“Someone’s been watching us?”
Xu Qi’an was taken aback. He walked over to the window and swept his sharp gaze across the surroundings. After a moment, he withdrew his gaze. “How did you know we were being watched?”
He did not feel as though he was being watched. Although his third-rank martial artist cultivation was sealed, the Heaven Gu should be even more sensitive in this regard.
“It was after you left that it suddenly said someone was watching us.”
Mu Nanzhi was rather shaken. “But I looked by the window for ages and didn’t notice anything. It really scared me.”
Xu Qi’an looked at the little white fox with a grave expression. “Do you have any talents or powers in this area?”
The little white fox shook her head and said sweetly, “My gifts are stealth and speed.”
Xu Qi’an questioned, “Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination?”
The little white fox kept shaking her head. “My intuition never fails me.”
“I understand.”
Xu Qi’an said, “You two stay in the Stupa Tower for now. I really have encountered some strange things while investigating this case recently.”
He called for the inn’s attendant and had some dry provisions, fresh water, and daily necessities prepared, then summoned the Stupa Tower, letting Mu Nanzhi and the little white fox enter.
After he had finished all this, Xu Qi’an did not leave immediately. He went over to the table, spread out some paper, and, out of habit, began reviewing the case involving the Chai family.
Although he had paid some attention and done some analysis before, Xu Qi’an had always put seizing the Dragon Qi first, only touching upon the details of the case briefly.
It was not until today, after witnessing the death of a family of three, that Xu Qi’an decided to set aside the matter of the Dragon Qi for now and devote himself fully to the case, ready to have a proper game with the person behind it all.
“Following me, killing to silence witnesses, watching Mu Nanzhi? Fine, I’ll play with you.”
He was highly experienced in criminal investigation and well versed in criminal psychology, able to analyse problems far more accurately and astutely than even this era’s most clever minds.
The root of everything is the murder at Chai Manor twenty days ago. The deceased: Chai Jianyuan. The suspect: adopted son Chai Xian. Eyewitnesses: Chai Xing’er and the rest of the family. Motive for murder: love!
Note: Miss Chai Lan is missing.
Xu Qi’an wrote without pausing:
The motive is not strong enough for the suspect to kill his own father, there may be another reason, or he was framed.
Chai Xing’er’s former husband died because of Chai Jianyuan, so she bore a grudge; Chai Jianyuan’s children were mediocre and incapable of inheriting the family business. Therefore, Chai Xing’er was the main beneficiary and also had a strong motive for murder.
After completing this passage, Xu Qi’an summarised:
First suspect: Chai Xian; second suspect: Chai Xing’er.
Although in his estimation Chai Xing’er was more suspicious than Chai Xian, there was an eyewitness claiming Chai Xian was the murderer. Investigation should not rely solely on intuition, so Chai Xian remained the primary suspect.
Xu Qi’an picked up his teacup, took a sip, and, still holding the cup, began to write the second phase of the case after a dozen seconds.
Afterwards, Chai Xian repeatedly committed murders in Xiangzhou and the surrounding region, specifically targeting people from the jianghu, later even harming commoners!
Note: This does not fit the behaviour of a suspect who killed his father for love.
Simply put, Chai Xian’s motive for the initial crime did not match his later chaotic actions in Xiangzhou; the two were completely contradictory and unreasonable.
There were only three possible scenarios:
The conclusion: Chai Xian’s motive for murder could be overturned, he did not kill for love, there was another reason; or Chai Xian was framed, and there is more to this case than meets the eye.
Having sorted out the case, Xu Qi’an wrote down two more questions:
Was the person who silenced the villagers the true mastermind?
What was the purpose of the series of murders in Xiangzhou?
Xu Qi’an put down his brush and analysed carefully:
“If the person who silenced those villagers is the mastermind, then he (or she) would be perfectly capable of ambushing Chai Xian and eliminating him. But the mastermind did not do that. If Chai Xing’er was the mastermind, shouldn’t she be eager to get rid of Chai Xian as well?”
Another contradiction had arisen.
There were three contradictory points in the entire case. If Chai Xian was the murderer, then the murder at the Chai residence and the subsequent series of killings were mutually inconsistent.
