My Five Bigshot Seniors: I am The Most Coddled Junior!

Chapter 239 - 107: Night Investigation

Gu Qingqing was already very curious when Nan Hua was talking, and after Yue Zhao finished speaking, she immediately asked."We were also quite surprised when we encountered it, but those Black Feather Crows do exist, and the corpse is still lying on that street," Nan Hua said after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Things are getting more complicated. This is only our first day in Canghui City, and we’ve already discovered so many anomalies. This task is far from as simple as the Canghui City Lord described," Yue Zhao said with a slight curve at the corner of his lips and a gleam in his eyes.

"I’m getting more curious about what kind of person the Canghui City Lord is. What exactly is the purpose of the SOS letter he sent to the White Tiger Sacred Land?" Gu Qingqing said with interest.

The others reacted similarly to Gu Qingqing. They were all intrigued by the event, increasingly curious about the identity of the person behind it, and now it wasn’t just about completing the task for the competition’s sake but about finding out the truth behind it.

After dinner, the sky was completely dark, and the entire Canghui City was even quieter. If Gu Qingqing and her companions could overlook the entire city, they would find it was completely dark except for the rooms they occupied, including the City Lord Mansion.

It was a dark and windy night, perfect for mischief.

Gu Qingqing and her friends didn’t go out right after nightfall but waited until midnight when most people had gone to sleep before starting their actions.

Just like during the day, they split up to act separately.

Gu Qingqing and Jun Wu went to the West District again, investigating the households of those who had died.

The two moved swiftly through Canghui City. To coordinate with the action, they both changed into black night clothes and covered their faces.

Due to the weather or some other reason, even the moon was absent that night. If not for their decent night vision and good memory, the two might not have been able to find those households where someone had passed away.

Soon, they arrived at the doorstep of the first household they found.

The two exchanged glances and simultaneously leaped over the wall. The coffin of the deceased was placed in the courtyard, and they spotted it immediately upon entry. There, next to the coffin, sat an adolescent boy nodding off. Jun Wu approached him from behind and knocked him out with a karate chop, carefully laying him down before he and Gu Qingqing approached the coffin.

Gu Qingqing pushed lightly and found that the coffin lid was merely placed on top without being nailed down. She and Jun Wu lifted the lid together and gently set it aside before looking inside the coffin.

It was too dark, and even though they had night vision, they couldn’t see the corpse clearly inside the coffin. After a moment’s thought, Gu Qingqing quickly formed hand seals, creating a barrier around them and the coffin, preventing others from seeing what was happening inside.

Jun Wu took out a Luminous Pearl, just enough to illuminate the inside of the coffin.

"Judging by the condition, this should be an earlier victim, deceased for about seven days now. The body is slightly decayed, and the heart was removed. Before death, the cultivation should have been at the sixth rank," Jun Wu assessed, speaking softly despite the barrier.

Gu Qingqing nodded in agreement with Jun Wu’s assessment. "Just like the innkeeper said before, apart from the heart being removed, there are no other wounds and no sign of poisoning, as if the person died instantly."

The two exchanged looks, both appearing somewhat solemn.

After examining the corpse, they didn’t linger, restoring the barrier and putting the coffin lid back in place before heading to the next household.

...

Nan Hua and Mu Chen went to the South District, where they had investigated during the day. Once there, they first checked the place where they killed the Black Feather Crow. The crow’s body was still there, and they proceeded to a merchant association where someone had died.

At this time, the merchant association was silent, but they could still hear some breathing sounds, indicating people were asleep inside.

The people of the merchant association were not like ordinary citizens. Their cultivation was decent, and they were relatively well-off. Ever since the incidents in the city began, each had activated the arrays in their courtyards, which, while not particularly advanced, served at least as a warning.

Nan Hua had noticed the presence of the arrays during the day. To him, they were quite crude, and he could think of at least a dozen ways to break them. However, breaking arrays wasn’t their goal; they were there to investigate. Therefore, he led Mu Chen into the courtyard using the Step Technique required by the array, finding the room where the coffin was placed.

