A corpse floated in the small river!

It was the professor!

It was Professor Xiao Qingtan!

The body was somewhat bloated — one glance was enough to know it had been dead for some time!

“Help, help me, save me… I can’t move, I… I have no strength left, wuu, wuu wuu wuu…”

He Muling truly had no strength left.

Her legs felt as though they had completely given out.

Ever since she’d seen the professor’s corpse, she had been so frightened that her limbs went weak and her hands and feet lost all strength.

She wanted so badly to climb onto the bank like Ren Qiqi had, but right now she was still soaking in the water, as though she and the professor’s corpse were soaking together.

She was so scared, truly so scared!

Qin Fei was about to go save her, but Xiao Shengyuan beat her to it, stepping into the river and scooping He Muling up, carrying her back to the bank.

Everyone stared at the corpse floating on the water’s surface, silent.

Only Zhen Jiu’er wanted to go over.

But the moment she took a single step, Lu Beicheng behind her pulled her back.

“Ninth Master…”

“He can’t be saved.” For some reason, Lu Beicheng simply knew that this girl wanted to go save him.

A flicker of gloom passed through Jiu’er’s eyes.

That was right — he truly couldn’t be saved.

Someone who had been perfectly fine with everyone just yesterday had become like this today.

Human life, sometimes, truly was fragile.

“I only want to go examine him,” Zhen Jiu’er said quietly.

Lu Beicheng said nothing, but he never let go of her hand.

In the end, it was Qin Fei and Xiao Shengyuan who carried the professor’s body onto the bank.

He Muling kept crying.

It was unclear whether it was from grief or excessive shock.

Though Ren Qiqi wasn’t crying, her face had clearly gone pale — she was obviously frightened too.

The two of them had originally only wanted to come bathe; who would have known that as they washed, they’d discover they had been soaking together with a corpse.

At first, they hadn’t even noticed the body was right there beside them.

Now that they thought about how long they’d been soaking together with a corpse, how could they not be terrified?

Xiao Shengyuan’s expression was grave; he didn’t seem to know what to say.

Qin Fei looked at Lu Beicheng, but Lu Beicheng’s gaze had settled on Ren Qiqi.

Ren Qiqi, who hadn’t been crying before, was now truly frightened into tears.

“Ninth Master, I’m only… I’m only a junior physician who handles wounds and minor ailments, I’m not a forensic examiner, wuu…”

The fear from before hadn’t even passed yet, and now she was being asked to examine a corpse — how could she possibly do it?

She really couldn’t, she was truly afraid!

“I can go examine him.” Zhen Jiu’er struggled, but still couldn’t break free of Lu Beicheng’s grip.

Her eyes darkened. “Ninth Master, I’ve studied a bit of forensics on the side…”

“You haven’t. I know your background inside and out.” Lu Beicheng gave a cold snort, and the look in his eyes as he watched her carried a strange edge: “Unless you aren’t Zhen Jiu’er.”

A flicker of guilt rose in Jiu’er’s heart — before him, she found she couldn’t immediately answer this directly.

After a moment, she said quietly, “If I’m not Zhen Jiu’er, then who else could I be?”

After all, this body belonged to Zhen Jiu’er, without a doubt.

The soul was a different matter — who could ever find proof of that?

“I… taught myself.”

“I’ll go examine him then.” Yan Qiu had just returned, and Qin Fei immediately explained the situation to him.

He glanced at Ninth Master, his mood somewhat complicated.

“You’re just a rough fellow who doesn’t understand these things — I’m afraid you’ll destroy the evidence on the body.”

Jiu’er’s words were not a joke.

Yan Qiu rubbed his nose.

He admitted he didn’t understand, but now that someone had died, someone had to examine the body.

Could they really just leave it unattended?

It might well be murder!