Chapter 98: The Situation Changes

That night, the three of them slept in a large communal sleeping room.

Zhao Xiaohu’s snoring was extremely loud, slightly affecting Li Lin’s sleep quality.

The next day, after casually eating some breakfast on the street, the three arrived at the main hall.

Magistrate Ma was already waiting there.

“How does this official need to assist the three of you?”

“Bring out portraits of the missing Spirit Hunters from your county and let me take a look.”

“We don’t have portraits of them here, but we can have the artists from the Criminal Office draw them.”

Magistrate Ma immediately sent people to summon two artists from the Criminal Office.

Not long afterward, the appearances of the four local Spirit Hunters had all been drawn on paper.

The two artists were also skilled in meticulous brush painting.

The drawings might not have been strikingly lifelike, but they at least captured the general resemblance.

Li Lin committed the appearances of the four men to memory, then cupped his fists and said,

“Magistrate Ma, we’ll get to work now.”

“Certainly, certainly.”

Magistrate Ma said very seriously,

“Only four Spirit Hunters remain in this county.”

“Please put in extra effort, Patrol Hunter Li, and find them.”

“Without them, this county won’t have a single Spirit Hunter left.”

Li Lin nodded lightly.

The three came to the city gate.

Li Lin took out a stack of paper figurines and tossed them onto the ground.

Very quickly, the little paper figures changed from white to pink.

Then they bounced and hopped toward the outside of the city.

Before long, they disappeared into the wilderness.

“Brother Lin, how did you know those people disappeared outside the city?” Zhao Xiaohu asked.

Li Lin smiled.

“I just had that feeling.”

“Magistrate Ma and the others should have already searched within the city.”

“So the possibility that they disappeared outside the city is much greater.”

Zhao Xiaohu suddenly understood.

Looking around, Bai Bufan asked,

“Patrol Hunter Li, is there anything you need me to do?”

“Not for now. Just wait.”

Bai Bufan went off to the side and chatted idly with Zhao Xiaohu.

Li Lin waited patiently.

After about two incense sticks of time, he said,

“I found one.”

Li Lin immediately rushed in a certain direction.

The two behind him immediately followed.

After running for about half a stick of incense, Li Lin saw several little paper figures surrounding a corpse.

They were dancing in circles and performing strange dances, as though conducting a sacrifice.

When Li Lin approached, the paper figures immediately ran away.

They had gone off to search for another target.

The moment Li Lin saw the man, he froze.

The man was clearly dead.

His face was pale.

Li Lin was quite surprised.

He had used the pathfinding paper figures on the premise that the four men might still be alive.

Yet now they had found a corpse.

Strange.

Why had this person’s corpse not been eaten by wilderness ghosts after several days?

Could it be that the man had died only this morning?

Li Lin was not particularly skilled in examining corpses.

Bai Bufan, however, came over and observed for a while.

His expression became strange.

“Patrol Hunter Li, this person should have died around dawn.”

“The time of death is less than two shichen ago.”

“And his wounds...”

Li Lin looked at the wounds on the corpse and found several relatively short cuts from a sharp weapon.

He had not expected Bai Bufan to possess the skills of a coroner as well.

Bai Bufan remained silent for quite a while before saying,

“It seems to be my uncle’s Twin Flood Dragons Emerging from Water Saber Technique.”

Those words genuinely surprised Li Lin.

Had Bai Zhiwei and the others come to Beiliu County?

If they had come here, what relationship did that have with the disappearance of the Spirit Hunters of Beiliu County?

Zhao Xiaohu walked over and asked,

“Brother Lin, what should we do with this corpse?”

“Do we need to go back and notify them?”

“Go back and notify them to come collect the body.”

“Bufan and I will wait here for you.”

Zhao Xiaohu nodded and immediately ran off.

Li Lin casually found a stone and sat down.

Bai Bufan also fell silent.

His own uncle had killed a Spirit Hunter from Beiliu County.

This matter could be either major or minor.

The question was which one it would turn out to be.

After a while, Zhao Xiaohu returned with several yamen runners.

When they saw the corpse, their expressions became extremely ugly.