This contradiction highlighted the possibility that Chai Xing’er, the main beneficiary, might have framed Chai Xian.
Yet the massacre in last night’s small mountain village contradicted the theory that “Chai Xing’er was the mastermind” once again.
In the first stage, the Chai Manor murders, the suspect was Chai Xian.
In the second stage, the rampant killings in Xiangzhou, the suspect became Chai Xing’er.
In the third stage, the extermination of the mountain village, the suspicion of Chai Xing’er being the mastermind was reduced, making the case even more confusing.
“What about Chai Lan? Where did Chai Lan go?
“Suppose: Chai Xing’er was the mastermind, but the mountain village killings were done by Chai Lan, then the earlier hypothesis just about stands, no need to overturn it. But what was Chai Lan’s purpose in doing this?
“Speculating further won’t do. Chai Lan has never appeared, and there are no clues relating to her. Randomly making such assumptions will only lead me down a blind alley.”
At this point, Xu Qi’an felt vaguely that something was not right.
This was the instinct of a veteran detective.
Xu Qi’an leaned back against the chair, closed his eyes, and remained like that for over ten minutes. When he opened his eyes, he had his answer.
Chaos!
Yes, the greatest problem with the Chai family case lay in its chaos, contradictions everywhere, but what had truly made him realise something was off was the motive!
“All the contradictions boil down to unreasonable motives. Chai Xian’s motive for killing Chai Jianyuan was not convincing; the motive for slaughtering the mountain village was not convincing; killing so many people just to spare Chai Xian likewise makes no sense.
“It’s like using a cannon to shoot a fly. If Chai Xian was a lovesick fool willing to kill his own father for Chai Lan, as long as Chai Lan was hidden and used as leverage, he would never have left Xiangzhou.
“Therefore, there must be more to this case than meets the eye, it’s not so simple on the surface.
“To get to the root, I have to begin the investigation from the Chai family…”
Xu Qi’an flicked his wrist and set the paper alight, letting it turn to ash before tossing it into the small green porcelain water jar for washing brushes. Then, he left the inn.
…
An hour later, the innkeeper sat behind the counter, fiddling with his abacus and sorting the account book.
A gentle voice intoning a Buddhist chant sounded beside his ear:
“Amitabha!”
The innkeeper looked up. It was a monk with features of the Western Regions, dressed in a travel-worn kasaya, composed and reserved.
“Master, do you wish to stay the night or just have a meal?”
The innkeeper’s face was wreathed in smiles.
He had run this top-tier inn in Xiangzhou for most of his life, and had only seen monks a handful of times, after all, Buddhist monks were a rarity in the Central Plains.
The young monk pressed his palms together and spoke with a warmth like a spring breeze:
“This humble monk wishes to ask whether, in recent days, you have had a couple stay here, a man dressed in azure, an ordinary-looking woman, with a warhorse as their mount.”
The monk’s words seemed to have a convincing power, and a strange feeling rose in the innkeeper’s heart, as if the monk before him were a stern father figure.
“Yes, there was such a pair of guests.”
The innkeeper answered honestly, “I didn’t pay much attention to their looks, but as soon as you mentioned the warhorse, I knew who you meant. Unfortunately, this guest just checked out and left.”
Jingxin nodded. “Thank you for telling me, innkeeper.”
…
Late at night, at the Chai Residence.
A shadow prowled through the darkness, silent as a ghost. The flickering torchlight of patrolling guards distorted the shadows cast by the trees, and for a brief moment, it illuminated the elusive silhouette.
But in the next instant, the shadow vanished soundlessly and reappeared farther away in the darkness, continuing towards its destination.
Before long, he arrived at a secluded little courtyard.
He did not enter immediately, because quite a few more guards had been posted nearby, among them warriors of the Refining Spirit rank.
But the shadow did not retreat. He circled around to the back of the courtyard.
Inside the house, the candlelight was bright, and the room was filled with the rich aroma of meat. Three men sat around the table, eating “antique stew”—in other words, hotpot.
Since Chai Xian had broken into the cellar, Chai Manor had strengthened security here.
Not only had they posted more men outside, but skilled fighters were now stationed in the house day and night.
