a big East Asian country with black hair and eyes, and the other two were women from England.I am not very old, watching Bo Fu concentrate on reading that kind of tabloid, and covering his mouth with a fan and whispering

"The true meaning of life lies in the tabloids. When one day you don't even have any interest in such pornographic tabloids, it's almost time to end." Bo Fu raised his head and saw the two young ladies on the opposite side, looking serious said something.The British also have a sense of humor, and the two women laughed at that time.And the man sitting next to Bofu who came from the same place also laughed with satisfaction.With the help of jokes, several people quickly became acquainted and began to chat happily.Bofu's broad knowledge and knowledge far beyond the current era became the center of the conversation again. He didn't talk about it, but just chatted with the two women casually, and told some stories from their topic by the way. , and then use scientific knowledge to talk nonsense.Successfully attracted the attention of the other three people.The atmosphere of the conversation was very enthusiastic, and even the conductors from the front and back boxes and even the own car came together. Five or six people listened and talked together, and burst into low laughter from time to time. It should be said that all the people present People—except Bofu, all think that their experience of taking the train this time is the most enjoyable one ever.

This time the train took a long time, and finally arrived at the station at dusk. Bo Fu waved goodbye to the two ladies—as for the fellow from the same country, he had already got off at the station halfway.Then Bofu also let the carriage pull him to one of the most comfortable hotels in the area and set up a room. "Please give me whiskey, and the roast leg of lamb, and bring it to the room." He ordered the waiter. [

After dinner, Bo Fu walked towards the Hastings Forest. For Bo Fu who can travel through space at will, this road is nothing at all. He quickly stood in the abandoned manor in the forest .A dark forest under the moonlight.The shadows of the branches of the trees are like tentacles of ghosts, making this abandoned manor in the middle of the woods but without any trees growing very weird and terrifying.Bo Fu stood in the middle of the manor and looked around. The main building of the manor had already collapsed, and broken walls and ruins were scattered throughout the manor.The only thing that is basically intact is the original gazebo in the garden - it's just a few big holes pierced through the top.Although the pool below the fountain on one side is still intact, the four walls have been cracked. The spring water flowing from the stone sculpture of the collapsed fountain flows out from the cracks, winds and merges into a small stream, and flows to the manor. Out in the woods - there's a pond covered in green algae.Under the moonlight, the whole manor exuded a decadent and desolate atmosphere, but all this had no effect on Bo Fu. His eyes looked at the ruins of the hall, where there was a mass of darkness, which was invisible to the naked eye at first glance. It's not unusual, but if you really look carefully, there will be a feeling like the dark bottom of the deepest nightmare that will spread to the person's back.The darkness has no fixed shape, it looks like a normal shadow under the moonlight, but if someone takes two photos within 10 minutes of each other, they will find that the shape of the darkness is completely different, it is constantly deforming , only to be confused by the naked eye.

Bo Fu looked at the darkness, watched it continuously twist and deform, grow bigger, and become more and more dark and opaque.The darkness had swelled to the extent that it covered the ruins of the hall, and now even ordinary people could already see something unusual.From the darkness came the neighing of a horse, not loud but very penetrating. "It's a big horse!" Bo Fu said, and then he watched a huge black horse rushing out of the darkness. This heavily armed black horse carried a knight in black armor on its back, holding a A huge knight's epee, really majestic - but he has no head

The knight with the head urged the black horse to gallop across the manor, and the dull sound of hooves spread far in the quiet night.But the voice is very low, as if stepping on the heart of a person. Unless ordinary people listen very carefully, it is just a faint vibration.Bo Fu stood in the middle of the courtyard, watching the head knight running around, and blue sparks ignited in the horseshoe prints on the ground.As the sound of horseshoes became more and more intensive, the ground of the manor split open, and skeleton warriors in armor crawled out of it.Transparent blue flames are burning on these skeleton warriors, red fireballs are burning in the dark eye sockets, and sharp swords are held in the hands of the yellow bones. queue.Bo Fu applauded softly.It's just that the knight and the skeleton soldiers under him seem to be completely deaf to them. Their figures are advancing, and as they advance, they melt into the darkness like smoke

Bo Fu smiled and looked in one direction, "There is no hunting tonight, but some people seem to be unable to bear it."

Holmes and Watson lived in another hotel. The local sheriff did not show up at all, but the deputy sheriff accompanied them to the second crime scene to check.The corpses in the room had already been removed, and the blood stains on the ground had been cleaned, but nothing else had been touched.Holmes produced a magnifying glass.Watson held up a kerosene lamp to help him--although the lamps in the room had been turned on, Holmes lay prone on the spot where Bobby had fallen, and examined the floor carefully with a magnifying glass. Then he stood up and looked up. He used a magnifying glass to take a closer look at the lamp and lamp above his head, and finally he signaled Watson to turn off the kerosene lamp in his hand.Under the lighting conditions in the room.Holmes looked at the fireplace, then turned and went out, saying to the deputy sheriff as he went, "May I speak to the hotel owner and the helper?"

Ten minutes later, Ferguson, the owner of the hotel, was sitting opposite Holmes.He was a little nervous, and his eyes were fixed on Holmes' mouth. "Please don't be too nervous, Mr. Ferguson. Have a sip first, I have a few questions to ask you." Holmes lit his pipe and took a sip, pointing to the glass of whiskey in front of Ferguson.

"Mr. Ferguson, do you know the victim, Mr. Bobby Charlton?"

"Yes, sir. I've known him for 12 years, and he stays with me every year when he's here on business, in the same room."

"Then you also know what he's here for?"

"Yes, sir. He comes here every year to buy local specialties in a large quantity. Sir." The hotel owner Ferguson began to relax a little.

