Chapter 202: The butcher did it?
"Patrol Envoy?"
A deep voice came from behind the screen.
Through the gauze of the screen, Master Liu could vaguely see the outline of the county magistrate.
He had a big belly full of fat intestines, and there was a slender figure who looked like a maid beside him, feeding him something that looked like grapes.
Seeing this attitude of enjoyment, Master Liu was envious. However, realizing the other party's identity, Master Liu did not dare to show it on the surface. He bowed and said, "It is indeed the patrol envoy. Lord Jiang Ming brought the token with him."
"Why is the patrol envoy here?"
The big-bellied county magistrate sounded puzzled and unhappy, and it seemed that he really didn't like the touring envoy coming here.
Although Liu Zhi knew that the county magistrate was not asking him, but asking himself, he still responded:
"This... I don't know."
"Forget it." The county magistrate waved his hand, sat up straight, took a bite of the fruit handed to him by the maid, and muttered, "Give them the body, and send some gifts to the patrol envoy, so that he won't involve me."
"yes!"
Hearing the county magistrate's reassurance, Master Liu also relaxed.
If the county magistrate insisted on getting hold of the two bodies and the inspector came to his door, the first person to suffer would definitely be his lackey.
Even though Liu Zhi holds a high position of power in the county government and can even order Jiang Ming, a seventh-rank official, around, he is ultimately just a high-ranking slave.
Whatever the fate of a slave is, it is up to the higher-ups to decide.
Mr. Liu received the order from the county magistrate and prepared to leave. As he was about to leave, he heard the county magistrate say:
"By the way, go get someone to check the identity of that patrol envoy."
"yes."
Liu Zhi responded and went down.
He understood the county magistrate's order.
Xiangzhou is not a big province, and Linbiancheng is not a big city either. It is only slightly better than an ordinary county town.
There was no profit, and even the Six Gates only set up a temporary branch gate because there were no six gates supervising around.
It is located in a remote area, and there are no decent martial arts sects around. Even the Feisha Gang, which seems to have some fame and is a member of the "Thirty-Six Gangs", was also supported by the county magistrate.
In the final analysis, he is half a member of the imperial court.
It's really strange that a patrol envoy suddenly appeared in this remote place.
However, the token was not fake, and the county magistrate had no choice but to give the body to the other party and then investigate secretly.
No matter what, the body has to be given away.
Liu Zhi left with the order, and after leaving the county magistrate's mansion, he couldn't help sneezing.
"Alas, with a beautiful woman by my side, the fragrance fills the house... this is the life that people should live..."
Thinking back to the county magistrate's enjoyment, Liu Zhi couldn't help but sigh with envy.
I don’t know when Liu Zhi will be able to live such a life.
…
Jiang Ming had just gone to the county government office to ask for the body, and the county government office sent the body over right after.
But when he saw the two bodies, Jiang Ming suddenly became angry.
He pointed at Liu Zhi and said, "You are such a good guy, Liu Zhi! I asked you to send me the body of the deceased constable, but you found two rotten corpses to make up the number, right? Where is the real body?!"
"Hey, Captain Jiang, these are the two detectives!"
Liu Zhi responded with a bitter face.
With the patrol envoy beside him, Jiang Ming couldn't show too much kindness to Liu Zhi. He said angrily:
"Who are you kidding? The body was delivered this morning and it's not even past noon yet! How could it be so rotten? Do you think that my Lord and I have never seen a body before?!"
"Captain Jiang... Lord Jiang! Sigh... and Lord Li! God have mercy on us! These two are indeed the two captains who were sent here this morning! Everything I said is true, my Lords, please understand!"
"you--!"
Jiang Ming still didn't believe it and was about to continue yelling.
Li Qi stopped Jiang Ming and said, "Okay, he didn't lie."
"What? But... Sir, even though it's summer, it will take at least a few days for the corpse to rot to this extent, and it's not even half a day yet!"
Jiang Ming said that less than half a day had passed since the body of the constable was sent to the county government office and then returned.
Not to mention half a day, I'm afraid it won't even take three hours.
How could it be so rotten? Li Qi remained silent as he listened to Jiang Ming's words. He endured the stench in the air and looked at the two unrecognizable corpses in front of him.
For Li Qi, who possesses superpowers, ordinary people cannot hide their lies from his eyes, unless the other party knows what abilities he has and takes targeted restraint.
But Liu Zhi is obviously not such a person, and Liu Zhi, who is only at the ninth level in martial arts, cannot disguise his body's instinctive reaction.
So Li Qi could conclude that Liu Zhi was not lying.
The two bodies belonged to the two constables who were sent to the county government office that morning.
Of course, the possibility of someone switching packages in the middle cannot be ruled out.
Li Qi thought about it and said to Jiang Ming:
"Does anyone recognize these two? Have someone come out to identify them."
Jiang Ming looked at Liu Zhi. Liu Zhi glanced around the two men and said, "Let me think about it... Oh! Captain Yan of the yamen must be familiar with these two people!"
"Then what are you waiting for? Why don't you call him over?" Jiang Ming glared at Liu Zhi.
Liu Zhi resisted the urge to retort and sent the officers from the county government to call Captain Yan.
About half a quarter of an hour later, Captain Yan from the county government came up to them.
