Chapter 88: Chess Game

"Squad Leader, this stab-proof vest seems to have flowed out from the academy."

While waiting for the mages of the Justice Academy to rush over, a subordinate suddenly handed over a fragment of the stab-proof vest and whispered in Li Lei's ear.

Li Lei took the fragment and looked at it. There was a steel stamp serial number on it, but it had all been scratched off, and it was impossible to see what the original serial number was.

Stab-proof vests were not unique to the Inspection Court, and they were also sold on the black market, but only stab-proof vests produced officially by the Inspection Court would have steel stamp serial numbers.

Li Lei calmly put away this fragment.

The equipment inside the Inspection Court, except for firearms which were strictly managed, other things like sabers, crossbows, arrows, stab-proof vests, and even bullets were all being resold!

This kind of thing would involve a large group of people inside, and Li Lei himself had even secretly taken a stab-proof vest for Li Fei to defend himself, so he would only hide this matter now.

Anyway, dozens of stab-proof vests flowed out of the Inspection Court every year. Before flowing out, the steel stamp serial numbers on them would be scraped off, and it was impossible to find any clues based on this.

"Where are the things?"

After a while, an old man wearing a white robe walked in.

He was a mage of the Justice Academy, responsible for helping to find people.

"Here."

Li Lei pointed to the pile of things on the ground and said.

The old man looked at the bloodstains on these things and nodded.

It was easy to handle if there were bloodstains.

He called his attendants, took a pile of materials prepared in advance from the box the other party was carrying, and then quickly smeared them on the ground.

Ten minutes later, the old man prepared the materials and rituals needed for casting spells, and began to chant spells.

Li Lei had seen similar scenes several times before, so he didn't feel strange.

He knew this was the other party wanting to search for the murderer's location based on the traces left by the murderer.

Even if it could only lock onto a rough range in the end, it was very helpful for solving the case!

In the room, the mage began to cast spells.

A few seconds later, a large amount of white smoke emerged from the place where the materials were smeared on the ground.

But soon, the smoke dissipated, and the old mage casting the spell turned pale and groaned.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

The old man began to cough loudly.

"Master Cai, are you alright?"

Li Lei asked.

The old mage surnamed Cai waved his hand while coughing.

After coughing for a long time, he finally recovered and pointed to the pile of things on the ground:

"The bloodstains on this are not the murderer's, they are rooster blood!"

"Rooster blood?"

Li Lei's brow furrowed into a 'chuan' shape.

As the saying goes, 'the rooster crows and the world turns white', the rooster blood of a rooster represents masculinity and intensity in the rituals of techniques, and can be used to arrange exorcism and evil-breaking techniques.

And if rooster blood is smeared on the body or related objects, it can effectively interfere with tracking and curse-type techniques!

Before, Master Cai was able to lock onto this area based on the body of Zong Guang, who died at the hands of Green-Faced Ghost, casting spells, and the other party ran all the way, leaving traces that could be perceived.

But after Green-Faced Ghost escaped here, he left all the objects that could be perceived on his body here, and specifically sprinkled rooster blood, which completely cut off the clues.

"This rooster blood should have been freshly obtained from a live rooster, and the interference effect is excellent, otherwise my techniques wouldn't have failed completely."

Master Cai said, "The other party prepared a live rooster here in advance."

Li Lei's furrowed brow never relaxed.

Tearing clothes, chopping protective clothing, not leaving effective characteristics.

Using rooster blood to interfere with spell casting, cutting off the traces left behind, and even knowing that live roosters are the most effective.

This series of actions made Li Lei suspicious:

"How is this Green-Faced Ghost so knowledgeable about the imperial court's case-solving methods?"

"This person's counter-reconnaissance ability is very strong, he is an expert."

Master Cai said to Li Lei, "Squad Leader Li, now I can't provide any help, I'll return to the academy first. If any useful clues are discovered later, let someone notify the academy."

"Alright, thank you for your hard work, Master Cai."

Li Lei bowed to the other party.

Although in terms of official rank, the other party was one level lower than him, the status of the mages of the Justice Academy had always been noble, so he was also polite and very courteous.

After sending Master Cai away, Li Lei called his subordinates:

"Go and ask the people around here if they have seen any suspicious people come here in the past few days?"

"Go and look around again to see if you can find the dead rooster."

"Go and check all the places selling chickens in the Green Origin District to see if you can find any clues."

He issued several orders in succession.

However, he felt that with Green-Faced Ghost's knowledge of the imperial court's case-solving methods, these investigations would likely be of no use.

