The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 111 Shocking Wang Gui's Footprint Analysis: A Key Clue Found!
"The blood hasn't clotted yet!?"

Wang Gui's pupils suddenly contracted when he saw the scarlet blood on Liu Shuyi's fingertips.

His expression changed slightly, and he suddenly looked up at the dilapidated courtyard in front of him, saying, "The blood hasn't congealed or frozen yet, which means the time when the killer drew the skull was definitely not long ago!"

"And he knew we would find this place, and left a note saying there were only two days left... Could it be..."

Wang Gui felt a chill run down his spine, a terrifying sensation as if he were being watched by a venomous snake. He couldn't help but exclaim, "He's been watching us from here the whole time!?"

"Even when he saw the government officials coming to investigate, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he remained calm and composed, watching us coldly as if we were watching a play, observing our every move."

"If it weren't for your deduction, Mr. Liu, that he might be hiding here, he might still be watching us like a venomous snake!"

Hearing Wang Gui's words, the constables of Chang'an County felt a chill run down their spines, goosebumps rising on their skin. They instinctively gripped their knife handles and looked around, fearing that this notorious murderer might suddenly rush out and stab them.

Unlike Wang Gui and the others, Liu Shuyi did not have a solemn expression. He simply grabbed a handful of snow, cleaned the bloodstains from his fingertips, and then got up to look at the courtyard in front of him again.

"Judging from the degree of congealing of the bloodstains, the killer left here no more than half an hour ago."

Liu Shuyi said, "County Commandant Wang, send someone to investigate the surrounding area. In the past half hour, have any people seen unfamiliar faces passing by, or have any vehicles such as horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, or oxcarts passed by?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Gui immediately understood Liu Shuyi's meaning.

Without any hesitation, he directly ordered the yamen runners, "Didn't you hear what Magistrate Liu said? What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and go!"

The constables then realized what was happening and quickly turned and ran outside.

Wang Gui returned to Liu Shuyi's side and exclaimed, "I never expected that this murderer would be so audacious as to have been watching us all this time!"

"It's not entirely unexpected."

Liu Shuyi said, "As I said before, the murderer clearly wants to make a high-profile return this time. He needs to let the authorities know that he has returned. But due to an accident, he can only leave a skull pattern here. He doesn't know if ordinary people will still remember him after he has disappeared for five years."

"So he wanted to monitor passersby here to see if anyone could recognize the meaning of the skull."

"If no one recognizes him, I think he will try to notify the authorities directly, so as to avoid his high-profile return plan ending in failure because no one recognizes him."

Wang Gui thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "In that case, it makes perfect sense for him to stay here."

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "But the fact that he was able to hold out until we were almost discovered before leaving shows that he is indeed very brave. This shows that he has a very strong heart, being both calm and collected, and also enjoying excitement and adventure."

"Such people usually have two faces. The difference between their public and private personas is something that even their closest friends may not know."

Wang Gui nodded in deep agreement: "If he hadn't been able to hide, the imperial court wouldn't have been able to catch him after searching for him for five years."

"Let's go, let's go inside the house and take a look..."

Liu Shuyi bypassed the blood-red skull and walked towards the house at the back of the courtyard. As he walked, he said, "Although the murderer has left, he stayed here for almost a day and a night. He might have left some clues."

"and……"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered slightly: "Mo Xiaofan is no ordinary little beggar. He is intelligent enough and experienced enough. If given the opportunity, he might try to leave us some clues."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Wan'er's beautiful eyes immediately lit up.

She nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice: "Mo Xiaofan will never accept his fate. Given the chance, he will definitely leave clues!"

Seeing that both of them said so, Wang Gui had no doubts and immediately followed.

Soon, the group arrived in front of the house.

This is a house with three rooms.

Two bedrooms and one kitchen.

The house looked dilapidated, with some of the window paper torn and the doors loose.

Liu Shuyi pushed open the door of the leftmost room and glanced inside.

Near the door, there was a layer of snow, blown in by the wind through the loose door. Further inside, the floor was covered with dust, and there were spider webs hanging in the corners for who knows how long. As the door was opened, the wind rushed into the room, stirring up the dust and creating a hazy atmosphere.

"There are no footprints on the dust on the ground, so they probably didn't hide here. Let's go to another room..."

Liu Shuyi made his judgment with just a glance at the ground, and then left without any delay.

The others quickly followed.

crunch--

Liu Shuyi pushed open the door to the middle room.

