Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Children Shouldn’t Speak

The coroner quietly held the paper, standing between Bai and Mei.

He clearly heard both of them exhale in unison, then speak at the same time.

On the left was the Blade Knight, who said: “It’s him.”

On the right was the Sword Knight, who also said: “So that’s how it is.”

The coroner’s face tensed, maintaining a serious expression, but inwardly he was intrigued by the attitude of the wandering heroes.

Unfortunately, even after a short wait, he still didn’t hear the true name of “him” from the heroes. Reluctantly, he handed the painting over to the Blade Knight who had requested his help: “Since it’s useful, it’s yours, great hero.”

Bai Zhengliu collected himself and smiled, giving the coroner a word of thanks.

The coroner nodded, seeing that he had no further business here, and turned to continue inspecting the scattered corpses nearby.

He first drew a conclusion that anyone could see: “These skeletons were buried at different times; the years of death vary.” He paused. “The causes of death… are diverse. These two male corpses were stabbed in the back, while the female corpse nearby was pierced through the chest from the front.

“Look at these.” The coroner pointed to several other bodies nearby, including the infant corpse that Bai Zhengliu had seen and remembered vividly. “There are no marks on the bones, and the flesh is too decayed. It seems the cause of death was suffocation, or perhaps strangulation… Oh, these,” he pointed to a few more, “Sir, great heroes, look at the blackened area on the chest and abdomen.”

No further explanation was needed; Bai and Mei already understood: “They were poisoned.”

“Yes,” the coroner nodded. “If these bodies had been scattered in different locations, I would never have guessed they were all killed by the same person. But now, since they were all excavated from this place, even if it wasn’t the same person who acted, the Song family son-in-law mentioned by the townsfolk must have known about it. Furthermore, even the Song patriarch, who should have been buried, didn’t escape this person’s hand—it seems he deliberately collected the corpses.”

But why would someone bury so many bodies underground and live above them every day?

This was the most baffling question for the coroner. By all accounts, he was experienced. Even working only in a small county office, decades of service had left him with countless memorable cases. Some killers were ruthlessly evil; others acted out of desperation… The coroner considered himself well-experienced, yet at this moment, his initial shock was slowly replaced by confusion.

With this in mind, he had no time to ponder the identity of the protagonist in the additional painting the Blade Knight had asked him to create.

The coroner’s confusion was shared by the county magistrate.

After thinking a moment, he turned to Bai and Mei and said: “Great heroes.”

Bai Zhengliu was folding the paper neatly for storage, so Mei Yinghan responded.

The Sword Knight said: “Sir.”

The county magistrate asked: “Since you have seen the Song family son-in-law, then what? Where has he gone now?”

Upon hearing this, Bai and Mei fell silent.The two remained silent, and the county magistrate immediately sensed something was wrong. He stepped forward, raising his voice slightly: “Great heroes! What exactly is going on?!”

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan sighed: “This question is easy to answer, but we fear Your Honor won’t believe us.”

The magistrate squinted slightly, his gaze sweeping over the wandering heroes. Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan knew that for a moment, the magistrate had indeed doubted them. Not surprising—jianghu and officialdom were two separate worlds, rarely crossing paths. The magistrate’s jurisdiction was very close to the Tianshan Sect, so maintaining good relations with Tianshan was beneficial and harmless to him. That was why Bai and Mei, as outsiders, could participate in the investigation.

However, if they hesitated or concealed anything regarding Anqing, the magistrate would have reason to question whether their “harmless” involvement was truly harmless.

But such suspicion lasted only a blink. The magistrate quickly reasoned it out: if Bai and Mei had any ties to the killer, they wouldn’t have waited until dawn to involve others in reporting the case. Their hesitation was likely because of the reason they gave: “We feared the magistrate wouldn’t believe us.”

“Then speak,” the magistrate said, softening his tone. “Whether I believe you or not, I will decide for myself.”

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan glanced at the nearby clerks and the coroner.

The magistrate paused for a moment, then turned to his men: “Weren’t there still corpses inside the house? Go in and take a look.”

The clerks went without comment. The coroner’s face showed some disapproval, but seeing the magistrate insist, he merely shook his head and entered the house.

This left only the magistrate and the two heroes, Bai and Mei, in the courtyard. The magistrate looked at them again: “Now? Can you speak?”

Bai Zhengliu finally spoke: “May I ask, Your Honor, do you believe in ghosts and spirits?”

The magistrate seemed momentarily stunned. After a pause, he said: “Children should not speak of strange powers, chaos, or spirits.”

Mei Yinghan asked: “Is it ‘should not speak’ or ‘do not believe’?”

The magistrate took a few moments to process, then slowly surveyed the surroundings: “Do you mean to say… these people were all killed by ghosts or spirits?”

Very close, but Bai Zhengliu shook his head: “What they were killed by is for Your Honor to investigate. Mei and I can only say that the ‘Song family son-in-law’ we saw last night did not seem entirely human—”

At this point, the magistrate’s mouth moved slightly, as if he wanted to speak. But Bai Zhengliu’s words were faster, quickly finishing the sentence:

“If he were human,” he spread his hands, “there’s no reason Mei and I couldn’t have caught him.”

