I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Although the two no longer remained silent, the awkward atmosphere did not dissipate at all.

Jin Zeqin's eyes darted around, and she looked flustered.

Qingdeng, vaguely realizing something, pursed his lips slightly.

At this moment, a thunderous voice intervened between Qing Deng and Jin Zeqin.

"Hey! Tachibana-kun! Hmm? Koto?"

Wearing a snow hat, Kanazawa Tadatsugu strode confidently toward Aoto and Kanazawa Koto.

"Ah, brother..."

Jinze Zhongfu glanced at Qingdeng, then at Jinze Qin—a strange smile curving his lips.

"Xiaoqin, what are you doing here?"

"It's nothing."

Jin Zeqin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

This action was like a switch. Once made, her posture instantly changed—Jin Zeqin transformed back into the strong-willed, meticulous female warrior.

"I just came to deliver a cotton coat to Mr. Ju."

Jin Zeqin truthfully told Jin Zezhongfu the detailed reasons why she was there.

"Ah, so they just came to deliver winter clothes..."

Jinze Zhongfu pursed his lips—he didn't know if it was Qing Deng's imagination, but he felt that there was a hint of regret in Jinze Zhongfu's eyes.

"Alright. Since you don't have anything urgent to discuss with Ju-kun right now, let's leave for the time being. I need to discuss some important business with Ju-kun now."

"Important official business?"

Jin Zeqin blinked, her curiosity piqued, and instinctively wanted to ask, "What important official business is it?"

However, upon seeing the solemn expression on Kanazawa Tadashi's face, Kanazawa Kotomi wisely closed her newly parted red lips tightly.

"Well, I see."

Jin Zeqin gave Qing Deng and Jin Zezhongfu a slight bow, then jogged away with light steps.

Qingdeng craned his neck, watching Jin Zeqin until she disappeared from sight.

As Qingdeng withdrew his gaze, he let out a long, relieved sigh.

To be honest, Kanazawa Tadashi's arrival was just in time...

If he had arrived even a moment later, Qingdeng truly wouldn't know how to handle the awkward atmosphere that had just created a sense of sudden suffocation...

"Jin Ze Jun".

Qing Deng turned his gaze to Kanazawa Tadashi.

"Why did you suddenly come to see me so early in the morning?"

"Tachibana-kun..."

Jinze Zhongfu let out a long sigh—and as the sigh subsided, the seriousness on his face deepened.

“I’m here to talk to you about… those ‘pills’.”

Upon hearing the word "pill," Qing Deng's eyelids instantly drooped.

Beneath his suddenly lowered eyelids, a captivating glint shone forth.

Four days ago, Yokokura Keinosuke, who was on the verge of death after his forehead was chopped off by Aoto, suddenly had a small porcelain bottle fall out of his body as he was about to fall to the ground.

When the porcelain bottle shattered and its contents—a large number of red and purple pills—scattered all over the ground, a flood of memories overwhelmed Qingdeng's mind.

He recognized the pills.

This was the third time he had seen these pills!

The first time I saw this pill was almost a year ago... when I was investigating the first major case I encountered after transmigrating to this world: the murder of Granny Ping.

At that time, Qing Deng first discovered the pill in the home of the murderer, Jinzaburo.

The second time I encountered this pill was not long ago—on the last day of the fireworks festival.

The lively fireworks display was shrouded in a lingering gloom due to the sudden appearance of a madman... that rambling, indiscriminately killing innocent people, Tada Kōemon.

After Aoto and his brothers from Shieikan worked together to kill this incomprehensible madman, a reddish-purple pill fell from his body. Its appearance and color were exactly the same as the item that Yokokura Keinosuke carried.

The same thing... especially something with such a strange color, appears before my eyes time and time again, it's hard not to notice it.

Qing Deng thought back carefully and discovered that the three people associated with the pill had all engaged in extremely bizarre behavior.

When Xun Sanlang was arrested, he shrieked and declared that he loved Ping Po very much and that no matter how angry or aggrieved he was, he would never be violent towards Ping Po. But for some reason, when he heard Ping Po reject his confession, his mind went blank for a moment. By the time he came to his senses, Ping Po had already died under his wild knife attacks.

Before and after his death, Tada Kōemon made a number of extremely bizarre moves. First, he kept calling people "traitors" and "suppressing the rebellion." Later, as he was dying, he knelt on the ground and shouted into the air in front of him, "My lord, you can't do this to me."

As for Yokokura Keinosuke… well, let’s not even go there. Ignoring the huge wound on his stomach, the way he picked up his sword and got up to fight again was like that of a demon.

For a moment, Aoto couldn't help but wonder if Yokokura Keinosuke was truly possessed by some indescribable evil spirit.

In addition, Tada Koemon and Yokokura Keinosuke have one more thing in common—their eyes are covered with dense red blood vessels that almost cover the whites of their eyes!

After comprehensively analyzing all the known intelligence... Qing Deng's eyes suddenly changed - he strongly suspected that the strange behavior of Xun Sanlang and others was inextricably linked to these pills whose color resembled poison!

