The moment the words reached her ears, goosebumps rose all over Lu Dantao’s body.
“You mean… there are other people here?”
She glanced up at Xue Yao, her face filled with uncertainty and alarm.
If that were the case, then it also meant—
Her earlier feeling had not been wrong. Someone really had been watching her from the shadows. It was not an illusion brought on by that corpse.
Lu Dantao looked around in all directions, her heart trembling slightly. The hundreds of episodes of Today’s Legal Report she had once watched flashed rapidly through her mind.
From Mist-Shrouded Funeral Home all the way to Chasing the Killer Across Worlds, Sa Beining’s voice echoed in her head in full 360-degree surround sound, like a guiding light amid her chaotic thoughts.
That’s right!
Lu Dantao suddenly jolted.
Murderer, wilderness, killing, dumping the body, a floating corpse being discovered, the murderer returning to the scene…
And then, discovering her in the middle of bathing.
It all connected. Everything connected!
Lu Dantao shivered.
Even her exposed collarbone felt a chill, and her eyes swept around warily while her hands hurriedly and clumsily pulled her clothes tighter around herself.
But once the seed of suspicion had been planted in her heart, everything began to feel eerie.
The dense forest she had been facing while arguing with Xue Yao just now seemed extremely strange.
When she turned around, her gaze swept across the water, and even the lush, verdant trees on the opposite bank were filled with an indescribable oddness.
She immediately changed her mind.
With a swift movement, she darted behind Xue Yao.
Sensing the movement behind him, Xue Yao frowned and glanced back. “Just now, you…”
What entered his sight was a blinding stretch of white—
Even more than what he had seen before, broader in scope.
The mottled afternoon sunlight spilled upon the world, illuminating that patch of skin until it was even more dazzling than the sunlight itself.
The shifting patches of light moved rapidly with the swaying leaves, at times gliding across smooth skin, at times sinking into shadowed hollows.
Xue Yao abruptly turned his head away, instinctively wanting to step back.
But the moment he lifted his foot, the image of Lu Dantao’s earlier reckless, calf-like charge flashed through his mind, and along with it came a faint, aggrieved echo ringing in his ears.
Enough. Once was enough. He had no desire to go through that again.
To prevent her from losing control once more, Xue Yao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to leave. He steadied himself and fixed his gaze forward—
The water’s surface shimmered with golden light. Though it was clearly the mortal world, it resembled a heavenly river pouring down, strewn with countless stars.
The brilliance flickered, almost impossible to look at directly.
Even Xue Yao was dazzled by the floating light, his entire field of vision veiled in a hazy white glow.
He quickly shifted his gaze away, looking toward the distant emerald mountains instead.
But perhaps it was the afterimage of the light spots. No matter where he looked, everything around him seemed to be covered in a faint, illusory whiteness.
It was not until he was poked several times in the back that he snapped out of that haze of white light and instinctively turned his head.
Lu Dantao had her little face scrunched up, fumbling in a flurry as she tied her clothes. The moment she saw him turn around, she hurriedly slapped his back repeatedly and cried out, “Turn around, turn around! What are you peeking at!”
The corner of Xue Yao’s lips twitched slightly as he scoffed inwardly. Now she cared about propriety between men and women.
Lu Dantao let out a light breath, still lowering her head as she wrestled with her clothes, and asked, “What were you asking me just now?”
Xue Yao paused for a few seconds before, under her repeated “Hey, hey” urging, he finally retrieved in his mind what he had wanted to ask earlier:
“When you were bathing, did you notice anything unusual?”
Lu Dantao nodded hurriedly. “Yes. At that time, I felt like someone was watching me.”
“Other than that?”
“That corpse.”
At the mention of that scene, Lu Dantao’s little face instantly twisted into a pained expression. “He floated up straight like that.”
“Rose upright?”
“Not rose, floated.” Lu Dantao emphasized, gesturing with both hands regardless of whether he was looking. “From the riverbed, gently, vertically, floating upward.”
“That’s why I thought it was a water ghoul at the time.”
Because only a water ghoul would float like that. An ordinary person, pfft, an ordinary corpse would not.
Unless there was a rope pulling it.
