Chapter 130: Autopsy

"Is it someone from the Zhan Cheng Office?" Seeing Fu Jingyu's eyes flashed with surprise and doubt: "Not necessarily; it could be Lu Qiuyang's own."

Xu Yuan coldly sneered in silence, pointed toward the inner room, and Fu Jingyu went in to see Lu Qiuyang's official boots placed beside the bed.

That pair of official boots was clearly smaller than that shoe print.

Lu Qiuyang was not tall, and his feet were not large either.

Fu Jingyu came out, his brows knitted deeply together: "Are all these bloodstains to cover the shoe prints? But why not just wipe the shoe prints away directly?"

Xu Yuan shook his head: "I don't know either; this must be asked of the people from the Zhan Cheng Office."

Before Fu Jingyu could react, Xu Yuan had already reached the doorway and shouted: "Inspector Zhu, please take a look."

Zhu Sili walked in with a gloomy face, saw the shoe print on the ground, paused for a moment, then seemed to think of something; his expression shifted several times, and finally he remained gloomy as he said: "It is a clue; I will immediately arrange for the Captains to hand over all the official boots."

Xu Yuan asked calmly: "What is Inspector Lu's cultivation level?"

"Seventh-rank method cultivator; he cultivates the art of tricks."

"Shoe prints hidden beneath bloodstains; dozens of people died before, yet the Zhan Cheng Office discovered nothing?"

Zhu Sili glared at Xu Yuan: "What does Inspector Xu mean? Do you suspect my Zhan Cheng Office of shielding evil spirits?"

Xu Yuan pointed his finger downward at the shoe print: "Whether it is an evil spirit or not remains to be seen."

Zhu Sili roared: "You are highly skilled and powerful, controlling the Fu Zhong Huo in your belly with such skill! You have the Commander as your patron and a limitless future! Even the Dan Xiu of our Zhan Cheng Office are not as good as you; you discovered the clue first, so if the case is solved, you will have the primary merit; is that fine? What more do you want to say?"

Yu Yunhang and Song Lu, hearing the argument, hurriedly entered; Yu Yunhang asked: "What is going on?"

Song Lu saw the shoe print on the ground but did not give Zhu Sili any face: "Did we do wrong by handling the case with all our heart? Zhu Sili, listen to the deafening cries of the Lu family outside! Lu Qiuyang and He Jun'an were also your colleagues for many years!"

Zhu Sili gritted his teeth hard, held back words he wanted to say, then suddenly turned around and strode out the door in great strides.

At the very moment he rushed out of the room, a look of relief suddenly flashed across his face...

The four people in the room had solemn expressions; looking at the shoe print on the ground, Song Lu gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "I simply do not believe the Zhan Cheng Office truly has no clue at all in this case!"

Yu Yunhang said uneasily: "Perhaps... we should inform the Commander first? If this turns out to be a conspiracy case, then we..."

Fu Jingyu waved his hand, stopping him from saying any more.

Xu Yuan spoke slowly: "Perhaps the Zhan Cheng Office truly did not discover it. The bloodstains covered the shoe prints; if someone deliberately arranged only eighth-rank or ninth-rank Dan Xiu to be responsible for the final cleanup, a single fire swept through, leaving no traces whatsoever."

Even if it was not a deliberate arrangement, this kind of "menial work" was normally done by ordinary Captains, and they would not even dare to trouble the Inspectors.

Xu Yuan still had another question: "Why were two people killed yesterday? And both were from the Qu Hui Office?"

Xu Yuan squatted down again, carefully observing the remaining bloodstains.

Having gained experience from the first shoe print, Xu Yuan had developed some insight and could roughly judge which bloodstains had shoe prints hidden beneath them.

Then, wielding the Fu Zhong Huo, he spent a little less than half an hour finding all the shoe prints in the study.

Looking at these shoe prints, all four fell silent.

The shoe prints showed that the murderer had entered through the main door of the study.

Even Song Lu could analyze that the murderer and Lu Qiuyang must have known each other; the murderer had entered after knocking on the door.

But Xu Yuan still found it strange: Lu Qiuyang was killed in the middle of the night—everyone had analyzed the case together at the Zhan Cheng Office last night, and by the time they returned, it was already very late.

