Qihetan Town

"How did Qiao Zi'ang die?"

Xu Yuan looked utterly bewildered. "I don't know..."

Fu Jingyu cut him off. "You don't need to deny it. The Qu Hui Division has special methods that can determine that Qiao Zi'ang died at your hands."

Xu Yuan still looked completely bewildered. "What are you talking about? How can you just make up accusations against me?"

After facing death several times, Xu Yuan wasn't so easily bluffed anymore.

Fu Jingyu continued in a measured tone. "Qiao Zi'ang deceived his superiors and subordinates, sending living people to become Blood Food for the uncanny things in Ghost Witch Mountain. We'd been watching him for some time and were just about to close the net, but then he suddenly died."

Song Lu, standing nearby, said, "We only want to know the details of Qiao Zi'ang's death. We're not trying to arrest you; we want to investigate further and find out who else colluded with him to offer the people of our Imperial Ming to the uncanny."

Fu Jingyu added, "It'd be even better if we could draw out and kill those uncanny things in Ghost Witch Mountain that are plotting against the people of Imperial Ming."

Xu Yuan still shook his head in bewilderment. "I really don't know. This has nothing to do with me. I was just a lowly odd-jobber at Master Qiao's post station. I went into the mountains to gather firewood, and when I came back, the whole post station had been blown to bits!

"I hid in town for two days, then came back."

Song Lu had run out of patience. She slammed the table and shouted, "Xu Yuan! Don't entertain any delusions! Since we've found you, you'd better come clean. This is your last chance!"

Xu Yuan looked aggrieved. "I really don't know! Master Qiao was an important man. If I had the ability to kill him, would I have needed to go all the way to Qihetan Town to work for him?"

Fu Jingyu's left hand flew across the page, recording every word spoken by everyone during the interrogation.

"Very well," he said helplessly. "You don't trust us, but we truly aren't trying to trick you. We're staying at the County Office these days. If you change your mind, you can come find us."

Then he added a warning. "Qiao Zi'ang's accomplices might try to silence you. Be careful over the next few days."

Fu Jingyu packed away all his things and said to Song Lu, "Let's go. We'll investigate the others first."

Song Lu reluctantly got up and left with him. At the doorway, she sneered and looked back. "You really think we don't have evidence? That we can't punish you?"

Xu Yuan spread his hands. "I didn't do it. You can't just pick someone to take the fall because you haven't caught the real culprit."

"You!" Song Lu was so incensed that Fu Jingyu pulled her away.

Once the two of them were outside the courtyard, Song Lu complained, "So we're just letting that kid fob us off with a few words? Uncle Yan's 'algorithm' clearly calculated that he was the culprit!"

Fu Jingyu replied, "That can't be used as evidence in court. It's only a reference for our investigation."

If a Law Cultivator used an "algorithm" to calculate that someone was a suspect in a case, and that alone was enough to convict them, then any Law Cultivator with malicious intentions could accuse innocent people of being the culprit at will.

For cases involving the lower three tiers, Law Cultivators could directly "calculate" the "answer." But for cases involving the middle three tiers or above, they could usually only calculate a vague range.

Besides, there were plenty of secretive methods in this world that could mislead the results of an "algorithm."

Song Lu folded her arms and huffed. "I saw you yesterday. When you heard the news of Qiao Zi'ang's death, you turned away from everyone and did a little dance!"

Fu Jingyu didn't deny it. "Of course I'm happy someone like Qiao Zi'ang is dead. But you can't question my professional integrity. I'm glad Qiao Zi'ang is dead, but I won't let his killer off the hook because of it. Xiao Song, when we investigate a case, we have to follow proper procedure."

Song Lu muttered a few things under her breath, including "stiff" and "dullard." Fu Jingyu heard her but didn't take it to heart.

"Let's investigate the Datong Carriage and Horse Business first. Qiao Zi'ang bought several batches of servants through them, and every one of those people disappeared in Qihetan Town."

