The Yamen

Had the bodies been found?

How could they not have been?

The first to be discovered wasn't even one of the Iron Tiger Gang men... but Scar-Head Li.

Several night-soil collectors were making their usual rounds, going from house to house in the middle of the night. At the entrance to Sesame Oil Alley, they came across Scar-Head Li's body.

One of the collectors tripped and fell on top of Scar-Head Li.

Cursing as he got back to his feet, he lifted the lantern in his hand to see what the hell had tripped him... and found himself staring at Scar-Head Li's corpse, eyes wide open, blood spilling from his mouth and nose.

Then he let out a shriek that woke almost everyone in Sesame Oil Alley.

After that... they immediately reported it to the authorities.

A group of constables was on duty at the yamen entrance every night. As soon as they received the report, they rushed to the scene.

And while Scar-Head Li's body was still being examined...

The other bodies were also discovered one after another by early-rising residents.

The constables were immediately alarmed and dispatched people to investigate.

Then...

People from Lan Gui Fang came to report a crime, too.

Three people had been killed in full view of the crowd.

That made six lives in all!

The yamen immediately took the case extremely seriously!

"Five of the dead belonged to the Iron Tiger Gang."

The constables patrolled the streets of True Martial County year-round and knew the backgrounds of its local ruffians like the backs of their hands.

They immediately identified the men.

"They all followed Wang Long..."

Hearing that they followed Wang Long—and that the matter had even reached the yamen—their first reaction was to go find Wang Long...

After all, gang fights usually didn't end up at the yamen.

But when a large group of them arrived at Wang Long's house, they learned that he hadn't come home the night before.

Wang Long's wife was a plump woman in her thirties, holding a toddler of two or three. When she saw the constables at her door early in the morning, she gave them a sour look. "That deadbeat's probably dead in some fox's bed. He hasn't been home in days!"

A little more questioning revealed that Wang Long kept a mistress in Sesame Oil Alley.

Sesame Oil Alley?

The constables exchanged glances... Scar-Head Li's body had been found at the entrance to Sesame Oil Alley.

They hurried back to Wang Long's mistress's house in Sesame Oil Alley... and when they pushed open the door, they saw Wang Long lying outside the room's window.

The constables all drew sharp breaths...

Wang Long had died horribly. Blood covered his body, one eye was missing, and he lay face down, completely naked, his flesh frozen blue and purple...

Then they saw the broken window lattice... and inside the room, they found Wang Long's mistress, dead as well...

"Eight bodies... all killed with flying darts. Looks like it was the same person."

The yamen coroner, Zhou Xing, was in his thirties. After carefully examining Wang Long's body, he spoke in a low voice.

"The killer was ruthless, intent on killing... but they don't seem to have much strength. Probably not a martial artist."

That was Zhou Xing's assessment.

Standing beside him was Zhao Xing, the captain of the Fast Runners Squad.

Zhao Xing was also in his thirties. Frowning deeply, he looked down at Wang Long's corpse, his eyes flickering.

"Revenge?"

He asked quietly.

"Looks like it."

Zhou Xing nodded.

They had heard a little about the Iron Tiger Gang's conduct in the villages around True Martial County. It was only natural that they had enemies.

"Chief, over here."

A constable's voice suddenly rang out in the distance. Zhou Xing and Zhao Xing turned and saw a constable standing by the wall.

The two exchanged a glance and walked over.

There, in the muddy ground by the wall, they saw a fresh mark...

It had rained a few days earlier, and the ground beside the wall was bare mud, with no paving stones. Now there was a mark in the mud, along with several footprints.

Zhao Xing raised his eyebrows, then looked up at the three-meter-high courtyard wall. With a sudden spring of his legs, he shot upward like a stalk of green onions rising from dry ground and landed on top of it.

After looking around carefully, he let out a soft breath and said to Zhou Xing, "Your assessment was right. The killer wasn't a martial artist... at least not a Bright Force martial artist. They must have come from over there."

He pointed to the neighboring courtyard.

There were obvious climbing marks on the wall... the person hadn't even run over, but had crawled along the top of the wall.

Zhou Xing sprang up as well, landing lightly on the wall.

The leap was more than three meters high. The constables below watched with envy in their eyes...

A jump of three meters meant you had to be at least a Bright Force martial artist.

Most of them couldn't even get onto the wall without pushing off the wall itself. How could they make it look so easy?

After examining the marks, Zhou Xing suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked down at the edge of the courtyard wall.

"What is it?"

Zhao Xing noticed his expression and asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Chief, take a look. Don't these two handprints seem strange?"

Zhou Xing pointed to the edge of the wall.

There were two muddy handprints there, not quite dry yet...

It was obvious someone had clung to this spot.

Zhao Xing lowered his head and studied them carefully, then narrowed his eyes and murmured, "So the killer wasn't just not a Bright Force martial artist... there's a chance they haven't even trained in martial arts at all. Just an ordinary person... otherwise, they wouldn't have needed both hands to climb down a three-meter wall."

"But that doesn't add up... If they're just an ordinary person, how do you explain those flying darts?"

He looked puzzled.

Zhou Xing shook his head. "That's not strange. Ordinary people can practice with flying darts, too. After a year or two, they can develop decent accuracy and force. That's not what I mean..."

"Then what do you mean?" Zhao Xing asked, puzzled.

"Don't you think... the left index-finger print on these two handprints is larger and longer than the others?"

Zhao Xing took a look and furrowed his brow. "It really is... but what does that tell us?"

"Is there something unusual about the killer's left hand?"

Zhou Xing studied the prints for a while, then shook his head slightly.

When Zhou Xing didn't say anything more, Zhao Xing shook his head and looked for a while longer before saying, "Let's get down first."

"I'll make a copy of these handprints first."

Zhou Xing took a sheet of xuan paper from his robes and carefully made a rubbing of the handprints.

Zhao Xing turned and jumped down from the wall.

Then Zhou Xing jumped down, too.

"Lan Gui Fang said that besides the three dead, there were four injured people yesterday... but one of them left halfway through. Lan Gui Fang searched all night and couldn't find the killer... so Qiu Jin suspects that the fourth injured person might have been the killer, using a ruse to get them off their guard..."

Zhao Xing said, eyes narrowed.

"They're ruthless." Zhou Xing nodded, narrowing his eyes. "They were clearly set on killing all those people... I wonder what the grudge was."

"I heard from the person who treated the killer's injuries that the wound was on their right leg, and the dart had gone in deep... They really went hard on themselves. Even to do that to yourself..."

Zhao Xing clicked his tongue.

He had to admit... he wouldn't be able to bring himself to hurt himself that badly.

As they were talking, someone came running over and said quietly, "Chief, Wang Hu has arrived."

Zhou Xing and Zhao Xing both looked up and saw a group of people entering the courtyard.

At their head was a man in his thirties, with a sinister face, a powerful stride, and a commanding presence.