Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 222 Special Dead

Seeing this, Zhou Zhao waved to the monkey, signaling him to leave first.

The monkey, having received the meat pie and no longer needing to be served, grinned and bowed with delight before running off. He figured he could go to the city gate at this hour and perhaps even meet a few more important guests.

The six people at the entrance split into two groups. Chen Jiyuan and the unknown young man carried their bundles to book rooms and make arrangements.

He Tingshi led the remaining people to sit down at Zhou Zhao's table. Jing Yi was the last to arrive. He quickly found the waiter and ordered the food, and then instructed them to send food to Chen Jiyuan and the other person before sitting down.

“When I last came here, this old banyan tree wasn’t as thick as it is now, and there were only four bird nests on its branches. Now that I’m here again, there’s one more.”

He Tingshi revisited the old place and was filled with emotion.

He sighed and said, "Li Youdao asked for leave when I came. I guess that old bastard probably came to Micheng secretly. Just consider him a relative of the victim now."

As he spoke, he picked up his teacup and moistened his lips. "Time is of the essence, so I'll keep it brief. Before you came, you should have both reviewed the case files. Because this case is so unusual, the files have always been kept separately, which is why this is the first time you two have met."

The case was initially a missing persons case because two of the three missing persons were quite unusual.

The first person was Wei Ruo, the granddaughter of Wei Taipu. Wei Ruo had eloped with a wandering knight named Guan Li and had just arrived in the Lost City. According to Guan Li's testimony, the fog was thick at the time. He was leading Wei Ruo along the third alley of South Street when suddenly a huge force struck. He felt something in the thick fog suddenly pull Wei Ruo away.

The speed was extremely fast, and at that moment he also heard a woman's eerie giggling laughter coming from the mist.

Guan Li was a wandering swordsman. He immediately drew his sword and thrust it toward the source of the laughter. However, the strike did not hit anyone. Instead, a cloud of blood mist rose up, which was not only bright red but also had a fishy smell.

He crouched down and touched the ground, but there was no blood; it was empty. Wei Ruo had simply vanished without a trace.

Zhou Zhaotong and Jing Yi both frowned as they listened, as the records in the dossier were very brief and lacked the many details that He Tingshi had mentioned.

"When Wei Taipu's servants came after him, they assumed that Guan Li had hidden Wei Ruo and did not believe his absurd claim. They tortured him severely, but Guan Li insisted on his confession."

Although the Wei family didn't believe Guan Li, they searched the entire city, but found no trace of Wei Ruo. Three days later, the same thing happened again. This person, though not from a noble family, was renowned; she was none other than Bai Jiu Niang, the most famous courtesan in the capital at the time.

As He Tingshi spoke, his eyes were filled with a sense of melancholy.

"Bai Jiuniang was as beautiful as a fairy, and she became famous in Chang'an because of a little song that Min Cangzhi wrote for her. She came to the Lost City because her husband and child were there."

Zhou Zhao looked at He Tingshi in surprise, "Why is there no mention in the file that Wei Ruo eloped with Bai Jiuniang and had a husband and child?"

He Tingshi shook his head. "Of course it's not in the records, because the records kept in the Court of Justice are the ones submitted by the local officials of Micheng at that time. I told you all this after Li Youzhi came to Micheng and found out."

Bai Jiu Niang's child, Yuan Bao, was only two years old when he died in the Lost City. She had secretly come to the Lost City under the pretense of buying Yunwu Brocade, accompanied by a maid named Lan Ping, a coachman, and guards. In reality, she had come to bury her child.

After the child was buried, Bai Jiuniang and her husband Zhang Biao had an argument in Lane 13 of North Street. Bai Jiuniang angrily got off the carriage and rushed into the mist. The guard thought Bai Jiuniang was trying to escape, so he hurriedly chased after her and grabbed her sleeve. At that moment, he also felt a huge force... Just like when Wei Ruo disappeared, Bai Jiuniang was pulled away. The guard was left with only her torn sleeve. The four people present heard a strange laugh, then saw the burst of blood mist, and smelled the stench.

Bai Jiuniang, like a drop of water merging into a river, vanished without a trace.

Zhou Zhao frowned as he listened.

She and Su Changying could also abduct someone directly from the thick fog, even swiftly striking their pressure points to silence them or knocking them unconscious before they could scream. But how do you explain the rising blood mist? And where did the abducted person go?

If the intention was to kill, why kidnap the person first and then kill them? Why not just kill them directly in the fog?
"The third person was named Li Nai. He was an ordinary merchant who came to the Lost City to buy Cloud Mist Brocade. Because two people had already gone missing, few people went out when the Lost City was shrouded in fog. Li Nai was staying at the Banyan Tree Inn at the time. He failed to snatch the Cloud Mist Brocade, so he thought of going to the Treasure Pavilion across the street to buy it for a large sum of money."

On this very road, in this spot where you can see, he walked into the thick fog, and then suddenly a bloody mist rose from the fog, and Lina disappeared.

The innkeeper and waiters of the Banyan Tree Inn all witnessed it.

Li Nai couldn't walk from the Banyan Tree Inn to the Multitreasure Pavilion across the street. This is why Li Youzhi stayed here in the Lost City after taking on this case.

The events of the past seem as vivid as if they were still happening before my eyes.

"Li Youzhi was special. When he came to the Lost City, he visited many places and investigated many things that were not in the records. As the supervisor, I accompanied him all the way. Besides me, there was also this coroner, Bai, who was with me. Bai was a famous doctor in the Lost City and also a coroner."

Li Youzhi's incident occurred in the same alleyway on South Street where Wei Ruo disappeared. The fog was exceptionally thick that day, so thick that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. At that time, we already knew the details, and I felt that the case was strange and very suspicious, unsuitable as a case for the grand competition.

The Lost City is a very eerie place; he should have brought the Northern Army with him, otherwise trouble might easily arise. Before he left, I advised him to return to Chang'an and proceed cautiously.

But this child, Youzhi, once he starts something, he's unwilling to give up easily. I'm just an examiner; I can't make decisions for him, but I still sought out local officials from Micheng to assist him.

He Tingshi sighed as he spoke, "At the time, Youzhi thought that the murderer would commit the crime again in the thick fog, so we could set up an ambush at several locations where the previous crimes had occurred and wait for the murderer to take the bait. He chose to go to the third alley of South Street."

I followed Bai, the coroner, at a distance that was neither too close nor too far. At that time, archers were ambushed in every street and alley of Baijie.

But it was no use. Right before my eyes, a mist of blood rose. By the time the coroner and I rushed over, Youzhi was already lying in a pool of blood.

Upon hearing this, the coroner Bai interjected, "His throat was slit, killed instantly, without even a sound. When we arrived, he was already lifeless. There were no other wounds on his body, and no footprints of the murderer were found at the scene. The brothers who were lying in ambush also didn't find anyone."

Lord Li was murdered right under everyone's noses.

Zhou Zhao listened attentively, meeting He Tingshi's gaze directly across from him.

Of the four people involved in the incident, Li Youzhi was different; he did not "disappear" but left behind a body.

The second update will be made up tomorrow morning, so please don't wait up. I'm feeling dizzy and lightheaded from taking cold medicine, sorry.