County government office?

What's wrong with the county government office? I dare to kill people at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice. Is it difficult to kill a seventh-grade official like you?

Xu Qi'an pressed his hand and the sharp black gold long knife instantly cut open the back of the official's neck. The official clearly felt the pain in his neck and the warm blood flowing out.

"You dare to kill me...." The official's heart tightened, and he looked anxiously at the other Nightwatchers, hoping they could stop this lawless companion.

But the attitude of Song Tingfeng and the others made the official's heart sink. They were calm, indifferent, and just watched. He had heard of the notorious reputation of the Nightwatchers, especially their arrogance, but he didn't believe that they would dare to kill a court official in the government office.

Facing the other's gaze, Song Tingfeng smiled and narrowed his eyes. "Official, you have taken possession of the inheritance of a court official. Even if we don't kill you now, we can still find a way to kill you by locking you up in prison."

Tang Yinluo added, "This is the usual method we Nightwatchers use. When the time comes, we will extract more than just the inheritance."

"I... I was wrong." The official said.

Only then did Xu Qi'an put away his knife and kicked the official. "Go, call all the people who have received money to the main hall. I will question each one of them."

The official, holding his bleeding neck, stumbled away.

When his figure was no longer visible, Xu Qi'an withdrew his gaze and continued to examine the relics.

"Are you afraid that the relics with clues will be taken away, causing the case to remain unsolved?" Tang Yinluo asked.

"If Zhou Min really left clues in the relics, he wouldn't have chosen valuable items that would easily arouse greed," Xu Qi'an said, looking up at him:

"I just want to take back what belongs to Zhou Min and hand it over to his family after the case is closed."

"Your character is worthy of my admiration," Tang Yinluo praised, then added, "Although you are quite lustful."

No, this is just basic morality.... Only scoundrels and trash would not let go of a dead person's wealth. Xu Qi'an silently criticized in his heart.

Also, can men be called lustful? Clearly, it should be elegant ladies and gentlemen who appreciate beauty.

Xu Qi'an remembered a joke he had read before: "Although I drink, smoke, have tattoos, and go to nightclubs, I know I am a good girl."

"Although I freeload, freeload, and freeload some more, I know I am a good man..."

After about ten minutes, an official wearing a blue robe with a white heron embroidery walked into the warehouse, followed by the official with a bandaged neck and another official wearing a blue robe with a heron embroidery.

In the officialdom, as long as you look at the official's robe, you can tell their rank and guess their identity. For example, this official with the white heron embroidery is a sixth-grade official. In the county government office, only the prefect is a sixth-grade official.

In the officialdom, clothes matter more than the person. This saying originated from the officialdom.

The round-faced and middle-aged prefect greeted them warmly. When he approached Xu Qi'an and the others, he lamented, "I am ashamed. I have not been strict with my subordinates and have done such embarrassing things."

He self-reflected and took out a heavy small package that was bulging. "Here are 150 taels. It is Zhou Min's inheritance, and I have retrieved it for him."

This kind of trivial matter didn't require any divination technique. The extent to which a prefecture can make concessions like this actually depends on the governor. Xu Qi'an had anticipated this, which is why he was confident.

If the prefect didn't cooperate, he could go to the governor to complain. Of course, the likelihood of such a thing happening was small. Those who can survive in the officialdom are all smart people.

Therefore, Xu Qi'an reached out and took it, weighing it a few times without being overly persistent.

"Prefect, please prepare a carriage. I want to take Zhou Min's inheritance back to the post station," Xu Qi'an said.

The prefect first looked at the one with the silver gong on his chest. Seeing that he remained silent, he understood. The one speaking to him was mainly the one with the copper gong.

"Of course, of course."

Xu Qi'an left two Tiger Guard soldiers to cooperate with the county government's yamen runners to transport Zhou Min's relics back to the inn, while they rode horses out of the city. They were accompanied by a fast-class catcher from the county government.

Also known as a fast hand.

Zhou Min's body was buried in a chaotic burial mound thirty miles outside the city. In this era, a chaotic burial mound was more like a cemetery in the previous life, with one tomb after another.

Those buried in the chaotic burial mound were all deceased from poor families. Those with better financial conditions would hire a feng shui master to choose a burial site.

"Gentlemen, Zhou Min's grave is over there." The fast hand pointed to a willow tree, under which there was a small grave mound.

The Tiger Guard soldiers took down the iron shovels hanging from their horses' hooks and began to dig open the grave mound one by one. Soil splattered, and with a dull thud, the iron shovels hit the coffin.

The Tiger Guard soldiers wiped away the dirt on the coffin and pried it open. A foul smell rushed out.

Everyone took a step back, especially the warriors who were more sensitive to this foul smell.

Xu Qi'an took out a porcelain bottle and distributed the small pills inside to everyone. These were antiviral pills provided by the Bureau of Heavenly Masters.

Then, he covered his mouth and nose and walked to the side of the coffin.

A male corpse dressed in white lay quietly, with a pale face facing the sky.

His skin was dark blue, covered with varying shades of livor mortis. Several holes rotted on his face, and maggots wriggled in the flesh.

His body was slightly swollen, a phenomenon caused by the postmortem accumulation of decay gases in the skin and tissues. At this time, the skin would burst with a light touch, splattering foul-smelling blood.

