Chapter 454: The Key Words of the Murder Case

This fellow had recovered and was now emphasizing his importance. Helian Chuan didn't expose him, merely frowning, but General Antelope was much more direct: "Over a year? What does news from over a year ago have to do with anything now?"

Isn't that timeline a bit too stretched?

"Please listen, all of you," Wang Mazi no longer dared to keep them in suspense. "To the east of Zhitian Village, there was a den of over a hundred porcupine demons. Their territory at the foot of Jade Wheel Mountain was very large. These demons had a bad relationship with the local people and often caused trouble. The villagers disliked them but usually couldn't do anything about them. This den of demons had lived at the foot of Jade Wheel Mountain for over a hundred years; they were much older than anyone else, having been there even before Zhitian Village existed."

"And then?" Helian Chuan knew that although the Beijia Kingdom claimed to have demons and humans coexisting, most demons preferred to live in their own tribal territories, with clear boundaries separating them from humans.

This was a natural tribal divide. For instance, the old sheep by his side preferred to live with his kin in a lucrative territory on the outskirts of the county town rather than within the city itself.

"Last winter, Jade Wheel Mountain suddenly had a landslide, which seemed to have buried their den," Wang Mazi said. "But no one went into the mountains at that time, so no one knew. It wasn't until the snow melted the following year, and people from Zhitian Village entered the mountains, that they discovered the landslide and that the demons' den had been destroyed."

Helian Chuan couldn't help but frown: "How is this a missing persons case? Wasn't it just an ordinary human tragedy?"

"A companion of mine, who was from Zhitian Village, was hired to clear the landslide debris and found all the porcupine demon carcasses piled together in the den, as if they had died huddled together, and only their bones remained," Wang Mazi stated. "It was a large den, with over a hundred of them. Not long after, some townspeople were attacked by porcupine demons, resulting in one death and one injury. The authorities were alerted and sent people down, but after searching for over a month, no trace of them was found. Eventually, the matter was dropped."

After listening, Helian Chuan immediately said, "This old news doesn't seem to be related to what happened on Ox Head Mountain."

Wang Mazi's face fell: "Even if they were crushed to death... Sir, do you know that porcupines never like to huddle together, especially not a hundred of them?"

He knew that the more effort he put in, the greater his chances of survival. Conversely, it would be a dead end.

"The reactions of living beings when facing a desperate situation are usually hard for others to imagine," Helian Chuan changed the topic. "You said that on your way back to Shuangyi Town, you encountered a 'ghost wall' and inexplicably ended up in Guantian?"

"Yes, that's right!"

Helian Chuan nodded: "Then you were set up." A 'ghost wall' is commonly known as a confusion array, and its basic function is to disorient people and make them wander aimlessly.

Arrays, you see, must be set up in advance.

Someone had set up a confusion array on their way home in advance, luring these villagers to Guantian to provoke the Wind-Piercing Beasts.

"Who planned this goods-stealing scheme for you?"

"My cousin, Wang Ling," Wang Mazi said. "He told us that a bunch of 'greenhorns' had arrived in Wudou Town; they were unfamiliar with the place, and their goods were valuable. If we succeeded, I'd get two silver taels this time!"

He further explained: "'Greenhorns' refer to outsiders who don't know the local market conditions here."

"Wang Ling is dead?"

Wang Mazi nodded, his face devoid of sadness, only resentment: "He deserved it. That night I sprained my ankle, and he didn't even stay to help me!"

"Where did he get his information?"

"I'm not sure, but probably from the gambling dens," Wang Mazi said. "He always ran there when he had money."

Helian Chuan thought for a moment: "And what about your targets, those 'greenhorns'? How much information do you remember about them?"

"Uh..." Wang Mazi had replayed this incident countless times in his mind. "It was a small merchant caravan, only about thirty people and ten carts. We stole two carts. They were full of chewing tobacco, and a dozen bamboo tubes were filled with saltpeter. Wang Ling accidentally opened one tube, and the whole cart became frozen."

Helian Chuan rubbed his temples: "Merchant travelers smuggling chewing tobacco and saltpeter? Where did you get the nerve to mess with them?"

Chewing tobacco was an extremely high-profit commodity, and the Beijia Kingdom only allowed official monopolies; civilian smuggling was a serious crime. As for saltpeter, it was vital military material, one of the basic ingredients for gunpowder. How could private merchants be allowed to smuggle it?

"Occasionally... some people do transport them," Wang Mazi argued stubbornly. "We've all seen it; we've also... also..."

"Stolen them too?"

Wang Mazi recoiled, then glanced at Jiao Yu and General Antelope beside him. Seeing no reaction from them, he gave a silent assent.

Indeed, some people engaged in businesses that risked their lives, and small places were even wilder. Chewing tobacco and saltpeter were both small in volume, so after stealing them, everyone would take a small share to sell, and the illicit goods would be disposed of quickly.

They were local thugs and had their own channels.

"Aren't you also involved in a life-risking business?" Helian Chuan looked at him with a half-smile. "What else do you remember about these merchants? The more details, the better."

