Beijing had two suburban counties: Taikang and Changle.
Song Tingfeng unrolled the case file and began reading, with Xu Qi An and Zhu Guangxiu standing on either side, also peering at the document.
The contents of the file were as follows:
[To the north of Taikang County lies Mount Dahuang, with its main peak reaching over 1,000 meters in height. The mountain range stretches for dozens of li, rich in limestone deposits. It sustains hundreds to thousands of lime workers in the surrounding area.
Lime workers are craftsmen who extract and process limestone.
Since the middle of the year, a monster has appeared in the rivers of the Mount Dahuang area. It frequently comes ashore to devour people, and numerous lime workers have already fallen victim to this creature.]
“Lacks detailed information…” Xu Qi An, the experienced criminal investigator, concluded after reading the file.
“This must be a newly reported case, so we need to investigate and complete the file,” he thought.
Li Yuchun’s gaze swept over the three of them, and he spoke with a serious expression: “Xu Ningyan, tighten your sword belt two inches higher, and the brass gong is not positioned correctly – move it one inch to the left.”
…Are you mentally ill? Is your obsessive-compulsive disorder in its final stages? Xu Qi An thought, but said aloud: “Yes, sir!”
As they walked out of Chunfeng Hall and just as he crossed the threshold, Xu Qi An suddenly felt something under his foot. He instinctively bent down to pick it up but suddenly froze.
Silver… and it felt heavier.
“Let’s go,” Song Tingfeng turned and urged.
“Oh, right,” Xu Qi An tucked the silver pieces into his clothes and hurried to catch up.
…
Inside the hall, Li Yuchun took out the money pouch from the box and hung it on his waist. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly frowned.
He opened the pouch and poured out a pile of silver pieces, carefully counting them. His brow immediately furrowed: “I’ve lost three qian of silver…”
As someone teased by his colleagues for being “unable to part with money,” three qian of silver was enough to make him upset until nightfall.
…
Outside the Watchmen’s Office, the three met with the constables from the Capital Prefecture. There were also three of them, led by a woman, with the other two appearing somewhat younger.
The Capital Prefecture was colloquially known as the Prefectural Office.
The constables’ uniforms were not much different from Xu Qi An’s runner attire, with a dark base and red trim on the collar and cuffs.
Instead of the character for “arrest” embroidered on the chest, there was a majestic mythical beast called a bixie.
One at the Qi Refining realm, two at the Body Refining realm… Xu Qi An observed the three discreetly.
The leading woman cupped her hands and said, “Greetings, sirs. This humble officer is Lü Qing. I’ve already ordered the horses to be taken to the city gate. Let’s talk in the carriage.”
Riding horses was for travel while using a carriage provided space for discussion without wasting time.
The Watchmen held a higher status, and officers from other yamen naturally deferred to them. However, although this female officer at the Qi Refining realm addressed them respectfully, her attitude was neither servile nor overbearing.
A spacious carriage was parked by the street, large enough to accommodate six people without feeling cramped.
The three Watchmen sat on one side, while the three from the Prefectural Office sat on the other, clearly divided.
Song Tingfeng smiled and introduced himself, as well as Zhu Guangxiao and Xu Qi An.
“You should be familiar with this one. He was detained in the Prefectural Office during the tax silver case,” he added.
The three constables from the Capital Prefecture scrutinized Xu Qi An.
The female captain, who had introduced herself as Lü Qing, cupped her hands and said, “Your reputation precedes you.”
The tax silver case had been handled by the Prefectural Office, and as a captain there, she remembered Xu Qi An.
At the time, I thought this man was quite capable and repeatedly advised the Prefect to recruit him to the Prefectural Office… Lü Qing sighed inwardly, seeing that Xu Qi An had already become a Watchman.
Xu Qi An smiled and said a few modest words, while discreetly observing the female captain.
It was quite rare to see a woman as a captain.
Not all women in the Great Shang Dynasty were kept in boudoirs. For those with exceptional talent, various government offices would provide a certain degree of cultivation.
This female captain had a beautiful face, probably in her early thirties, with eyebrows thicker than those of most women, exuding a valiant aura.
Her figure was graceful yet exuded the agility of a female leopard. Her chest was noticeably full, likely constrained by an undergarment.
Come to think of it, Xu Qi An only now understood why the tax silver case hadn’t been transferred to the Ministry of Justice back then, but was instead jointly handled by the Prefectural Office and the Watchmen. He had found it strange at the time.
