An Unusual Death

After chatting idly for a while, Butler Bai and Yun Yao came in.

I noticed that Yun Yao's face was still a little red, so I raised an eyebrow at her.

Yun Yao stomped her foot and shot me an indignant glare.

Then she said seriously, "Someone has already found the expert stationed at the Hidden Shop."

Then, her tone turning somewhat downcast, she added, "But he's already dead."

Jiang Yujie and I exchanged a glance, then stood up and looked at Yun Yao.

After thinking it over, I said, "Let's go to the place where that expert met with trouble and see what we can find first."

Yun Yao and Jiang Yujie both said yes at the same time, and then we set off in the car.

We drove all the way to a very secluded alley, then got out and prepared to head inside.

I took the lead and walked at the very front. After going some distance, I realized the footsteps behind me had stopped.

Puzzled, I turned back and saw Yun Yao and Jiang Yujie standing there, shrinking back nervously.

I asked them in confusion, "What's wrong with you two? Why aren't you moving?"

Jiang Yujie said somewhat sheepishly, "Um... could you go in and take a look? We'll wait here. Just tell us about it when you come back out."

Yun Yao nodded so rapidly she looked like a chick pecking at grain.

I sighed, shook my head helplessly, and walked in by myself.

The moment I entered, I saw a corpse. No, it could no longer be called a corpse—it should have been called chunks of flesh.

The person had been chopped into several pieces. The scene was drenched in blood. Aside from the murderer's exceptionally brutal methods, there were no other clues at all.

I called Butler Bai over and asked how he had determined that this corpse belonged to the expert stationed at the Hidden Shop.

Butler Bai said there was a tattoo on the left arm, and the clothes were also from the Yun family.

I asked him to show me where the tattoo was. Butler Bai was bold indeed—faced with such a scene, he did not show the slightest fear.

Instead, with a solemn expression, he lifted the clothing from one piece of the body for me to see.

I saw a black character for "Yun" tattooed on that piece's arm.

It looked like it had been there for many years. Other than that, there were no further clues.

Butler Bai looked at me and asked, "Young Master Li, what should we do now?"

I quickly clasped my fists toward Butler Bai. "I do not deserve to be called young master. I only came to the Yun family to beg for a living because I had reached the end of my rope."

Butler Bai also clasped his fists toward me. "Young Master, do not belittle yourself. What you are facing now is merely a dragon stranded in shallow waters. One day, you will soar into the sky."

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head, then told Butler Bai to deal with the body. There were no more clues to be found.

Besides, I felt that the man named Chen Hao had done this. I simply did not have any hard evidence.

Butler Bai nodded and called for people to clean up the scene, while I walked back outside.

Jiang Yujie and Yun Yao both asked in unison, "How was it?"

I spread my hands. "Not good. There weren't any useful clues.

We only confirmed that he was the expert from the Yun family's Hidden Shop. The body had already been chopped into pieces. There were no other clues."

"Ah...? You mean the body was in pieces?" Jiang Yujie asked.

I nodded, indicating that he had heard correctly.

Then the two of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time, as though not going inside had been the wisest decision of their lives.

My face darkened. I wanted to say something to them, but after thinking about it, I decided to let it go.

Then I asked Butler Bai whether there had been any suspicious people in Yun City these past few days.

Butler Bai pondered for a moment before saying, "There is one person who is quite strange, but he has not violated Yun City's rules, so it is difficult for us to judge."

I looked at Butler Bai with interest. "What kind of strange? Tell me."

Butler Bai organized his thoughts before saying, "Normally, people who come to Yun City are here to do business or buy and sell goods.

But ever since this person entered Yun City, he has stayed in his room. No one has seen him leave.

He also has not violated Yun City's rules, so I arranged for someone to question him.

In the end, we found nothing wrong, so we did not continue questioning him."

"Is that person still in Yun City?"

Butler Bai answered with certainty, "Yes, he is. I deliberately kept an eye on him.

I had several people watch the place, in case the young miss or the master needed to find him later."

I thought Butler Bai was indeed meticulous, then told them we should go take a look. Yun Yao and Jiang Yujie nodded and got into the car.

On the way, they asked whether I had discovered something. I said we had to take a look first. Nothing was certain yet, but this person was indeed somewhat suspicious.

When we arrived, Butler Bai pointed at a courtyard and said the person was inside. I nodded, and our group got out of the car and headed straight for the courtyard.

It was a rather old courtyard, with moss creeping along the base of the walls.

The red paint on the two iron gates had also peeled away in patches. I gestured for Butler Bai to knock.

Butler Bai understood at once and stepped forward to knock on the door.

I saw that Butler Bai's knocking was extremely rough. He simply clenched his fist and hammered the gate with bang, bang, bang.

With every blow, more of the red paint on the iron gate fell to the ground.

Perhaps Butler Bai had been running around these past few days and had some pent-up anger as well. That was what I thought.

Before long, an old man with a piece of cloth tied around his head came out and opened the gate.

I guessed he was around sixty years old. Looking closely, there were already faint age spots on his face.

He wore camouflage clothing, like the kind worn by people who used to enjoy traveling through the jungle.

It was the same kind of clothing, and on his feet was a pair of Liberation Shoes.

Butler Bai frowned and asked the old man, "Why did it take you so long to open the door?"

The old man clasped his fists and said fawningly to Butler Bai, "Oh, sir, please do not blame me.

This old man is getting on in years, and his ears do not work very well. That is why I opened the door late and neglected you all."

Butler Bai nodded, then looked at me and told the old man, "Answer a few questions for this young master."

The old man nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, yes."

Then he looked at me and said, "May I ask what questions this young master wishes to ask?"

I stepped forward and clasped my fists in greeting to the old man. The old man returned the gesture.

I noticed a thin layer of calluses on the old man's right palm. His gaze followed mine to that hand with only that thin layer of calluses.

Then, without drawing attention to it, the old man clenched the hand with the calluses a little tighter, so that I could no longer see his palm.

"Old sir, what business do you do here?" I asked.

"This old man usually makes a living from medicinal herbs shipped in from outside, earning a little from the difference in price just to barely get by," the old man replied.

I nodded, then walked into the courtyard to take a look.

Sure enough, there were some cut medicinal herbs drying in bamboo baskets in the courtyard.

In an iron cage in the corner by the wall was a filthy dog.

The dog was huge, and its fur had all clumped together. I could smell its stench from far away.

Yun Yao even covered her nose and mouth, her face filled with disgust.

The moment I walked a few steps closer, the dog stood up, bared its fangs at me, and began barking over and over.

Its bark sounded somewhat strange, as though it had been forced out from its throat.

At that moment, the old man shouted, "Beast, do not frighten our honored guests, or I'll slaughter you tonight."

The dog immediately lay back down in its cage and did not make another sound.

I thought the dog was quite intelligent. Its appearance was just a little too filthy, and its bark a little too unpleasant.

Moreover, its bark sounded familiar to me, but for the moment, I could not remember where I had heard it before.

Then I said to the old man, "Could we take a look inside the house?"