So All Of You Suspect—

The city of Bianliang was the capital of Da’an, the city where the emperor himself resided. This recent serial murder within Bianliang had sent shockwaves through the capital.

And now, it seemed like the person who had killed so many people over the years might be a woman…

Qi Yan found it a little hard to accept and just stared in shock at the other three around the table as he held onto his teacup tightly.

Song Caitang looked deep in thought and did not say anything for a long time.

She could still remember what her mentor in her previous life had told her.

It was true that there were more male killers than female killers. But one had to be very careful not to make any assumptions when trying to figure out a killer’s motive.

A man’s motive for murder was usually simple. It was usually over money, power or revenge. But it was often much harder to figure out why a woman would commit murder. Sometimes, a very insignificant action could mean a lot. If they could not find this motive, they would not be able to crack the case.

A woman’s inner thoughts were very complex, so not only were most men unable to understand, but some women also didn’t understand each other either.

“There’s one more woman involved in this case,” Qi Yan reminded his teammates with a grim look on his face, “Ningyan.”

Zhao Zhi paused to think, then shook his head. “I don’t think so. She’s very bold because she has a powerful backer, but based on what I’ve observed, she’s not very smart.”

Wen Yuansi agreed, “And to commit so many murders and cover them up easily without anyone finding out, you can only imagine how clever the killer must be.”

“So, all of you suspect it’s Linglong?” Qi Yan blinked at Song Caitang. “You too?”

Song Caitang nodded without hesitation. “There are many points of suspicion around her.”

Qi Yan waited for an explanation.

“18 years ago, the night the bandits on Beiqing Mountain were raided, a craftsman died. This craftsman was Ling Minfang,” said Zhao Zhi slowly as he offered another clue. “Ling Minfang’s family business was to purify cinnabar. In other words, they made quicksilver.”

“He had a son who disappeared without a trace that same night. I asked their neighbors from back then, but the neighbors were not close to the family. They told me that Ling Minfang had a child, but could not be certain if the child was really a boy or not.”

It was obvious what Zhao Zhi was implying.

Qi Yan frowned hard. “But that still doesn’t add up. This happened 18 years ago, while Linglong is in her early twenties. She would have been a baby 18 years ago! How could she be the child from back then?”

Song Caitang laughed. “No, no, Linglong is definitely not only in her early twenties.”

Qi Yan’s eyes widened. “What?” What was she talking about now?

“You men will never understand the wonders of skincare that women use,” Song Caitang lowered her gaze.

She still hadn’t found any clues with regard to the painting in her father’s study, but her investigation in Linglong’s past had yielded some results very recently and she hadn’t had the chance to share it with the team yet. “Recently, I got the leader of the Green Gang to help me get information from several brothels.”

That introduction alone made Zhao Zhi frown at her. He was obviously jealous and looked like he was saying, why did you get someone else to do this? Why didn’t you ask me?

His reaction suddenly made the atmosphere less serious, which was not what she was trying to do. She kicked him under the table to tell him to stop it.

After all, Cao Zhang was definitely the better person to get something like that done compared to Zhao Zhi. It was hard for the investigation authorities to get real answers out of such places, but much easier for someone from a similar line of work.

“Linglong was a very mature courtesan right from her very first day at Yuchun Court. She had very high emotional intelligence and knew exactly when to say the right things, so she became popular very, very quickly and served a huge variety of customers. She was definitely someone who had been trained prior to her time at Yuchun Court,” said Song Caitang quietly. “I talked to the pimp at Yuchun Court, but the pimp just boasted that he was good at training his girls. But he also did not deny that Linglong seemed born for this trade. She was very gifted in this work and learned very quickly.”

“I don’t believe there are women who would pick up something like this very quickly and enjoy it. Linglong was definitely trained elsewhere before.”

As she spoke, the atmosphere in the room grew serious again. Zhao Zhi did not dare to make her angry and just quietly listened to her speak.

Song Caitang went on, “And the leader of the Green Gang was able to confirm my suspicions.”

“About 16 years ago, in Liangxian, which is just south of Bianliang, a new, outstanding courtesan debuted in one of the brothels. She was only 13 or 14, her name was Ling’er, and she looked a lot like Linglong…”

“Wait,” Qi Yan piped up, “the man who made quicksilver and died 18 years ago was someone with the surname Ling, this new courtesan, Ling’er, has the word “Ling” in her name, and so does Linglong…”

Oh my god!

If all of that were true, this same girl would have been eleven or twelve 18 years ago, and she would now be 29 or 30 today… everything matched up.

Could it be a coincidence?

If it was not a coincidence, then it was a problem.

“Ling’er debuted for less than a year before disappearing. The leader of the Green Gang wasn’t able to find out why. In any case, this Ling’er went missing and nobody knows if she’s dead or alive.”

No matter how much a person changed or how well they maintained their looks, there were certain parts of one’s personality that wouldn’t change, including certain habits. Song Caitang got Cao Zhang to help her look into this aspect and they were now pretty sure that Ling’er was Linglong.

“So, the Linglong we know now is definitely not in her early twenties,” Song Caitang’s gaze tensed up. “She hid her real age and her previous experience, and she went missing without a trace for a few years. It might have been due to her circumstances, or it could have been on purpose.”

