Case analysis

government office?

So what if it's the government office? I dare to kill people right outside the Ministry of Ministry of Justice. Is it so hard to kill a mere seventh-rank official like you?

Xu Qi'an pressed down on his hand, and the sharp black-gold longsword instantly sliced through the back of the neck of the experienced man. The latter clearly felt the pain from the back of his neck and saw his warm blood flowing out.

"He really dares to kill me." The palace attendant's heart clenched, and he looked frantically at the other Nightwatchers, hoping they could stop this lawless companion.

But the attitude of Song Tingfeng and others made the prefect's heart sink. They were calm, indifferent, and stood by. He had heard of the Nightwatchers's bad reputation, especially his arrogance, but he did not believe that Nightwatchers would dare to kill an official of the imperial court in the yamen.

Song Tingfeng met the other man's gaze, his eyes narrowing with a smile. "My lord, you've embezzled the estate of a high-ranking official. Even if I don't kill you now, I can still find ways to destroy you once you're locked up in jail."

Tang Yinluo added, "This is the method we Nightwatchers usually use. When we find out, it won't just be about inheritance."

"This humble official knows his mistake." The prefectural clerk swallowed hard, his face pale as he resigned himself to his fate.

Xu Qi'an then sheathed his knife and kicked the prefectural clerk. "Go, summon all those who accepted money to the main hall. I want to question them one by one."

The prefectural official, clutching his bleeding neck, stumbled away.

Once his figure was out of sight, Xu Qi'an withdrew his gaze and continued examining the belongings.

"Are you afraid that the valuable artifacts that could provide clues will be misappropriated, making it impossible to solve the case?" Tang Yinlu asked, choosing his words carefully.

"If Zhou Min really left clues among the belongings, he wouldn't have chosen those valuable items that would easily arouse greed," Xu Qi'an said, glancing up at him.

"I just want to get back what belongs to Zhou Min, and then hand it over to his family after the case is closed."

"Your character is admirable," Tang Yinluo praised, then added, "Although you are quite lecherous."

No, this is basic morality. Only scoundrels, trash, would plunder the wealth of the dead. Xu Qi'an thought to himself.

Besides, can a man's actions be called lust? It's clearly a gentleman's pursuit of a beautiful and virtuous woman.

Xu Qi'an recalled a joke he had seen before, "Although I drink, smoke, have tattoos, and go clubbing, I know I'm a good girl."

Even though I'm getting everything for free, I know I'm a good man.

About ten minutes later, an official wearing a blue robe embroidered with a white pheasant entered the storeroom, followed by the prefectural clerk whose neck wound had been simply bandaged, and another official also wearing a blue robe embroidered with egrets.

In officialdom, one can tell a person's rank simply by looking at their official robes, and thus guess their identity. For example, this official in the blue robe embroidered with a white pheasant is a sixth-rank official, and in the prefectural government, only the prefect is Principal Sixth Rank.

The saying "They only recognize clothes, not people" originated in official circles.

The round-faced, middle-aged prefect greeted them warmly. Upon reaching Xu Qi'an and his party, he said with deep regret:

"I am ashamed. I have failed in my duty to manage my subordinates, allowing them to commit such a disgraceful act."

He reflected on his actions, then pulled out a bulging, heavy little package. "Here is one hundred and fifty taels of silver, belonging to Zhou Jingli. I have recovered it for him."

Such a trivial matter doesn't require any Qi-Watching Technique. The fact that a prefecture could yield to this extent is entirely due to the governor's influence. Xu Qi'an anticipated this, which is why he was so fearless.

If the prefect doesn't listen, he can go and complain to Governor Zhang. Of course, such a thing is unlikely; he believes that a prefect of a prefecture is not intelligent enough to do so.

So Xu Qi'an reached out and took it, weighed it a few times, and didn't pester him.

"Your Excellency, please prepare a carriage. I need to take Zhou Jingli's belongings back to the post station," Xu Qi'an said.

The prefect glanced at the man with the silver gong embroidered on his chest. Seeing that he remained silent, he knew that the man with the bronze gong who had spoken to him was the leader present.

"Definitely, definitely."

Xu Qi'an left two Tiger Guards behind to work with the yamen runners to transport Zhou Min's belongings back to the post station, while they rode out of the city. Accompanying them was a constable from the yamen's fast patrol.

Also known as Kuaishou.

Zhou Min's body was buried in a mass grave thirty miles outside the city. In those days, the mass graves were more like public cemeteries from the previous life, with one grave after another.

The mass graves are where the deceased are buried, mostly from poor families. Those who are better off will hire a feng shui master to choose a burial site.

"Gentlemen, Zhou Jingli's grave is over there." Quickly pointed to a willow tree, under which was a small mound.

Several Tiger Guards took the iron shovels hanging on their horse hooks and dug open the grave mound, one after another. Soil and debris flew everywhere, and with a muffled thud, the iron shovels hit the coffin.

The Tiger Guards wiped the mud off the coffin, pried it open, and a foul stench wafted out.

Everyone took a few steps back. Martial artists, with their keen sense of smell, were even more unable to bear the stench.

Xu Qi'an took out a porcelain bottle and distributed the small pills inside to everyone. These were antiviral pills given by the Warlock of the Bureau of Astronomy.

Then, he covered his mouth and nose and walked to the coffin.

A male corpse dressed in white lay silently, his ashen face turned upwards toward the sky.

His skin was bluish-black, covered with varying shades of lividity, and his face had several rotten holes in which maggots wriggled.