The magistrate was silent, his expression complicated as he looked at Bai and Mei.

The wandering heroes stood openly, letting him look. They knew that even now, the magistrate’s belief in them was likely only fifty-fifty, perhaps even thirty-seventy. But that didn’t matter; these were all they could say.

—After sending the townsfolk to report to the magistrate, the two had already discussed this matter in detail.So many people are dead—there must be a killer.

Where is the killer? Sorry, he was cut down by Bai Zhengliu’s sword.

—Is this the truth? Yes.

—Does it sound believable? Not really.

At least according to Bai and Mei’s reasoning, the magistrate, hearing this, would more likely think: “These two wandering heroes saw something strange in the courtyard last night. In a moment of panic, they tried to capture someone but accidentally killed the Song family son-in-law. So now they say these things to avoid responsibility.”

Should they step back a bit and not say the Song family son-in-law “is gone,” but instead say he escaped?

Hmm… if the two weren’t from Tianshan, maybe someone would believe that. But seeing Mei Yinghan’s distinctive Tianshan attire, and considering the proximity of the county to Tianshan, guessing whether the magistrate knows that “all disciples from the neighboring sect have superb lightness skills”—Bai and Mei felt this answer could be discarded.

After thinking it over, it seemed that unless they involved details of sorcery or vengeful spirits, they really had no way to explain it.

Although the magistrate was not like the Jun family brothers they had encountered before and was not on Bai and Mei’s side, given the frequency of bizarre events they had run into over the past six months, letting more people know about these things meant more people could be prepared—it wasn’t necessarily a bad choice.

As for asking the magistrate to have others step back, it was because Bai and Mei knew the true state of the Song family was too shocking to reveal immediately; it was better to let the magistrate gradually accept it.

Even if the magistrate didn’t believe them after hearing it, he could interpret Bai Zhengliu’s line—“how could there be someone we couldn’t catch?”—as them truly failing to catch the Song family son-in-law and not wanting to lose face regarding Tianshan lightness skills, thus creating an “imperfect” excuse.

At this point, he had already accepted another explanation that removed Bai and Mei from the equation entirely.

Now, all that remained was to see the magistrate’s reaction.

“You say all this,” after a half tea-cup’s time of silence, the magistrate finally spoke, his voice much hoarser than before, “but what evidence do you have?”

Bai Zhengliu hesitated between “demonstrating the search technique” and “mentioning that a royal prince had previously encountered a ghost.” Meanwhile, Mei Yinghan suddenly spoke: “The Song family son-in-law practiced dark arts, which is why there are corpses everywhere. From Zhengliu and my perspective, that is the situation.”

The magistrate took a deep breath, his voice quickening: “If it is so—when I later write the case file, how are the things you said to be recorded? When officials from the capital come to inspect the situation, how will this be shown to them?”

Bai Zhengliu blinked, suddenly realizing that the magistrate already believed them.

As Mei Yinghan said, if it were merely killing people and hiding bodies, it would be hard to justify. The magistrate had worked for years and had seen purely psychopathic criminals before. They didn’t just kill—they carefully stored the bodies and occasionally revisited them.

He had initially thought the Song family was the same, but the coroner’s remarks dispelled that. Now he felt caught in an unprecedented mystery, and Bai Zhengliu’s explanation offered a new possibility.

Ghosts, spirits… everyone believes in gods. The magistrate himself had worshiped Kui Xing and donated incense. Bai and Mei’s account wasn’t hard for him to accept; after hearing them, he immediately felt enlightened.

But no matter how enlightened he felt, he couldn’t write this in the case file! —Even if he wanted to inform future officials inspecting the case, he would need evidence.

Evidence!Meeting the magistrate’s sharp gaze, Bai Zhengliu thought: “Alright, no need to hesitate.”

“The imperial court is already aware of these matters of ghosts and spirits.” He slightly cupped his hands toward the direction of the capital to show respect. “If Your Honor is worried about this, it is entirely unnecessary.”

“The imperial court…” The magistrate pursed his lips, still looking somewhat thoughtful.

Bai Zhengliu considered for a moment and asked, “Does Your Honor know anyone currently or in the past who might be connected with the Prefect of Guang’an? If you don’t trust the words of Yinghan and me, you could personally write and inquire; I believe you would receive a satisfactory answer.”

“Guang’an Prefecture.” The magistrate lowered his eyes, thinking for a moment, and gradually his gaze brightened.

Bai Zhengliu immediately realized that he had formed a plan in his mind.

“Good.” The magistrate said as expected, “Thank you, two heroes. I understand now.”

Bai Zhengliu smiled faintly. He then looked up, checking the sky.

It was already afternoon. If he and Yinghan departed now, they might still reach the next town before nightfall.

The subsequent handling of the corpses and notifying the families would naturally be taken care of by the magistrate, clerks, and constables. It was time for them to return to Jingzhou.

Author’s note:

At the end, I realized I still haven’t said who the person in the portrait is.

No worries, no worries—the next one is coming!