Li Shuangjin withdrew her hand. "What is it?"
The man replied, "The men below reported news of bandits."
With a guess in mind, Li Shuangjin paid no heed to the so-called bandits. However, several newspapers had already caught wind of this case. Even if the eldest son of the Lin family had inexplicably gone mad and killed his entire family, they absolutely could not say so to the public.
"Bring all the bodies back to the police station and have the forensic doctors examine them as soon as possible."
Her subordinate was somewhat surprised. After all, the entire Lin mansion looked as if it had been subjected to a massacre, and a suspect had already been identified. There was no need for autopsies.
Recalling that their police inspector always acted meticulously, the subordinate didn't ask further and led his men to collect the bodies.
The bandits they mentioned were a group from the southwest who had been plundering their way over. They had a base in the mountains outside the city and typically made their fortunes by robbing passing merchant caravans. Occasionally, they also took on jobs from gangs in the city, handling matters that the gangs found inconvenient to deal with themselves, and thus gradually thrived.
The Lin family was in decline, impoverished and destitute. Unless there was a deep-seated grudge, it would be utterly foolish for those bandits to rob and kill them.
Yet, the bandit confessed to his crimes without reservation. "I killed them. You can do with me as you please, but don't dither around here and annoy me."
The interrogators were dumbfounded. They had seen plenty of murderers who refused to confess, but this was the first time they had encountered someone so eager to take the blame.
They prepared a confession statement and were about to present it for him to sign and fingerprint when Li Shuangjin returned.
"You say you killed them. Then tell me, how many people did you kill in total, and how did you kill them?"
"About six or seven. I killed them all, anyway. How do you kill people? A swift plunge of the knife, and then red with blood."
"All sixteen members of the Lin family are dead."
The bandit, who had been quite smug moments before, widened his eyes and said urgently, "Sixteen? I only killed seven people. I admit to what I killed, but don't try to pin something on me that I didn't do."
Li Shuangjin frowned.
After some deliberation, they finally understood that the bandits had not attacked the Lin family in the mansion but rather another Lin family with whom they had a vendetta.
This meant that the case of the sixteen victims from the Lin mansion remained an unsolved mystery.
After the autopsy reports were released, the deaths of the Lin family members largely matched Li Shuangjin's suspicions. She then conveyed her suspicions to the inspector-general, focusing particularly on the examination of the eldest son of the Lin family's body.
The forensic doctor did indeed find a special substance in his body, but its purpose was yet unknown, and it could not be definitively linked to the Lin eldest son's murderous rampage.
After days of frantic work, Li Shuangjin finally found some time to return home. During a casual conversation, she mentioned it to Zhuo Yan, who then recalled that there was indeed such an event in the plot.
It was a new type of drug developed by the Japanese, mixed with marijuana and sold to their people. This drug could gradually erode a person's mind, causing confusion. If used with other specific medications, it could also act as a stimulant.
With adrenaline surging and their minds clouded, they would erupt into a frenzy, and countless people had killed their own family and friends in such a state.
The Lin mansion was only the first incident. If things went as expected, many people in Hai City had already been exposed to this new type of marijuana.
Thinking of this, Zhuo Yan hesitated whether to remind her.
Li Shuangjin did not have protagonist's halo. In the original plot, it was Li Xiaoxian who later uncovered this secret. The female lead, after experiencing this event, became disillusioned with her original organization and gradually gravitated towards Li Shuangjin's side.
"Are there any leads in the investigation now?"
Li Shuangjin shook her head. "Our equipment is not advanced enough to trace the source of that substance. I plan to go to the West."
The West...
Zhuo Yan remembered that if she hadn't arrived and unintentionally changed some things, the female lead would have assassinated Li Shuangjin during that time. Although he narrowly escaped death, he suffered from a chronic illness. Later, the organization to which the female lead belonged made repeated assassination attempts. Li Shuangjin's ship was bombed on her way to the West, and no body was ever found.
This also became the trigger for the complex love-hate and coercive relationship between the male and female leads in the later stages.
Although the timeline was off, Zhuo Yan was still worried about him going alone, so she said, "I'll go with you."
Li Xiaoxian's original intention was to investigate the new marijuana. This process might involve many troubles. Hearing Zhuo Yan wanted to go with him, his first reaction was to refuse.
"I'm more capable than you. You don't need to worry about my safety."
Fine, the refusal was interrupted.
He thought that even if he didn't allow it, with Zhuo Yan's skills, he wouldn't know when she would catch up.
The Lin family had no close relatives in Hai City. Some distant relatives, hearing that their entire family had died violently and gruelly, wanted nothing to do with them. The police station sent people to notify the Lin family's clansmen, but it would take at least half a month for them to come and go. Helplessly, the police station had to place their bodies in a charity mortuary. They would wait for Li Shuangjin to investigate the marijuana case, and then the Lin clan would come to claim the bodies. If no one claimed them within three months, they would arrange for their burial.
The West in this world was not like the worlds Zhuo Yan had experienced before. In this world, the land was almost entirely one piece, with seas in between. The West was on the other side of the sea, and ships could reach it in half a month.
Li Shuangjin did not inform many people about this trip, nor did she bring many people. Even Li Xiaoxian did not know. Following Luo Yonghun's reminder, he had investigated Qu Ninghuan. To verify this, the eldest son of the Li family did not hesitate to use himself as bait, frequently visiting Bailemen. Su Dan Novels.
However, Qu Ninghuan had no interest in him. Despite visiting several times, he never saw her. Instead, he saw his cheap cousin and her imbecile visiting Bailemen for entertainment every other day.
Li Xiaoxian: "..."
It was a bit of a mental issue.
A male (Dikon) bringing an androgynous person (Zhongyong) to such a place for fun was like a lamb entering a tiger's den. There were plenty of people eager to cause trouble. In his six visits, he saw people making advances on her or the fool next to her three times.
And then their limbs were broken.
Compared to the steward of the Huang family who slit his own throat in front of her the first time, only to have his head roll off the steps of Bailemen the next moment, these people were now quite fortunate.
Many people said they were not holding a woman accountable because of the Li family's reputation. However, Li Xiaoxian knew clearly that if his sixth uncle had not publicly acknowledged his daughter in a newspaper back then, none of those who offended her in the past few days would have survived for three days.
Huang Sanjin was already dead. It was said that the organ below had rotted, becoming inflamed and decaying. Even amputation was useless. The rot spread throughout his body. When he died, he looked like someone who had drowned in hot weather and been submerged for half a month. The sight was horrifying.
Wu Xiang was not indulging in decadent pleasures. She saw patients at the clinic during the day, treating them without charge, and her merit points increased rapidly. Occasionally, she would discipline someone at night, which was harmless.
During the month or so they were away, Li Xiaoxian finally met Qu Ninghuan twice by spending lavishly. Both were testing each other, and there was no progress in their relationship.
Just before their return, Li Xiaoxian suddenly encountered a very difficult matter.