Back to his workstation from the Chief’s office.
Li Hao took a glance at the calendar on his desk, July 12, 1730.
“It’s nearing a year!”
Li Hao muttered.
Chen Na, who is on the opposite side, asked out of curiosity, “What is almost a year?”
Li Hao explained with a smile, “I’m just saying that I’ve been with the Inspection Division for nearly a year.”
“Ohh… You have a good memory.”
Li Hao didn’t say much after that.
He remembered!
It’s still very clear in his memory!
August 1, 1729, the day he joined the Inspection Division.
A few days before that, on July 23, which was the day after the incident, Li Hao decided to drop out from school and join the Inspection Division shortly after that.
July 22, 1729, a self-combustion accident took place in the Silver City Ancient College.
Zhang Yuan, a second-year student at the college, self-combusted outside his room and was burned alive.
In order to prevent the reputation of Silver City Ancient College from going bad, a gag order was placed after the Inspection Division confirmed that it was an accident. There aren’t many who knew that a student had died in the college.
There was another reason why the incident did not escalate any further. Both of Zhang Yuan’s parents had died, he did not have any relatives either, therefore, the incident was swiftly suppressed.
Li Hao dropped out after the incident. His mentor had guessed the reason to be related with Zhang Yuan. It was reported that they had a good relationship.
“Zhang Yuan!”
He muttered in his heart. It’s almost a year since Xiao Yuan died.
(TL note: Xiao Yuan is the pet name that Li Hao calls Zhang Yuan.)
The scene of that day surfaced in his mind again.
The red-colored blood shadow seems to grasp onto Xiao Yuan’s soul. As the bloody red flame burned Xiao Yuan’s soul, agony, struggle, despair, numerous emotions that others couldn’t see was clear as day to Li Hao.
He wanted to step forward, but at that time, Xiao Yuan’s mouth kept opening and closing. Under extreme pain where he was unable to utter any sound, his mouth kept moving.
Others might think he’s wailing, but Li Hao knows it’s not.
“Run!”
Yes, he’s telling him to escape.
Li Hao was too familiar with Zhang Yuan!
He was preventing Li Hao from going any closer, to let him escape.
Zhang Yuan did not die in his room. When he died, he only had a pair of underwear on him. It might look hilarious to others, but in Li Hao’s eyes, it’s not.
Zhang Yuan might have been ready for bed when he died, but he got out of his room in that excruciating pain, and the direction that he was struggling towards was Li Hao’s room!
His voice was unable to make any sound, but by using his willpower, he broke a tile which finally broke the silence of the night. Many people, including Li Hao came out of their room to check what happened as it wasn’t a small disturbance.
Was that a sign from Zhang Yuan to ask for help?
It might look like it from others’ perspective, but Li Hao felt that… it isn’t.
Zhang Yuan was trying to warn him by escaping out of his own room, created a commotion to get Li Hao’s attention, and lastly, delivered the voiceless “Run”. That was not a sign for help but to tell him to escape.
“14 years.”
Li Hao whispered in his heart again.
Unlike what others thought, thinking that they were friends for only 2 years, they had known each other for 14 years. They were childhood friends, or should say buddies?
It’s just that the two of them were taciturn. The friendship between men doesn’t need to be publicized.
Just like Zhang Yuan before he died, he struggled to escape with his tremendous willpower just to deliver a message, Run! to Li Hao.
Zhang Yuan’s self-combustion case was eventually suppressed without any difficulty.
Obviously, no one would probe Li Hao, who was a close friend.
“Xiao Yuan wanted me to escape, just what did he see, what did he hear, or was he simply just terrified? Perhaps… Xiao Yuan knew that I’ll be the next target of the blood shadow?”
This is the question that Li Hao has been pondering about for the past year.
He was unable to imagine the pain that Zhang Yuan endured at that moment, who was still persistent to send him a warning. Li Hao thinks that there’s more to it, perhaps… the next target of the blood shadow is me!
“Six people, or maybe seven if I myself is included, what are our commonalities?”
“The time gap is getting shorter in the span of 10 years. Seven people if I’m included, other than Zhang Yuan and myself, there aren’t any similarities. Does it target randomly or is there a clear target?”
Li Hao gently massaged his forehead and read the documents in front of him. These are the documents of all the victims that he gathered through different channels.
