An Ordinary Extra, No Name, and Zhang San

Jingang had already been gone for an hour!

Lin Ke crouched on the ground, studying the case-analysis diagram he had drawn.

He was filtering through it, crossing out the many logical branches with his brush as he ruled them out.

After all that writing and crossing out, nearly the entire diagram had been struck through.

Only three points of suspicion remained: the three people who had died alongside the Little Golden Crow Prince.

Those three had originally been the prime suspects, and Lin Ke had suspected them at first too.

But later, he had realized they were on entirely different levels.

On one side was a Golden Crow Clan prince who had sneaked away from home; on the other were three people dividing their ill-gotten gains.

No matter how he looked at it, they simply did not fit together.

Still, Lin Ke could not fall into the traps of relying on experience or rigid dogma. He ought to investigate them anyway.

What if they were the breakthrough?

With that thought, Lin Ke continued studying the tree diagram, hoping to find another branch or two.

Just then, a dispirited Jingang returned.

Jingang's face was dark. "I examined my younger brother's body, including his stomach and other areas. However, I found no poison, nor did I find the Demon Beast Meat you mentioned. His body was also abnormally hot, far hotter than I expected!"

Lin Ke frowned and looked toward Shopkeeper Tong and Butcher Zhang.

Shopkeeper Tong looked a little embarrassed. "Actually, that's because of the meat I cooked. If the ingredients are good enough, my Demon Beast Meat can melt the moment it enters your mouth!"

"Melt the moment it enters your mouth?" Lin Ke raised an eyebrow. "Literally, or is that an exaggeration?"

"Literally." Shopkeeper Tong wanted to rap Lin Ke on the head, but held back upon seeing how many people were present.

Shopkeeper Tong's answer astonished Lin Ke.

The shopkeeper's cooking was that good?

It melted on contact!

Even cotton candy didn't dissolve that quickly in your mouth!

But when he looked toward Wang Lin and Butcher Zhang, both nodded.

Well, great. Apparently, he was the only one who hadn't known!

Which raised the question!

What exactly had killed him?

He lowered his head to look at the paper on the ground and the three circled labels: short and skinny, fat Lord Yang, tall and headless.

Only those three knew what had happened at the end, but he could now be fairly certain that Xiong was the missing fat Lord Yang.

He had asked the constable who brought the report, and the constable had said they had found poison on the utensils-specifically, on a pair of chopsticks.

It was the same poison found in the black bear.

They could conclude that the poison on those chopsticks was responsible. That meant Xiong had been among those people at the time—and had been poisoned!

That was solid proof that the black bear was the missing fat man.

When everyone had heard this, they had all sucked in a breath of cold air.

According to Shopkeeper Tong's account, the other two had called the black bear Lord Yang. Did that mean Xiong had become an official in the Imperial Capital, and a fairly high-ranking one at that?

"Well, I don't mean to discriminate, but Xiong? Does that really make sense?" Lin Ke chose his words as carefully as possible.

After all, what was a black bear?

Black, fat, and of another race.

If he were LGBT too, wouldn't that be a full stack of buffs?

"No," Li Hanlin said coldly. "Only those of our orthodox Chunqiu lineage may serve as officials."

What brazen racial discrimination!

Lin Ke could not help asking, "The orthodox Chunqiu lineage? Not even people from the six nations and the Six Clans?"

"No." A sharp gleam flashed through Li Hanlin's eyes. "It seems something has gone wrong in the Personnel Department."

Xiong had actually become an official. How could that be tolerated?

So then... why had those two poisoned Lord Yang?

Had they discovered that Xiong was a demon and wanted to correct the mistake on behalf of this so-called orthodox Chunqiu lineage?

Lin Ke shook his head.

Almost impossible!

As he mulled it over, Lin Ke looked back at the paper on the ground, then slowly closed his eyes.

He began reconstructing the four people's final moments in the restaurant in his mind.

The Short, Thin Man had seen the lavishly dressed Jinganglang, approached to clink cups, and then slipped him poison?

Given Jinganglang's level, that was practically impossible!

If the Short, Thin Man had poisoned the black bear, Lord Yang, and then the black bear...

"My lord! My lord!"

Another cry rang out beyond the door. Lin Ke opened his eyes and saw the same constable as before hurry over to Li Hanlin, dropping to his knees with a thud as he reached him.

The constable gasped for breath!

"Hm?" Li Hanlin frowned slightly. "I always tell you to remain calm when great matters arise. What sort of conduct is this?"

