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墨書 Inktalez
For a moment, my ears felt hot. In front of several master detectives, I had instantly become just an "ordinary person."
"Liuying, don't be discouraged. The reason you can't see it isn't because your way of thinking is flawed; it's simply that the amount of information you have is not on par with ours. There are some things you don't know, so naturally, you can't consider them. Even I have a few cases that remain unsolved," Nie Qiuyuan comforted me.
Despite his words, I understood that I had indeed been too simplistic in my thinking earlier. Upon reflection, I realized I had overlooked several issues. If the perpetrator's goal was the Ritual Ceremony, then as Nie Qiuyuan mentioned earlier, there were indeed inconsistencies within the case.
For instance, in the Ministry of Revenue Deputy Case, based on the wounds and footprints, it was clear that those culprits were responsible. However, I couldn't grasp their motive or how this connected to the Ritual Ceremony.
In the Fisherman Case, was it too coincidental for the Wandering Physician to appear? Moreover, if the fishermen contracted the plague they intended to use for their purposes, why kill them? Once the fishermen died, that would be the end of it. Why resort to such a shocking method to dismember the physician's body? Was it to ensure that the incident spread and caused panic?
Then there was the Mushui Temple Case. Since the targets were those two youths, a skilled assassin should have found it easy to infiltrate the temple and carry out the assassination. Why did they have to slaughter everyone inside? And what about that strange severed limb left behind? In an entire Mushui Temple, not a single body or item was left by the perpetrator, yet they left behind a rapidly dissolving limb? Even if that limb was held by the deceased Garrison, surely the assassin would have had time to take it away. So why leave just that?
As for the Military Camp General Case, according to my previous line of thought, whether or not the general lived or died shouldn't matter; what they wanted was likely the defense map for the Ritual Ceremony. However, their timing seemed off; specific arrangements for the ceremony hadn't even been finalized yet. If they wanted a defense map, wouldn't it be better to sneak in and sketch it out quietly? Killing General Fan Chengchu would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar and be detrimental to their plans.
And regarding the Hongli Temple Case, it was even stranger. The perpetrators stole so many items—what were they after? Given their focus on stealing written materials, were they seeking training plans for those youths or their itinerary for that day? But if they had already infiltrated their own people among these Eight Young Boys, then this information should have been completely transparent to them; stealing these items made no sense at all!
In summary, if I took a moment to calm down and think carefully, although many things still eluded me, there was a vague feeling emerging:
The enemy was playing a grand game. The mastermind behind it all was cunning and calculating while those executing the plan were exceptionally capable and fierce. Yet somehow there seemed to be some missteps; these executors were failing to carry out a meticulously crafted plan properly. They didn’t seem capable of executing it flawlessly; however, from what remained at the scene, it didn’t appear that way either. Overall, something felt off.
"Liuying, is this what you're thinking?" Nie Qiuyuan's voice suddenly jolted me back to reality. He then succinctly articulated my reasoning regarding the Ritual Ceremony as if he were reading my thoughts directly.
At that moment, I truly believed that these three could see right through what I was thinking.
Could it be that my intelligence quotient of 169 appeared so simple and transparent before them?!
"I've already thought of some irregularities!" I pouted defiantly, which made Luo Dachun chuckle.
Nie Qiuyuan also smiled slightly and said, "The inconsistencies you can think of, I've guessed as well. In fact, the main issue is that if all this is for an assassination at the Ritual Ceremony, then there’s a huge contradiction that cannot be explained."
Come on, I believe you guessed what I was thinking, so please stop pretending to be serious and playing coy!
Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming desire to hit him. Oh my gosh, how could I have such violent thoughts? This is my idol! Surely I won't end up abusing him in the future...
Luo Dachun was much gentler; he explained, "Liuying, think about it. The people Lord Fang encountered—one of them saw my face, right? That means among these three people, there’s the key assassin who fears others seeing his face."
I nodded in confusion. But what does that really mean?
"You’ve experienced Ren Pingsheng's Disguise technique, right? This means these people shouldn’t have any disguise skills and can only show their true faces when acting. That’s why they fear others seeing their appearance. However, there’s a problem here: according to normal reasoning, this assassin could only replace one of the chosen youths during the Ritual Cleansing and Changing of Garments after being selected by the Holy Monk. Otherwise, there would be no need to kill the originally chosen two youths at Mushui Temple and insert one of their own. But then there’s still a Thanksgiving Ceremony to be held by the Eight Holy Monks under Bopo the Divine Monk at Buddha Hall. If any one of those Holy Monks changes appearance at that time..."
That would be impossible to cover up!
So what exactly are they trying to achieve with all this effort?!
At that moment, a rare smile appeared on Guilin's face as he said, "Exactly. These cases are interconnected and seem to indicate that someone will act against the Sovereign at the Ritual Ceremony. However, after Lord Bai reviewed them, he also found many things strange; it seems there are hidden elements that are intangible. That’s why I brought the confidential reports to Yichuan County."
"Ah!" Suddenly realizing something, I couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Lord Gui, those confidential reports have already been seen by Ren Pingsheng!"
Ren Pingsheng had plotted against Guilin; his goal must have been to uncover what Bai Qianfan and the others were doing. He must have already grasped the secret establishment of the Jade Balance Bureau by the court. So if he received these six confidential reports but sent them back to us, does that mean this matter has nothing to do with Mirror Gate?
Nie Qiuyuan glanced at me and seemed to see right through me: "Just because Ren Pingsheng returned the reports doesn’t mean this matter has no relation to Mirror Gate. Think about it: since we have these reports in our hands and withheld one copy, he could certainly send a second one back. So withholding doesn’t really serve any purpose."
"But then, Ren Pingsheng will know that Lord Gui has already discovered the connection between these six cases!"
This time, Nie Qiuyuan genuinely smiled. "Well, that's indeed a problem. But you can't even begin to imagine how arrogant and adventurous that person is."
Indeed, this was the image of Ren Pingsheng that remained in my heart. I could almost see him receiving the intelligence report, witnessing someone merging these six cases, and the excited smile spreading across his face.
So, could it really be him? Is he the one behind all this? If it truly is his doing, wouldn't he be even happier the stronger the opponent?
Ugh, why should I care if he's happy or not! People like him should never find happiness in their lives!
"So what exactly have you figured out?" It's been long enough; can we get a reliable answer?
Nie Qiuyuan placed the Li Lang Shilang Case, Emerald Mountain Case, and Military Camp General Case together and replied, "I've noticed something about these cases, but I still haven't figured out why they did this. I only have a few guesses."
The male god fiddled with several stacks of documents on the table with his long fingers, his expression serious. His profile looked flawless as I gazed at it. My already inadequate intelligence quotient made me feel an uncontrollable urge to hit him again.
This is just ridiculous! In the future, I will definitely end up being abusive... I will... be abusive...
At this moment, Luo Dachun's expression became surprisingly grave. He bit his lip hard and finally said, "It's normal that you can't see it; only I can understand what the remaining three cases signify."
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