Today, they too are going to their deaths.

To Cui Xun's surprise, Gray actually managed to give him a seemingly plausible investigation record.

The document records suspicious individuals identified over the past six weeks, including the time, location, duration of stay, physical characteristics, and even interrogation notes for a few individuals.

It is clear that the records from the first three weeks came entirely from the local police station, with a neat format and detailed content. The intelligence from the last three weeks was mixed with some temporarily recruited informants, with a chaotic format and vague content, but it was more in-depth.

Unfortunately, there was no truly significant intelligence.

There are no nobles involved, no details of the murder, but recently an informant went missing while tracking the suspect and may have been killed.

Therefore, Cui Xun still had to gather firsthand intelligence himself.

At the top of the clock tower, Cui Xun, who had just climbed up the outer wall and changed his clothes, looked down at the street wearing a mask.

The view here is expansive, enough to take in a large part of the city, but at night, all you can see are the dim streetlights, a few lit houses, and brightly lit manors and factories in the distance. You can't see what kind of crimes are happening in the darkness.

However, the adaptive abilities taken from the monster allowed Cui Xun to gain night vision and farsightedness after staring into the darkness for a moment.

He could see several streets away, some people were still studying late into the night, some were mending clothes in the dark by the light of other people's gaslights, and some were engaged in street "fights"...

Huh? Cui Xun wondered if he had seen wrong.

He couldn't determine the exact temperature, but it was probably below minus ten degrees Celsius. At this temperature, without heavy clothing for protection, a normal human would rapidly lose heat, experiencing extremely severe hypothermia symptoms within thirty minutes, and potentially dying instantly.

Now, in knee-deep snow and ice, two shirtless men are passionately colliding, their bodies emitting scorching heat that even melts the surrounding snow and ice.

Could this be a local superhuman?

Cui Xun found it hard to accept that the local superhumans were so poor, and it seemed that they were not the only ones who were special, but everyone on the street was dressed very lightly, as if they were all champions at resisting the cold.

Since no one found this strange, Cui Xun temporarily assumed it was a normal physique for people from other worlds and continued searching for anomalies.

Moments later, he spotted two suspicious individuals at the entrance to a narrow alley.

A person wearing a thick coat and a scarf wrapped around their neck is slowly walking along a dimly lit street.

His gait carried a deliberate casualness, as if he wanted to appear as if he were simply taking a stroll, but each step was too slow and too cautious.

Based on his experience, Cui Xun judged that the man was hiding a weapon under his clothes, and that he was probably a worker who wanted to avenge his coworker and kill the man who slit his throat.

His courage was commendable, but his skill was so poor that he couldn't even detect the follower not far behind him.

However, a seasoned killer, clad in gray and black, moving in the shadows, ensuring every step on the snow is light and silent, and deliberately maintaining the same pace as the pursued, should certainly not be easily detected by any novice.

Without external intervention, the next step would likely be for the stalker to stab the worker in the kidneys, pierce his heart, and ensure he is dead beyond any doubt, before finishing him off with a throat slit.

Fortunately, an external force capable of intervening has now discovered this scene.

Cui Xun estimated the distance.

He is currently about 800 meters away from the two. If he still had the electromagnetic crossbow, he could try to get a precise headshot at this distance. However, he is currently empty-handed and can only use whatever long-range weapon he has on hand.

Snowballs, bricks... or maybe icicles?

Cui Xun casually pulled off an ice crystal from the side, took a deep breath, and poured his willpower into this makeshift weapon. Then, the muscles in his right arm bulged like steel cables, and he threw it with all his might at the stalker 800 meters away.

"Whoosh—!"

The ice spikes tore through the air with a soft whistle, reaching the vicinity of their target under the cover of night, before shattering against the wall.

Cui Xun's willpower was insufficient to complete the task of locating the enemy, and his control over his own body was not precise enough; he could not hit the target every time at this distance.

The two were startled.

The worker turned around at the sound and saw the stalker behind him. He froze, not even thinking to draw his weapon.

The stalker followed the trajectory of the flying ice crystals toward the clock tower, only to see a lone figure suspended atop it, a pair of glowing eyes staring at him from hundreds of meters away.

