Unlike the abundance of yang energy during the day, at night the yin energy deepens naturally, and certain concealed clues become easier to discover.
Shen Hao pushed open the gate of the Hou Qi Mansion and stepped inside. He glanced at the pieces of flesh on the ground and said languidly, "Tsk, the yin energy is thick but there are no lingering spirits—this is a clean death."
Normally, those killed by evil would have some fragment of spirit remaining; it's much like how, when one eats, some crumbs are always spilled. Yet now, even at midnight when the yin energy is at its peak, there are still no traces of departed souls around the scattered remains.
This is not normal.
At least, Shen Hao had never encountered an evil that "ate" this cleanly before.
Entering from the back door and heading straight ahead, he soon reached the side hall he had visited before. Dozens of severed feet were still laid out inside, darkening further over time.
Shen Hao did not light a lamp. Having mastered the Night Eye Skill, he was not affected by the lack of light, and his gaze swept swiftly over every corner of the side hall. Though it seemed casual, he missed no detail.
Sniff, sniff...
He twitched his nose a few times; Shen Hao's brows furrowed slightly—he detected a hint of the stench of corpses.
He took a few steps forward, crouched down, and before him, just a few feet away, were those blackened feet; the smell of corpse was even stronger.
"Clang!"
Shen Hao drew the Yanji Saber from his waist and flipped over the nearest severed foot, inspecting the pale, ashen patches of decay beneath.
"Hmm?"
Without pausing, Shen Hao soon flipped every foot in the side hall. Six of them bore signs of rot.
After standing up again, Shen Hao held his saber loosely in one hand, standing motionless in the side hall, brow tightly knit as if pondering something deeply.
Only after a long while did Shen Hao leave the side hall, heading straight for the back kitchen.
With a wave, he signaled the men on duty not to follow; Shen Hao continued alone, pushing open the door to the kitchen and stepping inside.
As the door opened, moonlight spilled in, illuminating the piles of innards within, making the place seem even more grim.
Again, compared to the daytime, a faint touch of corpse stench now lingered here as well.
With his blade, he began carefully inspecting the viscera. Though Shen Hao was accustomed to gruesome scenes, this mass of organs, piled together, still made his stomach churn.
Soon, all the scattered innards in the kitchen were sorted into two piles—a large one and a small one. The smaller pile was distinctly darker in color.
Fortunately, the stench hadn't yet grown overpowering. Otherwise, one would need a bundle of scallion and ginger pressed to the face just to enter.
The odor here was noticeably stronger than in the side hall.
Pushing open the door and stepping out, Shen Hao took a deep breath to suppress his nausea. He waved, and a Xuanqing Guard warrior hurried over from nearby.
"Xiaoqi, your orders?"
"Go fetch the forensic doctor, and have Wang Xiaoling come as well. Tell him I'm waiting here."
"Yes, sir."
Soon enough, Wang Xiaoling arrived.
"Xiaoqi."
"Mm. Wang Jian, immediately arrange for someone to head to the government office and collect all records of missing persons around Five Rams City within the last month."
"Huh? Xiaoqi, did you find another clue?"
"Yes. We'll talk once the forensic doctor arrives. Take care of what I just said first."
"Alright, Xiaoqi."
Wang Jian quickly dispatched three warriors to the government office that very night. The Xuanqing Guard never cared for the feelings of the local government office—refuse to cooperate? That's a death wish.
The forensic doctor also arrived swiftly, carrying a small wooden box, having been brought by a Xuanqing Guard soldier on horseback. Perhaps due to nerves, sweat beaded his forehead.
"S-s-sir, what—what are your orders?"
"No need to be nervous. What's your name? How long have you been a forensic doctor? Are you local?"
"I'm Zhang Fushun, a local. I've been a forensic doctor for over ten years."
"Good. Tell me, have you examined the bodies in the Qi Mansion in detail before?"
"N-no, I have not. I only took a quick look. A full examination must wait until the site is cleared, and the bodies can be stored before a detailed inspection."
Shen Hao shook his head and signaled for someone behind him to bring a lamp.
"Let's go inside—I have questions for you."
Besides the forensic doctor, only Wang Jian followed Shen Hao into the kitchen.
But even with the lamps lit, the gruesome scene inside still made Wang Jian and the forensic doctor visibly shudder.
Shen Hao pointed to the two piles of organs he'd just separated and said to the forensic doctor, "Check which differences exist between these two piles."
"Yes, sir."
A flash of bewilderment crossed the forensic doctor's face, but he quickly knelt by the viscera, opened his small box, and got to work.
After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the forensic doctor stood up again, now with a look of surprise.
"Sir, after performing a 'time assessment' on the two piles, I discovered that although both consist of human organs, the smaller pile shows early signs of decomposition. This means the smaller pile was removed and lost vitality earlier than the larger group."
Though a bit convoluted, his words weren't hard to understand.
Wang Jian's eyes widened, brows furrowed, an urge to speak but holding back.
Shen Hao, expressionless, continued, "Be more specific. I want precise time of death—can you do that?"
"I will try my best."
After quite a while, the forensic doctor straightened and bowed. "Sir, I have a preliminary result. The larger pile's time of death should not exceed twelve hours, while the smaller pile's death time is between eighteen and twenty hours ago."
Seeing Shen Hao's dissatisfied look, the forensic doctor grew tense and hurriedly explained, "Forgive me, sir. The rate of organ decay varies, so judgment is difficult unless there are more body parts as reference."
Shen Hao smiled. "There are more, of course."
He left the kitchen, heading to the side hall and the main room, and finally to the central courtyard's Jingguan.
...
"Sir, the corpses have been sorted."
"Speak."
"According to my careful examination, a small portion of the corpses did not die last night but much earlier—the time of death should be around yesterday's early morning hours. Therefore, after being mutilated, these bodies decayed and started to reek before the others.
Additionally, every head in the Jingguan was quickly cleaned and checked—three of them are too ruined to identify."
Having finished, the forensic doctor stepped aside.
Shen Hao contemplated for a moment, nodded, waved the forensic doctor away, and said, "At dawn, find more people to put these remains from the Qi Mansion into coffins. The smell is overwhelming."
"Yes, sir. Then, I'll take my leave."
"Go."
Once the forensic doctor departed, Wang Jian, who'd been holding back a slew of questions, couldn't bear it anymore and asked quietly beside Shen Hao, "Xiaoqi, how could people from the Qi Family die at different times? That doesn't make sense!"
Shen Hao did not answer Wang Jian. Instead, he said, "Find out exactly what all sixty-one members of the Qi Family looked like—I want their portraits."