The next day, the police arrived and began investigating the cause of the professor’s death.

Xiao Chengyuan, the most suspicious among them, was temporarily placed under police surveillance.

Aside from Xiao Chengyuan, no one else was under suspicion for the time being.

Since there was no evidence, even Xiao Chengyuan was only being watched, without any restriction on his freedom of movement.

Everyone else continued the work of excavating the Northern Emperor’s tomb.

The tomb’s area wasn’t small at all. Before, Jiu’er and the others had been singularly focused on finding the Northern Emperor’s burial site, and had never truly examined the tomb itself.

This time, it was practically a large-scale excavation.

To protect the cultural relics, every step was taken with great caution, so the excavation work proceeded rather slowly.

In any case, everything was moving forward in an orderly fashion.

The one thing that had changed was that for the following two days, Zhen Jiu’er couldn’t find Lu Beicheng anywhere.

That scoundrel — after kissing her, he’d avoided her for two whole days.

She had no idea what he was actually thinking, nor what he intended to do. In any case, Jiu’er couldn’t find him, and didn’t feel like seeking him out either.

Or rather, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to — she simply refused to.

Just like that, another two days slipped by.

That day, Qiaoqiao came back from the Northern Emperor’s tomb and told Jiu’er some news. “I heard the police took Xiao Chengyuan back with them.”

“The case is already closed?” Jiu’er was somewhat surprised.

Ever since the police had arrived, she hadn’t been paying much attention to this case.

Each profession had its own specialty, and matters like this should be handled by professionals.

She just hadn’t expected the case to be solved so quickly.

“Not exactly. I’m not entirely clear on the details either, but Xiao Chengyuan has no alibi, and there’s also the testimony from He Muling and Ren Qiqi, who witnessed him arguing with the professor.”

“Anyway, they’ve got the evidence at the scene all sorted out. Now that they’ve taken him in again, they must have some evidence in hand.”

But naturally, the police wouldn’t reveal something like that to outsiders, so it could only be guessed at.

Jiu’er suddenly remembered that this was the twenty-first century now, and criminal cases weren’t something she could simply meddle in as she pleased.

Everything would be handled by professionals.

However, the archaeological team had originally been directed by the professor and Xiao Chengyuan, and now that neither of them was around, the whole team had fallen into disarray.

“Is Ninth Master planning to bring in a different archaeological team?”

“They’re preparing to put together a new team, but I heard Ninth Master doesn’t plan to hire outside experts again. Right now it seems He Muling is the one leading the archaeological team.”

“He Muling?”

“Yes, that little underclassman… oh wait, she’s actually a graduate student, older than us. She’s not some little underclassman at all.”

When it came to gossip and digging up information, there probably wasn’t anyone in this world who could outdo Qiaoqiao.

“Turns out this He Muling is incredibly impressive. She’s only a freshman, but she’s already won countless awards, many of them international ones — more than you could ever imagine.”

“It’s just that her personality is rather timid, and she doesn’t like to stand out, so all this time she’s only been doing supporting work, which is why you can’t tell how formidable she really is.”

“Is it really that amazing?” If Qiaoqiao hadn’t said something, Jiu’er truly wouldn’t have known.

She never expected that the unassuming He Muling was actually a genius in archaeology.

“It really is that amazing. If she hadn’t mentioned it while chatting with Qin Fei, probably no one would have known.”

Among the archaeological team, the ones actually in charge of the real work numbered only four.

The professor, the professor’s assistant Xia Zi, and the professor’s two students, Xiao Chengyuan and He Muling.

Given the kind of project Ninth Master had funded, one could imagine how generous the compensation must have been.

If she hadn’t been an exceptional student, how could the professor possibly have brought her along?

That He Muling was formidable was, in truth, hardly surprising.

Yet Jiu’er fell into thought. “She told Qin Fei herself?”