The stalker felt his body was a little wet, but as a seasoned veteran, he was no longer a rookie who would sweat during a mission, so there was only one answer.

Oh, it wasn't sweat, it was urine.

The stalker was almost terrified. He didn't dare to stay for even a second longer and practically crawled and rolled away from Cui Xun's sight. It was unknown whether he hid in a house or escaped into some secret passage or sewer.

The worker didn't come to his senses until the stalker had escaped. He looked towards the clock tower in the direction the stalker had last seen, but his poor eyesight prevented him from seeing anything.

He hesitated for a moment, glancing back at the road he had come from, unsure whether to go home or continue wandering.

Cui Xun really wanted to run over and slap this idiot to wake him up, but Cui Xun had now discovered another group of people with even more important targets.

A suspect mentioned in the investigation record is talking to a neatly dressed person who commissioned the murder.

Cui Xun couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see the money bag being passed between the two men, and then the suspect opened the money bag on the spot and started counting the money.

No matter how much the person who commissioned the murder wanted to leave quickly, the suspect wouldn't let go, which created an excellent opportunity for Cui Xun.

He slid down the clock tower, raced along the rooftop, and reached them before they separated, then leaped down suddenly.

Both of their heads were simultaneously pressed into the snow.

The snow was so thick that it could bury an entire head, causing a person to slowly die in the cold.

So the two struggled desperately. The suspect didn't even care about the money bag, and tried to brace himself against the snow with both hands, trying to lift his head and even fight back. The person who commissioned the murder kicked his legs hard, kicking up a cloud of snow.

But Cui Xun's hands remained absolutely steady, keeping their faces buried under the snow until their bodies began to go limp and their resistance weakened, before he suddenly lifted them out of the snow.

Their faces were covered in snow, but their complexions were still rosy and their body temperatures were normal. They were just breathing heavily, their chests heaving violently like bellows.

The locals' resistance to suffocation seems to be about the same as that of the people from the original world. Cui Xun thought.

He forced their heads to face forward and then asked, "Who hired you, and how much?"

His tone was so firm, as if he had already confirmed that the two were the real murderers, which immediately erased any thought of denying it from their minds.

The man who commissioned the murder trembled with fear. He forced out the last bit of courage in his heart, imagining his master standing behind him, allowing him to exercise the privileges of a nobleman. So, he straightened his back again, and even dared to scold Cui Xun behind him: "Let go of your dirty hands. You are not worthy to know that name."

"Bang!" The head of the commissioned killer was smashed deep into the snow, and the sound of it hitting the ground could even be heard.

This blow knocked him unconscious.

Cui Xun turned his head and calmly said to the suspect, "Give me the answer."

"They paid me fifty small gold coins to kill Thomas Miller! They must be the men behind Hargreaves Textile Mill!" The prisoner's confession was incredibly smooth, and he even added a little, "There was a strike at Hargreaves Textile Mill a few weeks ago, and the factory owner was forced to agree to the demands of the union representatives. He definitely holds a grudge."

"But the one who could easily give out this money and dare to order someone to kill must be Baron Lawrence, who is behind the textile factory. As a newly nobleman who rose to power through industry, he hates money just jumping out of his pocket, especially during the last strike when the strikers smashed a valuable machine."

After saying this, the prisoner began to beg for mercy: "Kind sir, you won't let us turn our heads or see your face, I think you must be merciful. I swear, I will never kill again in my life, and I will never come near here again. Please, for the sake of my four children, let me go."

"I was forced into this situation. If I didn't earn this money, I wouldn't be able to pay the rent for housing and a decent life, I wouldn't be able to afford food, and I would be kicked out of the community."

"My eldest son has just become a clerk, my second son is studying at the mechanical academy and he will surely join the Royal Academy of Sciences in the future. My third son and youngest daughter are still young, and their mother has died from overwork. They cannot live without me."

Upon hearing this, Cui Xun calmly twisted off the prisoner's limbs.

The prisoner's body convulsed violently, and he almost screamed, but to avoid displeasing the person behind him, he clenched his teeth tightly and didn't let out a sound.