It was because Zhou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was in cahoots with the Ministry of Justice.
These details only became clear to him now.
“The case file is brief, with many details left unclear. Since your Prefectural Office took on the case first, let’s exchange information,” Song Tingfeng said.
“When exactly did the monster first appear?”
“In the sixth or seventh month,” the female captain replied, her voice slightly husky and magnetic.
“Has anyone seen what the monster looks like?” Song Tingfeng asked again.
“At first, local lime workers would frequently go missing. When their families searched for them, they found strange claw prints and bloodstains by the river. After that, more and more lime workers disappeared, and the claw prints along the riverbank became increasingly numerous…”
“The local village head gathered the lime workers and cast nets in the river, intending to catch and kill the monster. But they were unsuccessful; the fishing nets were easily torn…”
It’s an amphibian! Xu Qi An thought to himself.
After listening, Song Tingfeng frowned and asked, “What puzzles me is, if this happened in the sixth or seventh month, why is it only being reported now?”
“The monster only devoured lime workers who went into the mountains, without attacking the villages. So initially, the Taikang County Magistrate didn’t pay much attention. It wasn’t until more and more people died that he sent constables to join the lime workers in hunting the monster but to no avail.”
As Lü Qing spoke, she frequently glanced at Xu Qi An, but to her disappointment, the man who had solved the tax silver case remained silent with furrowed brows.
“After several attempts, the Taikang County Magistrate became unwilling to deal with it further. Or rather, with the imperial examination approaching, he not only stopped handling the case but also tried to cover it up.”
Zhu Guangxiao asked in a deep voice, “Then why was it reported after all?”
Lü Qing paused for a moment before saying, “The lime workers were afraid to go up the mountain to burn lime, but they still had to pay taxes. With no other choice, they took a detour into the mountains, avoiding the rivers. But then an accident occurred…”
“More than twenty people who went up the mountain to burn lime never returned. The nearby lime workers had no other option but to report it to the Prefectural Office.”
Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao exchanged glances but said nothing more.
Tap tap…
At this moment, Xu Qi An knocked on the long bench and looked at the three from the Capital Prefecture, asking, “Do you have a map of Mount Dahuang and the nearby villages?”
“We brought one. Considering that the monster’s realm is unknown, we planned to investigate on our own first, without bringing local lime workers, to avoid being unable to protect them if something goes wrong,” Lü Qing looked at her colleague seated beside her, who took out a rolled map from his bag.
Xu Qi An took the map and slowly unrolled it. It was a topographical map of the Mount Dahuang range.
After carefully examining it for a moment, Xu Qi An said, “I have a conjecture that I think you should know about.”
Everyone in the carriage looked at him, and Song Tingfeng smiled, his eyes narrowing slightly.
The female captain’s eyes lit up slightly as she sat up straight, “Please, go ahead.”
Xu Qi An said, “Its attacks on the people follow a pattern, or rather, have a strong purpose. This might not be a simple case of a monster running amok.”
Lü Qing frowned slightly, “What makes you say that?”
“At first, it only devoured lime workers near the riverbank, then gradually expanded its range, radiating outward from both sides of the river. Eventually, it started going into the mountains to devour lime workers. This is not purely for hunting food.”
“Firstly, the river in Mount Dahuang stretches for hundreds of li and is not lacking in fish and shrimp. Wild animals choose their food based on the environment, not their taste. If food is not scarce nearby, it would never go out of its way to hunt people in the mountains just for a good meal.”
“Secondly, if it were an intelligent monster, different from wild beasts, and simply enjoyed eating humans, it wouldn’t ignore the nearby villages. But it didn’t; it only devoured lime workers who entered the Mount Dahuang area.”
“According to behavioral psychology analysis, this is a form of conscious expulsion.”
Behavioral psychology?! Lü Qing pondered, “Marking territory?”
Before Xu Qi An could answer, Song Tingfeng shook his head, “No, if it were intelligent, it absolutely wouldn’t mark territory in this manner. Marking territory in the suburbs of the capital is tantamount to suicide. And if it were just a ferocious beast, it wouldn’t exhibit behavior aimed at driving away lime workers.”
Lü Qing thought for a moment, her pupils contracting slightly, “There must be something in Mount Dahuang that it cares about.”
The carriage fell into a brief silence.