Xuanxia

Chapter 93 Small Town Mystery
In the inn room arranged by the government office, the oil lamp illuminated Fu Qingzhou's profile. On the table was the file he had just read. He rubbed his temple, looking a little tired.

"This soul-stealing attraction should be used less frequently."

He murmured, "It takes too much mental effort."

The voice of the smoker floated out: "You are too weak! Soul-stealing is an ancient witch spell from the Western Regions. If you have the power of Xuanxing, you can control millions of lives with just a glance!"

Fu Qingzhou was too lazy to pay attention to him. I already have the power of Xuanxing, so why should I control millions of lives?
Long Dabei only had one or two basic abilities at the time, but he almost killed his way through the entire Shu area. If he had ten basic abilities, wouldn't he be a complete god or demon?

After a short break, he picked up the file again and began to read it for the second time.

I have to say, the handwriting of the people writing the files in this government office is really beautiful... It's not uncomfortable to read such handwriting...

The contents of the case file are recorded in great detail, and the connection between the deceased has been found.

All of these dead people were gamblers, and they all owed a lot of gambling debts to the casino, and Zhou Lesheng had demanded payment for them.

Yes, Zhou Lesheng is a debt collector in the casino...

This was ancient times, so there was naturally no such thing as not being able to use violence to collect debts. Zhou Lesheng was the number one villain in the casino, and he had many methods of his own. In addition to beating and hacking people, and throwing feces and urine, he often forced people to sell their children. He had a very bad reputation in Wanshi Town.

Perhaps it was because of this that the magistrate regarded him as the number one suspect.

This is not surprising. Fu Qingzhou himself has worked as a criminal policeman. He knows that in this small town, nine people died in the same way within a month... This is a particularly big case. If the case cannot be solved, County Magistrate Chen's future will be over.

“But that doesn’t make sense.”

Fu Qingzhou said to himself, "These people haven't paid off their gambling debts yet, why would Zhou Lesheng kill them? Won't it be even harder to pay off the debts if they die?"

"Moreover, all of these people were disemboweled and had their faces shattered. The murderer either had a deep hatred for them or had some other motive. Otherwise, why would he do this?"

"If you're talking about a deep hatred, Zhou Lesheng definitely doesn't have one; what other reasons? Did he shave his face to hide the identity of the deceased? And why did he cut open his stomach? It doesn't make sense at all. Although these people were disfigured, they were not difficult to identify. Disfigurement is meaningless."

He yawned and read the details of the file several more times, but still didn't gain much. He realized that there was nothing more he could learn from the file.

"To do an autopsy?"

He stroked his chin and muttered twice.

Half an hour later, at Wanshi Town Yizhuang.

Fu Qingzhou had a cloth covering his mouth and nose. He frowned, held up a lantern, and looked at the corpses one by one.

The man in charge of guarding the charity cemetery not far away yawned and said, "Young man, don't look at it. It's useless. These people were hacked to death. There's nothing special about them."

Actually, he is right...

Fu Qingzhou originally wondered if there were any hidden secrets behind these people's deaths, such as being poisoned or beaten to death by some advanced martial arts, but it turned out that there were none of them.

Based on his barely adequate autopsy skills, these people were indeed hacked to death.

Some were stabbed on the carotid artery in the neck, others were stabbed on the back... The killing methods were not specific, and the techniques were not sophisticated. The only connection was disfigurement and cutting open the chest and abdomen.

"No wonder Magistrate Chen couldn't find anything after searching for so long."

Fu Qingzhou shook his head: "There really isn't much useful information."

Reality is not like those costume TV dramas where coroners and judicial officers can figure out everything just by looking at the corpse. The investigation methods in ancient times are very backward. Some big places may have great detectives and coroners, but small places basically just muddle through when they encounter such cases.

In modern times, this is just a matter of checking DNA, but in ancient times, there was nothing that could be done.

"At least one thing is that these people are all gamblers from the same casino."

Fu Qingzhou blinked and thought to himself: "Should I go and take a look..."

As he was thinking, the gravekeeper's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Master Chen! Why are you here?"

Fu Qingzhou was startled and turned his head away.

The man who came was none other than County Magistrate Chen. He had changed out of his official uniform and put on casual clothes, and walked over with a lantern in his hand. This Lord Chen was about forty years old, with a small goatee, a typical civil servant appearance.

"It's Master Fu."

When he saw Fu Qingzhou, a puzzled look appeared on his face: "What are you doing here so late?"

Fu Qingzhou was somewhat helpless… The effect of this soul-stealing spell lasted too short. After a few hours, County Magistrate Chen was already somewhat confused and could not quite remember the purpose of his "young hero"'s visit.

It seems that this trick cannot be used casually in the future, at least not on people who need to be dealt with for a long time.

So he could only look at County Magistrate Chen, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he cast a spell again.

"Oh!"

County Magistrate Chen slapped his forehead and smiled: "Young man, are you here to perform an autopsy? Thank you for your hard work!"

"Haha." Fu Qingzhou smiled and held his dizzy head with his hand: "What are you doing here so late at night?"

County Magistrate Chen sighed, "Zhou Lesheng's family is here to cause trouble again... Young man, you also said that there are still doubts in this case. Since I can't sleep, I will come and take a look."

Fu Qingzhou blinked and said, "I have seen these corpses, and there is nothing special about them. But Sir Chen, I have some questions for you."

"Then ask."

County Magistrate Chen covered his nose and said, "It's just that this is really not a place to talk..."

"Haha, let's leave first and talk while walking." Fu Qingzhou said with a smile.

The two left the charity cemetery and walked towards the government office.

"Sir, did you investigate the entire case yourself?" Fu Qingzhou went straight to the point.

County Magistrate Chen nodded and said, "Although there are detectives in town, they don't know how to investigate cases, so I have to come here myself."

Fu Qingzhou smiled slightly: "So that's how it is. All the dead were gamblers. Have you checked the casinos they frequented?"

"Of course!"

County Magistrate Chen frowned and said, "Otherwise, how did you catch Zhou Lesheng?"

Fu Qingzhou clearly felt the magistrate's resistance to this issue.

He is only at the second level of spiritual awareness now, and is not proficient in the use of soul-grabbing techniques. Although he can induce people to tell the truth under normal circumstances, once he touches on content that the other party is unwilling to talk about, it is easy to cause resistance.

But this also has its advantages... At least I understand one thing, County Magistrate Chen is not very willing to talk about the casino.

Fu Qingzhou suddenly had an idea and changed his question: "The casino owner doesn't know about this?"

"He, he has nothing to do with this."

County Magistrate Chen waved his hand and said, "Gu Zhengqing is just a businessman. He helped to capture Zhou Lesheng."

Gu Zhengqing must be the name of the casino owner.

Fu Qingzhou's eyes lit up.

He suddenly remembered that there was something very important missing from the file he was reading today.

Zhou Lesheng’s confession!

But he did not ask directly. Since County Magistrate Chen did not send the item, it meant that there was something wrong with the confession.

"I understand."

Fu Qingzhou endured the dizziness and used the Soul-Catching Technique again: "Can I meet Zhou Lesheng?"

(End of this chapter)