Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 102 Lin Xuan's Reasoning

There are many people in the family, and they all have different tastes, so Lin Xuan always has to buy two fish.

One is steamed, and the other is boiled.

Steamed fish is a dish that people enjoy.

Both A'luo and Qingluan prefer spicy boiled fish with plenty of side dishes.

Before they had finished their dinner, a guard from the Jingbian Division came to report that Commander Du wanted them to go to the Jingbian Division.

Lin Xuan put down his chopsticks and went to Jingbian Division with Wenren Yue.

From afar, the two saw a number of people on the outskirts of the Jingbian Division. These people were wearing some kind of uniform, but it was different from the uniforms of the imperial court. They seemed to be people from the Tusi (chieftain) government.

Inside the Jingbian Division compound.

Du Yunzhou rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling a headache.

These local officials never think of the Jingbian Division when something good happens, but when something bad happens, the Jingbian Division is the first place they go to.

He had no way to deal with it.

The Bozhou Jingbian Division had no real power; it couldn't manage this area or that area. However, when cases involving the Tusi (chieftain) came to them, they couldn't ignore them.

A servant from the Luo family just came to report that the fourth young master of the Luo family died on his bed in his own villa.

In Bozhou, the Luo family was not a small force.

Not to mention, the Luo family also has the Yang family behind them.

If this isn't handled properly, they'll inevitably seize the opportunity to make trouble.

But according to the description from Luo's servants, the case was extremely bizarre, and he had no idea how to investigate it...

He looked at the Luo family guards again and asked, "You mean, you watched your young master walk out, and then half an hour later, you found him dead in his bed at home?"

Li Zhong nodded blankly; even now, he was still completely bewildered.

He clearly saw the young master walk away right in front of him.

He had originally followed his master's instructions and wanted to wait for the beauty to wake up.

Later, he thought that while the beauty was unconscious, he might as well go in and take advantage of her, since the young master wouldn't know anyway.

After sneaking into the room, he saw that the beauty was completely covered by the blanket. He didn't dare to lift the blanket, but instead reached his hand in to feel around. Unexpectedly, what he touched was something he also had...

He was so startled that his hand trembled, and when he lifted the blanket, he discovered that the person sleeping on the bed was actually his own young master.

The young master had two purple marks on his neck, and his throat had been crushed; he was beyond dead.

What horrified him even more was that he clearly saw the young master walk out of the villa right in front of him, and as he left, he specifically told him to keep a close watch on the woman at the gate...

Could it be that what he saw was the young master's ghost?
Or perhaps it's a woman who was killed by the young master in the past, who has become a vengeful ghost and returned to claim her life?
After killing the young master, she even transformed into his appearance...

Li Zhong grew increasingly terrified, collapsing to the ground and trembling as he murmured, "There's a ghost, there must be a ghost..."

The behavior of the Luo family guards left Du Yunzhou speechless. He glanced around and saw Wenren Yue and Lin Xuan walk in. He immediately stepped forward and said, "Sister, Commander Lin, you've finally arrived. There's a strange case here. Come and take a look..."

After listening to his description, Wenren Yue looked at the Luo family and said, "Let's go to the scene and take a look."

With their young master dead, the Luo family knew that reporting it to the Bozhou government was useless.

Those officials from the Yang family are adept at oppressing the people. Relying on them to investigate the case is less effective than hoping the murderer will come forward on his own.

On the contrary, the people that the imperial court had placed in Bozhou were somewhat more reliable.

The group left Jingbian Division and soon arrived at the Luo family's villa.

Lowe's body was laid out in the courtyard.

A group of women were kneeling beside him, weeping incessantly. Among them, a still-beautiful woman cried the most bitterly: "My poor Wei'er, don't worry, your mother will definitely avenge you..."

A middle-aged man with gray hair stood in the courtyard, his face ashen.

He gave Li Zhong a cold look and roared, "Get over here!"

Li Zhong scrambled over, fell to his knees with a thud, and stammered, "Master..."

Luo Zhen, the head of the Luo family, stared at him and said in a deep voice, "Say it again, how exactly did the young master die!"

Li Zhong's body trembled uncontrollably, and his voice shook: "Zhao Er and I saw a beautiful woman from out of town on the street. We wanted to offer her to the young master, so we tricked her into coming here... Master, I really saw with my own eyes that the young master walked out of here. A vengeful ghost was taking lives. This must be a vengeful ghost taking lives. The young master who walked out later was that vengeful ghost in disguise!"

boom!
Luo Zhen kicked him away—who would believe such a bizarre story! Could it be that these two traitors colluded with Luo's family's enemies to harm his son?

