Chapter 166: An Unexpected Name Appears

Xiao Chunzhu knelt on one knee, uneasy.

Li Lin pondered for a moment, then said, "Your strength is good, but I have no suitable position for you in my ranks right now."

"I am willing to start as a government office Runner," Xiao Chunzhu said, clasping his fist.

Li Lin chuckled lightly: "That would be too much of a slight to you."

"No slight, no slight."

Seeing Li Lin's tone soften, Xiao Chunzhu immediately spoke more earnestly: "Whatever order you, the County Lieutenant, give, I, Xiao, will complete it even at the cost of my life."

Li Lin looked into the other's eyes, pondered for a moment, nodded, and said, "Very well. Return with me first and serve as a government office Runner. When a suitable opportunity arises, I will make you a Head Constable or a Commandant... Come to think of it, do you prefer to be a Head Constable or a Commandant?"

"I leave the decision entirely to my lord."

Li Lin smiled slightly and nodded gently: "Rise. For now, stay by my side."

"Yes!"

Overjoyed, Xiao Chunzhu stood up and then, like a lackey, fell in behind Li Lin.

Back at the camp, Li Lin ordered all the local militia to prepare; they would depart at dawn to return to Yulin County. This immediately drew a chorus of cheers from the group.

Those Southern Barbarian women, however, appeared somewhat uneasy.

But Li Lin had no desire to attend to them.

The experiences of these women sounded quite tragic, but now they were safe, with food and clothing guaranteed, far better off than their clansmen by many degrees.

Several days later, the local militia returned to Yulin County.

Part of the militia escorted the one hundred Southern Barbarian women back to the Slave Brokerage Office.

From there, they would be 'sold off' for selection by the old bachelors in the county town.

Meanwhile, Li Lin brought Xiao Chunzhu to the County government office and registered him as a government office Runner.

At the same time, he pointed out an empty side room in the government office for him to live in.

Xiao Chunzhu clasped his fist and said gratefully, "Thank you, my lord."

Now he finally had a place to settle.

Previously, he had stayed in Jincheng for a long time but could not find suitable 'work'; his silver was nearly spent.

Just then, the County Vice Magistrate, Jiang Jili, came looking for him.

"County Lieutenant Li, you have finally returned," Jiang Jili said with a troubled expression. "If you had not returned now, matters would be troublesome."

"What is wrong?"

"Is a Gowned Apparition causing trouble in the county town?"

Li Lin was stunned for a moment: "Where are the Spirit Hunters? Where are Li Xunshou and the others?"

"They cannot find what kind of Gowned Apparition did this."

Li Lin instinctively looked up at the illusion of the peach blossom tree in the sky and said, "It may not be the work of a Gowned Apparition. Is it possible... that humans did it and blamed it on a Gowned Apparition instead?"

"Impossible. Li Xunshou and the others said the victim's entire essence and qi were drained dry. This is clearly the work of a Gowned Apparition. Another one died last night."

"But if it truly were a Gowned Apparition, Peach Blossom Tree Immortal Lady would have intervened."

Jiang Jili looked at Li Lin's confident expression, then looked up at the illusion of the peach blossom tree in the sky as well, and said, "Then I leave this matter to you... I am very busy now. The County Magistrate has disappeared, and I must handle everything in his stead."

Li Lin said, "I think you are quite enjoying yourself."

"Do not speak recklessly..." Jiang Jili suddenly said. "The County Magistrate has disappeared, yet you are so calm. Could it be..."

"I already know about this matter," Li Lin said helplessly. "When I arrived at the Jincheng Prefect's government office, the Prefect told me about it."

"That makes sense... you are his son-in-law."

"I will take over and investigate this matter. First, I will go home and rest for half a day. I have been gone for twelve days without a chance to bathe; I am about to rot."

"Go, go. I will go do my work as well."

Although Jiang Jili claimed he was tired, he walked with vigorous energy, clearly very pleased.

Li Lin returned home and accepted the service of his two wives.

After a night of vigorous dual cultivation, Li Lin ate breakfast and then went to the County government office, taking over a dozen men to investigate the case.

