Chapter 85: Case Files

In the dimly lit inn room, four corpses lay on the beds, their gruesome deaths leaving them horribly disfigured. Chen Ji found it hard to connect this scene before him with the boisterous, almost foolish young lord he knew. If someone could disguise themselves so completely, how terrifying would their true face be beneath the facade?

Chen Ji whispered to Xifeng, "Go ask the guests on the second floor if anyone heard sounds of a struggle or screams."

"Yes, sir."

Xifeng cupped his fist and left, leading several secret agents to knock on doors one by one.

A moment later, Xifeng returned and whispered, "My lord, it's a bit strange. No one heard any screams. They must have been killed instantly before their faces were peeled off. That's why they had no time to scream."

Chen Ji didn't answer; he simply bent down and meticulously examined the bodies. He peeled open the eyelids of the deceased and was surprised to find two copper nails hammered into each pupil; the eyeballs around the nails were a ghastly red.

A moment later, he stood up and said, "These four people had their faces peeled and copper nails hammered in while they were still alive, tortured for quite some time."

Xifeng was stunned. "Their faces peeled off while they were still alive?" As he spoke, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Chen Ji. "My lord, wipe the blood from your hands!"

Chen Ji calmly analyzed as he wiped his hands, "If their faces had been peeled off after death, there wouldn't be this much blood on their faces, nor would their eyeballs be so severely engorged. It's strange. Since they were tortured while alive, why couldn't they make a sound?"

In the eerie silence, the secret agents' hands tightened on the hilts of their swords. Even these secret agents, accustomed to scenes of murder, couldn't help but feel a sense of tension and solemnity. It didn't look like these four people had been killed by humans, but rather as if their souls had been snatched by ghosts.

Someone whispered, "In the mountains near my hometown, there are legends of 'face-eating hags' who are said to eat the faces of the dead and impersonate them to continue living."

Xifeng scoffed and said with a stern face, "As a secret agent, how dare you speak of ghosts? How could officials of our Ning Dynasty fear such foul creatures?"

Someone mumbled quietly, "Then could it be that some special official used spirits to do this?"

Xifeng kicked him. "It must have been done by assassins to silence them."

Most people in this era were superstitious; anything that couldn't be clearly explained could be attributed to ghosts and gods. Even the cold-blooded secret agents believed in such things.

Chen Ji calmly stated, "This wasn't done by spirits; it was done by humans! I suspect the killer's method, if they are a special official, is very bizarre. They could control these people, making them suffer torture alive yet unable to struggle."

What he didn't say was that according to criminal psychological profiling, the killer must have also suffered similar physical and psychological trauma, which would then lead to such a twisted desire for abuse.

Chen Ji looked at Xifeng. "Among the methods of special officials recorded by the Secret Service, who could accomplish something like this?"

"Some unorthodox sorcerers might be able to!"

Xifeng frowned and said, "My lord, we'd have to check the archives in the capital. And only those of Sea Eagle rank or higher can access the relevant sections of the archives to see such information. These types of special officials are usually more secretive and rarely oppose the government. If we have official status, their 'arts' will be greatly diminished."

"Oh?"

Chen Ji was surprised. This was the second time he had heard this assertion. This time, Lin Chaoqing had said to Jiao Tu in Liu Shiyu's residence, "I hold a fourth-rank official position in the Great Ning Dynasty; don't embarrass yourself with such petty tricks." Back then, Chen Ji didn't understand what "special official" meant, so he hadn't paid much attention to the statement. But now, recalling Xifeng's words, he suddenly realized something: official positions in the Ning Dynasty were themselves a kind of "special official" path, and the higher one's rank, the less one needed to fear sorcery.

Xifeng looked at Chen Ji. "My lord, what do we do now? The trail has gone cold."

Chen Ji remained silent. Before coming here, he had hoped the trail would go cold. But now that it truly had, he didn't know whether he should be happy or worried. Should he pursue it further, or should he give up?

Seeing that he didn't answer, Xifeng became puzzled and pressed again, "My lord?"

Chen Ji turned and walked out of the room. "Take me to the Inner Prison archives. I need to check a case file!" He vaguely remembered that when he helped Jiao Tu and Yun Yang investigate the Liu family case, he had glimpsed a similar method of torture in the case files. He just couldn't quite recall the details and needed to see it again. Additionally, he could take some more Ice Flow.

As he was about to leave, Chen Ji suddenly added, "Prepare these four bodies for burial. Be sure to act in secret and don't let any news leak out."

On Luoyi Street in the East Market under the cover of night, a carriage was quietly parked by the roadside. Tall, muscular horses snorted in the cold wind, exhaling white mist like tides.

Xifeng stood behind Chen Ji, covering Chen Ji's eyes with a black cloth. As he tied the cloth, he explained, "My lord, please understand. The Inner Prison in Luocheng was previously infiltrated, so now, entry and exit require special approval from Lord Golden Pig. Everyone else must have their eyes covered when entering or leaving."

"Understood!"

Chen Ji, aided by an escort, entered the carriage. As the wheels slowly began to roll, he closed his eyes and asked, "How long have you followed Lord Golden Pig?"

Xifeng recalled, "Seven years!"

