Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 670 Murder Case
Logically speaking, a treasure that can make officials upright, diligent, selfless, and impartial in enforcing the law would be considered a great treasure by many.

They wished they could take that plaque down and hang it on their mayor's face.

It's good to give those corrupt officials and good-for-nothings a good reform.

If that were all, Xiao Ran would have to think of a way to hang this thing in Ruzhou City.

But in fact, Xiao Ran didn't think much of this thing; no, to be precise, she wanted to destroy it.

On the surface, this thing is supposed to reform the minds of officials, making them fair, just, and incorruptible.

But in reality, what are its side effects? It's that the desire of this thing is satisfied at the cost of everyone in the town becoming bad people.

Perhaps at first, everyone was just constrained by the rules and had no choice but to do a few more trivial and immoral things.

For example, spitting into the tea, stealing things from the shop, or peeping at your sister-in-law taking a bath.

But over time, the evil thoughts grew stronger.

If I watch my sister-in-law take a bath today, does that mean I can climb into her bed tomorrow?
If it were just one person doing this, it would be one thing, but what's terrifying is that everyone is doing it, and the sister-in-law doesn't resist anymore, and even has an affair.

When a thief came to steal, the guard pretended not to see it and even considered joining in the theft.

In the end, the town became what it is today, where everyone does evil and everyone takes it for granted.

This is what disgusts Xiao Ran the most. If she ignores this now, who knows what it will become once it gains momentum.

For now, Xiao Ran could only stand aside and stare helplessly.

This thing is very strange. If I want to take it off, I can't do it in front of everyone. Otherwise, the power of the strange tale will be activated in an instant, and I might be arrested by Qi Tongwei and the other constables the next moment.

Next, prisoners were brought into the hall one after another. After each prisoner was tried, a wisp of red smoke would rise from his body and merge into the plaque that read "Upright and Just".

As the sky outside grew darker and darker, it was already around eight or nine o'clock at night.

The magistrate, sitting on his high throne, showed no signs of fatigue. On the contrary, he became more and more enthusiastic as he handed down sentences, until he had finished sentencing all the criminals arrested that day, and only then was he satisfied.

"Qi Tongwei, we haven't caught many criminals lately. You guys need to work harder. When I'm idle for a day, I feel uncomfortable all over."

"Rest assured, my lord, I will do my utmost..."

Before Qi Tongwei could finish speaking, someone rushed in from outside the yamen: "Sir, sir, our house has been burgled! The thief has taken my wife away!"

The man knelt on the ground and shouted to the county magistrate.

Upon hearing this, the magistrate's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to speak, someone else rushed in from outside.

"My lord, something terrible has happened! People have died! Five or six people are all dead!" the man cried out in a panic.

With two major cases suddenly emerging, the county magistrate instantly felt his backache and leg pain disappear. He glanced at Qi Tongwei and ordered, "Guards! Investigate the cases immediately!"

Several constables, including Qi Tongwei, came out and shouted, "Yes, sir!" before quickly leaving with Xiao Ran.

"Brother Qi, these are two separate cases. Which one should we go to first?"

As soon as I stepped out the door, someone asked me a question.

Whose family had the murder?

"According to the person who reported the case, it seems to be the home of Widow Zhang."

"And the other family? Which family had their wife stolen?"

"The Li family, I heard they're celebrating their birthday tonight. I'm afraid someone's trying to take advantage of the situation."

Qi Tongwei nodded: "Nothing is more important than a murder case. Let's go check out the crime scene first."

"promise!"

The group hurried to Widow Zhang's door.

In the middle of the night, a few people could smell the blood in the air from afar.

A large crowd had already gathered in front of Widow Zhang's door.

Qi Tongwei pushed through the crowd, and a strong smell of blood hit him.

In the courtyard, two corpses lay sprawled out, looking rather haphazard.

One corpse had its head cut off, while the other's head had been split open while the person was still alive.

The scene was extremely brutal.

When the group went inside, the scene was even more horrific.

The octagonal table in the main room was overturned on the ground. Widow Zhang lay on her back on the table, her apricot-colored bodice torn open and her chest slashed open. Blood flowed down the table legs into the cracks of the blue bricks, congealing into a black and red spider web.

A person was lying on the threshold, naked from the waist down, with a bowl-sized dent in the back of his head, and half a brick covered in brain matter rolled three steps away, his right hand still in a gripping position.

Inside the rice bin, a man was curled up, his hands and feet bound, and a rope used for binding firewood wrapped around his neck, leaving deep marks that revealed the bone. His purplish tongue drooped down to his chest.

"hiss!!!"

Even with their extensive experience investigating cases, Qi Tongwei and his team were still taken aback by the horrific scene. "Wow, this widow's got some pretty fancy moves—one woman and four men!"

A constable looked at the scene, shook his head, and said with a sigh.