This time, as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw obvious footprints on the snow at the doorway and on the dusty ground.

“There are footprints here! This is it!” Wang Gui’s eyes lit up and he said quickly.

Liu Shuyi naturally saw it too. He didn't rush into the room, but instead looked down at the footprints in the snow.

You can tell that these are two pairs of footprints.

One pair is big, and one pair is small.

Moreover, among the smaller footprints, one has a clear shoe sole print, while the other is a sole print.

"One of Mo Xiaofan's shoes was left on the wall by the murderer. The footprints here match Mo Xiaofan's situation. He was indeed here last night."

Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Wan'er's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down a bit.

Mo Xiaofan, who seemed to have vanished into thin air, is finally no longer completely out of the public eye.

The fact that Liu Shuyi was able to find the location where Mo Xiaofan was hidden last night in such a short time means that he definitely has a chance to find where Mo Xiaofan is now or will be hidden in the future.

Wang Gui breathed a sigh of relief. They had found clues about the victim and the killer's hiding place... Liu Shuyi once again demonstrated his terrifying investigative abilities, giving Wang Gui hope of catching the murderer!
The thought of the murderer being caught in their hands filled Wang Gui with excitement.

Although he could only be considered an assistant at most, and could only get a small share of the credit, even that small share was far more valuable to him than solving other ordinary murder cases!

After all, this was a notorious murderer who once shocked the entire imperial court and caused it a great deal of trouble!
If the official could solve this case… Wang Gui thought of the letter Liu Shuyi had written to him and couldn’t help but feel excited. If the official could solve this case, wouldn’t he be able to get ahead of the other competitors?

Does this mean that a junior official has a greater chance of becoming a physician?

If the official in charge of the household affairs really does become a doctor in the future...

hiss……

Wang Gui couldn't help but gasp. Within a month, he had been promoted twice from a minor official in the Ministry of Justice to a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice, gaining the right to attend court assemblies. This was simply a miracle.

After all, this wasn't a distribution of credit for the Xuanwu Gate Incident; it was a miracle that Liu Shuyi truly created from scratch, relying on his abilities and contributions.

Even if Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling were to start on the same footing as Liu Shuyi, Wang Gui did not believe they could outpace Liu Shuyi.

And he himself had already latched onto the coattails of such a person who was creating miracles.

Wang Gui had never felt so fortunate about his decision.

He knew that the opportunity to change his life might lie with Liu Shuyi.

"County Commandant Wang, order someone to make a rubbing of the footprints."

At this moment, Liu Shuyi's voice rang out, quickly pulling Wang Gui's scattered thoughts back.

Wang Gui paused for a moment, then quickly nodded: "This humble official will have someone do it immediately."

"besides……"

Liu Shuyi measured the size of the footprints with his palm, mentally calculated it using the height formula and considering the average height of the Tang Dynasty, and said, "The murderer's height is about seven feet one inch."

"what?"

Wang Gui was taken aback.

height?

How did we suddenly find out the killer's height?

Before he could ask any questions, Liu Shuyi measured the footprints with his fingertips and said, "The weight is about 130 jin."

In the Tang Dynasty, weight was also measured in jin (斤), but the jin in the Tang Dynasty was different from that in later times. One jin in the Tang Dynasty was approximately equal to 1.2 jin in later times. Therefore, the 130 jin mentioned by Liu Shuyi would be more than 150 jin in later times.

"besides……"

Liu Shuyi glanced at the footprints in the dust and said, "The murderer walks with his toes pointing slightly outwards; it's just his habit."

Hearing this, Wang Gui couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Master Liu, how can you deduce so much information from just one footprint?"

Wan'er blinked, looking at Liu Shuyi with curiosity.

This was the first time she had personally followed Liu Shuyi to investigate a case, and the first time she had witnessed the young master's investigative skills.

Liu Shuyi said, "County Commandant Wang may not have noticed that a person's height and weight are positively correlated with the size and depth of their footprints. By studying enough footprints, one can roughly estimate the ratio between footprints and body conditions."

"Therefore, footprints in the snow are like a person's biomechanical signature. It is not difficult to infer their general information from the specific data of the footprints."

Not difficult?
Wang Gui felt that Liu Shuyi's understanding of the phrase "not difficult" was vastly different from his own.

After all, he had never seen anyone investigate a case and determine the murderer's height and weight based on just one footprint!
If the area where the murderer is located can be determined, then based on their size, the murderer can be identified directly!

