Heavenly Dog Devouring Heart Incident on Xinglong Street, Part One

Before dawn had fully broken, a burst of chaotic hoofbeats shattered the tranquility of Xinglong Street.

But the residents nearby had long since grown used to it—after all, the street had been in an uproar since the middle of the night, without a moment's peace.

Seeing the white funeral banners ahead and the shadowy crowd gathered around them, Sun Shaozong knew he had reached the scene. He slowed his horse slightly and announced in a clear voice, "I am Sun Shaozong, Judicial Assistant Magistrate of Shuntian Prefecture. Who is in charge here?"

"Lord Sun, you've finally arrived!"

Before the words had even faded, a minor official in green robes slipped out from the crowd. It was none other than Judicial Inspector Zhou Da. He hurried over with one shoulder dipped in obsequiousness, caught hold of the reins, and said, "Assistant Minister Jia has sent people asking several times already. If you hadn't come soon, this subordinate truly wouldn't have known how to answer him!"

Ever since he had been made the scapegoat at the welcoming banquet, Zhou Da had simply thrown in his lot with Sun Shaozong out of spite—after all, he had risen from the ranks of clerks, and could hardly be considered a proper scholar-official himself.

Though Sun Shaozong had never openly stated his position, neither had he stopped Zhou Da from treating himself as one of his master's hounds.

"Assistant Minister Jia?"

Sun Shaozong frowned at this. At the highest level, this case should have been handled personally by Prefect Han Anbang; at the lowest, Liu Chongshan, the judicial administrator specifically responsible for criminal cases, should have stepped forward. How had it ended up in Jia Yucun's hands?

Seeing him frown in silence, Zhou Da vaguely guessed the reason and hastily lowered his voice to explain, "Assistant Minister Jia only moved to Xinglong Street yesterday. He lives right next door to Vice Minister Ge."

What rotten luck!

If he had moved in even one day later, this case probably would never have fallen into his lap!

For a moment, Sun Shaozong was speechless. He had only thought Jia Yucun possessed by a god of misfortune—never realizing that the source of this affair actually lay with himself.

Had Sun Shaozong not helped him back then, Jia Yucun's arrival in the capital to take up his post would have been delayed another three or four days. His move to Xinglong Street would have had to wait until the middle of the second month as well, allowing him to neatly avoid this bizarre case that caused such a stir before being muddled to a close.

But now...

Following Zhou Da, Sun Shaozong hurried to the study of the Ge residence. There he saw Jia Yucun standing with his hands behind his back before the door that had been smashed open. His face was as black as though someone had smeared it with ink; his brows, nose, and eyes all radiated a terrifyingly low pressure. Within ten feet of him was simply forbidden ground to strangers!

Only when he saw Sun Shaozong did a hint of delight appear on his face. Without caring that Zhou Da, Zhao Wuwei, and the others were present, he stepped forward, seized Sun Shaozong by the sleeve, and said excitedly, "Worthy brother, no matter what, you must lend this old brother a hand this time!"

Sun Shaozong could understand his feelings. A newly appointed official encountering such a major case—if he solved it, he would win boundless glory. But if he failed... punishment from above would be one thing, but the real issue was losing face and having his authority swept away. What capital would he have left to contend with Han Anbang afterward?

But Sun Shaozong had not even grasped the basic circumstances of the case yet. How could he dare boast so recklessly?

He could only promise solemnly, "Assistant Minister, rest assured. I will certainly do everything in my power and strive to uncover the truth of this case!"

"Good, good, good!"

Jia Yucun repeated "good" three times, yet forgot to release Sun Shaozong's sleeve. That alone showed how completely at a loss he was.

Left with no choice, Sun Shaozong said again, "My lord, could you allow this subordinate to first inspect the scene of the crime, then question the parties involved?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Jia Yucun hurriedly pointed toward the room on the eastern side. "Zhao Wuwei, quickly take Prefect Sun to inspect the scene! Zhou Da, go summon every one of those witnesses!"

Only then did Sun Shaozong manage to get away.