Therefore, out of his duty as the "Fire Thief Reorganization Captain" and out of his own curiosity, Aoto retrieved all the pills that had fallen from Yokokura Keinosuke's body.

After leading his troops back to Inawa Village, Aoto immediately reported to and discussed all matters related to the medicine with his colleagues, led by his grandson, Tadaro.

My grandson and others have worked in the thief's office for many years, solved countless cases, and are very knowledgeable. They might know something.

However... the result disappointed Qingdeng.

After listening to Qingdeng's report, my grandson and the others were all astonished—it was the first time they had ever heard of the existence of such a pill.

"A pill with unknown efficacy... Ah, my intuition tells me: this matter may be of great importance... Tachibana-kun, thank you for your report, I will immediately report this to Lord Okubo and Lord Kurosawa." — These were the words of my grandson at that time.

Qingdeng doesn't understand medicine or laboratory testing, so he can't use advanced scientific methods to detect drug components.

The only way he could find out information about this drug was by asking people.

Since even his colleagues who frequently dealt with crime didn't know what this drug was, Qing Deng was at a loss and could only wait patiently for the response from his superiors... namely, Okubo Tadashi and Kurosawa Atsuyuki.

Over the next few days, Qingdeng focused on recuperating from his injury.

The word "pill" has also temporarily disappeared from Qingdeng's life—until now.

Before Qingdeng could respond, Kanazawa Tadatsugu sighed softly to himself and said:

"Tachibana-kun, it's like this. Actually... after hearing about the existence of that pill from you, I recalled something I experienced before...."

"I don't know if that matter is related to the pills you brought back... but after thinking it over, I've decided to tell you the details."

Qing Deng raised an eyebrow, then cast a serious look at Jin Zezhongfu. This gesture, of course, meant, "Go ahead and speak; I'm all ears."

Kanazawa Tadashi cleared his throat, composed himself, and slowly began to speak:

"About a year ago, I met a drinking buddy at an izakaya I frequented."

"His name is Hirasaka Sanjiro."

"Because he was the second son in the family, he had no right to inherit the family business."

"At the same time, because I have suffered from a chronic lung disease since childhood, I am unable to do any heavy work."

"Ueno has made no achievements in academic research and cannot become a scholar who makes a living by writing."

He was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and had no means of making a living. Therefore, he could only live in his elder brother's house, doing nothing all day and spending his days smoking and drinking.

"Although he was a rough man who didn't do any physical labor and knew nothing about farming, he was a good person. He was warm, cheerful, and kind-hearted, and had no bad habits other than smoking and drinking, so I quite liked to drink with him."

"Unbeknownst to me, we became fairly good friends."

"Do you remember what I just said? Hirasaka has suffered from a lung disease since childhood that can't be cured no matter what."

"I don't know exactly what kind of disease it is."

"But according to Hirasaka, his lungs would ache on rainy days. When the symptoms were at their worst, the pain in his lungs was so intense that he felt like he wanted to tear his chest apart. Only by drinking strong liquor and getting drunk could he feel better."

"I know nothing about medicine and don't know any famous doctors, so I can't help Hirasaka with his situation."

All I can do is wish him well in finding a doctor who can cure his chronic ailment soon.

"But who knew... Hirasaka couldn't find a doctor to cure his illness, but he did find a medicine to help him get rid of his pain."

"One night, when I was drinking with Hirasaka at an izakaya, he excitedly told me that he had bought a very effective painkiller."

"Whenever my lungs start to hurt again, I take one of those painkillers immediately, and the pain is relieved instantly."

"I didn't think much about it at the time, I just felt that Hirasaka's luck had turned around and he had gotten his hands on some good medicine."

However... this good fortune didn't last long.

"Not long after, strange things quietly began to happen."

"I forget exactly when it started, but it was from a certain day that Hirazaka suddenly seemed to have changed his personality."

"He became extremely irritable and easily angered."

"He's like a dry tinderbox; he can catch fire with the slightest spark. He often gets into conflicts and even fights over trivial matters. He's completely lost his former self."

"Although I was very puzzled, I was busy dealing with a major case at the time, and I was so busy every day that I didn't have time to care about Hirasaka."

"When I finally had some free time and habitually wanted to go out for a drink with Hirasaka... he died."

"Dead?" Qing Deng's eyes widened in astonishment. "How did he die?"

"He got into a fight with four ronin in the street," Kanazawa Tadatsugu sighed. "and was hacked to death by those four ronin."

"According to my subsequent inquiries, it was Hirasaka who started the trouble first."

“Those four ronin didn’t know Hirasaka at all, and had never had any conflict with him—they just happened to be walking on the same street as Hirasaka that day.”

"As they were passing by Hirasaka... Hirasaka suddenly called out to them."

Hirasaka Yoshimasa claimed that the four ronin had insulted him, looked at him with contempt, and muttered under his breath that he was a cripple who couldn't survive without his older brother's support.

Before the four ronin could even protest, Hirasaka drew his sword...

Kanazawa Tadashi paused, as if trying to calm things down, and fell silent.

Qing Deng waited quietly, giving Jin Zezhongfu ample time to process his emotions.