Legend of Zhan Zhao

Chapter 9 Detective Strategy
"In your opinion, Junior Brother, is the poisoner an enemy of Hu Xiba and the Cheng family?"

"How could the murderer have accurately poisoned the tea if the monks casually picked it up from the table before their morning prayers?"

The background investigation is complete. Now let's look at the two poisoned individuals.

Clearly, Hu Xiba and Cheng Ruoshui both harbored personal grudges.

And it was a deep-seated hatred.

This constitutes the direct motive for poisoning.

Jiewen was clearly aware that the novices who had entered the temple were a veritable gathering of talents, with diverse backgrounds and origins, and he cautiously continued to inquire via telepathy.

Zhan Zhao took a deep breath and replied, "Enmity can be divided into inside and outside the temple. Cheng Ruoshui is young and has kept a low profile since entering the temple, so she is unlikely to have any conflicts with others. However, Hu Xiba is a bully who causes trouble, so it is possible that he has formed enmity with someone inside the temple."

"However, the poison used by the murderer was a highly toxic poison from the 'Five Immortals Sect,' which doesn't seem like a spur-of-the-moment act. It's more likely due to old grudges."

"But first, we need to make one thing clear—"

"When was the poison administered?"

"Before or after the novices received the tea?"

Jie Wen asked in surprise, "Of course, the poison was added beforehand. How could it be done after obtaining the tea?"

Zhan Zhao asked, "What form does 'Corrupting Marrow Elixir' take? Powder? Liquid? Or a poison pill?"

Jie Wen, with his extensive experience in the martial arts world, immediately replied, "'The Five Immortals Sect' is skilled in making poisons. The poisons circulating within the sect can be molded into pills for easy carrying and administration. The most terrifying thing is that there are no ordinary antidotes. Only the internal cultivation techniques of 'The Five Immortals Sect' can neutralize the deadly poison."

"This is it!"

Zhan Zhao said, "We shouldn't fall for their trick and assume that the murderer must have used some method to make the victim choose a poisoned teacup. Instead, we should do the opposite."

"As long as the murderer is bold and careful, hides a poison pill in his sleeve, aims at the target early, and flicks his finger as the two pass each other, he can put the poison pill into the teacup held by the other party."

"Because of the stealth of the action, neither Hu Xiba nor Cheng Ruoshui noticed. By the time they sat down, the poison pill had already dissolved in the tea. They were unaware of what was happening and drank the deadly poison."

This line of reasoning has no tricks; it relies entirely on skill.

Of course, one must be highly skilled in martial arts.

At least the technique of using concealed weapons was extremely exquisite.

"That's right! How come I didn't think of that!"

Jiewen was overjoyed: "Junior Brother is truly capable!"

The Great Xiangguo Temple has struck gold.

We need to quickly decide on his Dharma name so that he can become a formal monk.

"With such a method of poisoning, the murderer must have been hiding among the novice monks listening to the lecture at the scene."

Unaware of the other party's thoughts, Zhan Zhao continued, "Following the clues based on the motive, if it is related to the major case in Luzhou Prefecture or Xiangyang, it should be investigated first. However, the murderer may not have had any grudges against these two people. Poisoning both of them at the same time was intended to confuse the public."

Jie asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhan Zhao said, "It's like the murderer's enemy is Hu Xiba, but he only killed him. If you investigate afterward, the motive is too obvious."

"To make it difficult for those inside the temple to identify the perpetrator, the murderer prepared two poison pills. Cheng Ruoshui unfortunately happened to be passing by at the time. Children are shorter than adults, making it easier to flick the poison, and thus she suffered an undeserved disaster."

"The reverse is also true. Harming only one child is practically an admission of guilt, but killing the despicable Hu Xiba along with him greatly expands the scope of the investigation."

Jie Wen listened and wholeheartedly agreed: "Junior Brother is right. The murderer is definitely trying to buy time and destroy evidence. We can't let him succeed. We must find him as soon as possible!"

"But there's no rush..."

Seeing that this person was about to take action, Zhan Zhao's calm voice continued: "What we just analyzed was the situation of poisoning the tea after obtaining it. Next, we should consider the situation where the poison is put in the tea before the novice monks who are going to morning prayers have even received it."

"Ok?"

Jie Wen was stunned: "But isn't this impossible?"

The teacups were just picked up by everyone before class, so how could the murderer have accurately poisoned the target he wanted to kill?