“Water ghoul, what is that?” Xue Yao glanced at her sideways.
Ever since hearing her exclamation earlier, he had searched through everything he had learned and seen in his life, yet found no trace of such a thing as a water ghoul.
“A water ghoul, that’s from a…”
“A storybook.” She switched to another term. “A character in a storybook. It tells about girls who were harmed, and in the end they turn into something neither human nor not. Those things are called water ghoul.”
She patted the hanging sash at her waist with satisfaction and walked over to Xue Yao’s side.
Ever since she realized that thing was not a water ghoul, Lu Dantao was no longer afraid.
After all, beauty turns to bones in the end. Everyone would have their day of becoming a corpse. She had already seen quite a few back in the dungeon.
Now, compared to that floating corpse, what worried her more was—
Lu Dantao grabbed Xue Yao’s sleeve in one swift motion, leaned in close, and asked in a tense whisper, “That murderer… could he still be nearby?”
Of course not.
From his observation, that floating corpse had been soaking in the water for at least seven days. What kind of murderer would stay nearby for that long after killing someone?
Moreover, there were indeed no traces of anyone having walked around here.
But—
Xue Yao’s gaze swept over her crossed lapels, worn the wrong way, and his brows furrowed slightly. How could she not even manage to put on her clothes properly?
His eyes then slowly moved from her collar to her hand tightly gripping him, and finally to her face, scrunched up with tension, her gaze darting wildly.
But then again.
Looking at her current timid, shrinking appearance, and comparing it to her earlier unruly and reckless behavior, the corner of Xue Yao’s lips lifted slightly, a hint of amusement appearing on his face as he replied vaguely, “Perhaps.”
Lu Dantao froze. Perhaps? What did perhaps mean?
“Hey, where are you going?” Watching Xue Yao walk ahead, Lu Dantao called out.
“Rather than keep guessing, it’s better to find the answer directly.”
“The answer? You mean that corpse?”
Following behind Xue Yao, Lu Dantao watched as he stepped into the river without hesitation, the water instantly rising to his calves.
Lu Dantao: ?
What was he trying to do?
Then, as Xue Yao bent down and reached his hand deep into the water, Lu Dantao’s eyes gradually widened.
This was what he meant by finding the answer??
Xue Yao dragged the corpse to the shore and crouched down, carefully examining it.
This corpse’s face was already so swollen that all distinguishing features were gone, making it impossible to tell what its original appearance had been.
Both legs were intact, but as for the arms…
Xue Yao raised his brows slightly, casually snapped off a small branch nearby, and used it to lift the empty sleeve.
The right arm was still there. The left arm was gone.
Aside from that, judging from the exterior alone, there did not seem to be anything unusual.
“Is it male or female?” a muffled question came from not far away.
Xue Yao looked up, only to see that at some point Lu Dantao had already retreated behind a tree, her brows tightly furrowed, her almond-shaped eyes darting back and forth between him and the corpse.
When she noticed his gaze sweep over, she even took several more steps back, her face openly filled with undisguised disgust.
A vein at Xue Yao’s temple twitched, and he was almost amused by her.
He stopped what he was doing, holding the small branch between two fingers, his tone lifting in mockery. “I haven’t even looked down on you, and you’re already looking down on me?”
Lu Dantao spoke with complete confidence, “How is that the same?”
“I didn’t touch it directly.”
Even though she had been soaking in the water, that did not count as direct contact, so it was basically the same as not touching it at all.
She had seen it clearly with her own eyes. Xue Yao had just touched it with his hand!
Bacteria had no eyes. Whoever touched them would have them cling on.
How dirty.
A cold curve tugged at the corner of Xue Yao’s lips. “You’re standing so far away. If someone attacks you from behind, I won’t be able to save you in time.”
Then he quietly stared into Lu Dantao’s eyes. Their gazes met, and she heard him speak in a low, eerie tone, “I think this shouldn’t count as me failing to uphold the ally agreement you proposed.”
Lu Dantao: …
This bastard was threatening her.
But if the murderer was really hiding nearby…
She glanced behind her. Compared to the corpse and the murderer, she would rather choose the former.
After all, with the former, she still had Xue Yao as a fighter by her side.