He did not rush inside. Instead, he first carefully examined the layout of Vice Minister Ge's study. In wealthy households, the study was often also where the master lived and received guests, and the Ge residence was no exception.

At the center stood an exquisite and elegant reception hall. The true study lay to the west, while the crime scene was in the bedroom on the eastern side.

When Sun Shaozong reached the bedroom, he immediately noticed that its door had also been forcibly smashed open. Judging from the broken crossbar on the ground, it too had originally been bolted from within—exactly like the outer door of the reception hall.

A locked-room murder?!

Sun Shaozong's heart tightened. In the cases he had solved before, though the killers had all attempted to conceal their crimes, they had done so hastily after the fact, leaving behind plenty of clues.

But locked-room murders like this were generally the result of careful planning by the killer. The scene would often have been meticulously cleaned, making the case far more difficult to solve than an ordinary one!

There was something else that concerned Sun Shaozong. From his experience these past days, in suites like this, generally only the outer room would be locked. To make it easier for maids and servant boys to enter at night to attend to their master, the inner room would often not even have a lock installed.

Yet the bedroom door here had been fitted with a lock on purpose. And upon closer inspection, one could tell that this lock had been added later.

So did the two locks, inner and outer, signify a lack of security—or were they meant to conceal some unknown secret?

Lost in thought, Sun Shaozong stepped into the bedroom. Before he had even seen the interior clearly, he felt the ground beneath his feet was soaked.

There was a layer of water pooled on the floor?

Sun Shaozong froze for a moment, but immediately understood why. Not far to the left of the doorway stood an empty bathtub.

And not far from that bathtub, a corpulent corpse lay slanted against an embroidered stool, its chest cavity split wide open by a massive wound.

The flesh around the wound was pale, tender, and white. It had plainly been rinsed over and over after death!

Tsk~

This would make finding clues even harder.

Sun Shaozong sucked at his teeth in frustration, but his gaze suddenly sharpened. He hurried over to inspect the corpse closely and indeed discovered that the liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys were all present within the chest cavity—yet the most vital organ alone was missing: the heart!

"This..."

Sun Shaozong could not help drawing in a sharp breath!

Then, amid the folds of the corpse's clothing, he discovered even more terrifying evidence—a small clump of minced flesh!

Did such an extremely twisted act stem from bone-deep hatred, or was it meant to conceal some crucial clue?!

Sun Shaozong pondered for a long while before handing the fragments to Zhao Wuwei to seal away. Then he raised his eyes and continued examining the scene.

Curtains?

This bedroom actually had a thick layer of curtains installed?

Paper windows were the norm these days. In daylight, one could hardly see through them from outside, much less at night, so few people bothered adding curtains.

Sun Shaozong walked to the window and carefully lifted the tightly drawn curtain. After inspecting it closely from top to bottom, he found that the windows were all bolted from within as well.

Considering that the corpse lay near the left side of the windowsill, the murderer was unlikely to have had a chance to bolt the window after the crime. It seemed that, before the door had been forced open, this room had indeed been in a locked-room state.

And through this extra layer of curtains, Sun Shaozong further confirmed that Vice Minister Ge was definitely hiding some secret!

And that secret was, nine times out of ten, the cause of his death!

"My lord!"

Seeing Sun Shaozong standing lost in thought by the window for so long, Zhao Wuwei could not help reminding him, "Why not take a look at what's on that air vent first?"

An air vent?

Sun Shaozong had long noticed the open air vent in the northwest corner. But its opening was barely larger than a palm; forget an adult, even a child likely could not squeeze through it. Thus, he had not hurried to inspect it.

Now that Zhao Wuwei had brought it up himself, and seeing the terror written all over his face, Sun Shaozong was genuinely intrigued. He stepped forward, rose onto his toes, and examined it for a few moments. At once, he gave a surprised "Eh?" and plucked several strands of grizzled hair from the window lattice, murmuring, "This looks like..."

"Dog hair!"

Zhao Wuwei said in a trembling voice, "Master, this is definitely dog hair! You... you don't think it really was Heavenly Dog Haunting, do you?!"

If there are any typos, please point them out in the discussion area or in the comments for this chapter so I can correct them. Thank you.