Chapter 298 - 297: Special Victim, Tricky Case

Xiachuan Avenue, located in a wealthy part of North City that was adjacent to Shangcheng.

It didn’t take Li Jing long to reach there.

During the ride, he asked Xiaai to get some information about the Taihe Hotel, and was surprised to find out that this hotel he had never heard of before had quite a reputation.

It was a five-star hotel that had hosted numerous foreign leaders during a special period a few decades ago, even once accommodating leaders from nine different forces, including the White Hawk, for three months consecutively.

After that special period, Taihe Hotel preserved its qualification to cater for important foreign guests.

Although it was a common five-star hotel, Taihe adhered to the highest standards in all aspects.

For a long time, Taihe Hotel was the preferred choice for foreign visitors coming to Jianghai for a holiday or business.

In fact, when foreign officials and dignitaries visited Jianghai, they were usually lodged here, so it could practically be considered the designated state guesthouse for Jianghai city.

When relevant personnel checked in, ordinary people couldn’t even get a room.

Of course.

The prerequisite was that the occupant was a foreign guest valued highly by Jianghai’s officials.

It was worth mentioning that.

Although the hotel had such a special business nature, the manager of the Taihe Grand Hotel was rather low-key.

Even if the hotel faced a lot of criticism for mainly catering to foreign guests, in the current market where hotels of all kinds were barely making a profit, the hotel management did not play up its importance and ran its business quietly.

Because of this.

Despite being a very distinctive hotel and extremely popular among high-ranking officials and foreign guests, it was relatively unknown among the local people in Jianghai.

Steering his Spirit Soldier to hover over Taihe Hotel, Li Jing looked down.

It was sunset at that moment.

Under the setting sun, a long boundary line had been drawn up around the Taihe Hotel, which was over twenty stories high, and the Assistant Inspector Department had sealed off half a block.

Seeing this scene, Li Jing frowned slightly.

Captain Dai mentioned that the identity of the deceased was special.

Although it wasn’t explained in detail, at least it was pointed out that the case was taken very seriously by the high-level authorities in Jianghai.

This was enough to suggest that the deceased was a big shot.

However, the show at hand had completely exceeded Li Jing’s expectations.

Just for a single death, half a block was sealed off.

Moreover, looking down at this moment, there were close to a thousand Patrol and Assistant Inspectors alone in the streets near Taihe Hotel.

Just how many people are there in the North City Patrol Bureau?

The surrounding roads were cut off by police lines, and ordinary civilians, as well as journalists who had rushed over upon hearing the news, were all stopped outside.

One look, anyone could understand that this was not just any big deal.

Who exactly...?

Who could have died?

Could it be a leader?

Li Jing’s heart was full of astonishment as he descended in front of the hotel.

Since he had left in a hurry, he wasn’t wearing his patrol uniform with the Major Crime Unit insignia.

As soon as he landed, a patrolling officer standing guard at the hotel entrance stopped him.

"Colleague, please show your ID."

If someone arrives by Sky Control, they either belong to the Patrol Bureau or the Management Bureau.

Confirming one’s identity, obviously, was necessary.

Especially in the face of such a big incident.

Li Jing, of course, understood this.

He was quite well-known in the North City Bureau, but not everyone recognized him.

Until recently.

Regardless of how significant the cases were, he had spent most of the last few months staying idle at home, apart from taking a month off to visit the Big Secret Realm.

His fame for cracking cases in succession had long faded, and carried little influence now.

The Patrol Bureau after all was a public service organization that did real work rather than being a celebrity diner.

If you are not a top-level official and you don’t do anything.

Who would remember you?

Without beating around the bush, Li Jing took out his own ID.

Seeing that Li Jing’s ID showed that he was from the North City Patrol Bureau’s Serious Case Six Group, the patrolling officer was respectful.

But right after, he frowned.

On Li Jing’s ID, it was marked that he was a fourth-level patrol officer.

Being a fourth-level patrol officer meant that he was at the Fifth Boundary level.

Typically, this level was occupied by at least a deputy bureau chief.

But the information on Li Jing’s ID showed that he wasn’t even a team leader, just an ordinary member of the Major Crime Unit.

This...

Was the ID faked?

No, it can’t be.

The Patrol Bureau’s ID, no one would dare or even be able to forge.

Taking a step back.

As part of North City Bureau, he knew more than anyone.

There was no Fifth Boundary officer in their bureau.

The only one they had, was a Sixth Boundary bureau chief.

So.

Where did Li Jing come from?

The patrolling officer was utterly confused.

Bearing in mind that Li Jing’s ID couldn’t possibly be fake, he instinctively stood aside.

