Chapter 322: Looking for a Gun (Part 2)
[Note: The wax drop in the previous chapter was originally intended to be a mechanism, but when it was written, there was an obvious bug, so it had to be greatly changed - the clue of the wax in the previous chapter has been deleted.]
After staring at the bloodstain on his cuffs for a while, Sun Shaozong stood up and immediately ordered, "Come here, tie up Luo Jing and keep him under custody for the time being!"
"Yes, sir!"
Yang Licai, who had been standing at the door, immediately left the warehouse with his sword at his waist.
"Captain Sun."
When he heard that Luo Jing was going to be arrested, Lu Yuan became excited and said happily: "Could it be that Luo Jing did this? This guy is really daring!"
Zhu Shan felt that something was a little strange. Although Luo Jing was a bit domineering on weekdays, Zhu Shan didn't believe that he had the courage to do such a thing.
Plus, I've heard that the Northern and Southern Pacification Offices often ganged up on each other to fight against dissidents...
"Captain Sun."
He couldn't help but ask carefully: "Was this really done by Luo Jing?"
"Of course not!"
Sun Shaozong first gave a negative answer, and then said: "However, he was responsible for the supervision, but he allowed a spy in an important position to lurk in the gunpowder bureau for many years without being investigated. This crime of dereliction of duty cannot be escaped!"
"A spy in an important position?!"
Zhu Shan was startled, and then he cast a suspicious look at Lu Yuan. At present, besides him and Luo Jing, the only person who could be considered to hold an important position in the gunpowder bureau was Lu Yuan.
Who would have thought that when he looked over, he found that Lu Yuan was also looking at him with suspicion - it turned out that Lu Yuan was also suspicious of him.
"You two don't have to doubt each other anymore."
At this time, Sun Shaozong pointed at Du Ning's body and said, "The spy I'm talking about is not someone else, but this guy on the ground."
"What?!"
“No way?!”
Zhu Shan and Lu Yuan were both stunned, and then they couldn't help but question: "Captain Sun, if Du Ning is really a spy, then who killed him?"
Sun Shaozong pursed his lips again and said, "Of course it was the guy on the ground who did it."
Zhu Shan was smarter after all, and immediately realized: "You mean, Du Ning died by suicide?!"
"That's right."
Sun Shaozong nodded and said, "There are currently two flaws that can prove my inference."
"First, the lantern he used that day. After repeated tests, I found that to cause the outer copper net to change into that state, at least a considerable amount of force must have been exerted. In other words, the lantern was thrown to the ground by Du Ning, rather than simply falling out of his hand."
"this……"
Zhu Shan couldn't help but question again: "Maybe he discovered the murderer and threw the lantern at him?"
Sun Shaozong shook his head and said, "If it was thrown out, how could it land right on his left hand? Moreover, if it was a horizontal force, it should have left more rolling marks, and it would not be like this-"
As he spoke, he pointed to the mark on the ground that was circled with cinnabar and continued, "It wouldn't be like what's happening now. It just bounced on the ground, rolled two and a half circles, and then stopped obediently."
"So it's basically certain that he took the initiative to throw the lantern to the ground!"
"No matter how you look at it, this doesn't seem like the reaction a normal person would have after being attacked in the dark."
"As for the other flaw, it's the marks on his hands and sleeves."
Sun Shaozong said as he forcefully turned the corpse's wrist upwards, pointed at the abnormally bent fingers, and said, "I call this kind of stiff twisting a corpse spasm. Generally, for corpses with this condition, the joint muscles will instantly stiffen after death and become fixed at the moment of death."
"And judging from his appearance, it was obvious that he wanted to grab something before he died, but unfortunately he didn't get the chance to do so."
"But did he really catch nothing?"
Sun Shaozong pressed his hands together again - the corpse was completely stiff at this time. It was because of his extraordinary strength that he could use brute force to force the corpse to submit, which was impossible for ordinary people to do.
When the two hands were put together, the bloodstains on the two sleeves overlapped, and from some details of the shape, it was obvious that the bloodstains were splashed on at the same time.
"It is obvious that the two hands were once closed together when the wound was bleeding profusely!"
