"Xiaoqi, Xiao Zhongliu is really 'haunted'!"
Wang Jian was apparently too agitated, his dialect slipped out. But Shen Hao understood—"haunted" here meant "serious trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"The case files for Xiao Zhongliu in the Government Office are clear. His ancestral home is Jingxi, his family used to live one hundred li east of Five Rams City, in Shiyuan Town. He's registered as a good citizen. His old parents have passed away; only a younger sister who married far away to Jingbei, so he's basically alone. Everything looked straightforward at first, that's why during our initial check we didn't find anything wrong.
But when I went back again this morning, as you suggested, I sent someone to ride quick to Shiyuan Town, then had another person go to Li City to get a permission slip from the General Flag so we could coordinate a check in Jingbei for that sister who married out there. The results were quite interesting.
There was indeed a Xiao family in Shiyuan Town, matching the basic details in the case files. But none of the old folks in the town recognized Xiao Zhongliu from the portrait.
Over in Jingbei, they found Xiao Zhongliu's sister—she does exist—but she doesn't recognize Xiao Zhongliu, or rather, doesn't recognize the Xiao Zhongliu in our portrait. She said her brother, Xiao Zhongliu, died years ago while fleeing famine."
Shen Hao curled his lips, then pointed heavily at Xiao Zhongliu's portrait on the table, saying, "So you're saying this 'Xiao Zhongliu' is an impersonator?"
"Exactly!"
"That's certainly interesting."
"It's very interesting. According to the neighbors, Xiao Zhongliu has been in the Qi Family for about ten years. Do you think the Qi Family knew this Xiao Zhongliu was a fake?"
"Heh, that's hard to say."
After a moment of silence, Wang Jian stepped closer and whispered, "Xiaoqi, do you think the Qi Family was wiped out by Xiao Zhongliu?"
"Heh, you've got a hypothesis there, huh?"
"Haha, hoping for your correction, Xiaoqi."
"Go on, I'm listening." Shen Hao straightened up, put away his smile, and looked quite serious. Wang Jian had been with him for four years and was capable; Shen Hao had always mentored him, so he wanted to see how Wang Jian handled such tough cases.
A deduction—a habit based on logic and clues. The strength of this skill directly determines one's potential in the Xuanqing Guard, especially for someone like Shen Hao who has no family background.
"Xiaoqi, currently we have three clues: First, there's a ninety percent chance the Qi Family were secretly trading human blood, and they were in direct contact with evil cultivators. It's highly likely they even hired an evil cultivator as a Guest Elder."
"Second, out of sixty-one members of the Qi Family, there are only fifty-eight actual corpses. Three bodies—Chen Erniu and two other unlucky nobodies—were killed as substitutes, clearly someone wanted to hide the whereabouts of Qi Wen Yuan and Qi Heng Soldiers."
"Third, Xiao Zhongliu's identity is fake, and there's a ninety percent chance he killed Chen Erniu and the other two as stand-ins."
"So based on these three clues, my hypothesis is: Xiao Zhongliu is the key figure connecting all three threads. This opens up a path for deduction."
"Xiaoqi, my guess is that Xiao Zhongliu isn't just impersonating someone. In the Qi Family, he was the steward of the main house, managing accounts and the storeroom—a crucial figure nobody could ignore. There's no way he didn't know about the Qi Family's secret dealings. Most likely, he was part of it."
"That raises a question: Why would the Qi Family risk letting an outsider know about their blood trade—a crime punishable by exterminating nine generations?"
"Unless they had absolute confidence he wouldn't betray them."
"So, my deduction is: Could Xiao Zhongliu be trusted because of who he really is? For example, an evil cultivator?"
"After all, the blood business also links to evil cultivators. If Xiao Zhongliu was the go-between for the Qi Family's shady deals, it makes a lot of things make sense. And do you think the evil cultivator who attacked our station last night might be Xiao Zhongliu himself?"
Shen Hao didn't affirm or deny, just signaled Wang Jian to go on.
"If Xiao Zhongliu is the evil cultivator, I can push the deduction further. For example, it's at least seventy percent likely that Xiao Zhongliu, the evil cultivator, killed all the Qi Family members. That fits the evil presence at the scene, and fits that he arranged for Chen Erniu and those three 'scapegoats' in advance."
"As for motive, I suspect it's tied to the Qi Family's secret business with Yin Tofu, and possibly some tangled interests..."
Shen Hao listened intently and quite agreed, though he felt Wang Jian's reasoning was still a bit lacking—he had the right direction, but missed a lot.
He picked up his teacup, blew away the foam, and laughed: "You forgot about Qi Wen Yuan and Qi Heng Soldiers—the father and son."
"Uh... I have no clue about that part. I've thought about it for a long time but can't figure it out. We must be missing some clues."
"No, it's just you haven't noticed yet."
"Please correct me, Xiaoqi."
Shen Hao put down his teacup and prompted: "According to your deduction, the Qi Family likely died at Xiao Zhongliu's hands, and he's probably an evil cultivator, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why would Xiao Zhongliu go to the trouble of killing two unrelated vagrants to substitute for the bodies of Qi Wen Yuan and Qi Heng Soldiers? Faking his own death makes sense, but why help two Qi Family people escape? He wiped out the whole Qi Family."
"You mean... Qi Wen Yuan and Qi Heng Soldiers have already..."
"Dead. I'm certain they're dead. No way he'd leave just those two alive after destroying the whole family."
"Then why kill two vagrants just to make up the count? Isn't that unnecessary?"
"Heh, maybe Xiao Zhongliu didn't want anyone to see Qi Wen Yuan and Qi Heng Soldiers' bodies? Or maybe, for him, their corpses were extremely important—he didn't want to just discard them?"
Bodies? Extremely important?
Wang Jian's mind raced, and he quickly thought of a possibility: According to his deduction, Xiao Zhongliu was an evil cultivator, and their methods are often related to refining corpses. He even thought of a terrifying possibility...
"Xiaoqi, are you saying... Xiao Zhongliu is... one of them?"
"Nothing's impossible. Your deduction is on the right track, just missing some edges. If you factor in my analysis, rerun the reasoning, doesn't it all go much smoother?"
Hearing Shen Hao's words, Wang Jian unconsciously deduced in his mind. Sure enough, with Shen Hao's guess included, the reasoning flowed easily, with none of the previous awkwardness. But, precisely because of that, Wang Jian's face darkened.
"Xiaoqi, if he's really one of them, then this case..."
"Don't spread it around. I know what you're worried about. Stay calm—the case is still under control, and I've already given General Flag a heads-up. So keep steady—this might turn out to be a big opportunity for both of us!"