Xu Qi’an, standing outside the wall, focused his senses:
There are three men inside, all warriors above Refining Spirit. If I tried a sneak attack, they’d sense my presence right away and call the guards outside… If this was me in the past, I’d have to try forcing my way in, but now I’m no longer a mere brute.
Several seconds later, under the foundation of the courtyard, in a tunnel, a slumbering rat woke up and opened its blood-red eyes.
This was no ordinary rat. Its whole body was toxic, poison exuded with every breath, infecting all nearby living creatures.
…
Inside the room!
“Why did Chai Xian come back?”
A burly man spoke.
“From what the clan elders said, he was looking for Xiao Lan. That madman thinks Xiao Lan was killed and hidden in the cellar.”
Another man shook his head. “Didn’t he abduct Xiao Lan?”
As they spoke, they heard squeaking. They turned to see a fat black rat standing in a shadowy corner, its red eyes fixed silently on them.
Being warriors with an acute sense of danger, the three men immediately felt alarmed the moment they saw the rat.
On instinct, they grabbed the weapons at the side of the table and were about to call out to the guards outside.
But in the next moment, all three slumped limply onto the table, falling into unconsciousness.
A few seconds later, a shadow slipped out from under the table. Xu Qi’an looked around, listened carefully, and confirmed that the guards outside had not noticed a thing. He turned and went to the entrance of the cellar, lifting the heavy stone cover.
The poison used on the three in the room caused strong paralysis but would not threaten their lives, the worst outcome was a few days of weakness.
As he opened the stone cover, a dark hole was revealed. Xu Qi’an took out a prepared candle, lit it, and held the orange glow aloft as he descended the steps into the cellar.
He walked past rows of corpses, stepping lightly, feeling that this was the safest and most comfortable place in the world.
But the case was urgent. He forced himself to resist the urge to talk and interact with the corpses, heading straight for the secret chamber deep in the cellar.
The Chai Residence had a custom: when a family member died, the body was either cremated, or donated to the family and refined into a walking corpse.
This was to prevent the family’s corpses being exhumed by outsiders.
Before taking action, Xu Qi’an had already obtained intelligence from Li Lingsu: Chai Jianyuan’s corpse had been refined by Chai Xing’er into a walking corpse and stored in the cellar.
Chai Xing’er’s explanation was that the Chai family had suffered a calamity and needed strength to protect themselves.
This reason won the unanimous support of the family.
However, Xu Qi’an believed that Chai Xing’er’s real motive was personal revenge.
Of course, her motives were unimportant. Xu Qi’an had only come to examine the body.
A corpse could reveal a great deal: the nature of wounds, injuries, and so on, all of which could tell Xu Qi’an whether the culprit was someone familiar.
Very soon, he arrived outside the secret chamber at the back of the cellar.
The door was firmly locked.
Xu Qi’an pressed his palm against the lock and exerted a sudden force, with a bang, the lock flew off in a shower of dust.
There were not many corpses in the secret chamber, four on each side, all with sacks over their heads and all clad in identical grey robes.
From the subtle swell of their chests, three of them were female corpses.
Xu Qi’an removed the hood from each corpse, and upon inspection, identified the third corpse on the left as Chai Jianyuan.
Interestingly, the third corpse on the right was a handsome-faced man who, according to Li Lingsu’s description, was Chai Xing’er’s ex-husband.
Tsk, staring at each other like that, Chai Xing’er must have truly borne a grudge against Chai Jianyuan.
Without delay, Xu Qi’an kicked over Chai Jianyuan’s corpse, stripped off the grey robe, and examined the body by candlelight.
There was a sutured wound at Chai Jianyuan’s chest, but the rest of the wounds had been obscured by post-mortem blotches.
Xu Qi’an shifted the candle: the orange light moved from the chest down to the legs, pausing between them. He used the robe to cover his hand and examined the genitals.
No attack to the groin!
This spot was a relative weak point for Bronze Skin and Iron Bones martial artists.
Moving the light farther down, the candle illuminated Chai Jianyuan’s feet.
In the dimness, Xu Qi’an’s pupils widened slightly, his gaze froze.
Chai Jianyuan’s left foot had six toes.
…
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