Whoosh!
Everyone's gaze followed Liang Yue's pointing finger and turned in unison toward that direction. On the floor of the inner room lay the victim of this case: Zhen Changzhi, a managing official of the Ministry of Works.
"Liang, what nonsense are you talking about?" Hu Tiehan froze. "You mean the victim helped the murderer?"
"What he means is, if no one forced the window open from outside, perhaps someone opened it from within." Ling Yuanbao's eyes shone brightly, as though she had been inspired. She continued, "And the only person who could have done that was Director Zhen, who was alone in the study at the time."
"Correct." Liang Yue smiled at Ling Yuanbao. "My guess is that the murderer had some secret arrangement with Director Zhen and could not meet him openly, so they arranged to meet this way. When Director Zhen opened the window to let the murderer in, he probably never imagined that the other party would kill him."
"I considered that possibility too, but one look deeper and it falls apart." Ling Yuanbao frowned again. "Even if Director Zhen let the murderer in, after the murderer left, who latched the window from inside? It could not have been the already-dead Director Zhen."
"Who said the murderer had to leave through the window?" Liang Yue said. "The murderer left through the front door."
"Impossible!" Zhen Xiaohao immediately cried. "Do not listen to his sophistry! I was kneeling outside the door the entire time. Absolutely no one opened it!"
Liang Yue suddenly pointed at Zhen Xiaohao. "You opened the door!"
"Ah?" Zhen Xiaohao blanked out for a moment, and everyone around him was likewise stunned.
Liang Yue looked at Zhen Xiaohao. "When his hour of kneeling as punishment ended, it was already dark. Seeing that there was no light in the study, he found it strange and pushed the door open to check... At that time, the room was dimly lit, so he probably did not notice much."
"If he had looked up when he entered, he might have seen..." Liang Yue took several more steps forward, then abruptly raised his hand and pointed above the study doorway. "A figure was lying hidden atop the beam over this door!"
"Ah?" At his gesture, startled cries rose around them once more.
"The murderer climbed over the rear courtyard wall. Director Zhen opened the window and let him into the study. After killing Director Zhen, the murderer arranged the scene and latched the window again, but he did not leave afterward. If he had opened the door and left then, Zhen Xiaohao would definitely have seen him. But when Zhen Xiaohao opened the door, the murderer was clinging above the doorway, supporting himself with his hands and feet. Once Zhen Xiaohao entered the inner room, the murderer flipped out along with the motion, silently followed the eaves and roof ridges, climbed over the wall, and left. For a martial arts master, that would have posed no difficulty at all."
"When Zhen Xiaohao discovered his father's body, he probably never guessed that the true murderer who killed his father had just been directly above his head! And the one who opened the door for the murderer to escape was himself!"
As Liang Yue loudly laid out his deduction of the case, everyone's eyes filled with astonishment. Zhen Xiaohao, who had been dazed at the side, wore a look of lingering fear, and a chill slowly crept down his spine.
So he had entered the study beneath the murderer's gaze?
And he had even opened the door for the man with his own hands?
Thinking of a pair of cold, shadowy eyes above his head watching every step he took, it felt as though venomous snakes were crawling across his limbs, sending chills through him. If the other party had been more ruthless, would he not have killed him too?
Fortunately, he had only killed Father.
"This..." Ling Yuanbao sank into thought, her delicate features on her fair face wrinkling slightly together.
She had never considered such a possibility. Aside from Liang Yue, no one had raised such a deduction either. If the murderer had truly remained here calmly waiting after killing someone, how cold-blooded and terrifying would that be?
Yet upon careful thought, it was entirely reasonable.
"Captain Ling, please go up to the beam and verify it." Liang Yue pointed.
Ling Yuanbao immediately sprang up with a rustle, bracing one palm against the crossbeam above the door and lowering herself onto it.
Only after getting up there did she feel that something was off. Tilting her head, she muttered softly, "Eh? Why am I following his orders?"
But since she was already there, she could not help but look up.
The Zhen household lacked servants to clean, and the beams were covered in a thick layer of old dust. Yet amid that dust, there were indeed two rubbed-away marks, faintly resembling handprints and footprints.
"There really are traces of someone having hidden here!" she called loudly.
Her tone carried surprise, realization, and a trace of admiration. This subordinate guard had truly managed to crack the method behind this locked-room murder.
Yet not a single person from the Ministry of Justice, herself included, had thought of it.
Ling Yuanbao did not stop there. She leaped again, caught the eaves, and in a flash flipped onto the roof, moving as nimbly as a swimming dragon. Lowering herself, she inspected the dark bluish-black tiles carefully and indeed found two faint footprints.
