Futile Devices Scans

Su Ying had learned his lesson this time and no longer dared to hold Mu Xueshi’s hand.

After Mu Xueshi steadied his breathing, he said to the Third Prince, “I really was startled just now. I thought they’d already turned into piles of white bones. I didn’t expect there to still be flesh on them.”

“The corpses were kept frozen in ice. Naturally, they wouldn’t decay that quickly.”

They might as well have decayed faster. Looking at them like this was simply too disgusting. Every time Mu Xueshi glanced over, he couldn’t help shuddering. He really wasn’t suited to being an investigative official. If he ever saw corpses that had been cut into pieces, wouldn’t he faint on the spot?

Su Ying, however, did not seem afraid at all. He circled around the corpses, then finally knocked on one corpse’s stomach and pouted. “It’s so hard.”

Mu Xueshi was so frightened by Su Ying’s bold action that he took a step back, afraid Su Ying might remove some “part” from the corpse and bring it over.

After a while, Mu Xueshi realized he couldn’t let Su Ying play around like this, so he scolded him, “Su Ying, don’t touch things randomly. Be careful you don’t get corpse poison on you.”

Only after hearing Mu Xueshi’s words did Su Ying reluctantly withdraw the little hand he had just stretched out.

“Judging by their appearance, these two people’s faces and bodies are almost identical. But Ning Yue cannot be two people, so one of them must be fake.”

After hearing the Third Prince’s words, Mu Xueshi frowned and thought for a moment before saying, “If they look this alike, how can we tell which one is Ning Yue? Did Ning Yue ever suffer any serious injury at the manor, or did he have any distinguishing mark?”

The Third Prince was silent for a moment before slowly saying, “Which one is Ning Yue shouldn’t be important. What matters is how these two died. The murderer who killed them may be closely connected to the murderer in the Grand Tutor case.”

“Mm!” Mu Xueshi nodded heavily, his expression becoming serious.

“From what I can see, both of them died from injuries. The murderer’s martial arts are mixed, so it’s impossible to tell which sect they came from. But one thing is certain: this person’s martial arts are extremely advanced. Both victims were killed with a single fatal blow.”

“Why are there so many martial arts experts in your world?” Mu Xueshi exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” the Third Prince asked, not understanding why Mu Xueshi had suddenly brought this up.

Mu Xueshi let out a long sigh and said meaningfully, “In a place like this, where experts are as common as clouds, how is a clumsy bird like me, who started late, supposed to learn to fly? If I don’t become a martial arts master, then when you get old, who’s going to protect you?”

The Third Prince lowered his eyes slightly and looked at Mu Xueshi.

“When I’m old, won’t you be old too?”

Mu Xueshi shook his head, looking completely detached from the matter.

“That’s where you’re wrong. When you get old, I’ll use my silver coin and switch into another young person’s body. Then I’ll be able to bully you, you old man, however I like. Hahaha…”

“…”

Seeing that the Third Prince showed no sign of being amused, Mu Xueshi immediately stuck out his tongue and complained that the Third Prince had no sense of romance.

…

“I think these two might be twins…” Mu Xueshi began pacing around the room, though in truth he only wanted to get farther away from the corpses.

The Third Prince said nothing and continued thinking to himself.

“Do you still remember when we first saw the second Ning Yue corpse by the lake? At that time, I told you that these two corpses, which barely differed from each other, might be twins. You denied it then and said Ning Yue had no family since childhood. But from how I see it, this is very possible. The twin-crime method is very common in books. One person can serve as proof that the other person wasn’t at the scene.”

“According to you, Ning Yue and another brother created evidence together. Then wouldn’t that make them the murderers?”

The Third Prince’s question immediately left Mu Xueshi unsure how to answer. It was indeed somewhat suspicious. If the two brothers had committed the crime together, what was their motive? Besides, murderers generally didn’t die during the investigation process. If they really were the killers, then wouldn’t there be no way to punish them in the end?

While Mu Xueshi was still troubled, inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind. He said to the Third Prince, “Isn’t there a Twinbirth Tree outside the palace? At the time, you told me that as long as the blood of blood brothers is mixed together and dripped into the soil, that tree will split into branches. Then if we mix the blood from these two dead men and drip it into the soil beneath the twin tree, won’t that settle it?”

The Third Prince cast Mu Xueshi an approving look. Mu Xueshi was instantly encouraged and happily went to help the Third Prince.

“What are you doing?”

With a considerate expression, Mu Xueshi said to the Third Prince, “Helping you draw blood. If you do something like this alone, you’ll suffer karmic retribution!”

The Third Prince struck Mu Xueshi on the head and said in a low voice, “These are frozen corpses. The blood has long since congealed. How could it possibly be drawn out?”

Aggrieved, Mu Xueshi rubbed his forehead and said indignantly, “Then why were you reaching your hand over there?”

“To cover the corpses with the cloth again, of course.”

“Oh…” Mu Xueshi fell silent this time.

Seeing Mu Xueshi’s dejected look after being hit, the Third Prince’s heart softened. He rubbed Mu Xueshi’s forehead for him and said, “The blood from the corpses was stored in bottles earlier. At the time, it was for poison testing, and no one thought of any other use for it. Those bottles are still here, so we can use them now.”

“That’s wonderful. I thought we’d have to wait for the corpses to thaw.” Mu Xueshi laughed dryly.

After the Third Prince covered one corpse with its cloth, he walked to the other corpse and stopped in front of it. Just as he was about to cover it as well, he noticed something strange.

Mu Xueshi’s eyes widened too, and he cried out in surprise, “Why does this person only have one eyeball? When the corpse was transported here, did anything like this happen? Or was the victim attacked before death, causing one eye to go blind and the eyeball to necrotize? Then after he was brought here and frozen, the dead eyeball was directly frozen… frozen…”

Su Ying tugged on Mu Xueshi’s sleeve. After his big eyes darted around for a while, he opened his little hand.

“Uncle Mu, look.”

“…Ahhh!!—”

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