Case #1

Missing young woman case

Nine missing girls corpses found drained of blood - the truth is they were killed to make Dead Bone Spice.

Dead Bone Spice is rare and can only be created by draining blood from suitable young woman.

Missing children case

More than 20 children has gone missing - the truth is they are kidnapped to become offerings to an evil flower who'll bear fruit of immortality.

Rumors of Puppet Doll

Both cases had rumor that a puppet doll was involved. Which triggers Li Si, who is searching for the truth of 17 years ago when he was harmed and saw a puppet doll. He made himself seems like a suspect so he can get involved with the investigation and he also wanted to infiltrate Tianshu Pavillion, which holds records of cases so he can investigate further the happenings of 17 years ago.

For this case however, the case culprit was a dwarf, like the size of a puppet doll, hence the rumor.

The truth

The young women were killed to create the Dead Bone Spice. Which was needed in order to dispel the illusions and open the path to enter the Black Wind Forest. The missing children was stolen to be an offering and nurturing to the Evil Flower Tianmoluo, said to be able to bear the fruit of immortality.

The village's doctor Master Sun (Yuyao's father) was an accomplice; the doctor would inform the culprit whenever the children are riped for the taking (when their baby tooth falls out). The magistrate Du Yi An was an accomplice; the children are actually orphans which Du Yi An arranged for the villagers to adopt and care for them until they can be used.

The case culprit is a dwarf, who's height and size made it ideal to commit the crime (such as crawling through a small dog hole to break into the house). He also disguised himself as a normal man, the coroner Wen Nansheng to commit the crimes. Using his coroner identity, he obtained the list of children that ready to be kidnap from the doctor Master Sun, and to bring the children into the forest he needed those Dead Bone Spice to enter safely.

There's likely a bigger mastermind behind, because the dwarf was talking to a masked figure in the forest.