Drawing the Killer

The system remained silent, presumably checking the exam results.

Immediately, its excited voice rang in Zhao Ruxi's mind. "First place, host, you're number one!"

Zhao Ruxi scoffed, looking down on it for being so naive. "I got first place, isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"

She had observed the performance of the other five girls and knew she was far superior to them. If she took the exam seriously and didn't get first place, there was only one possibility: the teachers had made a mistake with the exam paper.

"No, host, you are the number one candidate among all the candidates from the North Academy."

Zhao Ruxi's expression changed. "How is that possible?"

"Host, have you forgotten? All candidates in the North Academy use the same set of exam papers for every ten-day exam," the system reminded you.

Zhao Ruxi then remembered that Master Teacher Cui had said something like this: the North Academy did not arrange classes based on the length of time students had been enrolled, but rather on the level of knowledge they had acquired. As long as one could achieve a certain score in the ten-day exams, they could be promoted to the corresponding class.

"Wow, am I that amazing?" she asked the system excitedly. "Those people studied for so many years, and their exam scores weren't even as high as mine?"

"That's right." The system's voice carried a hint of smugness. "You're the host I chose. Among those who died at the same time, you had the highest IQ. If you couldn't outperform others, wouldn't it be a waste that I selected you?"

Zhao Ruxi rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm so honored to be the chosen one."

After a brief exchange of words between the two, the carriage stopped in front of the Court of Judicial Review.

When Wu Zong saw his junior sister getting off the carriage, her eyes were bright and she had a smile on her lips, looking quite excited. He assumed it was because it was her first time visiting a place like the Court of Judicial Review, and couldn't help but smile.

Children will always be children.

As soon as the two entered the yamen, Wu Zong said to his subordinate, "Go and inform Lord Zhang that I have brought my junior sister to the yamen."

The subordinate acknowledged and left, returning shortly to report, "Lord Wu, Lord Zhang requests your presence along with your junior sister."

Wu Zong waved to Zhao Ruxi and led her to the innermost room. On the way, he briefly introduced Zhang Changshen's identity to Zhao Ruxi.

"He was the one who handled the Lady Wei case," he pointed out.

Upon entering, he bowed to the man whose head was buried in files. "Sir."

Zhang Changshen looked up, saw Zhao Ruxi, stood up and warmly invited her to sit down, ordered tea and snacks to be served, and asked, "Are you the child who was exchanged to the countryside by the Lady Wei?"

Zhao Ruxi nodded. "My lord, it is indeed I, Zhao Ruxi."

Zhang Changshen's eyes immediately lit up with interest. "I heard you created a painting technique that can paint people very realistically, just like the real thing?"

Zhao Ruxi said, "It's quite similar, but it can't be exactly the same as a real person. That's because people have color, while my paintings only use black and white."

Zhang Changshen squinted at Zhao Ruxi for a moment, then smiled and said, "You don't seem like a child who grew up in the countryside."

Zhao Ruxi's heart skipped a beat, but her face remained calm. "Many people say that. My parents say that I am indeed their child. Even though I wasn't raised by them, my temperament and behavior are just like theirs."

Zhang Changshen nodded and did not discuss the matter further.

He stood up and gestured. "Let's go, let's go to the prison."

Zhao Ruxi and Wu Zong followed him out. She looked around at this special government office and quietly asked Wu Zong, "Senior brother, are the Wei Family still imprisoned here?"

Wu Zong shook his head. "They were exiled immediately after the imperial decree was announced. Now, only Lady Wei is imprisoned in death row."

He glanced at Zhao Ruxi: "Junior Sister, do you perhaps wish to visit her?"

Zhao Ruxi smiled, "How could that be?" Was she really that clueless?

Not to mention that the death row of the Court of Judicial Review is not easily accessible to the public, even if she could get through Wu Zong, she would not be able to visit Lady Wei.

She and the Lady Wei were sworn enemies, at least in the eyes of outsiders. If she went to see the Lady Wei now, who knows how much gossip would spread in the capital.

It's not that she was ruthless at such a young age; even when Lady Wei was about to be beheaded, she still wouldn't let her go and chased her to the prison to humiliate her. It's just that she couldn't distinguish right from wrong and still wanted to sympathize with and pity Lady Wei. She even linked her actions to the Earl of Suiping and the Wei Family, generating all sorts of interpretations.

In any case, none of them were kind words.

Wu Zong's words were merely a test; seeing that his junior sister wasn't so foolish, he was finally relieved.

Zhang Changshen said he was going to the prison, but he didn't actually go into the cell. Instead, he went into a courtyard that was some distance away from the prison.

To avoid suspicion, he didn't lead Zhao Ruxi and the others into the house. Instead, he had tables and chairs moved to the porch and told the jailer who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, "Bring Sun Jiawang up."

The jailer agreed and left.

Zhang Changshen then told Zhao Ruxi, "This is a serial murder case. In the past year, six murders have occurred in Yangzhou, all involving... entire families being killed. The crimes occurred without warning. After the incidents, apart from a bloody handprint left on the wall, there were no other clues. The local government investigated for half a year without any leads. As the murders continued and the number of deaths increased, they finally transferred the case to the Court of Judicial Review."

"Just recently, a sixth murder occurred, with identical details. The only difference was that the family that was killed had recently acquired a mother and son. Since the household consisted entirely of women, the master had placed the newly acquired young male servant separately in the woodshed next to the vegetable garden. On the night of the murder, the young servant got up to use the restroom and, hearing a noise in front, quietly went to the main house to investigate. He saw the murderer carrying a lamp, smearing bloody handprints on the wall. His mother, along with the master's wife and daughter, had all been murdered and were lying on the ground."

"Probably unaware that there was such a young boy in the house, the murderer left without searching further. After the murderer left, the young servant ran to the city gate that very night and waited there. As soon as the city gate opened, he went to the government office and beat the drum to report the crime."

In this case, all the victims were women who were murdered and then raped. Moreover, the families where the murders occurred were either widows with their daughters or only the women were at home while the men were temporarily away.

However, Zhao Ruxi was a young girl, Zhang Changshen it inappropriate to discuss these matters with her, so he omitted some of his words.

"This case has far-reaching implications, causing widespread panic in Yangzhou. Now that we've finally found an eyewitness to the murderer, we're being extremely cautious, fearing we might alert him and allow him to go into hiding. That's why we'd like to trouble Miss Zhao to draw a picture of the bandit for us."

As Zhang Changshen spoke, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Zhao Ruxi.

Zhao Ruxi quickly stepped aside, saying, "If it weren't for your keen observation, sir, I wouldn't have been able to recognize my parents. It's my honor to be able to do something for you. Drawing a portrait is just a small favor, nothing to mention."