This question was already raised by the monk Dingjue during his lecture.

Zhan Zhao put it more clearly: "If the poison was added beforehand, the murderer not only wanted the target to choose the poisoned tea, but also wanted to ensure that the others who went in beforehand wouldn't get those two bowls of poisoned tea..."

Zhan Zhao had no recollection of when Cheng Ruoshui went in. But he clearly remembered that Hu Xiba had bumped into Chen Xiuhan and then uttered those harsh words before they entered the hall.

Before Hu Xiba, at least twenty novice monks had already entered the hall and taken teacups.

The question is, if the poison is added beforehand, how can the murderer ensure that the person who goes in before the target takes the poisoned teacup?
They were all randomly selected.

"There might be room for clever manipulation in asking someone to choose the poisoned teacup from among many teacups."

"To ask two people to precisely select the two poisoned bowls from a large number of teacups, even if one of them is a decoy, while still ensuring that everyone else avoids the poisoned soup, is not only twice as difficult, it's practically a fantasy!"

So I have a guess.

At this point, Zhan Zhao made a judgment: "If the poison was put in first, we don't need to overcomplicate the method of the crime. Instead, we need to change the motive—this might be a case of indiscriminate poisoning!"

"Indiscriminate poisoning?"

Jie Wen's round face changed color.

Indiscriminate poisoning means that the perpetrator hated not just one person, but all the monks, and even the entire Daxiangguo Temple.

Their actions will be ruthless and inhumane.

And it wasn't just this one poisoning; the killer would continue to poison other foods!

'Is it impossible for him to harbor hatred towards the entire Xiangguo Temple?'

"I've only been here a few days, but I can already feel the oppressive atmosphere. Imagine the pressure of training here, competing with other novices to gain monastic status and become a true monk."

'Even the ancients had their share of troubles, let alone the temples in the capital, which are entangled in worldly affairs and unable to find peace and quiet!'

When Zhan Zhao originally agreed to enter the temple, he had another thought.

Having repaid the favor and quelled the turmoil, one must quickly return to secular life and not linger in the riches and honors of Buddhism.

When they actually came in, they saw the other novices.

The place is a mixed bag, with both good and bad elements mixed together. There is bullying inside the monasteries and powerful figures outside, and it may even involve the powerful and influential people in the capital.

Which one is becoming a monk/nun?

It's all worldly stuff!

With a sigh, Zhan Zhao continued via telepathy: "If it was random poisoning, we need to start by investigating the dining hall to see who could approach these teas and put the drugs in them without anyone noticing."

Jie Wen said, "The dining hall is difficult to approach, but there are many opportunities to poison the tea soup as it is carried from the dining hall to the Mingguang Hall. The novice monks waiting outside the hall might have a chance to do so..."

At this point, he suddenly denied it: "No!"

"This way, we can rule out the novices who attend morning prayers. Otherwise, if the murderer poisoned the tea outside, how could he be sure that he wouldn't accidentally get the poisoned tea after entering Mingguang Hall and get himself caught in the crossfire?"

"Making marks on the bowl to tamper with it? That would be too easy to expose!"

Zhan Zhao nodded slightly in agreement.

Based on the above analysis.

The line of reasoning in the poisoning case became clear—

"Based on the timeline of the poisoning, we can divide it into two situations."

"If the poison was added after the victim picked up the teacup, then the murderer was among the monks present, possessed exquisite concealed weapon skills, and had a clear motive for killing: the victim, Hu Xiba, was an enemy of Cheng Ruoshui."

"If the poison was put into the tea soup early on, then the murderer would have excluded the novice monks at the scene and would have had to search among the other monks in the temple. The motive is unknown, but it is very likely that the murderer was hostile to the entire Daxiangguo Temple."

Jie Wen summarized the situation and was greatly encouraged: "Thank you, Junior Brother. With a direction for the investigation, we will definitely find the murderer as soon as possible!"

Having said that, he left with a confident air.

Zhan Zhao watched his retreating figure, silently thinking, 'The worst-case scenario is that the murderer also anticipated this.'

'Even though it was clearly indiscriminate poisoning, they dared to stay at the scene and didn't directly mark the bowl where the poison was placed, thus ensuring they wouldn't be poisoned.'

'If that's the case, what methods would the murderer use?'

　Starting next week, we'll be aiming for the new book charts; there will be an extra chapter released tonight at midnight.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)