In his view, this was simply a divine method, but Liu Shuyi said it wasn't difficult at all.
For a moment, Wang Gui didn't know how to express his complicated feelings.

Liu Shuyi naturally knew that at this time, the Tang Dynasty did not have a systematic study of footprint studies, and he was also very clear about how special his deduction was to Wang Gui.

However, due to time constraints, he was unable to provide Wang Gui with a more detailed answer.

"Write down the information I'm about to share; it might come in handy later."

As he spoke, he stepped over the snow in front of the door and entered the room.

Upon entering, he was immediately drawn to the bloodstains on the ground near the window.

On the dusty ground, there was a pool of scarlet blood, and beside it lay two large red roosters with their throats cut.

Not far from the bloodstains, there was a pile of extinguished ashes, with some unburnt wood still inside.

Liu Shuyi said, "It seems that the blood the murderer used to draw the skull came from these two roosters."

"County Commandant Wang, send someone to inquire in the neighborhood later to find out whose rooster is missing, when it was missing, and how it was missing."

Wang Gui understood that Liu Shuyi wanted to use the time the rooster went missing to determine when the killer started drawing the skull.

"I'll send someone to inquire right away." Without any delay, he turned around and gave instructions to the yamen runners outside.

Liu Shuyi continued to scan the bedroom.

The bedroom was not large and there was no distinction between inner and outer rooms. Wealthy families would be more particular and would place a screen in front of the bed to protect privacy.

But this room doesn't even have a table or cabinet, let alone a screen.

The entire room contained no furniture other than a worn-out bed.

To describe this family as having nothing but bare walls would be an understatement.

"That's what gamblers are like; they gamble until they have nothing left."

Looking at the dilapidated house, Wan'er's voice turned cold: "They were originally a happy family of three, but because of the gambling addiction, his wife and daughter left him, his ancestral home was lost, and in the end, he even lost his own life."

Liu Shuyi looked at Wan'er with some surprise; this was the first time he had heard Wan'er speak in this tone.

Seeing Liu Shuyi looking at her, Wan'er realized that her behavior just now was very unusual. Her expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously lowered her head, not daring to meet Liu Shuyi's gaze.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi seemed to understand something and asked, "Are there any gamblers among Wan'er's relatives?"

Wan'er pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "If my family hadn't been flooded, I might have been sold like this family's daughter."

Liu Shuyi frowned. In the past, when he asked Wan'er about her family, she would always brush it off with a few words. This was the first time he had learned that Wan'er had a gambling father.

And this father even wants to sell his daughter...

Seeing Liu Shuyi's serious expression, Wan'er knew that he was worried about her and was cursing her gambling father in her heart, but she didn't want Liu Shuyi to know about her dark past.

She was afraid that if the young master found out, he wouldn't like her as much anymore.

She took a deep breath, then chuckled as usual, "That's all in the past. I'm fine now, young master, don't worry about me. Let's hurry up and find clues."

Liu Shuyi had seen countless people; how could he not understand that Wan'er was deliberately changing the subject?

He looked at Wan'er deeply, but ultimately did not force her to tell him about her past. He raised his hand and gently tucked a strand of Wan'er's hair behind her ear, saying, "I don't know what you've been through before, but I promise that with me here, I will never let these things happen again."

Hearing this, Wan'er felt a lump in her throat and nodded emphatically, "Wan'er believes in Young Master."

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly, let out a long breath, gathered his thoughts, and began to reconsider the case.

The footprints indicate that only the murderer and Mo Xiaofan had been here, meaning that the murderer was alone, not part of a group.

The serial killer was unexpectedly trapped here and needed to draw a skull pattern, but instead of using Mo Xiaofan's blood, he managed to get two large roosters... This shows that the serial killer has extremely high standards when it comes to killing.

He won't touch a hair on the target's head for at least three days.

This is a good thing, meaning that Mo Xiaofan will definitely not be in any trouble within the next three days.

What would Mo Xiaofan do if he was not in mortal danger while being hidden here by the murderer?

Mo Xiaofan was smart enough to realize that if he didn't keep his appointment on time, Wan'er would guess that something might have happened to him and would eventually come to him for help.

In other words, Mo Xiaofan could have imagined that he would be the one to come looking for him.

Mo Xiaofan was well aware of his own abilities. As long as he could obtain even the slightest clue, he might be able to rescue him by following that lead.

In this situation, Mo Xiaofan would definitely try to leave clues for himself whenever he had the chance.

