My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 76 Scene

Lin Ziping had just stepped into the main room when he tripped over the threshold again. This time, no one helped him up, and he ended up giving the ground a solid hug.

It seems we can't get past this hurdle today!

Lin Ziping braced himself with his hands on the ground, preparing to get up, but as soon as he looked up...

"Ah!" Lin Ziping shouted, his voice so loud it almost startled the birds in the tree.

Hu Xinhua lay quietly on the ground, his face deathly pale, his features contorted, and a pool of bright red blood beneath him. Lin Ziping looked up for a moment and met his bloodshot eyes, instantly terrified.

He quickly got up, but accidentally knocked over a bowl on the table, spilling the soup all over himself.

The sudden noise attracted the attention of those around them.

Shi Yong quickly helped Lin Ziping up and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

Lin Ziping wanted to answer that he was fine, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything.

"Don't rush, have some water first." Seeing this, Shi Yong handed him a bowl of water.

Lin Ziping took the bowl of water, his hands trembling as if he had Parkinson's disease, and barely managed to bring it to his lips and take a sip.

"Brother Shi, someone's dead! There's a dead body lying there!" Lin Ziping finished drinking his water, suddenly came to his senses, grabbed Shi Yong's clothes, pointed at Hu Xinhua's body on the ground, and his voice trembled slightly.

He was initially excited to be at the scene, imagining himself solving the case like in a suspenseful detective drama, uncovering the truth behind the clues, and making a name for himself at the crime scene. However, now, all he wanted was to escape, especially remembering how close he had been to Hu Xinhua just now; his legs felt weak.

"Haha, is this the first time Xiao Lin has seen something like this? Haha, it's alright, you'll get used to it after you come out with us more often." Old Huang, the yamen runner who went with Shi Yong to find the carriage, joked upon seeing this.

"Often? Brother Shi!" Lin Ziping was terrified. He was born in the new China and grew up under the red flag; he had only ever seen such scenes in TV dramas. Even after coming to this era, he had always been well-behaved. This was the first time he had witnessed such a scene in person, and he had just come across a corpse. How could he not be afraid?

"Alright, Ziping just arrived, Lao Huang, don't scare him." Shi Yong glared at Lao Huang, then said to Lin Ziping, "Go out for some fresh air first, then come back in later, or go ask the villagers about what happened before we arrived."

Lin Ziping nodded, trying to move his feet, but found that his legs were as weak as noodles and wouldn't obey him.

Seeing this, Shi Yong said, "I was just about to go out too, let's go together. Lao Huang, you guys take a look at the situation first."

After saying that, Shi Yong helped Lin Ziping to the yard and they sat down on a tree stump.

Ignoring his disheveled state, Lin Ziping plopped down, panting heavily, repeatedly telling himself: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, this is just a dream, they are all NPCs."

"Go wash up," Shi Yong said, having found a ladle from somewhere, scooped up some water, and stood in front of Lin Ziping.

Lin Ziping reached out his hand, and Shi Yong slowly poured the water into it.

"You rest outside for a while, I'll go in and take a look." Shi Yong handed Lin Ziping a handkerchief.

Lin Ziping took the handkerchief, nodded, and said nothing.

After a while, Lin Ziping regained his composure. There were still villagers watching outside the courtyard. After thinking for a moment, he decided to go inside and take a look.

He stood up, leaning on the tree stump. Before he even entered the house, he heard a "clanging" sound, like someone chopping meat.

Why would someone be chopping meat inside at this hour? Lin Ziping suppressed his fear, lifted his leg, stepped over the threshold, and went inside.

Upon entering the room, he saw that the spot where Hu Xinhua was lying was covered by a cloth, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Several constables were checking inside when they saw Lin Ziping enter. They all looked up and greeted him with smiles: "Little Lin, are you alright?"

During this period at the county government office, apart from Shi Yong, everyone else had been ignoring Lin Ziping. This was the first time they had taken the initiative to greet him.

"It's all over now," Lin Ziping replied with a smile.

"Brother Shi is inside, why don't you go in and take a look?" a constable said.

Lin Ziping didn't want to stay in the room with the corpse any longer, so he walked into the inner room.

The threshold was still as high as ever. Lin Ziping thought to himself, "How was this house built? The threshold is so high that it's hard to even lift my leg. Did they not consider design standards and ergonomics at all?"

The clanging sound grew clearer and clearer. The light in the room was dim, and Lin Ziping, having just entered, hadn't yet adjusted to the light and couldn't see clearly.

After a while, his eyes finally adjusted and he saw a stove and pots and pans in the room. The clanging sound was coming from behind the stove. Lin Ziping looked around but didn't see Shi Yong. Instead, he saw the yamen runner, Old Huang, squatting in the corner, doing something.

He walked over to see what Lao Huang was doing.

Upon closer inspection, Lin Ziping nearly screamed in terror again. Old Huang was squatting on the ground, looking at a little girl covered in blood, motionless. The girl, like Hu Xinhua, was probably a corpse.

Lin Zi calmed himself down, took two steps back, walked around Lao Huang, and prepared to go behind the stove to take a look. Behind the stove, a woman was kneeling on the ground with her back to him, her hands moving up and down, and it seemed that the "clanging" sound was coming from there.

Upon closer inspection, there was a pile of dark red things on the cutting board, which had been chopped into small pieces. The woman was Qin Niang. Lin Ziping hadn't seen her clearly before and thought she was kneeling, but now he realized that Qin Niang was placed in a wooden basin.

"Qin..." Lin Ziping was about to call out when a large hand covered his mouth, and he was pulled back several steps.

Looking back, it was Old Huang.

Lin Ziping suddenly felt nauseous. Old Huang must have touched the little girl's corpse just now.

"Xiao Lin, what are you doing?" Old Huang put his hand down and asked in a low voice.

Lin Ziping pointed at Qin Niang and asked, "What's she doing here?"

“We’ve looked inside and out, and she’s the only one left alive in this house. Her husband and children are all dead,” Old Huang said in a low voice.

Lin Ziping was horrified; apart from a disabled woman, everyone else in the family had been murdered.

"Do you have any leads on the killer?" Lin Ziping asked in a low voice.

Old Huang's expression was somewhat complicated, and he pointed at Qin Niang.

"Qinniang?" Lin Ziping asked in confusion.

Old Huang nodded and said, "It's pretty much true."

Hu Xinhua is a very strong man. Even an ordinary woman couldn't possibly do anything to him, right?

Seemingly noticing Lin Ziping's confusion, Old Huang asked, "Do you know what she chopped up?"

"Meat?" Lin Ziping asked.

Old Huang looked at Lin Ziping like he was an idiot and said, "Hu Xinhua's flesh, do you know where Hu Xinhua's flesh is? This woman is really ruthless. After killing her own daughter and husband, she even cut off the man's genitals and chopped them up. None of us dared to go forward. She's a crazy woman..."

There? Where is that?

Lin Ziping didn't react at first, but when he saw Lao Huang winking at him, he immediately understood. Thinking of the finely chopped things he had just seen on the cutting board, Lin Ziping couldn't hold back any longer. He pushed Lao Huang away, ran into the yard, and vomited violently.

He couldn't help but curse inwardly; this was utterly disgusting!