Of course! They couldn’t really be blamed for this.

When had such a thing ever happened in the vast capital?

Jing Zhaoyin rubbed his hands as he walked toward Jingrong, his face pale green as he swallowed hard.

Jing Zhaoyin was about to bow when Jingrong stopped him.

“No need for that. The investigation is urgent.”

Jing Zhaoyin nodded, glanced toward the interior of the room, still looking nauseated.

He quickly said, “Your Highness, we’ve already had the coroner examine it. He said both hands were severed and she died from excessive blood loss.”

“Mm!”

“The deceased’s facial skin was also peeled off. She’s inside.” He pointed with his finger!

Seeing Jing Zhaoyin’s expression, Jingrong sighed inwardly. As expected, the court’s taxes were all being used to support idle people.

Ji Yunshu walked up, glanced at Jingrong, then looked at Jing Zhaoyin.

“May I go in and examine the body?”

“Master Ji, that corpse is…”

Before he could finish speaking, Ji Yunshu had already walked in calmly, carrying the sandalwood box she’d brought.

Jing Zhaoyin had wanted to stop her, but his hands weren’t fast enough—Ji Yunshu had already gone inside.

The corpse was in that condition, yet Ji Yunshu could still walk in there so calmly and composedly. Did this person not have a stomach?

Really wouldn’t vomit?

Jingrong’s expression was also very calm as he followed Ji Yunshu’s steps inside.

The people outside all looked astonished and began feeling queasy, because Jingrong was the master! Since he’d gone in, naturally everyone had to follow him in too!

But…

Several people exchanged glances, and their feet instead moved toward the outside of the courtyard, afraid of going in and seeing that corpse, lest they lose their appetite.

But Jing Zhaoyin couldn’t escape! He could only follow in dutifully, raising his wide sleeve to wipe away nervous sweat before lifting his foot to enter.

Jing Xuan had long since observed all these people’s expressions, and hearing Jing Zhaoyin describe the gruesome state of the corpse, her curiosity only grew.

Curiosity killed the cat—this child’s head really was caught in a door!

She followed in right after.

Inside, the coroner had just covered the body with a white cloth, even pinching his nose in disgust, looking as if he’d rather raise a dainty finger to hold that white cloth.

Seeing him like this, Ji Yunshu sighed inwardly. This person could be a coroner? No wonder everyone said the capital supported idle people—it was truly well-deserved!

“You’ve finished examining this person?” Ji Yunshu asked.

The coroner looked her up and down—slender build, fair complexion, just a young scholar.

So he showed a very contemptuous face.

“Of course I’ve finished examining it. What, do you have an opinion?”

“Mm!” An extremely honest answer.

The coroner’s face stiffened. He looked her up and down again. “What do you know? Hurry up and leave.”

“I don’t know?” Ji Yunshu asked softly, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. “Fine then, let me ask you—how long has the deceased been dead?”

“One day!”

“How did she die?”

“From excessive blood loss!”

“Before she died, what happened to her body?”

“She was violated by someone. Isn’t that obvious?” The coroner was getting impatient. He’d been a coroner for over twenty years, and this was the first time he’d heard someone question him like this.

How strange!

Ji Yunshu remained cold and indifferent as she placed the sandalwood box aside. She reached out and lifted a corner of the white cloth, which seemed to be trembling with some bits of flesh on it.

The corpse’s facial skin had been peeled clean, looking somewhat like red skin that had been burned by fire, with some blood vessels still clearly visible. On top, there were even some scattered bits of grass and the deceased’s hair.

Looking at just the face, one might really think this was a mummified corpse!

Because the deceased’s body had originally been naked, someone had used simple cloth to provide some covering.

But those severed hands were still clearly visible.

Extremely horrifying and gruesome!

Faced with such a corpse, Ji Yunshu pressed her lips together, a trace of pity in her eyes.

Although the facial skin had been peeled off, she knew this woman had been very beautiful!

However, Ji Yunshu was also somewhat speechless, because the deceased’s abdomen had actually been cut open and was only roughly stitched together with fishing line.

“Actually…” Ji Yunshu glanced at the coroner. “Some corpses don’t necessarily need to be cut open.”

The coroner sneered coldly. “How can you examine without cutting open?”

“Can’t blame you—after all, your skills are limited.”

The coroner hadn’t yet reacted. Why did these words sound somewhat strange?

At this moment, just behind Ji Yunshu, the instant the corpse was uncovered, Jing Zhaoyin immediately lowered his head, covering his mouth.

As for Jing Xuan, her eyes widened enormously, her mouth suddenly gaping open. After her shocked expression froze for a few seconds, she suddenly covered her mouth. Her pink face immediately turned green.

After retching a few times, she ran out frantically!

Faintly, one could still hear the sounds of Jing Xuan vomiting, wave after wave, very rhythmically.

Didn’t she want to know the truth? Didn’t she want to follow along?

She had so little composure!

Of course, Ji Yunshu couldn’t be bothered with that.

She efficiently put on her gloves. Although the deceased’s skin had been peeled, her features still remained.

She pried open the deceased’s eyes. The eyeballs showed no clouding, and some livor mortis had appeared on the deceased’s chest.

“Based on the degree of eyeball clouding and the livor mortis, the time of death wasn’t one day, but less than three hours.” Ji Yunshu said.

The coroner’s face didn’t look good. He stretched his neck to look—it seemed correct. So he fell silent.

Next, Ji Yunshu lifted the deceased’s severed arm and examined it.

As she did so, she said, “Where the arm was severed is very smooth. It should have been cut off with one strike of a very sharp blade. Moreover, the outer edge of the cut is also quite smooth, which shows that this blade must also have been very straight.”

After speaking, she wiped her finger across the deceased’s wound and brought it to her nose to smell.

Her brow furrowed as she continued, “The flesh at the wound has already rotted, and it gives off a very pungent rotting smell. The blood at the wound is also showing a purple-black color and has congealed without dissolving. This shows that when the deceased’s hands were severed, it should have been about three days ago. In fact, she didn’t die from excessive blood loss.”

“What nonsense are you talking? How could she not have died from excessive blood loss?” the coroner retorted.

Both hands had clearly been severed, and her facial skin had been torn off—how could she not have died from excessive blood loss?

Ji Yunshu wasn’t in a hurry to explain. She continued examining the corpse very carefully.

First she examined the head area. Parting the hair to look, her expression froze!

Immediately after, she walked to the foot area of the corpse and lifted the remaining white cloth covering the body once more.

A pair of small jade feet was revealed!

On the feet, there were also some scattered bits of grass.

She squeezed the deceased’s small feet. Although the body had already stiffened to a certain degree, on the small feet…

Her expression tightened as she looked even more carefully.

She now had a general direction in her mind regarding what had happened…