Moreover, there was a curfew prohibiting night travel yesterday.

Lu Qiuyang was quite powerful, and since he was within the city, violating the curfew to return home was understandable.

But after returning home, someone knocked on the door late at night; Lu Qiuyang did not suspect the person was an evil spirit trying to trick the door open; not only did he open the door, but he also let the person inside...

Lord Lu did not merely know the person; he was very familiar with and trusted them greatly.

Yet the murderer who killed Lord Lu should be an evil spirit; the heavy yin qi at the scene could not be faked.

As Xu Yuan thought these things, he casually cleaned up the remaining bloodstains; when doing a job, he did it thoroughly.

Lang Xiao Ba's figure appeared at the doorway; he poked his head in to peek inside before reporting: "The autopsy results are out."

In the adjacent room, two coroners looked pale, their hands and feet trembling; every autopsy was extremely exhausting for them.

Lu Qiuyang's corpse lay on a long table nearby, covered by a thick white cotton cloth.

On top of the cotton cloth, at approximately three positions corresponding to the face, the navel, and the ankles, rested an old inkstone, an old weight, and iron shackles respectively.

This was a necessary procedure in the coroner's profession after an autopsy, also intended to prevent the corpse from undergoing a supernatural transformation.

The profession of coroner is actually a form of method cultivation.

They cultivate the "Resting Peace Method."

Entering the Resting Peace Method is not difficult, and cultivating it is relatively simple.

But those who cultivate the Resting Peace Method do not live past forty years of age.

Usually, they pass away peacefully around thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

Their death is extremely painful.

Several professions in the Huang Ming dynasty are like this; only those with absolutely no other path, those who cannot survive, take them up.

For example, coroners; for example, executioners.

The "medicine guide" required to enter the coroner profession can be obtained by ordinary people.

Find a public mortuary and guard it; if there is an unnamed corpse, and if it does not undergo a supernatural transformation overnight, then search the corpse for a grayish-white worm; once found, take it home, feed it with your own fresh blood, and after seven days, when the worm transforms into a gray moth, eat it.

Then the method is established.

The gray moth eaten does not die but instead remains parasitic in the coroner's chest; during an autopsy, the gray moth emits a sound inaudible to living humans, soothing the corpse so it does not rise up violently.

This is the "Resting Peace Method."

But this only guarantees that the corpse will not transform during the autopsy; other matters, such as how to transport the corpse and the various detailed techniques of autopsy, must be taught by seniors.

Therefore, even if one has cultivated the Resting Peace Method to completion, after entering the government office, one must still curry favor with seniors; if one encounters someone who enjoys making things difficult, then life becomes arduous.

Although the court provides a decent salary, and if one dies, there is a substantial pension silver, this profession is never prosperous.

These two coroners of the Zhan Cheng Office operate on a "senior guiding junior" basis; one counts as the master, and the other is the apprentice.

Zhu Sili still stood with a stern, iron-green face, hands clasped behind his back in the center of the room, presenting a broad back to Xu Yuan and the other three.

"Any discoveries?"

Zhu Sili asked in his usual formulaic manner; he had examined corpses several times before, yet never found anything.

"Indeed, there is a discovery," the coroner on the left replied with clasped hands.

Zhu Sili was surprised, thinking inwardly, "Is the luck of these few from the Southern Office so good?"

"Speak!"

The two coroners glanced at each other, gritted their teeth, and said, "Patrol Officer Lu may have been secretly poisoned beforehand!"

Zhu Sili's expression changed: "What secret poison?"

"My lords, please look."

The coroner removed the covering and rolled up the Bai Bu.

Lu Qiuyang's corpse had been cut open like a butcher dismembering an ox, with skin, muscle, and bones separated from one another.

Yet they were still arranged to resemble a human form.

Song Lu glanced at it once, then covered his mouth and ran out.

Everyone paid it no mind, but Yu Yunhang endured it several times before finally failing to hold back and running out as well; Zhu Sili merely turned his head to cast a sidelong glance, letting out a faint snort through his nostrils.

Xu Yuan and Fu Jingyu stepped forward, the first thing they noticed being Lu Qiuyang's bones.

On the tendons of the bones, besides blood vessels, crawled a dense grid of deep black filaments.

(End of this chapter)