“Qi Xia.” Zhang Chenze crossed her arms and said expressionlessly, “The first person Han Yimo called out after being injured was you. Did you know each other before?”

Qi Xia didn’t even lift his eyelids. Supporting his forehead with his right hand, he answered, “No.”

“Then do you have any leads about his death?” Zhang Chenze continued to ask.

Qi Xia didn’t answer, instead examining the giant sword on Han Yimo’s body.

This sword had an ancient style and color, like an exquisite work of art.

It bore countless battle scars, as if it had experienced many fights.

But in this day and age, who would fight with such a giant sword?

“Qi Xia, I’m asking you a question.” Zhang Chenze said irritably. “Don’t you plan to explain something?”

“What do I need to explain?” Qi Xia asked. “Are you saying I killed Han Yimo?”

“Whether or not you’re the killer, you should at least say something to clear yourself of suspicion, right?”

Qi Xia still didn’t answer. Instead, he reached out to pull the sword.

“Hey!” Officer Li saw this and quickly walked over. “Qi Xia, whether or not you’re the killer, we need to protect the crime scene! Otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?” Qi Xia interrupted. “Otherwise when you police come to investigate, it’ll be easy to lose evidence?”

Officer Li’s mouth moved slightly, at a loss for words.

Now, let alone waiting for the police to investigate, whether he could even get out alive was questionable.

Seeing Officer Li’s silence, Qi Xia used both hands with force and continued pulling the sword.

He used almost all his strength to completely extract the sword blade from the ground.

Seeing this, Qiao Jiajin also came to help, only then discovering that the giant sword was even heavier than he had imagined. This pitch-black ancient sword was made of some unknown metal, weighing approximately one hundred fifty jin, equivalent to a strong adult male.

Qi Xia gasped for air heavily, throwing the iron sword onto the ground with a massive sound.

After a while, Qi Xia steadied his breathing and finally spoke to Zhang Chenze: “Lawyer Zhang, let me confirm with you. This iron sword is as long as a person and weighs over a hundred jin. Are you now suspecting that I lifted this iron sword and silently killed Han Yimo, who couldn’t even move, at dawn, and that I also thrust the sword blade deep into the ground?”

Zhang Chenze pursed her lips, her expression not looking good.

“And before that, to prevent you all from discovering it, this iron sword was hidden in my pants pocket the whole time, right?” Qi Xia asked again.

Seeing the atmosphere becoming somewhat tense, Officer Li stepped out to mediate: “Qi Xia, if you didn’t kill Han Yimo, why did you have to pull the sword out?”

Qi Xia didn’t bother with Zhang Chenze anymore. Instead, he lowered his head to look at this blood-stained giant sword.

He examined it carefully, shook his head, and then turned the iron sword over.

Sure enough, on the hilt of the other side, the three small characters “Seven Black Sword” were engraved.

Among what Han Yimo had just said, there wasn’t much useful information. He seemed to have been trying to accept some fact the whole time, but unfortunately, he never figured it out even in death.

And in that passage, the only information that stuck in Qi Xia’s memory was the three characters “Seven Black Sword.”

“This sword is called the ‘Seven Black Sword’?” Qiao Jiajin asked from the side.

Qi Xia gently stroked his chin and muttered to himself, “These three characters are on Han Yimo’s other side, which means he shouldn’t have known this sword’s name when he was pierced. So why would he mention the ‘Seven Black Sword’?”

“I think your train of thought is very unconventional.” Officer Li shook his head. “Why worry about the name of a murder weapon? Shouldn’t the problem now be considering the cause of Han Yimo’s death?”

Qi Xia glanced at Officer Li and said again, “It was daylight when Han Yimo was stabbed. Even if he was sleeping at the time, suffering such a heavy injury would definitely make him open his eyes. Theoretically, he should have seen the killer, yet he didn’t mention the killer’s name at all, but instead mentioned the ‘Seven Black Sword’ twice. Isn’t that very strange?”

“But he called out your name…” Xiao Ran said in a small voice from the side. “No matter what sword it was, Han Yimo definitely shouted your name first…”

“So what?” Qi Xia asked.

“So you’re the killer…” Xiao Ran was somewhat timid. She hid behind Officer Li, not daring to look at Qi Xia.

Qi Xia didn’t defend himself, just stared at Xiao Ran. He seemed to be judging whether this woman was the real killer or simply stupid.

“And our companion died, but you’re not sad at all. Instead, you’re calmly analyzing things here, but you’re a liar! What use is your analysis?!” Xiao Ran said almost tearfully. “Who among us would believe you?”

“‘Sad’?” Qi Xia frowned, as if he didn’t quite understand. “You mean… I should be sad for this person I’ve known for less than a day?”

“You’re so cold-blooded, that’s why I say you’re like the killer!” Xiao Ran’s voice gradually grew louder. “Didn’t you want to leave last night? Why did you have to stay here overnight? If you think about it carefully, you deliberately stayed behind just to kill someone, right?”

By this point, Qi Xia had basically understood. The woman before him wasn’t necessarily the killer, but was definitely stupid.

In the beginning room, she had also shouted things like “Why should we believe this liar?”

To her, “logic” was useless. She only believed the results she wanted to believe.

Qiao Jiajin couldn’t listen anymore and said to Xiao Ran, “Hey, stupid woman, if you don’t like using your brain, then don’t interrupt when others are talking. I think what the liar is analyzing makes sense.”

“But you three aren’t good people to begin with!” Xiao Ran retorted aggrievedly. “Someone died here, and you three are the most suspicious, right? So what if I’m stupid? Being stupid doesn’t mean I’ll do bad things!”

This statement targeted not only Qi Xia, but also included Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian nearby.

That’s right—the three of them weren’t exactly good people to begin with.

Qi Xia nodded and replied, “You’re right.”

He gave up examining the corpse and the giant sword, instead slowly standing up: “There’s no need to continue looking. I’m the one who killed him.”

Hearing Qi Xia say this, everyone’s faces showed no expression.

Only Xiao Ran seemed somewhat excited: “See! He admitted it himself! He rambled on and on just now, trying to use that sword’s name to divert attention!”

Officer Li frowned on the side, not knowing what he was pondering.

“Hey! Liar!” Qiao Jiajin couldn’t quite understand. “Even if you admit it, who would believe you? Forget about you—even if you and I moved this sword together, it would be impossible not to make a sound.”

Qi Xia waved his hand and walked out of the convenience store.

“It doesn’t matter. There are only ten days anyway. What does it matter if I’m labeled as the killer? Besides, I don’t like arguing with stupid people.”

Hearing Qi Xia say this, Qiao Jiajin also curled his lips and followed.

Then came Tiantian. She had decided from the beginning to go with Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, and now there was even less reason to stay.

Lin Qin turned her head back and gave Officer Li a meaningful look, seeming to want to say something, but ultimately didn’t speak. She shook her head and left.

The team of only eight people split into two groups.

The four who remained all had somewhat complicated expressions. Only Xiao Ran looked relieved: “Great… those people who looked so bad finally left…”

“Xiao Ran, I think we forgot something…” Doctor Zhao said quietly to Xiao Ran from the side.

…

Xiao Ran ran out of the room and called out to the four people.

“Stop!”

Qi Xia coldly turned his head, not knowing what the other party wanted to do.

“Did you forget something?” Xiao Ran asked. “What about the ‘Dao’?”

“‘Dao’?”

“That’s right, four ‘Dao.’ The ‘Dao’ that the nine of us risked our lives to win back. You can’t just take them all with you, right?”