The spring rain was continuous and never stopped.

A group of people walked quickly through the damp forest.

There was a constant sound of sizzling water underfoot.

After walking far along the path covered with withered leaves, a long-abandoned manor quietly appeared in front of everyone.

The surrounding area was also deserted, with no people around.

The high wall standing on the ground is gray and black in color, with continuous patches of moss growing on the surface. Moistened by the rain, it looks even more sticky, slippery, and dilapidated.

The stone lions on both sides of the gate are also covered with moss.

The one on the left is missing half of its head, and there are dense insects crawling around in the cracks in the rocks, which looks a bit scary.

"Is this right here?"

Wei Tao slowly came to the mottled door and looked up at the crooked plaque above.

"Purple energy comes from the east."

He read out slowly and looked back, "Ouke Qing, are all the newly discovered human skin straws inside?"

"Yes, my subordinates found a total of eight corpses inside. After identification, it can be basically determined that they are all buddies who were keeping vigil on the battlefield."

Wei Tao nodded and looked at the other man behind him.

"Butler Quan, where is this place?" he asked.

The man was about fifty years old, his face was a little pale, and his voice was trembling when he answered.

"Replying to the deacon, this place used to be the summer resort of Master Qiu of Luoshui City."

"It used to be a summer resort, but what about now?"

There was a crunching sound.

The rusty door was pushed open, revealing the dilapidated scene inside that had not been repaired for a long time.

Wei Tao walked in slowly, feeling a cold and corrupt atmosphere pouring out from inside.

Butler Quan followed closely behind as if he was afraid of being left behind.

When I entered the door, I glanced left and right subconsciously, and my body couldn't stop shaking.

It was under Ou Yinglian's cold gaze that he suddenly came back to his senses and began to answer the questions.

"The summer before last year, Master Qiu and his newlywed wife came here for a summer vacation, but they met with misfortune.

The two of them, as well as the maids and servants, disappeared. Later, Master Qiu was so sad that he never came back again, and the summer resort became deserted."

"Master Qiu of Luoshui City, is he the one who runs a grain store in the city and builds a farm outside?"

Wei Tao observed the dilapidated courtyard. The ground was covered with weeds, completely covering up the original bluestone pavement.

Now that it is watered by rain, it may soon usher in a new round of crazy growth.

Butler Quan nodded repeatedly and spoke slowly, "Master Qiu later spent a large sum of money to invite experts from the Mingshui Gang to station in the manor together with the government's arrester, preparing to thoroughly investigate the matter and find the missing family members."

He paused here, then sighed and shook his head, "It's just that even so, we haven't been able to find out the whereabouts of more than a dozen people.

And not even a single clue could be found, as if they just disappeared suddenly without leaving any traces."

Wei Tao took a deep breath of moist air, closed his eyes and said, "It seems that there is more going on in this place than we already know."

Ou Yinglian sighed softly, "The more chaotic the world is, the more human life will be worthless, and all kinds of disasters will emerge in endlessly."

"Let's go and see the bodies of those guys."

Wei Tao waded through knee-deep weeds and quickly opened the second courtyard gate.

I happened to see Gan Liang coming from the depths of the manor, carrying a nearly broken stone tablet in his hand.

"Sir, I have found the real owner of this manor."

"Isn't it Mr. Qiu from Luoshui City?"

Wei Tao stopped and asked doubtfully, "Did Mr. Gan make some new discoveries?"

"My lord, please look at this stone monument."

Gan Liang carefully placed the stone tablet flat on the ground.

"If I read it correctly, this stone tablet should have been carved when the manor was just built.

What is written on it is that in the seventh year of Yuan Zhen, an official named Gui Shufang resigned and returned to his hometown, and built a manor here..."

"The seventh year of Yuanzhen?" Wei Tao frowned, recalling the knowledge he had learned from the private school.

After a moment, he breathed out a soft breath, "Doesn't that mean that this manor has stood here for at least nearly thirty years?"

"Butler Quan, you just told me that this is the summer resort of the Qiu family in Luoshui City.

So can you explain to me what the records on this stone tablet mean?"

Butler Quan was so frightened that he trembled all over and muttered, "My lord, deacon, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to deceive you.

I only know that before anything happened to the young master of the Qiu family, Mr. Qiu would come here every year to escape the summer heat, and this had been going on for at least more than ten years.

Moreover, when the villain first came here with his master, Master Qiu set up a banquet here to entertain him.

But I really don’t know that before Mr. Qiu, this villa was built by officials from the capital city of Zhongfu.”

Gan Liang said, "Sir, it's normal that he doesn't know. After all, the old man chatted with the housekeeper and learned that he came to the gold tanning field to open a sand field, and it took less than ten years from beginning to end."

After looking at Wei Tao's thoughtful expression, Gan Liang immediately continued talking. It was obvious that he had already thought about many issues in a very short time after discovering the stone tablet.

"Sir, when I saw the name Gui Shufang, I recalled another thing.

That was the disobedience and rebellion incident that caused great commotion in Qizhou more than 20 years ago. Not only the Jiedushi envoy at that time was executed by the imperial court.

Subsequently, countless officials and people were implicated, and heads were slaughtered and blood flowed like rivers.

Among them, there seems to be a family named Gui, who ranks very high on the list of rebels listed by the imperial court.

I just don’t know if the Gui Shufang who built this manor and the Gui family who were almost wiped out are the same person."

As Wei Tao walked deeper into the manor, he listened to Gan Liang's account of the rebellion that had occurred in Qizhou.

Not long after, several people stopped in front of a row of houses.

Unlike other parts of the manor, this place looks relatively clean and tidy.

Even the railings and beams in the corridor are brightly colored, as if they had been recently painted.

However, for a house that has been abandoned for a long time, it seems very abnormal.

Ou Yinglian said, "My lord, my subordinates and Wu Yin came here and noticed the difference in this row of houses, so they went in to investigate carefully, and found those corpses."

Wei Tao nodded, and through the half-open door, he saw a figure writing at his desk, sitting there motionless.

His pupils shrank, "Is this the pose you put on after peeling off the skin?"

"Your Majesty Mingjian, my subordinates didn't even notice it at first glance, and even asked a few questions.

It wasn’t until I walked in and took a closer look that I realized that it was just a piece of human skin filled with..."

Ou Yinglian paused for a moment, her expression became a little strange, "The stuffing inside is all hair, not straw."

"So, these corpses should actually be called skinned and haired, not skinned and haired."

"Skin and hair are peeled off. How many people's hair does it take to fill a whole human skin..."

Wei Tao stepped forward slowly and carefully looked at Fu An's motionless body.

Even if it was only a few steps away, it could be clearly identified that this was not a living person, but a human skin corpse like a wax statue.

Soon after, he looked into other rooms.

Different corpses are put into different poses.

It's like a family doing different things after dinner.

Coming out of the last room, Wei Tao stopped in the corridor.

"Master Gan."

"My subordinate is here."

"When you get back, look for the housekeeper and try to ask for details about the disappearance that happened in the manor."

"My subordinate understands."

"Also, regarding the name Gui Shufang, we need to conduct a detailed investigation again..."

He half-sentenced and remained silent without any warning.

Suddenly a strong wind blew up.

Penetrating the fine rain curtain, he rushed out of the corridor quickly.

boom!

It was so fast and powerful that it tore out a straight hole in mid-air.
To be continued...