But how will he stay?

The serial killer will be going out to draw a skull halfway through, and just in case, he will definitely try to prevent Mo Xiaofan from escaping.

How to prevent it?

Tie him up? Don't give him any chance to move?
Should we just use a sedative to knock him out? Liu Shuyi looked at the footprints on the ground and frowned.

He only saw Mo Xiaofan's footprints as he entered the room, but no footprints with the toes pointing outwards.

This means that Mo Xiaofan did not walk away on his own when he left.

Did the killer use a drug to knock out Mo Xiaofan?
If that's the case, things will get complicated. Mo Xiaofan is unconscious and may not have had the chance to leave any clues.

As he pondered, Liu Shuyi scanned the bare bedroom inch by inch.

"Ok?"

At that moment, Liu Shuyi's gaze suddenly stopped, as if he had seen something.

He took a step and came to the wall opposite the window, then squatted down.

"Young Master, have you discovered something?"

Seeing Liu Shuyi's strange behavior, Wan'er asked him about it out of curiosity.

Wang Gui also joined in.

Then they noticed that Liu Shuyi was looking down at the corner of the wall in front of him.

And there...

It's a corner of a naan bread, and it looks like it accidentally fell off while eating the naan.

At this moment, the naan bread was pressed against the wall on one side, while the other side was enclosed by a very thin semicircle on the ground.

The semicircle was drawn on a dusty ground and was very fine. If they hadn't come here and observed carefully with Liu Shuyi's reminder, they would have had a hard time finding the semicircle.

"This……"

Seeing Liu Shuyi staring at the naan for a long time without moving, Wang Gui couldn't help but ask, "Could this be the clue left by Mo Xiaofan?"

Wan'er wasn't sure, so she looked at Liu Shuyi as well.

Then Liu Shuyi picked up the naan and said, "The fine lines drawn in the semicircle are very clear, and there is no sign of it being covered by dust, which means that it appeared recently."

"This courtyard is considered rather eerie, and the local people avoid it like the plague. Moreover, there are only the footprints of the murderer and Mo Xiaofan on the floor of this room. It can be confirmed that they were not left by outsiders, but only by the murderer or Mo Xiaofan."

"Furthermore, considering that the line is very thin, it looks like it was made by a fingernail in a hurry... If the murderer wanted to leave such a circle, given how ostentatious he was with the skulls he drew on the outside, he wouldn't have drawn it so inconspicuously that even I almost didn't notice it."

"Therefore, I think that this semicircle was most likely drawn by Mo Xiaofan."

“The less obvious this semicircle is, the harder it will be for the killer to find it… And Mo Xiaofan knows my abilities, knows that I am best at finding clues. As long as he stays, I will have a chance to find it.”

Liu Shuyi's analysis was reasonable and well-founded, and Wan'er's beautiful eyes lit up upon hearing it.

"Young Master is amazing! This must have been left by Mo Xiaofan!"

Wang Gui stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before nodding, "Indeed, a serial killer would never do anything other than kill. If this was really drawn by Mo Xiaofan, what is he trying to tell us?"

Liu Shuyi said, "If it weren't for this semicircle, I wouldn't have paid attention to the naan inside the circle. So I think... what Mo Xiaofan really left us is not this semicircle, but the naan inside the semicircle."

"Naan?"

Upon hearing this, the two subconsciously looked up at the naan in Liu Shuyi's hand.

Liu Shuyi said, "Look at this naan. What's so special about it? Is it only available in certain shops?"

"A rare item?"

Wang Gui frowned: "No matter how you look at it, this is just the kind of naan you can see anywhere on the street. I even ate one of these naan this morning."

Commonplace items that are everywhere?

Liu Shuyi frowned and looked at Wan'er again.

Wan'er nodded in agreement: "It is indeed the most ordinary naan, nothing special, you can buy it at any roadside stall."

Wan'er was in charge of purchasing food for the Liu residence and had the most experience. She said there was nothing special about it, so there was absolutely no mistake.

"It's just a very ordinary naan; you can't find a place that sells naan based on this alone..."

Liu Shuyi looked thoughtful: "Then why did Mo Xiaofan specifically circle this piece of naan?"

"Could it be that he wasn't referring to the naan itself, but to naan he had eaten at other times? Or perhaps the killer only gave him naan, and he wanted to express something else, and had no other way but through this naan that had fallen to the ground?"

