36: Chapter 36 Super Detective, Seriously Solving Cases

After some vague nonsense from the two of them, first talking about how the tea burned their mouths, and then about how their Cultivation Technique was running unsmoothly, the yamen was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Xie Feng gave two coughs and steered the conversation back to the main topic.

"Ahem, Lord Ma," Xie Feng said, "Has the source of the ox been found?"

"Found it, it has been found." Magistrate Ma picked up a document from the table and handed it over with both hands.

"He is blind." Tu Ziguan held back a laugh nearby, still not having recovered from the name Bond.

"Oh my, this subordinate was muddle-headed, completely muddle-headed!" Ma Bangde quickly pulled his hands back and passed it to Tu Ziguan instead. "Young Master Tu, please take a look."

Tu Ziguan took it and glanced over it.

Zheng Youtian, a butcher from the north of the city.

On the twelfth day of the eighth month, he reported and registered the slaughter of a bull, citing that the ox had broken its leg and could no longer plow the fields.

The inspector was Zhang Kui, the county yamen's ox official.

"This Zheng Youtian is one of the five people from the Black Pine Forest, and he stinks now."

Xie Feng gently stroked his blind staff, and Magistrate Ma's expression changed slightly at the side.

His face was full of unease that seemed to say "as expected".

"Is Zhang Kui here right now?" Tu Ziguan asked.

"He is, he is, he is on duty in the front yamen right now. This subordinate will have someone call him over right away."

Zhang Kui was a thin man in his forties, with more wrinkles on his face than Magistrate Ma.

When he was called into the inner hall, his eyes first caught Xie Feng's veil, causing his footsteps to noticeably pause. Then, seeing the token at Tu Ziguan's waist, his face turned another shade paler.

"This villain Zhang Kui pays his respects to the two Emissaries."

Xie Feng didn't waste words with him. "On the twelfth of the eighth month, Zheng Youtian reported the slaughter of an ox. Did you inspect it?"

"Y-Yes, this villain inspected it."

"Did the ox really break its leg?"

Zhang Kui's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Replying to the Emissaries, it was indeed broken. The left hind leg, two inches above the knee, and the bone fragments were even exposed. When this villain inspected it, that ox could no longer stand, and Zheng Youtian slaughtered the ox right in front of this humble one."

"Slaughtered on the spot? And after the slaughter?"

"After the slaughter... this villain went back."

The two of them started whispering up above.

"It's over, I don't know how to try a case." Xie Feng suddenly felt a bit awkward.

"No, if you don't know how, why are you putting on an act?" Tu Ziguan saw how boisterous he was acting and had thought Xie Feng actually had some skills.

"Ahem, Lord Ma, you do the questioning. The two of us naturally have our own methods for verifying authenticity." Xie Feng blushed slightly, but it was fine; he was wearing a veil, so nobody could see anyway.

Hearing this, Magistrate Ma immediately questioned Zhang Kui sternly.

"Where is the meat? Where are the ox bones? A three-year-old bull cannot just vanish into thin air after being slaughtered! You inspected it and left, not caring where the meat went?"

"Holy crap, so professional. As expected of the Goose City magistrate?" Tu Ziguan was slightly surprised.

"Uh, Young Master Tu, where is Goose City?" Magistrate Ma looked puzzled.

"Stop messing around, keep asking." Xie Feng quickly interrupted.

Sweat began to bead on Zhang Kui's forehead.

"Replying to the Emissaries, Zheng Youtian said... said that the ox belonged to his own family, and how to dispose of the meat was his own business. This villain only cared about inspecting whether the slaughter complied with regulations and didn't care about the flow of the meat."

Magistrate Ma straightened his back.

"Zhang Kui, you better think carefully! Zheng Youtian is just a butcher, where would he get a whole ox? Besides, slaughtering an ox without keeping the meat to sell for money, do you think that is reasonable?"

"This villain... this villain also felt it wasn't very reasonable. But Zheng Youtian has a violent temper, and this villain was afraid of offending him..."

"You are afraid of offending a butcher, but not afraid of offending this official?!" Magistrate Ma shouted sternly.

Tu Ziguan took off the Qingyun Sect token, tossed it back and forth in his hand, and watched with a smile from the side.

No, Tu Wu and Ma Bangde looking like this didn't seem like good people at all; they looked just like corrupt officials, Xie Feng frowned.

Looking back at Zhang Kui, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

"My lord, spare my life! This villain really doesn't know where the ox went! After Zheng Youtian slaughtered the ox, this villain left. Later, this villain heard... heard..."

"Heard what?"

"I heard that Zheng Youtian pushed a cart out of the city that night. The cart was loaded with something and covered with an oilcloth. Old Li at the city gate saw it and asked what he was pulling. He said it was pork being delivered to an estate outside the city. Old Li lifted a corner of the oilcloth to take a look and said it didn't smell like pork, but rather like beef."

"Where is Old Li right now?"

"He is... he is on duty at the city gate."

Xie Feng stood up. "Lord Ma, lend me Zhang Kui for a moment. Have him lead us to see Old Li."

Magistrate Ma nodded repeatedly, eager to pass the buck immediately.

