The mind-reading coroner drove the court crazy

Qin Miaoxi was extremely anxious and ran all the way from Wang's house to the Jingzhao Yin Yamen.

As I stepped into the stable, a disgusting smell hit me in the face. Two corpses were lying there quietly.

She ignored the pungent smell and rushed forward, her eyes scanning back and forth between the two corpses. Except for the horrifying burn marks on the surface of the first corpse, the rest of the features were almost identical.

At this moment, Shi Xinzhe suddenly pushed open the door and rushed in. He was choked by the strong smell and coughed repeatedly. He staggered and almost fell.

He suppressed his discomfort and asked anxiously, "Coroner Qin, how is the situation? Have you found anything?"

Qin Miaoxi said nothing more, and with a serious look on her face, she stuffed the bamboo slips in her hand into Shi Xinzhe's hand.

Shi Xinzhe took one look and his already tense face turned pale. He widened his eyes in horror and cried out, "This is definitely a scam!"

"Under the allure of enormous wealth, some people are willing to believe even the most absurd scams." Qin Miaoxi's eyes were deep, as if she could see through everything. "And I've discovered a pattern in the killer's selection of prey. These two victims were both around 25 years old, healthy, and reputable, innocent men. In the killer's eyes, they were perfect sacrifices."

Shi Xinzhe felt a splitting headache after hearing this. "But there are too many people like this. It's impossible to narrow down the scope!"

Qin Miaoxi raised her hand to signal him to calm down, and said firmly, "Don't worry, there is another key point. These offerings are all scholars with full foreheads and blessed faces."

Shi Xinzhe was puzzled and asked, "Scholar? How can you be sure?"

"Let's not talk about Young Master Wang for now. The first victim had obvious calluses on his right ring finger from writing, and Young Master Wang's servant said that Young Master Wang knew the murderer." Qin Miaoxi explained concisely.

At this moment, a gust of cold wind blew, and the door of the corpse stable suddenly slammed shut. The two were startled and looked at each other. The atmosphere around them instantly became even more eerie...

"Master Shi, the case is at a stalemate right now. Have you found out any clues about the backgrounds of those friends around Young Master Wang?" Qin Miaoxi stood with her back to the light, her eyes flashing sharp light in the darkness, staring straight at Shi Xinzhe opposite her.

Shi Xinzhe wiped the sweat from his face, his brows knitted into a shape of the character "川". He lowered his head with a look of dejection, his voice filled with endless frustration. "We've checked everything we can, and Young Master Wang only has a few friends. All of them have clean backgrounds and nothing suspicious. According to them, Young Master Wang has always been taciturn and doesn't like to socialize. He usually likes to be alone."

Qin Miaoxi paced slowly in silence. "Did you find out who he met during the crucial period before and after the Qiqiao Festival?"

Shi Xinzhe stammered a few times before speaking, "This is the strangest part. His friends swore that on the day of the Qiqiao Festival, they drank tea together in a teahouse, and before it got dark, Master Wang hurriedly said goodbye and went home, not even attending the most lively Qiqiao celebrations at night. But the servants of the Wang family insisted that Master Wang did not return home until the evening of the 11th."

He swallowed, his voice unconsciously lowering a few degrees. "For several hours in the meantime, he seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. He wasn't with his friends, nor did he go home. No one knew where he had been or what he had done. What's even more bizarre is that when we went to the teahouse to investigate, the owner and the waiter said that only Young Master Wang's friends had been there that day; Young Master Wang himself hadn't been there at all."

"Could it be that his friend is lying?" Qin Miaoxi frowned slightly and whispered to herself, "But many of the teahouse patrons saw Prince Wang appear that day. Besides, it would be of no benefit to them if the teahouse owner told such a lie."

Upon hearing this, Shi Xinzhe fell into deep thought.

At this moment, Qin Miaoxi's clear voice rang out beside his ears: "Master Shi, since the other deceased was a scholar, the scope of investigation has been narrowed down a lot. We might as well start from the direction of the academy and investigate the identity of the deceased."

Shi Xinzhe nodded slightly, his eyes revealing a bit of competence, "Well, I'll do it right away."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around, walked hurriedly, and his figure quickly disappeared from the door.

The impetuous yet organized style of doing things made Qin Miaoxi nod secretly, her eyes full of approval.

Her gaze lingered on Shi Xinzhe's back for a long time, a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, but her eyes flashed with an elusive light.

He secretly thought in his heart that Shi Xinzhe was indeed a rare and good seedling. He quickly outlined a nearly rigorous study plan in his mind. Every step accurately calculated the limit of Shi Xinzhe's potential, as if he had already seen him growing rapidly under his control.

Meanwhile, Shi Xinzhe, oblivious to the calculating gaze behind him, was about to step out. The moment he stepped out of the room, a chill suddenly shot up from his tailbone, like an invisible, icy hand, crawling up his spine.

He shuddered suddenly, and all the hairs on his body stood up instantly. Looking around the empty yard, he felt the coldness following him like a shadow, and an indescribable fear.

After returning to the yamen, he quickly gathered his men and focused the investigation on the academy.

They visited all the major academies in the capital without stopping, asking teachers and students for people who matched the age and identity of the deceased.

However, after several days of investigation, there was still no clue.

Those students who had not appeared in the college for many days were carefully investigated and eventually determined to have nothing to do with the case.

At the same time, Qin Miaoxi was not idle either.

She returned to the crime scene again, trying to find new clues from those overlooked details.

Along the river, the biting cold wind whistled past, and the icy river water, wrapped in the cold air, rushed rapidly in the river, making a low and rapid sound.

The rocks on the shore were in a mess, each one having been carefully checked and turned over in pieces.

She walked slowly along the river bank with steady and slow steps, her eyes scanning back and forth in the devastated scene. She could not find any valuable clues except those stones that were burned black and had mottled surfaces.

After walking a few steps, she came to the river. After her eyes wandered over the river for a while, she relied on the deep memory in her mind to accurately find the place where the body was found.

However, at this moment, the river was sparkling, and the fish that once gathered here had long since scattered away. Everything returned to calm, as if nothing unusual had ever happened, and there was nothing useful to be found at all.

She frowned slightly, feeling unwilling, and bent down to fiddle with the stones in the water, trying to make some new discoveries.

Just then, a dazzling white light suddenly flashed through the water, attracting her full attention.

Her heart tightened, and she quickly looked in the direction of the white light. She saw an object with a metallic luster faintly visible between the gap between two stones.

She reached out carefully and took it out from the crevice. When she looked closely, she found that it was a broken piece of silver. To be more precise, it looked like a badge, with dense, intricate and exquisite inscriptions engraved on it.

Qin Miaoxi looked at the badge in her hand thoughtfully, her intuition telling her that there was important information hidden in it.

Soon, she arrived at a blacksmith shop in the city.

As soon as you step in, you are surrounded by the smell of fireworks and the sound of tinkling hammers.

She walked quickly towards the busy shop owner, and with a hint of anticipation and eagerness, she asked, "Shop owner, excuse me for interrupting you, but could you possibly make an iron brand with this pattern?"

As she spoke, she carefully took out a piece of paper with a pattern on it that she had carefully drawn and enlarged based on the marks on the corpse's ribs.

During this period, she ran from one blacksmith shop to another, asking everyone she met. The one in front of her was the last one in the city.