"Besides, it's so tight that there's probably no room for a third hand to get involved!"
"But this bayonet..."
Sun Shaozong picked up the bayonet on the ground and stuffed the buckle on the handle between the two hands. Although it was not a perfect fit, it was just right.
"If he had been in this position when you found the body, it would have been possible to say that the murderer had let go of the weapon immediately after the attack, and then he had grasped the weapon."
"But his hands were clearly clasped together, yet when he was discovered, they were hanging down at his sides!"
“Two possibilities!”
Sun Shaozong held up two fingers and said, "The first possibility is that the murderer used force to pry his hands apart after he grabbed the bayonet."
"The second possibility is that before he died, he didn't want people to know that he had tightly grasped the bayonet, so he let go of the bayonet despite the severe pain - but he was unable to change the spasmodic grip that naturally appeared in his hands under the severe pain and tension."
"Considering that the murder weapon was left at the scene, I don't see why the murderer would have needed to pry open his fingers, so -"
Sun Shaozong spread his hands and said, "I can only infer that he directed and acted in this wonderful play himself!"
This line of reasoning cannot be said to be unreasonable.
only……
"Captain Sun."
Lu Yuan scratched his head and said, "If he really committed suicide, where did the two guns go? Did they grow legs and fly away ?!"
“This…”
Just as Sun Shaozong was about to explain, Jia Shanyao approached cautiously and said, "Sir, I am incompetent and I really didn't find anything strange."
Didn’t find anything strange?
Sun Shaozong was slightly stunned, then muttered to himself: "That's right, since this is a military factory, it shouldn't be difficult to get a few tools that are easy to disassemble."
As he spoke, he waved his hand at Jia Shanyao and said, "Forget it. I was not thoughtful enough just now. Let the brothers go out first."
Jia Shanyao was a little puzzled, but he still followed orders and coaxed all the Dragon Guards who were transferred in out .
After the warehouse was quiet, Sun Shaozong led everyone to the middle of the south gun racks and pointed at a few of them and said, "Take down the muskets and bayonets on them. Look carefully at these racks and see how they are different from the other racks."
Jia Shanyao and Lu Yuan immediately stepped forward and swiftly took the musket off the shelf.
Jia Shanyao didn't notice anything wrong, but when Lu Yuan picked up a musket, he couldn't help but exclaimed, frowning and asking, "Why is it so loose?"
"What's loose?"
Jia Shanyao held the rifle in confusion, turning it over and over again, but he couldn't find any loose part.
"I'm talking about the rack!"
As Lu Yuan spoke, he stretched out his hand and grabbed the empty gun rack. He shook it hard, and the rack began to sway slightly.
“Huh?!”
Zhu Shan also noticed something was wrong immediately, and hurried forward to fiddle with another shelf, then said with certainty: "These shelves must have been reassembled and unassembled by someone, and it was done by a novice! "
“That’s right!”
Lu Yuan nodded and said, "This gun rack was made not long ago, there is no way it can be so loose - you have to know that our Gunpowder Bureau is the Military Equipment Bureau, and the craftsmanship requirements are the most stringent!"
But he immediately became confused again, wondering: "Who has nothing better to do than to dismantle this thing?"
"Of course it's to create a sleight of hand!"
Sun Shaozong said, pointing to a not-so-obvious mark on the table, "Look carefully, there are seven or eight such slight scratches on the table, which is exactly the same as the number of loose shelves."
The three of them rushed over to look for it, and indeed found many scratches.
"It's glue! They must have used something like fish bladder glue to glue the loose shelf directly to the table !"
Zhu Shan had been the supervisor for several years, and he quickly determined the origin of these traces.
“That’s right!”
Sun Shaozong continued, "But one of the shelves was not glued on, but was hidden by Du Ning - until last night, when it was wedged back onto the table along with the other shelves!"
As he spoke, he pointed to the gun rack opposite him and said, "There are similar marks on the other side."
"So the two guns didn't disappear out of thin air last night, but were stolen long before last night!"
"This is one of the reasons why I want to take down Luo Jing. This guy came for a routine checkup the day before yesterday afternoon, but he was fooled by this little trick. This shows how perfunctory he is in his daily life!"
