HBWnovel Chapter 155 The Strange Corpse
Chapter 155 The Strange Corpse
Chapter 155 The Strange Corpse
Magistrate Sun and Constable Wang had arrived at the dock in Qinghe County early and were already waiting for Lin Fei and his group.
Lin Fei and his group came to Jiangxia on official business, so they were dressed in the uniforms of the head constables of Tianmen Prefecture. They were immediately recognized as soon as they got off the boat.
Magistrate Sun glanced discreetly at the waist badges on the two men's waists, then immediately forced a smile and went to greet Jiang Zhilan, who had a gold badge hanging from her waist: "This humble official, Sun Xiaochuan, Magistrate of Qinghe County, pays his respects to my superior!"
To everyone's surprise, Magistrate Sun's warm welcome was met with indifference.
Jiang Zhilan coldly pointed at Lin Fei beside her: "He is the one in charge of this case. I'm just here to help him out."
In the imperial court, the hierarchy was always strict. Magistrate Sun had never seen a top-ranking constable serve as an assistant to a mere bronze-ranking constable. He didn't have time to think much and hurriedly said to Lin Fei, "It was my rudeness. My lords, I have prepared a banquet to welcome you. I humbly request that you both grace our county office with your presence and allow us to extend our hospitality."
Lin Fei had never been interested in the formalities of officialdom, and said directly, "No need, Magistrate Sun, we are here on imperial orders, let's investigate the case first!"
"What the superior says is true. He is loyal to the country and works hard. He is a role model for us subordinates to learn from!" Magistrate Sun was rebuffed twice, but he did not show any embarrassment and continued to flatter him.
As the saying goes, flattery will get you everywhere. Nobody knows what kind of temper these two officials who have come from afar have, so it's best to flatter them first and make sure they won't make things difficult for you.
However, although Magistrate Sun was skilled at flattery, he had served as the magistrate of Qinghe County for ten years and had a very good reputation. Besides flattery, he did have some real abilities.
He observed their expressions and realized that these two superiors were capable and pragmatic, not just empty shells who accepted bribes. After a round of flattery, he didn't bring out the gift he had prepared beforehand. Instead, he straightened his expression and said to the head constable Wang beside him, "Old Wang, you are in full charge of this case. Please explain the details to these two superiors!"
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Constable Wang replied, bowing and saying, "This humble official, Wang Sheng, Chief Constable of Qinghe County, greets Your Excellency."
Lin Fei nodded slightly: "Officer Wang, I have read the case files of Tianmen Prefecture and know a little about it. Please tell me in detail, the more detailed the better."
"Yes, sir!" Officer Wang thought for a moment before continuing, "The first murder case occurred two months ago. The victim was a local butcher named Zhang. According to the person who reported the case, Zhang was found in a restaurant under the bridge. He was drinking in the restaurant at the time, but in the blink of an eye, he collapsed on the table and was unconscious."
At this point, Constable Wang shrank back, seemingly somewhat frightened: "But the strange thing is this: from the time Zhang's death was discovered by the people in the restaurant to the time the county government received the report and rushed over, less than half an hour had passed. However, the coroner's examination of the body revealed that Zhang's internal organs had already decomposed, and the time of death had been about a month!"
“Yes, Your Excellencies, you mentioned that butcher Zhang. He opens his shop every day to do business, welcoming and seeing off many people. Many people have seen him.” Magistrate Zhang also said from the side, “If he has been dead for more than a month, are the people in the county seeing him every day ghosts? This matter is too strange. Our small county is not capable of solving it, so we reported it to the imperial court and asked the experts from Tianmen Prefecture to come and take a look.”
"I don't think it was done by humans," Chief Constable Wang muttered under his breath. "Everyone in the county is saying that a demon has entered Qinghe County!"
"Where are these demons?" Lin Fei chuckled. Coming from the Jade Emperor Sect, he wasn't afraid of those demons, but they were just monsters imprisoned in the Demon-Subduing Tower. "Ever since the ancient sages stormed the Demon Palace, how dare those demons and monsters dare to trespass into our human territory? I think they're mostly heretics practicing evil arts. What do you think, Officer Jiang?"
"It's hard to say. Among all the unorthodox sects, I've never heard of any that use such an evil method to practice martial arts." Jiang Zhilan pondered for a moment and then asked, "Since the first victim was discovered, how many people have been killed in total?"
Chief Constable Wang calculated: "In the past two months, a total of seventeen or eighteen people have been murdered."
Despite being a woman, Jiang Zhilan had been a constable for many years and possessed a keen sense of smell. She immediately grasped the crux of the problem: "Seventeen or eighteen people, which means that someone is killed every three to five days. It seems like a method of absorbing life essence to replenish one's strength. Could it be that some evil cultivator was injured and is using the life essence of mortals to heal his injuries?"
Among the unorthodox sects, there are quite a few methods that use the blood and lives of mortals to enhance one's cultivation and heal one's injuries. The Blood Refining Array that Qin Zhongshan set up in Xijiang County was one such method.
However, we can only determine which organization used which method after seeing the body.
"Where are those bodies now?" Jiang Zhilan asked.
"They're all parked at the mortuary outside the city." Constable Wang shuddered in fright: "Sirs, you don't mean to go to the mortuary right now, do you?"
Lin Fei and Jiang Zhilan exchanged a glance and nodded in unison: "The longer we wait, the more things might go wrong. Take us to see the bodies of the victims now."
Constable Wang's face instantly turned ashen: "My lords, the mortuary is quite a distance from the city. By the time we get there, it will probably be night. Why don't we wait until tomorrow?"
The murder was already the talk of the town in Qinghe County, with rumors circulating that ghosts were at work. Going to the mortuary filled with corpses so late at night was practically inviting a ghostly encounter, and might even cost you your life.
Wang, the constable, has elderly parents and young children to support; he's just trying to make a living and has no desire to do something so dangerous.
Seeing Wang the constable's demeanor, Jiang Zhilan immediately hardened her expression: "If you continue to make excuses, I will accuse you of obstructing official duties, colluding with thieves, and plotting to harm the lives of the people of Qinghe. At that point, you won't just lose your official hat, you might lose your head!"
"The stinger of a wasp is most venomous than a woman's heart. The ancients were right!" Even Lin Fei muttered to himself.
"Well, gentlemen, I don't need to come along, do I?" Magistrate Sun, standing to the side, was also terrified, fearing that these two might suddenly decide to drag him to the mortuary full of dead people.
Jiang Zhilan thought for a moment and said, "When Lord Sun goes back, bring all the relevant witnesses to the county government office. Once we return from the mortuary, we will immediately begin the interrogation."
"Your humble servant obeys!" Magistrate Sun felt as if he had been granted a pardon and disappeared in a flash.
Only the frowning Constable Wang remained, and he reluctantly led the two men toward the mortuary outside the city.