"If that's the case, then we need to carefully consider the meaning behind this naan."

Liu Shuyi looked at Wan'er and said, "Wan'er, do you have any extra handkerchiefs? Give me one."

"Yes." Without asking Liu Shuyi what it was for, Wan'er quickly took out a fragrant handkerchief from her bosom.

Liu Shuyi took the handkerchief, carefully placed the naan on it, wrapped it up, and then put it in his pocket.

He said, "Wan'er, you've had the most contact with Mo Xiaofan. Do you know if he's eaten any naan bread recently?"

"what?"

Wan'er looked somewhat bewildered: "Although I've had a lot of contact with him, I would never ask him what he eats every day..."

Liu Shuyi looked at Wang Gui, who immediately understood and said, "I'll send someone to ask those little beggars right away."

Liu Shuyi glanced around the dilapidated bedroom one last time, making sure nothing was missing, before turning and walking out.

As they walked, he continued to speak to Wan'er, "You are the person among us who understands Mo Xiaofan the most. Based on your understanding of him, if this naan doesn't represent the naan itself, what do you think Mo Xiaofan would use it to symbolize?"

"This does not represent the naan itself..."

A thoughtful look flashed across Wan'er's pretty face before she said, "Perhaps it's food?"

"Food?" Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow.

Wan'er nodded: "Yes, for beggars like Mo Xiaofan, there is not much difference between naan and steamed buns. They are both food that can fill their stomachs and keep them alive."

"If there's any difference, it's probably just the quantity—whether they can get enough to eat! As for the taste and preparation, they don't care, or rather, it wouldn't matter anyway. After all, what can you expect from food that's been begged for?"

Liu Shuyi seemed to be deep in thought.

He hadn't really thought about these things. In both his past and present lives, he had very little contact with beggars and didn't know much about their situation.

Hearing Wan'er's guess, he suddenly felt enlightened.

Wan'er is right. For beggars, naan is not just naan, but food that can save their lives.

Therefore, when naan represents something other than naan, it is very likely that it simply means food!
In other words... Mo Xiaofan's hint to himself was food!

And food...

Liu Shuyi looked at Wang Gui and said, "County Commandant Wang, change the way you question the beggars. Please call all the little beggars who usually travel with Mo Xiaofan. I want to question them myself."

Wang Gui also heard Wan'er's analysis and knew that Liu Shuyi might have guessed something. Without any hesitation, he immediately said, "This humble official will have the yamen runners call them over."

As they talked, the group walked out of the dilapidated courtyard.

Standing at the doorway, I turned around and looked out.

In the pitch-black night, the other courtyards were lit by lanterns or candles, but the courtyard behind us was completely dark, as if we were in two different worlds.

They left this time, and who knows when or where anyone will set foot here again.

Perhaps soon, or perhaps until it completely rots and collapses, no one will visit it.

And all of this is because of the word "gambling".

Wang Gui shook his head; he had seen far too many cases of families being destroyed and lives ruined by gamblers.

He withdrew his gaze and asked, "Sir, what should we do next?"

Liu Shuyi thought for a moment and said, "Let's find a restaurant, fill our stomachs first, and then analyze the killer's case together."

A quarter of an hour later.

Inside a restaurant near the north gate of Yongpingfang.

Liu Shuyi and the others sat by the window, waiting for their meal. Liu Shuyi opened the case file and said, "There are a few issues regarding this case that we need to consider."

Wang Gui asked, "What's the problem?"

Liu Shuyi looked down at the file and said, "The first question is, why did the murderer choose Mo Xiaofan?"

"Or rather, what unique characteristics does Mo Xiaofan possess that made the serial killer choose him in Chang'an, a city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants?"

"Characteristics?"

Wan'er frowned slightly and said, "Clever?"

Liu Shuyi shook his head: "There are plenty of smart people out there."

Wan'er was also surprised: "Mo Xiaofan is just a bit clever and quick-witted. Other than that, there's nothing special about him. And many people have these characteristics."

Wang Gui, unfamiliar with Mo Xiaofan, listened to Wan'er's words and asked in confusion, "Since he's nothing special, could it be a coincidence that the killer chose him? Did he just happen to be about to commit a crime and happened to run into Mo Xiaofan?"

"happen?"

Liu Shuyi shook his head: "A serial killer who has extremely high requirements for committing crimes like this would never choose his targets randomly. Moreover, this is his first crime since his return, so it's even less likely that he would choose his targets randomly."

