Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 688 Professional Players Enter the Arena
Hongxiu came to Xia Lin, her face looking somewhat haggard. It was clear that this matter had put a lot of pressure on her. After all, she was mainly in charge of the intelligence department, and now it was as if someone had killed someone right under her nose, and she hadn't heard a thing.

This is a big deal. It not only exposed her shortcomings at work but also revealed the limits of her abilities. Before, when there was no external pressure, she had a smooth journey. However, now she is at a loss when faced with challenges, which makes her unsure how to face Xia Lin.

"Lord Sihou..."

Xia Lin ignored her and instead sat there playing with a seal in her hand. The seal tapped on the table, making a series of unsettling sounds.

After a long while, cold sweat trickled down Hongxiu's neck from her forehead. She stood there, not daring to even breathe, feeling terrified. After all, if the Marquis were to investigate, her life or death would be in his hands.

"People who indulge in romance and poetry are nothing special." Xia Lin suddenly blurted out, "After this matter is over, put aside your work and go to Jiangnan Province for further study for a while."

"Please forgive my incompetence, Lord Si."

Xia Lin waved his hand: "We definitely have to pursue this responsibility, but now is not the time. I'm just asking you, why are so many suspicious people coming to the capital but your side is completely blank? If intelligence gathering is done like this, wouldn't I be wasting hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year on dogs?"

Hongxiu immediately knelt before Xia Lin, her face pale and her lips trembling as she said, "This subordinate is incompetent, please punish me, Lord Si."

“I told you, I don’t have time to punish you right now.” Xia Lin said with a frown, “Go and investigate all the people who arrived in the capital two days before and after this so-called Five Tigers of the Northwest. Give me an answer within two days. I need to combine the registrations from all the post stations, city gates and inns. Bring out all the people whose numbers don’t match up.”

"Yes! I will take care of it immediately."

Xia Lin nodded, then glanced back at Luo Shixin: "Go and assist him."

"Order!"

Hongxiu walked out tremblingly, and Luo Shixin followed behind her, also with a hint of anger: "What's wrong with you? It's lucky that the commander-in-chief has a good temper, otherwise it wouldn't be unjust to skin you alive."

"Don't even mention it." Hongxiu's face was now frosty: "Those bastards down there are all taking money and doing nothing. I've already assigned tasks, but every day they just report that there's nothing to do today."

"Then why didn't you tell the commander-in-chief?"

“I told you you’re brainless and you’re still arguing back. Is that something to be said?” Hongxiu glanced back at the room where Xia Lin was and said in a low voice, “Isn’t that just letting Lord Si know how incompetent I am? Lord Si won’t blame his subordinates; he’ll only blame me.”

"Then what are we waiting for? Investigate!"

"Investigate, what else can we do?" Hongxiu sighed. "Once this is over, we'll see how I deal with these good-for-nothings."

The Investigation Department began a large-scale investigation. Time was tight and the task was heavy, so a large number of agents participated. Every route into the capital had to be investigated one by one. If the number of people entering and leaving did not match, or if the registered names did not match, then it would naturally indicate that something was amiss.

Suddenly, the entire capital was filled with a sense of unease and panic.

As the large-scale operation began, the professional investigators also started their work. These investigators from Fuliang first came to the scene to collect various traces, and they were able to determine that the murderer was not one person but three.

“This guard is quite tall. You can see that the knife wound on his body was stabbed diagonally upwards, which means that the murderer is probably around five feet tall. Judging from the footprints at the scene, these footprints belong to the murderer.”

Several senior forensic pathologists were conducting on-site analysis, surrounded by a large group of professional coroners from various prefectures and states in Gyeonggi Province who had come to learn from them. After all, not everyone has the opportunity to go to Fuliang to study, and being able to witness their case-solving process today is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

They quickly analyzed the traces of the three murderers from hundreds of footprints at the scene and roughly calculated their height and weight. Although this would be considered basic trace evidence analysis in the future, it was almost a god-like skill at the time.

After all, in an era when criminology had not yet been developed, counter-surveillance was limited to rudimentary methods such as scratching the ground with a twig and wearing night clothes.

After the trace evidence analysis report was completed, it was time for the fascinating moment of forensic medicine. Although both disciplines are branches of medical school, their focuses are different. These forensic students conducted several rounds of analysis and discussion based on the characteristics of the corpse.

"By measuring the depth and direction of the wound, we can basically determine that the murderer's weapon was a seven-inch short knife, and that they were very strong and had a considerable level of fighting ability."

While one forensic pathologist was describing the incident, two others were simulating the struggle between the victim and the perpetrator. They could even accurately simulate the perpetrator's posture and gait when slashing and stabbing.