"The leader was probably in his early forties, neither short nor fat, with a neatly trimmed beard, wearing a jade archer's ring on his ring finger, and he had a flesh-colored mole right here on his neck—" He pointed to his own neck to show Helian Chuan.

"When you were scouting, did you hear them mention their destination?"

Wang Mazi thought for a long time: "No, not really?"

"Alright, go back." While Helian Chuan was interrogating Wang Mazi, the Wind-Piercing Beasts brought by the Goshawk and General Antelope had gone to search the valley, but they returned without success.

The culprits were excellent at covering their tracks; staying there longer would yield no useful clues.

Back at the inn, Helian Chuan took out Fu Shanji's notes again, wanting to see if he had overlooked anything.

With Chiyan Kingdom being so vast, finding a missing bird was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Before Helian Chuan departed, Li Qingge had shared new intelligence with him:

A month ago, Beijia had suffered a setback on the eastern front.

It was said that a major tactical error occurred because two armies commanded by Beijia failed to coordinate in time, allowing the opponent to seize an opportunity. Yes, one of those armies was from the Chiyan Kingdom.

Recalling the Emperor's anger, Helian Chuan could easily guess that the disappearance of the white-shouldered eagle might have prevented crucial coordination intelligence from reaching the Chiyan Kingdom in time, leading to significant losses on the battlefield.

Such a matter, of course, would not be tolerated by Lingxu City.

He was very curious about the source of the intelligence, but Li Qingge clearly wouldn't disclose it.

On the compiled data from various regions, Fu Shanji had also written a few keywords in red:

The first word: Rainy night!

He was quite meticulous, finding a commonality in all the missing persons cases: they all occurred on rainy nights.

Helian Chuan recalled that the night the rock sheep was almost stolen was indeed characterized by continuous rain, which didn't stop until after the Hour of the Ox (1-3 AM).

These people only moved on rainy nights. Why?

The second keyword Fu Shanji summarized was "countryside."

These disappearances all occurred in rural areas and mountain forests, far from urban populations.

Humans had a habit of living in groups, while many demons preferred to live alone, away from human settlements. If these culprits specifically targeted rural areas, then indeed more demons than humans would become victims.

This also showed the perpetrators' caution.

The third keyword, then, was "multiple locations simultaneously."

Comparing the time and space of individual cases, some occurred very close in time, only a day or two apart, but the crime scenes were very far apart, over a hundred li away.

Why would the culprits travel hundreds of li to commit another crime within a dozen or so hours?

After personally experiencing the sheep-stealing incident, Helian Chuan leaned more towards the idea that these individuals were likely operating separately, in groups.

In other words, this was very likely a cross-regional gang operation!

Fu Shanji's deductions ended there. Perhaps he hadn't found new clues, or perhaps Fu Shanyue had struck a blow against him at that very moment...

In Helian Chuan's opinion, Fu Shanji's top-down approach to investigation was bound to yield no results.

What was the efficiency of official investigations? An old ox pulling a broken cart would be faster, not to mention all the omissions.

If only official personnel and official data were used, the day the case would be solved was far off.

Forget about the motive; without understanding the patterns behind their crime locations, chosen targets, and timing, this group would remain elusive.

Their actions were very secretive. If not for the involvement of the Lingxu City messenger this time, perhaps no one would have even noticed these scattered missing persons cases.

Not to mention the demon kingdom, even in the Wren Kingdom, the occasional disappearance of a few villagers was so common it wasn't worth mentioning.

In these times, there were simply too many reasons for the disappearance of living beings and demons.

So, should he go to Wudou Town, where Wang Mazi and his companions were set up, and investigate thoroughly?

While Helian Chuan was still deep in thought, there was a pecking sound on the window.

He got up and opened the window, seeing over a dozen crows outside.

"Something wrong?"

The largest crow poked its head in and looked around, and only after confirming that the Goshawk wasn't inside did it boldly hop in and take a couple of steps.

"Are you still investigating the strange occurrences on Ox Head Mountain?"

Helian Chuan nodded: "Do you have a new lead?"

"That depends on what reward you're offering," the crow said nonchalantly. "No reward, no lead!"

He had been dealing with such creatures since Sansin Plains and knew they had a typical bandit mentality, bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"Name your price and let me see?"

"Three hundred catties of beef and mutton, and a hundred Spirit-Preserving Pills every month!" The crow had clearly thought this through before coming. "Also, we want the forest south of Shuangyi Town as our habitat; no other birds are allowed to nest there apart from our flock!"

Helian Chuan raised an eyebrow: "I am the Crown Prince's special envoy; seeing me is like seeing him in person. You still dare to ask for such an exorbitant price?"

"How rich is the Crown Prince? A single strand of his hair is thicker than our thighs!" The crow sneered. "A few hundred catties of meat and a hundred pills every month are nothing to him!"

"That's true," Helian Chuan said. As soon as he finished speaking, he pursed his lips and whistled, then flicked his hand.

A surge of energy swept through, closing the window.

This separated the crow leader from its dozen or so subordinates.

Seeing the situation was not good, the large crow did not attack Helian Chuan but merely crashed into the window paper, intending to escape through the window.

Helian Chuan's prediction was precise; he cast a net directly in front of it, making it seem as if the crow had flown straight into a trap.