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墨書 Inktalez
Under the rolling thunder, we trudged through the muddy rain towards the side hall, our journey perfectly enhancing the eerie atmosphere.
If it weren't for Night Phantom, I wouldn't have known where to find an umbrella.
"I only have one!" He effortlessly pulled out an umbrella, smiling with a hint of mischief.
"Let's go, I don't care!" I replied impatiently. "Just keep your mouth shut and remember about the lightning."
Night Phantom was a double-edged sword. Although he was threatening, if he kept his promise, he could serve as an excellent intermediary to help me transfer my abilities to Nie Qiuyuan.
I decided to be a bit nicer to him.
Another crack of thunder illuminated the corpse of Vice Hall Master lying in the coffin, his face contorted in a grimace as he stared at us. Night Phantom lit a lamp, the flame flickering dimly in the cold wind and rain.
"If it were strangulation, the body would lie on the bed with arms outstretched in a 'big character' shape, which is incorrect. If the hands were not restrained, it would be more natural to grab the neck rope at this point. That's one."
Night Phantom began to speak slowly, likely recounting what Nie Qiuyuan had told him.
"If the murderer is strong and familiar with the victim, they could easily strangle him directly with a rope or stab him quickly; why go through such elaborate means to tie him up with furniture? That's two."
Night Phantom walked over to the coffin and gently pulled down Guan Sheng's pant leg. The ankles revealed dark purple Rope Marks, clearly signs of being bound by a rope.
"Here, why tie him up? There are no other ropes in the room; this rope must have been taken by the murderer. They tied his neck and feet like this, yet there are no signs of poisoning or sedatives. How could that be achieved?"
Night Phantom's tone suddenly turned calm and steady, as if he had witnessed everything firsthand.
Indeed, how could one subdue a burly man and bind him like this?
"Perhaps he did it willingly..." I murmured instinctively.
Under what circumstances would someone voluntarily be tied up like this?
An incredible thought suddenly emerged in my mind. Such a situation is rare even in modern times because it is simply too avant-garde. And this is during the Tang Dynasty, oh my!
I began to remove the clothes from the corpse.
Night Phantom's eyes widened in shock. He bit his lip but ultimately did not stop me.
The corpse only had one upper garment, and it was fastened with just two buttons, which I easily undid. I gestured for Night Phantom to help me turn the body over. On the back of the corpse, besides the already visible livor mortis, there were two identical dark purple bruises located beneath the shoulder blades and at the base of the spine, as if something had pressed against them.
Just as I had imagined!
A scene formed in my mind. The person had died, and the murderer lifted the body, casually propping something underneath for support before starting to dress it.
The ropes around the ankles needed to be untied because I had to put pants on him.
Yes, when a person dies, their body is likely naked. And the murderer wanted to cover up this fact!
So why place something under the corpse? It’s not hard to imagine; if I were dressing him, I would also need something to prop him up since I couldn’t move his body.
This indicated that the murderer might not actually be very strong.
I started to unfasten the corpse's pants. Before I had even removed half of them, with key areas still covered, I heard Night Phantom shout in terror, “What are you doing?!”
I shot him a glance. “What are you afraid of? It’s not like I’m undressing you!”
“You! You! You!!!” He stammered for a moment, seemingly unable to find suitable words. “You! What kind of behavior is this?!”
Even ventriloquism can stutter; I found it amusing. But right now, my mind was too occupied with other matters. I opened my mouth and asked him a rather academic question:
"I don't understand your men's clothing. Don't you usually wear underwear underneath?"
As I spoke, I tugged at the dead man's pants with one hand, clearly revealing that there was no second layer inside.
For someone as clever as Night Phantom, it was evident that he immediately grasped the meaning of "underwear."
"You, you, you!!!" The exposed part of his face beneath the mask suddenly flushed red, and he stammered for a moment, turning away in embarrassment and anger. "…I do wear it!"
This confirmed my suspicion; the corpse must be naked. The murderer likely didn't have the strength to dress him properly. After all, it was summer; wearing less was quite normal. Who knows, maybe not wearing underwear was a preference of Vice Hall Master?
I prepared to remove the corpse's pants. Just then, a strong hand grabbed the collar of my shirt from behind and yanked me back forcefully.
"Step aside! Let me handle this!" Night Phantom exclaimed in frustration. "This is outrageous!"
For some reason, I felt an inexplicable closeness to this somewhat arrogant man. In front of him, I couldn't help but reveal my true self.
The scent he emitted contained an intangible quality that reminded me of Zhang Yang, Brother Chen, and all the teachers in the criminal police team. That scent made one overlook the differences between genders and disregard all emotional nuances of being human, leaving only the desire to explore and the passion for battle.
So I unconsciously blurted out what I thought was a perfectly normal scientific term: "Then take a closer look at his thighs and clothes. Can you find any stains?"
As soon as I said it, I felt a bit speechless again; I had used alien vocabulary!
"You, you, you!!!" Night Phantom understood once more. This time, however, he held his breath for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh. I thought he had probably surrendered completely.
"Get away!" The usually gentle and charming man shouted roughly. "Get far away and close your eyes!"
I scoffed lightly. "You might not be able to handle this after all!"
"Shut up!" Night Phantom finally couldn't hold back his foul language. "From now on, you have to call for me when dealing with such matters! No more sneaky and lewd actions! Otherwise, even if lightning strikes me down, I'll expose your true nature!"
I was faced with a deadly threat, so I could only silently retreat to the side. Night Phantom was over there, rustling around for a while, suddenly lifting his head, then quickly turning it back down.
He huffed for a moment before managing to say, "The body has already been cleared away, but there are still traces of... well... there were signs of intimacy in life."
A trace of disdain slid through my heart. There was no need for an investigation or autopsy; even in class, we were completely indifferent to those words that seemed hard to utter. Although the deceased should be respected, to me, he had already become a piece of evidence. Only by discarding all emotional bias could I make a calm judgment about him. Who wouldn't find it absurd? Not even able to articulate a sentence clearly—this was the most absurd thing for an investigator!
However, one cannot be too harsh on the ancients; they had their limitations! This was the earnest teaching from our history teacher.
I looked at the elegantly dressed, graceful Ancient Handsome Man with sympathy, but in my heart, I had already formed a preliminary judgment about the case of Vice Hall Master’s death.
This was not an ordinary strangulation; Vice Hall Master died from a more unspeakable cause.
Asphyxiation.
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