Chapter 186: Chen Yan's Brainstorm

"No!"

"It's not a weapon....."

Zhu Yi stood up, shook his head, and blurted out.

"It looks more like it was torn apart by some beast!" Lu Cangfeng took up the thread and added in a deep voice.

"Exactly!" Zhu Yi nodded heavily.

The two's viewpoints were surprisingly identical.

In the pool of blood, the corpse's head and limbs were all bitten off by a beast.

"Hmm...."

Chen Yan gave a soft reply and fell into thought.

Liu Yuanjing seemed to recall something, stepped forward, and tentatively asked, "Brother Chen, were you just suspecting that Prefect Ming's death was caused by that gray‑clad woman....?"

The words "cut down with a sword" caught Liu Yuanjing's sharp attention.

Because they had only met a mysterious sword‑wielding master last night.....

Chen Yan pulled his thoughts back, exhaled a breath of foul air, shrugged, and said with a smile, "But unfortunately it's not...."

"How did that beast get into the prefectural office?"

"And how did it silently kill Prefect Ming and tear off his limbs?"

Yuwen Ze rubbed his jaw, his mind racing, and raised the series of doubts that kept surfacing.

First doubt: the prefectural office was heavily guarded; how could the beast have entered?

Second doubt: Prefect Ming, attacked by the beast, would surely have called for help and made noise; why did no one get alarmed?

Third doubt: after killing Prefect Ming, how did the beast escape?

Consider that outside the house, there wasn't even a drop of blood!

Strange....

Inconceivable....

"Could it be the work of the Jinghong Society?" Kuo Luo thought for a moment and offered a guess.

Dou Luling heard this, couldn't help but scoff, and retorted, "If the Jinghong Society were that powerful, they'd have struck Prefect Ming already; why were they besieged so many times?"

The Jinghong Society seemed the most suspicious, yet it was the least likely...

Anyone with that ability wouldn't be passively beaten!

"Indeed, so what on earth is going on?"

He Ruo Dun nodded in agreement, seemed to recall something, shivered, curled up, and cautiously said, "It can't be demons at work, can it?"

For some reason, just recalling that gloomy ruined temple made He Ruo Dun tremble with fear....

He always felt Jingzhou was strange, with something unclean!

Add Prefect Ming's eerie demeanor, and the feeling grew even stronger....

"Brother Chen, Brother Chen!"

Liu Yuanjing nudged the silent, daydreaming Chen Yan and shouted.

"What's wrong?" Chen Yan snapped back to attention and asked.

"Brother Chen, you're the backbone; you must quickly make a decision!" Liu Yuanjing's gaze was cold as he said gravely.

Chen Yan slipped one hand behind his back, rubbed his fingertips, glanced at Xiao Lin, and ordered, "Chief Historian Xiao, publicly claim that Prefect Ming fell ill from overwork, has been shut behind closed doors for days, and no one has seen him!"

"During this period, all official matters should be submitted to me!"

This outward claim is merely a temporary measure to stabilize the situation and prevent unrest....

Chen Yan needs time to think carefully about how to respond!

Unflustered in crisis, Lord Chen Yan truly is composed........ Xiao Lin looked at the unusually calm young man before him, mentally noted, and replied, "As you command."

Chen Yan turned his head to Liu Yuanjing and said meaningfully, "Brother Liu, you'll have to work hard these days....."

Chen Yan must control the overall situation and devise a response, so he cannot be bogged down by trivial matters....

And Liu Yuanjing, a He Dong Liu Clan scion meticulously cultivated, has no problem with administrative ability; having him keep Jingzhou running is no issue!

"Understood." Liu Yuanjing grasped the meaning and gladly accepted.

He also took this chance to gain some experience for future official service.

Chen Yan pursed his lips, pointed at the blood pool, and ordered methodically, "Chief Historian Xiao, secure this corpse and assign a coroner to examine it!"

Zhu Yi and Lu Cangfeng have investigated, but neither are professionals.....

To determine the cause and reason of death, Chen Yan still needs a professional report!

"Yes." Xiao Lin replied.

