Chapter 364 Shen Chu saw through it; this face belonged to Jueming.

Chen Chu frowned.

"How come Jueming's body is in the mass grave? Shouldn't it be in the mortuary?"

Ling Ce sighed, "Don't even mention it. I don't know how the news of Jueming's suicide got out."

I had just finished examining the body when the victims' families arrived.

They knelt at the entrance of the government office and refused to get up, demanding that Jueming's body be thrown into a mass grave to be fed to the dogs.

Some family members even angrily stated that they wanted to dismember Jueming's body into eight pieces.

It took me a lot of talking to calm them down, telling them that someone like Jueming wasn't worth getting their hands dirty.

Then they sent several constables to watch as Jueming was thrown into a mass grave.

"If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have taken so long to come back."

Ling Ce rubbed his stomach as he spoke and asked Hongxiu.

"Is there any food? I'm starving."

"Yes, I'll go get it for you."

Shen Chu stood up and pulled Ling Ce up.

"Stop eating yet, it's urgent, we need to head to the mass grave immediately."

"Now?" Ling Ce exclaimed in surprise, "That place is so creepy, are you sure you want to go now?"

"Stop dawdling, or I'm afraid Jueming's body will really be eaten by wild dogs."

Half an hour later, at the mass grave in the west of the city.

The moon was hidden behind the dark clouds, only half of its face was faintly visible.

The woods of the mass grave were dark and gloomy, and the occasional barking of wild dogs in the distance sent chills down one's spine.

Ling Ce followed behind Shen Chu with trepidation, watching her calmly avoid the two skulls at her feet.

Startled, she abruptly looked away, her brow twitching involuntarily.

"My dear aunt, couldn't you have sent the eldest son or Hongxiu to carry the body back for you?"

How could you do this, barging into a place like this with your pregnant belly? If…

Shen Chu interrupted him expressionlessly.

"Stop nagging and hurry up and find Jueming's body."

Ling Ce rubbed his arms and muttered to himself.

"I was outside comforting the victims' parents, how would I know where they had dumped the bodies?"

After a moment's thought, Shen Chu said, "Then let's go look in the direction the dog is barking."

Stray dogs often roam mass graves, and with their keen sense of smell, they know best where there are fresh corpses.

The two searched in the darkness towards the place where the wild dogs were barking the loudest.

Not far away, we saw five or six wild dogs fighting each other under a tree.

The body lying on the ground nearby was the one they were looking for.

Clearly, the wild dogs have found their dinner and are engaged in a fierce struggle for it.

Shen Chu gave Ling Ce a push.

"Third senior brother, go!"

Ling Ce's face immediately darkened. "You want me to go and snatch people, no, snatch corpses, for those wild dogs?"

Shen Chu raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Or shall I do it?"

Ling Ce gritted his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, and pounced on him.

The stray dogs were chased away, and Ling Ce wiped his face with his hands on his hips.

"What exactly do you want to verify? Why do you have to come to such a gloomy and terrifying place at this time?"

"You'll have to trouble the wise and mighty young hero Ling to help you beat the dog."

Shen Chu ignored his rambling, "Tinder."

Ling Ce had no choice but to shut his mouth and take out a tinderbox.

"Get closer."

Ling Ce squatted down and brought the tinderbox closer.

Shen Chu's gaze swept along his temples, finally landing on the corpse's earlobe.

Ling Ce asked in a low voice, "This is Jueming? Look, even their earlobes are the same."

Jueming's naturally large earlobes are quite rare..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Shen Chu reach out and tug at the corpse's earlobe.

Snap.

Something the size of a fingernail suddenly fell off my earlobe.

A small patch of dark blue earlobe was visible.

A tiny bit of skin, as thin as a cicada's wing, sticks up next to the earlobe.

Chen Chu pinched that little bit of skin and pulled hard.

A thin, gossamer-like human skin mask fell off the corpse's face.

A strange, bruised face was revealed.

Ling Ce stared in disbelief and snatched the human skin mask from Shen Chu's hand.

"Damn, this human skin mask is even thinner than the one on my face that costs a thousand taels of silver."

"There wasn't a single trace left after wearing it; I couldn't see it at all."

Shen Chu clapped his hands and slowly stood up.

Having confirmed her suspicions, she didn't feel relieved; instead, her heart felt even heavier.

Ling Ce held the human skin mask, looking completely bewildered.

"How did you guess that this corpse was a fake Jueming?"

Shen Chu said, "When we entered the inn, I almost bumped into that man who collects swill."

His straw hat fell off, and I saw his face.

Although I wasn't familiar with that face, I could see his earlobe.

Such a large and full size is rare; I've only ever seen it on Jueming.

I paid closer attention to that man then, and later learned that he was the murderer in disguise, but Minister Zhang said that Jueming had killed him.

Ling Ce suddenly realized, and the interface said, "So you suspected that Jueming faked his death, and then the real Jueming went to harm Minister Zhang by wearing another human skin mask."

Chen Chu shook her head. "It shouldn't be a human skin mask. If I'm not mistaken, what we saw at the post station was Jueming's real face."

Ling Ce was stunned.

"What is the true face of Jueming?"

Shen Chu explained: "Minister Zhang said that the person who harmed him was Jueming. Since it concerns his own life, Minister Zhang would not lie."

I confirmed with the old woman who serves in Zhang Shilang's residence that the man pretending to deliver firewood and the man pretending to collect swill look exactly alike.

The poisoning occurred in a very short time, making it impossible for someone to change into a human skin mask or anything like that. This means that what Minister Zhang saw was this face.

Vice Minister Zhang insisted it was Jueming, which means he recognized the face, and that the face belonged to Jueming.

Ling Ce was completely confused. "I still don't understand. You mean what Jueming showed to everyone earlier?"

He flicked the human skin mask in his hand.

"Is this kind and benevolent face, the compassionate face of Buddha, actually fake? Has he been living with this human skin mask all along?"

After thinking for a moment, Shen Chu offered a different explanation.

"Think about why he repeatedly tried to harm Minister Zhang? It must be because Minister Zhang discovered some unknown secrets."

This includes seeing Jueming's real face beneath the human skin mask, and Jueming's mysterious dealings with the person behind the scenes.

It was precisely because Vice Minister Zhang discovered this information that they felt compelled to silence him.

Ling Ce understood this time, but found it utterly unbelievable.

"I've been wearing this human skin mask on my face, pretending to be you, and it's only been less than a month. I'm almost going crazy."

How could someone live wearing a human skin mask for over a decade? That's terrifying.

Shen Chu remained noncommittal; she was not Jueming and could not deduce Jueming's thoughts.

Ling Ce muttered to himself before suddenly realizing something.

"Oh no, if Jueming was able to escape from prison, he must have been met by someone from the prefectural government."

They won't rest until they kill Minister Zhang. Let's hurry back; Minister Zhang will definitely be in danger if we stay any longer."

He said this and turned to leave.

Shen Chu grabbed him and said, "Don't worry, I've already made arrangements at the inn."

"Let's settle Jueming's fake corpse properly before we go back."

Outside the post station.

Seven or eight dark figures silently slipped inside.

At the same time, Pei Yuan and Sun Yan also arrived outside the post station.