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墨書 Inktalez
Sang Qingxiao continued to inquire, "What else can be uncovered?"
Qi Xiaomian shook his head, "Aside from Miss Sang, I have also considered other possibilities."
"Such as?"
Coroner replied, "We have already examined over fifty corpses. The one in the most advanced state of decay has been determined to have died around five years ago."
Sang Qingxiao refuted this, saying, "The body has been submerged in water for many years. When it comes to Coroner, they can only rely on experience. When reporting to you, they will always use uncertain terms like 'approximately' or 'possibly.' Therefore, limiting the investigation to five years is too conservative; we should expand it to within ten years or even eight."
Miss Sang wanted to directly name the true culprit behind the scenes but knew that a complete chain of evidence was necessary for the investigation.
Court added, "With so many Old Foxes around and His Majesty being a clever Monarch, if Qi Xiaomian were to trace back with the conclusion, he might overlook some details in the case. When Court questions the officials about these details, Qi Xiaomian may not be prepared, and the perpetrator could escape justice."
Qi Xiaomian understood that Sang Qingxiao emphasized the word 'eight,' so he asked, "Does this mean the perpetrator started their actions eight years ago? I suspect that the culprit is within Jingjing City." He continued speaking.
Sang Qingxiao did not comment further but asked, "Why couldn't it be someone from outside the city?"
Coroner explained, "From the most decayed corpse, we deduced a rough starting time. Then from the least decayed body, we found a piece of fabric that had become unrecognizable. We sought out the most renowned Weaver in the city to reweave the loose threads into a blurred pattern. From this pattern, we determined that the fabric originated from a cloth shop in the southern part of the city. This shop produces high-quality fabric at low prices that are comfortable to wear and has a large output. However, due to its unattractive color, it does not sell well in the market. After several promotions by Stewards in Official Family, it received high praise and has since only supplied this type of fabric for use by servants of Official Family, never selling it retail."
Sang Qingxiao nodded, "So we have narrowed it down to Official Family within Jingjing City."
Qi Xiaomian understood that anyone who could provoke action from Miss Sang would not be an ordinary citizen. He continued, "I also suspect that the perpetrator bribed the City Guards. During the day, there are people coming and going around the moat; it's impossible for someone to dispose of a body at that time."
"Thus," he reasoned, "the likelihood increases at night. Once darkness falls, the gates of Jingjing City close. If someone were to use a token from their residence once or twice to handle a body, it would be plausible; however, if they did this over seventy times in several years, the gatekeepers would surely take notice unless they were all bribed—which is clearly impossible."
"Therefore," he concluded, "it is possible that some gatekeepers are helping cover up these actions. In fact, it could even be that one of them is disposing of bodies themselves. Moreover, gatekeepers check all four city gates every night to ensure everything is intact; this presents an opportunity for them to dispose of bodies outside the city."
Taking advantage of shifts among other guards, they could quickly throw out a corpse as long as they kept quiet enough not to attract attention.
Sang Qingxiao asked, "Why couldn't someone dispose of a body during daylight? They could hide and return at night to throw it into the moat?"
"The capital prohibits any obstructions within ten miles," he explained. "The walls are brightly lit; while they may not illuminate ten miles away, they certainly cover half a mile. If someone were carrying something close by, those on the wall would see them. Even if they had excellent lightness skills and moved quickly, the weight of a corpse combined with any heavy stones tied to it would slow them down significantly. A slower pace would leave traces."
However, if the one who disposes of the body is an Evil Spirit, that would be a different matter altogether. What does Miss Sang think?
A few years ago, I was still young, and my master kept me confined in the mountains to learn the craft.
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