Chapter 807

The magistrate's office?

What's wrong with the magistrate's office? I even dare to kill people in front of the Ministry of Justice's office. Is it that difficult to kill a mere seventh-ranked official like you?

Xu Qi 'an pressed his hand down, and the sharp black gold long knife instantly cut the official's nape. The official could clearly feel the pain coming from the back of his neck and his warm blood flowing out.

"He really dares to kill me …" The official's heart tightened. He looked at the other night watchmen in panic, hoping that they could stop his lawless companion.

But the attitude of Song Tingfeng and the others made the official's heart sink. They were calm, indifferent, and indifferent. He had long heard of the bad reputation of the night watchmen. They were especially arrogant, but he did not believe that they would dare to kill an official of the imperial court in the yamen.

Song Tingfeng looked at the official's eyes and smiled. "Sir, you have seized the inheritance of an official of the imperial court. Even if I don't kill you now, I will still find a way to kill you after you are put in prison."

Tang Yinluo added, "This is the usual method of us night watchmen. When the time comes, we won't just ask for the inheritance."

"This lowly official … knows his mistake." The official gulped and accepted his fate with a pale face.

Only then did Xu Qi 'an put away his knife and kicked the official. "Go, call all the people who received the silver to the main hall. I will question them one by one."

The official covered the back of his neck, which was bleeding, and staggered away.

Until the official's figure disappeared, Xu Qi 'an withdrew his gaze and continued to examine the relics.

"Are you afraid that the relics containing clues will be stolen, and the case will not be solved?" Tang Yinluo worded.

"If Zhou Min really left clues in the relics, then he wouldn't have chosen those precious and greedy objects," Xu Qi 'an said, raising his head to look at him.

"I just want to take back the things that belong to Zhou Min. When the case is over, I will hand them over to his family."

"Your moral character is worthy of my admiration." Tang Yinluo praised, and then added, "Although you are very lecherous."

No, this is the most basic moral … A person who does not even let go of the wealth of the dead is a rotten person, a piece of trash. Xu Qi 'an complained in his heart.

Besides, can a man's behavior be called lecherous? It is clearly a gentleman's desire.

Xu Qi 'an remembered a joke he had read before: Although I drink, smoke, get tattoos, and go to nightclubs, I know I am a good girl.

Although I'm a freeloader, I know that I'm a good man …

About ten minutes later, an official wearing a green robe embroidered with a white pheasant walked into the storeroom. Behind him was a government official who had simply bandaged the wound on his neck and an official who was also wearing a green robe embroidered with a white pheasant.

In the officialdom, one only needed to look at the official's uniform to know the rank of the other party, and thus guess their identity. For example, this green-robed official with the white pheasant embroidered on was a sixth-rank official, and in the government office, only the prefect was a sixth-rank official.

Only the clothes, not the person. This saying first spread from the officialdom.

The chubby, middle-aged magistrate warmly welcomed them. When he came to Xu Qi 'an and the others, he said bitterly, "Xu Qi' an and the others,

"This official is ashamed. This official was not strict enough to let them do such a shameful thing."

As he reflected on himself, he took out a bulging and heavy package. "There are 150 taels of silver in here. They are Zhou Shusheng's belongings. This official has recovered them for him."

There was no need to use the Qi Observation Technique for such a small matter. The prefecture was willing to compromise to this extent because of the Inspector. Xu Qi 'an had expected this, so he was not afraid.

If the magistrate did not buy it, he could complain to Inspector Zhang. Of course, this was unlikely. He believed that the prefecture magistrate had the intelligence to do so.

So, Xu Qi 'an took it and weighed it a few times. He did not pester the magistrate.

"Magistrate, help me prepare the carriage. I want to bring Zhou Chuanzhi's belongings back to the relay station." Xu Qi 'an said.

The magistrate looked at the man with the silver gong embroidered on his chest. Seeing that he was silent, he knew that this gong was the one who talked to him.

"Of course."

Xu Qi 'an left two Stalwart Tiger Guards to cooperate with the yamen runners to transport Zhou Min's belongings back to the relay station. They rode out of the city. Accompanying him was a bailiff from the magistrate's office.

He was also called Quick Hand.

Zhou Min's body was buried in a mass grave thirty li outside the city. The mass grave in this era was more like the public cemetery in his previous life, with tombstones connected to each other.

Those buried in the mass grave were the deceased of poor families. Those who were well-off would ask a Feng Shui master to choose a grave site.

"Milords, Zhou Chuanzhi's grave is over there." Quick Hand pointed to a willow tree. There was a small grave mound under the willow tree.

Several Stalwart Tiger Guards took the iron shovels hanging on their hooks and dug up the mound one by one. Soil flew everywhere, and with a muffled thud, the iron shovels hit the coffin.

The Stalwart Tiger Guards wiped away the soil outside the coffin. Clang … They pried open the thin coffin, and an unpleasant stench rushed out.

Everyone took a few steps back. Martial artists had a keen sense of smell, so they could not stand this stench.

Xu Qi 'an took out a porcelain bottle and distributed the small pills inside to everyone. These were the pills that the Imperial Astrologer had given to them to prevent diseases and disinfect viruses.

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

A male corpse dressed in white lay there quietly, his ashen face facing the sky.

His skin was greenish-black, covered with livor mortis spots of varying shades. There were several holes on his face, and maggots were wriggling in them.