She might have tried a different lifestyle.

“After suddenly disappearing, she reappeared about four years ago and joined the biggest brothel in Bianliang. There must have been a reason for that too.”

Wen Yuansi sighed. “But there are very few women who would really want to work in this line or enjoy working in this line. If Linglong were able to support herself, why would she have become a courtesan? And if she had to become a courtesan to feed herself, then what happened during those years she went missing? What did she do?”

All of these questions had to be answered.

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “The serial murders in Bianliang started exactly four years ago.”

All the victims they had found so far had died from different causes and in different places, but they had all occurred within the last four years.

“If Linglong is really the daughter of Ling Minfang and she knows how to distil quicksilver, then it makes sense for her to poison her victims with it.” Qi Yan frowned, “But how could someone like her be connected to the organization betraying the country? Could it really be that this group killed her father 18 years ago and she’s back for revenge?”

“But then Caitang said that this organization wasn’t in operation 18 years ago, and she wouldn’t be powerful enough to get a list of people involved either.”

Song Caitang suggested, “Perhaps she somehow got to know a traitor from the organization.”

Zhao Zhi added, “Or maybe an Eagle Guard.”

Wen Yuansi hummed. “I think we need to find out about every person connected to Linglong.”

They had to find out who she knew and who she was close with over the past few years.

“If she’s really the killer…” Song Caitang looked down at her teacup as she rubbed the sides with her fingertips, “then we can explain a lot of things.”

Qi Yan’s curiosity was piqued. “Like what? Tell us!”

Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi looked curiously at her too.

Song Caitang smiled and explained, “There are certain things a female killer does precisely because she’s a woman. For example, most women are not as tall or as strong as their victims, so they would usually choose a less physically violent way of killing a person. They might pretend to be weak or lure their victims into a false sense of security. Given the right time and place, poisoning someone would be easier than using brute force.”

“All the victims in this case were poisoned! Or at least, they were drugged!” Qi Yan punched his palm. “The killer only struck them in the back of their heads after the victims were unable to fight back!”

Song Caitang smiled, “Also, what Linglong did the night Madam Wang was killed…”

The time she appeared outside Madam Wang’s residence coincided with the time of death.

“As for striking the victim in the back of the head and making the victim look down…”

Being unhappy with a person’s head and destroying a person’s memories was probably because Linglong didn’t want to remember anything to do with these victims. She didn’t want to remember how she had to flirt with these men and sleep with them against her will. She didn’t want to see their faces ever again.

As for the sexual humiliation, it was obvious why they had only found dirt and other filthy items on the victims’ private parts but not semen.

Many women couldn’t understand why some men were so obsessed with sex, but it was a common motive for male serial killers. It was also common for them to display all sorts of perverted behaviors toward their victims.

Song Caitang understood this in theory, but she personally couldn’t understand why anyone would do such things.

So, it puzzled her when they didn’t find any semen on the victims. But now, the reason was clear.

It was because the killer was a woman.

Regardless of why Linglong had found herself at a brothel and what she meant to do, she didn’t like her job. Men had humiliated her, so she just wanted to humiliate them in return. That’s all.

As for the female victims in this case…

Either these women had something to do with that traitor organization, or she did not only kill people connected to this organization. Perhaps these women had offended her in some other way.

This was a very dangerous killer.

“One more thing that we need to take note of,” Song Caitang frowned slightly. “The time difference. How did the killer commit murder so easily but still have an alibi?”

Someone must have helped her to cover up.

Or she was able to somehow force another person to help.

Qi Yan immediately raised his hand, “Jiang Shaoyuan! He said he had helped Linglong a lot – was he referring to this? On the night Zheng Fangquan died, Jiang Shaoyuan was Linglong’s alibi! He said that they were making love in the later half of the night!”

“AHEM!” Zhao Zhi covered his mouth with his fist and glared fiercely at Qi Yan to remind him to watch the way he spoke.

Qi Yan shrank back and rubbed his nose awkwardly as he quickly fell silent.

Wen Yuansi said, “When the killer murdered Madam Wang, based on the scene of the crime, someone interrupted them. They were unable to go through the whole process and had to leave in a hurry. Who was this person? Ningyan said that she saw Linglong hesitating, unsure of whether she should talk to Madam Wang. I think that Linglong noticed that Ningyan was watching and purposely put on an act for her. After that, she went back to her own room, waited for a while, then came out again to actually commit the murder. But after she killed Madam Want, someone or something else interrupted her.”

“Also, the bruises on her body,” Zhao Zhi lowered his gaze. “She was supposed to sleep with Ji Bo that night, but Ji Bo spent his time discussing work with Zheng Fangquan in the study and did not spend any time with her. She should not have had any bruises.”

But she did have bruises that night, so someone must have done that to her. Who could it be?

“There’s one more thing. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the case, but it bothers me…”

Wen Yuansi lowered his gaze slightly and told them what happened with Prince Ling, including their conversation.

“He seemed like he was trying to get me on his side, but at the end of the whole thing, I felt that getting me on his side was his secondary aim. His primary aim was finding out the truth of this case. He wants to know who the killer is. But why?”

Prince Ling was not the type who would care about whether justice was served or not. So what in the world was he thinking about?