A man in official robes looked at Du Yunzhou and said, "Commander Du, your Jingbian Division must thoroughly investigate this case and give the Luo family an explanation."

Du Yunzhou clasped his hands in a fist salute and said, "I will do my best."

The man said, "Just doing our best isn't enough. If the dignified Jingbian Division can't even solve this small case, what's the point of having it? We might as well have the court abolish it..."

Du Yunzhou remained silent in the face of his deliberate provocation.

This wasn't the first time the local magistrate from the Yang family had said something like this; they had long wanted to force the Jingbian Division to leave.

Wenren Yue had already seen Luo Wei's body; he had been strangled to death.

Luo Wei himself possesses the strength of an eighth-rank official.

The person who strangled him was at least at the seventh rank in strength.

But strength is not the important factor.

If the Luo family guard wasn't lying, how did the woman manage to transform into Luo Wei and escape after killing him?
This is utterly absurd.

She subconsciously looked at Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan walked up to Luo Zhen and asked, "May I ask, patriarch of the Luo family, young master Luo Wei, have you offended anyone from Nanzhao?"

Li Zhong glanced up at Lin Xuan. This commander of the Jingbian Division still didn't know that his young master had been eyeing his woman these past few days.

Luo Zhen frowned, looked at Lin Xuan, and asked, "You suspect that the people of Nanzhao killed my son?"

The local official surnamed Yang, who had spoken earlier, immediately retorted, "Your Jingbian Division, don't try to pin every accusation on Nanzhao!"

Lin Xuan explained, "I only have a suspicion. A month ago, a brothel in Sizhou kidnapped several women from Nanzhao and forced them into prostitution. Later, a high-ranking spy from Nanzhao wiped out the entire family overnight. You can send someone to Sizhou to verify this at any time..."

He continued, "If Young Master Luo Wei has offended the people of Nanzhao, the possibility of the Nanzhao secret service taking action cannot be ruled out. As far as I know, the Nanzhao secret service almost never tolerates the abduction of its own women..."

Luo Zhen fell silent for a moment.

He knew his son's character better than anyone else.

Countless women had been violated by Luo Wei, many of whom had died as a result. Some died without ever knowing their identities. Given the diverse population of Bozhou, it was not surprising that there were women from the Nanzhao Kingdom among them…

He looked at Lin Xuan and asked, "Are you saying that the people from the Nanzhao Secret Service disguised themselves as that foreign woman, killed my son, and then escaped by looking like my son?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "I don't know the truth, but I do know that the Nanzhao Secret Intelligence Bureau has a top-secret technique called 'The True Understanding of Myriad Forms.' Once mastered, it allows one to transform into the appearance of anyone, hence this speculation..."

Luo Zhen asked skeptically, "Such a technique exists?"

Lin Xuan nodded and said, "This is recorded in the intelligence of the Jingbian Division. If Patriarch Luo does not believe it, he can ask Lord Du to retrieve the relevant files from the Jingbian Division."

Du Yunzhou immediately said, "I'll send someone right away."

Not long after, Du Yunzhou sent over the files of the Nanzhao Secret Service.

Sure enough, the file contained records about the True Explanation of All Phenomena.

The paper in the file was yellowed, and the handwriting wasn't new; it couldn't possibly be something they had just forged.

Lin Xuan continued, "The Nanzhao Secret Service's Operations Division has a high-ranking spy codenamed 'Gong'. This person cultivates the Myriad Forms True Understanding and is proficient in the art of disguise and transformation. I heard that his sister was once kidnapped and her whereabouts are unknown. Therefore, he extremely hates the act of kidnapping women. I wonder if your son's death was caused by him..."

Luo Zhen fell into deep thought.

Although all of this is speculation, the speculation of the Jingbian Division's chief commander is not entirely unfounded.

As the clues came together, the more he listened, the more suspicious he became of the Nanzhao Secret Service.

Who else but them could do this?
He had heard of the Nanzhao Secret Service, which was said to be divided into an Intelligence Department and an Action Department. The Intelligence Department's code names were mainly based on flowers, plants, and trees, while the Action Department's names were mostly based on insects and beasts.

The gecko is adept at changing its body color to deceive people, which corresponds perfectly to the art of disguise.

That sounds to make some sense.

Luo Zhen looked at Lin Xuan; he didn't want to get involved in the feud between the Yang family and the Jingbian Division.

But his son died, and he couldn't die without knowing why. At least he had to know who to seek revenge against.

He clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lin Xuan and said, "Thank you."

Lin Xuan clasped his hands in a fist and replied, "You're welcome..."

(End of this chapter)