The constable struggled to his feet, looking visibly flustered.

Lin Ke rolled his eyes at that. He hurried to a nearby table, picked up a teacup, poured some water, and brought it over to the constable. "Have some water and catch your breath first. There's no rush!"

The constable took the water and drained it in one gulp, then looked at Lin Ke, still panting. "Thank you... phew... Brother Lin."

Lin Ke smiled and refilled his cup.

His fellow people of servile status were like the farmers and workers of those days.

Only their own people truly understood their suffering.

This time, the constable accepted the water without drinking. Holding the cup, he looked at Li Hanlin. "My lord, we found them!"

Li Hanlin sprang to his feet and spoke at a rapid clip. "Tell me, quickly! If I remember correctly, I sent you to investigate the identities of the three people other than Jinganglang. What did you find?"

The constable glanced around at everyone, hesitation creeping across his face.

"At a time like this? Speak!" Li Hanlin snapped.

You were just saying we should remain calm when great matters arise, Lin Ke thought. How come it's suddenly "speak" when it's your turn?

Still, he too watched the newly arrived constable, wanting him to get on with it.

But he knew they could not rush him. What if he grew nervous and left something out?

"My lord, the fat man was named Lu Renjia, the short, skinny man Mei Mingzi, and the tall man Zhang San!" the constable said slowly.

What?

Lin Ke turned the names over in his mind. An ordinary extra, no name, and... Zhang San???

Even Zhang San, that peerless fiend from his previous life, had turned up??

The constable raised his cup again and drained it, then set it down. "My lord, this Mei Mingzi was an unranked clerk under the Revenue Department who recorded grain and fodder quantities. The tall man was a soldier under the Revenue Department who guarded those supplies. But Lu Renjia was an unattached official at a granary near the Revenue Department. We only found the other two after stumbling across information about him."

"Huh?" Shopkeeper Tong suddenly stood up and interjected. "That's not right. When I heard them addressing him, they called him Lord Yang!"

"Lord Yang?" The constable shook his head in bewilderment. "This is all we found. None of them had the surname Yang!"

Shopkeeper Tong sank into thought, muttering, "Did I mishear? I'm not old yet, and I'm already going deaf?"

"You didn't mishear, because I heard it too... Did you find out whether the three of them were connected?" Lin Ke asked after crouching down and recording everything the constable had said.

But Li Hanlin stepped forward and shook his head. "They only investigated their identities. Besides, they wouldn't be able to uncover the connections between them."

Lin Ke thought for a moment, then smiled at Li Hanlin. "Then I'm sorry to trouble you, Lord Li!"

Li Hanlin froze briefly. Although he was looking at Lin Ke, he caught Jingang turning toward him out of the corner of his eye, and smiled. "No problem, but there won't be results until tomorrow."

Lin Ke considered it. "There's nothing else to do today, and we've finished questioning everyone. Tonight, I'll sort through the information we already have and see whether any new clues turn up. Sorry for the extra trouble, but please also look into why they called Lu Renjia Lord Yang. That could be our breakthrough!"

Li Hanlin's eyes lit up. He nodded firmly, then turned and left the Immortal Realm Painting Studio with Constable Xing and the newly arrived constable.

Seeing that even Li Hanlin had left, the Chaoyang Crowd knew there was nothing more to watch.

They scattered in a rush as well.

But their departure was anything but quiet; they kept chattering.

"Today really opened my eyes!"

"You can say that again!"

"Especially when they questioned Wu Dalang. I never knew before! No wonder I always thought he looked at me strangely."

"Pfft. With a face like yours, you think Wu Dalang would fancy you?"

"Average guy, sky-high confidence."

Listening to their chatter, Lin Ke could only shake his head with a helpless smile.

"You brat, you can still smile? What good are you? You haven't uncovered a thing all day, and you're still smiling."

Hearing Wang Lin's voice beside him, Lin Ke could only reply helplessly, "There's no rush. We still have time, don't we? Once we uncover those three men's identities, we can follow the vine to the melon and find whoever acted from behind them."

Wang Lin said nothing more, but Jingang spoke up beside her. "Yes, I also want to know who's behind them! Thank you, Lin Ke."

Lin Ke answered with a smile, "It's nothing. It's what I should do. Besides, this is about giving everyone the truth, isn't it?"

Yet even as he spoke, Lin Ke thought of the tree diagram again.

Just...

Just what had he overlooked?