Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 242 - Solving the Case and Finding the Clues
At the Tianchi General Headquarters, Lin Le presented his token: "I'm here to retrieve the files."

"Please." The gatekeeper was not surprised, after all, they were constables who were considered to be subordinate to the Zhenxie Division.

Ordinary minor matters are handled by the government offices themselves, while more difficult matters are usually pushed to the Department of Suppressing Evil for handling.

As a result, it became commonplace for people from the Zhenxie Division to come to the yamen.

Upon arriving at the torture chamber, the clerk inside saw that Lin Le and the other two were dressed in Bi'an robes and knew what they had come for.

He rose and stepped forward respectfully, saying, "My lords, what files would you like to access?"

"Give me a copy of the deceased's detailed information," Lin Le said.

"Yes." The clerk nodded.

Having anticipated the arrival of the people from the Evil Suppression Division, he quickly brought over a pile of jade slips.

"The deceased's information is all here," the clerk said.

"Mm." Lin Le nodded, immersing his divine sense into the jade tablet.

After summarizing and organizing the information, Lin Le nodded slightly, having already discovered a clue.

"Give me a list of public officials who have access to the Yellow Register," Lin Le said.

Yellow Register, i.e., household registration
"Please wait a moment, this is a little troublesome," the clerk said.

"Go ahead." Lin Le nodded.

After the official left, Bai Lingfei couldn't help but ask, "Fellow Daoist Lingzhu, have you discovered something?"

"Hmm." Lin Le nodded. "That ghost cultivator will most likely be refining the Mortal World Diagram or a similar evil artifact."

The Mortal World Map, a standard magical artifact for ghost cultivators, can only be crafted by using the souls of at least one hundred people with different professions as its foundation.

Bai Lingfei raised an eyebrow. He had also guessed this, but he didn't expect Lin Le to have guessed it as well. He asked curiously, "How can you tell?"

Lin Le glanced at him: "The identities of the deceased are not all the same, isn't that the best answer? Besides, I looked at the birth dates and times of the deceased, and they were either born in the year and month of the Yin or on the day and hour of the Yin, which means they are of medium quality for raising ghosts."

“Therefore, the perpetrator must be a public official who has access to the Yellow Register. Otherwise, finding someone from a different year and month, with a different identity, in the vast sea of ​​people would be quite difficult.” Bai Lingfei continued, following Lin Le’s train of thought. “Is that right or wrong?”

“Yes.” Lin Le nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Lingzhu has a quick mind," Bai Lingfei complimented.

Inwardly, he and Zheng Jinjie breathed a sigh of relief. Not bad, he does have some real skills, not just a pretty face.

A moment later, the clerk rushed over with a jade token and handed it to Lin Le: "The list is here."

Lin Le glanced at it with his divine sense, then handed it to Bai Lingfei: "You two take a look and see who is more likely to be the one. I'm new here and don't know what kind of people these officials are."

After Bai Lingfei read it, he handed it to Zheng Jinjie. After reading it, Zheng Jinjie discussed it with Bai Lingfei.

Although communicating with one's mind is more convenient, Lin Le is right next to him, so communicating with one's mind would be somewhat of a exclusion for him.

Instead, it would be better to just start a discussion directly. Even if it takes a little longer, we can still tell Lin Le the reasons, saving us from having to repeat them later.

However, after discussing for a while, the two could not come up with a goal. After all, those who could become officials in Tianchi City all had some kind of background. Why would such people want to become ghost cultivators?

“Fellow Daoist Lingzhu, it’s unlikely that those officials would do such a thing themselves; it’s more likely that they would sell the list,” Zheng Jinjie reminded him.

“No, it’s right among them.” Lin Le shook his head. “Don’t forget, several people from powerful families died during this time. Without a certain status and position, it’s impossible to tamper with them.” “That makes sense.” Bai Lingfei and Zheng Jinjie exchanged glances and agreed with Lin Le’s reasoning.

Bai Lingfei thought about it carefully and said, "If that's the case, then the most suspicious one should be the city-level inspection team."

“City-level patrol officers can roam freely throughout the city, which provides some convenience for operations. Moreover, most of the people inside are at the Nascent Soul stage, so they also have the power to commit crimes.”

Lin Le nodded slightly and looked at the clerk beside him: "Could you get the patrol route map of the city-level inspectors for the past three months?"

The clerk smiled wryly: "I can't get through to you, sir. The Circuit Intendant and the Circuit Commandant are two different systems."

The head of the administration of a region is the Circuit Commissioner, and the head of the military affairs of a region is the Circuit Commander. The two check and balance each other, which is a means for the central government to manage local areas.

Lin Le looked at Bai Lingfei and Zheng Jinjie, who, as veteran Qingfenglang, should have certain information channels.

The two understood each other perfectly, and Bai Lingfei nodded and said, "Fellow Daoist, please follow me."

The three left the torture chamber.

Soon, the three arrived at a tavern.

Upon seeing Lin Le and his two companions enter dressed in Bi'an costumes, the waiter knew what they wanted. Ignoring any pre-arranged signals, he directly said, "Gentlemen, please come in!"

As he spoke, he led the two into a private room.

The waiter stepped out, and then a beautiful woman in a bright red robe, holding a pipe, walked in with a cat-like gait: "Oh, isn't this Lord Bai and Lord Zheng? They've brought a rather handsome young man with them..."

As she finished speaking, the beautiful woman's tone slowed down, and as she looked at Lin Le's face, her pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.

Those who work in intelligence naturally need to remember the physical characteristics of those people they can't mess with. Clearly, Lin Le's appearance matches that of a certain person they can't mess with.

Bai Lingfei and Zheng Jinjie couldn't help but secretly exchange glances. This Lingzhuzi was indeed very powerful; even Fang Sao, the head of intelligence, was shocked.

"May I ask who this is?" the beautiful woman asked, abandoning her seductive charms and becoming more respectful.

"Lingzhuzi, the new Qingfenglang," Lin Le said, "but it seems you mistake me for some important figure?"

“You do look very similar to that person,” said the housekeeper.

"Who does she resemble?" Lin Le asked curiously. He could mistake the middle-aged man on the airship, and he could also mistake this beautiful woman in front of him, and with such a strong reaction. He was indeed curious about which important person she resembled.

“King Chi,” the housekeeper said, her body suddenly relaxing.

She recalled that the Prince Chi was not yet married and could not have such a large offspring; Lin Le just happened to be similar to him.

“Prince Chi, I’d like to meet you sometime.” Lin Le nodded. “Let’s get back to business. I need the patrol rosters and route maps for the city-level inspection teams for the past three months. That shouldn’t be difficult for you, right?”

"It's not difficult," the housekeeper nodded. "Please wait a moment."

"Speak," she said, closing her eyes and communicating with a certain place through her divine sense. She then took out a jade slip, inscribed the information into it, and handed it to Lin Le.

Lin Le took it: "How much?"

"No charge, it's just a small piece of intelligence." The housekeeper waved her hand, "Consider it a gift to the three gentlemen."

"I don't like owing favors." Lin Le tossed a mid-grade spirit stone to Aunt Fang, then turned around. "Let's go."

Bai Lingfei and his companion left with Lin Le.

As the housekeeper watched Lin Le's retreating figure, her eyes flickered. Was it really not Prince Chi?
(End of this chapter)