Were the bodies discovered?

How could they not be?

The first to be found wasn’t even one of the men from the Iron Tiger Gang... it was Bald Li.

A few Night Soil Collectors were making their usual rounds after midnight, collecting from each house, when they stumbled upon Bald Li’s body at the entrance to Youma Alley.

One of the Night Soil Collectors tripped, falling right on top of Bald Li.

As he cursed and scrambled to his feet, he raised his lantern to see what had tripped him... and came face-to-face with Bald Li’s corpse, eyes wide open, blood trickling from his nose and mouth.

He let out a bloodcurdling scream that woke up nearly everyone in Youma Alley.

And then... they immediately reported it to the authorities.

The Government Office had a shift of government constables on duty at night. Upon receiving the report, they rushed to the scene at once.

And while Bald Li’s body was still being examined...

The other bodies were successively discovered by early-rising residents.

The people from the Government Office were shocked and immediately dispatched men to the other locations.

And then...

People from Lan Gui Fang also came to file a report.

Three men had been killed in plain sight.

All told, that was a total of six lives!

The matter instantly drew the full attention of the Government Office!

"Of the dead, five were from the Iron Tiger Gang."

The government constables from the Government Office patrolled the streets of True Martial year-round and knew the backgrounds of True Martial County’s ruffians like the back of their hands.

They immediately identified the bodies.

"They were all Wang Long’s men..."

Hearing they were Wang Long’s men, and that the case had been brought to the Government Office, their first instinct was naturally to find Wang Long...

After all, under normal circumstances, a fight between gangs wouldn’t be brought to the Government Office.

But when a large group of them arrived at Wang Long’s home, they learned that he hadn’t returned the previous night.

Wang Long’s wife was a plump, middle-aged woman in her thirties, holding a two- or three-year-old child. Seeing the men from the Government Office looking for Wang Long so early in the morning, she scowled. "That damned man probably dropped dead on top of some seductress. He hasn’t been home for days!"

Upon further inquiry, they learned that Wang Long also kept a mistress in Maoyou Alley.

Maoyou Alley?

The government constables exchanged glances upon hearing this... Bald Li’s body had been found at the entrance to Maoyou Alley.

Without stopping, they rushed to the home of Wang Long’s mistress in Maoyou Alley... and upon pushing the door open, they saw Wang Long’s body lying outside the room’s window.

The government constables from the Government Office all sucked in a sharp breath...

Wang Long’s corpse was a ghastly sight. He was covered in blood, one of his eyes was missing, and he lay face down on the ground, stark naked. His body was frozen a deathly purple-blue...

Then, they saw the broken window lattice... and inside the room, they found Wang Long’s mistress, also dead...

"Eight people... the murder weapon was Darts in all cases. Looks like the work of one person."

The Government Office’s forensic doctor, surnamed Zhou, looked to be in his thirties. He carefully examined Wang Long’s body, then said in a low voice.

"The killer was ruthless, their sole purpose was to kill... But the force doesn’t seem very strong. They’re probably not a Martial Artist."

The forensic doctor, Zhou Xing, concluded.

Standing beside him was the constable captain of the fast response unit, Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing, also in his thirties, frowned deeply as he stared down at Wang Long’s body, his eyes glinting.

"Revenge?"

he asked in a low voice.

"Looks like it."

Zhou Xing nodded.

They had heard whispers of the Iron Tiger Gang’s deeds in the villages around True Martial. It was perfectly normal for them to have enemies.

"Chief, over here."

Suddenly, a constable’s voice called out from a distance. Zhou Xing and Zhao Xing turned to see a constable standing at the base of the wall.

The two exchanged a look and walked over.

There, they saw a distinct, fresh mark in the muddy ground at the base of the wall...

It had just rained a few days ago, and the ground by the wall was mud, not covered with bricks. Now, there was a mark, and even a few footprints.

Zhao Xing raised his eyebrows, then looked up at the three-meter-high courtyard wall. With a sudden movement, he shot upward as if plucked from the ground and landed directly on top of the wall.

After a careful look, he let out a breath and said to Zhou Xing, "Your judgment was correct. Not a Martial Artist... at least, not a Mingjin Martial Artist. He must have come from over there."

He pointed to the neighboring yard.

There were clear signs of climbing on the wall... The person hadn’t run along the top, but had crawled over on their stomach.

With a push of his feet, Zhou Xing also leaped effortlessly onto the wall.

That leap of over three meters filled the constables below with envy...

Only a Mingjin Martial Artist, at the very least, could jump over three meters in a single bound.

Most of them, even if they could get up the wall, would need to use handholds. Who could do it so easily?

After examining the marks, Zhou Xing’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked down at the eaves below.

"What is it?"

Zhao Xing noticed his expression and asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Chief, look. These two Hand Seals... aren’t they a bit strange?"

Zhou Xing pointed to a spot on the eaves.

There were two muddy, half-dry Hand Seals there...

It was obvious someone had clung to that spot.

Zhao Xing leaned down for a closer look, then narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "So it seems he’s not just a non-Mingjin Martial Artist... he might not even have any martial training at all. Just an ordinary person... Otherwise, for a three-meter wall, he wouldn’t need to use both hands to climb down."

"But that’s not right either... If he’s just an ordinary person, how do you explain his skill with Darts?"

He was confused.

But Zhou Xing shook his head. "That’s not strange. Ordinary People can practice Darts. With a year or two of training, they can achieve decent accuracy and lethality. That’s not what I’m talking about..."

"Then what is it?" Zhao Xing asked, perplexed.

"Don’t you think... among these two Hand Seals, the print of the left index finger is bigger and longer than the others?"

Zhao Xing looked closely, his brow furrowing. "You’re right... But what could that mean?"

"That the person has a strange left hand?"

Zhou Xing stared for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

Seeing that Zhou Xing had nothing more to say, Zhao Xing shook his head. After watching for another moment, he said, "Let’s get down first."

"I’ll take a rubbing of this Hand Seal first."

But Zhou Xing took a piece of Xuan paper from his robes and carefully made a rubbing of the Hand Seal.

Zhao Xing turned and jumped down from the wall.

Then Zhou Xing jumped down as well.

"The people at Lan Gui Fang said that besides the three dead, there were four injured yesterday... but one of the injured left halfway through. Lan Gui Fang searched all night but couldn’t find the killer... So Qiu Jin concluded that the fourth injured person was likely the killer, using a self-inflicted injury as a ruse to deceive them..."

Zhao Xing said, his eyes narrowed.

"A ruthless one." Zhou Xing nodded, also narrowing his eyes. "It seems they were hell-bent on killing these people... I wonder what the grudge was."

"I heard from the person who treated his wound that he was injured in the right leg. The Dart was stuck in deep... He must have been merciless. To be so cruel even to himself..."

Zhao Xing clicked his tongue.

He asked himself... he couldn’t be that ruthless, not even to himself.

As they were talking, someone ran over and said in a low voice, "Chief, Wang Hu is here."

Zhou Xing and Zhao Xing looked up at the same time and saw a group of people walk into the yard.

Leading them was a man in his thirties with a grim face. He walked with the powerful stride of a dragon and the prowl of a tiger, his presence astonishingly imposing.