Xiao Chunzhu naturally was among them.

Yulin County was a medium-sized county town with a permanent population of over one hundred thousand; managing it was quite troublesome.

In this era, there was no concept of deterrence by surveillance cameras; the dark sides of many people's hearts were easily revealed.

Excluding deaths caused by Gowned Apparitions, two or three hundred people were murdered in the entire county town every year.

Very few cases were solved, after all, intelligence and clues were hard to uncover.

Li Lin arrived at the home of the victim from last night.

It was a moderately wealthy household, a three-courtyard mansion with several servants.

The victim was a man; his body lay in the main hall, while a middle-aged woman beside him wept with a hoarse voice.

Beside her sat a stout middle-aged man, his face blank and dazed.

Li Lin led the government office Runners to the rear courtyard. The middle-aged man stood up and, with difficulty, performed a bow to Li Lin.

Li Lin did not mind; the man had lost his only son. Under such circumstances, remembering to perform a bow showed considerable cultivation.

Without Li Lin needing to give an order, the dozen or so government office Runners under his command had already lifted the white cloth covering the victim's body to examine it.

After watching for a while, Xiao Chunzhu returned to report: "County Lieutenant, this man's blood and qi have been completely drained, leaving only his skeleton and outer skin. It indeed looks like the work of a Gowned Apparition."

Li Lin smiled and said, "I do not think so."

Xiao Chunzhu was somewhat surprised.

Li Lin did not speak in riddles; instead, he pointed to the peach blossom tree in the sky and said, "If it were the work of a Gowned Apparition, Peach Blossom Tree Immortal Lady would know and would tell me."

The amount of information contained in that single sentence was truly astonishing.

Xiao Chunzhu understood; he felt even more certain that he had followed the right person.

At this moment, he trusted Li Lin's judgment — since it wasn't the work of the apparition, there must be clues left behind.

Xiao Chunzhu cupped his fists and threw himself back into the on-site investigation.

Li Lin, meanwhile, stepped aside and looked around.

He was an official now — he didn't need to investigate personally, just leave it to his subordinates.

Still, out of habit, he had brought along the mask the Tree Immortal Lady had given him; since he couldn't find any clues for the moment, he put it on his face.

That cool, refreshing sensation gathered once more in his eyes.

Li Lin's gaze swept over the surroundings — nothing out of the ordinary — but after looking a few more times, he noticed that on a certain section of wall, there was an extremely faint trace of grey Yin Qi.

If one didn't look carefully, it would be impossible to tell at all.

Li Lin walked over and found that this spot of Yin Qi was shaped like a handprint.

In other words, some 'person' had pressed a hand here, leaving behind a residue of Yin Qi.

Generally speaking, a full day had already passed, yet Yin Qi still lingered — which meant this 'person's' Yin Qi was extremely dense, so dense that merely touching the wall left behind their mark.

By all rights, only a great apparition would possess such a quantity of Yin Qi.

Could it be that the killer really was an apparition?

But if that were the case, even if it could fool the Tree Immortal Lady, it shouldn't have been able to fool Li Yanjing.

Not that Li Yanjing was stronger than the Tree Immortal Lady, but as a possessing apparition, Li Yanjing had an extremely strong sense for others of her own kind.

He had asked her last night — it couldn't have been a possessing apparition.

Li Yanjing had even said that in all of Yulin County, she was the only possessing apparition; if another one came, she would 'kill' it on the spot.

Seeing Li Lin staring at this spot, Xiao Chunzhu walked over and asked, "Colonel, did you discover something?"

Li Lin took off the mask and said, "There's a Yin Qi handprint here!"

Xiao Chunzhu looked enviously at the mask in Li Lin's hand — he could tell it was an apparition artifact.

Apparition artifacts like this — not just spirit hunters, even martial practitioners coveted them, desperate to get their hands on one.

Then Xiao Chunzhu gazed at the wall, which seemed to show no special signs at all; the more he looked, the more dubious his expression grew. After quite a while, he said, "Colonel, it seems I know what kind of person did this."

"What kind of person?"

"Someone with at least some connection or entanglement to the Buddhist sect."

(End of chapter)