His body was slightly swollen, a phenomenon caused by the putrid gas in his skin after death. At this time, the skin would rupture with the slightest poke, and the stench of blood would splatter everywhere.

Xu Qi 'an had learned this before, but it was his first time seeing it.

… Oh my god, I'm going to split open. Xu Qi 'an forcefully suppressed the surging stomach acid and said in a low voice, "Take off his clothes."

The Stalwart Tiger Guard looked at him in resignation. "Yes …"

Half an hour later, Xu Qi 'an finished examining the corpse and concluded that it was indeed not an external cause of death. He did not find any fatal wounds on the corpse.

After burying Zhou Min's grave again, the magistrate's officials led them to a nearby stream to wash the corpse, and then returned to White Emperor City.

The cause of death was almost certain, it was done by the Witchcraft Cult … Killing people in their dreams, a Rank Four wizard's method … Then wouldn't it be easy for him to kill us?

The only clue at the moment was half a jade pendant, but it was only a jade pendant. Without more information, there was no way to investigate …

Returning to the courier station at 2: 30 in the afternoon, Inspector Zhang brought a group of copper gongs and silver gongs to look for clues in Zhou Min's belongings.

"We've been looking for two hours, did you find anything?" Inspector Zhang frowned.

The night watchmen shook their heads.

"Wasn't Zhou Min a spy for the night watchmen? Didn't your night watchmen communicate with each other?" Inspector Zhang questioned sternly.

"It doesn't match at all," one of the silver gongs said in a muffled voice.

"Could it have been taken away or destroyed by the murderer? What's left for us is just some useless trash, "another silver gong guessed.

"It's been half a month, there's no more clues, right? How can we break it, no one can break it, "one of the copper gongs muttered.

"Useless trash …" Inspector Zhang was a little annoyed. He was an imperial censor, he didn't know much about criminal cases, so he could only rely on this group of night watchmen. The night watchmen were good at fighting, but they were amateurs in investigating cases.

"Let the warlocks interrogate Yang Chuannan directly."

"Stupid idea!" Inspector Zhang snorted, "The accusations of warlocks above Rank Four are not valid. I know that Yang Chuannan colluded with the mountain bandits, but where's the evidence? How are we going to punish him without evidence, and how are we going to punish a Rank Two commander? "

The night watchmen sighed and shook their heads.

"Alright, Inspector Zhang, don't make things difficult for them. Zhou Min really didn't use the secret code," Jiang Lvzhong shook his head, feeling troubled.

He thought Zhou Min would use the unique secret code of the night watchmen to communicate with each other and guide them to find the evidence, but after checking the belongings, they found nothing.

"It could also be destroyed by the murderer," Inspector Zhang said helplessly.

"Then what should we do?" one of the silver gongs asked.

"We can only count on Xu Ningyan," Inspector Zhang said. "He was able to find the flaw in the Tax Silver Case in the dossier, and he was able to find the old case of Princess Pingyang in the Sampo Case, so it's not impossible for him to find the clue of Zhou Min's case."

"But how are we going to investigate?"

"How would I know?" Inspector Zhang glared at the bronze gong that spoke.

At this moment, Xu Qi 'an happened to walk in, followed by the night watchmen and the Stalwart Tiger Guards.

Inspector Zhang's eyes brightened, "What's the result of the autopsy?"

"It's the same as the autopsy done by the magistrate's office, there won't be any findings from the corpse," Xu Qi 'an answered.

The Inspector Zhang nodded, a little disappointed, and said, "I heard that you injured the magistrate's office?"

"I know what I'm doing, I won't kill anyone." Xu Qi 'an pointed at the belongings, "Are there any clues?"

The night watchmen shook their heads.

"We didn't find the secret communication code, maybe it was destroyed." Jiang Lvzhong sighed, "Ning Yan, we can only rely on you."

He then looked around at the crowd, and said in a deep voice, "All of you learn a little, see how he solved the case. Whoever can learn a little bit, I'll focus on grooming him."

These bronze gongs and silver gongs were all under his command.

Jiang Lvzhong had always wanted Xu Qi 'an, but Duke Wei refused to give it to him, so he had no choice but to let Xu Qi' an train the night watchmen under him.

Xu Qi 'an found a place to sit down, and did not continue to examine the belongings. He pondered for a moment, "Is the secret communication code of the Yamen confidential?"

Jiang Lvzhong said, "The silver gongs and above know it, and the bronze gongs who have been in contact with the spies also know it."

"Then it's not confidential enough." Xu Qi 'an poured himself a glass of water, and said,

"It's very likely that Zhou Min didn't use the Yamen's secret communication code."

"Why do you think so?" one of the silver gongs asked.

Xu Qi 'an analyzed, "If the security level of the secret communication code is high, the murderer can't accurately find the clues and destroy them among the belongings. Then we should have found the secret communication code by now. But we didn't.

"If the security level is not high, Zhou Min, as an old spy of twenty years, is experienced and thoughtful, why would he use such a crude method, which is too easy to crack. So this matter is actually not complicated, there is only one promise, he used other ways to hide the evidence. "

The night watchmen looked at each other in silence, they were all a little shocked.

"Yes, that's it. At first glance, there seems to be no clue, but in fact, there is only one possibility: Zhou Min used other ways to hide the evidence. "

The night watchmen clapped excitedly, they only felt enlightened.

Inspector Zhang nodded slightly, and then frowned, "But, we are also lost, how to find the evidence he hid."

Xu Qi 'an said, "Then let us analyze from the beginning …"