Chapter 42: Not Human, Not Monster—Could It Be a Half‑Human, Half‑Monster?

Jiang Yunzhou and the two others whipped their horses and soon reached the corner of Ruixiang Avenue in the western part of the city.

Arriving at the grand mansion where the murder occurred, Jiang Yunzhou was somewhat surprised; for a coroner, such a family background seemed rather affluent, a bit over the top.

Two Southern Peacekeeping Office guards stood outside the gate, and upon reaching the door they smelled a foul stench of blood.

Jiang Yunzhou asked curiously:

"I don't quite understand—shouldn't a murder case be investigated by the capital constables? Even if it were handed over to the Peacekeeping Office, according to the saying 'Northern Peacekeeping Office captures traitors and villains, Southern Peacekeeping Office eliminates demons and evil,' wouldn't it be more appropriate for the Northern Peacekeeping Office to handle it?"

Zou Zhen tied his horse to a nearby tree and explained:

"One reason is that the two deceased coroners were both Northern Peacekeeping Office personnel; to avoid suspicion, the Southern Peacekeeping Office took over with the Northern Peacekeeping Office's cooperation. Moreover, this case really doesn't look like a human act..."

Zou Zhen said while pushing open the courtyard gate.

Upon seeing the scene inside the courtyard, even Jiang Yunzhou couldn't help but frown.

In the center of the spacious courtyard lay two large pools of blood, indicating that the amount of blood seemed more than just two victims.

At first glance no corpses were visible; only on a second look did it become clear: the corpses were scattered everywhere.

Besides the two gray‑white skulls beside the two blood pools, the ground was littered with uniformly sized chunks of flesh.

It looked as if the victims had been neatly chopped into so many pieces.

The two elderly men, about sixty or so, had stones clenched in their mouths; their deathly visages were grotesque and terrifying, and one can only imagine the pain and terror they endured before death.

Even though I have seen many grisly deaths in Mist Prefecture, this literal "corpse shattered into myriad fragments" is truly the first time I've witnessed it.

Their knives lay discarded to one side, and there was no sign of a struggle—it was as if they had simply stood there while someone dismembered them.

The two coroners had likely examined corpses for most of their lives, yet they ended up sharing the same fate.

As Jiang Yunzhou was carefully examining the scene, four Northern Peacekeeping Office flag officers pushed the door open and entered.

Aside from their different uniform colors, the four Northern Peacekeeping Office members were noticeably rounder than their Southern counterparts; after entering, they sauntered lazily to the edge of the crime scene and glanced at Yang Hanlu and the others.

"Captain Yang, have you found anything over there?"

The Northern Peacekeeping Office flag officer was clearly of lower rank than Captain Yang, yet in his manner he showed no respect whatsoever; judging only by his tone of voice, one might think he was the superior.

Yang Hanlu gave him a cold, sideways glance and did not respond.

After finding the exchange uninteresting, that Northern Peacekeeping Office flag officer then turned to Jiang Yunzhou and asked:

"Lord Dong as well—instead of summoning a coroner, you bothered a physician, Master Jiang, correct? Have you found anything?"

Perhaps because of Lord Dong Pangpang, and also having heard that this person had cured the eyes of Prince Rong's beloved daughter, the Peacekeeping Office personnel were momentarily unsure of Jiang Yunzhou's background, and thus ended up showing him a certain degree of respect.

Jiang Yunzhou's reply was simple:

"There's a lot of blood."

"Um, Master Jiang, everyone can see that, right?"

"So these two people were still alive when they were chopped into myriad fragments."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present showed a hint of surprise, but they quickly grasped the implication.

Indeed, if the victims were already corpses, most of the blood would have clotted, yet these two victims' blood had mostly flowed out.

Seeing that several people understood, Jiang Yunzhou added:

"The cutting likely began at the feet, farthest from the heart; the dead men had stones clenched in their mouths, and from their broken teeth and dislocated jaws we can infer that someone forced the stones into their mouths to prevent them from screaming."

"Are you saying Old Biaotou and Old Batou were hacked to death, one blow at a time, while still alive?"

As soon as they heard that Master Jiang might actually have something to say, everyone fell silent and listened.

Jiang Yunzhou lowered his head to examine the blood on the stones, furrowed his brow, and then denied:

"Strictly speaking, I don't think it was done blow by blow; the killer seems to have used only two strikes."

"Two strikes? You're joking—how could two strikes produce so many pieces? Some kind of net‑blade?"

Jiang Yunzhou explained calmly while pointing:

"Look closely: the blood spatter is only beside the flesh chunks of the feet, while elsewhere the blood seeps out slowly, and only beneath the feet are there marks where a blade pierced the ground."

"In other words, only the feet were stabbed; I suspect the killer drove two blades into the victims' feet and then, by some means, sliced them alive into chunks."

I never expected that the killing techniques Uncle Hu taught me would someday be useful in solving a case.

A Northern Peacekeeping Office flag officer nodded and said:

"That makes it easy—let's focus our investigation on martial artists who wield twin blades."

Jiang Yunzhou shook his head and said:

"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly; even with twin blades it's impossible to chop a person into such fine pieces that fast, so I think either the weapon is special or the technique is special."

Zou Zhen suddenly recalled something and asked:

"Could it be the monster race? Their claws, imbued with qi blades, can cross‑cut and slice a person into pieces."

The others also thought that made sense.

Jiang Yunzhou carefully picked up a hand‑sized flesh chunk and pointed to the ground beneath it, saying:

"It doesn't resemble a monster's work either—splitting a person into so many pieces is already difficult; what's incomprehensible is that these two were clearly cut down on the ground, yet there is no slash mark on the earth beneath the bodies, indicating the killer's method was not a wild, sweeping chop but rather something almost... elegant."

"Not human, not monster—what then?"

"A half‑human, half‑monster?"

The Peacekeeping Office personnel, led by Jiang Yunzhou, fell into deep thought.

Squeak—!

Just as Jiang Yunzhou was about to ask about the victims' exact identities, a stout middle‑aged man from the Northern Peacekeeping Office pushed the door in.

"Captain Qin!"

The several Northern Peacekeeping Office members respectfully went over to greet him and reported the known details of the case.

Yang Hanlu whispered an introduction:

That is one of the Chief Banners of the Northern Pacification Office, Qin Gui, responsible for assisting us with the case.

Zou Zhen beside him retorted:

Assist my ass, they'll just rush the case progress like the boss.

Hearing several subordinates tell him the results Jiang Yunzhou had inferred, Chief Banner Qin Gui's expression suddenly changed; he pushed through the crowd and came to the corpse to examine it closely.

The more he examined the corpse on the ground, the uglier his face became, until finally he shook his head to himself and said:

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Seeing that Qin Gui seemed to have discovered or known something, Jiang Yunzhou asked:

Chief Banner Qin, have you seen this killing method before?

Qin Gui nodded with a grim expression:

Thousand-Blade Cross Slash, definitely not wrong! Insert the blade into the opponent's body, then let the sharp qi energy spread through the blade like a spiderweb inside the opponent's body, making the interior feel as if it were sliced by countless blades.

But since the strike occurs inside the body and the qi energy can be adjusted, there will be no large-scale destruction; this move is definitely correct!

Since he knows it, why is his reaction like this?

Since you know this move, it should be easy to handle, but what does Chief Banner Qin mean by saying it's impossible?

Qin Gui swallowed and said:

Because this move is the secret exclusive technique of Chief Banner Qiu of the Northern Pacification Office, and he has clearly been dead for many years.