I was recently forced to switch input methods, so there have been more typos. Please bear with me, dear readers.
Sun Shaozong found the ladders behind the main hall's doors. There was more than one, and they appeared to have been routinely stored there.
Judging by the marks on them, at least two ladders had been used by the murderer last night. However, it was still difficult to determine whether they had been used one after the other or simultaneously.
Sun Shaozong set one of the ladders beneath the eaves, nimbly climbed up, and soon reached the same height as the corpse.
As mentioned earlier, the corpse was directly above the hall doors, where the plaque would normally hang.
Since Tianshi Mansion had not yet been fully completed, the main hall's plaque had not been hung. There were only two decorative studs intended to support it, crookedly slanting toward the eaves.
The corpse's torso was hanging between those two studs.
From up close, he could clearly see that seven iron nails, each as thick as a little finger, had been driven into the corpse. Three formed a straight line through the neck, chest, and abdomen, while one each pierced the wrists and calves.
Sun Shaozong also discovered distinct rope marks on the corpse's abdomen, then found traces of rope having been wound around the two studs.
His preliminary conclusion was that the corpse had first been tied to the two studs before the "nailing operation" began. Only after enough nails had been driven in to support the corpse's weight had the ropes been untied.
Judging from the wear and tear on the corpse's various body parts, this man should have been young, no more than thirty at most, and rarely engaged in heavy manual labor.
His skin was also considerably