Chapter 13

“What?!” I could hardly believe my ears:

“When did it happen? How did it go missing?”

“Just now! We only discovered it during the shift change! The two Constables on duty… they… they were knocked out!”

I rushed back to the yamen immediately.

The stretcher that held Xu Minghao’s body was completely empty.

The two Constables had suffered heavy blows to the back of their necks and remained unconscious.

The perpetrator was swift and precise-clearly prepared.

Stealing the corpse?

Was it to cover up the truth about the poisoning?

Or…

Was there some secret about the body itself that we hadn’t discovered?

…

The relentless investigation and sudden upheaval had left everyone exhausted, yet nerves were stretched taut like strings.

I forced myself to calm down and began to sort through the clues again:

Xu Minghao’s death-Wang Defa’s death-Coroner Li’s death from poisoning-identifying the poison as a combination of Chiyang Powder and osmanthus fragrance-the townsfolk learning Wang Defa died in the ruined temple outside the city-that night, the house Cui Sheng bought was burned by the people-we were fighting the fire in the front yard, and found military boot thread marks in the back-Cui Sheng came again to provide clues about Wang Defa-Xu Kai suspected of fleeing-Xu Minghao’s body stolen…

I recalled the secret letter Captain Yin had mentioned.

Looking at Captain Yin, who had been with me all along, I asked:

“Captain Yin, if Messenger Xu’s secret letter fails to be delivered, what are the consequences?”

Captain Yin’s face was extremely grim:

“At best, it will delay military affairs; at worst, if it falls into enemy hands, there could be major upheaval at the border! Chief Zhao, we must find that letter as soon as possible!”

I found Doctor Qian.

Since Wang Defa and Coroner Li died this afternoon,

Doctor Qian had been helping with the autopsies.

“Doctor Qian, aside from signs of poisoning, was there anything unusual about Messenger Xu’s body? For example… was anything hidden inside?” I thought of a possibility.

Doctor Qian recalled carefully, then suddenly said, “Yes!”

“When I examined the body earlier, I felt a slight subcutaneous bulge on the inside of Messenger Xu’s left upper arm. It seemed like an old scar with a cyst beneath, but I was focused on checking for poison and didn’t investigate further…”

A subcutaneous foreign object?!

Could it be that the secret letter wasn’t carried by Xu Minghao,

but hidden inside his body in some extreme way?!

I dared not voice my suspicion,

After all, there were few people I could trust now.

The enemy’s speed and reactions were clearly much faster than ours.

This was not normal.

“Issue orders immediately! Guard all exits and docks! Search every vehicle and box! They’re carrying a corpse-they can’t possibly leave the city easily!” I nearly shouted as I gave the command.