"Then we can skip the banquet...." Chen Yan waved his hand and continued, "First, lead us to the lodging place!"

"Alright." Xiao Lin nodded, exchanged a glance with Zu Ting, and made a beckoning gesture.

A group walked outward, Wang Xiong lagged half a step behind Chen Yan, glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and thought silently, "Seeing his solemn expression, he seems to have no clue for now....."

To suppress bandits, to uncover the prefect's cause of death, to stabilize Jingzhou's situation.....

The burden on their shoulders is not ordinary heavy!

If it were Wang Xiong, he'd probably have been at a loss long ago....

The inn.

The rammed‑earth walls were coated with off‑white ash, yet could not hide the cracks worn by time; black moss spreading at the base resembled splashed ink, staining the gray‑white surface with varied tones.

Each guestroom doorway bore honeysuckle carvings, but where the vermilion paint peeled, gray‑white wood grain showed, looking as if deliberately highlighted.

Diamond‑patterned wooden lattice windows were papered with yellowed mulberry bark, and overlapping lintels hung faded crimson tassels that swayed gently in the corridor breeze.

Outside the room.

Chen Yan halted, and said, "Zhu Yi, I need some time alone…".

So much has happened these past two days that Chen Yan needs to sort it all out.

He conducts a solo brainstorming…

"Yes," Zhu Yi replied upon hearing it.

After Chen Yan entered and closed the door, he waited outside.

Unless there's an urgent matter, no one would disturb their Young Master.

Chen Yan sat at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and murmured, "First, upon arriving in Jingzhou's territory, I ran into that woman who pretended to be trapped and set a trap, indicating…".

He stopped short at that point.

At the same time, his gaze hardened.

The reflected matter is simple: their movements had already been exposed…

Otherwise, they wouldn't have happened to appear on the unavoidable path.

After Chen Yan sorted out the Mu Baizhi incident, he fell back into thought, "Secondly, that gray‑clothed woman is hunting members of the Jinghong Society…".

"So there's a third‑party force also suppressing the bandits!"

The unnamed 'third‑party force' is also killing their targets.

You Xian hasn't yet grasped the gray‑clothed woman's exact identity…

But the enemy of my enemy is a friend; they could try to win them over, try to cooperate…

The master once said, we must unite all forces that can be united!

Chen Yan got up, lay down on the couch, looked up at the ceiling, and murmured, "The most baffling thing remains that headless corpse in the prefectural office!"

"He's dressed in an Inspector's official robe, but whether he is Ming Shaoxia is the question!"

Whether it's Xiao Lin, Zu Ting, Liu Yuanjing, Wang Xiong or others, they all, based on the robe and the build, presumptively identified the dead as Jingzhou Inspector Ming Shaoxia.

But Chen Yan remained skeptical from start to finish…

Anyone can wear the official robe; in a vast Jingzhou, there are countless people of similar stature, so it can't be so arbitrarily concluded!

If it isn't Ming Shaoxia, then who could it be?

Where did the real Ming Shaoxia go, and why would he do this?

Question marks, all question marks…

Chen Yan crossed his left leg over his right, bit his lip, and muttered, "By order of the Grand Tomb Administrator, I'm using the bandit‑suppression pretext to investigate Ming Shaoxia…".

"Just after entering the Jingzhou office, 'he' died a bizarre, tragic death…".

"Is there really such a coincidental occurrence in this world?"

All these events are too coincidental; the odds are that they're not coincidences at all.

The more Chen Yan considered it, the more he felt Ming Shaoxia's death seemed like a response after the information leaked…

But what's the point of doing that?

Another point of doubt.

Chen Yan slapped his head hard, "Oh right, I almost forgot about Anding City…".

He didn't know how long had passed.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A knock sounded outside, followed by Zhu Yi's voice, "Young Master, it's getting late; shall I have someone bring some food?"

"No need…".

Chen Yan rolled out of bed, pushed open the tightly shut door, looked at Zhu Yi, and said, "Call A Ze; we'll go eat on the city streets!".

Dry rice is one thing; he also needs to verify a few things on the side…

——

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