He was wearing a blue constable uniform and a police chief's coat. When he saw the people, he bowed and said, "I am Yan Lin, nice to meet you, gentlemen!"
"Stop talking nonsense and check these two people quickly to see if they are the detectives you know."
Liu Zhi didn't look happy with him and gave him a direct order.
Captain Yan was not angry. He looked down at the two corpses on the straw mat below.
The stench hit him in the face, and Captain Yan's face wrinkled into a bitter gourd. He pinched his nose and moved closer, looking left and right around the two of them, and finally stood up and said:
"Reporting to you all...
"I can't quite recognize the one on the left, but the one on the right should be Constable Liu Da who was called over by Lord Jiang yesterday. He had an injury to his left hand when he was a child, so his thumb joint is wide and protruding, so he can be recognized at a glance."
After hearing what they said, everyone looked at the joints on the man's hand, and indeed, there was a bulge outward at the knuckle of the thumb.
If the identity of one person can be determined, the identity of the other person can be almost certain.
At this point, it can be confirmed that these two people are indeed the constables who were sent there in the morning.
But if this is true, then the matter is too bizarre.
How could the body be so rotten in less than half a day? Li Qi looked at Liu Zhi, who was relieved because he had confirmed the identity of the constable, and asked after thinking for a while:
"Where's the coroner?"
"Oh! Yes, yes, yes, the coroner! Where is the coroner? Let him come over!"
Liu Zhi suddenly realized and summoned the coroner again.
Soon, a white-haired old coroner came in front of the crowd, bowed to them as usual, and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:
"I am the coroner of Linbian City. What do you want me to do?"
In most dynasties, coroners basically did not hold any official position and had a low status, so they could not call themselves "lower officials".
But perhaps because of the flourishing of martial arts in Da Qi, fights among the martial arts world occurred from time to time, and once a martial artist committed a crime using martial arts, it was difficult for ordinary people to know the cause of death of the victim.
Therefore, the coroner who has experience and knows most of the martial arts in the world has a rank here.
Although he is the lowest-ranking ninth-grade official, he is still an official.
A little better than Captain Yan standing next to him.
A normal yamen constable does not hold any official position. Those constables who hold official positions are all in the Six Gates.
Li Qi looked at the coroner in front of him.
This man is a man of the world. Although he is a bit old, he has the ninth-grade martial arts skills and should be an experienced coroner.
Facing this 'old forensic doctor' who may have examined countless corpses, Li Qi also asked with a little respect:
"Old sir, this morning, these two bodies...were they in your hands?"
"I am not worthy of being addressed as 'Sir' by your Excellency." The old coroner bowed slightly and then said, "Not only these two, but I also examined the bodies of the Feisha Gang members yesterday."
"So what did you find?"
"We did find some. For example, the Feisha Gang members had many sharp holes on their bodies. They must have been sucked of their blood by someone... As for these two..."
The old coroner looked down at the rotting bodies of the gang members and frowned, "When they were brought here, there was no scar on their bodies, but their bodies were black and blue, and their blood was coagulated. It was suspected that they were poisoned."
"Then the cause of death was poisoning?" Li Qi asked again.
The old coroner said, "It is extremely rare to find poisons in the martial arts world that can kill people in this way. I only know of a few types, but after I checked them, they are completely different from the poisons I know...so I can't make a conclusion."
"Then did you notice that the body was rotting?"
"No, from the time I checked until the end, the bodies were all normal, without any abnormalities, so I was also very confused, why did they suddenly become like this?"
The old coroner frowned in thought, and was also extremely puzzled by this matter.
After a moment of silence, Li Qi half-knelt in front of the two corpses and touched the relatively intact parts of their bodies with his hands.
Then place the fingertips that were touching the other person's body on the tip of your nose and smell it.
When he smelled the scent on his fingertips, Li Qi's eyes flashed: "...pig odor."
"What?"
His voice was too low and Jiang Ming and others did not hear it.
Li Qi casually took the rag and wiped his fingers, then said to Jiang Ming:
"They have some pig odor on them."
“?!”
Jiang Ming's eyes widened instantly.
Because he remembered what the two Li brothers from Qiqiao Villa said before they left.
They also smelled the stench of pigs at the scene.
That's the smell you only get from being in a pigsty.
Liu Zhi, who was standing by, was startled when he heard this, then he seemed to have thought of something and exclaimed:
"Could it be that the butchers in the city did it? Quick, quick, go and arrest Butcher Wang in the east of the city... yes, and Butcher Feng in the west of the city! Arrest them!"
"Don't worry." Li Qi stopped Liu Zhi and said to Jiang Ming, "Send someone to take care of these two bodies. You take a few people with me to check out these two butchers."
It is true that he smells like pig, but that is not necessarily caused by the butcher.
After all, if it was really done by a butcher, then in addition to the stench of pigs, there should also be the smell of blood left over from years of slaughtering pigs.
This bloody smell is different from the bloody smell of human blood. Li Qi and Li Qiao can both tell the difference.
But there was not much smell of blood at the scene, so it was not necessarily the butcher's doing.
But having said that, now that I have found the clue, I still have to go and take a look.
After all, there are no other clues now.
(End of this chapter)
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