Xuanxia

Chapter 4 Night Detective
"Is this the body you found?"

Outside the courtyard, a constable in his fifties pinched his nose, frowned, and drove away the flies around him.

Fu Qingzhou and Lao Hai looked at each other helplessly and nodded.

In the hut, the white-haired coroner was trembling as he examined the body of the old Miao woman.

This town is far away from the Central Plains, and is even separated from Shuzhong by the Bailu Mountain. It is definitely a remote and poor place, so both the constables and the coroners have been doing the same job for decades.

Looking at their blurry eyes and the way they can't wait to get off work and go home to hug their grandchildren, you can tell it's impossible to find out anything.

Sure enough, the old captain was too lazy to even ask one more question: "Okay, then it's fine, you can go now."

"Walk?"

Fu Qingzhou was stunned: "Why don't you ask us why we are here? Why are we looking for her? Have you found anything strange?"

After all, he had been a criminal policeman in his previous life. Although that was more than ten years ago, some habits were still ingrained in him.

The old captain looked at him strangely and said, "Azhou, you are a hunter from Bailu Mountain, and Lao Hai is the doctor here. We all know each other well. Why are you asking?"

Lao Hai also pulled him, clearly meaning to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"Okay...ok." Fu Qingzhou smiled bitterly.

Over there, the coroner came over, pounding his back, and said slowly to the old captain, "It's very rotten. It's autumn, autumn, autumn now, so it should be..."

He stuttered a bit, and the old captain became impatient: "Just tell me, how long have you been dead?"

"At least, five, five days." The coroner held up three fingers.

"Has this old lady not come out to curse in the streets for five days?" The old constable frowned: "Forget it, I'm too lazy to think about it..."

He turned around and said to the other one or two detectives of similar age in the courtyard, "You guys check which blind people she had quarreled with recently, and bring them to the yamen for questioning. That's it."

On the other side, Fu Qingzhou, who was slowly walking out of the courtyard, naturally heard all this.

He lowered his voice and said, "Lao Hai, they can't possibly find out who the murderer is this way."

"Forget it. Are we ordinary people going to teach the government how to do things?" Lao Hai waved his hands and sighed, "Azhou, I can't do anything about your illness. You...just wish yourself good luck."

The two of them were not particularly familiar with each other and could only be considered acquaintances. The fact that the other party was willing to take the risk of telling him the identity of the old Miao woman showed that he was a kind-hearted doctor, so naturally he could not ask for more.

Fu Qingzhou watched Lao Hai slowly leave with his hands behind his back, while he stood still, turned around, and once again saw the small courtyard not far away.

"It seems that your luck is very bad~"

The Smoker sneered at an inopportune moment: "I finally found a clue, and it's gone just like that!"

Fu Qingzhou narrowed his eyes slightly: "No."

"What's wrong?" The smoker inadvertently acted as a supporting actor.

"The time is wrong."

Fu Qingzhou said softly, "The coroner said she had been dead for at least five days, but when I entered the hut, I noticed there were still some fresh fruits on the table in the living room. If the room had really been vacant for five days, they wouldn't have been so fresh. The flies, insects, rats and ants attracted by the corpse would have eaten them up long ago."

The smoker fell silent, and Fu Qingzhou began to think to himself.

It should be a coincidence that he and Lao Hai witnessed the death of the old Miao woman, but her death might not be that simple.

Lingxiang Town is right on the edge of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and must be not far from the Ten Thousand Poison Mountains. In a place so close to the Ten Thousand Poison Mountains, a former disciple of the sect was killed. His death was horrible and the degree of decay was obviously abnormal...

A little thought will lead to the conclusion that the death of the old Miao woman is most likely related to her sect.

"If I want to get rid of the control of the Smoker's Curse as soon as possible, I still have to go to the Ten Thousand Poisons Mountain. Although the Miao old woman is dead, the person who killed her may have left relevant clues that can help me find a way."

Fu Qingzhou thought secretly: "Since the government office here can't find anything, I can only investigate it myself."