"Please come in."

As he said this, he quickly explained.

"The crime scene is on the eighth floor of the hotel. Currently, the hotel is sealed off by the Crimes Investigation Department. Relevant personnel are screening all the guests in the hotel. Part of the Major Crime Unit personnel have already arrived. Colleague, you can go directly upstairs to the scene."

"Understood."

Li Jing replied, turning around and stepped into the hotel.

He had noticed how strange the Crimes Investigation Department colleague had just looked, but didn’t think much about it.

As the only "Fifth Boundary" under the Bureau Chief of North City Bureau, it indeed seemed strange to others when they saw his ID.

He would have been surprised if he were in their shoes.

...

Not long after, Li Jing took the elevator to the eighth floor of the hotel.

The elevator door had just opened, and he looked up to see two familiar faces.

Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu.

At this moment, they were wearing uniforms of the Major Crime Unit, talking in the corridor in front of a hotel room directly facing the elevator.

Seeing these two old colleagues from the Assistant Inspector Department, Li Jing was surprised, then relieved.

More than two months ago when he dealt with the Demon Beast Union incident, Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu had stepped into the Three Realm for a while. The idea of their transfer to the Major Crime Unit had already been proposed, but they needed time to stabilize their cultivation level and learn magic skills after entering the Three Realm.

Now more than two months had passed, and they should have completed their transfer.

Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu, hearing the arrival of the elevator, turned their heads together.

Seeing Li Jing, they showed no surprise.

Lu Yangcheng gave a cheerful smile, raising his hand to gesture.

The normally cold Yi Xiuzhu also showed a slight smile and nodded.

Li Jing responded with a smile and approached them.

"Yang Cheng, Xiuzhu, long time no see."

"Indeed, it’s been a while, almost three months since the last time we met."

Lu Yangcheng began, saying.

"Li, you’ve been really busy. Last time we talked about inviting us to dinner and introducing your lovely wife to us. But what happened? After the Demon Beast Union incident, you disappeared, and we didn’t see you until we transferred to Major Crime Unit."

Lu Yangcheng, always the charmer.

Facing his mildly critical tone, Li Jing gave an embarrassed laugh.

"I can’t be blamed for that. After the Demon Beast Union incident, Sisi suddenly felt the bottleneck of the Four Realm and went into seclusion. She only made a breakthrough recently. I’ve been occupied with other things this past month..."

Halfway through his explanation, Lu Yangcheng laughed.

"Alright, I was just teasing you. Xiuzhu and I found out a half-month ago, when we transferred to the Major Crime Unit, that you had taken a long vacation."

Then, Yi Xiuzhu also started speaking.

"We can arrange the dinner some other time when we’re free. As for the last Demon Beast Union case, Yang Cheng and I owe you a thanks. The messages you left and the people you caught earned us quite a bit of credit. We’ll treat you to dinner next time."

As he spoke, Yi Xiuzhu looked at the hotel room in front of him and said,

"I should end the casual conversation here. Captain Dai just came by and had to leave due to some urgent matters. He asked Yang Cheng and me to wait for you and left us in charge of the scene, telling us to follow your instructions."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing was slightly taken aback.

In charge of the scene, that’s not a big issue.

When the Major Crime Unit is doing their job, everyone has their own tasks. Unless it’s time to confirm the suspect’s whereabouts and make an arrest, there usually aren’t too many people working together, most often it’s teams of two or three.

But considering it had just happened, where had the rest of the Major Crime Unit gone?

Just as he wondered, Lu Yangcheng said.

"A part of the Major Crime Unit is dealing with another case at the moment. The rest of the staff, after handing over to the Crimes Investigation Department, were assigned tasks by Captain Dai to gather various kinds of information. There’s no need for too many people to come over for just one scene."

With this explanation, Li Jing nodded.

Apart from this case, there’s another one. That’s understandable.

The Major Crime Unit doesn’t have many people in the first place, only about twenty or so.

Encountering two cases at once, it’s usual for the staff to be tight on resources.

Without much thought, Li Jing leaned his head to look into the room and saw a few people from the forensics department busy at work. He then withdraw his gaze and asked.

"What’s the current situation here? Why don’t I see a body?"

"The body is in the bathroom, you can only see it by going in. The forensic team is busy confirming some traces right now. We’ll go in after they are done, to avoid unnecessary damage to the scene."

Lu Yangcheng said, taking out a tablet, doing some operations on it, and then handed it over, saying.

"The information about the deceased that the Crime Investigation Department has compiled so far is all here, take a look."

"Alright."

Li Jing took over the tablet, then frowned.