Main government building.

Chief's office.

Xingcheng Chief Gu Zhenhui was listening to his secretary's report, which was about Green-Faced Ghost.

"So, the Tiger Saber Gang first found this Green-Faced Ghost to make a deal, letting the other party go and kill Feng Zhenshan. But in the end, for some reason, Green-Faced Ghost turned against the Tiger Saber Gang, and also seriously injured that Secretary Zhang?"

Gu Zhenhui said calmly after listening to the report, drinking a cup of tea.

"Yes."

The secretary nodded.

"Is Zhang Mingze dead?"

Gu Zhenhui asked.

The secretary shook his head: "The secret agent we planted in the Tiger Saber Gang doesn't have a high enough status, so he can't find out any specific news. He only knows that the Tiger Saber Gang's most skilled doctor, Doctor Huang, has been in that mansion and hasn't come out since entering. I think that Secretary Zhang, even if he isn't dead, is in a very bad situation."

"Heh, Zhang Mingze, if you really die, it would be no different from that tiger losing its wings."

Gu Zhenhui's mouth curled up, looking in a very good mood.

The secretary standing on the side looked at him with a strange expression, but quickly restrained it.

But Gu Zhenhui seemed to have guessed the other party's thoughts and turned to look at him:

"Why, do you also think that Green-Faced Ghost was sent by me?"

"This subordinate doesn't dare!"

The secretary's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Hehe."

Gu Zhenhui smiled, "What are you nervous about? That tiger deliberately let people release the news that Green-Faced Ghost killed Feng Zhenshan. This move is quite good. It seems that after being influenced by Zhang Mingze for so many years, his chess skills have improved quite a bit."

The Tiger Saber Gang releasing the news that Green-Faced Ghost killed Feng Zhenshan was simply admitting it without being beaten, equivalent to publicly admitting that they bought a murderer, just without leaving evidence on the surface.

So the secretary on the side felt that Yu Hu was making a bad move because Secretary Zhang had an accident.

But looking at Gu Zhenhui's meaning now, he actually felt that Yu Hu's move was very good?

"Isn't the Tiger Saber Gang worried that after the matter is exposed, Green-Faced Ghost will fall into someone else's hands and finally bite out the fact that they bought a murderer?"

The secretary asked.

The Tiger Saber Gang dominated Xingcheng, had connections in the main government building and the Six Academies, and had deep interest ties with the powerful people in Xingcheng, so if there was no evidence on the surface, even Chief Gu Zhenhui couldn't act hard.

But it would be different if there was a key witness like Green-Faced Ghost. Even if it couldn't be used to topple the Tiger Saber Gang, it could give the other party a heavy blow!

This was also the reason why the secretary felt that the Tiger Saber Gang shouldn't publicly announce that Green-Faced Ghost killed Feng Zhenshan with great fanfare.

But Gu Zhenhui obviously didn't think so.

He picked up the teacup slowly and took a sip of tea, saying slowly:

"Yu Hu's move has a total of three benefits."

"First, once this matter is made public, he has a legitimate reason to mobilize his power in the Inspection Court, the Stop-Gong Academy, and the Justice Academy to go and arrest Green-Faced Ghost together."

"Second, even you suspect that Green-Faced Ghost killing Feng Zhenshan might be a bitter meat trick specifically arranged by me, with the purpose of killing Secretary Zhang and cutting off the Tiger Saber Gang's wings. What will others think? Yu Hu's move is publicly alienating the hearts of the officials in my line, and yet it's very difficult for me to prove my innocence. This is an open conspiracy!"

"Third, if I ignore this Green-Faced Ghost next, it will only make it more certain that the other party is my person. And if I also go all out to deal with this Green-Faced Ghost, and kill the person during the arrest process, that is killing to silence. Finally, even if I can successfully catch the person alive and make him hand over a confession saying that the Tiger Saber Gang bought a murderer, how many people do you think will believe it?"

In this way, even if I can use this Green-Faced Ghost to convict Secretary Zhang, I myself will also be hurting the enemy by eight hundred and damaging myself by one thousand, completely losing the hearts of the people."

The secretary was dumbfounded: "Ah this... the Chief is still thoughtful, this subordinate didn't think of these at all!"

He then worried: "Chief, then in that case, will we fall into the other party's trap no matter what we do next?"

Gu Zhenhui slowly put down the teacup in his hand and looked out the window:

"No rush, this chess game has just begun."

Outside the window, the heavy rain was still falling.

This rainstorm in Xingcheng looked like it would continue for a while longer.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 89 =====