Cui Xun whispered behind him, "Remember to turn yourself in to the police. Only prison can protect you. If they find you innocent, I'll be happy to spare your life. If I see you in your home, you'll leave this world with your family."

"Marrod, I know where you live."

Of course, this prisoner had virtually no way out.

Even setting aside whether the local super-frozen person could survive in the snow until daytime, we must consider whether the police and nobles would kill him after the incident to give an explanation, and whether a cripple could survive imprisonment.

Cui Xun speculated that the prison guards probably didn't want to take care of this disabled person. So, he had to walk with his own excrement until it became dry and hard. Even if insects crawled on his body, he couldn't drive them away. Eventually, his whole body would be covered with pustules, and he would be continuously bitten and gnawed by insects.

This was truly a terrible ordeal.

Even if he survives by sheer luck, a disabled person obviously cannot work and earn money, and taking care of him will only add a heavy burden to the family.

If he truly loves his family, and they love him in return, then when he needs someone to care for him even for bodily functions, he'll likely experience humiliation no less than that of prison life, and it probably won't be long before he seeks death. But if his family doesn't want him, then his death will be even more straightforward. Cui Xun is quite curious whether he'll regret his choice then.

Oh, this is too tragic. Even murderers and thieves shouldn't be treated like this. Cui Xun felt a pang of pity.

He suggested to the prisoner, "Well, that's enough. With all four limbs severed, your life is ruined. You'll just be slowly dying anyway. I might as well give you a quick death."

The prisoner repeatedly refused: "No! No! Thank you for your mercy, but this is enough for me."

Since everyone else had refused, Cui Xun couldn't make a move.

Cui Xun put the prisoner down, leaving him to wait for dawn, while he grabbed the man who had been commissioned to kill and walked into a more secluded corner.

In the current security environment, criminals can simply be crippled, and the police won't investigate who crippled them.

Even if the police really insist on pursuing the matter, the powerful figures behind Gray will likely be able to suppress their voices.

But it's different for nobles. When Gray mentions the deaths of nobles, he specifically describes them as "accidental deaths" that are generally accepted.

Cui Xun didn't care about the lives of nobles, nor did he care much about whether the royal power and the nobility could continue. However, he was well aware that turmoil often hurt ordinary people first, especially when there was a mastermind behind it all. He couldn't act rashly.

It would be best if fewer nobles and their associates died now, so that he could accumulate power and reduce losses.

But how can we stop and warn the nobles to behave themselves without killing them?

Cui Xun tried to figure out what Wang Yu would do, and soon he had the answer.

He aimed at the man who had commissioned the murder and slapped him twice on the head, waking him from near suffocation in the snow. Before the man could react, he suddenly grabbed his neck, yanked him up, and said coldly, "Do you know who I am?! How dare you be so insolent to me!"

The man who commissioned the murder had just woken up, but nearly fainted again from suffocation. His mind raced in his dazed state, desperately trying to find the right answer.

He had realized that his identity had been exposed, and anyone who dared to express such anger towards the representative of a powerful new aristocracy with multiple factories under these circumstances must be someone of considerable influence.

Such terrifying power, coupled with his previous stealthy infiltration and swift, decisive interrogation, suggests he might be a close associate of a military general, a loyal agent of the royal family, or a representative of a powerful, long-established noble family.

The person who commissioned the murder racked his brains but could not figure out who Cui Xun was representing until Cui Xun suddenly released his grip and said indifferently, "You have gone too far. This will affect the profits of some important people."

The profits? He knew it! It must be the Duke of Robert Stanley Derby!

The man who commissioned the murder quickly replied, "We will pay more taxes; we won't miss a single penny."

Cui Xun's voice grew even colder: "That's not enough! You must understand that what matters is not money, but industry standards, long-term interests, and the weight of certain words."

"Baron Lawrence has done wrong; he has lightened up something heavy. He must make a statement to the Kingdom of Albion and his people in order to prove that he can still be called a nobleman."

"So, lead the way. You have a midnight visitor you must meet; he brings you orders that you must carry out."

"If he doesn't want to be removed from the list."

The man who commissioned the murder had no time to think; he shrank back and replied respectfully, "Yes, sir."