The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 460: Nowhere to Hide

When Sun Shaozong arrived at the Fayuan Temple, not only were Jie Chen and Jie Xiu already brought over, but also Wei Ruolan, Qiu Yunfei, and Private Advisor Qi had been waiting in the hall for a long time.

Seeing Sun Shaozong's dusty entrance from outside, Qiu Yunfei stepped forward and widened his eyes, saying curiously, "Your Excellency, you've had two Buddhist monks brought back to the temple in the middle of the night. Have you found any important clues?”

They all said not to scold the monk, a bald man in front of them. He was so daring. He shouted in the temple, and many monks were angry at him.

But…

Whether they were happy or not...

As long as they solve this serial case, were they still afraid that they would sue to the Supreme Emperor for a few words of ”bald donkey?!”

Therefore, Sun Shaozong was also too lazy to correct Qiu Yunfei's statement, and the corner of his mouth was slightly tilted. He smiled and said, "You guessed it. I have discovered a key clue. If my inference is correct, just a simple examination can determine who the culprit is.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Amitabha Buddha.”

Without waiting for Qiu Yunfei to ask again, Master Lechi behind him had already stepped out of the crowd and proclaimed the Buddhist name, "I dare to ask Lord Sun, how do we verify it? As long as we can make the culprit show his true form, everyone in my temple will follow.”

“There's no need to be so serious.”

Sun Shaozong smiled, and his gaze fell on Jie Xiu and Jie Chen, then slowly moved down and stopped on their dark blue single shoes. He then lifted his hand and pointed, "Just ask the two Masters to take off their shoes and socks, and you'll know at a glance.”

Just to take off their shoes and socks to find out?

Everyone was somewhat puzzled. Could he tell who the killer was by looking at their feet?

Jie Chen couldn't help but sneer and chuckle. "Your Excellency wouldn't think that the murderer has two dog claws, right?”

However, despite mocking in his mouth, he still bent down to take off the cloth shoes on his feet.

However, at this moment, Jie Xiu suddenly asked in a deep voice, "Your Excellency, is it too childish to investigate a case like this? I have been practicing for more than ten years and have never heard that just looking at someone else's feet can determine whether they are a murderer! If Your Excellency Sun does this just to avoid being scolded by the court and is preparing to casually accuse us, will we not suffer for nothing?”

The act of taking off his shoes also stopped, nodding his head and saying, "Yes, although taking off my shoes and socks in public is nothing, if Lord Sun doesn't have real evidence and wants to convict us with empty words, I will not comply.”

Seeing the two of them reacting like this, Sun Shaozong's smile on his face thickened a bit. Just now, he was only 80% sure, but now it has reached 99%!

“I naturally have genuine evidence.”

He said in a loud voice, "Compared to the previous three murders, the murderer deliberately devised a cunning plan to embellish Jie Nian's death in the guise of the Heavenly Hound. However, it was this cunning plan that left a fatal flaw.”

Private Advisor Qi couldn't help but wonder, "Has Your Excellency successfully solved the mystery of the footprints?”

“That's right.”

Sun Shaozong nodded and said, "The so-called mystery of footprints is simple, just a pair of wooden clogs.”

“Clogs?”

“That's right, but it's not an ordinary wooden clog, but a pair of wooden clogs that has the shape of a dog claws underneath.”

“The murderer mixed his footprints with the paw prints of wild dogs, creating the illusion that there were only the footprints of wild dogs at the scene.”

“After a detailed investigation, I have successfully identified the killer's footprints.”

“I led someone to track the claw mark all the way and found some fragments of wooden clogs in front of the dense forest in the northeast. Obviously, the murderer destroyed the wooden clogs and threw them into the forest.”

“Absurd!”

When Sun Shaozong said this, Monk Jie Xiu suddenly sneered and said, "Can Lord Sun infer who the murderer is based on just a few pieces of sawdust? Or is it that the name of the murderer is engraved on the sawdust?”

At this moment, everyone present, especially Wei Ruolan and others, had already noticed that there was something wrong with Monk Jie Xiu. When he was interrogating before, he was clearly more cooperative than Jie Chen, let alone say a few harsh words. However, now…

However, what Monk Jie Xiu said was not entirely unreasonable. Based solely on some sawdust, it was indeed impossible to determine who the culprit was. Even if a complete wooden clog was found, it seemed that it could only confirm Sun Shaozong's inference but couldn’t prove who the culprit was.

“By relying solely on some sawdust, it is not possible.”

At this moment, Sun Shaozong took out another handkerchief from his sleeve pocket, carefully spread it out, and showed it to the crowd. "But when combined with these two hemp threads, it is enough to reveal the true culprit without a doubt.”

Hemp thread?

The crowd became even more puzzled. Qiu Yunfei, Wei Ruolan, Private Advisor Qi, and even Master Lechi personally stepped forward to take a look, only to see that they were just two small ordinary hemp threads. It seemed that the shape had fallen from a certain hemp rope, but where was there anything strange?

“What a joke.”

Jie Xiu raised his head and sneered, "Two pieces of hemp thread and a few pieces of sawdust have been so captivated by Lord Sun. I'm really curious now. What kind of ironclad evidence can you see from these two thin threads?”

Faced with his aggressive attitude, Sun Shaozong became increasingly confident and grinned, "To put it simply, it's very simple.”

“The texture of this sawdust is tough and sturdy, and it should be made of wood such as red sandalwood, which is used to carve Buddha statues. Although it is locally sourced in the temple and reduces the risk of purchasing wood outside, the weight of this pair of wooden clogs is much heavier than that of ordinary wooden clogs.”

“Especially the killer widened and lengthened the wooden clogs to try to separate the three dog claws as much as possible.”
“Unfortunately, such a pair of heavy wooden clogs are meant to be worn to commit murder. How can they be as loose as ordinary wooden clogs? Naturally, they must be tightly bound to their feet.”

Sun Shaozong reached out two fingers and said, "The murderer has two options. One is to simply make a pair of shoes [boots with wooden clog soles].”

“However, although shoes are convenient to wear and use, the difficulty of making them is somewhat high. Moreover, with too many materials used, it is easy to expose flaws. Besides, why bother making a pair of shoes that will be thrown away after use?”

“Therefore, the killer chose the second plan, which was to make ordinary wooden clogs and then wear a few more hemp ropes and tie them to their feet for reinforcement.”

“However…”

Sun Shaozong's smile turned cold at the corners of his mouth, and he stared at Jie Xiu's feet, saying, "Walking with such heavy wooden clogs firmly tied to their feet, the drop force is incomparable to ordinary wooden clogs. Even with single shoes on their feet, they will inevitably leave scars.”

“Therefore, I have concluded that as long as you take off my shoes and socks, the murderer will have nowhere to hide.”