The two of them walked out of River Worker Alley. Suddenly, Fu Jingyu said in a low voice, "Wait for me."

He turned to face the alley, drew the fingers of his left hand together into a strange seal, and pointed at a magpie perched on the eaves by the entrance.

The magpie flapped its wings and took off, circling above River Worker Alley as it surveyed the area.

The magpie's eyes became Fu Jingyu's eyes. This "Eye-Sending Method" let him see everything the magpie saw.

Song Lu didn't notice a thing, but ever since Fu Jingyu entered the alley, he'd felt that someone was watching him.

Song Lu raised an eyebrow, her voice edged with anger. "Hah! Someone's tailing the Qu Hui Division? They must have a death wish..."

The two worked together seamlessly. The moment Fu Jingyu used his spell, Song Lu understood what was going on.

But before she could finish speaking, she saw the magpie suddenly stiffen in midair and plummet straight down!

Fu Jingyu groaned, then squeezed his eyes shut in pain. A tear mixed with a thin line of blood and slid from the corner of his eye.

The magpie hit the ground with a smack at their feet, its brains bursting out in a gruesome mess!

"Who was it!?" Song Lu steadied Fu Jingyu and shouted furiously at all of River Worker Alley.

No one answered her. At the entrance of the alley stood a single shop selling mixed leftovers. An old woman sat outside, her white hair neatly combed, her face full of kindness as she watched Song Lu with a smile.

Wang Aunt wasn't the least bit intimidated by Song Lu's challenging glare, but she didn't respond either.

It really wasn't my doing, old woman that I am. Who told you to provoke Xu Yuan? He's that old monster's Reverse Scale.

If you two weren't from the Qu Hui Division, that young man would have lost both his eyes.

"Let's go back first." Fu Jingyu kept his eyes tightly shut and stopped Song Lu from making a scene. Song Lu stamped her foot in frustration, then helped him leave.

The two people from the Qu Hui Division had reminded Xu Yuan: "Qiao Zi'ang had accomplices!"

"There's nothing much to do these next few days. I'll just stay home and keep my head down."

"If his accomplices want to silence me, they'll have to come to River Worker Alley. Once they set foot in the alley, heh heh heh..."

In the county town—or, more precisely, in River Worker Alley—Xu Yuan really wasn't afraid!

Xu Yuan couldn't stay cooped up in River Worker Alley forever, but for now, he was in the open and his enemies were hidden. Why risk going out?

Better to wait at home for the rabbit to run into the snare.

This wasn't Qihetan. This was River Worker Alley! With so many elders around, were they going to let that fellow get the better of me?

If he caught the killer sent to silence him, he'd have a lead. Then the tables could turn: his enemy would be out in the open, and he'd be hidden in the shadows.

Xu Yuan stayed home and practiced Aunt Wang's Five Tripod Cooking.

He worked to improve his Pill Cultivator level.

When his stepmother came home at noon and found that Xu Yuan hadn't gone out, she was taken aback. Why had this fellow suddenly become so well-behaved?

Wangjing Ward. The Qiao residence was draped in white mourning cloth.

The news of Qiao Zi'ang's death had finally made it back.

A mourning hall had been set up in the middle of the front courtyard. The whole household was steeped in grief, and Qiao Zi'ang's wives and concubines knelt before the brazier, wailing at the top of their lungs.

He had several wives and concubines, but not a single child.

He'd done things that greatly damaged his virtue. This was retribution!

Friends and old acquaintances from the city came to pay their respects, but Master Qiao's nephews were all in other counties.

Some servants and maids had already begun secretly hiding valuables, while the wives and concubines had long since put away deeds to the land and houses.

By the time morning came, there'd probably be fewer than half the people left in the residence.

By the time his nephews arrived to fight over the inheritance, there might not be anything left in the Qiao residence.

The Qiao family had already scattered like monkeys when the tree fell.

This is strange... Whenever I mention that my ranking has gone up, it gets knocked back down...

This time, I'll reverse the blessing: my ranking has dropped badly!

I beg you all to give me your full support!