The body is slightly swollen, a result of the putrefactive gases filling the skin tissue after death. At this stage, the skin will break easily with the slightest touch, spurting out foul-smelling blood.

Xu Qi'an had learned this knowledge before, but this was the first time he had seen it.

"My god, I'm going to explode!" Xu Qi'an forced back the churning stomach acid and said in a deep voice, "Unbutton his clothes."

The Tiger Guard glanced at him resignedly. "Yes."

Half an hour later, Xu Qi'an examined the body and preliminarily determined that the death was not caused by external force. He did not find any fatal wounds on the body.

After reburying Zhou Min's grave, the officials of the government led them to wash it in a nearby stream before returning to Baidi City.

The cause of death is almost certain; it was done by members of the Witch God Cult. Killing someone in a dream—that's the work of a fourth-rank witch doctor. Wouldn't it have been easy for him to kill us?

The only clue we have right now is half a jade pendant, but without more information, there's no way to investigate.

At 2:30 p. m., they returned to the post station. Governor Zhang, accompanied by a group of people with bronze and silver gongs, was thoroughly examining Zhou Min's belongings, searching for clues.

"We've been watching for an hour, have you noticed anything?" Governor Zhang frowned deeply.

The Nightwatchers shook their heads.

"Isn't Zhou Min the Nightwatchers's mole? Don't you Nightwatchers have any secret communication signals?" Governor Zhang questioned sternly.

"It doesn't match at all," a silver gong player said in a muffled voice.

"Could it have already been taken or destroyed by the murderer? All that's left for us are some useless junk," another silver gong speculated.

"It's been half a month, and there's no clue left, right? How can we solve this? Nobody can." A gong player muttered.

The useless Governor Zhang was somewhat irritated. He was originally an imperial censor but was unfamiliar with criminal cases and could only rely on the night Nightwatchers. However, while the Nightwatchers were good at fighting, they were rather incompetent at investigating cases.

"Let the Warlock question Yang Chuannan directly."

"What a terrible idea!" Governor Zhang snorted. "For officials of the fourth rank and above, accusations by Warlock are not admissible. I know that Yang Chuannan colluded with mountain bandits, but where is the evidence? Without evidence, how can we punish him, how can we punish a second-rank military commander?"

The Nightwatchers sighed and shook their heads.

"Alright, Your Excellency, don't make things difficult for them. Zhou Min really didn't use any secret signals." Jiang Luzhong shook his head, sensing the predicament.

They initially thought Zhou Min would use the unique codes of the Nightwatchers to provide clues and guide them to find the evidence, but after examining the belongings, they found nothing.

"It's also possible that it was destroyed by the murderer," Governor Zhang said helplessly.

"What should we do then?" a silver gong player asked.

"We can only rely on Xu Ningyan," Governor Zhang said. "He was able to find flaws in the tax silver case files, and he was able to uncover the old case of Princess Pingyang in the Sangbo case. He might just be able to uncover Zhou Min's headless case this time."

"But how do we investigate?"

"How would I know?" Governor Zhang glared at the man with the gong who had spoken.

Just then, Xu Qi'an walked in, followed by the night Nightwatchers and the Tiger Guard.

Governor Zhang's eyes lit up. "What were the results of the autopsy?"

"Just like the autopsy records from the government office, nothing will be found regarding the body," Xu Qi'an replied.

The governor nodded somewhat disappointedly, then asked, "I heard about your incident with the government office?"

"I know what I'm doing, I won't kill anyone." Xu Qi'an pointed to the belongings. "Any clues?"

The night Nightwatchers shook their heads.

"We couldn't find the communication code; it might have been destroyed." Jiang Luzhong sighed. "Ningyan, we can only rely on you now."

He then looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice, "You all should learn from him and see how he solves cases. Whoever can learn even a tenth or a twelfth of his methods will be given special attention by me."

These bronze and silver gongs all belong to his command.

Jiang Luzhong had always wanted Xu Qi'an, but Duke Wei refused to give him to him, so he had no choice but to resort to this tactic of having Xu Qi'an train the Nightwatchers under his command.

Xu Qi'an found a seat and sat down, not continuing to examine the belongings. After a moment of contemplation, he asked, "Is the code of the Nightwatchers's office kept secret?"

Jiang Luzhong said, "Those above the silver rank know, and those at the bronze rank who have been in contact with the secret agents also know."

"That means it wasn't kept secret enough." Xu Qi'an poured himself a glass of water and said:

"It is highly likely that Zhou Min did not use the government's communication codes."

"How do you know?" a silver gong player asked.

Xu Qi'an analyzed, "If the code was highly confidential, the murderer couldn't have accurately found the clues among all the relics and destroyed them. So we should have found the code by now. But we haven't."

"If the level of secrecy wasn't high, Zhou Min, as a veteran undercover agent with twenty years of experience, would never use such a crude method; it's too easily cracked. So this matter isn't actually complicated. There's only one answer; he used other methods to hide the evidence."

The Nightwatchers silent glances, all somewhat shocked.

"Yes, that's right. At first glance, it seems like there's no clue, but there's only one possibility: Zhou Min hid the evidence using other methods."

The Nightwatchers their hands in excitement, feeling a sudden sense of enlightenment.

Governor Zhang nodded slightly, then frowned. "However, we are also at a loss as to how to find the evidence he has hidden."

Xu Qi'an said, "Then let's analyze it from the beginning."