It’s been 10 years since the first death. There might or might not be other deaths before that. Li Hao is unable to find out.
In the span of 10 years, there are a lot of things that’s hard to verify.
“Gender? Age? Occupation? Identity? Common social circle?”
Li Hao had read the documents in front of him numerous times, but he has yet to discover any commonalities. These people are basically individuals who are completely irrelevant to one another.
“Why did the blood shadow kill them? Did the blood shadow feel threatened or were there other objectives?”
Countless doubts filled Li Hao’s mind.
Obviously, there’s another reason for the unceasing investigation… Revenge!
Although no one cares about Zhang Yuan’s demise, Li Hao cares.
The Night Watcher’s side is full of unknown factors, had it not been he himself being unable to acquire useful clues to deal with the blood shadow which can’t been seen by others, Li Hao would have never placed his hope on the Night Watcher to kill the blood shadow. He would want to kill that thing himself!
“Li Hao, are you looking at those profiles again?”
On the opposite side, Chen Na could not help asking when she saw Li Hao open those familiar looking documents.
She had seen Li Hao looking at those documents numerous times, and they continue to get thicker over time.
However, he will quickly cover them whenever she wants to take a look.
She vaguely saw that it’s the profile of a few people.
Li Hao raised his head, and with an innocent smile, “Sister Na, I’m just browsing.”
“Tsk!”
Chen Na dismissed it. Can you just browse something for nearly a year?
This dude can be dishonest at times.
“Li Hao, you’ve been browsing that for a very long time, what do you wish to find out?
“There are many veterans over here that you can seek for help, instead, you’re just silently checking on it by yourself. As a novice, what can you achieve? Why not let me take a look, maybe I can give you some suggestions. Rest assured; I will not disclose anything.”
Chen Na asked cheekily, “How about it, let me take a look?”
It really piques one’s curiosity!
Previously, Li Hao’s unwillingness to let others know about his investigation is because he was afraid that it’ll draw the attention of the red shadow. But now, as he had been unable to find anything, and had already reported this to Wang Jie, it’s fine to show it to Chen Na.
After considering it for a while, Li Hao replied, “Alright then, you may take a look, but don’t bother other people.”
He does not wish to let too many people know that he had his attention on this.
Chen Na is considered a novice too, thus, isn’t as sensitive and sharp. However, if others were to see these profiles, they’ll be able to link up past cases and know that Li Hao is investigating the self-combustion cases.
Allowing Chen Na to look at the documents is because he has no progress. He isn’t sure if it’s because he’s deeply connected, thus, unable to see from another perspective, or if there really aren’t any commonalities among them.
As Chen Na is an outsider, maybe she might be able to identify something?
Anyway, Li Hao didn’t place much hope. It’s just that he is unwilling to give up from his unfavorable long investigation.
“Don’t worry!”
Chen Na immediately broke into a smile as she finally had the chance to look at Li Hao’s little secret.
Afraid that Li Hao might go back on his words, she hurriedly stretched over the table, snatched the document away from his hand, and started to speed read through them.
A short while later, Chen Na asked in a baffled voice, “What are you trying to find out from these documents? After browsing through them, I realized that there is too much information where you even noted down those nitty-gritty things. It can already be read as a memoir. What is the conclusion you wish to reach?”
After considering for a short while, Li Hao said, “Commonalities! The commonalities between the six people!”
Chen Na was momentarily speechless.
She took a closer look, among these six people, they are of different age, their occupation and identities are different too. There’s also a mixture of gender, and even their social circle was different as well.
In addition, the one who died the earliest was already dead for 10 years!
The latest casualty was dead for a year.
These six people, what do they have in common?
And Li Hao has been looking at this for the past year, he’s really… leisure.
However, after taking a glance at the last profile, Zhang Yuan, a student from Silver City Ancient College, Chen Na vaguely understood something. Li Hao’s main objective should be this person, right?
“Zhang Yuan, died on 22 July, 1729… seems like it’s sometime after Li Hao dropped out, or should say it’s around the time he dropped out?”
Chen Na read through it in detail for some time, after associating Li Hao’s dropout from the college, she seems to have understood something.
A student from the Ancient College with a bright future chose to drop out of college. All along, there were people who couldn’t understand why, but after looking at his case file, Chen Na seems to understand a little.
At this moment, Chen Na had ditched her playful self and become serious.