In the small courtyard, several constables and coroners carefully cleaned up the body. Not long after, people from the town's charity cemetery came and carried the coffin away. Several constables also left chatting and laughing, and the small courtyard gradually returned to silence.

The sun was setting in the west, the waning moon was hanging on the branches, and Lingxiang Town was slowly shrouded in the night, with lights lit up in the town. Outside the deserted courtyard of the Miao old woman, Fu Qingzhou, wearing black night clothes and with his face covered, approached quietly.

It wasn't that he had to dress like a thief, but after all, someone had just died here and he had been at the crime scene during the day. If he was seen by someone, he would have no way to defend himself.

Although the bodies in the house had been cleaned up, the detectives had not done a very thorough job, and a disgusting layer of grease and blood still remained on the ground, with many rats, ants, and flies circling around it.

The body was no longer there and there was no point in observing it any further. Fu Qingzhou immediately chose to look at the fruits he had seen during the day.

After half a day, the fruits had indeed shown varying degrees of oxidation and were crawling with many small insects.

It only took half a day for it to become like this. It was so fresh before...

He narrowed his eyes slightly and continued to explore the house.

"The fire in the brick stove had long gone out, but it was not completely cold. Although bricks can easily store heat, it is impossible for them to retain heat for more than a day or two."

"The hens in the backyard are still laying eggs, there is grain on the ground, and there are not many weeds in the yard..."

"There is not a speck of dust on the bed in the bedroom. Not only the bed, but also the surfaces of tables and chairs that are easily touched in daily life are free of dust."

Fu Qingzhou let out a light breath, confirming that his judgment was correct.

The Miao old woman had actually died very recently, possibly just before Mr. and Mr. Hai came home. The reason why the body had rotted like this was probably because she had been poisoned by some strange and terrifying poison.

Or it could be the so-called "gu" or "curse".

Although Fu Qingzhou would also make some poisons when hunting down swindlers, most of these were ready-made recipes given by the Smoker. His knowledge in this area was still a little limited, and he was unable to determine what exactly they were.

Of course, he was not really here to solve the case. The most important thing right now was to find out if there were any clues left by the old woman or the murderer in the house - clues that could help him find the location of Wandu Mountain.

So he began to explore further, taking care of every corner of the house as much as possible, all the drawers, cabinets, porcelain jars...even the chicken coop.

The process was somewhat thrilling. The old Miao woman had hidden many small mechanisms in her home. However, Fu Qingzhou was mentally prepared. He was extremely careful when entering every door and opening every cabinet, and did not trigger any poisonous smoke or poisonous arrow mechanisms.

"Jie Jie Jie..."

At this moment, he heard the smug laughter of the smoker: "With your level, you will never find what she hides~"

Fu Qingzhou's heart skipped a beat, but he pretended not to care: "Stop pretending, you didn't find anything at all. If you want to mock me, you might as well change your method."

"You want to provoke me?"

The smoker sneered: "Don't even think about it~"

Fu Qingzhou's eyes rolled - he knew that the smoker was a very impatient person. If he discovered something, he would definitely not hold it in for a few minutes.

When it jumped out, it must have just discovered something, and at that time I was...

"Chicken coop?"

His eyes lit up and he turned his gaze back to the chicken coop that he had already checked.

When he reached his hand towards the chicken coop, the smoker stopped making any sound, and he knew that he had guessed right - if he had guessed wrong, the smoker's ridicule would have been overwhelming.

But after searching the chicken coop, there was still nothing. Fu Qingzhou began to hear the sound of sneering laughter again.

"No, what I'm looking for must be here."

He narrowed his eyes and calmed down: "There is nothing in the chicken coop except eggs. Could it be... eggs?"

He had moved these eggs when he was searching just now, so there wasn't much difference in the feel.

But this time he was more serious. He rubbed each egg carefully and seriously with his fingertips... and finally he made a discovery.

There was a seemingly ordinary eggshell, but there seemed to be a small part that felt obviously wrong and too smooth. It didn't feel like the texture of the eggshell itself, but like a small crack had been knocked open and filled back with something.

(End of this chapter)