The general outline of the buried object was gradually coming into view. Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian quickened their pace to dig the soil around it. Soon, the object slowly appeared before their eyes.
"Ah, it's a dagger."
Wei Shuxuan looked at the dagger that emitted a faint silver glow in the sunlight in surprise. Ge Zian dug the dagger out of the soil with force. The dagger was relatively long. If a person was a bit thinner, it could really pierce through the body from front to back.
"Master Wei, look! There's still blood on it!" Ge Zian examined the dagger and found blood on the handle.
Wei Shuxuan quickly snatched the dagger from his hand. She noticed that the handle of the dagger was full of intricate carvings, and there were dark - red stains of blood left in the carved parts. Maybe when the murderer forcefully stabbed the dagger into the victim's body, the blood splashed out and landed on the handle.
But because the handle was uneven, and the murderer was in a hurry to escape, he just roughly cleaned the blood and didn't notice the blood left in the depressions. Then he buried the dagger.
"Master Wei, do you think this is the murder weapon?" Ge Zian asked when he saw Wei Shuxuan lost in thought.
"... Well, I'm just assuming this dagger is the murder weapon. To confirm whether it is the real weapon, we need to compare it with the shape and size of the wound on the first victim."
"I... didn't think that much about it. When we find knives at the crime scene, we usually assume they are the murder weapons. Of course, we still need to look at the fatal wound of the victim."
"I said, Zian, you can learn a lot by following me. But I don't know if it will be helpful for your military affairs."
"It's hard to say. Maybe it will really be useful. It just depends on how we use it."
After putting away the dagger found at the first crime scene, Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian headed for the next destination.
The crime scene of the second victim was near Qianyu Palace, the sleeping palace of Emperor Jinzheng. It was said that the victim, a eunuch, was killed late at night. That night, it happened to be his turn to be on night duty in Qianyu Palace. The eunuch should have been carrying a lantern and was about to leave Qianyu Palace at that time, because a lantern was lying beside the body.
When the body was discovered, the lantern was on fire. The burning wick in the lantern tilted, causing the lantern to catch fire.
"Actually, was that eunuch really going out with the lantern?"
"Based on the situation at that time, yes. There was only one passageway out of Qianyu Palace, and the victim happened to die in this only passageway. Judging from his wound, he was stabbed in the heart from behind and died. Moreover, there were no other wounds on his body except for that fatal stab. In other words, the second victim was killed with one stab without knowing it."
After hearing Wei Shuxuan's words, Ge Zian was a bit confused. "How did you determine that the victim was going out of Qianyu Palace?"
Wei Shuxuan gave him a helpless look and shook her head. "You must not have listened to me carefully. That eunuch was on night duty in Qianyu Palace. He had to stay in the palace in case His Majesty needed him. So he must have been going out! Don't you know that?"
Ge Zian gave an embarrassed smile. "I really... don't know."
"We may need to ask His Majesty about this."
Wei Shuxuan looked at her notebook with a bit of distress. Ge Zian looked at the slight frown on Wei Shuxuan's brow and smiled. "What are you worrying about?"
"I'm just worried about how to ask His Majesty. I'm a bit afraid that he will scold me."
"You're overthinking. His Majesty is not such a person. He is a very just emperor and won't blame others casually. Do you want me to take you to see him?"
"Hmm..." Wei Shuxuan thought for a while. "Okay. We still need to go to the place where the third victim was killed later."
"Got it."
At this time, Emperor Jinzheng should be resting in Qianyu Palace. Ge Zian took Wei Shuxuan to Qianyu Palace. The chief maid beside Emperor Jinzheng saw Ge Zian and immediately bowed to him. "Yuqing greets General Ge and Master Wei."
"Be excused. Is His Majesty in the palace?"
"Yes. This servant will immediately introduce General Ge to His Majesty."
After a while, the chief maid Yuqing trotted out. "General Ge, Master Wei, His Majesty asks you two to come in."
Entering the main hall of Qianyu Palace, Emperor Jinzheng was sitting there reading a book, with two maids serving beside him. "Zian and Wei Luo, you're here. Someone, offer seats!"
Two guards immediately carried two chairs over. Ge Zian didn't sit down immediately. Seeing that he didn't sit, Wei Shuxuan didn't dare to sit either. Anyway, it was better to follow the majority.
"Your Majesty, this subject has something to ask you. But before that, this subject asks Your Majesty to forgive our capital crimes."
Hearing Ge Zian say this, Emperor Jinzheng knew what they wanted to ask him. "Do you want to ask me about the murders in the palace?"
"Exactly."
The interrogation process went very smoothly. Emperor Jinzheng cooperated very well and answered the questions raised by Wei Shuxuan. It was said that that night, Emperor Jinzheng felt a bit hungry in the middle of the night and asked the eunuch on night duty to go to the imperial kitchen to get something for him.
Since he waited for a long time but the eunuch didn't come back, Emperor Jinzheng got impatient. He angrily called the imperial guards and asked them to find the eunuch. Unexpectedly, they only found the eunuch's body.
"Sure enough, as you said, the eunuch was going out of Qianyu Palace."
"I just inferred this. Whether it's true or not still depends on physical evidence and witnesses."
Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian then went to the place where the third victim was killed. It was said that the third victim had madness. The crime scene was in Liuli Palace, the cold palace. She was stabbed in the heart from the front and died. There didn't seem to be anything special about this victim. The only obvious thing in Liuli Palace was the dried bloodstain on the bed. It seemed that no one had come here to clean it.
What could they do? Who asked the dead one to be an unfavored concubine?
"Let's go."
"Aren't you going to look anymore?"
"No. This victim should have been killed in her sleep. There were no wounds on her body indicating struggle."
As the sky was gradually getting dark, Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian walked side by side on the path covered with the glow of the setting sun. She turned around and looked at Ge Zian. "I have something to ask you."