Nie Pi ran until he was nearly exhausted before returning to the tent, his face marked with obvious tear stains.
Yin Yang had already found his notebook; with his Perception skill, finding things was quite convenient.
He was busy sketching and writing in the notebook, but he looked up and smiled at Nie Pi.
“Had enough of a run?”
“No.”
“Hahaha!”
Yin Yang laughed. He could understand the boy’s feelings; it was much like how he had felt once.
“Brother, it turns out there really are gods in this world.”
“That depends on your definition of a god.”
“Huh?”
“If you think someone who can heal your leg is a god, then a doctor is a god.”
“If you think someone who can keep you fed is a god, then food is a god.”
Nie Pi froze. He had never considered that the concept of a deity could be interpreted this way.
“Brother, do you mean that anything that helps us is a god?”
Yin Yang continued his writing.
“That’s just a thought of mine.”
“Mr. Wan once said that a single flower holds a thousand different kinds of beauty in the eyes of a thousand people.”
“What I just said was merely the perspective from my own angle.”
Nie Pi propped up his tired body and asked, “Mr. Wan? Which city lord is he?”
“He’s not a city lord. He is Mr. Wan Tianqing, a very impressive writer. I like his philosophical arguments quite a bit; they’re very interesting. When I get the chance, I’ll buy a few of his books for you.”
“Okay.”
...
“Is it Chen Xiang and Liu Xiao?”
“Yes.”
Several security officers stood by the roadside with grim expressions. Before them lay two headless corpses that had been sliced down to the bone.
If it weren't for the vehicle and the IDs scattered nearby, it would have been difficult to link these two corpses to their colleagues.
“It seems the people of the True Knowledge Society haven't all died out yet!”
“Contact Xiang Bo. Prepare for an autopsy.”
“Retrieve the surrounding surveillance footage. Look for every possible lead.”
“Report this to the Bureau Chief. At a time like this, nothing can be allowed to go wrong.”
“Yes, sir!”
Following the captain's orders, everyone immediately sprang into action.
Before long, an old Coroner arrived.
The security officers were extremely respectful toward him, as this man had held his position for over thirty years.
By all rights, he should have retired long ago, but he had been rehired by the previous city lord simply because his abilities were truly exceptional.
“Xiang Bo, sorry to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble at all. Isn’t this my job?”
Xiang Bo put on disposable gloves, walked over to the corpses, and began a detailed examination.
“The killer is a transcendent of the Axeman pathway, at least Sequence 8.”
Hearing this, the captain promptly stepped forward, acting like a keen student. “Xiang Bo, how can you tell? Teach me, so I can act like a pro in front of my colleagues later.”
Xiang Bo chuckled. “It’s simple. The technique was too clean. They perfectly avoided every major blood vessel, ensuring the victims wouldn't die in a short amount of time.”
“And look at these blade marks. The force behind every single cut was almost identical.”
“Do you understand now?”
“I understand.”
The captain’s expression grew solemn. He was a Sequence 8 of the Ward Guard pathway, a Constable.
Naturally meticulous and aided by the nature of his pathway, he immediately grasped the implication of Xiang Bo’s words.
The opponent was professionally trained!
And there was likely only one type of person who would specifically train in such a technique for the Death by a Thousand Cuts.
A Sequence 8 of the Axeman pathway: an Executioner!
Xiang Bo continued his observation, his expression growing more serious. After a thorough look, he turned to the captain.
“Did you see any residual spirituality?”
“No. That’s why we weren't sure if it was a transcendent crime at first, which is why we called you.”
“Xiang Bo, what else did you find?”
Xiang Bo pointed at the internal organs of the two corpses. “I’ve checked their vitality and the degree of corpse transformation. They were both alive during the Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
The captain was about to say that the point of the Death by a Thousand Cuts was to slice the flesh while the prisoner was alive.
But he reacted instantly.
No!
An Executioner’s Death by a Thousand Cuts required the target to be immobilized.
Yet these two targets had only lost their hands and feet; they could still struggle.
To perform such precise slicing while the targets could still resist meant the killer’s Sequence was definitely higher than Sequence 8!
The captain looked up at Xiang Bo, only to see him take a tube of reagent from his nearby toolbox. After carefully opening it, he squeezed a drop onto a corpse.
Upon contact, the liquid spread and multiplied rapidly, wrapping the corpse completely like a fungus.
Then, the fungus began to rot and wither, blowing away in the wind.
“The Toxin-Eating Fungus found no chemicals. They weren't anesthetized.”
Xiang Bo stood up after finishing his sentence and looked around. “It was just raining. Changes in temperature and humidity affect the body; I can't give a perfectly precise time.”
“However, based on the freshness of the organs, the time of death should be within the last hour.”
The captain nodded, noting it down.
For any other Coroner, being able to pinpoint the time within an hour would be considered accurate. But Xiang Bo was different—he could usually be precise down to the minute!
If it were indoors, he could even be precise down to the second!
Therefore, saying the death occurred within an hour was, for him, truly just a rough estimate.
It was precisely because of this skill that he had been rehired.
...
Temporary Security Bureau.
“What? Two security officers are dead?”
Wang Gen’s eyebrows shot up. Ever since the incident at the Meng City Security Bureau, he couldn't bear to hear news of an officer's death.
Hardly any officers had died during the earthquake, yet someone had been subjected to the Death by a Thousand Cuts after it was over!
“Who is at the scene?”
“Captain Zhao.”
Hearing it was Captain Zhao, Wang Gen’s expression softened slightly.
He had long ago investigated the capabilities of his subordinates. Captain Zhao, for instance, was a slick veteran with some competence.
Handing a task to him didn't guarantee success, but it guaranteed that no mistakes would be made; that was the man’s way of life.
However, the death of these officers cast a shadow over his heart, vaguely reminding him of his former subordinates.
With so many security officers, why were only these two killed?
Could it be that they, like the Captain Li of back then, had been doing something fatal in private?
Thinking of this, Wang Gen said decisively, “Give me the files on the two deceased officers. I want detailed information and their recent duty logs!”
His subordinate looked a bit troubled. “Bureau Chief, the detailed files are easy to find, but the duty videos are all stored at the bureau. They need to be copied, and there’s a huge amount of data. The earliest I can get them to you is tomorrow at noon.”
Wang Gen hummed in acknowledgement, then thought for a moment. “Family backgrounds, travel records, transit records—I want all of it.”
“Yes, sir!”
The subordinate complied, thinking to himself that the Bureau Chief truly cared about them.
Two officers had died, and the Bureau Chief actually intended to investigate personally!
Following a man like this was worth it!
Rate on N.U.