"Of course, of course. Zhang Kui, you must cooperate well with the two Emissaries, do you hear?"

Zhang Kui knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Zheng Youtian is just a butcher, yet he can make the county yamen's ox official this terrified?" Xie Feng shook his head continuously as he watched. "There's an eight-tenths chance someone is backing him behind the scenes."

"That ox definitely didn't die; he had it transported out." Tu Ziguan looked at Zhang Kui's back ahead of them. "After seeing Old Li, I'll pull him aside separately to interrogate him."

The guardroom at the city gate was a small house, and Old Li was sitting at the entrance basking in the sun. Seeing Zhang Kui approach, the laziness on his face instantly vanished.

"Old Li," Zhang Kui said, "These two are Emissaries from the Qingyun Sect, and they want to ask you a few questions."

Old Li stood up, his waist bent. "Please ask away, Emissaries."

Xie Feng didn't put on airs either; without sitting down, he asked while standing.

"On the night of the twelfth of the eighth month, Zheng Youtian pushed a cart out of the city. What did you see loaded on the cart?"

Old Li was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh.

"That night! This humble one remembers that Butcher Zheng pushed a flatbed cart covered with an oilcloth. This humble one smelled something wrong and lifted it to take a look.

Beneath the oilcloth was a pile of ox bones. The meat had already been stripped clean, and blood filaments were still hanging between the cracks of the bones. This humble one asked him at the time, saying, 'You slaughtered an ox without selling the meat, why are you just dragging bones out of the city?'

He said it was being delivered to an estate outside the city, and the estate needed ox bones to boil glue."

"Which estate?"

"He didn't say, so this humble one didn't ask further."

"Which direction did he walk?"

Old Li reached out and pointed. "Heading north out of the city gate, he took the road leading to Liushu Village."

Liushu Village?

The peddler among the five believers was from Liushu Village.

This matched up.

Xie Feng's blind staff tapped the ground.

"Was anyone with him at the time?"

Old Li thought for a moment.

"Yes. There was another person following behind the cart. This humble one didn't see his face clearly at the time and thought he was Butcher Zheng's assistant, but thinking about it later, that wasn't right. Butcher Zheng's assistant was a fat man, while that person was extremely thin."

"How do you know he was extremely thin?"

"When the wind blew his cloak up, this humble one saw that person's wrists. They were as thin as firewood sticks, looking just like a consumptive ghost."

"Does that person have any distinguishing features?"

Old Li frowned and thought for a long time.

"Features... this humble one really didn't see clearly. If forced to say... there is indeed one. On that person, there wasn't the fishy smell of ox bones, but another kind. It was like... like the scent of incense in a temple, but a bit different, sweeter than incense."

On Xie Feng's chest, the mark of Ghatanothoa grew faintly warm.

So touching, finally someone useful came along. Lord Cthulhu, I will support you forever!

Xie Feng smoothed down the mark on his chest and replied to Old Li:

"Alright. Old Li, Zhang Kui, you two may leave. Remember what was asked today; do not speak of it outside."

The two men nodded repeatedly. Zhang Kui walked even faster than when he came, almost to the point of fleeing.

Tu Ziguan watched the two walk away before speaking: "The scent of incense in a temple, but sweet? What kind of thing is that? Do you have any impression of it?"

"I don't know, but his rank should be higher than Zheng Youtian and the others." Xie Feng touched his chest; the mark had already quieted down. "Old Li said that person was abnormally thin, with wrists like firewood sticks. What comes to your mind?"

"A dieter." Tu Ziguan thought for a moment, "Or to put it more terror-inducingly, sucked dry by something?"

"Why don't you say anorexia? Stop talking nonsense, those ox bones must be fake. Let's find people first."

"Then let's hurry up. Who should we look for first?"

"There's no use rushing; they must have hidden away long ago. I'll return to the Xie Residence, and you question Zhang Kui." Xie Feng said, "Then the two of us will go together to Liushu Village to clear up the matters of Cangyun City first."

"Clear up who?"

"What do you mean clear up who? That's called an investigation. I'm going back to investigate Xie Yuan."

One of the five believers, a descendant of a branch family of the Xie Family, Xie Feng's cousin.

What is known now is that that Butcher Zheng must have used some method to fake slaughtering an ox while actually secretly transporting the ox to the Black Pine Forest outside the city.

And Xie Yuan could definitely not wash his hands of this involvement.

Why would someone from the Xie Family appear in the Black Pine Forest?

Xie Feng remembered the scent Old Li mentioned—the scent of temple incense, yet sweet.

In the cthulhu mythos, sweetness is usually not a good omen.

On Xie Feng's own veil lingered the scent of the Bloated Woman, which seemed to be the sweet and cloying smell of perfume.

"What's wrong?" Tu Ziguan asked.

"It's nothing." Xie Feng lowered his hand and continued walking forward.

Xie Feng did not share this thought with Tu Ziguan.

Because he was still unsure; every single thing Pu Huai gave him was useful, but every single one came with hooks attached.

The veil was a reward, and also a bait. Nyarlathotep must have also buried a chess piece in Cangyun City. Would the scent on that veil be the guiding beacon for the next chess piece?