Among the onlookers were spies from the Investigation Bureau, many of whom were seasoned veterans who immediately recognized the origins of these techniques. "This is the Qiang and Hu assassination technique!" a former traveling thief suddenly exclaimed, "I've seen it in the Sichuan and Chongqing region before."

“Take notes.” A senior student studying criminal investigation immediately stepped forward: “Tell me everything you can remember in detail.”

Soon, all the conclusions reached here were put into writing and placed in front of Xia Lin. After carefully reviewing these records, he asked, "So we can confirm that these people are very professional assassins, right?"

"Yes, according to the clues we have gathered, these people are assassins who specialize in carrying out assassinations, and they charge high prices. However, these people are just doing things for money. As long as you can afford it, they don't care who you kill."

"So audacious!"

Xia Lin said softly, then ordered in an almost casual tone, "Rotten their hideout and teach these martial arts figures a lesson. Be quick!"

"Order!"

With a clue, it became clear that while the monks could run away, the temple couldn't. They were willing to massacre prisoners in the Dali Temple for money, which was already a taboo. So, the next day, the sect known as the number one assassin in the world was surrounded by the new army.

Surprisingly, their headquarters was not far from the capital, located in the mountains of Lou County, Wujun. The sect was quite large, with nearly three hundred martial arts heroes gathered in the mountain stronghold.

However, when they woke up that morning, they found that the entire mountain had been surrounded. When the leader of the sect saw that it was a regular army that had come, he was obviously a little flustered. He quickly went out of the village gate and began to ask what was going on.

"The bandit leader Huo Lianzong and his men attacked the Dali Temple, causing dozens of casualties. According to the laws of the Great Wei Dynasty, they should be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public."

Upon hearing this report, the bandit leader was immediately stunned. Although his gang did accept hires to kill, their main business was escorting goods. However, they did not have a strict management system, so he did not know whether his disciples were taking on private jobs outside.

Now that he heard that the Dali Temple had been attacked, as a seasoned veteran, he knew that this time he was probably doomed.

But people still have a will to survive, so he tried to go up and explain to the officers and soldiers, but no one was listening to him anymore, and the heavily armored soldiers had already begun to advance.

The people in the stronghold naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait to die. They were all seasoned veterans with rich combat experience, and upon seeing the current situation, they immediately organized a defense.

But the so-called martial arts practitioners were as weak as a sheet of glutinous rice paper in front of the regular army. Their tightly closed gates were blasted open by cannons, and what was left was a battle-hardened, heavily armored opponent fighting an unarmored one. No matter how agile their moves were or how skilled they were, their short swords could not break through the opponent's defenses, and their long swords could not penetrate the opponent's body.

In just one morning, hundreds of renowned heroes of the martial arts world perished under the blade. The imperial court, always true to its word, beheaded them as ordered.

Hundreds of heads were hung on the city walls of Jinling, covered in blood, with an imperial edict below explaining the reason.

Well, as anyone who frequently reads martial arts novels knows, regardless of the author, they deliberately downplay the power of the imperial court, or portray it as a useless villain. This leads many people to a misconception that martial arts masters can unite to challenge the imperial court and even have a peak competition at the Forbidden City.

In reality, for a regular army, three or five thousand martial arts practitioners are like speed bumps on a national highway that can be easily run over. As for any grievances, they can explain to the armored soldiers. They are not judges and have no obligation to distinguish right from wrong.

As for whether the people whose heads are hanging on the city wall are innocent or not, they didn't actually kill them. At most, they were disciples of their sect who had leaked information. But at this critical juncture, there's no time to argue about right and wrong. Since they don't properly discipline their disciples, then someone else will naturally discipline them properly.

Among these heads are many very famous masters, but so what?
At that moment, among the onlookers were the three murderers: two men and one woman. The woman was the chieftain's biological daughter. When she saw her father's head hanging on the city wall, she immediately burst into tears.

But she was quickly pulled aside by her two senior brothers: "Junior sister, calm down. Master is dead and cannot be brought back to life. Blame those corrupt officials in the court for not distinguishing right from wrong."

Another senior brother said with a gloomy face, "This grudge must be avenged. I will go and find out which corrupt official gave the order! I will take his head to appease Master's spirit in heaven."

But in fact, the moment their adorable junior sister started crying, the three of them had already been spotted by spies from the Investigation Department.

Because the investigators and criminal investigators have already created rough sketches of these three people, and the physical descriptions of these three people are very similar to those of others. It's a coincidence if one person is similar, but if three people are so similar, Xia Lin would really shut down the entire Investigation Department if they weren't being watched.

(End of this chapter)