The victim of the case was a White Hawk man named Augustus.

His identification was the Executive Officer of the White Hawk Federation’s Overseas Relations Processing Committee.

This was not an ordinary position.

Placed in ancient times, this would be equivalent to a special envoy level.

In modern terms, it was more ambiguous.

He cannot be considered a diplomat, but in reality, he carried more weight than a diplomat.

If there needed to be formal negotiations between two powers, the Executive Officer would be fully responsible.

No wonder there was such a large deployment outside...

The death of such a person in a hotel in Longyu has a great impact on the relationship between Longyu and White Hawk.

Augustus came to Jianghai seven days ago.

His purpose, on the surface, was to negotiate with Longyu on issues of trade cooperation in relation to the introduction of the Spirit Crystal Bank.

But obviously, it wasn’t as simple as that.

Why would he come to Jianghai to discuss international trade?

Jianghai isn’t the capital of Longyu...

Then the timing, it was too coincidental...

Just after the large retreat from the Chongyuan Holy Realm on the second day...

Clearly, he came to see Quan Chang, who was a "guest" in Longyu.

Looking peculiarly through the official records of Augustus on the tablet, Li Jing found that while he was only a Four Realm and not a high-ranking achievement, he was not merely an Executive Officer of the Overseas Relations Processing Committee. He was also an Honorary Bishop of the Supreme Church.

This was quite intriguing.

Honorary Bishop.

Strictly speaking, an honorary bishop is not a clergyman, but a person who has been granted "honour" by the church.

However, those who would receive such an "honor" were generally die-hard fans of the Supreme Church.

Li Jing didn’t doubt that his visit represented White Hawk.

The church wouldn’t dare to meddle in relations between two countries on behalf of White Hawk, and White Hawk wouldn’t allow it either.

However, with that status in mind, his visit may not just be for White Hawk to gain certain things...

Li Jing skipped the limited information of Augustus on the tablet and looked at the records of his accompanying personnel.

There were six people in total accompanying him.

A person at Six Realm, two at Five Realm, and then three at Four Realm.

The ones with official negotiation status were the four in the Four Realm, including Augustus.

The person at Six Realm and the two at Five Realm were security personnel who accompanied them, in other words, bodyguards.

Currently all six people have been gathered on the top floor of Taihe Hotel, and are being protected by the North City Branch Special Action Team.

While they say it’s protection, it’s more accurate to say it’s surveillance.

It was not that Li Jing underestimated his own branch’s Special Action Team.

The function of the Special Action Team was to conduct assault operations, with most personnel excelling in combat. But as a whole, it was composed of members from the Three Realm.

A group from the Three Realm providing protection for a party that had a Sixth Realm individual and two from the Fifth Boundary as bodyguards?

In terms of power on paper, the three bodyguards alone were more powerful than the upper echelon of the North City Branch.

After all, the North City Branch only had that Sixth Realm Bureau Chief Chen Jing, and then there was him, a "Fifth Boundary" foot soldier.

To protect them, it would have to be the Management Bureau.

At this moment, they were being "protected", presumably to prevent them from causing trouble.

Theoretically speaking, they wouldn’t have the nerve to cause trouble on Longyu’s territory.

But what if...

One person from the Sixth Realm and two from the Fifth Boundary, this was a force capable of leveling a large portion of the North City District in short order.

Li Jing was certain of this.

Despite the lack of visible Mangement Bureau presence, since the visiting team had been "protected", the Management Bureau must have fully prepared for any contingencies, it was just that the relevant personnel were currently hidden.

Even if a person from the Fifth or Sixth Boundary of their own race were to be in some kind of situation, the Management Bureau would immediately respond and take precautions - what more for foreigners?

What Li Jing found somewhat incomprehensible was:

Even with bodyguards from the Sixth and Fifth Realms, how could this person have had such a bizarre and sudden death?

Rubbing his temples, Li Jing felt a bit of a headache.

The details of the case had yet to be disclosed in the Patrol System.

Such a sensitive incident would not be uploaded until the outcome was clear.

And in fact,

For foreigners, having access to some of their information in the system was already pretty good.

The problem was that the other party wasn’t from Longyu.

Whether it was an investigation or just getting to know them, they had to communicate with the country behind them, otherwise, it would be very difficult to obtain valuable information.

Without even basic information, this was much more complicated than any case he’d faced before.

Perhaps some information could be obtained through Small Obstruction ’Xiaoxi’.

But one can’t randomly do such a thing.

The internet is globally connected.

But Li Jing couldn’t possibly ask Small Obstruction to hack into White Hawk.