Chen Ji let out an "oh." "You've been with Lord Golden Pig for a long time, then. Do you often see Lord Heavenly Horse?"

Xifeng said with a smile, "Lord Heavenly Horse is like a divine dragon, rarely showing his face. We rarely see him. However, during the Lantern Festival banquet where Lord Golden Pig rewards his subordinates, he attends if he's in the capital."

The spacious carriage swayed gently. Cold air occasionally seeped through the gaps in the cotton curtains. Inside the carriage, Xifeng took out a tinder stick, carefully lit a copper hand warmer, and tucked it into Chen Ji's arms. "My lord, warm your hands."

"Thank you!"

Chen Ji fumbled for the hand warmer and then asked, "Have you ever seen Lord White Dragon?"

Xifeng closed the tinder box as he spoke, "Lord White Dragon is seen even less often. His movements are very mysterious, and he only appears at very important occasions. When Lord White Dragon appears, he also wears a mask. I suspect only Lord Inner Minister knows what he looks like."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment. "What about Lord Ill Tiger?"

Xifeng paused. "I've never seen Lord Ill Tiger. He's like a ghost, having no presence. It's only when Lord Inner Minister occasionally says, 'Let Ill Tiger handle this,' that everyone remembers there's such a person in the Secret Service."

"Never appeared?"

"Never appeared..." Xifeng carefully recalled, "At least since I joined the Secret Service, I haven't seen him. Six years ago, when His Majesty made his southern tour, all the Zodiac agents were guarding him, but Lord Ill Tiger was still nowhere to be seen. He might have been hidden in the crowd, but we wouldn't know."

Chen Ji pressed on. "What kind of tasks does Lord Inner Minister usually assign to Lord Ill Tiger? Is it assassination or intelligence gathering?"

Xifeng glanced at Chen Ji in surprise. He felt that Chen Ji seemed unusually interested in Lord Ill Tiger. "My lord, have you also heard that Lord Ill Tiger is going to step down? But that position is too far above us, and too many people are vying for it. Even with Lord Golden Pig's help, it wouldn't be possible."

The carriage arrived at the entrance of the Inner Prison. Xifeng was the first to jump out and helped Chen Ji down, guiding him into the narrow, downward-sloping stairs of the Inner Prison.

As the blindfold was removed, the flames of the Bagua formation lamps on the stone path's walls flickered. The Inner Prison at night was even more sinister, as if one were walking into hell itself.

"My lord, which case files would you like to see?" Xifeng asked.

Chen Ji strained to recall the case files he had previously seen. "Case File 'Jia' from the seventh year of Jianing."

Once the jailers brought over a large box, he rapidly flipped through each page of the dossiers, scanning ten lines at a glance. Time passed minute by minute.

Chen Ji looked up. "No, bring the 'Jia' case files from the eighth and ninth years of Jianing. You all search as well. Find me any cases where the deceased had objects nailed into them."

However, a jailer said awkwardly, "My lord, we are illiterate."

"Illiterate?" Chen Ji was taken aback. He knew that literacy rates were low in this era, but he hadn't expected even the Secret Service jailers to be illiterate. Civil officials monopolized the paper and book industries, thus monopolizing knowledge. Ordinary families, let alone participating in the imperial examinations, might not even find a way to learn how to read.

Xifeng said, "My lord, I'll help you find them."

"Alright!"

The two sat together before an oil lamp, poring over the case files. The jailers boiled water and brewed strong tea for them. It wasn't until both their eyes ached that Xifeng suddenly spoke, "My lord, is this what you're looking for? The case of the Wu family's massacre in Kaifeng Prefecture, ninth year of Jianing."

Chen Ji took the dossier. It documented the case from twelve years ago, where Wu Zhuo, the supervisor of the silver mint in Kaifeng Prefecture, and his family of seventeen were wiped out overnight. In the case, after the death of the Wu family's matriarch, her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears were all nailed with wooden pegs—the kind used by coffin makers to seal coffins. Not only that, the Wu family's matriarch had also been cruelly mutilated.

He scrutinized it but suddenly felt something was wrong. "The dossier states the Wu family census recorded eighteen people. One survived."

Xifeng leaned over to look. "The silver mint's... This is a person from our Directorate of Ceremonial's Twenty-Four Bureaus. Officials who can supervise the silver mint have powerful connections; they must have someone above them. A lucrative position. But it's a bit strange. Our Directorate of Ceremonial always protects its own. Their own people were killed, yet the killer wasn't caught?"

Chen Ji was thoughtful. "Perhaps the killer left no clues?"

"Even then, they wouldn't just shelve the case file." Xifeng explained, "Our Directorate of Ceremonial's rule is that even if the killer isn't caught that year, the case file must be re-examined every year thereafter to see if it can be 'linked' with other cases. As long as the killer isn't caught, they won't give up. But my lord, look, this file has been pushed to the bottom of the pile..."

Chen Ji said softly, "Unless the killer is a high-ranking figure within the Directorate of Ceremonial itself."

Xifeng froze, subconsciously stepping back, putting some distance between himself and the dossier.

Chen Ji was a little confused. The method used by the killer in this old case was extremely similar to that of tonight's killer. But if the killer truly was a high-ranking figure within the Directorate of Ceremonial, why would they help the young lord silence someone?