Xu Qi'an had learned about this knowledge before, but it was the first time he had seen it.

...Oh my god, I'm about to vomit. Xu Qi'an forcibly suppressed the surging stomach acid and said in a deep voice, "Take off his clothes."

The Tiger Guard soldiers obediently looked at him. "Yes..."

Half an hour later, after Xu Qi'an finished examining the body, he tentatively concluded that the death was not caused by external force. He did not find any fatal injuries on the body.After re-burying Zhou Min's grave, the officials from the yamen led them to wash up in a nearby stream before returning to Baidi City.

The cause of death could almost be confirmed. It was the work of the followers of the God of Witchcraft... Killing in dreams, a method of a fourth-grade witch... Would it be easy for him to kill us?

The only clue at present was half a jade pendant, but it was just a jade pendant. Without more information, there was no way to start the investigation...

They returned to the post station at half past two in the afternoon. Governor Zhang, accompanied by a group of bronze and silver Nightwatchers, was flipping through Zhou Min's belongings, looking for clues.

"Have you found anything after an hour of searching?" Governor Zhang asked with a furrowed brow.

The Nightwatchers shook their heads.

"Wasn't Zhou Min a spy for the Nightwatchers? Don't you Nightwatchers have any secret signals?" Governor Zhang asked sternly.

"It doesn't match at all," a silver Nightwatcher muttered.

"Maybe the murderer took it away or destroyed it. What's left for us is just some useless junk," another silver Nightwatcher speculated.

"It's been half a month. There's no clue left, right? How can we solve it? No one can solve it," a bronze Nightwatcher grumbled.

Junk... Governor Zhang felt a bit frustrated. He was a censor by origin, unfamiliar with criminal cases. He could only rely on these Nightwatchers, but they were good at fighting, not so much at investigating.

"Just let the sorcerer question Yang Chuannan directly."

"Bad idea!" Governor Zhang snorted, "For those above the fourth grade, the sorcerer's accusation is not valid. I know that Yang Chuannan is colluding with bandits, but where is the evidence? Without evidence, how can we convict him, let alone a second-grade commander?"

The Nightwatchers sighed and shook their heads.

"Alright, don't make it hard for them, Governor. Zhou Min indeed didn't use any secret signals," Jiang Lvzhong shook his head, feeling the difficulty.

They had thought that Zhou Min would use the unique secret signals of the Nightwatchers as a clue to lead them to the evidence, but after examining the belongings, they found nothing.

"It's also possible that it was destroyed by the murderer," Governor Zhang said helplessly.

"What should we do then?" a silver Nightwatcher asked.

"We can only rely on Xu Ningyan now," Governor Zhang said, "He was able to find the loophole in the tax silver case from the files, and he was able to dig up Princess Pingyang's old case from the Sangpo case. He might be able to solve Zhou Min's headless case."

"But how should we investigate?"

"How would I know?" Governor Zhang glared at the bronze Nightwatcher who spoke.

At this moment, Xu Qi'an walked in, followed by the accompanying Nightwatchers and Tiger Guards.

Governor Zhang's eyes lit up, "How's the autopsy result?"

"It's the same as the yamen's autopsy report. There won't be any discoveries from the body," Xu Qi'an replied.

Governor Zhang nodded with some disappointment, then asked, "I heard you injured the yamen's clerk?"

"I know my limits. I won't kill," Xu Qi'an pointed to the belongings, "Any clues?"

The Nightwatchers shook their heads.

"We didn't find any secret signals. Maybe they were destroyed by someone," Jiang Lvzhong sighed, "Ningyan, it's all up to you now."

He then looked around at everyone and said solemnly, "You all should learn something. See how he solves the case. Whoever can learn a tenth or a fifth of it, I will focus on training."

These bronze and silver Nightwatchers were all under his command.

Jiang Lvzhong had always wanted Xu Qi'an, but since Wei Gong wouldn't give him up, he could only resort to this method, letting Xu Qi'an train his Nightwatchers.

Xu Qi'an found a place to sit down, didn't continue to examine the belongings, and pondered for a moment, "Is the secret signal of the Nightwatcher's yamen confidential?"

Jiang Lvzhong said, "Those above the silver Nightwatcher know it, and the bronze Nightwatchers who have had contact with the spies also know it."

"Then it's not confidential enough," Xu Qi'an poured himself a cup of water and said, "Zhou Min might not have used the yamen's secret signal."

"Why do you think so?" a silver Nightwatcher asked.

Xu Qi'an analyzed, "If the secret signal is highly confidential, the murderer couldn't possibly find the clue among all the belongings and destroy it. So we should have found the secret signal by now. But we didn't.

"If the confidentiality level is not high, Zhou Min, as a spy for twenty years, experienced and thoughtful, how could he use such a crude method? It's too easy to be cracked. So this matter is actually not complicated, there's only one answer, he used other ways to hide the evidence."

The Nightwatchers looked at each other in silence, all somewhat shocked.

"Yes, that's right. At first glance, there seems to be no clue, but in fact, there's only one possibility: Zhou Min hid the evidence in another way."

The Nightwatchers clapped their hands in excitement, feeling as if they had suddenly seen the light.

Governor Zhang nodded slightly, then frowned, "But, we are also lost. How can we find the evidence he hid?"

Xu Qi'an said, "Let's start from the beginning and analyze it..."

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