That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Xie Yunqi leaped to the second floor, closed one eye, and pretended to be holding a crossbow.

"Even if that demoness had three heads and six arms, she'd be pricked like a hedgehog!"

Jiang Jingming looked up at her for a long time, then slightly curled the corners of his mouth and gently pressed his right hand on the hilt of the knife.

Xie Yunqi turned around and was about to aim the non-existent crossbow at him when he suddenly felt a gust of wind pass by!

The next instant, the unsheathed Wujiu was already at her neck.

Jiang Jingming stood behind her, twirled the knife, and said with a smile:

"Young Miss, what are you going to do now?"

Xie Yunqi was initially startled, but hearing his tone, he immediately became defiant again:

"Am I the only one left at Listening Waterfall Manor?! Kids, hurry up and get in!!!"

"I am currently hiding behind you. If there is another one of your companions standing on the other side, his crossbow bolt or throwing knife will pierce you through at the same time it hits me."

Jiang Jingming, smelling the faint scent of peach blossoms lingering in the young lady's hair and behind her ears, paused slightly before continuing:

Even if he's ruthless enough to kill both of us, he'll still hesitate for a moment. And that moment will be enough for me to kill both of us.

"Humph!"

Although Xie Yunqi was still unconvinced, he couldn't find a reason to refute him because he knew he was right.

When there is an absolute disparity in strength, hidden weapons and puppets are truly of little use.

Further inside the reception room is a room with simple and antique decorations.

The paintings and calligraphy on the wall all looked valuable, but they all showed signs of damage during the fight, indicating that the murderer's motives were clearly not related to money.

However, if Lao Zhou and Tie Zhu are lucky enough to make it this far, they can collect the remaining scrolls of calligraphy and painting and sell them for a good price, ensuring they won't have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.

Not to mention the other rooms should also contain vases, antiques, and the like.

The files on the bookshelves in the room had all been read through and were scattered on the floor, probably the result of the investigation by the Divine Capital Guard.

Lu Zhao approached, picked up a few scrolls and skimmed through them. They were all unimportant correspondence, but the signatures on them indicated their origin.

"This is the study of Shun Xuan, the head of the Shun family."

Chapter 107 The Dark Room

There were still some tea leaves in the tea set on the desk, indicating that the owner had already passed away seven days after his death.

This wasn't Lu Zhao's first time investigating a murder scene.

He came from a humble background and his family was poor. He started from the bottom as a soldier in the Divine Capital Guard.

He was promoted to junior captain at a young age because he solved a murder case.

His colleagues envied his good luck, as he caught the murderer by sheer chance.

Only Lu Zhao himself knew that it wasn't luck; he was simply very good at observing and finding clues.

When Lu Zhao arrived at the scene, he was just a deputy on guard duty. It was even his first time at a crime scene. However, he accurately deduced that the person who reported the murder was the killer.

The murderer was very careful, only leaving footprints unintentionally on the windowsill while fleeing.

Lu Zhao immediately noticed that the mark on the left foot was lighter than that on the right foot, and the person who reported the incident happened to have a slight limp that was not easily noticed by others.

He decided to report this detail, and the interrogation department quickly provided the result—his judgment was correct.

It was only after this that Lu Zhao realized he might actually have the talent to be a Divine Capital Guard, and he used this talent to solve many problems for the Divine Capital Guard.

Unfortunately, this time is different, completely different.

Lu Zhao had walked all the way to the crime scene, but still felt that everything here was tangled up like a ball of yarn, extremely chaotic and leaving him completely clueless.

The killer's thought process, methods, and motives are all incomprehensible mysteries.

……

Jiang Jingming could see the confusion in Lu Zhao's expression.

He should be more skilled than me at inspecting the scene, but he still came up empty-handed.

Jiang Jingming had anticipated this, as the main force of the Divine Capital Guard had already arrived, and they had sealed away the necessary clues and evidence.

All that was left for these fugitives who had broken in without permission was a scene of utter chaos.

However, after arriving at the scene in person, Jiang Jingming tried to put himself in the killer's shoes and had a different feeling.

The murderer walked openly through the door, casually observed the Shun family's ancestral worship ceremony at the altar, and then suddenly attacked, killing several people in a row amidst the uproar.

She then forced the retreating fighters back to the main pavilion, remaining calm and composed throughout the ordeal.

She must know what moves the disciples of Tingpu Manor are good at, and she must know that the terrain inside the building is advantageous to them, but she remains unmoved, like a naughty child watching the struggle of ants.

The murderer had absolute confidence in his methods and abilities, and also had some understanding of the structure of Tingpu Villa.

She knew that everyone had nowhere to escape.

Thinking about this, Jiang Jingming began to lean towards the murderer's motive for wiping out the entire family.

Previously, he speculated that the murderer's motive might be to incite a conflict between the Togetsu Cult and the Righteous Alliance, or it might be a life-or-death feud with the Shun family.

After being present at the scene, the latter possibility far exceeded the former.

Because if it were the former, the murderer would have no reason to have a perverse sense of "venting" and "revenge".

This kind of unsettling, perverse sense of humor can be felt by everyone who enters Tingpu Mountain Villa.

The signature that framed the Duyue Cult was probably just another sudden whim of the murderer, done in a moment of inspiration.

Jiang Jingming silently made a decision in his heart, turned around, and saw Aqing carrying down stacks of the remaining files and letters from the bookshelf.

"If we want to see everything, we'll probably have to stay here for three days."

