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墨書 Inktalez
Shen Tong took the jade pendant from Lin Mingchang's hands, turning it over in the light as she pondered, "Professor Yang told us this is a 'key.' Could it be that this 'key' doesn't refer to the pendant itself, but rather to something hidden within it?"
As she spoke, she angled the pendant towards the light and squinted for a moment before suddenly noticing something unusual. "Lin Mingchang, come look! The thickness of this pendant seems uneven."
Lin Mingchang quickly took the pendant and examined it closely under the light. "Hmm... you're right. It looks like... this pendant is made of two pieces of jade glued together!"
He turned and rummaged through his luggage by the bed, retrieving a small folding knife. He gently scraped along the edge of the pendant.
Shen Tong leaned in closer, using her flashlight to provide better illumination.
"Crack—"
With a soft sound, the pendant split perfectly in half. Inside, it was indeed hollow, containing a rolled-up piece of paper!
Lin Mingchang carefully unrolled the paper and discovered that it was filled with strange symbols and corresponding Chinese characters written in tiny script.
"This is... a translation cipher!" Shen Tong exclaimed softly. "It's the translation cipher for The Whisper of the Yellow Swan!"
"No wonder Professor Yang said this is a key," Lin Mingchang said excitedly. "With this, we can decipher The Whisper of the Yellow Swan. I'll have Xiaoshuang take a picture of this later."
The two became engrossed in studying the Password Book, completely unaware that night had fallen outside and they had forgotten to eat dinner until Xiaoshuang knocked on the door and entered.
"The photos are developed; you must see the details of these tattoos."
As the three spread out the photos, there was another knock at the door. Fang Zigui pushed it open, holding a medical book.
"I found something," Zigui said, opening the book and pointing to a section. "By observing how the blood of the three deceased reacted to different drugs, I can basically confirm that all three died from poisoning. The toxin used by the murderer is an ancient poison called Lost Soul Powder, derived from Chudu Shaman's secret formula. The poisoned individuals enter a state of delirium before death and feel no pain from the poisoning, which means there would be no struggle or cries for help. Their so-called 'suicides' were likely staged by the murderer after they died from poisoning."
After hearing Zigui's findings, silence fell over the room as images of the scholars' tragic states before their deaths filled everyone's minds.
After a moment, Lin Mingchang broke the silence. "Zigui's discovery confirms our first hypothesis—that these three suicides were actually meticulously planned murders. Our second hypothesis is that the murderer killed these scholars to obtain The Whisper of the Yellow Swan. But did he succeed?"
"Perhaps these tattoos can provide us with an answer," Xiaoshuang suggested as she arranged all the tattoo photos in order according to the three deceased.
The four gathered around the photos, examining them closely in silence for a while.
"Wait!" Shen Tong suddenly spoke up, reaching out to rearrange the photos in front of her.
"Look! If we arrange them this way, don't these tattoos form a complete pattern when combined?"
The other three exchanged looks of realization as they saw Shen Tong's new arrangement—the seemingly independent tattoo designs on each person now came together to form a complete sequence of symbols.
"This is the complete version of The Whisper of the Yellow Swan!" Lin Mingchang exclaimed in shock. "These three scholars must have discovered that someone was coveting The Whisper of the Yellow Swan. To protect this ancient cultural heritage, they recorded parts of it on their bodies through tattoos and then destroyed the original!"
"And the murderer found out about this," Shen Tong continued. "In order to obtain the complete The Whisper of the Yellow Swan, he cold-bloodedly killed these three individuals..."
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