The Killer Had Already Fled

"Chu Qing, Head-Slicing Hall, even the Blood River Gang—all their manpower is at your disposal."

"You must find some clues."

Hall Master Liu, his mouth full of blood, patted Chu Qing's shoulder.

"If you can't find any clues, I'll treat you to an iron basin."

Chu Qing secretly laughed. "Hall Master, rest assured. I'll definitely find clues."

Hall Master Liu's face darkened as he said to the many minor leaders:

"From now on, you are to follow him day and night and search for clues."

He was afraid Chu Qing would run away.

Chu Qing sneered inwardly.

Investigate myself? Why would I run?

A hundred thoughts raced through Chu Qing's mind. In an instant, he considered many things before saying:

"Hall Master Liu, I need absolute authority over all the minor leaders."

Hall Master Liu nodded. "No problem."

Right now, the primary task was searching for clues about the killer.

Whatever Chu Qing wanted, he would provide.

All he wanted was to find the killer quickly.

At the thought of the killer, Hall Master Liu's teeth itched with rage.

"Liu Jun's death was what caused the authorities to intervene."

"And before Liu Jun died, he had been investigating Liu Xiaogou's death."

"You can start from that angle."

Chu Qing smiled. "Yes."

Investigate?

Everyone who knew the inside story of Liu Xiaogou's death was dead.

How was he supposed to investigate?

Shortly afterward, Hall Master Liu left.

Chu Qing gathered all the minor leaders of Head-Slicing Hall, more than fifty of them in total.

Each minor leader had more than ten men under him.

Chu Qing selected over fifty men from among them.

This group was dim-witted, but obedient.

He then divided Stone Rock County into ten districts and had the minor leaders repeatedly sweep through and search them.

As for himself, he drew fifty taels of silver from Head-Slicing Hall and went to the authorities again.

He sought out the constable who had gone to the Martial Hall before.

The constable's surname was Li, a loyal lackey of Chief Constable Shi.

Constable Li stared fixedly at the Snowflake Silver and said:

"Two days ago, you were learning martial arts at the Martial Hall. I never expected you to become a chief subordinate today."

"Congratulations."

Chu Qing smiled. "Constable Li, it is all thanks to your favor."

Constable Li burst out laughing. "This has nothing to do with me. You're the one with ability."

After the two flattered each other for a while, Chu Qing said:

"Sir, Chief Constable Shi has asked me to investigate clues about the killer. I wonder where I should begin?"

Constable Li pocketed the Snowflake Silver and smiled.

"Sir once said that the killer might be hiding in haunted houses, old residences, abandoned temples, and places like that."

"You can't go wrong searching those places."

Chu Qing said gratefully, "Constable Li, you are righteous and generous."

"Once this little brother has secured his position as chief subordinate, I will definitely come trouble you again."

Constable Li's heart stirred. The boy knows the road.

"Remember, what Chief Constable Shi wants is an attitude. As for the killer... as long as his legs weren't broken, he may have fled long ago."

Chu Qing's heart stirred, and he thanked him again and again.

A few minutes later, Chu Qing led a large group of hooligans in a grand procession to search haunted houses and old residences, then abandoned temples and Taoist Temples.

By evening, he borrowed brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from Madam Jin and wrote a report.

Its general meaning was as follows:

Under the wise guidance of the leadership group headed by Chief Constable Shi in Stone Rock County, new avenues of thought had been opened... and the investigation into the killer had begun.

There were a total of two hundred and eighty haunted houses and old residences in Stone Rock County. Twenty had been investigated today, with no traces found.

Three abandoned temples and Taoist Temples had been investigated. Signs of habitation were found in one Earth God Temple, and the investigation was continuing through the night.

Blah blah.

Yada yada.

Chu Qing wrote seven or eight hundred words in one breath.

Most of it praised Chief Constable Shi's wisdom and the correctness of his overall direction.

When Chief Constable Shi saw the report, he was momentarily stunned.

"A hooligan leader can actually write formal documents with organized clauses?"

Quite curious, he skimmed it over and was very satisfied.

He read it carefully once more, then smiled. "Bring me a brush!"

A maid hurriedly brought over brush and ink.

