Five days isn’t a long time—if you break it down, that’s only sixty hours—so Shen Hao had absolutely no time to waste.
After leaving the Commander’s Office, Shen Hao briefly communicated with Jiang Cheng in the carriage. By the time he got off, they had already arrived at the gates of the Ministry of Justice.
"Your Personal Guard will remain in the Imperial City to continue following you. Your residence is set up within the Governor’s Office compound, the same place you stayed before. If you have any problems, just come to me. Also—make sure you don’t waste any time!"
"Rest assured, my lord, I’ll do my utmost!" Shen Hao cupped his hands and bid Jiang Cheng goodbye, then glanced at the two massive Stone Beasts flanking the gate, took a deep breath, and showed his credentials to the Guard at the entrance before walking in.
Even though it’d been years, seeing Xue Gui again still made Shen Hao want to laugh. Back then, with the left and right hand maneuver, he’d teamed up with Fifth Prince Yang Lin to royally screw over this Major Case Department’s Chief Thousand Households. Saying they’d become bitter enemies wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration.
"Lord Shen, long time no see—your Cultivation’s obviously made great strides!" Xue Gui narrowed his eyes in mock sincerity. This time, the Mana aura from Shen Hao was completely different from last time. He’s entered the Primordial Pill Realm?! That fast?!
"Lord Xue flatters me—it’s just a bit of progress, really. I didn’t expect to be working on a case with you again so soon either. As for last time, well, it was all under orders from above—I was just the errand boy who had no choice. Please forgive any offenses. This time, the entire Xuanqing Guard will genuinely stick to our role as support, and we won’t make things difficult for you again, Lord Xue."
Xue Gui’s mouth twitched. Honestly, for all his composure, seeing this Shen still ticked him off every time.
You’ve got some nerve bringing up last time! And now you want to dump all the blame on the Xuanqing Guard’s higher-ups? What the hell is wrong with you people?
Besides, you think you know you’re here to "assist" this time? If you’re so capable, try snatching the lead role again like last time! Try it—I dare you!
Xue Gui had already been chewing this over these past days, and he knew that having the Emperor drag the Xuanqing Guard into the case was basically putting the Ministry of Justice right over the fire.
Just as Jiang Cheng had explained to Shen Hao earlier, Xue Gui understood all the twists and turns, but what could he do? If he failed to solve the case, he’d be held responsible—or worse, end up in prison. But if he did solve it, well, the Ministry would be implicated, leaving him with the reputation of "bloodied his hands with royal blood." No matter what, things looked grim.
This time, Xue Gui was all but begging for Shen to pull another stunt and seize control—he’d hand over the reins in a heartbeat. But now it seemed this Shen wasn’t stupid enough to try that anymore.
"Five days—Commander Pang gave me a deadline of five days to push the case forward and present a report. So, Lord Xue, please teach me well." When he needed someone to take the fall, Shen Hao’s humility knew no bounds.
And on some level, Shen Hao’s "assisting" role really did call for Xue Gui’s leadership here, so proper "deference" was necessary.
For some reason, seeing Shen Hao act like this made Xue Gui’s teeth itch with hatred. Fortunately, with a mask hiding his face, his expression didn’t show—otherwise, he’d have absolutely lost his composure.
"Five days? I’ve already had plenty of discussions with a Xuanqing Guard Captain and several [Chief] and Deputy Thousand Households, but this case is like a brick wall—there’s not even a crack to exploit. And now, the moment Lord Shen returns, Commander Pang is suddenly sure there will be a breakthrough within five days? Lord Shen must be truly cherished by him!"
The sarcasm in those words nearly made Shen Hao laugh again, but he held it in and replied, "Lord Xue, you’ve misunderstood. My return is just a desperate measure—Commander Pang only called me back to try my luck. Five days isn’t enough time to truly solve the case, but if we get lucky, then maybe something. If not, then at least the Xuanqing Guard will have done all we can."
Shen Hao sounded so forthright, as if the Xuanqing Guard really was rolling the dice for a last-ditch effort. If things still didn’t work out, he clearly implied they’d simply throw up their hands and quit.
"You—!" Xue Gui suddenly shot up from his chair. He’d caught the veiled threat in Shen Hao’s words, but angering him now would get him nowhere. The Ministry of Justice’s Minister himself was wavering these days. To get the case moving, all options had to be on the table. Right now, Xue Gui’s only ally was the Xuanqing Guard—so, as annoyed as he was, he had no choice but to endure.
After a long silence, Xue Gui finally calmed down, pulled out a case file, and pushed it to Shen Hao. "I don’t know if you’ve seen this before. Take a look while I walk you through the situation. There are details the file doesn’t fully capture."
Even though Shen Hao had just reviewed the documents, he took it and opened it up anyway. He wasn’t sure if the dossier Pang Ban gave him was the same as the Ministry’s copy, or if anything had been left out.
Seeing Shen Hao begin to leaf through it, Xue Gui continued, "The situation is extremely bizarre. Judging from the corpse and the scene, not only are there no clues about the killer, but even now we haven’t determined the cause of Prince Qian’s death. The only consensus is that Prince Qian likely died from a sinister Soul-targeting method.
But as for what exactly the method was, or how it was used to kill Prince Qian—nobody knows at all..."
The basics in the dossier matched up, but as for details, there was plenty Shen Hao hadn’t known. Mainly, it was about what Prince Qian—Yang Ye—did during his time alive in the Celestial Prison, and everyone he’d interacted with.
"What about the people? Was everyone who came into contact with Prince Qian before his death interrogated? What were the results?"
"Everyone was definitely interrogated—not just once, but multiple times. We used torture and drugs, too. But nobody in the Celestial Prison who had contact with Prince Qian had any problems—at least, none had a motive to kill him or the ability to do so. We also thoroughly checked their backgrounds, and still found nothing suspicious.
You know this case is extraordinary. The killer behind it isn’t normal—their methods are unheard of, and the investigation’s completely stuck. Now that Commander Pang has put so much trust in you, I hope you can bring in a fresh perspective."
A new perspective? Shen Hao shook his head. "Lord Xue, as you just said, you’ve brought in top operatives from Xuanqing Guard—even a Captain—and then there’s you, a Divine Capture. There’s no way such talent would miss something obvious. The only explanation is that you were deceived—you’re following a path that leads nowhere, because the solution simply doesn’t exist.
If there’s no answer, all the experts in the world are powerless on the wrong trail."
This was something Shen Hao had considered on his hurried journey back from Wu Lake—a huge group of ace investigators, deadlocked without a single breakthrough? How is that possible? Of course it isn’t!