Jiang Jingming looked up. The bookshelf occupied almost an entire wall, and the piles of letters on it were all kinds of trivial matters that the Shun family head had to deal with on a daily basis.

He had just casually flipped through a few pages. Some were account books sent by the Shun family's shops in Fengling City, some were summaries of outstanding disciples' studies, and some were various social exchanges.

It's still the kind of superficial, fake social interaction.

After all, it is one of the major sects in the Righteous Path Alliance. Smaller sects in the surrounding area would try to seek help from Tingpu Manor if they had any troubles that they could not handle. This was also the original intention of the Righteous Path Alliance.

Unfortunately, the Shun family head often gave perfunctory rejections to these requests for help.

This is probably the Shun family's code of conduct: the strong become stronger, and the weak suffer the consequences of their own actions.

However, they treat their own family members equally, so it's hard to find anything to criticize them for.

No wonder that after the incident at Tingpu Manor, although everyone in Fengling City was on edge, very few people truly mourned for them.

Aqing shook her head after hearing his words and casually tossed the file in her hand aside.

"I don't want to see these things."

"What is this for?"

Jiang Jingming walked over to her. Although he was puzzled, he was quick to help and rolled up his sleeves to start throwing things away for her.

After a series of loud bangs, the entire bookshelf was finally emptied.

Jiang Jingming leaned against his desk, looking at A Qing's slightly tense lips, which meant she was very serious.

I almost forgot, she and Shen Zhuo also studied intelligence reconnaissance.

Of course, it's not the rigid, methodical approach to criminal investigation like Lu Zhao's, but rather the principle of using any means necessary and prioritizing intelligence above all else.

Assassination was merely a skill they used to save their lives when they had no other choice.

This huge bookshelf is made of fine ebony, but probably because it was stained with blood, the wood's natural fragrance has dissipated, leaving only a dried, fishy stench and a damp, musty smell.

Jiang Jingming was wondering what A Qing was going to do when she turned to the side, grabbed a chair, spun around to use the momentum, and suddenly swung it.

"Bang!!!"

A loud bang startled everyone present.

"What happened? What happened?!"

Xie Yunqi screamed, drew his sword, and stood up, looking around.

Fang Zhiyi kept her distance, her eyes slightly narrowed like a dozing fox.

Aqing didn't answer; the curve of her profile was icy.

With that swing, the chair broke apart, one leg embedding itself deeply into the inner shelf of the bookshelf.

Aqing stepped forward, grabbed the back of the chair with her bare hands, and forcibly rotated the already jammed chair, her movements resembling those of picking a lock.

Jiang Jingming raised an eyebrow, realizing that something was wrong.

If the bookshelf were against a wall, the chair legs would have broken off when Aqing smashed it like that; it would never have been able to embed itself into the bookshelf like this.

The current situation only proves that there is nothing behind the bookshelf.

There is a darkroom.

Jiang Jingming realized this, drew Wujiu, and with a backhand thrust, stabbed it deep into the bookshelf.

With Wujiu's sharpness, he quickly cut through the ebony, and then the blade tip left an unobstructed hollow space.

Jiang Jingming and A Qing exchanged a silent glance, and then, without further discussion, they worked together seamlessly from the left and right.

"Oh!"

Another loud bang.

A large section of the huge bookshelf was removed, revealing a dark, empty space behind it, filled with dust.

Chapter 108 Cyber ​​Wuxia

"Um... I mean, you two young heroes."

Lu Zhao walked to the other side of the bookshelf and pointed to a very loose stone brick:

"Shouldn't we look around and stumble upon this mechanism before calmly entering the secret room, following the normal procedure?"

"unnecessary."

Aqing replied casually, then kicked down the remaining planks.

The already precarious bookshelf collapsed with a crash, completely exposing the secret room hidden behind it.

Jiang Jingming thought, this must be what they call overwhelming force.

While ordinary people were still carefully calculating traps and mechanisms, Aqing was already wielding his sledgehammer as if walking on flat ground.

Aqing took out a tinderbox from her sleeve, blew on it with a "poof," and, using the small flame, bent down and leaned inside.

Jiang Jingming, carrying a long sword, followed in her footsteps.

Xie Yunqi gripped his belt tightly, like a cautious rabbit.

Lu Zhao reached for a candlestick from the corner of the room, intending to ask A Qing for a light, but he quickly discovered that the candlestick was damp and unusable, so he hurried after her.

Fang Zhiyi leaned against the door of the study, quietly listening to the sound of rain outside the window, her expression seemingly lost in thought.

She sighed softly and bent down to follow them after they had all gone into the dark room.

Holding up a tinderbox, Aqing gestured for the group to stop. She then circled the room, feeling around the edges to confirm the general structure of the dark room.

It was a very simple coffin room, with a row of mechanical puppets displayed on an iron frame. Aqing picked up a yellowed old piece of paper with a detailed structural diagram drawn on it.

"These papers contain the secrets of the Shun family's puppetry techniques."

Aqing stared intently for a long time before drawing a conclusion:

"With these blueprints, any skilled craftsman can make a puppet just like theirs."

"That's truly an absolute secret."

Jiang Jingming walked to her side. In addition to the complete blueprints that could be mass-produced, there were also some design drawings that were only rough drafts.

"Good heavens, they even want to put living people inside puppet shells! What a bunch of lunatics!"

Lu Zhao flipped to a page and exclaimed in surprise.

Jiang Jingming thought to himself, "So the Shun family is already researching mecha in this era."