If that were to be discovered, it would be a seismic issue.

After returning the tablet to Lu Yangcheng, Li Jing asked:

"Is there any explanation for the cause of the victim’s death?"

"Before you came, Xiuzhu and I were on the scene and had a discussion with the Forensics Department, but there’s not a clear conclusion regarding the exact cause of death yet,"

Lu Yangcheng responded.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Yi Xiuzhu began to speak.

"What we can confirm is that the corpse showed signs of Spiritual Qi depletion, which we suspect was caused by Evil Way techniques. However, no traces of Evil Energy were detected in the deceased’s body, and the signs of Spiritual Qi depletion were not particularly noticeable, not enough to cause death."

Li Jing nodded at these words, saying,

"Then let’s just wait for the results."

"Guess we have no other choice."

Lu Yangcheng spread his hands in helplessness.

The matter was extremely tricky, something they all sensed.

What they could do right now was just wait.

After discussing with Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu, while waiting, Li Jing texted Jiang Yini.

There were guesses regarding Augustus and his entourage being in favour of Quan Chang.

But it needed to be confirmed nonetheless.

You can’t just base official investigations on guesses.

Augustus’ death would have an impact on the city’s emergency response mechanism of the Management Bureau. At the moment, Jiang Yini must also be busy making arrangements for this.

It was a while before Jiang Yini replied.

"Including Augustus, the White Hawk visiting team hasn’t proposed any negotiations with the Management Bureau yet, but their visit to Quan Chang won’t be wrong. To receive them, the country’s Trade Commission has dispatched special representatives to come to Jianghai. There has been news from there, stating that they were side-stepping throughout the negotiations two days ago, wanting to understand and buy information and products related to the Alien Civilization at high prices. They did not specifically mention the Ghost Clan or Ancient God’s Descendants, but their purpose was clearly very evident."

After receiving such a reply, Li Jing responded "Got it".

Just as he was about to put away his phone, a message from Jiang Yini arrived:

"Given its relevance to Quan Chang, I need to be involved in the case in real time. As you’re in charge of the crime scene, could you update me on any developments? While Quan Chang is safe in Longyu, as you can see, those who should worry about her will still do so, even under Longyu’s protection. It’s not a big deal if nothing happens, but now that something has, we need to be careful. We can’t rule out that other forces with an interest may resort to destruction if they can’t succeed."

Upon receiving this message, Li Jing sent a reply: "Ok, I’ll keep you updated. But I’m only responsible for the crime scene, if you want to know the progress of the case, you’d better communicate with Captain Dai directly."

"I know. I’ve already communicated with Chen Jing on this matter and arrangements are being made."

Jiang Yini replied.

...

The waiting, as always, was excruciatingly long.

In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed.

Li Jing, along with Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu stood waiting outside the door to the crime scene room, feeling somewhat testy.

However, they had to be empathetic to the situation.

The work of the Forensics Department was always meticulous.

With an incident of such high sensitivity, they were even less likely to act arbitrarily.

No news for the time being, meant no discovery yet.

All they could do was wait.

While patiently waiting at the door, a familiar figure suddenly walked out of the room.

Seeing this, Li Jing was slightly stunned.

The person who was wearing white gloves was none other than Yang Qiuci, the head of the Forensic Department, right?

Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu on the side were also taken aback.

They both recognised Yang Qiuci.

After all, they had met her before.

However, since their arrival, they had not directly entered the scene, but had only communicated with the relevant personnel of the Forensics Department on the outside, so the two of them did not know that she was also present.

On the other hand, Yang Qiuci was not surprised to see Li Jing as she stepped out with a faint smile.

Obviously, she knew early on that a certain person would be in charge of the crime scene.

Coming out to meet the three of them, Yang Qiuci took off her gloves and exhaled tiredly.

"I’ve tried my best, but I still can’t confirm the cause of death of the victim from a biological perspective. The body shows no signs of external injury, the only anomaly is the symptoms of Spiritual Qi depletion within the body. Spiritual Qi depletion might not necessarily be a trace left by the murderer, it could also be something he intentionally made us see in order to confuse us."

Continuing, she said:

"The cause of death, which can not be determined biologically using modern medical means, could be a result of various comprehensive factors. Mental interventions, for instance, rarely show any physiological manifestations. However it happened, until we find the murderer and ascertain their method of murder, we’re unable to verify anything."

Speechless, Li Jing and the others looked at each other in the face of Yang Qiu’s words.

The victim was a foreigner of significant status, and there was a lack of accessible information, adding to the already challenging nature of the case.

Now, they couldn’t even confirm the cause of death—how were they supposed to investigate?

