Logical Tree Diagram

"Young Master Xiaolin really is amazing!"

"Exactly! Fifteen people, and he actually uncovered cases involving ten of them!"

"He truly is Young Master Lin, Divine Detective!"

"What a fine title! Young Master Lin, Divine Detective-hey, even those of us in the Commoner Registry and with Servile Status can have titles like that now, heh!"

"Oh, get out of here. Young Master Lin will surely enter the Noble Registry one day. He'll definitely shed that Servile Status."

The surroundings grew noisy as everyone began discussing what Lin Ke had done that day.

They were brimming with excitement, completely oblivious to the crucial point.

What was that point?

No result!

A dead end!

Lin Ke's brows knitted tightly. He kept feeling that he had overlooked something.

He turned straight to Wang Lin. "Master, get me a few sheets of paper and a brush."

"All right." Wang Lin looked puzzled, but still nodded.

Since they were in the Painting Studio, paper, brushes, and ink were certainly the last things they lacked.

Before long, Wang Lin brought the paper and brush over to Lin Ke.

Holding the brush, Lin Ke spread the paper flat on the ground, then put the tip in his mouth to moisten it with saliva.

After taking it out, he immediately began writing and drawing on the paper.

What did he write?

At the very top of the page, he wrote "Little Golden Crow Prince."

Beneath Little Golden Crow Prince, he drew two arrows and wrote several terms.

Profit-seeking, revenge, love or lust, abandonment type, superstition, provoking fights.

"What are you..." Wang Lin and the others craned their necks to look, their expressions all different.

Some looked thoughtful, while others were utterly puzzled.

The other people around them had also gathered closer, wanting to see what Lin Ke was writing.

Lin Ke first looked up at Prince Jingang. "Prince Jingang, I may need to ask some questions now. Please answer all of them."

"Naturally." Prince Jingang nodded.

So Lin Ke raised his brush, writing as he questioned those around him, chiefly Prince Jingang.

"Did the Little Golden Crow Prince rarely travel far from home?"

"My youngest brother seldom went out. He sneaked out this time, too."

"Did the Little Golden Crow Prince affect the succession to your Golden Crow Clan's throne?"

"No. Our imperial father is a Gentleman Realm cultivator."

"Had the Little Golden Crow Prince ever fought with anyone? Including verbal disputes?"

"Though my younger brother was young, he knew when to advance and when to retreat, and treated others humbly. He studied poetry and the classics diligently from childhood and had already reached the Confucian Scholar Realm."

As he asked questions, Lin Ke continued writing and drawing.

Through his questioning, he crossed out the terms one by one.

Take profit-seeking, for instance. Many murders were committed for financial gain, but the problem was that the Little Golden Crow Prince had barely any money on him.

For other possibilities, such as revenge killings, Lin Ke listed many further branches before ruling them out.

Experts gathered like clouds in the Imperial Capital. If someone could kill the Little Golden Crow Prince without anyone noticing, they would probably have to be at least in the Great Confucian realm.

And those who bore grudges against the Golden Crow Clan's Golden Crow Emperor and Golden Crow Matriarch generally had no reason to kill the Little Golden Crow Prince.

After all, from their lofty perspective, killing or sparing a Confucian Scholar Realm cultivator made little difference. Nor would the Golden Crow Emperor and Golden Crow Matriarch change much simply because their son had died.

But there were always exceptions.

The key to many cases could very well lie in something people unconsciously overlooked.

Thus, Lin Ke left no detail unchecked. As he eliminated possibilities along the way, more and more words filled the paper.

An hour later, Lin Ke's writing stretched from "Little Golden Crow Prince" at the top all the way down the page, resembling a lush, spreading tree.

Profit-seeking, revenge, love or lust, abandonment type, superstition, provoking fights.

Each category had many, many possibilities beneath it. After questioning the onlookers and Prince Jingang, Lin Ke crossed them out and ruled them out one by one.

No, none of them!

How had I ended up at another dead end?

Lin Ke stared at the diagram he had drawn, his brows tightly furrowed.

What exactly had I overlooked?

While Lin Ke pondered, however, the onlookers were stunned.

They had all watched Lin Ke write and ask questions just now.

"Is this boy really Qi Dayan's relative? With Servile Status?" Wang Lin was somewhat doubtful.

"Of course. What else could he be, a minister's descendant?" Butcher Zhang said casually. "So what if he has Servile Status? Young Lin is clever!"