Did Li Hao suspect that Zhang Yuan was murdered instead?
Six people, are all of them homicide victims?
Serial case?
……
When Li Hao did not receive any reply after waiting for a while since Chen Na was still looking at the documents seriously, not bothered by it, Li Hao started to think about the next step he should take.
Currently, the case has been handed over to the Investigation Division, and most likely, they will investigate it, but Li Hao doesn’t harbor much hope in it.
Unless the Night Watchers get involved soon!
“The key is, if I’m the next target, I’ll fall prey to the blood shadow in the near future. The red shadow that I saw the other day, was that the blood shadow? Was it looking for me? Or it has already found me, but because of my identity, it doesn’t dare to take action for now?”
No matter what, the Investigation Division is an enforcement institution. If it’s a trainee that dies from self-combustion, it will end up the same as the student from Ancient College, it might not cause much commotion.
But should a 3rd Grade Inspection Officer die, as part of the family of the Inspection Division, they will definitely place more emphasis in the investigation. This is more severe than the death of a student.
“According to my understanding from the data, there should be a time limit whenever the blood shadow appears. The time frame isn’t long, or I should say, it will only appear with specific conditions.”
“Actually, there is something common between that few victims, it’s just… rather uncertain!”
In the past year, Li Hao isn’t totally empty handed either.
At least, he found out that on the day the victims died, including Zhang Yuan, the weather didn’t seem to be good.
What’s with the thunderstorm, spherical lightning, a rainy day with overcast…
Not many people will pay attention to these kinds of weather conditions. Li Hao also took note of it after he was unable to find more clues.
Li Hao clearly remembered the day that Zhang Yuan died. It was drizzling that night.
“They’ll only appear on rainy days, or I should say they’ll only commit crimes during bad weather.”
Li Hao unceasingly scribbled on the paper and tore them into pieces very quickly. After tearing them into tiny pieces, he finally put down his pen and fell into contemplation.
While he was in thoughts, Chen Na suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, “I discovered something!”
Li Hao was taken aback, quickly raised his head, discovered?
What did she discover?
How is that even possible?
He didn’t place any hope in it. Chen Na just started looking at it and she had already discovered something. Li Hao felt that she’s trying to fool him.
Li Hao frowned, but quickly returned to a smile and replied, “Sister Na, what did you discover?”
Chen Na faintly saw Li Hao’s frown earlier. She felt a little uncomfortable, then recalled that Li Hao is very concerned about this matter, and this is not the time to joke around. While feeling a little embarrassed, “That is… actually, I have yet to look through all the documents as there are too many materials.”
Li Hao did not waver as he had guessed.
There was no disappointment because there wasn’t hope in the first place.
But the next moment, Chen Na continued, “I didn’t finish looking through all the documents, but… it really does seem to have connections, it’s just that I dare not confirm it.”
She raised the paper beside her as she spoke, “I have the habit of scribbling. I wrote down the names of the respective parties (the victims) after I read the documents.”
Chen Hao took a glance and lightly nodded.
The six parties!
Li Hao is familiar with their names, what can be discovered from it?
They do not share the same name nor surname, some with two syllables while others with three syllables, there’s hardly any similarities.
When Chen Na saw Li Hao had his attention in this, she quickly added, “Zhou Qing, Hong Jiao, Wang Hao Ming, Liu Yun Sheng, Zhao Shi Hao, Zhang Yuan, these are the six names right?”
Li Hao lightly nodded.
Chen Na looked at the names on the piece of paper again, but she felt unsure all of a sudden. She’s afraid that it’ll be bad if Li Hao assumes that she’s trying to fool around after she shares her thoughts.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Chen Na lightly coughed and said, “Forget it, just treat that I didn’t say anything. Let me take a closer look. Something doesn’t look right as it’s short of two more.”
“What?”
Li Hao was startled for a moment, “What is short of two more?”
Chen Na felt more embarrassed than before, “It might be true if there’s another two people with the surname Zheng, and Lee. But right now… cough cough, I’m just saying, don’t take it seriously.”
She doesn’t want to continue, it’s too embarrassing!
However, Li Hao was shocked.
Why is two more needed?
Lee… His surname is Lee!
Still short of a person with the surname Zheng… Li Hao can only check the files from the past 10 years, any other cases that don’t have any dissent and are over 10 years will be destroyed. As there are too many cases, and there are also some accidents with too many case files, the Confidential Chamber will not retain everything.
