After tugging at the young man’s face, Lin Hao leaned forward, preparing to examine more closely, but was pulled back by Qi Shuo.

“Let me do it.”

As he spoke, Qi Shuo felt somewhat helpless, though what consoled him was that Ah Hao didn’t argue with him.

Lin Hao silently watched as Qi Shuo extended his slender fingers, slowly moving them along the young man’s facial contours until stopping at the ear.

The skin by the ear was pulled, and a layer of skin was peeled off bit by bit. The entire process looked both eerie and disgusting.

Lin Hao couldn’t spare attention for such feelings, staring fixedly at the person whose true appearance was being revealed.

This was a man of about thirty with ordinary features, his face shape similar to Du Qing’s.

Qi Shuo looked toward Lin Hao.

Lin Hao shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

When she had followed Master Mingxin, her range of activity had been limited, and she didn’t know many people.

“Since he meets people wearing Du Qing’s appearance, he must be one of Emperor Pingle’s people.” Lin Hao glanced at the mask Qi Shuo had tossed aside, inevitably curious. “Is this made from human skin?”

“It feels like some kind of gel substance.” Qi Shuo didn’t know much about disguise techniques. “Once he wakes up, we can ask.”

The two waited patiently.

The man didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. Finally, he struggled to open his eyelids to find a strange young face reflected in his vision.

After a brief moment of confusion, he sat up abruptly. “Who are you?”

From his impressions before losing consciousness, the direction those officials had been taking him wasn’t toward any government office at all.

He quickly surveyed his surroundings, his expression changing drastically. “This isn’t a government office, and you’re not officials either!”

Qi Shuo smiled slightly. “Who says? You may not know this, but the government has secret agencies for investigating matters that aren’t convenient to make public.”

The man seemed to believe this and looked increasingly nervous. “Then why did you arrest me? This humble one isn’t the criminal in the wanted poster—”

As a mirror was placed before him, the man’s defensive words came to an abrupt halt.

In the mirror was a face completely different from the one he’d had before losing consciousness, yet also a face he knew all too well.

It was his own face.

The man instinctively raised his hand to touch his face. The person in the mirror made the same motion.

He abruptly lowered his hand and looked at Qi Shuo. This time, his terrified expression was no longer feigned.

“Now can you explain the purpose of your disguise?” Qi Shuo asked lightly.

The man’s eyes flickered, his composure shattered. “Aren’t the officers looking for the murderer who killed the Yulin princess? This has nothing to do with this humble one’s disguise, does it?”

Qi Shuo gave him a cool glance. “What a coincidence—I happen to know the person you’re disguised as.”

The man’s expression jolted. Then he heard the other party say unhurriedly, “He’s currently still being held at the Jinlin Guard.”

“Who exactly are you?”

Qi Shuo laughed lightly. “That’s a question I should be asking you.”

The man closed his mouth and didn’t answer.

“It’s ready!” A cheerful voice came from the corner.

The man instinctively looked over.

When he’d first awakened, he’d noticed someone there, but had quickly been drawn by the young man before him and hadn’t paid attention to anything else. Looking now, he could see that the speaker was a graceful young lady. Beside her was another person using fire tongs to lift something from a furnace.

The young lady walked over with light steps, standing beside the young man who had been interrogating him, her face unable to hide her excitement. “I didn’t expect it to look quite good when heated red-hot.”

The man listened to these words, his gaze fixed on the approaching person.

That person was dressed as an official, holding fire tongs gripping a red-hot iron mask.

The man involuntarily shivered, a sense of foreboding rising.

Soon his premonition came true.

“This person’s mouth is so stubborn. Grinding away at him wastes too much time.” The young lady pointed at the red-hot mask with a smile. “Since he likes wearing masks, why not let him try this one on?”

The young man smiled gently. “That works.”

The man’s pupils contracted sharply.

Were this man and woman demons?

Qi Shuo looked at the man, his bland gaze as if viewing a block of wood. “You might want to reconsider—will you confess honestly, or put on the new mask?”

The man pressed his lips tightly together, his face frighteningly pale.

Qi Shuo glanced at his subordinate.

The subordinate dressed in official’s clothing responded loudly and strode toward the man.

The man had thought they would at least ask him a few more questions. He hadn’t expected this official to be so vigorous, without a hint of hesitation, using the fire tongs to grip the red-hot mask and press it toward his face.

In that instant, he even smelled the scorched scent of burning hair.

“I’ll talk!” There was no time to think. His survival instinct made the words burst from his mouth.

“Stop for now.”

The searing heat suddenly retreated. The man’s back broke out in cold sweat, his face full of terror.

There was a possibility the other party was just trying to frighten him, but what qualifications did he have to gamble on that? Moreover, he had truly sensed the other party’s indifference.

“Speak. What kind of person are you, and why did you impersonate—” Qi Shuo paused, his tone playful, “Why did you impersonate Little Wang?”

“I—” Though he’d opened his mouth under threat, the man still couldn’t continue.

Lin Hao had a flash of inspiration. “I understand now!”

The man looked at her.

“You showed yourself to people wearing Little Wang’s appearance so the neighbors wouldn’t notice someone else was also living there. You were covering for the murderer who killed the Yulin princess!”

The Jinlin Guard had never given up searching for the fish that slipped through the net from the group that attempted to blow up Jinxiu Street. If a strange face suddenly appeared in a residential area, there would be a risk of being discovered.

Having someone disguise themselves as Du Qing not only solved Chen Mu’s needs for food and drink but also turned Chen Mu into a person who didn’t exist. After he killed Princess Lingque and hid in Du Qing’s residence, when officials searched and “Du Qing” appeared, he would be perfectly safe.

The man looked at Lin Hao in shock.

“Did I guess correctly?” Lin Hao asked with a smile.

The man’s expression kept changing.

Lin Hao withdrew her smile, showing a disgusted expression. “I know far more than you think. If you wait until I’ve said everything, that iron mask will have to be yours.”

The man’s temples twitched, his heart full of uncertainty.

He really couldn’t figure out how the young lady before him knew this, yet she had guessed correctly.

Lin Hao simply gave another push, uttering three words in a low voice: “Emperor Pingle.”

The man’s eyes flew wide open, as if seeing a ghost.

Lin Hao looked at him in puzzlement. “Don’t you know that person has long been in the Jinlin Guard’s sights? His captured accomplices have confessed everything they could confess.”

These words completely shattered the man’s psychological defenses. “I’ll talk…”

Just as Lin Hao had guessed, this person had indeed disguised himself as Du Qing to help conceal Chen Mu’s tracks.

“Where are your other accomplices?” Qi Shuo asked.

The man shook his head. “We all use single-line contact. One day I received word to meet with my superior. At a teahouse, besides my superior there was also a man. He felt my face bit by bit. A few days later, he delivered a mask to me, and then I moved there under Little Wang’s identity.”

“The murderer who killed the Yulin princess is also there?”

The man hesitated briefly, then nodded.

“Then how did he evade detection when the officials searched?” Qi Shuo asked again.

“In the woodshed there’s a rice jar…”