“Gentlemen, there’s no time to lose…” Before Li Shaoqing could finish his sentence, a constable rushed over and whispered something in his ear.
His brows furrowed even deeper.
“Another one? East Market?”
Rubbing his throbbing temples, he clasped his hands toward the trio.
“Forgive my abrupt departure, but another incident has occurred in the East Market. These days, Chang’an City…”
Recently, Chang’an had been plagued by eerie occurrences.
Not only was the Dali Temple overwhelmed, but even the Imperial Astronomical Bureau was swamped.
The Imperial Guards were stretched thin, working in three shifts, yet still unable to keep up with the increased patrols.
Su Fu was considerate.
“Please, attend to your duties first. We’ll handle things here.”
Li Shaoqing wasted no more time.
“Very well, then I shall take my leave.”
Watching his hurried departure, Su Fu fell into thought.
“Finally, we can talk!” Lin Mingxi blurted out eagerly.
“Wuwuwu, Boss, you have no idea what I’ve been through!”
“The moment I opened my eyes, I got a prompt from the system saying, ‘You have been assigned the identity of a Dali Temple constable.’ Before I could even process it, someone rushed over to report a crime!”
“They said a courtesan had her heart ripped out! Then I was dragged here, and when I saw the scene, I nearly died of fright—no exaggeration!”
“Luckily, I managed to activate my prophecy skill at the last second, which guided me straight to the Dali Temple. And then… I saw you arrive, Boss.”
Su Fu mused that, if nothing else, Lin Mingxi’s survival skills were top-notch.
The combination of prophecy and danger sense was incredibly useful.
Jiang Qingyu, after confirming no one was nearby, spoke softly.
“I must’ve arrived around the same time as Mingxi, or maybe a bit earlier. I was waiting to perform at the Music Bureau when I suddenly received orders to come to Drunken Moon Pavilion.”
“But the moment I arrived, I got caught up in this murder case and was forced to stay.”
“Still, this identity has its perks. While at the Music Bureau, I overheard a lot of chatter about the strange happenings in Chang’an lately.”
She paused, glancing at the other two.
“They say… It’s the work of ghosts.”
Lin Mingxi shuddered, his face paling, “Ghosts?”
“Woo…”
A chilling wind swept past, causing the lanterns in the courtyard to flicker ominously.
Lin Mingxi nearly jumped out of his skin, darting behind Su Fu with a trembling voice.
“B-Boss, why do I suddenly feel this creepy vibe…?”
Su Fu’s gaze sharpened as she stared at the spot where Lin Mingxi had just stood.
She murmured, “Because… the ghosts are here.”
Lin Mingxi panicked. “???”
You’d better be joking!
The next second, the eerie cold in the air intensified.
Even without Su Fu’s warning, everyone sensed something was wrong.
Through her [Heavenly Eye of Truth] skill, Su Fu clearly saw shadowy figures emerging from all directions, circling the three of them with malicious intent, as if eager to possess fresh bodies.
Without hesitation, she drew a [Spirit-Suppressing Talisman] and flung it at the shadows.
“Suppress!”
A golden light erupted!
The talisman transformed into a radiant golden barrier, trapping the covetous spirits inside.
Under the talisman’s power, the ghosts were forced to reveal their true forms-twisted, snarling specters letting out furious shrieks.
With a single glance, Su Fu sent them straight to the underworld.
“Annihilate!”
As soon as the words fell, the golden bell shield swiftly transformed into a beam of golden light.
The wild ghosts were instantly dispersed by this surge of pure yang energy.
“My god!”
Lin Mingxi was utterly dumbfounded by the sight.
“Wait, boss, your role as an Imperial officer is to slay demons and vanquish evil? And you even have these kinds of talismans?”
“Ahhh! This is way too overpowered!”
“Why do we Dali Temple constables only get badges and command arrows? We don’t even have any protective gear in situations like this!”
Jiang Qingyu, however, furrowed her brows, lost in thought.
The game’s prompt reminded them to act according to their assigned roles.
Since Su Fu had been given such abilities, did that mean she would frequently face these ghosts and demons?
Dealing with malevolent disturbances?
Compared to ordinary people, her situation was actually more dangerous, and playing her role would be even harder.
“It’s about 9p.m. now, and time is tight,” Su Fu said, handing out a stack of demon-suppressing talismans to each of them.
“We’ll split up to investigate the clues and wrap this up quickly.”
“Lin Mingxi, check the list of people who entered and exited tonight. Jiang Qingyu, search the private chambers. I’ll re-examine the corpse.”
“And try to look around as much as possible to see if there are any other clues.”
The three immediately went their separate ways.
The courtyard was now left with only Su Fu and the charred corpse.
Her gaze fell on the wound on the corpse’s chest, and she frowned slightly.
Although the edges of the wound were clean, there seemed to be some kind of pattern inside, as if left behind by a spell.
Su Fu lightly touched it with her fingertip, feeling a faint tingling sensation.
Something wasn’t right.
If it were just ordinary burn marks, there shouldn’t be such a regular pattern.
It was more like… thunder magic.
So, who knew thunder magic?
Lin Mingxi went to ask the manager of Zuiyue Pavilion, only to be told that there was no such thing as a guest list.
He had no choice but to ask the courtesans one by one about who they had seen that night.
“Officer,” one of the girls teased with a laugh, “if you keep asking like this, it’ll be dawn before you’re done!”
“No choice, official business and all. Come on, sit down and chat for a bit.”
His casual remark piqued the girls’ interest, and they began chattering all at once:
“Ah, it was lively tonight-Young Master Zhao came…”
“Yeah, and that guy who always wears blue…”
“Young Master Wen was here too, talking with Sister Yu for ages…”
Lin Mingxi’s eyes lit up.