One of them, who looked like a constable, glared at Li Lin.

“What’s going on here? Why is he dead?”

“That’s what you should be investigating.”

Li Lin stared at him coldly.

“Or do you think we killed him?”

“If that’s what you think, we’ll return to Yulin County immediately.”

“You can find the remaining people yourselves.”

At that moment, Zhao Xiaohu and Bai Bufan had already become alert.

Especially Zhao Xiaohu.

His spear was already in its opening stance.

All he needed was an order from Li Lin.

Then he would charge forward and kill.

The constable froze.

Lowering his head, he said,

“My apologies. I spoke out of line.”

In truth, they had never intended to pin the matter on Li Lin.

They had merely seen one of their comrades dead.

In a fit of anger, they had vented their emotions on the nearest target.

“This man is your responsibility now.”

Li Lin waved his hand.

“Let’s go.”

Then he left with Zhao Xiaohu and Bai Bufan.

Watching their departing backs, the constable fiercely slapped himself across the face.

Then he shouted,

“A few of you, carry Patrol Hunter Lu back.”

After walking for some time longer, they found a second corpse.

The dead man’s eyes were wide open.

He had died without closing them.

There was a black hole in his throat.

The paper figures were jumping around on top of the corpse and even doing somersaults.

When Li Lin approached, they ran away again.

Bai Bufan could not help saying,

“Patrol Hunter Li, your paper figurines are a bit... lively.”

“Mm.”

“The paper-figurine technique I learned from Daoist ritual masters is somewhat different from the paper-figurine techniques of the Central Plains region.”

Li Lin could only shift the blame onto the Daoist ritual master profession.

Let them take the blame.

He certainly could not admit that these little paper figures were manifestations of his own inner personality.

That would be far too embarrassing.

Bai Bufan looked at Li Lin suspiciously.

Then he examined the corpse and said,

“He was killed by a longsword.”

“And the attacker was especially ruthless.”

“After piercing the throat, he twisted the sword several times before pulling it out.”

“That’s why the wound looks like this.”

That truly was ruthless.

“My uncle and Patrol Hunter Su don’t use swords.”

Bai Bufan took a breath and continued,

“But Patrol Hunter Ding does.”

“The Ding Family’s Wind and Thunder Sword Technique is quite famous.”

Li Lin nodded.

Zhao Xiaohu came over and asked,

“Do you want me to notify them again so they can collect this body?”

“No.”

“The people of Beiliu County don’t conduct themselves properly.”

“Ignore them.”

Zhao Xiaohu believed him and simply responded with an “Oh.”

Meanwhile, the corners of Bai Bufan’s mouth curled upward.

Suddenly, Li Lin sensed something again and immediately ran forward.

When he reached the vicinity of a small forest, he suddenly stopped and made a gesture for silence toward the other two.

Then the three used trees and bushes as cover and slowly advanced.

Li Lin did not use Stealth Technique.

He merely lightened his footsteps.

Before long, the three entered the small forest and heard voices cursing ahead.

“These disgusting paper figures, why are there so many of them?”

“We’ve chopped down several already, and another bunch appeared.”

“And they run so fast.”

“They keep circling around. It’s incredibly annoying.”

Inside were two Spirit Hunters chasing several little paper figures.

Although the paper figures were not especially fast, the terrain here was complicated.

Running back and forth, they were quite slippery targets.

However, the two men were ultimately much stronger than the paper figures.

After spending some time, they still managed to reduce every paper figure into scraps of paper.

The two leaned against tree trunks and panted.

The thin-faced man said,

“That woman surnamed Ding is really troublesome.”

“She was poisoned, yet she wasn’t affected at all.”

“And that fellow surnamed Su.”

“When I find him, I’m going to skin him alive.”

A sharp light flashed through Li Lin’s eyes.

The surnames matched.

Su Huafang and the others had likely come here.

For some unknown reason, they had come into conflict with the local Spirit Hunters.

Li Lin looked at Bai Bufan and Zhao Xiaohu.

Then he made a throat-cutting gesture toward them.

A savage grin spread across Bai Bufan’s face.