Chapter 8

By the time Captain Yin and I led the group of Constables to the scene, dusk had already fallen.

Wang Defa’s corpse lay slumped in a pile of grass beside the altar.

His face bore a striking resemblance to that of Messenger Xu at the time of his death-almost as if he were merely asleep.

“It’s happened again…” Xiao Zhang’s voice trembled.

Coroner Li began the examination.

He carefully inspected Wang Defa’s mouth and nose, neck, and fingernails, then lifted his clothing to check the skin.

“No external injuries, no signs of struggle, no abnormal odor from the mouth or nose…”

Coroner Li muttered to himself, his brows furrowing ever deeper.

Out of habit, he took out the Soul-Detecting Powder and cautiously applied it to Wang Defa’s philtrum and fingertips.

The powder showed no reaction.

Exactly the same as when Messenger Xu died.

But Wang Defa had clearly died here in this ruined temple.

As the former owner of the haunted house, he hadn’t died before-

And now, he perished in this dilapidated temple?

Why?

“Could it really be a vengeful ghost, chasing his soul all the way here?”

Ever since reading those case files, Xiao Zhang had not been calm.

“Absolutely impossible!” I denied resolutely, my gaze sweeping across the ruined temple.

Dust lay thick inside; there were no traces of dragging,

Only some footprints leading straight to where Wang Defa’s body was found.

But with our group having entered, we’d already trampled the earlier prints, making it impossible to verify anything.

Yet-was that… osmanthus?

Scattered osmanthus blossoms littered the ground…

Strange. There wasn’t a single osmanthus tree in this ruined temple.

Coroner Li followed my gaze, his brows knitting in puzzlement.

As if recalling something, he took out a finer silver probe from his medicine box:

“After Messenger Xu’s death, I looked through some old medical records. They mentioned certain exotic poisons-not targeting the blood and qi, but harming the mind, or causing the heart to stop suddenly, with the outward appearance of peaceful sleep…”

As he spoke, he inserted the probe deep into Wang Defa’s throat.

“If it really is such a poison, perhaps…”

Before he could finish, Coroner Li’s movements suddenly froze.

His complexion visibly turned ashen, his pupils contracted sharply.

And in the instant he collapsed,

He forced out a single word from his throat-“Poison!”