Worms

As Yang Ning listened to Xu Yinyin's explanation, he pondered to himself: Thankfully, the Demon Cult's mission had only been to silence someone, not break them out of prison. Poisoning someone only took one pill, but rescuing someone meant risking a trip to fetch the keys and unlock the cell. The risks were worlds apart. If I didn't know the trick to these keys and accidentally used the wrong one, I'd be doomed to die without a burial place!

As he thought it over, he followed Xu Yinyin into the morgue. One wall was lined with dense rows of iron compartments, where all the corpses were stored with care. Three wheeled autopsy tables stood in the middle of the room, and the air was thick with the scent of herbs.

Xu Yinyin retied the ring of keys around her waist, her expression calm. Expertly checking the labels on the compartments, she explained, "Each compartment has ice inside to slow the decay of the bodies. Specially assigned disciples come to replace it every three days."

"The Law Enforcement Hall is remarkably thorough, whether in its facilities or the division of responsibilities," Yang Ning praised sincerely.

"Of course." A smug smile lifted Xu Yinyin's lips. Whenever Yang Ning praised the Law Enforcement Hall, she couldn't help feeling a surge of pride.

As Xu Yinyin walked, she continued, "The Law Enforcement Hall embodies years of Master's hard work. She's thought of just about everything and handled it all perfectly."

Xu Yinyin's words brimmed with admiration and reverence for Yun Zishan.

As Xu Yinyin walked on, she stopped in front of a row of compartments and pointed to several iron cabinets. "There. The undercover agents' corpses are stored here."

Yang Ning nodded, but his gaze remained on Xu Yinyin's face.

"What is it?" Xu Yinyin asked, puzzled.

"Aren't you scared?"

"These corpses?" Xu Yinyin laughed. "Ever since I joined the sect, I've taken a trial mission from the Mission Hall every month. I've wiped out plenty of bandit dens. I've killed hundreds of evil men, if not thousands. A few corpses are nothing."

Yang Ning gave Xu Yinyin a thumbs-up. "Impressive!"

Xu Yinyin lifted her chin. "Naturally." She reached over and patted Yang Ning's shoulder. "Don't worry, Boss. If anything comes up, just ask me. I'll protect you!"

Yang Ning smiled and nodded, but didn't take her up on the offer. Having the Law Enforcement Hall's senior disciple protect an undercover agent for the Demon Cult would be far too shocking.

Yang Ning turned and wheeled over an autopsy table.

Xu Yinyin asked with concern, "Need a hand?"

"No need. I've got it," Yang Ning declined.

These undercover agents had taken the same poison as he had, so their bodies were bound to bear the same telltale signs.

Since he'd just told Xu Yinyin he wanted to examine the bodies for new clues, he had to produce some results. But he had to do the examination alone, and keep complete control over what he found. The less Xu Yinyin got involved, the better.

Xu Yinyin nodded obediently. She knew nothing about these clues anyway, so she went and sat on a stool by the morgue's entrance, a water flask hanging around her neck. Resting her chin in her hands, she watched Yang Ning work.

Yang Ning opened an iron compartment, transferred the corpse onto the autopsy table, and wheeled it to the middle of the room.

He put on a pair of the coroner's cloth gloves and gently lifted the white sheet covering the corpse. The dead man's twisted face still bore the agony of his final moments. Anyone could see that he'd suffered terribly in life.

Yang Ning's brows furrowed slightly. I hope I don't end up like this someday. Otherwise, I won't even be able to rest in peace after I die.

Since the blood had already congealed, Yang Ning picked up the small knife used by the coroner and made a short incision in the corpse's abdomen. He cut away a small piece of stomach lining, its surface covered in capillaries.

At the camp, Yang Ning had learned a little about how poisons worked. Almost every poison used by the Demon Cult contained a herb unique to the Demon Realm: Gut-severing Grass.

This herb caused unrelenting abdominal pain. Yang Ning's own stomach pains, along with the preliminary autopsy results from the other coroners, had confirmed that the poison did indeed contain it.

As someone who'd crossed over from another world, Yang Ning knew that Gut-severing Grass was poisonous because of its alkaloids. According to basic chemistry, an alkali reacted with an acid to form a stable salt that precipitated into crystals. That was the key to determining whether someone had taken this poison.

"Do you have any vinegar?" he asked, turning to Xu Yinyin.

"Vinegar?" Xu Yinyin blinked.

"Yes. The more sour, the better."

Xu Yinyin scratched her head awkwardly. "Boss, cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm or above can abstain from food. We eat mostly to satisfy our appetites. Qi Refining disciples still need meals, but to keep cooking smoke out of the Law Enforcement Hall's main grounds, the kitchen is halfway up the mountain." She paused, then added, "And the hall has strict meal times. The kitchen has already closed for the day, so we can't get any vinegar right now."

Yang Ning's shop actually had white vinegar in stock, which would make the reaction more obvious. The real reason he'd asked Xu Yinyin was to find an excuse to send her away, so he could go poison the undercover agent who'd gone mad.