There is a god in the sky

Chapter 214 Ghosts or Monsters 7

As Xiao Ji stepped out of the house, a cold wind blew, and his rationality gradually returned.

It must be admitted that Tong Yiwen is a master at influencing people, no wonder he has so many disciples.

"Sir, someone just ran out of the academy through the back door and was caught by our men."

Xiao Ji's face darkened. "Let's go take a look."

The person who was caught was Tao Cheng. He was acting strangely and seemed a bit abnormal.

"I want to go down the mountain...I want to leave this awful place..."

"What is he..." Sui Feng waved his hand in front of him, and Tao Cheng jumped up in fright, hiding in a corner and shrinking into a ball.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!..."

He kept repeating that sentence.

Xiao Ji walked over, squatted down in front of him, and gently asked, "Don't be afraid, we're here, no one will hurt you."

"No... there are many ghosts and monsters in these mountains. Two people have already died, and I might be next. I need to get down the mountain!"

He stood up excitedly, pushed Xiao Ji aside, and rushed outside.

The wind and shadow pinned him down from the left and right.

"Let go! I want to get down the mountain! I don't want to die!"

"Tao Cheng, if you continue to act recklessly, I will have no choice but to lock you up for interrogation."

Being this scared doesn't seem like someone who hasn't done anything wrong.

Or perhaps he did something special with Qian An and Gao Dounan.

Tao Cheng turned around and knelt in front of Xiao Ji, grabbing his clothes and crying, "My lord, please take me down the mountain, even if you lock me up in prison."

"What's the secret between the three of you? Telling you might save your life."

"Secrets? We have no secrets," Tao Cheng said, his eyes gleaming.

"In that case, you may stay here."

Don't worry, there are guards. If there are any demons or monsters, just shout.

Based on the current facts of the case, the murderer committed all the killings outside the academy, so it is unlikely that he did so inside the academy.

Tao Cheng saw that all the government officials had left and closed the doors and windows, leaving the room in complete darkness.

He screamed in terror, "Don't go! Let me out! I don't want to be alone!"

He ran to the door and pleaded, "Lord Xiao, I have something to tell you, please don't leave me here alone."

The door opened, and Xiao Ji walked back in.

Tao Cheng told a story.

"As you should know, most of the students at Yishan Academy are from wealthy and powerful families, and there are not many from poor families, especially in Class A."

There are indeed very few students from poor families who can get into this place based on their own abilities.

Tao Cheng smiled wryly and said, "Among my classmates, I am close to Qian An and Gao Dounan because the three of us come from ordinary families and are different from the others."

Sui Feng retorted, "Aren't there also Li Bing and Sun Wei? Neither of them are extremely wealthy or powerful."

"Yes, but Li Bing is the lackey of the Duke of Wen's heir, and Sun Wei... he doesn't associate with us."

Xiao Ji raised an eyebrow slightly. "Continue."

"Although the three of us are close, we can't really be considered good friends. We just get together occasionally to discuss our studies."

One day, Qian An angrily told us that there was something fishy about the provincial examination. He overheard his classmates saying that someone could buy the exam questions.

Neither Dou Nan nor I believe it. If that were true, what would be the point of taking the exam?

The Emperor is diligent and hardworking; how could he allow such a thing to happen? We didn't take it to heart at the time, and we all participated in the provincial examination together. Qian An even got the top score.

We even made fun of him about it afterwards.

Dou Nan and I both thought that he had won the top prize, which was a great joy, and that he certainly wouldn't take this matter to heart.

To our surprise, he was secretly investigating the matter. Before the Lunar New Year, he told us that he seemed to have made some progress.

He said he would wait until he had collected all the evidence before reporting it to Headmaster Tong.

We wanted to stop them, but…

Tao Cheng grabbed Xiao Ji and said urgently, "Lord Xiao, the murderer may be the one who sold the exam questions. This is a serious matter. You, a mere judge of the Judicial Commission, may not be able to do anything to them. You should report it to the court!"

Xiao Ji's expression was solemn.

If it really was a leak of exam questions, then it certainly wasn't just the work of one or two officials.

This is indeed a matter of great importance.

However, Tao Cheng had no evidence, and Qian An, the only one who knew some evidence, was already dead.

"If what you say is true, the murderer should have killed Qian An, so why did he have to kill Gao Dounan?"

Moreover, the murderer used such meticulous methods and then presented the body to the public; it doesn't seem like they were trying to cover it up.

Tao Cheng's mind was in complete disarray at the moment, and he couldn't possibly understand any of this.

He felt like he was just another dried-up corpse.

It was horrible; he didn't even know what kind of torture they had endured before they died.

Xiao Ji instructed Sui Feng: "Tonight, you and Sui Ying will take turns guarding him and not let anyone touch him."

"promise."

"Send someone back tomorrow to ask my father for a copy of the list of those who passed the provincial examination last year."

Xiao Ji finally lay down, exhausted, after working until midnight.

But I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about the case.

If the killer's next target is Tao Cheng, then his guess might be true.

If something like this happened at Yishan Academy, would Headmaster Tong really be unaware of it?

As dawn broke, the night in the mountains was unusually quiet, though it was a bit chilly in the latter half of the night.

After getting up, Shen Lan did a set of boxing exercises to warm up her body before taking her things to find Xiao Ji.

“My lord, I want to explore the mountains. To turn the corpses into mummies, we’ll definitely need a fixed location,” Shen Lan said.

"Okay, let Suiying go with you."

The other officials had to guard the academy, and Xiao Ji couldn't spare any manpower to search the mountain until the reinforcements arrived.

Shen Lan noticed the dark circles under his eyes and asked, "Didn't you sleep much last night, sir?"

Xiao Ji rubbed his temples and said, "Tao Cheng has revealed something very important. If that's true, then we've stumbled upon a truly earth-shattering case."

Shen Lan did not ask further questions.

The bigger the case, the more people are involved, and the difficulties to overcome are not only the clues, but also the people involved.

This is not a society where everyone is equal.

She and Suiying left the academy and looked at the several forks in the road in front of them, not knowing which way to go.

She suggested, "Let's split into two groups, one going up and the other down, covering an area of ​​three miles around the academy."

Transporting a body is no easy task, and she didn't think the crime scene could be too far away.

"No, the master instructed us to protect Miss Shen at all times," Suiying said firmly.

"I don't need protection."

“Miss Shen’s lightness skill is indeed remarkable, but if the murderer is a master, your martial arts skills will not be enough to handle him.”

He recalled the strange poisons in Shen Lan's box and added, "You can't always successfully poison someone."

"Okay, if something happens between the two of us, we can discuss it together."

Shen Lan didn't insist and led Suiying upstairs first.

She heard from the students at the academy that the academy had a rule that they were not allowed to go up the mountain alone.

The main concern was the presence of wild animals and venomous snakes in the mountains.