"Then do you know how much money he brought?" Holmes asked with a smile, taking out his pipe.

"I'm sorry, I don't know, sir. He never showed us what he had with him. But I know he sometimes pays in cash when he buys here, and sometimes in cashier's checks."

"When did you find his body?"

"Every morning at seven o'clock I bring up Mr Bobby's breakfast. I've been doing that for 12 years. I did the same thing that morning but the door was locked and chained and I called Mr Bobby But he didn't answer, so I called Rooney downstairs, opened the door with the key, broke the chain with Rooney, and then we found Mr. Bobby lying on the ground." Having said that, Ferguson picked up the The wine glass took a swig.

"When was the last time you saw Mr. Bobby?"[

"Nine o'clock the night before, sir. Mr. Bobby has a habit of going back to his room at nine o'clock and locking the door."

"What did you do after you found the body?"

"I asked Rooney to call the police, sir. I stayed here and did nothing!" the hotel owner Ferguson answered fluently.

"Okay, thank you for telling me so much." Holmes signaled Ferguson to leave.Then a stout young man came in, "You're looking for me? Sir. My name is Rooney."

"Please sit down, Mr. Rooney. Have a drink. I have a question for you." Rooney was very nervous.He glanced at the deputy who was standing aside, then nodded to indicate that he was all right.

Holmes asked Ferguson the question again. Rooney gave the same answer as Ferguson except that he didn't know Mr. Bobby very well.He had also seen Mr. Bobby the night before—only it was eight o'clock, and then he went to the back kitchen to help with the potatoes for tomorrow; and then at nine and five in the morning , Mr. Ferguson, the boss, told him to go up, and then helped to break open the door of Mr. Bobby's room.Then he saw the dead body of Mr. Bobby, and then Mr. Ferguson told him to go to the local police station to call someone.

When Rooney also left, Holmes stretched his waist. "Deputy Sheriff, there is no problem now. I think we will rest for the night, and then I will check the first scene tomorrow. After I have seen it, I will It should be able to give you an answer. Oh! By the way, the homeless man can let him go, he is not a prisoner."

At this time, Bo Fu had already returned from his stroll under the moonlight, and there was always the faint sound of horseshoes on both sides of him along the way, until he stepped out of Hastings Forest and onto the road to the nearest farm.Bo Fu turned a corner, and when he stepped on again, he was already at the door of the hotel.Bo Fu nodded to the waiter behind the counter.Then he went up the stairs to his room.

At dawn the next day, Bo Fu was still sound asleep on the bed, but Holmes and Watson had already boarded the police carriage and headed to the first crime scene.The carriage ran for about half an hour and stopped.The deputy sheriff jumped out of the car and walked ahead. When he reached a ditch beside the road, he signaled to Holmes that this was the first crime scene.

Holmes came to the edge of the ditch, a dry and very shallow ditch.It was about the width of a person and about an inch deep, with coarse gravel underneath and common weeds on both sides of the ditch.The ditch was parallel to the road, the road was about three inches above the floor of the ditch, the ditch was about three feet from the road, and the deputy ignored the dew on the ground.Lie directly in the ditch, indicating that this is the position and appearance of the corpse when they came here.Holmes smiled and asked the deputy sheriff to stand up, then asked the deputy sheriff about the height of the deceased, and finally took out the magnifying glass to look carefully at the ditch again. "Are there many local people coming and going on this road?" Holmes straightened up and asked.

"Not much, because this road is half a forest along the edge of the Hastings forest. And there used to be only one farm pig farm, so only some local farmers came and went here, sending feed or taking care of them. Pig's. And old Terry was one of those people," replied the deputy.

Holmes straightened his body and watched the road stretch into the distance. On one side of it was a vast grass field with little ups and downs, and on the other side was a dense and almost black forest. "That fork in the road?" Holmes pointed, "Where does that fork in the road lead to?"

"Oh, that's the way to Hastings Manor. It's been abandoned for hundreds of years. It's just a mess of stones and half-destroyed houses, and no one lives there. Because The locals say it's the place of the head knight," said the deputy, and then he muttered, "Nonsense."

But Holmes has already started to walk towards the fork in the road. Watson followed behind him. Holmes' eagle eyes looked around. Suddenly he lay down on his stomach and carefully looked at the traces on the ground with a magnifying glass. "Interesting horseshoe prints"

"What do you say, Holmes?"

"Nothing, Watson. Just trivial things"

During the rest of the trip, Holmes kept staring at a certain direction on the ground, but his footsteps were fast, and soon they entered the Hastings Forest.The forest covered most of the sunlight, but there were not many shrubs and weeds on the fork road, which clearly led to the depths of the forest.The three of them soon came to the end of the forked road. It was a rather large manor with an ancient atmosphere, but the plants growing on the ruins of the manor showed that it had been abandoned for a long time.

Holmes took Watson to look around the manor, but there was no need to look carefully to feel that there was no human breath here. The manor was obviously burned by flames, and the things that could be taken away for hundreds of years had already been destroyed. Taken away, all that remains are the stone and some wood that are part of the building.The scale of the manor in its heyday can be seen on the scattered stones and the half-collapsed houses. "The locals said that it was the manor of Lord Hastings a long time ago. He is a local fiefdom nobleman who has been extinct for at least 200 years. It's been a year," the local deputy sheriff explained to Holmes in a low voice.Holmes didn't take out the magnifying glass either. He looked at the collapsed buildings and quickly turned back.

After leaving the forest and standing by the carriage, Holmes said to the deputy sheriff, "Take us back to the hotel first. I need some time to tidy up. I think I can give you an answer tomorrow."

Bofu had just eaten his own breakfast with great interest at this time-lots of bacon, a large bottle of milk, slices of bread and jam. (to be continued...)