"Were there any traces found at the scene?"

Yi Xiuzhu asked.

"They haven’t been found yet,"

Yang Qiu shook his head.

"We only found biological traces of Augustus’s six companions and hotel room service personnel at the scene, nothing else. Investigations into these individuals are already being conducted by the Major Crime Unit, so the current situation offers nothing of value."

"Well..."

Looking troubled, Lu Yangcheng nudged Li Jing with his arm and asked in a low voice.

"Old Li, you’re good at handling cases, what do we do now?"

Li Jing offered a bitter smile in response.

In the face of such a difficult situation, how was he supposed to know what to do?

His reputation for being a skilled detective was an empty title given by the outside world.

In fact, he was always provided with ample assistance in his previous cases.

What assistance did he have at this moment?

The little helper? All she was capable of was checking the hotel surveillance...

But how much can one glean from hotel surveillance footage?

The Intelligence Department had probably already picked apart the surveillance footage from when Augustus and his companions were staying at the hotel—so no use there.

Should they summon a monster?

They would need one for that!

Summoning an irrelevant monster would be unnecessarily laborious, wouldn’t it?

Just as he was about to report to Captain Dai, Yang Qiu looked at him and suddenly said,

"Li Jing, come inside with me."

?

Li Jing paused.

"Your Sky Eye technique is far superior to mine, so perhaps it can spot some signs that we overlooked or failed to discover."

After saying this, Yang Qiu turned and entered the room.

Seeing this, Li Jing blinked, nodded to Lu Yangcheng and Yi Xiuzhu, and then followed after her.

His self-growing Sky Eye technique, now supported by his Seventh Realm cultivation level, had long surpassed being solely micro-detailed to a degree of perfection.

It was indeed worth a try.

Although the use of the Sky Eye has limited effects in determining the cause of death, when it came to detecting subtle traces, a highly proficient Sky Eye might not be inferior to the professional spells of forensics.

Seeing Li Jing follow her into the room, Yang Qiu led him toward the bathroom.

"No rush outside, let’s first examine the corpse."

"Alright."

As Li Jing agreed, he followed her into the bathroom, performing several hand seals to activate his Sky Eye.

Noticing that his third eye was opened, Yang Qiu tilted her head to look at him, and suddenly chuckled.

"With the opening of your Sky Eye, you have a vibe of Erlang Shen."

"..."

Li Jing.

"Sister Yang, we are working."

"Okay, okay, I’ll stop joking."

Yang Qiu laughed.

While speaking, the two entered the bathroom.

There, Li Jing saw a tall Western man’s corpse in the bathtub, naked with an approximate height of 1.9 meters.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but glance at Yang Qiu—there was nobody else in the bathroom.

Which means the autopsy work was solely handled by her by herself.

Been more than hour, and she had been alone with a naked male corpse all this time?

Noticing the look from Li Jing, Yang Qiu guessed what he was thinking and casually responded.

"I do this for a living, I’m used to seeing things like this, no big deal."

After that, she pretended to get angry.

"Learn to focus on the body, don’t stare at me with your Sky Eye, or I’ll accuse you of indecency."

Dumbfounded, Li Jing.

His was the Sky Eye technique, not the X-ray vision-enabled Star Moon Divine Eye.

Looking at her body would only show spiritual qi, where does the indecency come from?

Given Yang Qiu’s outward seriousness, and her variety of tricks, Li Jing silently chose not to argue with her, focusing instead on the body.

With a look, he saw nothing of interest.

It had been some time since Augustus’s death, and his body had originally shown signs of spirit qi depletion—by now, almost all the spiritual qi in his body had dissipated.

After thoroughly examining the naked male body, Li Jing sighed lightly. He turned his head and was about to say that he doubted he could help. Suddenly, he noticed several dark red handprints on the other wall.

The startling handprints seemed reminiscent of bloody handprints from horror stories, but they were invisible to the naked eye.

It was Li Jing’s Sky Eye that caught them.

The fact that the Sky Eye showed them in the color of blood suggested that they were remnants of some form of energy.

However, thus far, Li Jing had never seen red energy forms.

Seeing Li Jing’s fixed gaze on the other wall, Yang Qiu slightly furrowed her brows.

"What’s wrong? Found something?"

"Hmm."

Responding, Li Jing pointed to where the handprint was.

"Sister Yang, can you see these handprints on the wall with your Sky Eye technique?"

"Handprints?"

Yang Qiu went blank for a moment and then shook her head.

"I’ve used not only the Sky Eye technique in this bathroom, but also two other forensics Eye skills for a holistic review—I didn’t find anything."