"You know, Xiaolin really does have quite a head on his shoulders..." Shopkeeper Tong's eyes shone. "Looks like I could learn this method of his to cut costs, too..."

"This old man has learned something." The old tea shop owner stroked his beard in admiration, then told the young man from the tea shop, "You should understand that there are always people beyond the people you know. You can learn from him."

"Your son has learned something." The young man from the tea shop also greatly admired Lin Ke.

Not only those few neighbors from Chaoyang, but even the people from other streets and alleys were excited.

The title Young Master Lin, Divine Detective spread as though it had grown legs.

While everyone was discussing it, someone outside called for Li Hanlin:

"Sir! Sir!"

"What is it?"

Li Hanlin drew his gaze away from the paper and looked toward the Painting Studio's entrance. "Come in and speak."

A man jogged inside, dressed like Constable Xing but looking somewhat younger. Apparently, he was a constable as well.

After jogging in, the constable saw everyone gathered in a circle and his superior standing nearby. He hurried over to Li Hanlin and said quietly, "Sir, the autopsies are finished. The black bear died of poisoning, but..."

Lin Ke sprang to his feet. "What? Xiong died of poisoning?"

The constable nodded.

"Poison?" Lin Ke immediately asked, "What poison? Can you find out what kind it was?"

The constable did not answer, instead looking at Li Hanlin.

Li Hanlin smiled and nodded. "You may tell him. Answer whatever he asks!"

Only then did the constable slowly shake his head. "We can't identify it just yet. It wasn't an ordinary poison. Xiong's stomach and liver had already dissolved into bloody fluid, and its heart had begun slowly dissolving as well. All we know is that it's extremely potent. An ordinary person would die upon contact!"

Lin Ke's mind jolted, and he continued asking, "What about the other two?"

The constable said, "The autopsy on the short, thin man showed that his heart had been ripped straight out, and his other four organs and six viscera had been shattered, killing him outright. But there was no poison in his stomach or intestines.

"As for the headless corpse outside the restaurant, judging by the fragments nearby and the remains between the black bear's toes, the bear had crushed it underfoot. No signs of poisoning were found in the headless corpse's stomach or intestines, either."

"So..." Lin Ke immediately asked the question that concerned everyone. "What about the Little Golden Crow Prince?"

The constable replied, "As for that person's corpse, our superior said we couldn't dissect it without permission. Our people only took a little blood from between his fingers. There was no poison in the blood, but its temperature was still very high."

Lin Ke looked at Jingang. A trace of sorrow appeared in Jingang's eyes as he said, "That's normal. We of the Golden Crow Clan cultivate using the sun's power, so even after we die, our bodies remain very hot!"

After hearing Jingang's words, he hesitated before asking, "Could it have been a natural death? Has your Golden Crow Clan ever had cases like this?"

Jingang's expression visibly changed at Lin Ke's words. He narrowed his eyes at Lin Ke and said, "We Golden Crows naturally live for a thousand years, and cultivation makes our lives longer still. My younger brother was barely a hundred. How could he possibly have died naturally?"

Seeing Jingang's expression change and hearing his answer, Lin Ke hurriedly waved his hands in explanation. "Jingang, I didn't know your Golden Crow Clan could live so long. Please forgive me."

Only after Jingang's expression softened did Lin Ke continue, "Then what exactly could have made your younger brother lose the ability to fight in an instant, and die within a few breaths?"

Jingang thought for a moment. "It could only have been a sneak attack by a very powerful expert, killing him instantly. But judging by the scene you described, it should have been caused by something he ate."

Lin Ke narrowed his eyes slightly.

At the words "an expert's sneak attack," he immediately thought of Butcher Zhang, Wang Lin, Li Chungang, and the others.

If they launched a sneak attack, the Little Golden Crow Prince probably would not have been able to withstand it.

But he had still forgotten something: he should have let Jingang examine his younger brother's corpse first. That might allow them to determine the cause of death.

At that thought, he turned to Li Hanlin. "Lord Li, could we let the Golden Crow prince examine his younger brother's remains?"

Li Hanlin frowned and thought for a moment. "Yes, but he mustn't damage them, or I'll have trouble accounting for it!"

Lin Ke looked at Jingang. "Go take a look. You knew your younger brother best. You should be able to spot suspicious details that others couldn't!"

Lin Ke spoke very naturally, as naturally as telling his pet dog to fetch a delivery from the front door.

"Oh." Jingang nodded and walked out just as naturally.

At first, everyone found it normal, but then, one by one, they sensed that something was a little off.

And yet, nothing seemed to be wrong?