At that moment, Li Hao was shaken, but kept his cool and said with a smile, “Sister Na, just say what you want to say. Just treat it as a small talk, why did you say that two more surnames are needed?”
Chen Na looked at Li Hao and asked curiously, “You are not from Silver City?”
“That’s right.”
“Then…”
Chen Na continued, as if she recalled something, nodded and said, “I understood, do you not have any elderly… in your household?”
“Both of my grandparents passed away pretty early.”
Li Hao became more curious, what has it got to do with the elderly?
When Chen Na saw that he had shown interest, she no longer felt embarrassed and continued, “If there are elderly at home, some of them love to tell local tales. When I was young, my grandma loved to talk about these things.”
Chen Na reminisced for a bit before she continued, “I used to live with my grandma. She enjoyed singing some of Silver City’s folksongs. I remember one of the folksongs go like this…”
Chen Na imitated her grandma from the past, cleared her throat, and sang softly, “Lee Family’s Sword, Zhang Family’s Knife, Zhao Family’s Fist, Liu Family’s Leg… Zheng Family’s Young Master Hinders.”
After singing a small part, Chen Na felt embarrassed and laughed awkwardly, “Singing in our official language doesn’t sound nice. In fact, my grandma used to sing them in the Silver City’s language, and it sounds good. Naturally, those were from local operas, it’ll sound old fashioned if you’ve never heard any of them before.”
At this moment, Li Hao’s eyes were sparkling crazily.
Folksongs!
Lee Family’s Sword, Zhang Family’s Knife…
In this folksong, there are eight surnames!
Lee; Zhang; Zhao; Liu; Wang; Hong; Zhou; Zheng!
He snatched the piece of paper from Chen Na’s hand without minding manners, and landed his eyes on the first name, Zhou Qing.
This is the first casualty from 10 years ago!
This is also the first person that Li Hao found with regards to the self-combustion cases.
Following that is the salesman Hong Jiao, and then followed by Wang Hao Ming…
What if… what if the first casualty isn’t Zhou Qing but someone with the surname Zheng? If so, Zhou Qing would be 2nd, Hong Jiao 3rd, Wang Hong Ming would be 4th…
In that Silver City’s folksong, when the eight surnames are listed from the opposite sequence, the order fits the time of death perfectly.
The last one who died is Zhang Yuan, who corresponds to Zhang Family’s Knife.
Which meant that… there’s one more to go!
Another person will die, and the surname is Lee, the one that ranks first in the opera, the Lee Family’s Sword!
Li Hao’s complexion changed.
He hurriedly looked towards Chen Na, unable to suppress his excitement, he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, “This tune… When did it start to circulate and who started this…?”
Chen Na was taken aback by his looks, but was able to quickly calm herself, “Don’t rush, Li Hao. Many elderlies should have heard of this tune before. There aren’t many young ones heard of this though, that’s why you do not know about this. If you are interested, we can slowly investigate it, don’t worry!”
Li Hao took a deep breath and suppressed the impulse in his heart.
Don’t be anxious!
It didn’t occur to him before that by showing Chen Na the documents would lead to a breakthrough. Li Hao has never heard anything about this tune before, it might have stopped circulating many years back.
As the official language became more common, this kind of local village folksong had slowly disappeared together with the older generation.
Those from Li Hao’s grandfather’s generation passed on at an early age. Li Hao has never met him, so naturally, will not sing for him either.
“Calm down!”
Li Hao shouted in his heart. What’s there to be anxious about? There’s nothing to be anxious about with the new clue that is the key to it.
What’s crucial right now, is to verify if the first deceased was someone with the surname Zheng.
Case files that have been there for 10 or more years might have been destroyed by the Confidential Chamber. But as he only needs to confirm if there’s a deceased from self-combustion with the surname Zheng, it is not impossible to look for the information he wants since he just needs to look through the files from 10 – 15 years ago.
The current Li Hao felt excited, but also terrified at the same time.
What if that missing piece really falls into place, then the next one… would be me!
“Lee Family’s Sword…”
“Lee Family’s Sword…”
Li Hao was deep in thoughts when he suddenly widened his eyes, the Lee Family… has a sword!
Reading Delight 
Oh no. A sword
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