Young Master Wen?
A crucial lead!
“Aside from Young Master Wen, who else had contact with Yu Liuli? Servants, maids-anyone will do.”
One of the girls suddenly gasped.
“Huh? Speaking of which, where’s Cuicui? She’s Liuli’s maid, but I haven’t seen her for a while now.”
“Probably hiding somewhere? The whole pavilion’s locked down-no one can leave.”
Lin Mingxi silently noted down Cuicui’s name, planning to question her in detail later.
The girls mentioned plenty of other people, rattling off everyone they could remember.
In no time, his paper was filled with names.
Seeing that the girls had run out of names to provide, Lin Mingxi put on a stern face.
“Ahem, remember, this is crucial evidence for a murder case. If anyone remembers anything later, report it to me immediately!”
“Got it, Officer Lin!”
Satisfied, Lin Mingxi stood up, ready to find Cuicui for questioning.
But after searching the entire building, he couldn’t find her anywhere.
“Seriously, where could she have gone? Unless… She’s in the backyard?”
He suspiciously walked toward the backyard, but as soon as he stepped out, a cold gust of wind blew past, causing the lanterns in the courtyard to sway unsteadily.
Lin Mingxi:”……”
Scared!
“Uh… maybe I should just go back?”
But… no, this was a mission assigned by the boss-he had to see it through!
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a “splash,” as if something had fallen into water.
Lin Mingxi:”……”
“Who’s there?”
Summoning his courage, he approached, only to find no one there.
Instead, there was a well beneath the tree.
“A well?”
He leaned over to look inside.
Under the moonlight, the water shimmered faintly.
Wait, what was that…?
Squinting, Lin Mingxi vaguely spotted something wedged in the brick crevices about three feet down the well.
Glancing around, he grabbed a nearby wooden bucket and lowered it with a rope to fish the object out.
After a few clattering bumps, a crisp “clink!” rang out-the sound of metal hitting wood.
“Got it!”
When he finally managed to haul it up, he realized it was a dagger.
Traces of dried blood were faintly visible along the blade’s engravings.
Lin Mingxi’s eyes immediately lit up.
“This is the murder weapon!”
“But these engravings…”
He examined the hilt closely, then brightened.
“Hey! Isn’t this the same design as the standard-issue sabers from the Dali Temple? I should take this to the boss!”
Jiang Qingyu stood inside Yu Luli’s bedchamber.
The room was lavishly decorated, but the guqin placed on the table was arranged with meticulous care .
Its owner was a true lover of music.
“Perhaps something she frequently interacted with could hold clues?”
She approached the guqin table and noticed a stack of sheet music resting on top.
As she casually flipped through it, a letter slipped out from between the pages.
Picking it up, she gave it a cursory glance then froze.
“To my dear sister Yu…”
But the signature at the bottom… was her own name?
No, it must have been written by the original owner of this body to Yu Luli.
From the contents, it seemed Yu Luli and she had been close, frequently exchanging letters discussing poetry and music, even making plans to admire plum blossoms together soon.
So they were intimate friends-which explained why Chief Li had assigned her to assist in the investigation.
Unfortunately, she had no memories of any of this.
Just as she was about to check if there were more letters hidden in the sheet music, her peripheral vision caught a figure reflected in the bronze mirror.
From the hairstyle, it looked like a maid.
At the same moment, the maid’s eyes widened in the mirror as they locked gazes.
Then, in the next second, the maid’s expression twisted into sheer terror as if she had seen something unimaginable.
She turned and fled.
The escape was so swift Jiang Qingyu didn’t even have time to react.
By the time she turned toward the door, the maid was already gone.
Frowning, Jiang Qingyu thought, ‘This reaction… something’s off.’
Was that maid hiding something?
Not long after, Su Fu arrived.
“Find any leads?”
Jiang Qingyu lowered her gaze and handed over the letter.
“Some correspondence. Take a look.”
Su Fu skimmed through it quickly-nothing unusual, just mundane exchanges between close friends.
Her eyes then swept across the room before landing on an ornate vanity case on the dressing table.
Honestly, this case was exquisitely crafted!
But as she leaned in for a closer look, she noticed something odd along its edges… tiny fragments of paper?
Su Fu picked one up.
The aura…
It was from a talisman.
These remnants unmistakably carried the traces of a spell.
But why would Yu Luli have talismans?
At that moment, Lin Mingxi pushed the door open.
“How’s it going, boss, Jiang Jiang? Found any leads?”
The three quickly pooled their information.
The result of their progress was…
No progress at all.
Lin Mingxi let out a groan.
“Ah! How are we supposed to investigate this?”
“We found the murder weapon, but there’s no way to verify whose blood it is. Not to mention, we don’t even have any suspects.”
“By the way, there’s someone I couldn’t find―Yuliuli’s personal maid, Cuicui.”
“They said Cuicui always wears a jade hairpin and walks as lightly as a cat…”
“Have you seen her?”
A strange glint flashed in Jiang Qingyu’s eyes.
“I saw a maid in the room earlier.”
“But she… was acting very strange.”
Jiang Qingyu frowned, “She ran away as soon as she saw someone in the room.”
Su Fu seemed thoughtful.
“It seems this maid might know something. We’ll have to find her.”
Jiang Qingyu raised her hand and said: “I saw her, so I’ll go look for her.”
Su Fu nodded, “Alright. Next, we’ll go through the list and investigate everyone who had contact with Yuliuli. They should all still be at Drunken Moon Pavilion.”
“Let’s sort them by the time of contact…”
Before she could finish, a commotion erupted outside.
“Stop!”
“Trying to run?”
“Block them all!”