My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

The two exchanged a glance and together lifted the coffin lid completely.

A half-skeletonized corpse was suddenly exposed in broad daylight.

The dull, gray dress, corroded by dust, clung to the emaciated, stiff corpse, whose face had been completely devoured by maggots. Only the still-glamorous clothing and the jewelry scattered in the coffin revealed that it was a woman.

The skeleton of a woman wearing a "flower crown" on her head.

“I think,” Uya said seriously, “this lady is a beauty.”

Xie Yan also agreed: "That's right."

Chu Ling looked at the two people huddled together, heartbroken: ...How could you tell that?

"Of course, you can tell from the bone structure."

Uya held up the skull, which still had a few bits of skin and hair attached to it, and exclaimed, "Look at this skull! The nasal bone is high and narrow, the parietal bone is round and full, and the teeth are neat and symmetrical. The distribution of the facial features is simply perfect!"

Chu Ling watched as Wu Ya easily picked up the skull. Then, as if remembering something, he reached down with his folding fan and parted the layers of hair piled up at the front of his clothes.

Suddenly he paused, raised his hand, and a swaying rope was hanging from the folding fan.

"It seems this girl also died in the same way."

"It's still a little different."

Xie Yan also rummaged through the coffin, as if she had found something, and gently lifted the corpse's arm to show the two of them.

"Her fingertips were severely worn, and there were bits of clothing stuck in them. This indicates that she did not die unconscious, unlike Hua Ran."

The three fell into deep thought...

"Hey, have you heard? In broad daylight, ghosts have appeared in that mass grave outside the city."

"You also heard from Old Wang, the courier in the west of the city, that his grandson encountered a ghost?"

"That's right, Old Wang described it in great detail. He said the female ghost had black fingernails and red lips, a fair face and blue eyes, and was chewing on a centipede as thick as an arm."

"The female ghost was laughing directly at her grandson. Old Wang finally managed to escape to the city, only to find that his grandson was so frightened that he was foaming at the mouth. He is currently vomiting uncontrollably, and every doctor who has come to see him says that he cannot be cured."

"It's true, I was there! The poor thing, he even vomited bile."

"Oh dear, is he frightened?"

"Definitely! It's really terrifying! In any case, don't go down that road again for a while."

"..."

Somewhere in the city, people were excitedly discussing an unbelievable experience.

At midnight, the bright moon disappeared behind thick clouds. The surroundings were pitch black, and the air was heavy with oppression and silence.

But there was one place that should have been quieter, but it was inexplicably bustling with activity.

Xuanfeng placed his hands on the hoe, stood in a pit half his height, and looked at Wuya with sweat dripping down his face. After catching his breath, he asked, "Are you sure this is the place?"

Uya patted her chest and assured him, "My bugs won't make mistakes, hurry up and dig!"

"Ugh."

Upon hearing this, Xuanfeng sighed heavily and continued swinging his hoe.

Looking around him again, he saw people all repeating the same actions.

At first glance, this group of people who were "working hard" in the mass grave late at night looked just like a large tomb raiding gang.

The group dug silently for a long time when suddenly they heard a few clattering sounds of wooden planks hitting each other. Someone shouted, "I've found it!"

Then several more sounds—

"I found one too!"

“It’s available here too!”

After a long time, a dozen or so coffins were neatly placed on the open ground.

These coffins were still covered in mud, and were all crudely made. Some were so old that half of them had been eaten away by insects, while others looked as if they had just been buried, with the bones inside barely decomposing.

Chu Ling and Xie Yan walked to the coffin, carrying torches.

The torch swayed in the wind, its flickering light still illuminating the scene inside the coffin—

Those were the skeletons of fifteen people wearing floral crowns.

Suddenly, a cold wind swept past everyone's backs, sending chills down their spines.

Meng Lan rubbed her goosebump-covered arms and walked over to Yu Bai, whispering, "Hiss—that's too creepy! This guy is a psychopathic killer!"

Yu Bai, meanwhile, pondered, resting his chin on his hand: "Why are they all women, and all dressed up as flower goddesses?"

Xie Yan and the others looked around and finally stopped in front of the coffin that looked obviously the newest.

The woman appeared to have died not long ago; a deep ligature mark, revealing flesh, marked her neck, which was not yet fully decomposed. Just like the first corpse Xie Yan and the other two had seen, her death was anything but "easy."

Although there was no blood on the woman's fingers, all ten fingernails were cracked, and there were several blackened scratches on her neck. Although her appearance had been deliberately altered, some signs of ferocity could still be seen.

Tao Xian held up a torch and leaned half of her body inside to carefully examine the corpse.

Soon after, she came to the conclusion: "He died about a month ago."

A month ago, they should have still been on their way to Yongcheng.

Tao Xian held up her torch and looked at each one one by one. After a short while, her clear, cold voice echoed across the land: "This one has been here for more than two months, this one for half a year, this one for a year, this one for three years..."

Finally, she stopped in front of the most dilapidated coffin. "This was seven years ago."

As she finished speaking, Xuanfeng seemed to be reminded of something.

He hurriedly pulled a small booklet from his pocket, flipped through it, and began to mutter, "Leng Yu of Qianjin Tower disappeared a month ago, Lian Xin of Baoyue Tower disappeared three months ago, and a year ago, two courtesans of Cangxiang Pavilion also disappeared one after another..."

After reading it aloud, he closed the booklet, his expression somber as he looked at the row of coffins. Who could have imagined that those prostitutes, who were accused of escaping the brothel, had actually already perished tragically in this desolate mass grave?

"I have a feeling that the murderers are killing people in increasingly shorter and shorter periods of time."

Xie Yan suddenly spoke up: "It started seven years ago, then they struck again two years later, and then another year, half a year later..."

"If Hua Ran is the most recent victim, then there was only a month between her and the previous victim."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a chill run down their spines. If the culprit wasn't caught quickly, the next victim would likely appear soon.

"Uh...shouldn't we try to find out which courtesans know martial arts as soon as possible?"

Meng Lan scratched her forehead and said weakly, "After all, the gatekeeper of Xunfang Pavilion said that he saw a woman in red floating by on the night Hua Ran died. I think that woman must be a woman who knows light-body skills."

Yu Bai nodded and began his reasoning: "That woman in red is indeed very suspicious. The victims were all beautiful women who were somewhat famous in the area, so it doesn't seem like a crime of passion... There's also the element of torture involved, could it be out of jealousy?"

Meng Lan clapped her hands in sudden realization: "Does that mean that the woman in red is actually quite ordinary-looking and not very famous in the brothel, and is looked down upon by others, so she committed this heinous act out of resentment?"