"There are footprints here too!" she shouted again.
Below, Hu Tiehan stared at Liang Yue with shining eyes. "You brat, you really are something! Just as expected of someone I taught!"
A moment later, everyone gathered in the study again. Liang Yue was now holding his head high, his status having leapt from the prime suspect to the man who had uncovered the method behind the crime scene.
When Ling Yuanbao landed, there was a measure of admiration in her gaze toward him, though she still said, "Until the murderer is found, your suspicion cannot be completely cleared. I will not detain you and take you back to the Ministry of Justice for now, but neither of you brothers may leave Dragon Abyss City. You must report to the Ministry of Justice regularly."
"Rest assured, Captain Ling. Not only will I not leave, I will do everything in my power to help the Ministry of Justice solve this case." Liang Yue said.
That was indeed what he truly thought.
Because as long as the real culprit remained uncaught, the suspicion on the two brothers could not be fully washed away. This was a heinous major case involving the murder of a court official. If His Majesty flew into a rage and placed pressure on the Ministry of Justice, setting a deadline of several days to solve it, they might, under unbearable pressure, turn their calculations back upon his family.
Once they entered Ministry of Justice Prison, they might confess overnight and become the true culprits of this case.
Such things had not failed to happen before.
So, for safety's sake, they still needed to settle this case as quickly as possible.
"Good." Ling Yuanbao's expression had softened considerably. "If you have any new ideas, you may also come to the Ministry of Justice and find me at any time."
"No problem." Chen Ju darted out from the side with a fawning smile. "I will accompany him to visit Captain Ling often."
"Get lost." She remained cold toward Chen Ju.
"Ah."
The two exchanged a crisp, clean volley.
"There are indeed several suspicious points in this case..." Liang Yue ignored them and spoke directly. "First, the letter Lord Zhen was reading—I suspect it has much to do with the murderer, yet it has not been found at the scene. Second, since the murderer was capable of arranging all this, why did he use such a crude method to kill? If he truly wanted to disguise Lord Zhen's death as suicide, that should not have been difficult..."
The murderer's martial cultivation was not low. If he had truly wanted to make Zhen Changzhi appear to have committed suicide, there were certainly better methods. Rather than killing him with a single finger strike and then hanging him afterward.
This disguise was like trying to fool a child. Who would leave wounds like that from hanging? A coroner would spot the suspicious points with the slightest examination of the body. It had no deceptive value whatsoever.
If the murderer had killed in a fit of passion and arranged things in a panic, that might have made sense. But judging by how calmly he had waited, he was absolutely a composed and seasoned sort.
That made this behavior rather strange.
It was simply...
As though he had deliberately lured them here to investigate.
Why would the murderer do that? Perhaps only by figuring out that question could they discover who the true culprit was.
"Seal up every item here. Search this room thoroughly again tomorrow. Also assign more people to investigate Zhen Changzhi's usual connections and see whom he had been secretly contacting." Ling Yuanbao issued orders to her subordinates one by one.
Although Captain Ling could sometimes be a little airheaded, her reasoning in handling cases was orderly and clear. Liang Yue saw no problem with it.
It was no longer possible to identify the murderer from the scene itself. There were countless martial artists in the divine capital, and they could not investigate them one by one. They could only begin with Zhen Changzhi's usual network of relationships.
"Wait." Remembering something, he stopped the constable who was about to place seals on the books and papers atop the desk.
"When Captain Ling's scabbard struck the desk just now, I felt that the sound was a little off." He stepped forward and ran his palm over the broad desk.
This time, Ling Yuanbao did not stop him from touching it. She merely watched quietly from the side.
Not only her—the entire Ministry of Justice staff tolerated Liang Yue's actions. Though they usually despised those rough Imperial Capital Guard men who knew nothing of investigations and ruined crime scenes, this little subordinate guard had eyes like torches and a sharp, agile mind.
His performance just now had earned him the Ministry of Justice's recognition.
Liang Yue curled his fingers and tapped twice with his knuckles.
Knock, knock.
This time, everyone noticed that something was wrong.
This desk seemed to be hollow?
Liang Yue looked around, then reached beneath it to feel around. Sure enough, he found a narrow hole. He inserted his middle and ring fingers, probing with both until he quickly felt a small protrusion. He hooked it hard.
Click.
A drawer popped out from the center of the desk!
There really was a mechanism!
Inside the compartment lay only a single dark bronze key, gleaming faintly with an oily sheen in the dim light.
Thanks to "No Matter What, No Care" for becoming this book's eighth VIP Alliance Leader. Also, an old friend whose name I recognize well—many thanks, many thanks.
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