Entering cautiously, they discovered the coffin was already open. Exchanging a glance, Nan Hua erected a barrier, isolating the room from the outside. Taking out a light, they looked inside the coffin.

"This person should have been dead for just one or two days. Apart from the wound on the abdomen, there are no other wounds and no signs of poisoning. It seems there was no struggle before death, and their cultivation should be at the seventh rank or so," Mu Chen said after a quick glance.

"The liver was taken, and it seems to have been removed postmortem," Nan Hua added. "The question is, how did he die? No wounds, no poisoning? Not even a Half-step Immortal Rank could manage this, right?"

Mu Chen looked at Nan Hua, then back at the corpse, shrugged, indicating his uncertainty.

Having found nothing else, they retracted the barrier, quietly left, and headed to the next location.

...

Yue Zhao, Yun Ran, and Zhuo Tingqiu split up, each to investigate one household. Yue Zhao entered the first house they had found. This courtyard was large, and like those of merchant families, it had arrays, and more than one. Given the size of these families, it’s not surprising for them to have array experts.

Fortunately, Yue Zhao and the others had learned a bit of everything. Their knowledge of arrays wasn’t as profound as Nan Hua’s, but they knew enough. It was clear that whoever set up these arrays wasn’t particularly skilled; at least at Yue Zhao’s level, he could find a way through the arrays without alerting anyone.

It took him a quarter of an hour to find the room where the coffin was placed.

Entering cautiously, he immediately set up a barrier, isolating the room from the outside so that whatever happened inside wouldn’t be known outside.

Turning around, he was surprised to find there were actually two coffins in the room. Moreover, the room temperature was quite low, suggesting that the family had placed numerous ice basins to keep the temperature down and preserve the bodies.

He first approached the left coffin, where a young woman lay, seemingly about seventeen or eighteen. Her body was clothed, so he couldn’t see the injuries. After a thought, he turned to the other coffin.

In the other coffin lay the body of a middle-aged man, about forty years old, who bore some resemblance to the young woman, suggesting a blood relation. Yue Zhao examined the man, finding a wound indicating the removal of a kidney. His eyes flickered as he checked for signs of poisoning or other injuries but found none, eventually giving up.

He didn’t remove the barrier, leaving the courtyard to find Yun Ran, then asked her to examine the woman’s body.

The woman had her heart removed, similar to the man—no other injuries, no signs of poisoning.

After investigating all the households in the area, Yue Zhao, after some thought, led Yun Ran and Zhuo Tingqiu to sneak into the City Lord Mansion in Canghui City.

As the strongest organization in the entire Canghui City, the City Lord Mansion was heavily guarded. Not only were defensive and warning arrays activated, but there was also a rotating patrol by the guard team. This was Yue Zhao and the others’ first group action at night.

Avoiding the arrays and patrol, they sneaked into the most luxurious courtyard in the City Lord Mansion, which by convention should be where the City Lord resides.

Just as they entered the courtyard, Yue Zhao suddenly halted, signaling to Yun Ran and Zhuo Tingqiu to stop. Under their puzzled gaze, he put his index finger to his lips in a silencing gesture.

Frowning, he scanned the area but found nothing. After contemplating for a moment, he remained motionless.

He felt a malicious gaze fixated on them. His instincts told him that moving might lead to unexpected trouble.

However, they couldn’t remain there indefinitely, as that would risk detection.

After another moment’s thought, recalling something Nan Hua mentioned in the afternoon, he searched the area again and finally spotted a Black Feather Crow perched on a tree by the wall.

The Black Feather Crow, entirely black, was difficult to spot in the dark, but having recalled Nan Hua’s earlier mention, Yue Zhao took extra care during his second search, eventually spotting the faint white of the crow’s eyes, a challenging feat.

Upon seeing the Black Feather Crow, he realized the malicious gaze had emanated from it, causing his brows to furrow.

After some consideration, he retreated a bit, causing the malicious gaze to vanish. This made him realize the crow was preventing intruders from entering this courtyard.

Nonetheless, this was the City Lord’s residence, and the presence of a Black Feather Crow as a sentinel was unusual.

This realization only strengthened Yue Zhao’s resolve to investigate the courtyard!