"Therefore, there must be some kind of intrinsic connection or similar characteristics between Mo Xiaofan and the victims killed by the serial killer. What is this connection or characteristic? If we can find it, we may be able to deduce the serial killer's motives and thus find or narrow down his search."

Although Wang Gui had not read the complete case file, he had worried that the murderer would commit crimes in the prefecture he was in charge of five years ago when he served as a county magistrate in a local prefecture. He had learned about the murderer's deeds in detail, so he knew about many of the murderer's victims.

But these people...

Wang Gui frowned and said, "Those victims include men, women, the elderly, the young, wealthy businessmen, and ordinary people... Regardless of gender or status, they are all different, and they hardly ever cross paths in life."

What connections or similar characteristics might they share?

Liu Shuyi stared at the case file and shook his head slightly: "I haven't thought of that yet..."

"However, the victims' different genders, ages, and identities indicate that the killer's motives for murdering them are unrelated to these factors..."

"Moreover, many of them have never left their state capital in their entire lives, and it's impossible for them to have participated in anything together or even met each other..."

Wan'er couldn't understand it either: "How did the killer choose them? It couldn't be because their ancestors knew each other, could it?"

"Ancestor?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed, and he suddenly looked at Wang Gui, saying, "County Commandant Wang, do you know where we can get information about these victims' families or ancestors?"

Wan'er was taken aback for a moment: "Young Master, I was just saying it casually, don't actually believe it!"

Why can't we believe it?

Liu Shuyi said, "These people must have something in common, but the information we have on the surface so far doesn't show any similarities. So their backgrounds and ancestors should also be taken into consideration."

"We cannot overlook any possibility."

Wang Gui understood Liu Shuyi's meaning. His expression flickered as he said, "The three judicial departments did study the cases of those victims at the time, but they found nothing. They should have been archived and sealed later... If the Ministry of Justice's files don't have them, then they should be in the Court of Judicial Review."

"The Dali Temple?"

Liu Shuyi said, "County Lieutenant Wang, could you please send someone to the Dali Temple to find Vice Minister Du and explain this matter to him, asking him to help us borrow the case files of these victims?"

"I will have someone do it right away."

Wang Gui immediately got up and went to other tables to instruct the yamen runners to deliver a message.

Liu Shuyi let out a soft breath, looked at Wan'er, and said, "My second question is, why did Mo Xiaofan fall for the trap?"

"Why?" Wan'er's eyes flashed.

Liu Shuyi said, "Wan'er, you should know how clever Mo Xiaofan is. He is definitely not a stupid person who can be easily fooled. Moreover, when Mo Xiaofan was arrested, there was no curfew yet. The road he took to the Liu residence was a main road, and there were still many pedestrians on the road at that time. If he shouted, the pedestrians would definitely hear him."

"In this situation, for the killer to succeed, he either needs to lure Mo Xiaofan into a side street before attacking, or he needs to knock Mo Xiaofan unconscious with a single move, rendering him unable to resist..."

"Regardless of the possibility, the killer will want to get close to Mo Xiaofan. Given Mo Xiaofan's intelligence, do you think he would easily let a stranger get close?"

Wan'er's expression flickered, and she shook her head without even thinking: "Impossible."

"Mo Xiaofan is not only clever, but also knows some martial arts. It is extremely difficult to get close to him silently."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "So, why did Mo Xiaofan fall for this? That's something worth considering."

Wan'er's delicate brows furrowed slightly, her face full of confusion. She knew Mo Xiaofan very well; in fact, one could say she was the person who knew Mo Xiaofan better than anyone else in the world.

Therefore, she couldn't understand how Mo Xiaofan, a clever guy with decent martial arts skills, had been silently tied up by the murderer.

"Mo Xiaofan, you've really left me with a huge problem." Wan'er rubbed her forehead, her head aching more and more the more she thought about it.

"Master Liu..."

At this moment, Wang Gui returned.

The waiter also arrived carrying the dishes.

When Wang Gui saw outsiders arrive, he immediately shut his mouth.

Only after the waiter had placed all the plates, said "Please enjoy your meal, sir" and left did Wang Gui say, "The little beggars have arrived. Should we let them in, or have them wait outside?"

"arrive?"

Without a second thought, Liu Shuyi said, "Of course we'll let them in."

Looking at the delicious-looking dishes on the table, he smiled and said, "These dishes aren't just for us, they're for them too. How can we move on to the next step if they don't come?"

(End of this chapter)