With slumped shoulders, she resigned herself and walked toward Xue Yao. Under his satisfied gaze, she stopped less than two steps away from him.
Damn it, she really had been threatened into this.
Xue Yao shook his head, holding the small branch between two fingers as he lightly tapped the ground, signaling for her to stand beside him.
Lu Dantao glanced at the corpse and pretended not to see it.
Xue Yao said nothing, only lifting his chin slightly toward the direction behind her.
Lu Dantao let out a long sigh, bit her lip, and in the end still shuffled over to his side.
Her drooping, listless, chick-like appearance pleased Xue Yao greatly.
This fool needed to be managed like this, lest she start acting spoiled again, throwing tantrums and making a mess of things.
Seeing that Lu Dantao was being obedient, he withdrew his thoughts and turned his attention back to the corpse.
The small stick twirled lightly between his fingers as he gave the corpse’s abdomen a gentle poke—
The bloated belly instantly deflated like a punctured ball, and yellow-green corpse fluid, mixed with writhing maggots, gushed out.
Xue Yao’s brows drew tightly together.
Between the waist and abdomen of this corpse, there were traces of stab wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon.
And not just one.
Judging from the size of the wounds, even taking into account the effects of decomposition and soaking in water, it could be inferred that this person had been stabbed with a large sword while alive.
At present, the emperor of the Great Yong Dynasty feared military officials and imposed extremely strict control over weapons. A blade of such width could only be produced within the army.
This person was connected to the military.
Who could he be? Could he be related to his former subordinates?
Hearing the sound, Lu Dantao turned her head. She caught a glimpse of the writhing maggots and quickly averted her gaze, then quietly looked toward Xue Yao.
His brows were furrowed, his eyes fixed on a certain part of the corpse, looking exactly like someone stuck on an unsolvable math problem.
Her gaze followed his to the corpse. Doing her best to ignore the maggots around the waist and abdomen, she carefully examined the face, limbs, and midsection of the body, and a thought immediately formed in her mind.
She stole another glance at Xue Yao’s expression. Still that same look of being unable to solve the problem.
Lu Dantao suddenly felt amused.
That analysis post really deserved to be reported. It claimed Xue Yan Yun was some unparalleled genius, the white moonlight of the capital, the dream of countless young girls, even that the male lead was just his substitute…
All of it was complete nonsense.
Who the murderer was, was not already obvious?
Was it really necessary for him to stare so long with that constipated expression?
“Tsk tsk tsk.”
A scoff sounded from beside him.
Xue Yao frowned and looked up.
The coward who had been hiding behind the tree just now seemed like a completely different person.
With her hands behind her back, chin slightly raised, her gaze swept over him with an air of unfathomable depth.
She even muttered, “You really don’t know?”
Xue Yao: “What?”
What trick was she playing now?
The corner of Lu Dantao’s lips curved slightly.
‘As expected.’
She shook her head. She was very disappointed in him.
Although she was not involved in criminal investigation, nor was she some detective novelist, she still had a good five, six, seven, eight parts of understanding when it came to criminal cases.
After all, Lu Dantao had been a veteran viewer of crime investigation shows since childhood.
When other kids were still singing Armored Warriors, she had already been watching Today’s Statement and Sky Net.
If she had not gone astray back then and been dazzled by the wealth of locksmithing, Lu Dantao thought that she would probably be a professional forensic doctor now, instead of one of only two girls in the mechanical engineering department.
And she would not be here in this godforsaken place playing some kind of ironman pentathlon.
Forget it, that was going a bit too far.
She stepped forward two paces, imitating Xue Yao’s usual arrogant manner, recalling the “Ali-style” tone[1]“Ali-style” refers to a trendy internet speaking style associated with corporate or motivational rhetoric popularized by Alibaba-related culture, often characterized by exaggerated confidence, … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2036258_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2036258_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); she had learned online, and spoke slowly in a condescending way:
“I am somewhat disappointed in you.”
Xue Yao: …?
Then he heard Lu Dantao, sounding even more like she was frustrated that he failed to meet expectations, say, “This person’s identity is already laid out in front of you, and you still can’t see it?”
“Young Master Yan Yun.”
References[+]