Stupidity

"Qi Xia." Zhang Chenze stood with her arms folded, her face expressionless. "You were the first person Han Yimo called out to after he was injured. Did you know each other before?"

Qi Xia did not even lift his eyelids. His right hand propped against his forehead, he replied, "No."

"Then do you have any idea about his death?" Zhang Chenze continued.

Qi Xia stopped answering and instead studied the enormous sword piercing Han Yimo.

The sword had an antique elegance, like an exquisite work of art.

It was covered in battle scars, as though it had seen countless fights.

But in this day and age, who would carry an enormous sword like this into a fight?

"Qi Xia, I'm asking you a question," Zhang Chenze said irritably. "Aren't you going to explain yourself?"

"What do I need to explain?" Qi Xia asked. "Are you saying I killed Han Yimo?"

"Whether you're the killer or not, you should at least say something to clear yourself of suspicion."

Qi Xia still did not answer. Instead, he reached out to pull the sword free.

"Hey!" Officer Li hurried over when he saw this. "Qi Xia, whether you're the killer or not, we need to preserve the crime scene! Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Qi Xia interrupted. "Otherwise, evidence might go missing before your police officers arrive to investigate?"

Officer Li's lips moved slightly, but he was speechless.

Never mind waiting for the police to investigate-even whether he could get out alive was in question.

Seeing Officer Li fall silent, Qi Xia pulled with both hands and continued extracting the sword.

It took almost every ounce of his strength to pull the blade completely out of the ground.

Qiao Jiajin stepped forward to help, only to discover that the enormous sword was even heavier than he had imagined. He had no idea what metal the pitch-black ancient sword was forged from. It weighed roughly seventy-five kilograms, as much as a strong adult man.

Gasping for breath, Qi Xia dropped the iron sword onto the ground with an enormous clang.

After a while, Qi Xia caught his breath and finally addressed Zhang Chenze. "Lawyer Zhang, let me make sure I understand. This iron sword is as long as a person is tall and weighs over fifty kilograms. You suspect that I lifted it, silently killed Han Yimo at dawn while he couldn't even move, and drove the blade deep into the ground?"

Zhang Chenze pressed her lips together, her expression sour.

"And before that, I kept this iron sword hidden in my pants pocket so none of you would notice it, right?" Qi Xia asked.

Seeing the atmosphere sour, Officer Li stepped in to smooth things over. "Qi Xia, if you didn't kill Han Yimo, why did you insist on pulling the sword out?"

Qi Xia did not continue arguing with Zhang Chenze. Instead, he lowered his head to examine the enormous, blood-covered sword.

He inspected it carefully, shook his head, then turned the iron sword over.

Sure enough, the name "Seven Black Sword" was engraved in small characters near the hilt on the other side.

There had been little useful information in what Han Yimo had said earlier. He seemed to have been trying to accept something, but sadly, he had never managed to make sense of it before he died.

The only piece of information from those words that had stuck with Qi Xia was "Seven Black Sword."

"This sword is called the Seven Black Sword?" Qiao Jiajin asked beside him.

Qi Xia lightly stroked his chin and murmured to himself, "The inscription was on the side facing away from Han Yimo. That means he shouldn't have known the sword's name when he was stabbed. So why did he mention the Seven Black Sword?"

"I think your line of thinking is rather unconventional," Officer Li said, shaking his head. "Why bother with the name of a murder weapon? Shouldn't we be considering the cause of Han Yimo's death?"

Qi Xia glanced at Officer Li, then said, "It was light out when Han Yimo was stabbed. Even if he was asleep, an injury that severe would definitely have made him open his eyes. In theory, he should have seen the killer. Yet he never mentioned the killer's name and instead brought up the Seven Black Sword twice. Isn't that strange?"

"But he called your name..." Xiao Ran said quietly from the side. "Whatever that sword is, Han Yimo did call out your name first..."

"So?" Qi Xia asked.

"So you're the killer..." Xiao Ran was a little frightened. She hid behind Officer Li, not daring to look at Qi Xia.

Qi Xia did not defend himself. He simply stared at Xiao Ran, as though trying to determine whether this woman was the actual killer or just stupid.

"And our companion died, but you're not sad at all. You're just calmly analyzing things here. But you're a swindler! What good is your analysis?!" Xiao Ran said, her voice almost breaking into tears. "Which of us would believe you?"

"'Sad'?" Qi Xia frowned, seeming confused. "You mean... I should grieve for someone I've known for less than a day?"

"You're so cold-blooded. That's why I said you seem like the killer!" Xiao Ran's voice grew louder. "Weren't you going to leave last night? Why did you insist on spending the night here? If we think about it carefully, you deliberately stayed so you could kill him, didn't you?"

By then, Qi Xia had more or less figured it out. The woman before him was not necessarily the killer, but she was definitely stupid.

Back in the first room, she had also shouted things like, "Why should we believe this swindler?"

To her, "logic" was useless. She believed only the conclusions she wanted to believe.

Qiao Jiajin could not stand listening any longer. He said to Xiao Ran, "Hey, stupid girl, if you don't like using your brain, stop interrupting other people. I think the swindler's analysis makes sense."

"But none of you three are good people to begin with!" Xiao Ran protested indignantly. "Someone here died. Aren't you three the most suspicious? So what if I'm stupid? Being stupid doesn't mean I do bad things!"

Her words targeted not only Qi Xia, but Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian beside him as well.

Yes, those three were hardly good people to begin with.

Qi Xia nodded and replied, "You're right."

He gave up examining the body and the enormous sword and slowly stood. "There's no need to keep looking. I killed him."

At Qi Xia's words, everyone's face went blank.

Only Xiao Ran seemed excited. "See? He admitted it himself! All that rambling earlier was just him trying to distract us with the sword's name!"

Officer Li stood to the side, frowning, his thoughts unreadable.

"Hey! Swindler!" Qiao Jiajin could no longer understand him. "Who's going to believe you even if you admit it? Never mind you alone-even if you and I moved this sword together, there's no way we could do it without making a sound."

Qi Xia waved a hand and walked out of the Convenience Store.

"It doesn't matter. We only have ten days anyway. What difference does being branded a murderer make? Besides, I don't like arguing with stupid people."

Hearing this, Qiao Jiajin curled his lip and followed him.

Tiantian went next. She had decided from the start to go with Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, and now there was even less reason to stay.

Lin Qin turned back and gave Officer Li a meaningful look, as though she wanted to say something. In the end, she said nothing, shook her head, and left.

The group, now down to eight people, split into two teams.

The four who stayed wore complicated expressions. Only Xiao Ran seemed relieved. "Thank goodness... Those people who looked so bad are finally gone..."

"Xiao Ran, I think we forgot something..." Doctor Zhao said quietly to her.

Xiao Ran ran out of the building and called after the four.

"Stop!"

Qi Xia looked back coldly, unsure what she wanted.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Xiao Ran asked. "What about the 'Dao'?"

"The 'Dao'?"

"That's right. The four 'Dao' that all nine of us risked our lives to win. You can't just take them all with you, can you?"