"wrong!"

Xiao Ran interrupted him.

"It's one woman and five men, and there's also the murderer."

Everyone agreed with this, and a lively discussion immediately broke out outside the door.

Xiao Ran walked to the body of Widow Zhang and carefully examined the wound on her chest, then looked around.

At this moment, Xiao Ran noticed the unlucky guy in the rice jar. He had a familiar black mole on his face. Upon closer inspection, hey, it was actually the guy who had tricked him that morning after he had given him a haircut.

"That unlucky guy, I only ruined his good fortune, how did he end up dying here in such a muddle?"

With a hint of doubt, Xiao Ran's eyes flashed with a fluorescent light. With the activation of the power of rewind, the entire crime scene began to rewind rapidly.

No wonder the Soul Cultivation Technique was assigned to the profession of coroner. With these eyes, what information could possibly escape Xiao Ran's discerning gaze?

As the footage gradually replayed, Xiao Ran slowly came to understand what had happened, but even he was surprised that things were so ridiculous.

"So, have you found any clues?"

Seeing that he had been staring at the room for a long time without saying a word, Qi Tongwei couldn't help but ask.

"Qi Tou'er, I've figured some things out, but the clues are too messy, so let me explain them one by one."

At this moment, Xiao Ran basically understood what had happened, and even saw what the murderer looked like. But he couldn't just tell Qi Tongwei that he had seen the replay and what had happened and what the murderer looked like. That would obviously be incomprehensible to Qi Tongwei and the others.

Xiao Ran walked up to the body of Widow Zhang: "First of all, the killer was no ordinary person. At the very least, the murderer was very experienced in killing. He stabbed her to the heart with a single, fatal blow. He was quick, accurate and ruthless. Ordinary people could not do that."

Then Xiao Ran walked to the body on the threshold: "This person was stabbed in the back and tried to run away before he died, so the murderer killed Widow Zhang first. This person realized something was wrong and tried to run away, but was then hacked to death at the door."

"So, the one in the rice jar is the third person to be killed?" Qi Tongwei looked at the man's corpse in the rice jar.

“No, he was actually the last to die.” Xiao Ran shook his head and then explained, “If I were the murderer, after killing two people, I would definitely want to escape as soon as possible. There’s no reason for me to use a rope to strangle him instead of using a knife.”

Xiao Ran turned and pointed to the corpse outside the door:
"The two people came in one after the other by climbing over the wall. Just as the murderer was about to climb out, someone climbed over the top of the wall and came in. The murderer struck first."

He chopped off the first person's head with one stroke, then with a backhand slash, he killed the second person who peeked out from behind the wall. To prevent the body from being discovered, he simply used a rope to pull the body into the yard.

Then they discovered a hapless man hiding inside the rice jar, who was then strangled to death by the murderer with a rope.

After some analysis, Xiao Ran basically reconstructed the course of the case.

Qi Tongwei nodded repeatedly, but still questioned, "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

"Yes, there is blood on the rope. If it was strangled, how could it be stained with so much blood? I believe there is also blood on the ground outside."

Upon hearing these words, Qi Tongwei's face immediately showed a relieved expression, but he quickly realized that something was wrong.

"If that's the case, what's the story with this person in the rice jar? How did he end up tied up in the rice jar?"

"Well... I don't know."

Xiao Ran was also helpless. She couldn't very well tell them that the scene she saw through the power of rewind was that Widow Zhang helped this unlucky guy limp in, then tied him up and stuffed him into the rice jar.

He thought to himself, "In this place, where everyone is evil, nothing is impossible."

"This person shouldn't have escaped yet. Sir, if we go after him now, we should be able to catch up."

Xiao Ran didn't want to waste time on this unlucky fellow in the rice bin, so she urged him on.

Upon hearing this, Qi Tongwei frowned: "The town isn't big, where are we supposed to chase after them?"

"Not far, it's dark and windy. The other party has killed so many people, and their clothes are covered in blood. They must need to clean themselves up."

Upon hearing Xiao Ran's words, Qi Tongwei's eyes lit up: "I know where this person ran off to. You guys come with me."

After saying that, Qi Tongwei hurriedly led his men and chased after them.

After Qi Tongwei and his group left, two other constables were responsible for dispersing the crowd.

At that moment, Xiao Ran saw the sly-looking Golden Toad in the corner beckoning to him with a smile.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran walked over calmly, squinted her eyes and asked, "Don't tell me this has anything to do with you."

"No, it has nothing to do with me. I just happened to meet a deserter and helped him point out the way."

Jin Chanzi grinned wickedly.

He then asked, "And you, what did you gain?"

“Yes!” Xiao Ran nodded. “But it won’t be easy. You should try to create as much trouble as possible, the bigger the better, preferably even bigger than this case.”

(End of this chapter)