Chief Constable Shi flourished his brush like a dragon soaring and a phoenix dancing as he wrote his comments:

Reviewed

Keep up the good work

The next day:

At an abandoned haunted house, dozens of hooligans wielded hoes and iron shovels, some digging up the ground, others smashing down walls.

"Brother Qing, we found a false wall. There are fifty taels of Silver inside, along with several books."

Chu Qing smiled. "Throw the silver into the basket. Bring me the books."

"Yes, Brother Qing."

The hooligans busied themselves while Chu Qing read.

Though the residence had been abandoned for a long time, the books had been wrapped in oil paper, with camphor and other insect-repelling herbs inside. None of the books had been damaged.

After flipping through them, he discovered that one was actually a biography of a scholar from the previous dynasty.

Madam Jin had only a few such biographies. They were extremely precious.

Chu Qing studied it with relish.

Several others were tales of gods, ghosts, and strange monsters, wildly bizarre and unrestrained.

Still, he read every one of them.

By the time he finished the books, the enormous haunted house had already been razed flat by the hooligans.

They had gathered quite a lot of broken silver, shattered porcelain fragments, copper coins, and the like.

Chu Qing divided the silver into three shares:

One share went to the hooligans, one to Constable Li, and the largest share was wrapped up with a report and sent to Chief Constable Shi.

Under the leadership headed by Chief Constable Shi... blah blah.

A quantity of stolen goods hidden by the killer had been discovered... yada yada!

At the end, he subtly indicated that he wanted to advance.

Chief Constable Shi took a sip of wine, pointed at Chu Qing's report, and said to Constable Li, "Look, this is what you call professionalism."

"Searching for the killer's tracks without disturbing the people, clearing out haunted houses, and even finding part of the stolen goods."

"A talent."

Constable Li smiled. "Sir is wise."

Chief Constable Shi smiled. "This is called... opening new avenues of thought... right?"

Constable Li bowed and scraped. "What sir says is correct."

Chief Constable Shi sighed inwardly. Constable Li was loyal enough, but he had no education and was inferior to Chu Qing.

Once this matter is over, should I promote him?

Just then, a servant delivered an invitation.

"Sir, Seventh Young Master Hejiwu invites you to a banquet."

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

That day, as Chu Qing and his underlings worked enthusiastically to demolish the last abandoned Taoist Temple, one of them found a finger-thick copper tube inside a broken deity statue.

"Master Qing, this thing was hidden inside a deity statue. It must be valuable."

"Unscrew it."

Crack!

The hooligan twisted it open, and a roll of yellow paper covered in writing fell out.

Chu Qing snatched it up and casually glanced over it. His heart immediately raced, and his pupils contracted.

He carelessly tossed the yellow paper into the book basket and said calmly:

"Just a scrap of paper. It's worthless."

"Keep working."

The hooligan drooped his head in disappointment. If it was worthless, he could not get extra money.

Depressing.

He continued smashing the deity statue and prying up floor tiles, dreaming of finding some gold or silver.

Chu Qing stared at him without blinking.

"Fortunately, this hooligan can't read."

"Otherwise... I would have killed him on the spot."

Because what was recorded on that sheet of paper inside the copper tube was simply too precious.

It was a secret medicine formula.

Secret medicine was precious.

The formula was even more precious.

More precious still was this: what it recorded was the formula for Toad Secret Medicine.

The Secret Transmission Toad Skill could increase one's foundation and speed up cultivation progress.

But without secret medicine, it could not be improved.

Now, the secret medicine formula was in hand.

Could the secret medicine be far behind?

At that moment, Chu Qing wished night would fall at once so that he could study the formula and make the secret medicine.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He directly took out the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone borrowed from Madam Jin and began writing a report:

Under the leadership headed by Chief Constable Shi...

A quantity of stolen goods had been discovered...

Traces of the killer fleeing outside the city had been found... suspected of having escaped far away.

At the end, as usual, he subtly indicated that he wanted to advance.

Finally, Chu Qing packed up the gold and silver, forged evidence that the killer had left the city, attached the report, and sent it to Chief Constable Shi.

"I hope that chief constable knows what is good for him and takes this chance to abandon the pursuit."

"As the killer, I really am not suited to searching for the killer!"